[Music] the February 15 2024 meeting of the Weber s Board of Education will please come to order roll call Mr secretary Miss Anderson here miss Bordan here Mr deletro here Mr Muhammad here Mr sadan here Mr treaser here Mr valz here Mr Harris here Mr secretary it's required by the Sunshine Law please read the notice of meetings thank you Mr President the New Jersey open public meetings law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon in accordance with the provisions of this act the board of education has caused notice of this meeting to be published by having the date time and place thereof posted as follows on January 25th 2024 email to the home News Tribune The Star Ledger and the municipal clerk's office posted in Ross Street School number 11 and the Board of Education administration building also published on the school district website thank you Mr wolferman Miss bouran please read the close session statement thank you Mr President in compliance with the Sunshine Law the board must go into a close session in order to discuss subjects Exempted from the public portion of our meeeting the discussions to be held in close session will be regarding Personnel matters and the board will receive attorney client advice any information regarding close session discussion will be released to the public when the reason for discussing these matters in close session no longer exists thank you m ban the board will retire can we have a second oh I apologize yes I I jumped the gun sorry I have a motion by Miss Bordan do I have a second second I have a motion by Miss Bordan second by Mr delap Petro all in favor I any opposed no carried the board will retire to close session we'll be back back out shortly thank you please rise for a salute to the flag in a moment of silence uh this evening we're going to do a moment of silence for a deceased uh employee of ours Karen Brock who was a tremendous employee uh and and a friend to many in particularly in Colonia thank you I pled to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands [Music] okay do I have a motion to reconvene no motion okay do I have a second second I have a motion by by Mr Tre waser seconded by miss bouran all in favor I any opposed carried roll call Mr secretary Miss Anderson here miss Bordan here Mr deletro here Mr Mohammad here Mr sadonna here Mr treaser here Mr valz here and Mr Harris here Mr secretary please State for the record any notices of bids received by the board thank you Mr President for the 2023 24 school year we opened uh one bid on January 2 3rd 2024 ifb 24-14 student transportation services special education thank you very much Mr wolferman Dr Mato please introduce our student representative from Colonial High School Miss Alex roacha Alexa roacha Sor right thank Mr Iris Alexa roaches is a senior at Colonial High School in her AP and C Level classes Alexa has performed extremely well she chose to take these classes because they challenge her and they will set her up for the future she's a focused mature young woman who has balanced her in school extracurricular activities with her dance life outside of school Alexa is the 3A academic athletic and artistic for 17 years Alexa's impeccable Grace and aptitude for dancing was honed at her dance studio where she competes in contemporary ballet tap Jazz and Hip-Hop she's a founding member of The Varsity competition dance team and a dedicated Captain the team has had a successful year dancing at the football and basketball games and competing the CHS dance team played first at Monclair State University's dance competition in Varsity Jazz and Hip Hop recently Alexa received word that she was selected to the New Jersey cheer Dan Association All State team Alexa has also been part of the National Honor Society her Junior and Senior year and this year holds the title of president of the National Honor Society she has been involved in Heroes and Cool Kids Club and she has also served as class president her sophomore Junior and Senior year she's an active member of many clubs and organizations at Colonial High School such as the interact Club the ecology Club and student counsil to name a few Alexa's future dreams consist of moving to the city to pursue a BFA in dance and minor in business Alexa thank you for joining us today thank [Applause] you so here I have a list of the activities for all the schools so for school four and five Woodbridge Township have a heart food drive American Heart Association kids heart challenge grade one ASL morning tutoring grades 3 through 5 morning tutoring family Math and Science nights kids Dent presentations grades K through 2 middle sex County artwork contest American Legion coloring contest and avanel Street School character traits January tolerance February citizenship for school 20 they had their Dei assembly Ronald McDonald house project cultural holiday quilt is on display at the Woodbridge Township Public Library Woodbridge Township half a heart food drive American Heart Association kids heart challenge 21st year and congratulations to our Claremont Avenue Martin Luther King Jr essay contest winner Natalie Luke family science cougar compliments character education trait for February is caring student of the month and 15 52 students earned honor roll for marking period to for school 21 Woodbridge Township have a heart food drive American Heart Association kids heart challenge middle sex County Art Contest no name calling week monthly Eagle Pride assemblies recognizing students CMS sidekick visits February family science third grade math Mania with school number nine School 22 Fourth Grade Student Isabella bord was recognized as their school winner in the Dr Martin Luther King Junior essay contest our fifth grade students completed the Dare program on January 12th our tiger buddies program continued on January 22nd pairing older and younger students together for a classroom lesson on writing Ready Set red program concluded on January 30th with nearly 200 students participating 51 students made the Honor rooll family stem night commenced last week for families in grades three and four have a heart food drive and students dressed like they were 100 years old to celebrate the 100th day of school for school 23 Woodbridge Township have a heart food drive after school blast Title One program began on February 5th family science began February 6th family writing began February 8th the PTO Valentine's Day dance was February 16th marking Period 2 honorable presentation for 63 honorable students rocket day was February is February 23rd Mark Joseph honored as our Dr Martin Luther King Jr ESS contest winner and change challenge raised almost $22,000 for the PTO for school 27 Woodbridge Township have a heart food drive middle sex County bike SLP personal safety Art Contest no name calling week CMS sidekick visits whs saffron Alliance visit for indic Heritage Month family science after school Lions program our MLK essay contest winner was Ryland Sutton and the DARE graduation is held on January 10th avanel Middle School Woodbridge Township have a hard food drive Sidekicks mentoring program visited School Number 9 School number 23 School 4 and school 5 they held our first ever student Leadership Summit a portion of our eighth grade students participated in the NA national assessment of Education progress assessment they held our winter dance performance first week of February celebrated kindness week and participated in PS S I love you Day celebrated our guidance counselors during National School counseling week Colonia Middle School indic heritage month was celebrated with a special event that included dances art games and yoga the Colonia cup is fully functioning takeout coffee shop run by our special education students located in our front lobby and is open for Daily Business this month CMS celebrates Black History Month a schoolwide anti-bullying program was held with former national champion boxer cam awesome the girls basketball team made it to the district finals the boys basketball team won the district Championship best of luck to our boys and girls bowling teams whose seasons are now underway our community service Club LED our school in the townships have a heart food drive the eighth grade gifted and talented enrichment students presented their welcome wonderful projects at their convocation the drama club had an outstanding evening performance and the PTO recently purchased new benches for the front of our building Colonia High School we welcomed Miss Murray as our new science and social studies department head the baseball program collected and delivered over 500 toys for Toys for Tots with assistance from the CHS honor society's R Kappa and the National Honor Society the boys basketball program hosted the Eric CL Grand Holiday Tournament raising approximately $1,000 to donate to the Christopher and Dana Reeves Foundation the honor society's banded together to host a winter wonderland charity event on December 22nd and raised over $600 to be sent to the American Suicide Prevention and St James food pantry of Woodbridge on December 8th the guitar Club held its first winter coffee house since 2019 20 sophomores through senior students applied to present their independent research work at the Tera North Jersey stem fair to be held in March at Kan University nine freshman students have applied to compete in the New Jersey science day air pollution mitigation competition the National Honor Society participated in Rucker's Big Chill the National Honor Society volunteered at cookies with Santa roaa history Honor Society visited Boston Massachusetts for an overnight historical trip in December and January CHS Asian Culture Club worked with Ford Middle School's World Culture Club on a Lunar New Year Dragon CHS Asian Culture Club celebrated indic Heritage Month by creating a hall of Heroes bulletin board and a map bulletin board about the countries and their commonalities the snow Shredder is headed to the Blue Mountain Poconos on February 2nd and they are also planning to go to belir Mountain on in New York's cat skills on March 9th the interact Club collected over 3,000 non-p perishable food items in December to support the St James food pantry and the top contributing classes earned a bowling trip the interact Club continues to host hand-in-hand events for each each month for adults with developmental disabilities the interact Club is hosting a Red Cross blood drive on April 24th the girls bowling team won the white division the wrestling team celebrated Michael fle siano's 100th win CHS invites the Woodbridge Community to the production of into the woods which will take place on March 21st through 24th all right thank you thank you Alexa for your detailed report you're welcome to stay for the remainder of the meeting however if you have other things to do studying uh what have you uh feel free to excuse yourself at any point in the meeting okay thank you so much should I have to go have a great night okay all right thank you very much and thanks for your parents for being here Dr maso Mr President I just want to uh acknowledge Mr chera the principal at colon High School wanted to send his uh apologies to the roacha family uh I met with him today he had full intentions to come here obviously to support his student but I had an emergency that that he had attend to sent me the text so I did acknowledge that Mr chair does send his apologies to Alexa um he wanted to be here to support you but there was an emergency so he just wanted to me Rel that message to you thank [Music] you Dr mamino please State for the record the superintendent's reports for the month of January 2024 thank you Mr President I submit the student registers and fire Dr report suspension reports for elementary and secondary school bomb threat reports and reports of the attendance officers thank you Dr Masa the waran Board of Education welcomes and encourages active productive and respectful participation by members of the public and seeks to protect the First Amendment rights of those who engage in the exercise of free speech at this Board of Education meeting members of the public are requested to express themselves in a civil manner with due respect the dignity and private privacy of those who whose legal rights may be impacted the public is now invited to speak regarding the agendas being presented this evening when you come to the microphone please provide your name and the section of the Township in which you reside along with the specific agenda and item number you wish to discuss as per regulation 1100d comments must be limited to no more than 5 minutes no response will be given until you have completed your opportunity to speak anyone wishing to speak this evening agenda on the agenda on agenda item John Woodbridge I got a couple of things to tonight but again uh last Tuesday at a cons meeting uh there was a people kind of complaining about the increase of the property tax and of course we know uh why so speaking but again uh mayor last couple meetings that he said about the school H plan that the m is going to come up from a planning board approve the four different sites I guess major improvements there going to pay for those schools to the school again uh looks like he's running the whole uh construction whatever is one in charge of it but again uh people complain about it they want to make it clear that he said that um it's not him yeah Mr verar which which agenda item well I want what does agenda agenda okay I want to talk about insurance number one insurance insurance okay but there was the insurance I would like to know I ask many many times before uh who is the insured agency and who is the agent that provides insurance for school board for years probably more same for years and years I guess I assume who it is but I would like to hear from you uh what insurance company carries the school board insurances and is it possible get a person's name who's the agent for the for the company okay that's it okay that's your only question okay uh I I've got a number of guesses I know we have a broker we've got administrators and of course we have property Casualty Insurance to health insurance Mr wolferman you want to take the your best stab at the rather broad question yeah we have various um insurance compan compes that we work with for you know health insurance property insurance as Mr Harris has said um we have different uh Brokers that work with us but I don't have all the names of everybody we use off hand but you know you can certainly reach out to me individually if you like but you you don't have any I mean I know my agents I got a couple insurance companies to deal with too myself sure but I mean I'm sure you would know the person that you kind of uh negotiate in of course yeah sure yeah and um you know you can make an opra request but I can tell you from Doyle Alliance we have Ryan TOA I think on the health insurance side and then we have nor uh New Jersey School uh board what it school Insurance Group on the property and Casualty side so it's it's a very broad question you you can imagine uh but we we can get you those answers it's not a particular it's not a particular public knowledge we we'll get that for you okay thank Youk yeah all right so the lights dim there superintendent agenda Dr maso do you have any recommendations Mr President I have 14 items to present to the board tonight do I have a motion for the superintendent agenda so motion okay do I have a second second okay I have a motion by Mr Tre waser seconded by Mr Del pitro are there any comments or questions from the board broko Mr wolferman Miss Anderson yes Miss bouran yes Mr delro yes Mr Muhammad uh Mr President on item number 14 I abstain in the name of rodr University and yes on the rest or yes on the rest thank you uh Mr Don yes Mr treer yes Mr valz yes Mr Harris yes communication policy and planning that's Mr Muhammad oh right with you folks we got a lot of paper in front of us there got it thank you Mr President the communication policy and planning committee on recommendation of the superintendent presents the following nine items I move for the adoption of the forgoing very good thank you Mr Muhammad do I have a second second okay I have a motion by Mr Muhammad seconded by Miss Anderson there any comments or questions from the board seeing none roll call Mr secretary Miss Anderson yes Miss Bordan yes Mr deletro yes Mr Mohammad yes Mr Sedana yes Mr tree waser yes Mr valz yes Mr haris yes curriculum extracurricular activities and Technology agenda Mr sadana thank you Mr President the extracurricular uh the curriculum extracurricular activities and Technology committee on the recommendation of the superintendent of schools and the assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction present the following five items I move for the adoption of before going I have a motion by Mr San do I have a second second okay I have a motion a lot of you at the same time a lot uh motion by Mr Sedana seconded by Miss Bordan are there any comments or questions from the board saying none roll call Mr wolman Miss Anderson yes M Bordan yes Mr deletro yes Mr Mohammad yes Mr sadonna yes Mr Trier yes Mr valz yes Mr Harris yes finance and insurance agenda Mr Tre thank you Mr President the finance and insurance committee on recommendation of the superintendent of schools and the business administrator board secretary presents the following 13 items I move for the adoption of the forgoing okay I have a motion by Mr treaser do I have a second second okay I have a motion by Mr Tre waser secreted by Miss Anderson are there any comments or questions from the board saying none roll call Mr wolferman Miss Anderson yes Miss bouran yes Mr deletro yes Mr Mohammad yes Mr Sedana yes Mr Mr treer yes Mr valz yes Mr Harris yes Safety and Security agenda Mr valz thank you Mr President you have a Safety and Security committee on recommendation of superintendent schools present the following three it items I recommend for the adoption of forego thank you Mr VZ I have a motion by Mr VZ do I have a second second second okay I have a motion by Mr valet second by Mr Dela Petro are there are any comments or questions from the board seeing none roll call Mr wolferman M Anderson yes Miss bouran yes Mr delpetra yes Mr Mohammad yes Mr Sedana yes Mr treaser yes Mr valz yes Mr Harris yes building buildings and grounds agenda Mr valz back to you thank you Mr Harris uh the buildings and grounds committee on recommendation of superintendent schools and business administrator present the following one item and I move for the the adoption of forego thank you Mr valz I have a motion by Mr valz do I have a second second I have a motion by Mr valz seconded by my Miss Anderson do I have any comments or questions from the board seeing none Mr wolferman roll call M Anderson yes M bouran yes Mr deletro yes Mr mohammd yes Mr Sedana yes Mr Tre waser yes Mr valz yes Mr Harris yes dining and transportation agenda Mr Del thank you Mr President the dawning and transportation committee on recommendation of the superintendent of schools and the business administrator board secretary presents the following five items move for the adoptions forego thank you Mr deletro I have a motion by Mr deletro do I have a second second I have a motion by Mr delro second by Miss Mr sadonna are there any comments or questions from the board I'll just make a couple here want to thank Mr wolferman and our repres representatives from pomptonian we had a a hearty discussion the other day during the committee and um I think from there Mr wolferman I think we could uh uh do some things relative to communication with parents I know Sue Miss ban and I have talked about this uh among other parent um among other board members some concerns about the convenience fee that the uh thirdparty vendor that runs our p uh point of service uh for our cafeteria service uh charges relative to adding money onto students uh School meals accounts so uh committee we again we had a Hardy discussion learned a lot and uh Mr wolferman we'll be reaching out for to you and pom tonian about following through on some of that parent communication and about the different rates that you pay and and hopefully some success relative to getting that number down in lie of if if we're unsuccessful getting that number down we'd love to make sure the parent parents are fully aware of their different options of paying for their school Meals by cash check or uh or again sort of strategically paying the uh the convenience fee that a National Corporation charges us that we have a little difficulty getting down but uh we'll provide and arm uh you parents with with that information as soon as we possibly can so thank you again Mr wolferman anybody else saying none roll call Mr wolferman Miss Anderson yes M Gordan yes Mr Del Petro yes Mr Mohammad yes Mr Sedana yes Mr treaser yes Mr valz yes Mr Harris yes Personnel agenda Mr Del chair thank you Mr President the Personnel committee a recommendation of the superintendent of schools and the assistant superintendent of Human Resources presents the following 62 items I move for the adoption of the forgoing thank you Mr deletro I have a motion by Mr deletro do I have a second second okay I have a motion by Mr delico seconded by Miss Anderson are there any comments or questions from the board Bo seeing none roll call Mr wolferman Miss Anderson yes M bouran yes Mr deletro yes Mr Muhammad yes Mr sadonna yes Mr treaser I will be abstaining on the name Linda treaser and item 18 yes on all other items Mr valz yes Mr Harris yes okay is there any old business that should be brought before the board seeing none is there any new business that should brought that should be brought before the attention of the board Mr President yes M Anderson thank you uh I have a couple announcements so the wood Township School District Black History Month celebration will be next Thursday February 22nd at 6 pm. at Wood high school this celebration is open to the Woodbridge Community uh they will have special performances from our secondary schools across the districts and also there's a special message here that there will be a surprised guest speaker I also want to uh highlight that the independent ENT Club of Colonia will be having their 15th annual black history celebration on Saturday February 24th at the accasia youth center and that's at 95 Port Reading Avenue in Port Reading um this starts at 300 p.m. it's from 3 to 5:00 p.m. and it's free admission the doors open at 2 thank you you're welcome anybody else Mr President I we'll go with Su Miss bardan sorry it's a habit I saw Frank hand first but you go ahead thank you me first um I just have two quick things one um if you'll notice the calendar does reflect the um the snow days that we used and um has added the um additional line of the additional um days we would have to make up uh should we have any more snow days um and the second thing is the president's council meeting is going to be held virtually um Thursday February 22nd from 7 to 8 we encourage all parents to log on and get the information um around the district what's going on in your schools and other schools that you are uh welcome to participate in meeting is 7: to8 by Zoom uh email president Council WB atgmailcom to get further information and the link uh for the meeting thank you Mr bouran Mr Del pacher I know you had something yeah just just a couple of things um kindergarten registration is going to be opening up on February 20th so if you check the website there'll be more information uh coming but um February 20th right now is the date for kindergarten registration um on March 4th from 6:30 to 8:30 the middle County Regional College be holding their beair at um Edison High School and uh if you're looking for something to do on a Friday night on February 23rd they have trivia night uh at the Nights of Columbus at 7:00 uh with the mayor at it's located at 571 Route 27 in Island um if you uh need information or any tickets you can text 55120 7179 um I've gone through that in the past and it's a it's it's a really good uh a really good time it's a lot of fun yeah yeah and that's a fundraiser for Colonial Middle School ultimately all right thank you Mr delse yes Mr Muhammad I do have a community announcement uh we have a Ford's community health fair it's going to take place on February 2 4th at the mcnj facility that's the Muslim Community of New Jersey on 15 South 2nd Street in Forts uh this healthare is going to be from 11: to 1 p.m. it's a short window and there's going to be representation from the New Jersey Department of Health uh the uh Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital St Peters University and many other other institutions uh involved in health going to be there so uh please pass the word along to your communities uh there's going to be events or or or education material for men and also for women and uh please consult the website the uh the flyer is going to be posted on the website there'll be blood pressure glucose screening covid-19 resources and vaccines cancer education referrals and many other health services to be provided so please spread the word thank you so much you're welcome Mr Muhammad anybody else I just have a couple tonight myself uh wanted to give a shout out for this one it's hosted by Island Middle School it's a parent workshop for parents saving for higher education or college it's uh they have a guest speaker he's called the uh he or she is called The College funding coach and that's at Island Middle School again March the 7th from 5:30 to 7:30 that is also available via Zoom so we'll make sure that that we get out this information I I know I saw it from the guidance counselors at Island Middle School it's open and it's free to uh parents of the whippers Township School District again that's a college savings night they call it uh little known secrets for paying for college so that sounds insightful again that's March 7 from 5:30 to 7:30 open to the public uh parent of the school district two two fun ones to to close out the night on my end uh big night tomorrow night at Monroe High School uh Colonial High School boys and girls uh basketball teams the varsity teams are in the county championship for basketball uh both uh interestingly or coincidentally playing St Thomas aquinus and Edison those two games respectively again uh Friday the 16th are at 600 p.m for the for the girls game and at 8:00 p.m. for the boys game good luck to uh both the Patriots teams and then finally uh couple weeks later on Sunday March the 10th at 1:30 kicking off from Woodbridge High School and ending at uh Main Street excuse me ending on Main Street at Town Hall is the annual Woodbridge St Patrick Day Parade uh presented by the American Irish Association uh what's nice about that parade is we have all three of our high school marching bands in that parade along with the color guard and typically the the cheerleading squads as well so it's a good uh turnout on behalf of wber soundship come out and support our our Arts students who who work hard here around and do a really great job and adds some real life to the parade all right again that's the wber St Patrick's Day Parade their 50th in in their history uh we we play a role in in helping out with that parade that's again Sunday March the 10th kicking off from 1:30 kicking off at 1:30 from woodrige high school and ending at uh Town Hall all right anybody else before we turn it over to the public saying none we will now open the meeting for public comment when you come up to the microphone please provide your name in the section of the Township in which you reside as per regulation 1100d comments must be limited to no more than five minutes no respon will be given until you have completed your opportunity to speak Mr ptar take away it's me again johnar W as I said before I'm sorry I interrupt you uh mayor at Les council meeting uh people came in a pause because the property tax went up they said between 9 to 10% and unfortunately usually old people complain but there was young people they're kind of a concern said we just can't afford it people living up housing they can't afford it even even anything and uh May jumped in he says well I think ra the textas l two years it's a school board it's a county and fire department but again we all know that he putes foot into everything he building this is building that is building everything is paid for because approval of new constructions new warehouses new apartments what do you call it and then the question would be we all know I want to change a little bit we need new schools we agree with it other people agree where you want to put it but they agree we need new schools because we know population is increasing and has to be done education is the most important thing that we can leave to our kids and grandchild but again when he's telling us why he wants to build it and he said who's going to pay for it my question is why do you as a school board have to increase the taxes so much you got budget was a $362 billion plus uh who does who does I mean he doesn't do his part where the Mone is coming from who pays for the schools is probably from origional taxpayers and again when you ask him for example at County they building some stuff wood Bri oh can't make money from the county County the fire department is to raise that their budget because they have to put additional equipment whatever it is because of high buildings you know somehow something is wrong again I do not agree and I don't approve you people over here definitely are professionals you know what you need I don't like to see when somebody jumps into it and takes a credit for it all the thing is going to do at your expense now people he says I'm inocent one it's a Schoolboard it's a county it's a fire department so the question is why do the people say they got between 9 and 10% increase in the property tax this year and again we know this things go up my question would be to you where did the money go to what for and why did Texas went up so high that's my number one question I want to jump a little bit what happened last couple of meetings with the building 10 number 10 School the way I went there I was asked to go there from Hopeland people in Hopeland and I listen I Le before a lot of them you listen that's you find out what people really want it my opinion is all those people want Schools they're not objecting to school they object in the spot the site of school where it's going to be personally you don't build something supposed to be there for 50 years plus that's going to be condemned there you build it you can't put a school like that your residential area they claim there's only 150 students hop plan you're going to build a school for 500 people where they're going to come from we know where they going to come from Apartments God knows from where somebody recommended let's build a school in Forts Park we call Pet Lina park that's why I know Pete on my lifetime School speaking and somebody recommended Wen Park sound good both to my CL I even recommend the ksb they want to put a warehouse put a firehouse and they jump into it oh no for parik you can't because it's close to the turn bike well guess what where you m Jago School in Sean next to Turnpike where's the Colonia High School next to Parkway you can be a buffer of the school but you want to build school which not next door close the street for from the people what I saw in hop those people school was closed their the Marino days yet for 30 years what they was so much so long but it is why would you stuck into a throat something they don't want those people move their young people have kids now they went there because not a school they went there because the park you going to P the school you talk to the bus drivers you talk to the truck drivers you you can't put a school like that I know I live in H Avenue I got four schools in t m my my place I know what schools do you need schools that's Elementary School you can talk about busing well why about you middle school they're going to be bused build a school but don't be so lit in there's a place you can build a school open space there going to have a future we be able to expand and most important thing you know I don't agree no I don't agree with him he said Green Acres School 14 you can't put a school Green Acres I want a farm I know what Acres means you can build that in Colonia 12 acres they're going to develop build more Apartments it's your property they're never going to build Apartments if you do not buy sell it to them thank you Mr V thank you thank you thank you so uh there there are a couple questions there I'll uh you know answer as uh yeah out of respect to the constituent and those uh here and those listening uh asked a question about uh taxes uh are our budget were limited by the state uh raising 2% over the prior year can't speak for what the other government agencies do as you correctly pointed out there's the county portion of your tax bill there's a fire district portion of the tax bill and there's the uh municipal government portion Mr wolferman I have a great deal of Faith every year we we fight uh over keeping spending down we're very fortunate to be getting an increasing amount of state aid from the state of New Jersey after 15 20 years of of underfunding we're playing a tremendous amount of catchup we've been fortunate and thankful to the public for for bearing with us as we we right siize our budget and provide the goods and services that our school district has has long deserved and we are very price sensitive I know all nine of us all live here in wers Township we're taxpayers either as homeowners or as renters so uh we do everything we can to to keep our our spending in check and then uh just addressing School 10 uh Mr verar I I know I saw you at uh the both public meetings that were held a number of the board members were there as well and what I saw was was progress over the course of those two meetings Dr mamino Miss Fitzgerald along with the mayor's team our contracted consultants and Engineers they work to a SED many of the concerns that the members of the public had relative to building a new school in their neighborhood whether that was traffic or speeding or some environmental concerns such as flooding and at this point it's before the D to determine whether um whether that school will ultimately be allowed to be built uh I I think you know as as I stated in in my comments to the D is that one I I think the benefits of a school in that neighborhood uh outweigh the um the the the minor impact that will have on the neighborhood I understand it will have a impact but I think the benefits out way uh helping out three other uh elementary schools with less students in those schools and more importantly providing a neighborhood school for the students who live in hopel in casby a shorter bus ride in a school of which they could call their own and then um I I had one other thought it slipped my mind it's been a long week but uh th those are just my my few comments oh and you know that final comment was as I expressed to uh to those who would listen and again the D was we have 16 current elementary schools all neighborhood schools we've been a good neighbor for 150 years I don't see that changing over the next 50 100 or 150 years we're going to continue to be good neighbors and we'll we'll do whatever we have to do to uh to get along with our our neighbors Dr masino did you want I just wanted to jump in here to speak to your first issue Mr Harris uh Mr FK while while we go up 2% on our budget the costs of running the district go up far more than 2% so insurance coverage the cost of services they often exceed the 2% so the M extra money we get from the state and I know everybody sees it is in no small part to help offset the increasing cost fuel all of the services we get uh insurance for over 2,000 employees it it that also goes up more than 2% so that state aid is used to offset that so that we don't have to cut programs or Personnel right are there any other members of the public wishing to speak the same thing seeing none the chair will entertain a motion to adjourn no motion second I have a motion by Mr Tre waser seconded by Mr delap Petro all in favor I I any opposed carried meetings ad Jour have a good night everybody we'll see you on uh Thursday March the 9th thank you