education is committed to inspiring Learners to explore inquire and collaborate on their joyful Journey towards Discovery independent thinking and creative problem solving our culture of acceptance and inclusion provides the foundation for Learning and social and emotional growth through the reflection and ethical decision making we continue to learn and grow Embrace differences and prepare increasingly complex and everchanging world at this time I'd like to call to order Mrs auo here Mrs am here Mr here you didn't do the pledge pledge of allegiance we're going to get we're going to get there flag 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 then you're welcome actually so it's the pledge it's a blooper folks it's a blooper you're gonna get there all right R okay Mrs agaro here Mrs Amadeo here Mr F here Mr Gonzalez here Mrs Harvey here Mr Ang Gracia here Mrs jet here Mrs s here thank you at this moment we're going to do an executive session no no no you got do three read three oh welcome to the board of education of the Bure of Wong please be advised that this and all meetings of the board are open to the public and media consistent with the open public meetings act chapter 231 laws of 1975 and then in advance notice required therein has been provided this is a regular meeting of the Board of Education of the Bureau of Wong at which formal actions may be taken this meeting is being live streamed on the district website where a recording of the meeting will also be posted the public will have the opportunity to be heard as shown on the agenda at points in the meeting provided the public to address the board recording and photography and other private use requires consent of the parents Guardians whose children may be included in this image right all right so at this time we're going to go into an executive session whereas the open public meetings act njsa 10- 41-11 permits the Board of Education to meet in a closed session to exclude certain matters now thereof to be it resolved by the Board of Education adjourns to close session to discuss you don't need to so moved so I can all in favor all in favor I there you go our first presentation is our 20 fiscal year 2023 um audit report we have Valerie Dolan from of Basia well done I practi um she's she's been in watch Young Burl forever I'm the new one that had to learn it um but thank you for being here with us tonight the board members um in November received um the preview it's maybe you could just explain the Capper and the what it is so for everybody new um and then you'll have questions and we'll be happy to answer them thank you for an opportunity to obviously complete the audit um like like she said my name is Valerie DOL and I'm the partner with nissia I have been in maang school district for many years so I have been doing this audit just to give you a little bit of an information about there's actually two a documents that come with our audit there is a larger one called the AER which is the annual comprehensive financial report that's actually broken up it's a larger book it's probably about 180 pages long and it's broken into four main sections there's a small introductory section there is a larger Financial section there is a third section called the statistical section which is the J's so if you were to ever look at that section of statistical it's actually 10 years comparative information so if you're really looking for anything 10 like a history of anything that's a great place to look it has 10 years um information about the district it has 10 years about the burough of Wang 10 years about the county so it gives you a lot of great information and then last section in that report is a single audit section which is my report to on compliance with federal and state grants there is a second report that we also issue which is our management report it's a much smaller report that is goes through all of the things that I do and if I have any comments or any areas that I tested that would all be documented in my letter to the board in that report with that being said there are two very large documents when you get to the whole report there really is one main document in this whole thing that's actually the most important which we refer to is the audit schedule C1 if you have a report or you want to go back and look at that act for that C1 is in the report and it's about starts on page 81 and goes to page 92 it's 12 pages of this whole document that's probably the most important 12 pages that is your budget and it walks you through all of your budget Revenue it walks you through your expenditures and all the Appropriations it also details any changes that might have been made transfers that were approved during the year it really gives you in capsules the whole information of the budget itself and when you go through that document it gets you to the end of the year because really the most important thing is everybody wants to know how did we land in our financial year so when you look at that document you landed in an area what we would say is that you used your fund balance while it appears to have grown it grew about what I would say about 200 it grew about $128,000 from when I was here last year but it is actually inflated due to the fact that you had a large referendum and you earned a lot of interest so if I were to take that 200 $30,000 of referendum interest earned you were actually down about $100,000 so it kind of looks a little skewed in the report because it looks like you kind of generated a little more Surplus but in reality if it wasn't for the referendum you would have actually been on a lower end that being said you are still completely within all of the state mandated reserves you aren't you're not in a financial problem it just is it had come down um you do have a fund balance that's set aside you do have a little over a million dollars in what we call a capital reserve that capital reserve is set aside for future Capital um any type of capital that you might need other than if you were in the middle of a referendum if you wanted to just do some Capital within the district without that type of thing your capital reserve can be utilized for that or if you have any um Rod grants that the state is issuing a lot of times they like to know that you have your share the capital reserve follows for that share um additionally there's about $65,000 in what we call an unemployment compensation trust that money money is just set aside it comes from the employees that's really set aside for future employment unemployment claims if the district has any um you additionally have about two $2,000 of encumbrances that were carried over they were purchase orders that weren't complete before year end and were carried over and then that really leaves you with two big numbers um the one is about $572,000 which is your what we call your allowable fund balance that represents 2% of your budget expenditures that's all the state allows you to technically hold is what they call free fund balance that money is there that is actually down from last year but that is because last year June 30th 20 um2 and 21 they were allowing you to hold 4% due to the pandemic theyve forced everybody back into the 2% for this year so if you were trying to compare them that one is actually down about half of where it used was last year and then that leaves you with what we call excess that's the amount that has to excuse me be rolled into the budget that you're building now that's probably your most important number that number is about $81,000 so that's the number that you will cycle and utilize as support for the budget that you'll be building for 24 25 um so those are really the financial numbers additionally a couple of highlights that I did want to cover is you actually received and spent about $530,000 worth of federal state local grants um you also obviously have your large referendum at $15 million which has earned about $200 um ,000 in interest and you've spent about approximately $500,000 of that 15 million as of June 30th so remember I'm back in June so obviously some are happened things definitely are continuing on that referendum there's details on the referendum they're on pages 100 and 101 in the audit and lastly couple of two Enterprise funds that you have you have a small very small milk fund that ended its year with a whole $170 so you're pretty much running at this point the milk fund is probably running to the point where it's really cost it's costing the district more than it actually and we stopped and you stopped it after our conversation because you'd gotten to the point that you weren't bringing in enough Revenue but you were spending double the amount so which is why we had spoken about terminating that milk program and then you do have a care program that has about $35,000 in Surplus that will be used to offset future costs looking forward to our management report which is my report where I go through all of the things uh we do have two formal recommendations in the report that will require corrective action by the board um one of them is the area of the budget itself there's a lot of adjustments and expenditures and reclassifications and transfers that are done we do see this common in an area in a school district where you constantly are seeing change in Personnel one person does a budget One Way somebody's doing something somewhere else someone else is building a budget so stability really does take that when you have take that a little bit out how one person was thinking with a budget versus somewhere else so we do have a recommendation to really be make sure that those budget and the reasoning for building the budgets are defined so that it's understood how they're spent and then additionally all of your Federal grant money is actually what they call on a reimbursement basis so you have to be diligent in collecting those Grant funds you do have a large number of receivables on those grants as of June 30th that was also due to the timing and changing of personnel the state honestly would love you to um do reimbursements monthly we say monthly is a little bit too much so we're more pushing towards a quarterly to make sure by the year end the end of the year you've almost gotten all your money because the federal programs while they fund a lot of projects and fund a lot of programs in the school you're funding it with your cash till they give it to you afterwards so we try to say do d Ence collect as timely as you can um one of the things that we also like to do is we always do look at things that have tripped up other districts so we do put in the report what we call our suggestions to management they're not specific to your District but we feel that they're important enough to put in every audit that we audit because either they've tripped up another District or we feel that it's something new that everyone should be aware of um obviously in this area for this year it's a repeat from last year when there's Federal money there's other Auditors besides myself so districts are coming out of the pandemic funding that you've had under the cares ACT first then we had it under Sr 2 then we had it under the SR 3s there's a lot of money and obviously when there follows a lot of money there's always a lot of due diligence and the federal government reserves the right to come out at any time and audit the grants for the funding they have so we always tell everybody be prepared they could show up we anyone who's ever been through one of their Federal audits sometimes when they come in they look at one thing sometimes that means we're here we're looking at everything so it we just giving everybody warning while there's federal dollars and they're great just be prepared they could show up um that's really what I wanted to cover but I really am available to answer questions if anyone has any not a question I just want to make sure that people understand when you said the care fund um it is the Enterprise fund for before and after Care Program so that $35,000 is specific to before and after care it's self- sustaining it's not funds that we have access to for programmer in the budget I just didn't know if everybody understood what an Enterprise fund was just want to thank you for the presentation today and also uh just you know going back to your presentation last year I was very um impressed by uh your command of some of the questions that came up about our um different uh fund balances and uh you know the capital reserve and things like that and I I actually was advocating that if you could be part of our budget building process back then but it didn't uh take off that way so uh just you know with this uh Year's audit it's uh June 2022 to uh June 23 23 and uh so rich belli was uh chairman of the operations committee for half of that time and I was chairman of the operations committee for the other half of that time time and so uh putting the capital reserve aside because I understand that million dollars and changes uh for the capital uh fund that uh wouldn't be for operational use but um and I realize that your review ends in June 2023 but um when you just go through some of these balances now when there's um we're maxed out at our 2% 572,000 allowable fund balance and we have an excess of 800,000 that has to be uh rolled into the 2425 budget that would be for operational that's not separated no that's that's your operational right so that's Operation we start building the budget that's what you start with and it's less than last year this time last year when I stood in front of you it was over and it was about you utilize to support the 20 the budget that you're currently in right now A little over 900,000 so you're starting about $100,000 lower than you were when you were building last year's budget so just to make sure right and and then just to the point of the formal recommendation about uh you know making sure things are laid out in a way to have less transfers I'm not sure if you're aware of the we had a a read-option of our budget uh which transferred which transferred a lot yes a lot of line items and we continue they continue to do them we have to continue to transer because we cannot op operate in a deficit right so I guess that's what um I you know from the SBA training that we get they talk about how commonly you will move money between line items and that's uh you know if done correctly is not a concern and of itself but this became more of a we had a presentation on it as a a crisis of uh funding that I'm just wondering if that the audit didn't seem to have any concern with our financial position and I think you just said tonight actually that we're not in financial trouble not that we don't have budget uh it's more of a budget constraint it's more of a budget constraint because like we say you know it's very hard to build a budget when the state really gives you very tight guidelines and you can't really grow if at at when you have like a 2% Levy cap when you have your appro there's really no room for growth so really the best way to see it is the way it Cycles so we see the budget cycle each year so your budget is continuing to grow while revenues are continuing to stay relatively stable as your budget grows we need to make sure and like I said yes you have a less money that you're actually going to be able to put into this budget so anything that you would just to stay flat you're already looking to have to cut a 100,000 so it while it's and that's before just to be clear contractual salary raises health insurance raises Transportation increases yeah it gets very so wild the report because like I said I think what I noticed from because the timing of when we do the audit we're really looking when we come in we're really looking at 20 the year prior so when we were here in the fall doing the audit I think the bigger strain is actually in the budget that you're currently in right now is where I think that you're really starting to feel your first round of strain and so going forward I think it's going to get harder not easier so based on conversations that I had with Patty before she lefted and when Julie got here I think Julie's first day was our first day of audit she started the same day we did when we were here and you know just concerns about really we were looking backwards she's looking forward and we were definitely on probably different places now have I coming in if I were to come in now to start doing the audit I think I would see the more struggles that are probably currently feeling right now versus where they were last year and I guess that's part of the reason for my question is just if you have any I know that our audit is based on state requirements and checking those processes so but if you we didn't forecast a a a crisis really in the last budgets and it seemed like we were facing something that was being uh you know considered kind of a an Emergency read adoption of the budget so Anthony I and I want to make sure that everybody listening watching understands that the audit is that it audits our processes to make sure that we are following those processes and that there's no malfeasance right there's nothing so when you're saying you know it sounds like we're doing great the process these are great nobody did anything wrong right to to bring us to this I'll call it a critical place um Turning Point Turning Point uh whatever you want to call it so it it's a challenge because Valerie's not looking at our financial position necessarily she's not looking at she's looking at it from a process standpoint we don't have Surplus we don't have maintenance Reserve we don't have the ability to have any additional money put into those accounts and we're starting behind right as she said because our our fund balance we we used what should have been sacred fund balance to get through this year so so it's not that um so Valerie is not part of building our budget she's part of helping us understand from that process and and regulation standpoint what we need to be doing in that way if that if that helps yes thank you Dr Glazer I kind of just wanted to ask a question to our auditor while she was but I I wanted to be maybe I I have another question I have a followup question but it's not about building the budget it's about making sure we have the correct processes in place to to be financially uh to do what we are supposed to do thank you I guess um just to get back to my question is is there something that we can request through the audit process that might help us forecast things that we were faced when we had to reopt and move uh funds between line items fortunately honestly with the Auditors and the school districts they don't let us involved in your budget process I know it's crazy we do my practice also involves municipalities and counties and we are hands kneed deep with them with their budget the process in the doe removes the auditor from the budget process which is to odd to us so we try to help give you as much guidance as we can but we really aren't familiar enough with the process we're really not building the budget because they felt that the school budgets really for you to build a budget it really becomes a how do you want to run your school and that really is not an allowable under the audit I can't tell you how to manage so it's very interesting that we're not that being said we do look at some projections we do offer guidance when a lot of districts are building their budgets they do ask us can you just peek at this for me and just let me know if I'm bumping down the wrong road or if you think I'm doing something that's going to have a problem next year let me know or do you think I should be trying to do something should I be building up a reserve do I have some I mean you have a capital referendum going on right now but do I have something a need for a maintenance Reserve okay do you start small and make sure you have a line item to build it you used to have a maintenance reserve a few years ago and it was used up with the mold when we had a mold issue and you had some other some other needs that maintenance so those are those are tools and yes we can help you go through some of those tools but we really can't tell you what you should do and shouldn't do if that makes sense the doe kind of put us in this little box and I appreciate that I like I said it was really Le less uh understanding that maybe we won't have your involvement in building the budget but in the audit process if there's a way to forecast for because we had a completely clean audit from June 21 to June 20 to and then uh June 22 to June 23 we have this uh formal recommendation a couple recommendations yes but you know yet we had U that reopt of the budget with a a presentation behind it that was uh concerned to a lot of residents and other board members also so my final question is really just um looking at uh putting yourselves in our position as board members um and if you had seen the presentation there would be there was quite a bit of detail in there but do you have um um any guidelines for say members of an operations committee something like that because when I read the njsba training information governance to and things like that it clearly says that the members of the board are not involved in individual line item right uh Maneuvers so to speak you're not really in those line items but really I think the best thing that we would always say is while you build an annual budget really most budgets need to be multiple year budgets because you have to look forward because even though the way the New Jersey works it's a single year budget every budget you build has impacts on future so we're always a proponent of looking at not only like when you're building this budget okay where not only am I going to see this budget that I'm building right now where do I project it's going to land me in June and does that give me what I need to do next year so that's really the biggest question that I would say as an operations is when you're looking at your budget yes you're looking at individual line items and you're not looking at the widgets that are being bought and purchased but you're saying not only that where does that set me up for next year that is probably one of the most critical questions that doesn't always get asked because everyone lives in this single year budget and even though it's a single year budget it really should be multiple but to the point of processes in your experience do you ever have you ever seen for example um and not just uh operations committee members because all of the board members are approving these budgets and seeing the information but would you would you expect board members to get down to the level of detail to be crosschecking staff rosters with no the budget no I don't realiz there was something cover we audit 85 school districts I don't think any board members in that detail that detail exists if they want to go back and look but usually that's not where we see the board the board we really see do we understand do we look at it the big p the big picture so if you're looking at a line item in salary does that increase make sense with the contract not is it each individual teacher that's falling in line or if you see a large increase in something or a not an increase in something that would be the question I would say a board would ask on a budget not get into the details of the widgets thank you very much appreciate it anybody else how long have you been auditing us for let's see uh I would say I have been the partner on the account since 2012 and we audit we've been we were probably auditing about eight years prior to that so yeah probably back to 2000 early 2000s thank you any no other questions well thank you much for your time you are right it was my first day and it is important like to me too right I'm not a VA so to know that um a clean audit means our processes are in place and that we're doing what we need to do unfortunately not a bearing on the money on the lines but we're doing what we need well there's recommendations there are ones that I would say in the scheme of recommendations that we would call way bigger problems and things that are just housekeeping items these probably fall more in that housekeeping than you didn't have l item over expenditures you didn't have a deficit like there are definitely severe recommendations one is both of these are more of I would say a housekeeping type recommendation in that yeah you could probably tighten that control up a little bit and collect our grant money a little faster um we can make sure that we have a better line in the budget and we really know what our plan is but at the end of the day you didn't overe expend the line items and you did so you did your due diligence by making the necessary transfers to ensure that things didn't happen but a lot of them do happen so you know and that's that's why I just want to make sure there is a little bit of a distinction and an audit between what we would call severe comments versus truly housekeeping type items thank you so much you much than you and thanks for being here tonight Erin our next presentation is the um New Jersey school assessment um anti-bullying Bill of Rights presentation um Nicole doota could not be with us tonight but she made an amazing presentation you'll actually hear her like she's even in the room it's kind of fun so Aaron if you're ready New Jersey Department of Education School self assessment for determining grades under the antibullying Bill of Rights Act July 1st 2022 through June 30th 2020 what is the self assessment each school is required to evaluate its implementation of the anti-bullying Bill of Rights from July 1st 2022 through June 30th 2023 by using the self assessment tool this includes eight core elements that address all of the anti-bullying Bill of Rights requirements for schools each School assigns a rating for each indicator based on the criteria they are given these ratings must align with any other data collected such as data submitted through the student safety data system findings from monitoring under the New Jersey quality single accountability Continuum or qac findings from investigations of complaints conducted by the New Jersey Department of Education county office or the office of fiscal accountability and compliance or any other sources of information that is relevant core element number one Hib programs approaches or initiatives the school annually established implemented and assessed Hib programs approaches or initiatives these were designed to create schoolwide conditions to prevent and address harassment intimidation and bullying the school safety School climate team identified patterns of harassment intimidation and bullying and reviewed School climate and school policies for the prevention of Hib for element number two training on the board of education approved Hib policy and procedures School Employees contracted service providers and volunteers were provided training on the Hib policy the Hib policy training included instruction on preventing harassment intimidation and bullying on the basis of protected categories enumerated in the anti-bullying Bill of Rights and other distinguishing characteristics that may incite incidents of discrimination or Hib the Hib policy was discussed with students in accordance with the district's process for these discussions fore element number three other staff instruction and training programs each staff member completed at least two hours of instruction in suicide prevention that included information on harassment intimidation and bullying in each five-year professional development period each teaching staff member completed at least two hours of instruction on harassment intimidation and bullying prevention in each 5-year professional development period the school anti-bullying specialist was given time during the usual school schedule to participate in inservice training in preparation to act as the anti-bullying specialist the members of the school safety School climate team were provided with professional development in effective practices of successful School climate programs or approaches and school building leaders have received information on the prevention of harassment intimidation and bullying as part of their training on issues of school ethics School law and school governance core element number number four curriculum and instruction on harassment intimidation and bullying and related information and skills the school provided ongoing age appropriate instruction on preventing harassment intimidation and bullying in accordance with the New Jersey student learning standards the school observed the week of respect during the week beginning with the first Monday in October of each year recognizing the importance of character education by providing age appropriate instruction focusing on Hib prevention fore element number five Hib Personnel the principal appointed a school anti-bullying specialist the anti-bullying specialist met at least two times per school year with the district anti-bullying coordinator the school safety School climate team met at least two times per year to develop Foster and maintain a positive School climate by focusing on the ongoing systemic process and practices in the school and to address School climate issues including Hib core element number six School level Hib incident reporting procedures the school implemented the district's procedures for reporting hip that includes all required elements or the school has a process for ensuring that staff are implementing the district's procedure for reporting Hib that includes all required elements the school implemented the district's procedure for reporting new information on a prior Hib report or the school F Fosters a positive School climate that encourages reports of all concerning behaviors including Hib and implements effective prevention strategies which resulted in no incidence of hip for element number seven Hib investigation procedures the school followed the board of of Education approved policy on hip investigation procedures which provide for notification to parents of alleged offenders and alleged victims in each reported Hib incident or responsible staff are knowledgeable about the process to notify parents of alleged offenders and alleged VI victims in each reported Hib incident and how to implement the process completion of the investigation within 10 school days of the written incident report or the school has a process in place to ensure completion of each investigation within 10 school days of the written incident report preparation of a written report on the findings of each hip investigation or the school has a process in place to prepare a written report on the findings of each hip investigation results of the investigation reported to the chief School administrator within 2 days of completion of the investigation or the school has a procedure for reporting results of each investigation to the chief School administrator within 2 days of the completion of the investigation core element number eight Hib reporting the school has a procedure for ensuring that staff member reports those that are verbal and written include the required information for all incidents of violence vandalism and harassment intimidation or bullying the official grades received from the New Jersey Department Department of Education for the self assessment from the previous reporting period for the school and for the district are posted on the homepage of the school's website for the anti-bullying Bill of Rights and the requirements of the New Jersey Department of Education for the 2022 2023 school year um Bayberry School completed the self assessment and and rated each of the um indicators that were just mentioned and came out with a total score of 72 out of 78 possible points Valley View did the same and ended with a score of 71 out of 78 possible points the official grades received from the New Jersey Department of Education for the self assessment from the previous reporting period are posted on the school websites and these results will be used to guide the work of the anti-bullying Specialists and the school safety School climate team in the areas of programs training and Reporting thanks Saron so the reporting of the um Hib reports and the self assessments is done every year you also hear a report in the middle of the year right about um our our training the other aspects of the Hib program it's important to to note that this presentation um and that last slide you saw I want to make sure you understand that um Nicole did a good job of explaining that we do complete that annual self assessment and that those grades there are grades that the public schools get after tonight's presentation we actually certify those schools scores right um to the department and those the final report and those scores will become a part of our district website until the next self assessment and Reporting um you saw the the scores um in Nicole's presentation just so you know it's a minimum score of 50 right and a top score of 78 to meet all of the necessary requirements so we're really doing a a tremendous job and I want to make sure I call out our Hib Specialists our counselors our principls our teachers um and all the students that actually do understand see something say something it it does make a difference and we'll look forward to um hearing the next six months presentation um soon I I say soon but it's really like six months five six months um that is our presentations for this evening um want me just to go into the superintendent part I'm gonna start our superintendent remarks you'll come back to me in a little bit we have a lot going on tonight but I do want to start our superintendent remarks tonight um with two retirees we have um on the agenda um announcements resolutions to honor them but I do want to say um the first Frankie kerer many of you know him he's been long time um employee in The District bus driver part of our um buildings and grounds and custodial team I think everybody was sad to to see that um announcement come but um he's been with us since 2005 which is amazing and we um as you see on the agenda um whereas Frankie has exemplified expertise commitment and professionalism and his duties now therefore be it resolved that the wat Chong burough school district and Board of Education recognized Frankie's retirement effective July 1st and extend to him congratulations and best wishes for a happy healthy and enjoyable retirement he's still with us till June so you have plenty of time to see him and congratulate him the second one on our agenda um I think a lot of you know um Maggie she has um been here in the wung district since 200 what was 2002 I think it it's been I I have her um information but she has been she she told us in her retirement letter in the same classroom teaching fifth grade for 20 5 years here at Valley View very Bittersweet um and again we acknowledge not just that commitment that that's a pretty special thing to be in the same classroom teaching generations of kids here and just like Frankie Maggie will be missed it'll be a big hole that we have lost and again now therefore it be resolved that the Watchung bur school district and Board of Education recognize Maggie um can't read it without my glasses say I'm sorry Maggie kelz retirement effective July 1st 2024 and also extend her congratulations we'll have lots of time I think to to continue to talk to her over the next couple months um we have Karen kid with us tonight for the principal's report she's going to be doing um both Bayberry and Valley View but before she starts I know um Erin you have my pictures up there I know we have that slideshow but if it's it's possible we have a a video of one of our students um Haden sakuma aen cumar thank you who last night at the basketball game sang the national anthem um it was wonderful big sister pavi who helped him practice all week and held The Words which was really important but it was wonderful and we wanted to share with everybody you see the what [Music] sooud and rocket [Music] in [Music] the [Music] so what grade is H fifth grader Hayden Civic Kumar um loved loved loved being able to see that and share it thanks for letting us share it too so um Karen Bayberry and valy view you'll see my pictures up on the screen I'll go back through them um but you'll see um our police officers at Bayberry and giving out Hest trucks you're going to see our dances and concerts and practice you see our reorganization meeting um so those will be scrolling through before my comments but now we have Karen thanks nothing to do with anything I have to say no I know well no there's Tom Rich I bet you're gonna talk about him I will for five seconds he is in this okay so good evening and happy New Year to everyone I wasn't at the last meeting um I'm pleased to present the principal reports for both V Valley and Bayberry um valy view received a letter of gratitude from code.org for wholeheartedly participating in the 2023 hour of code event it read as follows your enthusiastic support and commitment to fostering Computer Science Education are truly commendable by signing up the entire school for the hour of code you demonstrated a dedication to equipping your students with essential skills that will undoubtedly play a pivotal role in their future success your decision to involve the entire school not only enhances the learning experience for your students but also sends a powerful message about the importance of embracing technology in education so a big thank you to our faculty and students for creating the opportunity for our students because they were a lot of the activities were student L as well um for this year's Mountaineer Monday students were taught the importance of social awareness skills such as treating others with kindness and respect ECT regardless of different viewpoints they utilized conversation starters related to kindness and created caring cards for their peers students in both schools are studying Dr King's life this month and discussing the impact of his words and actions Bayberry students honored Dr King by participating in the Bayberry Day of Service on Thursday January 15th students served their community in a V variety of ways such as collecting canned goods for the needy creating a kindness Banner coloring bookmarks to donate to the library and making Valentine's for seniors on January 10th let's see if the slide comes back around students at both Bayberry and Valley View attended a presentation titled always connected by Sergeant Rich the focus of the presentation was on the safe use of Technology Sergeant Rich extended this time in the district by holding a parent presentation in the Valley View ABR APR Sergeant Rich was extremely popular and made a lasting impression on our students I heard my eighth graders discussing how to change their social media settings during dismissal as they were walking out the door one student also asked him if he knew that he was an amazing dad he referenced his high school and college St Sons during the presentation so that was pretty special the Valley View Winter band concert was held on January 17th and the coral concert was held on January 18th it was wonderful to see and hear the progression of our talented artists congratulations to Mrs Morrison Miss Esposito and all of our performers Valley View held our schoolwide spelling be on the 18th after 31 rounds that's how good these kids can spell Isa gwani in 8th grade was named our school champion in March she will represent Valley View at the 8th Annual Somerset County Library Services of New Jersey spelling be spectacular I had to remember what the the initials meant our second place winner was pavi civik Kumar who you saw with her brother um and our third place winner was Alec cheki who is in grade six congratulations to all of our spelling be participants they all did an amazing job 8th grade parents were invited to watchong Hills Regional High School on Tuesday the 23rd the guidance department administration and content area supervisors gave presentations regarding C course offerings and the transition to the high school for those who are were unable to attend a recording of the evening will be available on the high school's website under the 8th grade events tab on January 23rd our 8th graders participated in an FBI outreach program where students learned about the profession the impact of their personal digital footprint on future careers and the importance of accountability and resilience they also got to put on FBI jackets take selfies and got to see some of their gear which was wonderful we had two special agents and then um I don't know what the other gentleman's job was because the special agents were so exciting that came and um presented to all of the kids in their language arts classes so they were nice small groups in their sixth grade science class Miss McCarthy students have finished studying ecology and are currently learning about geology as part of their curriculum each student picked one of the 63 national parks conducted research answered questions related to their learning and wrote a letter to their chosen Park they are now eagerly looking forward to receiving those responses from their selected national parks through generous donations from the Kimberly and Wilson Foundation Bayberry students enjoyed their first therapy dog visit on January 8th the therapy dogs will be visiting each month providing social emotional support to students and staff the foundation has also donated over 90 little spot of emotion books to help our students identify and manage their emotions in an engaging way we thank the Kimberly an Wilson Foundation for their partnership to improve our students mental health at Valley View tomorrow is the last day of the second marking period grades will be available for parents to view via the Genesis parent portal on Friday February 2nd our midyear I ready assessment window opens next week students will complete these benchmark assessments during their regularly scheduled classes results will be shared with families via the Genesis Parent Portal once all students have completed the assessment and finally congratul tion to our girls basketball team and Coach Esposito for qualifying for the playoffs thank you and have a good night thank you thank you so much thank you for being here both of you um and another good evening for me the slides that you see going by just so you know that was a 21 fruit salute to say goodbye to Patty and so welcome Karen I I'll get there in a minute so even though we've had our reorganization meeting and our board Retreat also pictures up there from those um this is the first regular board meeting of the new year happy New Year um I know that I'm looking forward to all of the possibilities that come with a new year and New Beginnings um mostly I have to say I'm hoping it's cloudy next Friday and that the groundhog cannot see his shadow so we have an early spring last week's weather I think um just about killed all of us so you know it's never an easy decision this this is the first time though that I've had to coordinate with all of our neighboring districts and the bus company before I can make a decision please know that as a working parent a parent that commuted during my children's school years I am very very mindful of the impact of these calls I always Advocate to make the call the night before so families compl and that includes our staff who also need to commute and consider their own children um um Believe It or Not despite everything you might think or hear making that call is the worst part of the job the actually the worst part of the job um and I'm grateful for so many of you with your positive comments I I appreciate that you know been here a short time and it's important um for me to have the feedback to know that I'm doing what is necessary for this community I will just ask you all to tell your kids to please stop wearing their PJs inside out putting their spoons under their pillows flushing ice cubes down the toilet they are killing me no snow no snow um we're also ending the year as you saw by saying farewell to Patty with that 21 fruit salute and welcoming our new business administrator um Karen Bishop Johnson today is what day five for you day five six um she definitely has her roller skates on we're going to have a report from Karen in just a minute um I would also like to welcome and acknowledge council president Christine Eid right over here she has been amazing attending our events and including us in events you saw some of those pictures in the slideshow too she is actually officially joining us in her capacity is a liaison from the burrow to the school board we are thrilled to have that new beginning thank you for being with us at the reorg meeting at the retreat at the parent presentation with Detective rich just this month alone can't imagine um you know what comes next but we are truly looking forward to working with you and thank you for for being with us um you heard about detective Rich from U Mrs kid he did provide four successful student assemblies as you heard um and what we hope will be the first of a series of parent programs um we had about 30 people that night everybody told me I was going to be alone with those five Pizza is just me and pizza and I was thrilled to have 30 and I hope that you'll keep giving us feedback on topics of Interest so that we can keep doubling and doubling until um we have everybody involved and engaged it has been an incredibly busy time for us working on Safety and Security um you'll hear some in the um the operations and finance committee but for all of you that I've Comm committed to to making this public we have completed our walkthroughs and our digital mapping of both schools we've been meeting with um vendors for further securing building access you'll see on the um board agenda tonight there were additional originally identified as Alysa funds Safety and Security funds 13,000 some dollars um that we have access to um that we will continue to earmark for securing building access um Aaron if you can hear me and there's a picture of Aaron and Ricky in our slideshow this month probably should be there every month but the work on the speaker systems adding our additional security cameras is happening now you might have actually run into one of the camera guys in the hall sorry they're doing a great job though um and we are also looking at our facilities use form evaluating our policies and procedures for f facilities use and events um this week I met with um Chief Anderly Captain ziton our school resource officer to update our memorandum of agreement that details all of the different ways we work together it's a 91 page document that goes through um every detail of the law every detail of how you make a call who you call what we do um obviously I cannot share that publicly with you but I will say the things that are new that we had to discuss this year that are new from previous memorandum memoranda of agreements um is the use of body camps the um regulations around cannabis right and student reporting and a big conversation and and luckily our wat Chong burough Police Department is already on this and we were already doing this too but the State directed um a look at how we are addressing Equity right how when we approach people how when we are reporting all of those things it's it's being done and it was such a wonderful conversation to hear from our Police Department already having a lot of those protocols and processes in place and really being um in a place to have those kinds of conversations with us so I am grateful for that um I will tell you that I've invited all of them to join us at the February Board of Education meeting we're going to introduce um the school resource officer position and um you will I think a lot of you maybe met officer Pete quos and you'll meet um it's a I guess a new announcement um resource officer Mike delinski um I I hope I can announce this I think I can announce this right officer Pete has been promoted to Sergeant he will remain with us in the Dare program um and officer Mike is going to be joining us we'll we'll have that introduction for the students at Bayberry um in kind of a bigger assembly they they are they they're going to miss uh high-fiving and hugging their office repeat so we want them to have that closure and be able to introduce them and the same for all of you so that'll be at the February board meeting um as you're looking through these slides you're going to see we've had some terrific events that the last one was from um the the buroughs holiday party um we had Anthony vulpi go back and visit um his Elementary School this is preparing for the concerts we have to thank we and the PTO for all of the things that they're doing and you are I know the concerts are still up there I don't know how it worked out so perfectly but you're going to hear from some of of our instrumental students also at the February Board of Education meeting pretty excited about that um that is eron you can probably stop the slides that's where I'm G to stop and introduce Karen for her first business administrator board report very exciting I know it's so exciting okay business office update so being that it's January the business office is mainly about taxes and the IRS that time of the year W2s have gone out to all of our employees we are working on 1099s I think you already know this that a short time ago it was uh discovered that 1095 forms which is another requirement that we have to fulfill for 2021 and 2022 were not filed the penalties from the IRS would be substantial if we didn't file these ASAP so what we are doing is we're working with a p company and we have been able to get them the data for 2021 and 2022 and we will get them filed by mid-February to avoid our penalty and to do what we were supposed to do we're also going to begin working on the 2023 forms which are due in March um as was explained By Ernie Turner last October we continue to review the current year account information and we are transferring monies where we need to to cover shortages we cannot as you all know have negative account lines and so those transfers are continuing to happen discretionary spending is already stopped so we're at the point now where we're only looking at need what do we have to have to get through the year next up we're beginning the process for the budget as you aware Personnel costs are 80 to 85% of the budget Julie and I met with our insurance broker recently to try to get a feel for what perhaps our increases will be for health care this year um we're going to start next week meeting with the various administrators to go through their individual budgets and that's about it that's where we've been in a week uh we're really busy office feel free to stop by but maybe make an appointment no you're doing you're literally you've hit the ground I wasn't kidding about the roller skates and even this you have not just hit the ground running but you haven't stopped for a minute and thank you I have a lot of confidence I know you're focused right now on this year um but we we did commit to to looking out at that multi-year budget during your interview process and hiring um and even though I know it's a lot to do the current year and the future I'm I'm I'm confident that you and I will be able to persevere and bring something forward for the community so you you are aware um we start working as you heard on the budget the budget calendar would usually have started much earlier these conversations would have been November and been completed by January obviously not possible with our transition in our business office um we are required by March 20th to file our tenative budget with the state for County approval our board meeting in March is on Monday March 18th to facilitate that and we will be talking about um the budget at nauseum and in detail between now and March um I would say most um definitely February you'll have a a not just a broad overview but you'll start to have that that frame right of what we're looking at so that um the board can make a an informed decision on the tenative budget in March that we have until May right to continue working to to refine the budget to be where um we we want it to be and need it to be for next year and then that final budget is um voted in approved in May there are two meetings in May again just so everybody knows um the May 9th meeting will be probably a pretty short meeting the May 9th meeting is specific to reappointments of staff right so that that is the full purpose of that and that is when that is final you can go forward and finalize the rest of the budget thank you Mrs Bishop Johnson okay at this time we're going to move over to committee reports uh mo may I please have a report for a TR committee uh the Personnel committee met sorry Personnel committee met on Thursday January 18th of 2024 the uh meeting began at 5:57 and normally we are scheduled for 5:00 p.m. but we decide to P back until 5:30 just because uh to give curriculum a little bit more time um the committee members that were present were myself um Manny Anthony and Jen um so to begin Dr Glazer reported that Caren kid earned tenure um as of January 2nd 2024 congratulations the district has been approved for participation in The Limited CeCe C 5-year Pro pilot program by the NJ Department of Education um this allows us to work on a filling difficult positions and Expediting certificates when a candidate is identified uh Dr Glazer also provided an update to new committee members regarding the NGA Staffing questions um this led to a larger discussion of staff and concerns as we build the upcoming budget um as was reported by Ernie Turner at the October 2023 Bo Boe meeting uh two employees and their health benefits were not included on the position control roster a teacher was hired using bond interest which will be expended in June the school resource officer was hired using the same bond interest which will also be again expended in June um these in addition to the four staff members that the njaa identified as a um as halftime in the budget um need to be reinstated to a fulltime to create a sorry need to be uh reinstated to fulltime as this amounts to six POS six positions that are not in the current budget Additionally the basic skills teacher at Bayberry was moved into a classroom and should be reinstated the library position at Bayberry is currently being staffed by a teacher working halftime under the Middle School librarian certificate and the Middle School librarian is retiring in February uh the position should be reinstated with a certified staff member so this creates a total of eight positions that are currently not accounted for in our District budget uh Dr Glazer also shared the budget timeline or process and she and Karen Bishop Johnson are noting the many challenges that have been identified while trying to have the funds to complete this school year and planned for 2425 aside from significant shortfall in Staffing there is a health insurance projection of anywhere from 7 to 12% increase uh this estimate is significantly lower than our previous provider or the state health benefits program um there was also just general discussion regarding the Boe vacancy and uh ad process review and review of BOE and District goals the meeting adjourned at 7:09 p.m. thank you Mr frh uh M Jette would you please uh share with us the curriculum committee notes yes we do curriculum just to make sure you know because it's not stated that I'm curriculum it is we fixed it for you fixed yep yeah oh you emailed me we fixed it I don't know I have committee for curriculum but anyway yes here we go all right Thursday January 18th our meeting began at 4:00 and it ended at 5:36 and committee me uh members are myself Dory Harvey and ftim M Santos Board of Ed president Manuel Gonzalez attended virtually and Board of Ed vice president Mohamad Fred took turns attending Administration and guests were Dr Julie Glazer Karen kid Deli viiew principal Denise vickner Bayberry principal attended virtually Nicole dtto also attended virtually she's our head of special services on January the 10th 2024 we've heard about detective sergeant Tom uh Tom Rich a cyber safety expert formerly of the summit Police Department held assemblies at Bayberry and for grades 56 and 78 at valy view a parent presentation was held in the evening at 7:00 in val view allpurpose room approximately 30 parents were present after the presentations parents requested Sergeant Rich's email and students lined up to speak with him after his presentation at Valley View principal kid noted that after listening to the subject of Predator danger the seventh and eighth graders started changing their cell phone settings Sergeant Rich's message to the children was to use this technology responsibly a series of parent events is also being planned there was a lengthy discussion regarding the development of the upcoming budget Dr Glazer detailed a number of Staffing deficiencies related to previous budgets over time and related this to academic achievement this will be a discussion publicly during the strategic planning process principles and the special service director also shared their concerns as they enter the budget process over the years positions have been cut curriculum writing and program review have been limited to State mandates and program growth has been limited by uh lack of funding they reported that texts being used in the classrooms are over 10 years old they would like to explore and possibly implement the science of reading program and provide further professional development for staff principal ficner reported teachers were willing to personally pay for continuing to attend math workshops because they found them to be so helpful in the classroom however uh the district could not provide additional uh sessions when asked about block scheduling principal kid reported that it was not implemented due to board and Community concerns it can be Revisited and is a best practice allowing an increase in class time and More Death know depth of knowledge however this transition would require additional Staffing and professional learning which has not been possible Nicole dtoa informed us of the positive changes that had been made for preschool our preschool program has greatly improved in preparing our three and four yearold children for kindergarten over the past four years at this time there are 30 students in need of ESL they received one period of instruction day the teacher is shared between Bayberry and Valley View additionally it was shared that due to Summer referendum construction we are exploring the possibilities for housing our esy program for this summer at the end of the meeting most stepped out and Anthony joined and Dr Glazer brought Anthony and Fatima up to date on the board of ed vacancy candidate interview process candidate interviews will be held publicly at a Boe meeting on February 22nd and a consensus is expected to be reached in executive session voting will be in public candidates will be given interview questions ahead of time so they can be prepared uh an appointment is expected that evening thank you thank you Miss Chet Miss Harvey can you please share with us the policy committee minutes sure the policy committee met on Wednesday January 17th at 5:00 p.m. a.m. till about 7:05 p.m. uh we met at the board office those in attendance were Dr Julie Blazer Manuel Gonzalez for part of the meeting myself uh Danielle Amadeo Phyllis Jed and Muhammad fras for part of the meeting uh the committee went over the following agenda items policy 0143 the committee was able to view the advertisement for the board vacancy the committee reviewed the Boe appointment process because an advisory opinion came out that changed the process the board had previously followed the new process is as followed is as follows once the advertisement goes through all committees it will be advertised candidates will be able to apply by sending in a letter of intend and resume and the board office will verify the candidates backgrounds and that they meet all the criteria to serve on the board the interviews will be conducted during the public session of the February board meeting for the community to see the board will deliberate an executive session hopefully come to a consensus nominate one candidate provide the community with the reason why the board selected that candidate and vote it was explained that the board cannot have two nominations for one board seat if the board cannot come to a consensus and we run out of time to appoint someone within the 65 day window then the county superintendent will pick the person who will fill the seat on the board the committee reviewed the language in the policy and agreed that since the policy states that the board will interview in public or executive session the board is still following the bylaw but we need to update the policy at a subsequent meeting Dr Glazer will email all board members with the advisory opinion information for their review uh board and District goals there were no new revisions to the go goals policy 5 uh 111 Dr Glazer informed the committee that a student would be moving out of the district but would like to finish the year based on the policy the family pays tuition to finish the year the committee agreed to revisit the policy sometime after June to discuss possible revisions to the policy during transition years such as no tuition for fourth and e8th grades policy 7510 Dr Glazer explains that they have been updating the facility request form to reflect the current policy she explain the district's various Safety and Security concerns when allowing school facilities to be used the superintendent briefly explained the difference in facility use fees between the different class systems in the policy and some difficulties the board office is having with the fee collections the committee agreed to revisit this policy in in case changes are recommended by the end of the school year to discuss the different class systems and facility use fees in more detail uh we had a Strauss SM policy and regulation review the committee looked at the policies Strauss smme indicated uh needed to be altered the committee will develop a schedule for tackling this project at the next policy committee meeting policy 0164 Dr Glazer informed the committee that over the summer this bylaw was brought to the policy committee by the interim superintendent to discuss eliminating board member comments under the order of business since other boards of Education agendas do not have such an agenda item and the board still can discuss topics at the end of the meeting under board business reasons as to why the previous committee didn't pursue changing this policy last summer were shared the committee decided to discuss possibly altering this policy at the next policy committee meeting policy R 8320 Dr Glazer explained that the policy requires an employee to pay 5 cents per page for a copy of the employees personnel file the committee recommends removing this from the policy and it will be on uh the agenda for first read tonight uh the meeting calendar the committee agreed to keep the time of the policy committee meeting to 5:00 p.m. and that all committee meetings the future will be virtual if any Community uh Committee Member would like to attend in person they should let Dr Glazer and the chair of the committee know to expect them in the board office uh budget calendar Dr Glazer gave the committee a brief explanation of what to expect with the budget calendar some highlights are that they have already started looking at the Personnel that must be included in the budget at the January meeting we will have the audit report presented which we just had the tenative budget needs to be voted on in March and the final budget needs to be voted on in May along with Personnel renewals Dr Glazer will keep the committee posted on all budget updates and there was no new business thank you I just want to say it's a regulation not a policy that's on the agenda it's regulation thank you Mrs Harvey Mr fridge can you please uh share with us the committee reports for operations Finance on January 16th 2024 the operations and finance committee uh met uh virtually due to the weather conditions uh the attendees included myself Dory Harvey Jennifer agular auu sorry good enough Gonzalez and uh J Julie Glazer Karen Bishop Johnson uh Conor bran Ernie Turner Frank bulby Ricky Boyd and Aaron uh Lovich uh the meeting began at 5:00 p.m. ended at 7:04 p.m. um to begin with Aaron provided an update on the referendum technology Pro projects the PA system at Bayberry has been completely replaced there's still some supplemental work that needs to be completed but um it is practically finished uh the security camera installation is in progress obviously um drg Architects also provided a referendum project update um the punch list for SEC film project at Bayberry um is still not complete but otherwise the entire rest of the project is complete uh a separate film project with the man trap in the main office reconfiguration will take place during the summer uh the pay application was approved in the December BOE agenda and we are retaining $3,488 for the punch list um as for the case work um the finished work is still not complete um Nick nion will not be doing it and Ricky will be instead uh Ricky is waiting for information for room 209 at Valley View and he will complete it uh legy construction management gave an HVAC update the contractor started submit uh their submittals and have been to the schools to survey the project is currently in the paperwork phase the physical work is ready to start during the summer uh no update on delivery times yet but there have not been any reported delays the RG Architects reported on Project progress for package three from Roofing at bayar Valley View uh they have found a contractor could do a roof investigation without a lift uh it is possible the slate roof may fall below the bid threshold for public bid um a meeting with the county solar panel provider roofing materials provider and burough engineer drg Dr Glazer and Karen Johnson uh was scheduled on 118 regarding the temporary removal and replacement of the solar panels and required timeline for being offline and out of service the panels are not owned by the county or the school district um after this meeting uh we are looking to set a timeline for the advertising and opening of package three and we're hoping hoping that we could have the bid opening at on February 13th Ernie Turner question whether trimco is a State Contractor and we discussed if it would save some time if if we could just hire for the roof materials um Rick reported that the lock project has been completed with the exception of two doors that have been back ordered for months Valley View the Valley View faculty room will U be worked on over spring break the teachers have been involved in choosing colors furniture and Etc uh the project will come in under budget as it is being done in house there are samples for the new media speci media center specialist and the child study team to review for the media center renovation this kid will schedule a meeting for the meeting time for their input uh leg Legacy construction also reported that I they are scheduling package two for the toilet room kickoff meetings with the contractors and district for next week um past the referendum um Aaron did report on something that he discovered while cleaning out the storage of the summer building for the summer building projects the district received a donation of Chromebook cases from W during covid 350 Snap-on cases were ordered but only 30 of the cases actually fit devices no one recognized the problem for months after the donation was received and when they tried to return the cases they discovered that it was too late when the cases were when the cases were rediscovered they put it off her disposal um Aaron reached out to the company again and while they could not accept a return of the cases they did agree to exchange them for headphones that we need thank you Erin uh the district will have to pay to ship the cases back um there's also been a lot of activity around Safety and Security uh Dr Glazer and Ricky met with Windor automatic Gates regarding building access and fire safety protocol Ricky watching police and the principals and Dr Glazer have completed the crg digital mapping as Dr glaz already mentioned Aon is continuing to work on business or building access upgrades targeting the elicited law Safety and Security funds the administrative team is pushing updating the facilties use form which again Dr Glazer already mentioned um there was a discussion of items expected to be on the agenda uh which includes approve a tuition paying student at the per pupil cost for the remainder of the school year after the family moves payment of Bill transfers Financial reports uh disposal of equipment donation of funds to provide therapy dog uh Dr Glazer is also meeting with the watching police to review our me memorandum of agreement or sorry she met with the watching police on January 22nd and we went over the board and District goals again um Dr Glazer and Karen Bishop shared the budget timeline in process as well as the many challenges that have been identified while trying to have the funds to complete the school year and plann for 2425 uh there are significant shortfalls in Staffing there is is an health insurance uh projection increase uh of 7 to 12% which I mentioned earlier um and then Ernie Turner also addressed several several budget development issues also highlighting Staffing the budget calendar and the um budget development of Staffing um and Dr Glazer address the Boe vacancy ad and process and again the meeting will Jed at 7:04 p.m. thank you Mr frage all right at this moment uh we have board leas on reports which we will approve U these underaction items a um Community engagement anything from PTO anything from we anything from cpeg okay at this time I'd like to move on to board member comments seeing that there are no board member comments we're going to move on to comments from the public on agenda items only we welcome input from the public there are two times during the meeting when the public is invited to speak the first opportunity to comment on agenda items only is now the second opportunity for the public to comment is towards the end of the meeting total lot of time for public comments is 30 minutes before you make your comment please state your name and Municipality of residents and sign the sheet that's on the um podium in the event it appears the public comment portion of the meeting May exceed 30 minutes the proceeding officer May limit each statement made by the participant to three minutes duration our public forums are not structured as a question and answered session but rather is offered as opportunity to share input with the board in instances where the board feels a response is needed the presiding officer or superintendent will address the comment New Jersey statures do not permit the board to discuss Personnel or hiring in public sessions names of students should not be used members of the public should consider their comments in light of legal actions legal rights of those affected and identified in their comments and be aware that they are personally legally responsible with potential liability for comments they make to the board the board shall not be held liable for comments made by members of the public right if you could just sign the sheet too for us yes thank you um yes my name is Christine Eid 105 Tiffany way in Wong um I had two questions one was um you mentioned that the solar panels are not owned by the school or the county does that mean that they're owned by the state and if so is the energy split at all do they take energy and and allow energy and um if so um are there what are the additional costs incurred if any if you want me well there's cost I'm sorry do you mean that that there's cost to take off the solar panels move is that what there's um I'm sure there's cost for that yeah that's one part um but who owns them and a lot of times depending on who owns them depends on how much energy is given back to the person that houses them so does the school schools get all of the energy and then pay money or gets all of the energy and does not pay money we pay money every month okay is that in an is that on the audit is it like it it's probably I I don't know at that level of detail but we were told at this meeting that um we pay 5.5 five cents 5.5 cents a kilowatt for the power we receive and we were bless you and we were told um they gave us the last couple months bills of what we paid 700 I think 700 one month a th000 a month um which is significantly less they say than the you know the regular utility that was the conversation um we have asked as as Karen said we've asked for that cost benefit analysis right what are we saving what you know thank you for that but we have nothing we have no reports nothing so they're going to um create that for us and show the side by side comparison the the you know what we're saving with the solar and what we're paying versus the regular utilities were the panels originally provided through a grant and um taking them off and putting back back on is there any grant for that or does that have to be paid for by the school so so what they explained to us was in the contract um and the same company by the way that installed it in 2012 is the same company that will temporarily remove them and replace them but what was explained to us was in the contract and it was a grant with the county and there are other school districts that are a part of that um it was explained to us that as part of the contract that same company removes and replaces um there is a cost for that it'll come with the referendum it'll be part of of the um bid package and if as Karen explained or some maybe operations explained um in the contract they only allow us to be offline for 10 days right and after 10 days there's a penalty so the construction management firms and the architect as they're preparing the bid um for any contractors we're trying to um be reasonable 10 days is probably not reasonable to do that work so to be reasonable and to um look at the penalties they did tell us the penalty is minimal per day what 50100 a day so so it it won't have a huge impact on our overall budget thank you and then may am allowed to ask a second question okay great thank you um is there an online audit uh about the C dollar Co dollars that were received and what they exactly used for is that somewhere on on line uh I would have to get back to you sorry I'm not sure it probably is but I don't want to tell you something okay thank you so much I'm just writing my name and address here real quick okay thanks make sure they're there thank you very much and thank you for all of your work every one of you greatly greatly appreciated I know it takes a lot out of your time energy and it's volunteer so thank you thank you thank you how do we get back to answer Ken just called okay you wrote your information on there right so we can reach out to you we know where to find her good evening um I'd like to compliment the administration for the visual aids uh it's nice to be able to clearly see the presentations I think it it adds adds quite a bit so um kudos for the uh for the visual aids um um as I was listening to the readout to the audit um it sort of came to question came to mind um you know where are we in relation to where we've been in the past uh I know the audit is more procedural and saying we spent the money in the right places you know if I'm wrong let me know but it seemed like we had no major item overruns so that there were no real Financial issues uh that the audit picked up uh I guess it picked up that we're starting our budgeting process in the whole ho a little bit and going to be more difficult to move from there um and of course we're all facing every district is facing the same problem you know were four five 6% inflation and a 2% increase in uh in funds uh from the taxpayers so that's going to be a uh a real issue uh but having been involved in the referendum and having come to the meetings I'm so used to hearing uh the words that uh um we uh we have no money the audit didn't appear to you know give that impression that we we have no money um yeah it's going to be tough just as is for every other District who's facing what we are but I'm just curious where are we in relation to the statement of we have no money or we're getting the revenues that we need and we're we're going to uh uh you know come up with a a budget as best we can into constraints that we have uh as every other district is going to uh to do so are we are we out of the no money uh era or are we are we still in that era we honestly can't answer you the um Governor's budget address isn't until February 28th we don't get the health care you know actual numbers what we received so far as an estimate we don't get that until closer to March when we're done is that the same for all school districts yes okay and we don't find out the the information from the buau either my question is people in town have been told at meeting after meeting and and referendum meetings and all meetings that we have no money really to do anything I'm just wondering if we're in a operational mode like every other district is where you know the day-to-day business is going on it's tight but are we can we say that we're not in a we don't have any money situation so again I I am not in a place to answer you the audit is about procedures and it's about last year and you you've been here so you know that we used every available revenue and appropriation and reallocated and you just heard Mrs Bishop Johnson say she's continuing to transfer lines to make it to the end of this school year beyond that we're going to make it to the end of the school year hope okay and then we're going to go into the new budget but we aren't at a place to every other school district is going to do the same thing I I don't know where every other school district is financially so we again we don't have the information to answer you tonight well you maybe what we can do is find out if that's the case because we've told residents in watchong for about three years there's no money I think think we need to tell I think that that has been a and I think that's been a truthful statement I'm saying I am unprepared to to answer tonight we don't have the information that's fine going forward to answer well I'd like to see you know somebody answer the question where we are in relation to we have no money for programs I think we we we'll be doing that in February and March in our public convers a wrong impression to people in town when we say we have no money I don't think it's a wrong it's been a wrong imp question but I don't have the information to answer I think you and I will mut you disagree on that okay Rich Zano uh watch forget if I have to say my address but thank you for introducing yourself um happy New Year uh everybody uh the last two meetings have been this one's long but uh P which has been nice so new year new turnover um I know it's been like the holidays and there's a lot of turnover just comment all great updates about the referendum stuff from from Mo and but the site has gone a little stale um there haven't been an update since November but again it's been the holidays and then we had all this turnover so I understand why but just hope we keep um updating all that stuff but I I was hearing within the committee reports that there are still things going on um the sergeant Rich thing was fantastic um cyber safety and like internet literacy is like something that I'm very passionate about and so the more of those types of presenters or programs we can do obviously I don't I guess it's not like a curriculum thing but it's just whatever we can get from the from people around in New Jersey but that stuff's really important for our kids because uh internet is a hard place to navigate and uh the more we prepare our kids for that um would be great and then last thing I was just curious about and I'm very much I have no horse in this game and my wife would probably yell at me if I brought this up uh but there have been a lot of reports lately uh or studies about the impact of cell phones in the school um on kids and their ability to learn I was just curious like is that like anywhere on the radar of the state or the county or here or anything like that but I don't even know if it's something we're allowed to do but just it's on our radar there certainly you've seen the same articles I'm assuming in in nj.com or the Star Ledger about what districts are doing on the radar yeah of hor I mean yeah thank thank you any other comments from the public okay moving on to action items Danielle can you please move action item a yes appoint board Representatives um do want me to read the whole thing resolved at the watching burough Board of Education upon the recommendation of the superintendent approves the appointment of board member Representatives by the board President should I read them out uh sure yeah the names in in their their board sure uh Somerset County School boards Association Dano New Jersey school boards Association Jen agero Somerset County Educational Services Commission Dory Harvey Morris Union jointure commission Julie Blazer legislative leaon uh Mohammed F and Jory Harvey as an alternate thank you are we gonna move are we G three it's up to you I mean you could make a motion now okay this um can I have a motion to approve um action items a just a so moved is there a second second any discussion can I have a vote please okay Mrs Amadeo yes Mr fr yes Mr Gonzalez yes Mrs Garo yes we're going to get it right Mrs Harvey yes Mrs jet yes Mrs Santos yes Mrs Mr anasia yes all yeses motion passes okay than you have reports thank you um yes so on January 11th the Board of Education had their first retreat in a while and I think as a group we were very productive and focused Miss Thorton from New Jersey score uh school boards led us to the acate training and board operation scenarios and in that developing district and the Board of Education goals for the next six months once the goals are approved Dr Glazer has the responsibility of creating the action plans of each district goal detailing the action steps timeline responsibilities parties outcomes and evidence of completion she will share these with the Board of Education and the committee and publicly at each Board of Education meeting the disting goal are also how Dr Glazer will be evaluated I hope our progress on the board of education will be evident we came to a consensus and the committee and committed to achieving their goals together we look forward to working with all of us as we strategically planning and our focus in areas and goals as a community um Danielle can I please um have you um approve uh District goals a oh no you did a so B and C B and C do you want me to you want me to read them yes yeah approved District goals um resolved that the watchong bough Board of Education upon the recommendation of the superintendent approves K to8 District goals effective January 25th 2024 through June 30th 2024 as follows a develop and approve a sustainable balance balanced budget b find solutions to solve Transportation concerns and C begin development of a strategic plan thank you she needs to do you see approv Board of Education goals uh resolve that the watchong burough Board of Education upon the recommendation of the superintendent approves K8 District goals effective January 25th 2024 through June 30th 2024 as follows a to find and appoint a new board member to fill our vacancy and Supply support and onboarding to our new team member B Foster a more positive and supportive working environment during Board of Education meetings and committee meetings create create an environment of Civility and professionalism with more straightforward communication among board members and the superintendent during all meetings and C Provide support within our role as board members for the district's strategic plan thank you can I have a motion to move action items B and C so move is there a second second any discussion yes um I just wanted to bring up and I apologize for uh traveling during the uh The Retreat when uh these goals were discussed and uh just uh had some time to to look at them at the committee meeting too I understand but we did kind of run out of time there I just wanted to um just you know mention uh I I listened to the meeting afterwards how these goals were developed and I understand that this is uh not the usual timing for the goals so that we're um just covering from now till June 30th but there still is a good amount of time in that span there and um so I just wanted to uh share my thoughts that um when you look at the New Jersey school board's association's uh training materials they do stress that when we develop the goals that they be smart goals and uh the smart uh standing for specific measur attainable relevant and time sensitive so I would just uh say I understand U goal a with the the district goal to develop and prove a sustainable balance budget um I just for something like goal B uh find solutions to solve Transportation concerns I just um you know having attended the town hall meeting on that there's there's concerns uh from many different directions on that I would prefer to see you know that goal be uh converted to a Smart goal like the njsba directs us to uh something like plan and execute a proactive and fiscally responsible Transportation plan that addresses the safety accuracy and efficiency concerns of multiple stakeholders by August 2024 um because that is the you know time sensitive uh having a deadline driven goal is what uh njsba has really provided the guidance to try to do whenever possible so that would be my uh suggestion for that that goal and the njsba also said uh Gwen said in the meeting that you know this board meeting is the time to you know pull our the shared wisdom of the board and uh have these kind of discussions so I hope uh that you know uh it's not taken the wrong way I know we're all working in Goodwill here to develop these goals um the only other thing um on the district goals uh two things with the c being the development of a strategic plan again it's just um I did hear the discussion about uh not being able to complete it uh within that time frame but I think um when you look at the uh steps that are taken from understanding the process Community planning day uh presentation of outcomes this was uh from our past strategic plan um that there might be um a a Target that we could set for this uh you know time frame instead of having it uh just begin development of strategic plan so I would be for uh amending that goal to uh to reflect uh a step that we would like to reach and all in the time frame with that um and then uh finally just uh what I think is missing from the district goal is uh there's lack of a student achievement goal um and you know just to uh just to say that um this issue has come up uh the discussion of having a uh academic achievement goal in our in our goals I feel that uh there's um was a time if anyone happened to be following back from 201728 when we had uh some District turmoil and uh turnover and a sharp decrease in the state test scores that resulted in our state rankings uh dropping um there was an interm superintendent that came in back at that time and um put some practices in place that I think uh showed a quick uh Rebound in the test scor so I know that as a board it's not our uh position to say um you know what those methods would be but I think that um if we just um made it clear that the district has a goal that's um centered something like increased student achievement by raising academic proficiency and math and Ela by 5% across grades 3 through 8 as measured by the 2024 njsla I think that that would be in keeping with u the smart goal with the uh the way it's worded and uh something that has has been lacking for some time in our goals thank you thank you and Phyllis and I had this conversation the exact conversation almost word for word yeah um earlier today do you want to talk about our conversation I I just feel like it it's a board conversation I just felt the goals were too broad you know too General and I would like to have seen more specific ones but some of the things you had said that's some of the goals I mentioned were more principal goals and more from different places so I'm wondering the goals we're thinking about and Anthony was just mentioning will that be part like like of our Strate uh strategic plan that we will see that in there somehow so so I'm going to yes and and yes so um in our conversation you brought up the the goal about the 5% and I mentioned that that's typically a building goal right a principal goal but that's not a goal that's achievable between January 25th and the testing in April and May you you again you've heard these conversations about um what it takes to raise achievement full Staffing textbooks professional learning strategies it it's a proactive process and and what Phyllis and I talked about is that in a strategic planning process right just as you said Anthony you go out to the community you survey you bring people in you get all of those perspectives themes develop and from those themes Focus areas been doing this for 20 years I have never not once not once um seen a strategic plan that did not have an academic goal and even though you don't go into the process with a preconceived set of goals right it grows from the community from the stakeholders again I've never not seen that be a focus and the same way you know we talked about I just heard Manny you know go back through the process that when um went through with us at The Retreat those specific action steps timelines when Phyllis and I talked when she presented that to me earlier today Anthony I actually wrote back the very first sentence was oh you're yes you and I are on the same page it's always smart goals what what Gwen was facilitating at the retreat was not to start there our our biggest concerns in the next six months biggest it's going to be the budget between now and may it's going to be fixing transportation and again we've committed to that I've already started those conversations I have another meeting tomorrow where we're going to launch those there will be an action plan for that as Manny said um to begin the Strategic plan is huge it's not just uh survey and bringing people together I hope we bring people together a number of times on a lot of topics Transportation academics whatever those topics are to develop those themes and focus areas I I'm assuming we're going to be looking at a three I prefer a fiveyear strategic plan that's up to the board um but but the steps that come under that that's the most important part and that's why at The Retreat Gwen didn't feel that we could be done by June I wish we could it's not going to be realistic because on top of all of this this is important these are our priorities please remember we are also doing a referendum we have three full packages being done this summer we have um esy this summer we have we have I just I I want us to be realistic not that they aren't smart goals but that at least for the district goals those action plans that you'll see in the next couple weeks if these get reviewed have that level of detail have that have each of those specific measurable attainable realistic and time bound aspects to it so as this is really until June that's yeah it's only June you have another retreat in June where we'll set for the whole year but the hoped for outcome is right that we've already started this strategic planning process that we've already found some of those Focus areas we've already as a community and board identified what those priority areas are so that we we're ready for so starting you know in September we could work towards some of the things right we're already looking to that yeah right and I don't want to speak for Miss kid I know she's sitting here right in the front row but um that that is what happens you know we have typically right now our strategic plan is ending again I wish it would have started last year and that's it is what it is but you would have your strategic plan your focus areas right and those goals those are are overarching for all of us then under the Strategic plan right you have your district and board goals okay then under that you have based on you know test scores need whatever criteria it is you have your building goals and then each of your staff members I I think you know this but just in case you don't each of the staff members also set goals related back to the district goals that relate back the building goals that relate back to the district goals that relate back to the Strategic plan there's actually a role for every single person in the organization in in moving those goals forward what whatever they are if that helps so we'll be able to see something like what I was saying that's what I mean you're going to be able to see but but again I I again we've had this conversation I know I've had this conversation often in the community there has been a long time right without investing in staff and textbooks and professional learning and whatever those things all have an impact and those things it's taken time to see that impact e even if you wanted to see a 5% growth in test scor I would love to see that it would be the wouldn't you you would love to see that but but you have to put the strategy in place to make that a reality you can't just say January 25th hey by you know the testing actually science is March I'm I'm actually not even giving us enough time it's March April May testing it's it's not a realistic when when we're talking even smal it's not realistic it's not attainable in this not that we don't want that it's just not it has to be part of a bigger picture but it would be realist if we started this in September well it still wouldn't necessarily give you 5% by March I'm not going to say but and that I'm not saying that we shouldn't aspire to that and I'm not saying we shouldn't have measurable goals and outcomes that is that a really important aspect right of goal setting to have measurable outcomes I'm saying that I don't think that there's ever been a time I don't know when the wat Chung burough schools were founded 1900 1800 I don't know but I doubt that there's ever been a time where every person in this community didn't want the highest achievement the best for their children right I I just don't believe that and even though it is not a stated goal under our priorities for the next three months it is always our priority that's what we're here for we're a school district it's about students in our school district right it's about their success for every child so regardless of the you know statement of the next three months it's always front and center Mrs kid are you ever not thinking about achievement just curiously always um I just wanted to say um I understand the the need to measure goals because that that's what we've done in the past um I did question Gwen about this especially for the board goals um because it's usually uh the superintendent who puts the action plan together for the district goals um and she advised me that um that would go through probably committee so that the all the board members could discuss um their ideas on how they would want to measure um each one of those uh board goals so it's not that they're not measurable we just haven't discussed it yet that's what I understood and just to add you know obviously for developing and approving a sustainable balanced budget we have a time frame that you've discussed already tonight that we have certain deadlines in March and may that make that clear this will be 100% of most of our time so that whether we add it or not I I just think that for the same is is almost true for the uh find solutions to solve the transportation concerns by August is when you know we'll be getting ready to budget also right through the budget um and other considerations to there's a lot of considerations but we can't it just so everybody understands and I I know I say we're having meetings but I haven't reported this yet um if if Durham doesn't want us again if we are going out for bid and and somebody else is the low bidder if um based on costing right Transportation costs go up 6% over our current year and we already underfunded it this year $75,000 there are a number of considerations I can't wait we we are already I've already met with my counterpart um superintendent looking at schedules Bell schedules how they do tiered busing we've already met Tim sty um lill Warren Karen was part of that meeting to talk about what we would want to see in a budget um and a timeline for that so so it's got to be happening now and those I mean I know this sounds crazy um when we do the action plan we are already looking at the calendar to say when can we have Town Halls on Transportation when might we survey the community on prior ities when can we you know bring the budget to more than just board meetings right we want to be able to to bring it to the community so everybody understands right not just we we don't have all of the community here at just a board meeting we have to bring the information to them I met with the mayor I've met with the bureau administrator I have you know Karen and I have gone back through the how many 10 I think years of budget presentations we've gone back through um 10 years of um tax levies of um ratables of home you know assessments all of this has to be done almost simultaneously I hate to say that so it's it's challenging I'm not saying that it won't be specific I'm not saying it won't be measurable I'm saying that it will be realistic I'm saying what we're what is proposed here has to be attainable but our time is these six months and and actually for transportation less because I need to have that happen sooner right if we have to have the same software as the high school if our routes are different because of different I'm not waiting till August for that right so then June 30th is if you had to put a date on all six of these goals have an out date of June 30th all all six of these and then what would happen is at your next Retreat you would set you know your goals for the following year strategic plan goals again that's up to to the board three years five years so each year right you have your overarching focus areas and your goals but then you're going to have those action steps the same way you know for this for each year this is what we're going to do this is who's respons responsible this is the timeline these are the outcomes right and you're going to have that for every year of your strategic plan also for for years right for whatever time period you set so if you if you had to pick an attainable step to to reach by June 30th there where what are we for the Strategic plan um I'm just I actually started the action plan for the budget and transportation first so I don't don't have I have not even thought of that timeline but at the retreat when we spoke to Gwen um we expected right again to have surveyed to have been out in the community to start to develop that feedback to start looking at themes to start to have those Focus areas right that that's where we talked about at the retreat all right so somewhere between presentation of outcom and then approval goals so uh yeah some of the last steps that finalize strategic plan submit to the Board of Education Implement a strategic plan goes those span of years so it's just um it would it would be helpful to I think uh toine some step that we hope to be at by that's what the action plans for yeah we just we again if you watched The Retreat I think you said you did the the conversation was very specific we have a number these are Big challenges simultaneous challenges to accomplish these are not typically a six Monon a six Monon uh thing that you you just knock off and to do them all at the same time is even more challenging so again I I agreed to it as well remember my evaluation is tied to this so I agreed to this and I know what's involved but I also have to be able to have the time to build those action plans and timelines and action steps would it be helpful to set a deadline for those action plans you do have that deadline okay it's your committees and each committee will be going through those timelines so for me that's three weeks to develop six months worth of action steps on top of the daily operations of the district and and I hope you you all remember that we came to a consensus with this and uh we discussed it in the Committees and um I believe that we should trust what Miss Thorton had recommended and that Dr Glazer is going to put this together in the action plans and it will all get completed I believe that thank you okay uh thank you thank you for the comments Anthony and uh Miss Harvey and and mred um can I have a a vote please Mrs aaro I'm sorry is some are we making a motion on a certain I believe we did right we did right before this okay for this is for B and C or B B and B and C together okay just want to confirm that yes Mrs Amadeo yes Mr frge yes Mrs Harvey yes Mrs jet yes Mr angia yes Mr Gonzalez yes Mrs Santos yes motion passes excellent thank you oh I'm up next oh yeah so and I know this is a long meeting so I I'm not I don't know that I'm gonna do this but I do want you all to know this is the Board of Education recognition month this is when you know um districts like ours that have November elections and reorganization ations bring everybody together um the New Jersey school boards Association does um this every year in January we also acknowledge our board members at the um New Jersey school boards Association in October I hope we'll be able to find a way to all be there together um this um resolution I am I couldn't be more proud to um put on the agenda I again each of you will receive a copy of it for the members of the public it is on your agenda I don't want to prolong the night it's a long resolution but please know every one of the people sitting in front of you as Miss Eid said is a volunteer when they um went out for election put themselves on the line um to to be a part of this to make a difference in this Learning Community to make a difference for children I I hear all the time oh it's only five hours a month so and all of you will look at me and say or five hours a day and that's and that's the reality the work that you do is not just meaningful but it is powerful and impactful for people that don't understand the roles and responsibilities of a board of education our school boards are who set our policies they oversee the operations not the daytoday right nitty-gritty they they they are looking at making sure that the budget is balanced and sustainable making sure that we have goals all of the things that we're talking about tonight that's so so important and I think that um I would be remiss in saying not saying honestly that this work is in public these are public officials accountable to to all of you and talking about the needs so when we're having these discussions civil discussions important discussions like what we just had this is how you know that your school board is targeted on making sure that you have the best possible education and outcomes for the students that the achievement indicators are in place that everything that we would want for our children is happening so during Schoolboard recognition month every month because you do it every month but during Schoolboard recognition month again everybody should be looking to the eight people soon to be nine I hope nine people that sit at this table um who sit in our committees who spend all of that time not just with the local boards and our Public Schools but being liaison and everything else to advance our children's education so thank you for all of that thank you for being willing it's a lot to be just willing and thank you um for making the effort right to understand that role and responsibility and to make sure that the wat Chung burrow public schools are the best that they can be thank you okay um Jen if you can please uh move oh you have there was something missing I'm sorry so um number three was inadvertently he left out of the agenda it's um HIV to be approved so um Jen if you can please um you need Karen to read the resolutions so people know what they're voting okay okay the one that was affirmed the superintendent HIV report resolved that the Wang burough Board of Education upon recommendation of the superintendent affirms the determination as reported for the 2324 school year for the following investigation numbers VV 010324 001 and bv1 1220 23001 one and that would make um five items under Administration Jen if you can please move uh items one through five okay I move um administrative under administrative Board of Education recognition month approve minutes of previous meetings approve 2023 2024 memorandum of agreement approve new jersey number four approve New Jersey Department of Education School self assessment and number five approve superintendent HIV reports thank you second second any discussion second it's a couple seconds can you get that back any discussion uh I just had a question with the um number four the approved New Jersey Department of Education School self assessment um it was the presentation it was nice to have that Nar narration along with the PowerPoint um but was that provided anywhere to us in any format before this meeting because uh a lot of times almost every time there's a presentation to the public on a PowerPoint the board would see it so this is an unusual so this report is required by Statute to be done to the public um and what happens next so after it's it's a weird system for this one but after it's presented I have to go online to the state I certif that it's been presented publicly and to the school board you will then get um Nicole's whole presentation and then we wait for the state to do their magic I guess looking at all of that they will then give us the report card to publish on the district website so it's kind of a different system um and unfortunately Nicole couldn't be with us tonight I was thrilled that she made this Pres presentation it was wonderful with the sound um but you will also after you again after we certify it and we do that you still have that opportunity to ask questions thank you okay this time if uh we can please Anthony if you can please share the Personnel oh didn't do a roll oh I'm you haven't voted on discussion that's that's right uh so can we have a vote Yes this aaro yes Mrs Amadeo yes Mr fr yes Mr Gonzalez yes M Mrs Harvey yes Mr engracia yes Mrs jet yes and Mrs Santos yes is your battery time no I'm just laughing at every time you say Jen's name I'm sorry it's just we're gonna get it right though it's gonna get worse if we okay Personnel Anthony i' like to move item one approve appointment certificated staff two approv appointment of stem sore leave replacement teacher three approve student field experience four approve substitutes five approve unpaid absences six approve Bayberry extracurricular positions revised seven approve Valley View extracurricular positions thank you is there a second second any discussion yes um I just wanted to um say that I'm sure these are all fine candidates and uh I know there has been a level of discussion at at one committee or another uh some of the Committees from December have were with board members that are no longer on the board so I do feel like in cases uh like this where um having a full discussion with uh you know the uh the committee uh you know there's there's a number of items on this uh agenda that were not in the January uh committee discussion so I just wanted to make note of that and um normally I we had always in the past uh received copies of résumés for uh these positions so um I'm not sure that it we would have received resumés for substitutes but we had uh for any of the uh positions that we were being asked to approve the funding of which all of these you know have a salary uh next to uh the position uh we would we would see the resume so um I appreciated uh Dr Glazer answering some uh questions that I that I had uh before uh once this uh agenda came out but um I I'm still not sure that there was a you know an opportunity to have a discussion or see uh some of the qualifications that were being asked to vote on uh tonight so for for that reason um I'll I'll be abstaining from uh one to six and S and and just so all everybody knows because we obviously Anthony just said we've had that discussion um we do not discuss personnel and open so I not going to go through that now um the board overseas right not the day-to-day operations individual resumés of staff not staff that you're working with right like if it's our office staff of course you you are going to be part of that process um we have 128 individual staff members you will be voting to reappoint staff members based on recommendations in May you you will not see all of the resumés and again we we can have a broader conversation but the role is is I am I again I present Mo was still on Personnel I did go through who the candidates were why they after the interview process multiple rounds why they were chosen what their backgrounds were what you know what it was that they um bring to us and watch Chung burrow and and add to the team and again I said this to you this afternoon I will continue to do that for every single candidate that I recommend not the substitutes um I also am never going to be able to discuss with you uh staff members unpaid leave I am not going to be able to um discuss with you um you know th those kinds of items so you can you can ask the questions offline I cannot do that in public we do not discuss do we do that in committee though like not those I I will not be able there's a reason that people are on here by their staff ID number numbers right and we don't have even contractually people know this if you take a personal day we don't have a right to say why we and so therefore I don't have a right to share that with you and I wasn't uh asking or or abstaining from any of those uh unpaid absences or anything I just um you know when I I pulled up our board uh packet from the last month of the the last month of the previous administration had all the you know the resumés that we could review for maybe not reappointment but uh you know I didn't examine every board p and we'll talk about this offline because it's I don't want to prolong it's almost 10 o'cl I don't want to prolong everybody's conversation and and I um did I did see you responded again and I didn't have an opportunity before the board meeting to to read that or review it I thank you Miss uh Bishop Johnson can I please have a vote Yes uh Mrs Amadeo yes Mr fr yes Mrs Harvey yes Mr Ang Gracia abstain item E1 and two approve 3 four five abstain E6 and E7 okay yes Mrs jet yes Mrs Santos yes Mr Gonzalez yes Mrs ago yes could you just say it once for us egly Arrow that's it say again four silent letter Arrow there you go oh my gosh AE Arrow a Arrow thank you we're sorry that's awesome is that everybody that was everybody the motion passes okay thank you all right Mr fras operations please motion I move items F1 approved payment of bills F2 approved transfer of funds 20123 2024 F3 accept Financial reports f four approve agreement with Summit Management Solutions LLC F5 accept proposal from slate roof professionals F6 approve joint Transportation agreements revised F7 approve school security Grant f8 accept donations F9 approve donations to the whrsd art Department F10 approved professional development School travel and related expenses and that is all second all right I just wanted to thank um for the donations from we and the high school I think that's awesome that they continue to give us stuff so thank you actually it's we're giving the high school this stuff oh are we oh oh yeah that's right that's right we're approving to give it to them so they're cleaning out to get ready for the construction and we found these materials that aren't part of our program that they said that they could use so it was pretty great yeah okay I just had a quick confirming question and maybe it would be of some benefit uh to others but the U item number four approving the agreement with Summit Management Solutions which uh it states in here also is Ernie Turner I just um want to say that the uh previous year's agreements we had some very specific specific um points that uh Mr Turner was going to be assisting the uh Administration with and the district with um so this uh new agreement uh just says business office Consulting Services plus the time frame so uh if I I assume it's very similar but we had budget uh there was both the uh building assistance with building the budget and getting the software to interact properly with the referendum there was parts of the bid process that he would be helping with that's that's the challenge he um was hired by the board for the referendum and there is a contract specific to the referendum and that's very easy to pay him out when um he was helping Patty at the end and as he's helping Karen it it is there is not an agreement any longer for the budget for the software so in order to pay him for all of the help he's done October um November with Patty we needed to to put this on an agenda he's been waiting for payment for months for work he's already been doing but not the only agreement the only enforce agreement is the referendum and that one will stay in place and this one will be added for the other exact administrative okay Consulting all right uh thank you the other the only other thing I just wanted to to mention because I had brought this up at the a previous meeting uh is uh item six that uh says um approv joint Transportation agreements revised um that was clarified before the meeting that um it was the the roots that are shown in that table for a b and c we're not lining up with the in a previous agenda with the uh Transportation agreement and so that's that's really the revision right and the date they they for esy it was the date was incorrect they had 24 but it was for last summer because the agreement is this school year not the future all right and the only thing that I wasn't uh sure which we I don't think need to answer right now but it's just is uh when you see the costs of under the fee column there for some being uh 1800 18,000 and then we have that one that's 76,000 and change uh plus a perdum rate I was wondering if we could just confirm how many students that might potentially be uh serving with to be answered another time you know I was gonna say you know to be continu yeah thank you okay explain that to me a second I'm looking at that 7 6,1 so it's the agreement is for um Morris Union jointure commission to transport our special education students here in the burrow right to Bayberry school and Anthony's asking is that one student is that five students 10 students the agreement says students because IEPs are private but I can find out okay easily the number and share that with her because it is the closest you know just with seeing the um what's the closest well I'm not sure actually the mileage by mileage but it's just we're we're transporting yeah it doesn't work that way because the route remember the buses are the agreements with Morris Union jointure commission I have no idea where the buses but this is for watch Young students within coming to Bayberry school for during the course of the Year twice a day thank you and just just if it helps I don't know if it'll help at all but when we looked at um for our transportation issue when we looked to have just a one-off bus right like if we had an extra bus created an extra route um it was going to be $96,000 for the school year for just that one bus so again I don't know if it helps but just for context thank you so we're gonna get back to philis on Anthony he just wanted to know the number and all but it's not one it's not going to be one person I I I honestly don't know don't know okay it says students I don't expect because it says students but I don't know okay all right can I have a vote Miss uh yes Johnson get this over right now Mrs AG Arrow yes yes and yes two yeses Mrs Amadeo yes Mr Gonzalez yes Mr graia yes Mrs jet yes Mrs Santos yes Mrs Harvey yes Mr fr yes all yes motion passes I love how you surprise us on who you're going to call Tricky okay curriculum we don't have anything uh nothing for the agenda for the agenda so um Dory can I please um have you sure uh I move one second reading and two first reading and that second reading just so everybody knows know this is a weird thing they did the first reading in November it was approved the policy committee didn't meet in December because they didn't want to have a second reading right of something you'd have two different boards and because they didn't meet the second reading of um this policy didn't get done second second any discussion quick question did I miss where the um the document showing the Board of Ed vacancy details existed I thought that would be under policy am I wrong we it doesn't need to be approved the letter I wanted all of you to approve it but it doesn't need to be board approved okay okay can I have a vote please Mrs AG Aro yes Mr fras yes Mrs Harvey yes Mrs Jette yeah yes Mr Gonzalez yes Mr Ang Gracia yes Mrs Santos yes Mrs Amadeo yes motion passes thank you any board business seeing that there's no board business we're going to move on to comments from the public again public looks like they want to go home I was going to say public asleep you can't see them I was gonna say you can't see at home but the Public's asleep can't see um may I have a motion to adjourn so moved is there a second second discussions all in favor say hi thank you thank you all for sticking with us safe home