next [Music] back for notice is hereby given of the regular meeting of the Board of Education of the town of Westfield in the county of Union New Jersey at 7 p.m. on the evening of Tuesday March 5th 2024 in cafeteria B of Westfield High School 550 Dorian Road Westfield New Jersey the purpose of the meeting is to transact the regular business of the board and to transact any other business to come properly before the board this is to advise the general public and to instruct that it be recorded in the minutes that in compliance with chapter 231 of the public laws of 1975 entitled the open public meetings act the Westville School Board on Thursday February 29th 2024 caused to be posted at the office of the Board of Education located at 302 Elm Street Westfield New Jersey and delivered to the Westfield leader The Star Ledger the Westfield Library Town Clerk of Westfield tap into Westfield and patch.com a meeting notice setting forth the time date and location of this meeting Patty can we have a roll call Sahar Aziz Rob bonio here Kent diamonds here Brendan gallagan here Charles jinus Leila melli here sonel Patel here Kristen Sonic schmeltz here Mary wickins here can everyone uh please remain standing for the plag salute Casey March is youth art month and music in our schools month while we enjoy celebrating the Arts in our schools year round I'm particularly pleased tonight to welcome supervisor of Visual and Performing Arts Shaun o Longo along with members of the cast of the Westfield High School spring production of Heathers the musical and musical director John brazowski Miss Longo I invite you up to the podium to introduce our musical talent and to say a few words about the many exciting events and programs that allow the Arts to thrive in Westville Public Schools enriching the lives of our students and the entire Westfield commun Community oh there we go thank you um so I'm so excited to be here tonight um coming off of I just came from the Roy collection Gallery down town we had an amazing um opening reception to kick off youth art month and uh music our schools month it was wall to--all people for the entire over two hours it was so fantastic seeing parents and students um mingling downtown to check out the over 200 pieces of artwork that are featured between um the Rialto One Westfield Place preview Center uh the library and then at the Roy collection Gallery we have featured two high school students have had a gallery opening tonight as part of that opening reception so I'm very grateful to the town and to the WCA westro Coalition for the Arts for supporting this program as well and all of the Community Partnerships that have been forged in making this come to life um in addition to that we have performances happening throughout the month we had the breakfast with the bands this past Saturday um we have this Friday the Roosevelt and Edison bands will be doing a tour of the elementary schools for their mosome tour as we're calling it which is new this year and then Franklin Wilson and Lincoln all have assemblies throughout the month focusing on music in our schools month the high school marching the high school Wind Ensemble is hosting their annual March Madness Tournament but not March Madness month of March like March Madness so um it's a high stakes there's a bracket up and we had to it's open to all of the um High School band students as well as all the music staff so I put in I had to fill out my bracket ahead of time um and the winner gets to conduct a song on the spring concert which is very fun little festive thing um and then the the last thing on Monday I will actually be traveling to Washington DC um to present a brief on Capitol Hill celebrating 39 years of music and our schools month across the country so um as part of the CMA foundation and the National Association for music education I was selected to um represent our country and the proud said I'm proud to bring Westfield along with that in all of the um PR that is going out surrounding that briefing on Monday so very excited it will be live streamed on Facebook if is anyone is interested on the nafme Facebook site so last is our it is March musical season so this weekend we have SpongeBob the musical opening at Roosevelt next week is our High School production of Heathers the musical teen Edition and then the week after that is Edison's um version of Frozen the musical which we are very excited for all the princes and princesses to come see and the kids I know are going to get a real kick out of it this year so it is my pleasure to bring up the cast and directing staff of Heathers we look forward to this little mini teaser to for everyone so thank you so much come on up [Applause] guys we September 1st 1989 dear diary I think I'm a good person I think there's good in everyone but here we are first day of senior year I see these kids I've known all my life and I wonder what happened Veronica Veronica Veronica [Music] Veronica and you know you know you know life can be beautiful you hope you dream you pray and you get your way ask me how it feels looking like hell on wheels my God it's beautiful I might be beautiful and when you're [Music] beautiful it's a beautiful freaking day [Music] are we going to have a problem did zombies eat your brain you've come so far why now are you yanking on my chain I normally slap your face off in front of the whole damn school but I'm feeling nice hear some advice listen up fool [Music] looking hot buying stuff they cannot spending hard maxing Dad's credit card skipping di dissing her kissing him Killer clothes kicking nerds in the nose if you like the juice go play duck duck goose let your mommy fix to you ice cream or come hang with me and tonight will be dirty dancing with a football team honey what you waiting for Welcome to My Candy Star time for you to prove you're not a loser anymore and step into my candy store now girls girls that is no way to act in front of the Westerberg Board of Education hi my name is Miss Fleming I'm a guidance counselor here at Westerberg high and I'm I'm here to tell you that I did my senior thesis at Berkeley on the subject of pediatric psychotherapeutic musicology so I speak with some Authority when I tell you the best way to eliminate bullying and suicide is by first eliminating fear by creating a safe Zone in which we are all equal one two take me home kids on your deepest Fe and your PIN will dis disappear and your scars and your flaws will look lovely because you shine sh shine sh sh sh a light 1 2 [Music] 3 [Music] make it beautiful we make it beautiful beautiful beautiful beautiful beautiful beautiful beautiful beautiful [Applause] [Music] [Applause] beautiful I'm just I'm going to leave this here thank you for that great intro to the musical I'm sure we'll be all excited and now I'm going to turn it over to Mary for announcements hey thank you Sono the Rotary Club of Westfield is accepting nominations for 31st Annual Charles philhower Fellowship award and the second annual Wayman steam graph award the philhower recognizes an outstanding full-time educator in grades prek to 5 in the Westfield Public Schools introduced last year the steam graph award recognizes a full-time employee who is not a certified teacher submission guidelines are posted on the news section of the district and school websites and on district and social media the deadline to submit a nomination for both Awards is Thursday March 28th and I just want to say that presentation was amazing thank you Mary Ken thank you calling all students in grades K through 12 the Westfield public school district is hosting an Earth Day 2024 poster contest that's right the 2024 Earth Day theme is Planet versus Plastics submission details can be found on the news section of the district and school websites and on District social media the deadline to submit an entry for consideration is March 27th thank you thank you Kent Kristen meet the candidates running for the Westville Board of Education as the parent teacher Council holds a virtual candidates night on Monday March 18th 2024 from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. more information including how to register for the virtual forum is posted on the board election page on the district website under the board tab candidate bios will be posted soon a link to the virtual Forum will be provided on the day of the event to everyone who is registered board candidates night will be moderate moderated with candidates asked a variety of questions to be gathered from the public prior to the Forum questions may be submitted to the PTC at westfieldnjk12.org thank you thank you Kristen Sahar Westfield High School 12th graders Jacob blowstein Yen J Who Katherine Kary Tage mea and Nathan R renders have advanced as finalists in The 2024 National Merit Scholarship program having met academic and other standards to become eligible for scholarships the selection of 7,100 Merit Scholarship winners from the group of more than 15,000 finalists Nationwide is now now in progress with scholarship winners and National Merit Scholars to be announced over the next few months congratulations to Jacob YJ Katherine Tage and Nathan and I also want to wish uh Ramadan Mubarak for those who are practicing which starts on Monday thank you Sahar Lea all Westfield Public Schools will have an early dismissal this Friday March 8th as staff participate in professional development in the afternoon for the early dismissal schedule please visit the school closing page under District information on the district website thank you Lea Rob the next regular public meeting of the Board of Education will be on Tuesday March 26th in cafeteria B at Westfield High School beginning at 8:00 p.m. this will be a public hearing before the board votes on the final base budget for the 2024 25 School District operating budget and the additional spending proposal that will go before voters on April 16th the board meeting will be live streamed via the district YouTube channel which viewers can access on the board tab on the district website the complete agenda will be available on Friday March 22nd also on the board tab thank you Rob at this time I'd like to turn it over to Dr Gonzalez and miss Patty Ramos for a report by District administration on the budget thank you very much uh this evening's presentation is is the third of our series of budget presentation since the start of 2024 in which we've been increasingly uh adding details based upon data that we've been receiving guidance we've been receiving and also the um the most recent um state aid figures that we were that were recently released by The New Jersey Department of Education and and the governor's office so everything that we've done up to this point has been deliberative up until we were finally able to get that last piece of the puzzle this past weekend um what you will see this evening is an overview of the proposal for the 2024 2025 uh School District operating budget uh which will include the tax levy request that we will be presenting to the taxpayers in April as part of an additional uh funding proposal so this evening our Focus will be on providing uh an over VI on the U feedback we received from uh the CommunityWide thought exchange as well as an overview of both the fiscal and the programmatic uh enhancements in um aspects of the budget and then sure enough we will round out our presentation discussing the tax impact on uh the average uh home owner based upon the proposed uh operating budget the the most important thing to understand is that tonight's presentation will be the first in really three steps tonight will be the first step in which we present a preliminary budget that gets submitted to the the county for review and approval The Next Step will be at uh the March 26th board meeting at which time the Board of Education will uh have the opportunity to vote on a base budget as well as any additional funding proposal that would be presented to the Board of Education uh on April 16th along with with the board election and then uh the third and final step in the uh District operating budget uh for 2425 will be the actual vote on April 16th which will be the taxpayers opportunity uh to be able to weigh in on any additional funding proposals beyond the base budget so without further Ado I'm going to jump right into the presentation beginning with our 2024 25 priorities I always want to start here because I think it's important to uh remind ourselves as a board and as a community what the priorities were going into the development of this budget and and each year since I've been here we've attempted to prioritize um a a a student experience so that anything that we do to make decisions about adding or subtracting will minimize any negative impact on students so we want to prioritize student outcomes we want to keep our class sizes and enrollment uh consistent we want to be able to preserve existing programs and offerings but as of the experience last year when we were able to now present our budget to the taxpayers for vote we also have made the decision to actively con uh expand our programs and offer offerings and do so with a fiscally responsible uh eye and uh at all times and then last but not least we also recognize that all of our educational programming and all of our educational experiences uh rely on a facility and an educational environment um that is suitable for the instruction and the programming that we're we're promoting so we we've emphasized the Improvement and this uh sustainability of our buildings and grounds as an additional priority going into this school year now before going into the details of the budget I I did want to give a a brief overview of the thought exchange the thought exchange was a new plat form that was introduced into this uh budget cycle that allowed us to reach out to our school Community consisting of all members of our staff our our community our families as well as our high school students to ask them a a simple question in planning for the 2425 operating budget what areas should be prioritized in order to enhance the educational experience and well-being of our students and through that question we were grateful enough to have received uh a large quantity of of responses 1554 people participated 967 thoughts were shared with over close to 53,000 ratings and what that means is anytime someone would present a thought in response to that question 53,000 ratings were issued that combined all of the different ratings that people um shared on the various thoughts so you weren't just providing feedback on what you thought was a priority but you also got to to um provide a sounding board from some of the other thoughts that were shared out there um as you could see based upon the the the various roles that were um identified we had 62% of the participants identified themselves as parents or guardians of current students uh we also had uh about 13 students uh or 9% of the um population who who participated um identified as students and then we had 25% as school staff 3% as community members or 3% who did uh preferred not to say what role they played in summary the responses provided uh a great wealth of uh Variety in what areas for prioritization the board and the administration uh should consider um as you see in this uh summary uh everything that you could think of from school environment to infrastructure to curriculum to increasing uh wages for staff as well as emphasizing extracurricular mental health programs uh diversity Equity inclusion as well as security all of those were recommendations were areas of priority that were shared uh throughout the experience in looking at at how those thoughts were then categorized you'll notice that many of the themes started to come together and coals and what you see here is just a um a quick chart that identified some of the top themes that were rated by the various star scores that they were given so uh you'll notice the First Column if you can't see from back there the First Column uh indicates that facilities was a common theme that was highly rated the buildings in class sizes again probably related to um facilities as well so uh some of these themes you know had overlap with one another but once again building class sizes full day kindergarten all were recognized as consistently High areas of agreement by individuals who offered that as a um as a thought for an area of priority but also rated it as an area of priority we also had power professionals and the ability to to uh retain uh our power professionals and prevent them from seeking employment elsewhere also a focus on the Arts our curriculum and also high quality retaining and and supporting high quality staff in general all supported the uh areas of priority that many individuals um offered through the thought exchange if you were to look at the top four um thoughts that were offered you'll notice that facilities were listed as the top three actually if you were to group all of those uh stakeholder groups together I want to say facilities were probably listed as as different comments but in about 22 of the top 25 uh comments that were offered suggesting that facilities facilities improvements modernization and upgrades uh were all areas of great interest um to those who took part and then uh on this particular slide you'll notice that the third highest rate uh individual thought not the theme that I shared in the previous slide but the third highest individual thought was focusing on our ability to keep and hire good teachers now this slide is just an example of of the different types of um exch of exchanges and thoughts that were shared both on different sides of the um of the thoughts that were offered but also in in common areas of Interest so on the one side you had a focus on investing in infrastructure facilities facilities facilities but then on the other side you see a focus on investing in Personnel that those who were participating in the exchange recognize that we had high quality Educators recognize that we had highly qualified and committed uh support staff and recognize that we need to as a school district find ways to invest in them both by providing them with competitive uh wages so that they could uh be able to continue to um work here without having to uh seek employment elsewhere but also making sure that we provide them with the necessary supports um to be successful in in their respective roles but the common ground in all of this is despite the differing views if you were focused on on Personnel or focused on facilities the the common uh ground which is no surprise is a focus on making sure that we allocate resources um in education making sure that whether it's improving on in infrastructure Personnel or updating curriculum the common goal is to enhance the educational experience which obviously was the the goal of the the survey and the exchange all together so what do we do with all that what what we did was we continue to refine our budget we continued to look at ways that that data and that feedback could help us in um presenting our budget making decisions about what to prioritize what we can um du to align our budget uh to the needs and the and the requests of the um of the community but also recognizing that everything that was offered in that exchange and everything that everyone in this in this room and everyone in in the community who's watching unfortunately we can't do everything we at at one time we can't uh afford to be able to um hire as many teachers uh as we'd like uh and engage in and increase as many program as we'd like because in some cases we just don't have the space or the capacity to do so but what the feedback does is it allows us to to gather that um feedback and that prioritization to help inform both this work and then future work you're going to hear more and more over the course of this presentation at various points and future board meetings the need to uh move forward with a facilities referendum in order to take that facility's priority and and address it in in a very substantive way um that isn't the purpose of the tonight's presentation but I just wanted to drop that very subtle foreshadowing uh that it will be coming uh into Focus uh clearly uh in the coming months and and certainly in the coming year ahead so getting back to the um the topic at hand this budget presentation um is graphically represented and summarized in the chart that you see above or behind me uh the presentation graph shows three different buckets of uh Revenue that support the the tax levy portion of our operating budget as mentioned in in the prior meetings the Board of Education now has the responsibility and the sole responsibility for approving the base budget for a school district's operating budget for the next school year as long as it does not exceed the 2% or whatever the allowable tax levy cap uh is for that particular year so in this case when you look at the blue portion of the graph what you see is that the Board of Education will vote on March 26th on the TA a tax levy increase equal to approximately 2.62% uh of an increase from last year and what that means is that in addition to the 2% allowable tax levy cap that we've been provided the state of uh New Jersey has also recognized that the increases in health benefits at this uh in the state health benefits plan um increased to the point that we were also eligible for an increased waiver to our tax levy cap in order to make sure that we could absorb uh that Healthcare increase into our budget without having to uh negatively impact our ability to to provide such benefits so what that means is our maximum allowable tax levy Grew From 2% to 2. uh 62% and that portion of the uh the budget will be what the Board of Education will vote on this evening as a preliminary tax levy increase and then for uh the March 26th meeting as shared in the past unfortunately everything that we need to educate students consistent with the work that we've started this year consistent with the level of the programming consistent with the course guidelines and the enrollment guidelines and class sizes in order to do all of the above unfortunately it does not all fit in a 2.62 base budget in order to increase the tax levy um to our maximum allowable uh percentage unfortunately there are still um aspects of our budget namely individuals Personnel human resources that are outside of that budget and that's what you see in the 0. 59% so the0 59% represents that educational continuity that ability for us to continue our offerings of class sizes programs um and activities to our students consistent with what we're doing today while also building upon um the experiences that that have taken place over the course of the Year many of which we've shared and our committees have shared with regards to our counseling programing our curriculum instruction all of the things uh relative to our our strategic plan all are able to continue as well as our staffing and programs provided that we have the base budget and that 0.59% additional uh increase uh through the next school year but that wasn't where we were ending for this school year we also in the conversation with the Board of Education spoke about continuing to ask the support of the taxpayers to be able to look at ways that we can enhance our programming for the upcoming school year so the 0.9% represents again another opportunity for us to build upon the work of the school district align it to our strategic plan keep us moving forward so that we can uh not find ourselves just stagnant but actually growing as a school district and investing in our schools things and themes that you've you heard uh earlier in the thought exchange so what's in the base budget uh this is just an overview um but I do want to highlight that in the base budget as I mentioned we maintain all current programming including visual performing arts and Athletics no proposed cuts to to Staffing no proposed cuts to offerings uh in in any of those realms we're providing funding for curriculum writing and professional development along with technology and management software to make that uh that work more meaningful and accessible not only to staff but members of the community so that they could access these curricular curricular documents uh more more readily we're also looking at ways to upgrade our technology and technology equipment uh offerings so that as we continue to explore ways to enhance enrichment experiences Computer Sciences stem we need need to make sure our facilities are able to keep up with that so our base budget includes uh the ability to do all of the above we're also looking at and again through the um the feedback that we received but also consistent with what we experienc at modernizing our classrooms creating more conducive classroom environments and learning experiences to um align with the types of 21st Century Learning that that our students uh are receiving so what does that mean it means we need to replace our our dat Furniture are classrooms that probably look very similar to um the classrooms that many of us who have gone to uh to school um in this in this building even have probably seen before um but also making sure that the technology the audio the visual and the the ability to to collaborate and and coordinate with one another is uh facilitated by the the physical learning environment we also want to make sure that we are continuing to fund uh instructural media centers and materials our libraries making sure that we're continuing to expand our offerings so that they align with our curricular needs to align with all of our uh initiatives and to ensure that our our knowledge centers and our hubs for learning in our media centers become a valuable resource for students and in classrooms alike we also want to ensure that as uh we provide support for wellness to our students that we don't uh forget that our staff uh Wellness is equally important to to the um to the success of our our student experiences so we did include a modest uh amount of uh funding to support staff Wellness to be able to allow them to be able to manage both the stress uh of of the work that they experience but also to provide those resilient uh behaviors and strategies to help them uh to be able to help our students and and certainly each and every day um those strategies uh come into into play and then last but not least and I think uh very indicative of the work that this board and of Education this Administration has has really committed to which is ways that we could take existing um funding existing resources and figure out ways to maximize those experiences and and one of those opportunities comes in our ability to educate students um in our district Who currently may not be able to um provide we who we may not be able to provide those resources to because we don't have the the facilities or the staff to do so so what I'm referring to specifically is uh the expansion of special education programming that currently exists at the uh elementary school but does not exist at the middle school so what that means is when our students who are currently being educated in the elementary school age into a Middle School uh level um we unfortunately may have to make a decision to find uh an educational environment outside of the district rather than allowing them to be able to continue to learn uh in an environment that is near their home with their friends within within the school district where they've uh spent the last five six years as as a student so by creating two new in-house special education programs it allows us to continue to meet our students indiv individualize educational uh plan needs but also do doing so in environment that is least restrictive by allowing them to be in a general education class uh building along with their their peers their neighborhood peers um and being able to most importantly meet their academic uh social emotional or any other uh related needs so that's very exciting to me it's very exciting to the administration and and I look forward to being able to create that opportunity to educate all of our students uh within our school district now moving on you'll notice we um we highlight in the in the bar graph that red piece that that educational continuity that will move us from the base Budget on the prior slide which is what the board will approve to now the red and the green which will be what the taxpayers approve the educational continuity that you see represented here is equivalent to approximately seven staff members when we when we calculate this we're focusing on the um the the bachelor step one the the lowest uh paid level uh of the uh teaching staff but we unfortunately have no choice when we're looking at our human resources as the largest part of our um expenditures um unfortunately when the budget spills over beyond the uh permissible tax levy cap um the sources of um the budget that are remaining unfortunately are in those Human Resources so we uh represent seven staff members here I think it's important to note in January when we were first calculating uh this we we didn't have the benefit of any waivers we didn't have the benefit of any additional um uh state aid so when we were first anticipating what the impact would be um the impact was almost three times the size of what you see here so with each and every opportunity we continue to refine our budget and make sure that we quit equpped ourselves with the necessary data to ensure that the number of additional staff that would not fit into a um a base budget was the the least amount as possible uh it's also the reason why we didn't over time continue to to give that number because we didn't want to start sounding the alarms about uh how many staff members may be in that uh that red portion until we knew for sure so as you see listed uh the breakdown would uh try to expand uh um that impact across the uh the 10 schools so that three Elementary School teachers uh two intermediate and two High School teachers uh would potentially fall into that category doesn't mean that anyone's being cut it just means that is the portion of our staff who exists in the uh additional spending proposal that will be presented to the uh the public on April 16th then we look at the the green portion these are the proposed proposed enhancements Beyond educational continuity these are the additional uh program experiences that currently don't exist in our school district uh in the way that you'll see in the next few slides or supports that don't currently exist in in the next few slides so first and foremost we wanted to come up with an opportunity to be able to offer an enhancement across all tools uh all 10 schools what can we do to include into this budget an opportunity to benefit students across all schools at the elementary middle and high school level and the opportunity to do so sort of took the same approach that we did last year last year we focused on academic support and Remediation for students who needed it and when we Revisited our our strategic plan looking at expanding our offerings for students was not limited to only those in remedial uh need but also those opportunities for supporting enrichment offerings so uh part of the additional uh spending proposal includes an enhancement to our enrichment programs across the elementary middle and high school level in the realm of K5 enrichment what we're looking at is providing uh an additional three Elementary enrichment teachers to the adding them to the budget so that they would be able to provide an enrichment program for all students targeting computer science design thinking uh standards all through fine motor development as well as being able to provide not just those tier one uh supports but also those two tier 2 uh supports if you recall tier one are for everyone tier two begin to be more specialized in their approach whereas tier three is an even more targeted group so by having additional Elementary and dedicated Elementary enrichment teachers we will now be able to develop that program uh in a way that is commensurate uh with what we're doing at the uh remedial level for academic support but now to be able to do that at an enrichment level in our elementary schools but to do so we need the additional staff when you look at what we're uh proposing at the secondary level it's really looking at what we can do both in our uh g&t and enrichment offerings at the uh intermediate level as well as being able to look at our elective offerings at the high school so part of The Proposal uh will include looking at our uh professional learning that is going to be uh necessary to pay staff so that they could develop the um the courses and the experiences that uh will eventually make their way into our uh intermediate level uh course uh experience but also at the high school being able to add an additional teacher so that that additional teacher will take on uh classes so that existing teachers could now start to offer uh more um elective offerings in the areas of high school robotics uh home system technology and food nutrition science so again really trying to uh expand our enrichment offerings at the high school through a course catalog that now provides uh a a offering of electives that that we couldn't do without that additional Staffing support in the base budget I also want to highlight that in the base budget when we refer to expanding our special education in-house offerings um that allows us to provide support to our students through that programming that is delivered by in-house teachers in-house behaviorist in-house power professionals um but it also requires that we have additional oversight and supervision of those programs on the one hand anything that is mandated any program that is mandated We cannot put into an additional spending proposal that's the reason why that additional program or that that change in program exists at the um in the base budget a supervisor is not a mandated program so that's the reason that the supervisor is now in the uh additional spending proposal not to say it's not needed just to say that it's not a mandated um um resource that we would have to put into the um the first uh blue portion however in order to effectively support um our students our teachers both in that program but our ability to effectively support our our teachers and our students across the schools um currently we have one director of assistant superintendent of pupil Personnel Services and one supervisor uh for those um programs as well as single supervisors who coordinate content areas and programs across the way this is our opportunity to add one additional supervisor to assist in supporting the expansion of our special education programs our our academic support programs and all of those programs that uh lead to uh targeted interventions and supports for our students uh through their teachers and the administration uh working together we also recognize that the uh there's a need for us to um to focus on making sure that we keep qualified staff I had mentioned it through the thought exchange which is why I started the presentation with the thought exchange but one area that um came up on veral occasions and again even if members of the public or others did not uh add it as a thought they were able to rate it and and across the board um enhancing compensation Prof for power professionals was uh an area of interest and focus because of the need that they uh provide to our students they are able to provide the support to our our teachers and students in the classroom in order to allow them to meet their educational potential but also to provide the necessary assistance to allow them to be more focused um to to be able to uh work together uh with other students as well as to be able to maintain relationships with one another in the classroom all of those uh functions and more are the functions that our our valuable power professionals uh provide however we need to make sure that they are compensated in a way that allows them to provide those services and not seek employment elsewhere so we are proposing an enhancement to comp ation for the power Professionals in order to fill some assignments that are difficult to retain uh individuals so we have uh very uh intense uh programming and and student needs that require level of specialization and commitment and we're proposing uh enhancements uh and compensations and stiens uh for that um that category of employee and then last but not least I do want to highlight um the the final items in the additional spending proposal and and one is in the area of buildings and grounds as you recall in the uh the priorities for the 2425 uh School District budget we did highlight the Improvement of our buildings and grounds and our ability to sustain um those Investments and resources in our learning experience uh requires once again human resources in this case we're looking at including uh an assistant supervisor of buildings and grounds as well as two additional grounds Keepers uh and maintenance staff who will be able to work together with the existing maintenance staff custodians and groundskeepers in order to ensure that we take care of all of the expanding uh facility needs that you see all around our 10 schools uh at and and actually our 11th facility being uh our Board office as well all of those um facilities require maintenance both inside and out they require maintenance uh to the grounds as well as maintenance to the buildings themselves not just cleaning but repairing not just repairing but maintaining and and also doing everything necessary so that our facilities are not just safe but that they're conducive to high quality learning so that also includes um those three individuals an assistant supervisor and two additional uh staff members within the buildings and grounds department and then last but not least um our our emphasis and priority uh prioritization of school security is also uh included in this additional spending Proposal with the addition of three part-time School Safety and Security Personnel we would be able to work with our existing SRO who uh are currently housed at the intermediate level and the high schools along with our uh School Safety and Security specialist Mr Frank pavano to ensure that we have a visible presence in all of our schools um throughout the course of the school day so right now our dedicated Presence at the um intermediate and high schools uh is offset by a single individual who makes his way through the security specialist as well as our uh Partners in law enforcement who make their rounds through our schools uh whenever possible and whenever they're making their rounds uh throughout their their Community however this would provide our ability to not only provide that visible support and presence during the day but also enhance our ability to provide support uh for after school activities whether it be concerts plays uh parent programming athletic activities having additional uh part-time Safety and Security specialist allow us to work with schedules to be able to adjust and allow for that coverage both during the day and in the after school uh evening events all of that would be part of the uh additional spending proposal that equates that green portion the point 9% of the um April 16th vote so at this time I'd like to just invite Patty Ramos uh to walk us through the uh the dollars and cents associated with the budget uh so I'll turn it over to you okay now for the fun stuff the numbers that's what you've all been waiting for right so if you look at this slide you'll see we were waiting the reason why this hasn't been presented before with numbers we were waiting for our state aid numbers to come in they came in last Thursday afternoon we received approximately $849,000 more in state aid that than prior year what that did was as Ray said that allowed us to take more of the current staff that were in the additional spending proposal and move them back into the base budget that's our was our intent from the beginning as Ray said we we started out with almost three times the number in the in the additional spending proposal and our goal was to keep as many staff as possible in the base budget so on this slide you'll see the revenues at the adjusted cap and then we so you'll see the 115 million that this budget the 131 million is what the board will be voting on tonight and on March 26 for tonight the board is also voting to submit the additional spending proposal to the county for approval that's the 1 million 675,000 which includes everything that Ray just went over in the the additional sections of the budget the non-blue and then once the board approves that to go to the county for review they approve it that's what would be on the ballot on April 16th for the voters to see the board would be approving the $31 million on the April on the March 26th agenda so in our revenues we have our local tax levies obviously the biggest portion fund balance is what we generate each year a lot of it is from state aid um not extraordinary Aid and different funding sources re um interest Revenue has been up so we use that money to offset set for the taxpayers each year so 1.5 million of what we generate in a year goes to offset taxes in the in the next year our state aid is now $8.3 million extraordinary Aid we budget 975,000 but last year we got over two million in that but we don't really know how the state funds it each year so or how much they're going to fund so it's always wise to budget that at a lower number and then our miscellaneous revenues which include our interest income receipts student fees uh building rentals we budget $878,000 that obviously this year we're generating a lot more in interest Revenue than that number but we don't know where that's going to go so it wouldn't be wise to up that number and then come in less in the future year and then you'll see a transfer from capital reserve those are our capital reserve projects that we're going to do over the summer or the course of the next few years just like the Roosevelt facade work is ongoing that's coming out of our capital capital reserve savings account you like to think of it as so that's not impacting the local tax levy that's money that we've set aside already to do those enhancements outside of a referendum outside of asking for more money from the taxpayers in any one year so now if you go to the next slide Patty if I could just uh interject just I do want to highlight just a a key point with the state aid uh it's important to note over the past several years the governor's office uh has been consistent in their commitment to fully fund the uh funding formula for uh school districts and and we have been fortunate over the past several years to have seen increases in state aid that phased in uh approach has uh moved us closer and closer to being fully funded so as of this year's uh state aid um receipt we are technically fully funded by this New Jersey Department of educ A's uh funding formula standards so that's great well what it also means is we shouldn't expect more next year so so our uh projections each year always uh crossed our fingers and appropriately anticipated that we would see an increase um but that is not going to be guaranteed um from this point moving forward um we don't hope to see any Cuts in state aid but uh we don't necessarily uh anticipate any uh increases or dramatic increases in in coming years so that ability to offset the tax levy impact is um going to be really focused on uh looking at the the uh tax levy increase uh maximum allowable under the cap and whatever Flat state aid that we should anticipate year after year I just wanted to share that um as a as a key point so now we go to the expenditure slide and as Ray said with state aid there there was a difference this year with the health benefits because districts we're not the only District that's trying to make a 2% budget work in the past when state health benefits went up by 6% there was no adjustment to the 2% tax levy cap this year it was they they're saying any any health benefit increases over 2% they were giving us an adjustment for the difference between the 2% and the 4% so the state is starting to recognize that we just can't fit within the 2% it's not working so they're even giving more adjustments but like Ray said the state aid the funding formula is fully met we don't know where it's going to go for next year if they're going to come up with a new funding formula that'll go over the course of a a number of years again or what's going to happen so on the expenditure side as you can see the largest part of our budget is our salaries our salaries and benefits and as you'll see in the additional spending proposal the only thing in the additional spending proposal is salaries and benefit benefits as Ray went over on the previous slides it's the additional staff it's the seven current staff members and the benefits associated with them that's what makes up the 1.67 five million that will be voted on on April 16th our other big pots of money um expenditures are out of District tuition that's for students um mandated by IEPs and that's why we're looking at more in District programming as Ray said we're bringing two programs into our Intermediate School we need also need space that's why we're looking at referendum planning as Ry also mentioned to house these programs so students that come in in prek can stay all the way through till 21 if they have to so we we'll have the appropriate Staffing space for these students uh Transportation costs go along uh the majority of it with our special education students mandated by their IEPs we also have transportation for industri students but the outof district ones are the one that the ones that cost more money our supplies materials and equipment you can see that and our required maintenance of school facilities is not large compared to how much we're spending on staff our outside providers consultants and District insurance insurance obviously mandated the outside providers and Consultants the majority of that money is based on mandated services in students individual in the IEP students individ individualized education plans and then the capital reserve projects again the 4 million is on here so now if you go to the next two charts this kind of makes it puts it you know out there visually for everyone to see that the majority of our budget is funded by our local tax levy this is a normal slide for districts like West Westfield the wealthier districts in New Jersey the majority of the funding comes from local tax levy if you go into the city areas this slide is kind of flipped more of it is state aid than the local tax levy but 92% of the budget is funded by the taxpayers in Westfield um then you can see as I said the other pieces of the pie were on the previous slide but the really the vast majority is our local tax levy the state aid makes up 5.66% obviously very important we needed to stay at least that amount we would love to see that increase again as it has been over the last couple years but we just don't know for next year then if you go to the next slide you'll see how the oper operating budget is spent in Westfield this slide would be comparable to most districts in New Jersey 78% of your budget between 78 and 80% of the budget is always spent on salary and benefits that's what we do we educate students we have staff we pay them that's the majority of it everything else is much smaller pieces of the pie so when people say why don't you make Cuts here or make Cuts there supplies and materials only account for 2% of our overall SP spending each year you know transportation and insurance 4.6% the outof district tuition which is mandated by the state to provide for students is 6.2% there's not many things in here where you can cut it's mandated by the state to provide these services to students um and I put in here also our capital reserve projects again that's coming from our savings account but I thought it was good to show that even that's a small piece of of the pie even the $4 million so now we get into the potential tax impact of this the average assessed value of a home in Westfield is $821,000 so what that equates to is the the tax levy at the adjusted cap for the main portion of the budget not the additional spending proposal would be $1,322 which is an increase of $182 over last year the addition additional spending proposal would accounts for $165 so the the total tax increase to an average taxpayer in Westfield would be $347 I think it's important to note too because I did get questions on this last year that when you see the 4.11% tax levy adjustment that's over our tax levy from last year that's not what the average taxpayer sees when the when the tax are calculated it's based on the ratables for the township so they take all of the the assessed land in the town if that number goes up everyone pays a little bit less in taxes so for this year for 2425 the assessed values went up in Westfield probably from some new developments new houses that are being taxed higher we don't get to increase our budget by that money and I know that that's always like oh if there's a new development the Board of Ed would get a piece of that money we do not we are still only allowed to increase our budget on the tax levy from the previous year by 2% or the adjustments that come up so what happens is this year because the assess values went up the it went down a little so you're not really the the average homeowners increase is not 4.11 it might be in the high three range when it's all said and done I just thought said and done I just thought it was important to note that for everyone okay and then again we have the slide now now we come back to the slide where the blue the 2.62% is the portion that the Board of Ed will be voting on and that will be it last year that also was on the ballot the law has changed once the Board of Ed votes on that on March 26th that piece of the budget is complete then the additional 0.59 and 0.9% that's in the additional spending proposal that will be on the ballot which you'll see the ballot question coming up that will be presented to voters on April 16th so here is the additional spending proposal it's quite wordy uh because it goes over everything Ray said in the previous slides it has the SE it begins with retaining of the seven staff members that we went over and then it goes into the addition of the supervisor the uh for special services department buildings and GR the main is everything that Ray said is in this question spelled out in detail as mandated by the state and the wording at the end that it says approval of these taxes will result in a permanent increase to the tax base that's very important what it means is next year we will start to build our 2% off of the entire budget the additional spending proposal plus the base if we put items in here that were one only for one year let's say we bought uh computer it would not be able to increase the spending base permanently staff anything recurring that's in this question increases the tax base permanently and then the last line we also have to put in that the proposed additional expenditures are an addition to those necessary to achieve the New Jersey student learning standards that's as Ray said nothing mandated can be put into an additional spending proposal so I have to put all of this in for the county the state will review it to ensure that none of the it items in this are mandated by the state they will ask questions I have to provide documentation to them to support that okay so as we wind down the presentation just uh key reminders of the the next two steps uh March 26 the Board of Education will vote on the final base budget and the adjusted tax levy cap um everything that you saw today included both percentages and dollars uh and cents but moving into the actual uh ballot proposal on April 16th as you saw on the prior slides um that will only provide the dollar figures no percent uh percent uh percentages will be listed on the uh on the ballot which is why this voter education is is um so critical to our communication plan it's important to once again note that because the board will approve the base budget that blue portion once that is approved the administration will be able to start the work uh of planning for next school year based upon anything that is in that blue budget however anything that is in the red or the green that is up for voter approval that will require voters to approve in order for us to implement and if they do not approve then we are not permitted to implement any of those enhancements meaning we are not per permitted to uh fund those additional those current staff members those current seven staff members or any of the additional Staffing that were proposed for our enrichment um buildings and grounds or or Safety and Security so it's important just to understand the difference between those two funding proposals and and resources and also recognizing that while the board retains the responsibility for the large portion of the uh Inc of the increase from year to year um the taxpayers still retain an very important role in being able to support that educational continuity and in program enhancements we also want to use this as the launching of our uh Community engagement uh Endeavor to ensure that the words um that are shared during this meeting do not leave uh you know only at this or aren't only left at this meeting but will continue to be spread through throughout the community in a variety of presentations uh conducted both in uh person as well as virtually and to see any of those presentations um a schedule has been posted to our uh budget portal which is found on our district website so just go to the district website and you'll see across the top a link to that budget portal and Community engagement schedule so we always like to remind everyone March and April will be spent in our community engagement uh campaign March 26th will be the public hearing where the bo board will vote on the base budget as well as the additional spending proposal to appear on the ballot and then on April 16th polls will open at 700 a.m. until 8:00 p.m. for the community to vote on the budget as well as vote for members of the Board of Education that concludes our presentation and at this time I will hand it back to the board president um if any board members have any questions if you can just let me know so we can ask the questions in orderly fashion go ahead Bron thank you uh I just want to note uh for a couple things one we spent a lot of time in finance and you'll get my full report later on Friday trying to figure out how to protect the seven existing staff members and and we truly did not want to put any existing staff members on the ballot for obvious reasons we don't want people to feel compelled to vote for a budget that they wouldn't otherwise vote for nor do we want to put people at put people currently employed in the district at risk um there just was no mathematical way to do that and continue to offer what we what we would like to do in this District um we're hoping that by cutting the number from 14 down to seven uh that uh sorry lost my notes Here uh cutting it down from 14 to 7 that the likelihood of Passage will increase um and we also talked at length about strategy around how we want to present the budget how we want to what the what the right number is to ask for and we know it's tough to ask for more we're we always have to ask for more every year there's no way absent a seismic change in the way State funds the state funds schools that we're not going to ask for more taxes every year it's an unfortunate reality um what this presentation didn't show and we have in previous years is the efficiency at which we use the tax dollars the dollars per student that Westfield spends compared to other large K to2 districts Statewide we are among the lowest if not the lowest per pupil spending Statewide uh and we have received fantastic results with that imagine what we can do with just a little bit more um it it's we don't like asking for more and we are going to have to but we want to prove we've continued to prove how well we do with every dollar that we collect uh I know some will disagree we should ask for more some will say we should never ask for more than the 2% that we don't have to go to the voters for here's the consensus budget that the board has agreed to or will agree to and it's a solid proposal going forward thank you Brendan anyone else Sahar um I just wanted to um I just wanted to understand the um expansion of the special education programs um to keep children in District as opposed to sending them out of District um we would be extending um from elementary school to both middle schools it's a program at both both middle schools there two different programs okay but there's so similar to what we have now we have one program at one school and another program at another school and then there would be the same two programs I'm sorry an additional two program with the same structure one at Edison one at Roosevelt it would be two different programs it wouldn't be this the one one would be like an MD and one would be an ER program at each four different programs two different programs I understand total four new four programs total that are different it's only two classes that we're offering the the the number of students don't justify putting an MD class at Roosevelt and at Edison so it's just one MD one right but currently we have gifted and talented at Edison and we have ESS at Roosevelt so those are two programs that we have that are in existence not necessarily special ed but they're in two I'm sorry I wasn't clear they're in two different schools so now we're adding two more progr programs into two different schools okay um that will be included in the blue yes so that it cannot go away correct there's the staff for that including behaviorist teachers EMP powered professionals are included in the blue okay um is there any Financial um estimate of how much that would be saving the I know how much it would be costing but how much it will be saving in terms of out of District it's a significant dollar amount that we would save by the students not going out of District but in in actuality it's we're really trying to provide the least restrictive environment for the students to keep them in District right and then continue programming on through the high school for them we're also looking at that right now as part of our referendum and our budget what we can start to fund right looking forward over the next after the next three years so it will benefit us in terms of least restrictive environment as well as um potentially saving us money in terms of ADD District but that isn't necessarily something we can look at until we see how it develops correct I just wanted to add um this is a personal opinion um so this building is the bare minimum of building for the special ed program that we would love to achieve um I think in this district and in every District if we had infinite amounts of money um just like with the gifted and talented program which is not a special education program but still um you're having to take your child away from the um Elementary School that they grew up in that their children are in that their siblings are in and then put them in one school and same thing with um kids who are in uh you know Roosevelt who grew up in the Southside schools now I know that everybody emerges but just socially it's not least restrictive and I just think it's something to just for us all to think about that this is a great start start but there's a lot more that could be done that would be ideal so I just I'm hopeful that this is just the beginning it's definitely just the beginning we've been discussing it as part of our referendum planning it's it's coming up over and over again to look at special ed programming in District great thanks thank you ilila Sahar okay so you answered one of my questions uh and hopefully we'll find out later how much money is actually saved is that right from these two programs it it'll always be estimation because I don't know where the students would have gone and what the cost would have been okay um it's always more to send a student out of District because the transportation alone is significant to send the student to one of the special ed schools okay it could range between $3,000 and $70,000 just to transport them to one of the schools okay um so with regard to the elementary enrichment programs which I'm thrilled to see that's fantastic I think it's in the blue right excuse me not in the blue it's in the green um just so we have three instead of six is that because they're are they full-time the three enrichment teachers and will they just be moving around instead of having one they' be shared staff okay and is there anticipation that there may they may need to be six I'm just thinking of the ESL example where the teachers couldn't well although we had to move the students but oftentimes the teachers couldn't be at the same place at the same time is that comparable or do you think three might is probably enough this point given the shared you know um shared opportunities we have similar to other uh special Area Teachers our teachers music teachers um that don't necessarily reside in a single school and they shared across it all depends on scheduling um we believe that the three teachers would be able to meet the you know programming needs across the uh the elementary level okay great um what is home Systems Technology it's one of the courses that we're looking at um in order to uh try to upgrade our our course catalog we're trying to come up with uh course offerings that would interest students so that it's not just um you know it's it's allowing them to take pract the Practical Arts of you know electricity plumbing and wiring uh and HVAC to understand really how that works in a school level uh I mean in in your own home but from a scientific standpoint so you have the ability to really make practical real world connections um similar to the way uh we be looking at Foods instead of students just learning how to make cookies understanding why cookies taste so good I mean we all know why cookies taste so good let's let's just be um but what you know when you start looking at um you know the science behind it you start to elevate the the offering so that it it it reaches um the interest level of a a wider variety of students I was I just couldn't tell if it was coding or okay that makes sense um with regard to the gifted program are we making any any improvements there in terms of Staffing at this point not in the the current um uh additional spending proposal but we you'll uh recall is the uh the programming development that's going to take place through this additional uh Staffing uh would allow us to then uh look at uh additional Staffing for g&t in the future so if if you recall our current model is based upon uh a model that sends students to a single school from across the district um but as a result of having that uh one individual the program is built around that if we're able to build a bigger program that could then take advantage of the existing folks in the elementary school and then create a a partner uh experience at the other intermediate school then we could be able to define the additional human resources in a in a future budget proposal uh down the road but we don't have the pr the additional programming right now at the intermediate level to be able to to justify that I guess the the question was that I know one struggle was there wasn't enough Staffing to actually manage the gifted program by someone who knows gifted education which in itself is a unique T skill set and you know I've expressed this publicly before is that as somebody whose child was in it in in a different District in a different state and then came here my conclusion or my assessment of it it is really more of a high achieving honors program in math and science don't have to agree with that but it's not as comprehensive and robust as some other programs and part of it I'm sure there are many reasons but part of it may be that there are not teachers or staff that actually know how to do that type of teaching it's more project oriented it's it's more kind of for lack of a better comparison monor style less structured learning anyway I'm not an expert but but as a parent of a former gifted kid so I'm hoping that that will be something that in the future we can we can reform um yeah I I do want to just emphasize I mean in the additional spending proposal slides if you uh look back at the um intermediate uh and secondary and the high school one it really was about programming so we we recognize the need to develop um the programming around those offerings to be uh more high level and and uh really meet the needs of uh you know the the more contemporary offerings of a of a gifted and enrichment experience so that's that's what the additional spending proposal is going to allow us to do right now as we said we have one person one person can't do all of that and and uh deliver the instruction so by adding more staff by adding more funding it allows us to invest in in our uh Educators so that the the experts can uh develop those programs uh effectively okay thanks one other question related to Fields so we're hiring it looks like two new staff um do we have the budget in the for the cost of materials and equipment to maintain the fields I could probably take that one so I I was actually talk with Sean about it today the idea is that we're going I'm I'm looking at for this year in this year's budget getting landscape carts you you know the landscapers go around town and they have the cart with all the equipment in it right now we have equipment and sheds across the district as some people have seen during the walkthroughs um I'd like to pick the best of the equipment and put it on to carts so that they're moving with that we do have at this point equipment it's just we need to assess get the best instead of them going to an area using what's there and moving on to the next so we may need to add and fine tune as we go along but I'll have the funding for that it wouldn't be that major yeah that's what I was wondering is we get the staff and then they say we need all the stuff and and have we it may be too premature this may be something for next year but in light of the failure of the Edison Fields proposal are we now just in a holding pattern where we've got all this I I I mean I realize this is part of trying to resolve that is having these new staff hopefully having the equipment in the budget but we still have a problem which is we have a city that desires and thinks it has an excellent sports program but doesn't have the fields to match it so the rest of us are spping our kids you know out of town so is have we or is that going to be part of the referendum discussion so FK is still doing a Fields analysis for us they the they have they've hired somebody from Ruckers actually to help do the work so they're doing soil analysis they're going to be conducting that in March to get us those reports to help fine-tune what the our groundskeepers are going to be able to do um in the meantime we have taken some proactive approaches we've uh fixed up the the I shouldn't say fixed up we've leveled out I guess is the way to say the softball fields at the high school um I've ordered new bleachers for over there at the high school to because they were it was a safety concern um so we're we're looking at things that we can handle and then we have current staff at our two current grounds keepers are taking the Rucker classes for turf management for field grass turf management so that they will be able to better take care of the grass to look the seating the ation things that we couldn't do with only two staff members I'm really hoping with four this summer if the budget passes the additional spending proposal we would be able to really focus them on those tasks okay thank you so just one final Point um just to emphasize what and it may be premature but everything goes back to facilities and I was glad to see that the community gets that um have you when you're going to the community events is that part of the conversation in terms of the tens of millions of dollars it's going to require in terms of borrowing um which sounds like at least based on some of the numbers I've seen it's not that much per month per resident over 30 years but at some point you know if you grow your gifted program if you grow your special ed program to keep them in in even within the south or north side the kindergarten we keep hitting the same wall so I'm I just wanted to offer you an opportunity to explain how that is going to play out because um I think the can's been kicked down the road for too long at this point yeah I think the easiest way to just address that is um by acknowledging that where we find ourselves uh today and where we found ourselves last year um was uh ensuring that the um connection between the community and the district is is now uh undeniable the only way we are going to be able to to move this District forward uh and expand the opportunities for our students is by having um the direct support and involvement of our community um the school operating budget is uh really limited to uh programming um extracurriculars and progam programs um that we get to offer whether it be visual Performing Arts Athletics uh enrichment um or or anything that happens uh during the school day um but the the general maintenance of the budget is really the I'm sorry the general maintenance of our facilities is really the extent to which a district operating budget could manage all of of the the needs of our 10 buildings um once you get to a level of of need um that requires con ruction or substantial renovation unfortunately the uh operating budget will not be the um the mechanism to do that um that is where a referendum a bond will come in that uh requires a different sort of uh financing in order to address those needs um anything that we've done up to this point whether it be replacing boilers in the past uh being able to support um uh the replacement of some roofs through capital expenditures we've been able to to manage you know here or there but anything more um uh concerted and and large scale uh would not be able to be done in any reasonable amount of time if we going to just attempt to do so uh through a capital um uh fund expenditure so as a result um once the budget is um is voted on in April um the next uh major conversation that's going to take place between the board the administration and the community will be about a a referendum Kristen I just have two quick questions clarification on the Safety and Security presence I just want to make sure I understand it so um those three part-time positions that's going to increase the presence at elementary schools during the day and then more support after school is that correct yeah so it would would be uh to provide additional support during the day as you indicated and after school that that after school presence could be at the intermediate high school or elementary schools again whenever we we see an opportunity um for large Gatherings of students and families uh to attend an event uh we now have the ability a greater ability to use uh security Personnel to assist currently we we do have the benefit of of our partners in law enforcement who have been able to lend a hand um so this would increase our capacity across the board okay great but it's it's going to allow more consistency at the elementary schools during the day it would allow yes it it does not and and I just want to be clear that does not create a a ass sign a single security individual for each school but in the same way we have an increased uh presence uh through our school security specialist now we've uh been able to uh multiply his presence by three uh and again you combine that with the existing controls uh of our uh Westfield PD who are constantly walking through our schools uh I'm very comfortable and confident in their ability to continue to keep our schools safe okay great and then um just one more question this one I don't think we'll have an answer for but just to like throw it out there so the GT and the enrichment Pro uh proposals for middle school and high school are very Math and Science heavy so I'm wondering what kind of programs can or will the district add for our language arts enthusiasts to make it a more comprehensive approach you're right we don't have that answer right now because that's that's really what we're looking at the but I want to throw it out there but it's similar to the to the response uh to to Sahara's question part of the the work that has to take place is in the development of these programs so we we put out there um reference to the science uh computer science design thinking because those are actual standards that are required by the state that we definitely need to bolster up um our ability to create a program that is both stem in humanities you know uh Focus uh certainly is is a balance set we'd be looking to to strike um but we we don't have that specific uh program uh outline uh in place now but with the support hopefully of the um the additional funding proposal we would have the individuals in place who who would be able to start to build those programs great okay go ahead Rob sure so just you know we first started talking about this we're comparing this year at last year I actually want to start comparing it to two years ago when many of us were sitting here talking about only what we could cut and what we could not keep and the discussion about what we're adding forget is an additional funding proposal but even just within the the the 2% that we were able to work with was absolutely non-existent because we weren't able to add um when we first started talking about the budget the question said would the board support you know something a little bit more the additional funding my answer to that was it depends um and the it depends part of that has worked out you know certainly as I've seen this and seen it develop in the finance committee very very well because what we're seeing is a talking about adding not cutting which is fantastic uh and that has a lot to do with the plan for the future um which we clearly have because each of these expenditures as we've as certainly as iing committee and and others have as well is tied to something it's tied to a goal it's tied to an achievement it's tied to an aspiration whatever it may be um so what I was very happy to see in this budget is additions to things that will ultimately result in Savings in other areas the the part of the pie chart that that you know sort of jumps out at me is we're talking about maintenance required maintenance budget of 2% which is more than half of our transportation budget and three times less than the added District tuition that we're talking about and there's only so much savings you're going to get you know from staff and the rest I don't think we want to have that much savings from staff and the rest because we hire and retain good people for a very very good reason because it's what's good for our kids um but when we start planning into the budget now programs that will over time be able to shift some of those percentages maybe in out of District tuition maybe in transportation to more programmatic things towards more maintenance related things for the facilities which are the things that are really being highlighted in the thought exchange and the rest we're moving that budget in the right direction when we're building a foundation for the items that will come up in our referendum right by hiring new staff and groundskeepers we can have great fields we can we can tear one apart and build the best grass Turf whatever you want to call it concrete you know whatever surface you like that's great but if we don't have the people who are going to maintain it we're going to be right back where we were right back where we are now because that's not what we have so what I'm very happy to see in this is you know you don't buy a house and get really excited about the air conditioning or the duct work right but we have to build that to have it or else you're just not going to have anything to build on so that's that's what I like to see in this budget it's why I'm going to be very happy when the vote comes uh to back it up because we are increasing not dropping and we are building with a plan for the future so that's that's what I always took out of our meetings I just wanted to share that with the public go ahead Ila Rob I just wanted to um add on to that you know I was sitting here listening and um you know as we're coming up our our our third term those who were elected 3 years ago um I think that um there has been such tremendous shifts in um where the district was financially and where where the district was in terms of planning and organization and I think we are so much in going headed in the right direction and I I feel like when we talk about well we really like to see this and you know why how come it's how come this isn't done that's just because ideally you know we're talking about like what our dreams would be if we had infinite possibilities but we're everything is grounded in um our strategic plan now everything is grounded in um what the community is expressing as interest to them and I think that um with these guidelines we are in the right place but the fact is also that um we will always have individual children who will need to be sent out of District whose needs cannot be met here no matter how extensive the program is getting who need specialty in different areas we will always have children who um are um in required require some kind of transportation and unfortunately we can't I wish we could um I'm going to that meeting tomorrow I'm curious to see what that budget looks like um we can't control the cost of Transportation so I just I think that you know we're we're we're we're stuck in a position where we have all these goals we have all these dreams but we also need to be grounded in reality um and I I just wanted to express my gratitude because I think that that everyone um in the administration on the finance and Facilities committee has really done such an amazing job and has walked us all through this process which if you're not a math person I'm certainly not um you've explained it and you've really brought us on this journey with you and it's so nice to to see where were headed when it was so unclear 3 years ago so I just wanted to thank you for that thank you ilila does anybody any other board members okay thank you for all that thoughtful comments and thank you for the presentation now I'd like to turn it over to Casey Eisner for the high school student representative report in the leadup to spring break de UHS clubs and organizations are hard at work preparing meaningful events for the school Community last month no place for hate ran a successful game activity period focused on promoting diverse perspectives with the help of special game dice created by the maker space class on Friday the girls learn International Club will be hosting a Barbie movie night and as everyone saw here tonight the theater department is currently hard at work preparing for the spring musical Heathers sgaa in partnership with the community service Club continues to plan for March's activity period focused on community service day through this upcoming Monday SGA will continue collecting supplies for the activity period using our Amazon wish list looking ahead there will also be a book drive with donations going to the bridge of books foundation and the Westfield Memorial Library lastly in honor of former whhs principal Dr Nelson sgaa and the community service Club are raising money for the Wounded Warrior Project which supports soldiers and veterans in addition to the community service aspects of this month's activity period the event is aimed at promoting school spirit as students assemble the toiletry kits and write letters to service members and people in nursing homes they will cheer on those competing in the annual student vers staff basketball game and enjoy a performance by the whhs dance team last week Student Government officers and a sampling of whs students participated in a focus group for the cafeteria company Chartwells giving feedback on how students feel about the cafeteria of food with so many exciting events going on in the whs community students continue to get involved inside and outside of the classroom thank you thank you Casey at this time I'd like to uh move forward with the board committee reports we'll start with the curriculum instruction and assessment committee chairperson Kristen um we don't have a report sip has not met uh since our last meeting but our next schedule meeting is this upcoming Monday March 11th okay thank you Kristen uh finance and Facilities yep Brendan so we spent a lot Finance facilities met on Friday uh we spent a lot of time talking about the budget both in that meeting and here so I'm going to skip the bulk of it um we did talk about the uh the capital reserve withdrawals uh that will be occurring both this budget and uh for next year uh we're setting aside an additional $875,000 for anything related to the Ros ofel facade um $1.6 million for IDF closet HVAC H HVAC in the IDF closets uh this can't wait for a referendum and those areas are separate contained areas that wouldn't be impacted by anything we do referendum wise any anyway um and $11.48 million for HVAC projects it Rosevelt were dividing room 123 into three three different spaces and they require uh ventilation uh we spent a lot of time also talking about our upcoming referendum uh different scenarios and what the tax impact of those might be uh we also discussed creating a referendum committee of members of the public board members and staff members uh we don't yet have a finalized plan as to what that's going to look like but we will go over that with our Architects at uh the next finance and Facilities meeting uh there are two policies on the agenda for tonight that are coming from our committee uh both are State mandated updates to language one has to do with food services and the other has to do with vandalism uh both are just referencing updated statutes and uh the responsible person for implementing each of those uh going back to Roosevelt facad uh the decorative ornamental panels that had broken uh are have been delivered and are being installed uh scaffolding will stay up while they break and repoint The Brick on The Clark Street side uh as weather warms up they'll be able to finish the concrete work on Clark and then move over to the Tuttle side of the building uh that's phase two will will start in the spring and continue through the summer uh if the schedule Works phase three May begin this year otherwise it will have to continue next year um roof issues have been a popular topic lately uh and you'll see on the agenda tonight that we're withdrawing I believe $300,000 uh to remove solar panels and inspect and repair those roofs um most of that the roof repairs are under warranty but removing the solar is on us um so that will occur at Edison to mois and now there's a section of the high school that also needs to be repaired um and our next meeting is March 22nd uh before the Friday before our next board meeting uh any questions on anything that we've discussed all right thank thank you Brendan uh next is the report for uh policies personnel and governance that you Mary yes um we don't have a report tonight uh we are next meeting on March 14th thank you Mary at this time I'd like to recognize the public on agenda action items only during this portion of the meeting District residents and staff are invited to address the board of education on agenda action items only as is the courtesy we'd like to allow current student staff of Westville public schools to speak first the board requests that individuals sign in and state their name Municipality of residents and group affiliation if applicable for the record for for the record the specific action items they are commenting on and asks that all remarks be directed to the board president the board asks that members of the public be courteous and mindful of the rights of other individuals when speaking specifically comments regarding Personnel matters are discouraged and cannot be responded to by the board students and employees have specific legal rights afforded by the laws of New Jersey the board Bears no responsibility nor will it be liable for any comments made by members of the public if a matter concerning a District staff member is of Interest or concern to a resident the matter should be referred to the responsible building principal superintendent of schools or the Board of Education either by telephone letter or email although the board may not respond to items raised during the public forum all public comments will be considered please note that if any member of the the public becomes disruptive during the meeting the board president May terminate the participant statement continued disruptions may result in removal from the meeting or adjournment of the meeting each speaker statement will be limited to 3 minutes in duration good evening my name is Mark Shaw from Westfield I am the current parent of a uh Westfield High School uh soft add a couple questions on the budget as you were going through it you mentioned the 0.59% in the red are we to assume if that gets approved by referendum that that is a permanent part of the budget that the future 2% will be applied to and does it also include the 0.9% or is it so the entire 1.49% would be a future cast forward on the 0.59% you uh stated it would save approximately seven teacher positions do we know if those were seven positions that were added from a prior discretionary portion of the budget you ask all the questions and at the end if there's anything we can have sure thank you all right so um so that would be question number one how many of the seven faculty included in the 0 59% were part of a prior enhancement um you've answered one of my questions already um and I think if I read if I heard this correctly what you stated was the 1.49% would become a permanent part of the budget that all future 2% would be uh a larger base would be applied to so in that sense I think that's a good thing if I'm reading it correctly because we'd have a larger base for the 2% to be applied to uh in a sense um and if not approved the 1.49% I assume we'll be in the same situation if not worse in future years because we're unlikely to get any more additional funding from the state on that uh I I'll call it discretionary for a lack of better vocabulary at this point um and I would like to know as a couple people have asked what the estimated savings would be by bringing some of the special education students back into Westfield I understand you can't give a clear answer but I think there's probably some sort of estimate that could be made on a per person basis I would think um because at least we're going to be saving the uh Transportation I would assume uh versus some of that um and then in the budget I didn't see any item for a line item for legal um where would that be incorporated into what line item would legal be incorporated into uh certainly with I know what's going to be likely coming down the road in the very near future or is already in process that's all my bu thank you I just like to reiterate that the board may not respond to items raised during public forum and all public comments will be considered but we may not respond during the public comment section hi hi Julie Steinberg Westfield New Jersey um I first want to just reiterate some of the comments that everybody made and congratulate the board because um I do agree that two years ago the budget was very frightening watching things being cut into bone and Patty I want to give you credit for all the work you must have done here and everybody here for all the teamwork that must have gone into um such an improved state and such thoughtful planning and maneuvering to get us to where we are uh I guess we could also thank the state of New Jersey for the additional funds um but I I I do think though that you know the fact that you guys went you didn't just wait for the state to maybe or maybe not give you those funds to look for the waivers to look for the other opportunities is something that we should all really be grateful for um I have a question regarding 11a um particularly as it relates to the special education costs and the new programming as a special education parent uh it's important to understand exactly what is being proposed what are these new classrooms and how are they going to serve in LR when these kids obviously are being considered for out of District placements because their needs could not be previously met I I think that it's important that regardless of this if any other services being offered in the special education Realm by the district are changing or have been changed if for example anything in the lldd realm was offered once at one level and now isn't being offered anymore or I prep or anything else I think it's really important and Dr Weissman always does a very good job communicating with his parents but I think it's very important that we all understand because you're talking about a major assumed cost efficiency and one I think it's important for us as parents to know what that means for our kids um to who is going to really benefit from it three how are you going to get a group of kids with such a potentially diverse range of needs again understanding what these classrooms are for and who they are serving and for how are we addressing the other gaps whether it's the excessive case management load in special education or in fact the Gap that exists in uh first grade to fifth grade as it's the only part of our program that does not have an in-classroom IC class at every El Elementary School we do provide it in the middle schools um dual classrooms we do provide them at the high schools so one has to also wonder if perhaps part of the Gap comes from jumping from elementary school to middle school if in the past that is also contributed not having those opportunities to move through different lres different opportunities and so I would just strongly recommend that in addition to all the good work that's been done on the budgeting side perhaps APS give some more qualitative examples of what this means because special education parents really need to understand what's available to them and what the process is for their children to proceed through the system whether it's where they're coming from before to where they'll be 10 years later thank you thank you yeah I could yeah I could are we did we close at this time I'd like to close public comment so I'll I'll begin and Patty feel free to jump in so um the question about the seven teachers uh that are listed in that 0.59 um at this point the only thing we've identified are the levels three Elementary two intermediate uh and then the two at the high school and and part of the reason is because um we need to identify at the time if that decision needs to be made um what teachers are potentially um already in process of retiring resigning uh what potential class sizes have already uh uh changed in in a way that would potentially reduce uh a position that exists so so the specifics as to who those seven teachers are uh is is not yet determined for those reasons uh what I can say is this is not proposing that any of the programs that we added last year for instance the counselors or the academic support teachers that any of those programs would be impacted by this so I know that was a question whether or not any of the uh prior year uh additions would be affected by this that is not the expectation that that uh we would uh have but we wouldn't be able to go into any more specific detail uh until such time that we would have to look at the full uh slate of of employees and um what are potential vacancies or resignations and retirements look like um the other uh question and I'm sorry Patty was was there anything else on that that I missed not on that okay um and then when it comes to special education I think the um the programs listen I the part of the calculation when we're building our budget uh factors in as we said decisions that have have yet to be made so when we factor in the cost of sending a student out of District what factors into that is the cost of transportation and tuition if we don't know where they're going we can't calculate how much it's going to cost to transport them there if we don't know where they're going we can't calculate the exact tuition um so that the the amount that we're uh factoring in um to our calculation you know takes into account what what's the uh average tuition and transportation the average tuition is probably about $80,000 at this point and the transportation about4 to $50,000 so when you look at you know what we're we're proposing tuition and transportation are the key you know variables um but if we have five students who are eligible for movement into the sixth grade if four of those students uh remain in District and one uh student uh we are unable to maintain in District because we can't meet his or her needs then obviously that's going to offset that number and that savings so those are the the variables that uh our business office takes into account but that's also the reason why we can't you know calculate uh any any greater percentage but I hope that you know at least the tuition and and transportation gives an idea um and then last but not least the the special ed programs that had been uh referenced the expansion are for the emotional uh regulation impairment class which currently exists uh in the district as well as our uh MD class um so when you look at our two classes that exist at the elementary level in Wilson um they don't have companion programs at the at the intermediate level so those would be the two specific programs that we'd be looking to expand um not with the intent to reduce any programs or offerings to to uh the to parents uh within the district in order to make that happen um but to actually be able to provide something that we currently don't offer um at the intermediate level um the recommendations and suggestions to continue to explore what other options and programming we have 100% that is that is uh part and parcel of the work that Mr uh that Dr Weissman is doing with Alex Lindon uh in uh the department of pupal personnel as part of his work and as part of the uh charge of the um goal number two within the Strategic plan to really ensure that our programs and offerings uh include the strategies and services that we provide both through separate um self-contained programs or through any other means of delivering special education support in class support co- teing uh additional types of resource uh resources um through you know specialized instruction or instructors so that's all within the realm of possibility um but again with each uh opportunity uh to build our budget we we take a a a stab at trying to be able to build that and then based upon the success or not then we determine what we're able to do the the following year um so each year that we're we're continuing to do that our department of special services is uh continues to look at our existing programs and offerings and the classification needs of our students both current and the ones that are up and coming as we have students who uh enroll in our schools uh in Lincoln um we're able to see what their needs are when when students arrive in first grade we're able to see what their needs are and we're able to project into the future so that you know if we have a need that we could meet uh currently that's great if we don't then we take advantage of the time that we have to try and build build budgets or build classrooms and programs as necessary so I hope that helps explain that as well I want to add two other things so with the special ed programs as as Ry said we're building from the bottom up we're not looking to take students that are currently out of district and move them back into District um obviously we would invite students to come back into District if they see our programs are successful we can always do that but the the idea is not to take kids that are in their current programs and start to move them forcefully from where they are um these students that we're looking at now are in District programs so it's just a continuation of service services for them in District where they have been since prek um the other thing was the additional spending proposal I just want to say again that that will build on the base for the tax for next year so if if both parts of the budgets are voted on we will build 2% off of that entire 117 million next year so that is is important to note thank you thank you um I just wanted to emphasize something that often times people don't notice is when you take a look at that budget it's $8.2 million for out of state tuition right for our special education children so one hopes or at least I would hope that when we get the facilities that we can keep some of our own students in our in our city in our town with their neighbors with their you know their friends so I mean I appreciate that question um but hopefully it can be part of that broader conversation it's not just about the money but it's also about what you said the least restrictive but 8.2 million is a lot of money that one wonders what part of that could one still spend but keep those kids with our community okay at this time I'd like to um approve the minutes from February 20th 2024 regular board meeting minutes can I have a second thank you Kristen all in favor say I I I abstain too okay we're moving on to board action uh agenda governance Rob sure I'd like to move item a under the uh governance agenda second thank you Kent for the second any questions or discussion see none Patty can we have a vote Sahar aiz yes Rob bonio yes Kent diamonds yes Brendan gallagan yes Charles jinus Lea melli yes sonol Patel yes Kristen Sonic schmeltz yes Mary wickins I abstain okay Personnel Mary yes I'd like to move items a through o under the Personnel section of tonight's agenda ready do you have any can I have a second first Kristen got it Ray do you have anything you want to say I do I do um this evening we recognized two uh retirees Monica Gundrum uh began her career in Westfield public schools in 1999 as a teacher of kindergarten at tacis elementary school she dedicated her initial seven years to teaching kindergarten before moving to first grade for four years and eventually to second grade for the last 14 her colleagues describe Monica as a reliable and dependable individual and has rarely missed a day of work over her career as a mentor teacher in recent years Monica has guided less experienced colleagues drawing from her rich teaching experience her departure marks the end of a significant error at tacis leaving a lasting impact on both colleagues and students Dorothy Wade Dorothy Wade began her career in the Westfield public schools in September of 2000 as an elementary school teacher at Wilson Elementary School her colleagues oh as an elementary teacher uh her colleagues describe her as an energetic enthusiastic and vibrant educator who goes above and beyond to design engaging experiences for her students in her class you don't just learn about the 13 colonies you adopt a colony and create a persuasive advertisement for it you also don't just learn about plants you collaborate with the professor from ruter so that you can grow your own lettuce hydroponically Dorothy is looking forward to spending more time with her grandchildren but her Presence at Wilson definitely will be missed we wish both of these individuals a happy and healthy retirement thank you Patty can we have a vote Sahar aiz yes Rob bonao yes Kent Diamond yes Brendan gallagan yes Charles jinus Leila melli sonel Patel yes Kristen Sonic schmeltz yes Mary wickens yes okay finance and Facilities yes thank you um I'd like to Kent he voted already tell you I'd like to move first we'll do item a which is the proven the tenative 2024 2025 budget and then we'll do the the others like so I may have a second I'm moving item a second thank you Brendan any questions or can we go ahead and move a okay Patty can we have a vote Sahar aiz yes Rob bachia yes Kent diamonds yes Brendan gallagan yes Charles jinus Lila melli yes sonel Patel yes Kristen Sonic schmeltz Mary wickens yes all right thanks and now I'd like to make a motion to move items B through I in the finance section but I also like to highlight some donations uh we have four this evening they an anonymous one for $11,000 for the uh Roosevelt technology purchases second from the Westfield Coalition for the Arts $ 43415 to support the classrooms of the following Visual and Performing Arts teachers Mr Alman at Edison Mr D at Roosevelt M Mrs Guilford at Roosevelt Mrs Greenwood at Roosevelt and Mrs schwarzenbeck at the Westfield High School third uh thank you to the Kean University Holocaust Resource Center for $525 to cover the cost of supplies and educational material for a collaborative commerative project undertaken by the district and ku's HRC to highlight the importance of Holocaust and genocide Remembrance in Union County and fourth uh thank you to the Westfield School boosters Association for a donation of $2,895 to purchase Gilman lacrosse goals for for the Westfield High School so thank you to all four organizations with this total tonight the donations for this school year now total $2,482 and10 nice amount so thank you okay Patty can we have a vote do I have a second please I'm sorry thank you Lea now we can have a okay now can we have a vote soar aiz yes Rob bachio yes Kent Diamond yes Brendan gallagan yes Charles jinus Leila melli yes sonel Patel yes Kristen Sonic schmeltz yes Mary wickens yes okay policies Leila Mary Mary Mary oh okay it's me again um I'd like to move item a under the policy section of tonight's agenda can I have a second oh Brendan hey thank you any questions can I have a vote Patty Sahar Riz yes Rob Bonia yes Kent diamonds yes Brendan gallagan yes Charles jinus Leila melli sonel Patel yes Kristen Sonic schmeltz yes Mary wickens yes curriculum instruction and assessment Kristen I'd like to move um items action items a through C under curriculum a oh sorry a through b um a ask the board to approve two field trips and B ask the board to approve a student teaching intern at tamaka can I have a second second can uh anybody have any questions okay Patty can we have a vote Sahar aiz yes Rob bachio yes Kent diamonds yes Brendan gallagan yes Charles jinus Leila melli yes sonel Patel yes Kristen Sonic schmeltz yes Mary wickens yes okay I'd like to acknowledge uh the notes for the record and then moving on to unfinished business new business liaison reports okay Mary go ahead first I'll be quicker yeah I just want to um talk about um Jefferson School for a minute I went to their um PTO meeting on uh February 21st and I've been asking and asking for them to give me something some good news to share with the board um I went there to talk about the budget so I did that first and then they were good enough to let me know some of the great happenings that they've been doing at Jefferson um a couple of them were on February 22nd they had their math and science night which the parents and the uh teachers put on for the kids so they did math games and uh science activities that evening um the early act Club organized a food Tri food drive and they collected over over 800 food items that they were able to donate to the grace church and Holy Trinity food pantries um April and May they're going to be starting up their spring stem classes after school which are run by Jefferson teachers in collaboration with the PTO and those are offered after school for free and also um this week they're starting to celebrate um social emotional learning um which is spearheaded by their counselor Miss saletti and the students will be participating in activities that will focus on self-awareness self-management social awareness relationship skills and responsible decision-making thank you thank you Mary Rob you're right um so two reports uh one is from the recommission which met last night uh two items to highlight there first uh if you are on the waiting list for the pool uh check your emails today and going forward uh they are proceeding to that list now it's one of the better deals in town uh they have uh they're going to fill the fill the membership certainly so just keep an eye out for those they told me a lot of emails were going to spam so check there as well uh the second thing from the recommission is the playground camp that has been in effect now for a couple of years is is back on uh they are getting a lot of students interested in participating but they are looking for uh help for counselors and site supervisors they're looking for high school students so if you are a high school student or the parent of one and you would like to a get out of the house or B get your high schooler out of the house for work uh now would be the time to apply just go to the rec commission's website download the application they're taking those now and interviewing as we speak um the secondly ason report is a little bit different um I was invited to visit uh Miss mun's fourth grade class in Franklin to talk about the importance of being involved in your community uh regardless of what level of talent you have and how old you may be um there is always an opportunity for you to get involved uh and the students were uh took the challenge of talking about things that were going on in the district and giving their suggestions for what they might like to see uh as we plan for the future very seriously I will tell you that asking a group of 10-year-olds an open-ended question like that is an exercise in bravery um but we were okay um so the students had a number of thoughts that they asked me to bring to the board and since I don't like to break my promises I will do that now um very interestingly much like our thought exchange is the students were very focused on facilities and space uh they are very supportive of additional classroom space for music and the Arts very supportive of additional classroom space for technology and stem and exceedingly supportive of improvements to playgrounds and Fields uh in particular based on on data which I know the superintendent loves his data so so to these students uh one of the students uh took it upon herself to take a an informal poll of quote like 500 fifth graders end quote um who wanted to see certain things going on at the playground including seesaws so however that would work it's now on record um also talked about curriculum um the students are very uh supportive of additional classes in stem and Technology uh of extending art music and language classes not only within their schools but to grades younger than them uh and very much in favor as will come to surprise of no one uh for increased opportunities for field trips um and suggestions for that range from the turtleback zoo which is probably something that we could consider to going to Disney which may be a little bit harder to plan for um finally uh I guess we'll call us in the policy realm students were very concerned that whatever we are doing in our district uh that we make sure that those things are available and accessible to students of all different ages and all different abilities and I'm really not making that up this was no matter what we talked about they they wanted to make sure that the younger grades and their friends of of of any level of of of of learning and ability were able to access playgrounds able to access coursework and the rest um they also wanted to see a significant increase in the kindness weeks and uh and cultural studies um so if anybody was concerned about uh the kinds of students that our teachers are putting out that our district are putting out and that our parents quite frankly are putting out um we are really raising a group of very selfless and very empathe atic students uh as shown by uh by this class there were actually two things that I forgot to mention which I will hear about if I don't the first and I don't know where we would put this exactly maybe we can talk to Sean about this is if we can turn the water fountains in the schools the water refill bottles if we can set up a line so that they can give lemonade as well as water that was one biggie um and the other is just if we could just take Wednesdays off completely just stop them right there just for a little a little bit in the in the school year so um that is the conclusion of the report and thanks to miss munts and the students for being so forthcoming nobody likes hump day thank thank you rob okay at this time I'd like to recognize the public during this portion of the meeting members of the public are invited to address the board of education on any topic as a courtesy we'd like to allow current student staff of Westville public schools to speak first the board requests that individuals sign in and state their name Municipality of residence and group affiliation if applicable for the record and ask that all remarks be directed to the board president not to individual board members or staff the board ask that members of the public be courteous and mindful of the rights of other individuals when speaking specifically comments regarding Personnel matters are discouraged and cannot be responded to by the board students and employees have specific legal rights afforded by the laws of New Jersey the board Bears no responsibility nor will it be liable for any comments made by members of the public if a matter concerning a District staff member is of Interest or concern to a resident the matter should be referred to the responsible building principal superintendent of schools or the Board of Education either by telephone letter or email although the board may not respond to items raised during the public forum all public comments will be considered please note that if any member of the public becomes disruptive during the meeting the board president May terminate the participant statement continued disruptions may result in removal from the meeting or adjournment of the meeting each speaker's statement will be limited to 3 minutes in duration hi I would like to address today the addition of three security guards that was put into the budget I find it deeply concerning the lack of uh specificity that was put into how this uh what these security guards will do who these security guards will be what their roles will be whether they will be armed security guards what their training will be um I find it deeply concerning that we are putting these security guards who may or may not be trained possibly with guns in front of our elementary school students I believe that we have had great success with our SRO I deeply enjoy our I greatly love uh officer Kelo I think he's amazing uh I think our SRO program is amazing I think that the ability for SRO to interact with students and the fact that not only that they exist but also that they interact with the students and get to know the students allows them to succeed on a deeper level while putting these uh officers or possibly not trained officers into our schools May create a environment that may seem hostile to students and may create a unsafe environment for students there are also studies that show that armed security guards do not actually decrease the amount of crime or the possibility of uh shootings in schools while we while it is a um sorry while we all know it's an issue and while having these people on campus will increase their time to respond I it has been shown that just having people on site does not actually decrease the uh impul like if someone's going to come onto our campus and do something they're not going to stop just because these people exist it just changes the amount of time that they're going to have to respond and if they're not trained properly that response may not be as effective as if they are trained properly so it is very important that when you go into this uh hiring process and when you make this budget that you make it very specific what their role is what their job is and what they need what they're um what they are going to be doing basically and what training they need to have in order to do this job and also at an elementary school level how they're going to act elementary school kids need to be able to come in see someone with a smiling face not someone who's standing there scowling at them with a gun thank you thank you okay at this time I'd like to close public comments since there's nobody else up there waiting hi uh I just want to just be able to respond to Mr Taylor's comment so thank you for for bringing those questions up they're very appropriate and valid questions and and fortunately I have an answer uh to to help uh uh provide some clarity um it consistent with the uh introduction of the school security specialist um that was brought to the Westfield School District uh two years ago um the position is intended to be filled by an individual who has Law Enforcement experience so that training I I would agree is absolutely uh prerequisite to being able to successfully fill that position as they would have the requisite um you know uh perspective and experience in being able to manage uh the the Safety and Security needs um as well as working with law enforcement to do so um as with our um current Safety and Security Specialists um this these positions would not be armed um currently the only individuals who are armed in the district are those who work for uh law enforcement ment so that those individuals who are employed by the police department uh whether they are as SRO or as uh Patrol men and women who uh make their way into our schools um those would be the only individuals who'd be authorized to carry um the individuals who we may hire uh may have the license to do so so if down the road that ever changes we would have the ability to to activate that but that wouldn't be uh without notifying the community and certainly without the um the conversation at the board level um so at this point the individual's UH responsibilities would be consistent with the current uh Safety and Security specialist so that they would be a visible presence in our schools to be able to provide uh support to provide observation uh to provide a visual um deterrent uh for any anyone uh who is interested in not following the rules uh and and potentially coming into our schools um but not from a student discipline standpoint but really from an outsider uh standpoint their ability to be an extra set of eyes and ears to ensure that our schools are safe uh is really the intent behind it and we would certainly further uh spell that out in any job description any job description that um W is developed for this position would ultimately be presented to the board of education for approval as well so that you would be able to see that uh in at a future board meeting okay thank you Dr Gonzalez this time I'd like to make a motion to adjourn can I have a second second thank you Kent all in favor