e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e you good evening everyone welcome tonight we have a special presentation the jrc will now present or do the color guard presentation for us to open up our meeting tonight please rise Mar onk Left Right forward Mar left left left right left flag United States forward Mar right left right left left left right left left left right Mark Time March up thank you very much as we know the JC is a newer program here high school for about two years all right we'll call the meeting to order now Mr palino please call the rooll thank you madam president trusty Dar here trusty misi here trusty mun trusty here trusty mold here uh vice president dtis here president benine here the New Jersey open public meetings law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to advanced notice of and to attend meetings of this board except where specifically Exempted by law and 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 meeing to be published by having same advertised in available times also notice of this meeting has been mailed to the members of Board of Education the B of clerk all elementary schools the middle school the high school horow early Childhood Center and posted on the district website also this means being televised via the district's YouTube and Facebook pages thank you um can we please have a motion to approve the minutes Clos session and public session from March 18th 2024 so I'll second that all those in favor I any opposed no he why don't we do the presentation by our student government organization first is that okay so ran thank you for coming tonight you'd like to give us a presentation on some events going on good evening I hope everyone is doing well um beginning with our Student Government councils the sophomore class is um having a big sale this Thursday during school hours and the follow this fundraiser with a collaboration with the rubber ducky Organization for mental health awareness on May 1st as part of this the offer grams allowing students to send a rubber duck along with an encouraging note to individuals facing mental health issues this is coordinated through the rubber duy organization additionally they host a car wash on May 11th from 9:00 a.m. to 1 p.m. is open to all moving on to the junor class they recently had a successful basketball tournament on April 9th featuring teams of both students and teachers looking ahead they're planning a Mother's Day flower sale in May our student government organization will host a final prep rally of the Year recognizing teams such as the crew team tennis Esports softball baseball volleyball Golf and track this Wednesday today esio will host the second Bingo night of the year with the Freshman Class selling Refreshments Bingo night is open to all this Wednesday on April 17th at 600 p.m. which offers a chance to win prizes and have fun following this the Spring Dance which is the last one of the year will take place on May 2nd as June approaches the seniors recently had their field photo and Banner Day on March 26th and are currently planning for prom on March 27th the environmental Club had the opportunity to tidy up the Baka Court in preparation for the butterfly release currently oury are readying to welcome the current eighth graders exposing them to representatives from theem to help them better understand their options before making a choice coming up on the 25th of April Mr and Mrs bille pageant will be held here in the auditor where many Juniors will showcase their character through a series of interviews and events in competition for the title of Mr Miss Bel wrapping up on a positive note this year this week is Spirit Week across the district which allows students to express themselves by coming together to raise awareness for autism that's all for tonight thank you and have a good night thank you Ryan that was terrific and now we'll move on to our superintendence report Dr TOMCO thank you madam president U very uh very warm welcome to all of you here tonight uh thank you for coming I I want to talk about a few things but I think we'll do a lot of the presentations first so that our our uh our student athletes and our other Award winners and presentation holders can go home and do some homework um after that so let's start start with um I'm going to go out of order a little bit here let's start with the National History Day so U Miss demov can you uh come up here and let's talk about how we uh how we recognize the history um thank you Dr TOMCO good evening and good evening members of the Board of Education and members of our community so what is National History Day in which our high school ninth graders competed in this year back in February National History Day is an educational nonprofit organization that engages secondary students teachers as well in a long Innovative framework of historical inquiry and research every year for the past 50 years National History Day Has selected a broad theme that provides a lens through which students can examine history the students become historical detectives after choosing their topic that is related to the annual theme this year's theme was turning points in history the students immerse themselves in extensive primary and secondary research that takes place in libraries archives databases and museums throughout the year students develop essential skills by by focusing intellectual curiosity and thinking critically and creatively so I am very proud as I know you are to announce our students who competed this year for the first time in National History dead they boarded a bus back on February 24th and they went down to the annex of Ruckers in Camden New Jersey they are here to present what they research and the project they presented at the end of the meeting if you would like their projects are displayed in the foyer when you first walk in to the high school so please stop by and take a look at them okay so now I'm going to invite our two teachers who headed up this program Mrs Lorraine how would you please come up Mrs Stephanie ber us Mrs how is one of our history teachers Mrs Bermudez is our library media specialist at the high school okay I wanted to invite our our high school principal to come up Mr rhs I I don't see him here yet now I would like to invite our student speakers as well as the students who participated in National History day who are here in support So students would you please come up Max Bell Chris and [Applause] Kenisha con good afternoon everyone my name is khaa and this year our project for National History Day was an exhibit for the trail of tear Camila Su mayor Juliana Marin Jaden none H Kisha anua created a trifold and visual presentation for this project regarding our research we used both government and educational websites both primary and secondary sources were used although the main part of the information came from the digital Public Library of America the most crucial document was a letter by Andrew Jackson to the Cherokee tribe meanwhile American indian. si.edu was the most helpful secondary source with a painting by Robert ly Nook being used to demonstrate the hardships faced by Native Americans our history teacher Mrs how and librarian Mrs Bermuda played a crucial role in the exhibited success by providing links and physical primary sources missal provided us with help on how to write the annotated bibliography and explain the process paper and Miss Bermudas was the one who also provided several resources related to the Native American culture including the map of Oklahoma a native american head and a Cherokee dream catcher which were all pasted into the exhibit the competition was quite the experience this was bille High School's First Time participating in National History Day so everyone was quite nervous nonetheless it was a really nice experience and I'm really glad we were able to go there once inside we set up our exhibits and all vised our turn as we waited we looked around all at all the other exhibits and were fascinated by all the enormous and interactive ones it was fascinating to see how people's minds worked and how creative they got with their ideas we waited by the lunchroom and all buo sat together bu before we may remained by the courts while everyone practiced what questions the judges were going to ask and we were all practicing with each other once it was our turn we all F felt a rush of anticipation as we walked to our exhibit we took a bre deep breath and went inside uh thankfully the judges were really kind and it was a really pleasant experience to go to so it wasn't as nervous as we thought it was after we finished everyone felt a big relief and then spent the rest of the day exploring the campus as a group from the countless exhibits to judging in the free time we had everyone realized how wonderful the experience was we really wish to participate in National History next year and use this event as an as a foundation for the year to come [Applause] um good evening everyone um I'm Max Maxwell um so me and my other partners H and Leah who aren't present right now U participate in the National History Day competition by giving the judges at workers of performance which took place on February 24th the official topic was about attorney Point history we chose our topic to have a better understanding of conflicts and resolutions that occur over time within different regions of the world the main focus was that Israel became a nation with this support of outside countries since it was a performance we demonstrated this by having three representatives from both sides along with America I play the role of the Israel representative acted as Americas and housea was Palestines all details are found by using sources provided by the school the process of making it was easier because of that additionally we viewed various articles and books to gather the general idea and additional information most of it supported our performance as it is mentioned in the content practicing the script and making the props were also enjoyable the three of us wore outfits that were fit for meing and flags were put on them to make the audience understand who played what role the props included in this performance were pictures of the Palestinians during the mid 1900s the judges were satisfied with the presentation and expressed that they liked it however this competition was very competitive the other performances about other turning points were great and presented well to the judges feedback from the judges was clear and conscise naming every critique that could be improved upon overall this experience was very very educational and entertaining and also became a highlight of our school year our topic accurately explained the events through a simple performance many things are many things made our party significant although we did not advance to the next level of this contest it would be something we would like to do in the future thank you [Applause] hello this is Chris and I'm here to talk about how I was able to compete in the Natural History Day Natural History Day project is your way presenting historical argument research and the meaning of your topic significance in history in this competition we get to choose a topic and dive to into the past future and the present of it by conducting extensive research then present our conclusion evidence through papers exhibits preform and documents which needed materials and help my teachers Miss how and mes helped me by giving the right materials and information to make the project they guided me when we got to the competition and help me by when was my presentation thank you thank you again to all of our students who competed in National History Day looking forward to it next year if there are any parents here and you'd like to come up and take a picture please do so now here are your certificates Kisha congratulations Chris congratulations thank you thank you again and thank you again to Mrs Bermudez and Mrs [Music] how thank you mrov and congratulations again excellent job i' like to call up Mr Mara now uh we're going to be presenting the winter sports awards for the super essics conference s Mar [Applause] direct hello everyone uh I'd like real quick Mr blot can you come down here give me help and help at hand here's another offensive linan Mr [Music] okay we're going to do something a little bit different I'm going to do a by Sport and then we added something this year the super 's conference what we did was we do something the kind of what colleges do we do an all academic team if you are first or second Team all conference you qualify for all academic Awards they've got over a 3.5 during that marking period so we're very proud of that so that's something new this year so we're going to call you up all conference and then while the team's up here we're going to do the all academic team as well okay we are going to start with wrestling with coach deia and Coach pizzy up here please to help out we have first team SEC Wrestling Liberty division divion Jacob Farah where are you Jacob I saw you first team Liberty division wrestling Leo tanii first team SEC Liberty division Roco Negron there he is second team Wrestling Liberty division Lorenzo tanii [Applause] second team Wrestling Liberty division Franco [Applause] Rano honorable mention SEC Wrestling Liberty division Daniel San Martin and honorable mention SEC Liberty division David S wrestling SEC academic team where's Jacob Jacob Farah congratulations before we go in wrestling we also have two other Awards this year was the first year we actually held a county championship for girls wrestling it's probably New Jersey's biggest fastest D Sport and we had one young lady who won the first annual 's County champion in her region I'm sorry in her weight class and that would be Isabella [Applause] Aluna and that's not it we also had a wrestler who not only won the district 10 Championship move on to the regions he was also voted ow for those you don't know wrestling ow is outstanding wrestler and that comes from all the coaches so rack Rome District time champion and District [Applause] time congratulations to the boys and girls wrestling teams and the coaches what a great year parents you want to come up and take a picture we're so proud of you guys and you guys know I'm going to B you [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] good job guys next we have we're going to do boys and girls bowling coach Sheridan there he [Music] is the boys and girls bowling team in a great year I believe they're both 13 in the county first we're going to call up the girls bowling American Division first team Roselin alodar first team JY rhos second team Julia [Applause] razic second team team Rael mcfarley we're going to call the boys up too for the boys first team Aiden Carrero first te Joshua Abramson both a look at these guys coming from G proudy boys first team Dominic capetti [Applause] second team bowling Brandon [Applause] cologne now for you all academic girls we have rosn amadar and Julia R boys SEC academic team for bowling Aiden Carrero Josh erson Dominic Celli and Brandon cologne good job boys ring them up today congratulations of boys and girls bowling team parents who want take pictures next we have girls basketball I know folks can R couldn't be here today but we have girls basketball first team SEC Freedom division which by the way the girls basket were're a freedom Division champion so that's our fifth title this year um first team we have Catherine AAS there she is First Team all sec Freedom division Camila Cortez second team Freedom division Isabella Cortez and honorable mening Shayla [Music] andaro all academic team Camila Cortez congratulations to the girls baset all te on take I don't feel and last but not least we have boys BW s coach Dr Co Dr Dr coach Dr James catano our basketball [Applause] coach first team boys Colonial division we have Andre D second team Colonial division Elijah picking second team colonal division we have Conor cook I saw Conor there he is and I mention Jeremiah cook all academic team Andre Ladon congratulations to the boys best team [Applause] congratulations guys had a great winner proud of everybody thank you so much [Music] all right let's do one other uh another round of applause for these incredible athletes excellent Joba coaches thank you very much for all the hard work all the time you put in uh really appreciate that you know it's very easy for um individuals they talk about um school districts just talk about the academic portions of it and I I think it's really easy to to um you forget about all the hurdles that a lot of our families go through especially postco especially um in a Township where uh there are so many different factors that go into play that our students and their families uh need this insallation uh around them to just be better citizens individuals leaders Etc I think it's really easy for naysayers um to just look at one or two variables uh and not want to build the entire the entire Tri the entire entire program or things that in a Township and and I commend this board over my past 9 years for for putting the time into making sure that the important things that our students need all the things that we had possibly growing up that were missing here for a very long time um I just want to uh commend the board members I've worked with uh and then um hopefully moving forward some of those same things will happen but I just have two quick things uh Madam president if you will obviously um I'd like to just touch on briefly uh on the agenda tonight is uh my uh my formal uh resignation for leaving this incredible District uh it's been uh 9 years um I came here at a time where bille was in the midst of um some Financial disarray some governance issues 60 or 70 audit findings uh one of the first things that was on my desk when I got here in February was a a a very um horrific bullying case uh there was a lot of stuff Happening Here uh in a Township that was definitely going through transition that I think still some people in this town maybe don't understand how it has changed just in those last years but even prior to that excuse me and I think um you know it's really important um to understand that I'm incredibly thankful um for the amount of time that I had here to serve this incredible Community uh and the Partnerships that I've made here um the friends that I'll be leaving uh leaving with the colleagues that I've grown to respect tremendously and even those individuals that I don't see eye to eye with um those most of the time I don't see ey with um who have definitely kept the checks and balances here in this Township and in this District um so that we could move forward and and be the Envy of many other districts around the state of New Jersey not just Essex County or surrounding counties we came from a time when I first got here where where people people would laugh at those individuals who worked here to now people knocking down the door to basically come here uh to be part of this team so um I want to thank the board in 2015 and Mr Egan uh for giving me the opportunity to uh to come here and to help uh create progress I want to thank the administrative team who are always in the back here um the faces have changed over the years I can see Mr dy I think it's Mr Dy back there coming there Mr Dy how are you sir um just an incredible group of people and and you know we try not to um talk about administrators too often right because they're their management and uh you know when you jump across that that thick line it's uh you know 50 50% of the people are mad at you 50% of the time I say it all always but I want to thank all of them for uh just really delivering every day for these these kids and these families uh I want to thank our teachers our support staff everyone who's been here for for 9 years uh and even previous uh the history here is is incredible uh there were a few um interesting years here before I got here but it doesn't doesn't mean that this was ever a place to not be acknowledged all the greatness all the great people students uh individual teachers that walk these hallways um to to come to a place that was I would say the morale between administrator and teacher was probably if there was a ground level we were definitely there to where we are now the mutual respect we have for each other um the care we have for these students the wellness of these students not just the academic piece of this of of this District um these are these are individuals that go above and beyond every day uh and you may not agree with them all the time or you may have an issue with your own student or your own child and that happens everywhere not just b trust me happens everywhere um but uh but I can honestly say that uh that this faculty uh and this staff all the support staff the custodians our our safety Services individuals really do give it their all and I know they will continue to do that I also want to thank the community and the families in the community all the Partnerships that I've made um throughout the N years here uh that hopefully will continue to to grow strong um really we we've gone through some tragedies here probably more than I've had in my entire career some some really hor horrific events but we've all pulled together to try to make the best of it we we've un unfortunately lost students we we've lost friends um but we've also celebrated together and we've come together at times of need whether it was food or storms or whatever it was or just you know lending a hand and I think that's really important I think a lot of places don't have that and I think we're humble enough not to really talk about that because we know that we just need to do it uh and that's important uh we all work for equity and I don't mean equity and diversity I mean Equity that one side of the town is the exact same as the other side of the town that was important to us that's been important to me over 9 years and it's not easy to do most important I need to thank the students here um it's really a tremendous place I mean there's there's students that know my name when I'm in buildings rare for a superintendent uh there are students that take selfies with me just funny stuff I'm sure they're making fun of me at some point but uh but just really is an incredible thing um the connection that we have um what these kids they'll they'll really run for run through a wall for you here if you if you just value value their time and I think we do that really well here you we have our issues like every place but but I think the the respect that the individuals in the the the indiv sorry the individuals in bille have for one another um but every day driving here every day staying late every day I always kept those kids uh right right in the Forefront of of doing all all the decisions that we made whether it was Personnel uh additions um things that weren't popular like pizza ovens and stuff like that um all the rhetoric that we had to deal with because we knew that other places had it so our kids should have a too right including a training facilities new Fields desks new furniture um programs e theaters all those things that people just don't understand you you know know you have a short time in your life to basically you know have have an adolescence or a childhood and we all know those are formative years and maybe when we were growing up it was it was simpler but it's not simple anymore um but I say it to all of my staff members uh all of my teams the minute that you know it's not about the kids anymore there a time when you have to pack your stuff up and and leave this profession completely because that's what it's about um I'm not leaving here because of that you know I I teach in several universities and I think I'm a decent teacher but I always say that you know you should always have an Exit Plan prepared so that all the things that you start or all the progress that you make continues to be made it'll be different progress but I think we did a really great job in nine years um it's time for me to embark on another journey and it's time for uh bille to just uh continue to be the great place that it is so in saying that and that's the last I'll say about it um I really appreciate everyone uh that I've come in con with over the last 9 years regardless of who you were or the conversations we have they've definitely affected my life and they've affected change uh in my life uh and uh I wish this board uh and all the board members that I've worked with before all been incredible people uh even though people may not agree with that they've all given their their time uh their volunteer hours uh for the betterment of this place and they did the best they could so thank you very much uh we have a few months left to uh to shap the tree a little bit and we'll continue to do that uh but uh progress so thank you very much thank you okay thank you so much I have one more thing I just want to say it's really important and I usually keep quiet on this stuff and you know we have some uh you know some people in the audience that are back that we haven't seen for a while we have some parents that were here but they left unfortunately but this Township and speaking of the students and of the children it's it's really really important that we continue to focus on that and this Township now has an incredible ability uh that I haven't seen in a while this Township has the ability in a few weeks to to vote um for uh a new new Council seats um from from vacant seats um and and I will tell you that the the vacancies of those individuals were leaving in the N9 years I've been here I don't think they've done one thing for this District so I think when you're going going out and you're voting you have the ability now to really really think about putting together a slate of Municipal leaders that care about the future of this community the future of the students here and the Future Leaders of bille I think it's important when you go out and you ask the questions instead of just voting for those individuals the question you should ask is what are you going to do to connect a district with the municipality because I have to tell you something the school district has not even mentioned in the master plan and that an issue for me um I'm not pointing fingers I'm just saying it's I'm not telling you who to vote for it's not what I do that's your choice but make sure you ask the right questions right don't just think about who wears what or who does what ask the right questions you know we've tried to partner on several you know it's it's no top secret here of things that have happened um recently we try to partner on some incredible things to make this Township better to make these students um achieve more um and uh and we really need to think about those things because because we're coming into a budget cycle that's not going to be popular uh even though we've said it for the past five or six years the more Cuts you make at some point the shoes going to drop and that shoes definitely dropping this year uh we're still under adequacy regardless how you slice it millions millions of dollars under adequacy all right so we need to do everything we can as a team as a community to do its's best to keep this District on the top uh of uh one of the top districts in the country I'll put it up there um you know we've been uh recognized nationally we've been recognized through the state we have people serving on committees all over that's not because we're not doing something right um so please we need to think about these things your vote is important um make sure you use it wisely it's an incredible ability uh to make an actual change here moving forward so so again thank you very much uh I'll have a few months left with you my door's still open uh but again I'll say it twice now progress thank you thank you madam president thank you Dr Tom and I think you were going to say your uh farewell or yeah okay um Mr Paladino do we have any reports from the state monitor Thomas Egan sure uh Mr Egan's watching live via the district's uh social media platforms uh he's reviewed the agenda as always supports um recommendations being presented by the superintendent and myself business administrator in regards to Personnel finance and purchasing uh certifies that the district has sufficient funds uh to get it through the end of June school year uh as endorsed in the treasures report uh for month ending March 31st 2024 which is on the agenda for approval uh in regards to the budget he's working with the superintendent and myself uh regarding possible areas that we can look at that make uh sense for the district for cuts uh but you know he he'll support cuts that make sense he's not going to support cuts that just are for cutting safe uh he wants to do what's in the best interest of the district so that we're not where we were 10 years ago thank you Mr Pino and any reports for Mr palad the business administrator so a couple of things give the give the public an aard um a little info on uh the advertisement was in the paper yesterday for the middle school project uh The Architects will have it on their website they'll be available to pick up uh tomorrow at Solutions architecture uh a couple of things on the agenda first is uh we spoke about this earlier there's roof repairs at four schools 7 8 10 in the Middle School uh those are areas that were not within the referendum uh they're cover the costs of those repairs will be using Insurance Recovery expenditure funds that were in the audit as I mentioned to all of you earlier uh and previously the Insurance Recovery funds are surplus funds that are designated um as Mr Bliss had reported in his audit last month uh also on the agenda as we're the superintendent and I are moving forward with the the co-op uh one of the things we had discussed is that when we approve uh certain bids for supplies materials and goods and services we need to have a fee that the the district gets paid by anybody who's awarded uh for any of the the AFF mention uh the percentage on that will be 2.2% uh so anything that is awarded to a vendor say for $500,000 the district will bring bring in $111,000 in Revenue so just a something to keep in mind it's on the agenda um mention to this to you guys to to the board previously lunch applications we're still having uh a number of issues in regards to to parents filling out lunch applications uh I myself and my office needs all of your support up here on the on the Das and reaching out um to your constituents and urging them to fill out lunch applications if they hav't if they're not sure if they fill one out please call my extension 109 and I'll put them in touch with the right people uh also asking for the assistance of the public um that if you have friends relatives neighbors that haven't filled out a Lage application please urge them to contact my office you can call 10009 my number again and I'll put you in contact with the right people uh as I mentioned uh at a previous couple board meetings ago lunch applications are important to have filled out whether you're um free reduced or denied state aid is based on lunch applications e rate is based on uh lunch applications uh a number of factors go into that and your um your uh reimbursement from the state in the feds are based on your lunch applications we need lunch applications filled out every year um so please I I urge all of you and those in the public please I need your assistance in getting parents to fill out the lunch applications uh and then you superintendent already mentioned the budget uh we'll be holding uh public notes will go out tomorrow for Budget Workshop next Monday at 5:00 right here uh in the High School auditorium um as Dr T mentioned it's going to be a very very tough budget uh it's no secret we've mentioned that in the past um there's there's stuff that's posted online that states that we're fully funded yes the governor fully funded when it comes to state aid but when we're when superintendent and I are talking about the district being fully funded there's pieces of the puzzle that aren't also being properly told um yes in one aspect we are fully funded on the state aid aspect the governor did uh fulfill his promise to fully fund bille on the same token the tax levy according to state is not where it should be when we're talking about being fully funded um so that's why when Dr TCO and myself are up here and we constantly keep saying that we're 4.5 million 6 million 7 million 8 whatever the million dollars is underfunded that's why the tax levy is not at the dollar amount where the state says we are to be to be fully funded and that's all I got for thank you Mr Paladino so it sounds like we need to get the lunch applications filled out um I don't know if there's any ideas on how you want to do that but let us know we definitely support it we can talk about that later U just by me announcing it if anyone is listening you know please tell two persons who will hopefully tell more people that this is very important um moving on to remarks by citizens on agenda items only do I have a motion so move second all those in favor and our first person Michael Sheldon please come to the podium state your name your address good evening Michael Sheldon 47 Floyd Street uh first of all thank you Mr Paladino for announcing that you're going to have a public budget Workshop next Monday at 5:00 just that I as I've criticized over the last several years uh why can't the budget Workshop take place at 7:00 when when many more people would be able to attend at 5:00 most folks most folks are are working they're not going to be able to attend this Workshop so it's a workshop and name only and I hope that in any case if you do go forward with the 5:00 Workshop that you'll give everyone adequate time to speak and ask questions and not keep us on a short leash three minutes to ask questions on a budget that's already marked as $134 million for the next year and has over a th000 line items I assume too that you will be posting the uh both the Appropriations and revenue worksheets before next Monday no answer I hope you you will get do the right thing and post those two sheets in Excel format long before Monday and not just dump piles of the documents here at 5:00 and expect Vinnie and me and a handful of others to quickly read through a 100 pages of budget sheets but we'll see what happens uh I did have questions about the uh uh agenda item dealing wor with uh roof repairs now uh this calls for repair work on on the roofs of 78 10 in the Middle School in 2019 when I was on this board I chaired the finance and operations committee the roof of school number 10 was completely replaced and we made sure to keep that terracotta roof for aesthetic purposes so here we are not even 5 years later and then we have to do repair work on it and I thought also that roofs on seven and eight were completely replaced in the following years I was no longer either on the border involved with the operations committee but I thought all all three roofs have been been effectively replaced and here we are less than 5 years later we're going to spend upwards of 150,000 even though it's marked as insurance but as Mr frankon Tony will remind us in the end the money we we all pay for everything with increased insurance premiums uh Dr TOMCO tonight officially announced his resignation I've been asking for U the last few weeks will this board conduct search for replacement you've made absolutely no announcements it's your responsibility and I hope tonight instead of just staying silent as you usually are you make some announcement whether you're hoping seeking to hire promote from within or conduct appropriate Nationwide search for a replacement and I had also put an opena request in uh two weeks ago I'd like to know what final monies will be P be paid to Dr TOMCO as he ex our district if you look at his contract one of the last Cil says that if the contract is terminated and you now there the evader of do termination mean the same thing as resignation but it says that under the event of a termination he gets three months for each remaining year and if you do the quick math that would be one year one extra year of compensation so again board you're in charge of this you have the fiduciary responsibility I'd appreciate for once You' actually comment upon these things thank [Music] you thank you Vincent Frank Antony [Music] father good evening I'd um like to address 6.1 first the OPA reports um I didn't pay much attention to about a month ago I having to look at one of the budgets online and I looked at the opah report I couldn't believe what I was reading as I told you before I've been involved Board of Education meeting since my oldest son went to school in the 70s and um I've asked for a lot of documents were others uh we just used to go at a meeting we would get answers to our question we could have a dialogue if we were told we couldn't get sto in the office in morning i' stop into the administrator Mr appeton yeah what is it okay you don't the file happen boom throw it on the copy machine and we get a copy of it um if it was something more intense we fell out of fire freedom of Freedom of Information uh request I could not believe that requests were cost in two three $44,000 legal fees and $1,000 simple things what made it even worse at one board meeting I asked a question about an agenda item I was told you have to open it but then when I see it it was like $200 in cour the township number one I shouldn't have even the ask because it was on the agenda it had to be voted on and the trustees and the superintendent and the administrator should have had the answers right there or what were they voting on were they voting on something they didn't know anything about so this is really I use the word in quotes what I believe possibly a scam or a a way to get a lot of uh money to the attorney or I don't know if I see the business administ it's it's a simple request everyone seems to be one hour research you know I was an elected official somebody come in the open the fire cabin this is what you want yeah and we give it to them no of course it wasn't this is your job to keep records and they're they're there they're not somewhere in the fort Kno or something so I when I read that report I could not believe what I was reading so so it's just crazy and you trust these you know that's a word that I hesitate to ask trust these we trust you're going to watch our dollars this is something you all better look at and say why the heck are we paying thousands of dollars to give somebody an answer to a simple request uh that's all I have for now but then something come up Mr palino in his report it's a becking people to sign up for lunch applications uh my daughter come home upset when she was in grammar school the principal holay you didn't fill out the lunch application I went day next day he you got to fill out the free lunch I said I don't want free lunch I don't want what government's giv my kids I want so we got to stop this and come back up later please trust these look at this OA scan Gary well I don't know enough about most of these things here because I haven't been coming to the meetings but starting to get a little more involved now um one thing I I see on here is the transfer budget can you tell me what transfers from what budget to where 13.6 I think I'm in the town council meeting he ask questions and you don't get no answers it's a comment it's a comment we'll do our best if there if there's answers we can give we do our pause your time if there's answers we can give we'll do our best to when you're done when when the comments are done comments questions if there's answers we can give we try our best to get them that's all that's all okay thank you Michael M good evening uh or the trustees Dr TOMCO uh so I didn't prepare anything because I didn't want to sound disingenuous so uh I'm just going to kind of give a little quick uh quick history I've been in this district for 23 years years only place I've ever worked as a teacher um I'm not from this town I don't pay taxes in this town so I want to make that clear okay um but it's like my family I've been here for 23 years been to a lot this uh this town has put me and my family to a lot so I think I can stand up here and uh I can honestly say um this is a sad day it's a sad day um started in this District been a president a union president for this is my 12th year on my 12th year or ending my 12th year um and worked with some superintendant worked with some boards um doc worked with him for nine years I have to say it probably took the better part of six years for us even to get along okay but um I'm going to say right now it's hard to see you leave really am because you know uh one thing I have to say when I started in this District probably about I'm going to say going on my sixth year I started to see that there was no pride in this town anymore and I'm not used to that cuz I grew up right now start we up right down the street on B Avenue but in Bloomfield and this is a very proud town and there wasn't any school pride anymore and I was like I don't know what's going on here but um I think that your Administration brought back pride in this town I'm really actually very very surprised to see the auditorium empty today um with the amount of you know um Community things you've done in this in this town and again I'm not here to blow you up because everybody knows our history okay but we call it the way it is um we've worked really hard to get the respect we have for each other and that's what it is it's a respect relationship no you know nothing nothing more than that just of of of two people who've gained respect for each other and now we understand each other okay um I think you did a great job here I think you've done an excellent job bringing this community together I know there was money spent I know that as a you know um taxpayer in this town you know there's a lot of concern with that but um you have to spend money I think sometimes to get people together to be able to have these community events to be able to do for these kids what we were able to do for these kids that clont field thing is tremendous um my town I pay double the taxes in my town than I did 15 years ago and we don't have what they have here I wouldn't mind if they did I'd say okay it's worth it okay so my taxes have doubled and we don't have I don't have any of this to show for it it's the same town I lived in 15 years ago and yet but yet the the taxes are doubled okay so um great I think you've done a lot here I think that um we're going to miss you I think that a lot of lot of a lot of us are going to stand here um my grandfather always said be careful what you wish for CU you just might get it um and I I didn't know what that meant at first but you know uh we don't know what we're going to have and I just know I'm sorry I'll end it I just know from here um we have we're going to have some next person who takes over is going to have some awfully big shoes to fill we have a lot of projects that are going on a lot of things that have to be completed um so I just want to say thank you DOC for your years of service we're going to miss you good luck on where you going next I know you can do good things there thank you thank you very much thank you Stacy h evening um I'm sadden to hear about you go I was heard about it recently and I just wanted to begin with that and thank you I think to me what's most important when you're in an organization or leading a community it's impact and I feel that that Dr TOMCO you have definitely made I'm going to start crying sorry get emotional you definitely have made a big impact on our town and our community um my children are third fourth generation um community members um I've grown up here lived in this town my whole life as well as my husband um and I just want to say thank you for the impact that you made um on our community thank you so much on a lighter note I'm just here to um I've been trying to get here but it's just been really crazy the past couple of years for me um two years ago a b myself and four other parents we started an organization for the cheerleading program here at Beville high school it's the bille High School cheer parents booster organization it's myself as president Nicole emperado as vice president Sandra Cordo secretary carad Alejandro's treasur and Donna dis brow as our business manager we're newly developing um we have a lot of uh plans for the future um our nonprofit organization helps support the athletes with training at NCA Camp uh with supports them with Spirit Gear Game Day activities competition fees dance uh routine choreography feeds Spirit Gear and more if any of you are a cheer mom or a cheer dad or a part of the community you know that it does request a lot of funds for this type of athleticism and it is athleticism a lot of people just think that it's sideline cheer cheer leading has gone a long way over the years there's a lot of athleticism that is involved in it a lot of these young athletes we are super proud of for not only their athleticism but for their dedication to their schoolwork um I was a little saddened to see that they we weren't here this with Mr Mara you know getting U Awards and stuff like that because some of these girls work really hard they work jobs they go to school they keep up their grades they do competition travel competition B competition here there everywhere they really are welldeveloped leaders in this community um and I just I don't know if everybody knows this year in their level they won state championships and I just thought that me I don't know if that was spoken or brought to the attention of everybody or anybody knew that um and we definitely are very proud of them and how far they've come um and I'm going to wrap it up so Bas and basically here is what I just wanted to introduce our organization and ask for your support and the Community member support um I have a packet here with some letters for all of you we also are mailing stuff too and we have a fundraiser coming up on May 17th at the chandelier it's a tricky tray event and we would like to invite everybody and the community to please come out and support us okay so I'm going to leave this for you thank you so much okay thank you thank you all right motion to close public comment so move second all those in favor great okay moving on to resolutions for personnel items nine to 9.15 do we have a motion so and a second is there any discussion on any of these items m okay Mr Paladino please call the role trusty Dar yes uh trusty M yes trusty Pacho yes uh trusty MRA yes to all but .1 uh vice president dtis yes to all with the exception of 91 I abstain and president B me yes all right and we have nothing for Resolutions on curriculum and instruction tonight so we're going to move to resolutions for board action and board policy can I have a motion so move second is there any discussion on any of the policies hearing none Mr Paladino please call the trusty Dara yes trusty misi yes trusty p yes trusty mro yes vice president dtis yes president benine yes and a motion for resolutions for purchasing and business services items 12 to 128 so Mo I'll second it any discussion okay Mr Paladino please call the rooll trusty Dar yes trusty misi yes yes uh trusty P yes trusty mro yes vice president dtis yes president bamini yes and items on finance 13 to 13.8 so and second second any discussion Mr Paladino please call the rooll trusty bar yes trusty misi yes trusty P yes trusty MRA yes vice president dtis yes president venini yes okay we're going to open up remarks by citizens do I have a motion so I'll second that first okay so I want to thank Dr TCO very much for proving me correct as he remembers I stood up at the meeting and I objected to hiring him and I gave several reasons number one shortly before they hired him he ran for a Statewide office so to me he was a politician um also he came from El Park who had a deficit almost as high as B had at that time and uh there was issues which I W to mention now but I made them public at that point um and I that time I said we need someone who's going to commit be committed to bille for the long term but here in 9 years later and after doubling the budget he took over a budget about 68 million now we got 134 million and I hope you cut it well I know the scan you you'll cut a little bit of it by the time it gets to the public right uh he signed six very generous 5-year employment contract did not complete one uh you folks and previous uh trustees uh generously broke the contract and gave him a new one with big increases um I believe he and the Town Council and mayor in properly entered into that shared service agreement shared services agreement and I was down and threatened when they approved it was intended for two towns for example say Nutley and bille want to unite their police force to save money it really wasn't intended for two entities inside of the town to do it the only reason I believe they did it because the Board of Education could not Bond unless they come to the public and ask us for to a referendum so this is a way of getting around the public and dealing with the mayor who I have severe problems with he knows all the tricks to take money from the taxpayers and all and uh how did that work out uh you grossly underestimated the middle school project the parking garage uh you're sure and then I hate to say Dr T I thought sorry that night to Mary threw you under the bus at one meeting he don't want to appears he don't want to complete his part of bargain with the town because the town would have to buy Bond more money so we're in debt and we got a project that's unfunded and incomplete that he going to bid out uh let's see where that Oney is going to come from uh Dr Tom all know uh entered into a ton of rental agreements with landlords all over the town and uh at big caution his Mill millions and spreading our Administration all over town and I'm going to tell you trust these he's running away but some of those 5year leases are coming up and you're going to be at the mercy of those landlords and he's not going to be here and this is something I predicted at this very Podium you know you don't least you buy stuff which I taught my children all three of them are married never PID the dollar rent I told him how to save money and buy something but we are going to face some serious problems CU these land all all cost increase and the taxpayers are going to pay for these idiotic uh rentals that we uh did uh so I'll sum up uh you know we last year the year before Dr TOMCO put on the screen and report all our test scores and they were all down in the thumps and I wrote I think nine times each one he says oh I'm sorry but we must do better we must do better Nine times that night so well this is beautiful we got nice fields of playing and all that but the purpose of Education was the three Arts so our kids can't read and write but man they got a nice field to play on that's that's really really great uh we have bille Park next door we're taking which our County pays for it to do that so that's what he left us with we have these multiple High cour leas agreements uh we have and what should I say Dr thank you for the pizza oven and a pirate standing there gardening our Outdoor Classroom or revive thanks good luck chair can I just clarify something sure thank you thank you for that poting goodbye appreciate that Mr fr Tony I've always uh respected you enough to uh would wouldn't expect anything less from you so thank you very much I appreciate that uh just really have to CL because a lot of the information you get here is false so let's clarify this the only important thing really the the mayor throwing me under the bus absolutely did happen so we could we could I'm I'm a big boy I could totally admit that but uh there's that no vote was Zero impact zero impact to the township on that end the miss hand that was our bond we were asking for again ECI is a very minimal uh interest rate to make improvements it's called an improvement Authority it's the only way we could do it because we didn't want to raise money we wanted to bond for it over time um and all we were asking for was permission to do so from the powers that be and then four individuals said no to that um um so yes that absolutely is going to hurt this Township in the long run you're absolutely right but you did say that it was an impact and it wasn't there uh as for the project the project I think uh Mr palino did announce that we we're going out on the street with the project uh the initial bids they come in very very high uh due to some of the um prices that were going up with with the issues that were that were happening uh globally uh we didn't expect some of those things but those are those Prett projections that are um we had a really scale back and I think this board did an incredible job and I'm confident that this this parking deck is going to be um finished as a shared service um so that we can uh help the township with uh some Municipal parking as well as uh provide um you know a better you know just a better um campus for our students and whatnot so that was I just want to clarify that because I think um one of the things that I did know when I first got here was there were a lot of people that got up to the podium with fake news and stuff like that and I think it's all that stuff has to be uh kind of said in St whoever follows me whoever follows me hopefully to do the same thing so I just wanted to make that clear thank you thank you Dr Tom and Gary hman okay uh I just it's sickens me to see these the scores that our kids are getting today and and you all are part of this it it's shameful it's really shameful that our kids the the grades have gone down that much so as far as you you're going piece of paper that's like wrink know what that is excuse me can you tell me what that is I'm sorry can you tell me what that is that you're reading that is this I can't see sat scores and where'd you get that from where' you get that from field and Nutley where'd you get that from what's the source huh what's the source I know where so I know you got I know you should know this you should know this better than me because you're the head of the well I I just Pi where you got it from all right but anyhow you you don't want to answer questions I don't need to answer you got to be ashamed of yourselves of this you our our children that are coming to school is a foundation of this here town I've been in this town for 65 years I went through the school systems here my kids went through the school systems here and this is a disgrace it's an absolute disgrace that you're doing it you eliminated the wood shop you eliminated the auto shop now the kids don't have anything that they could learn to work with their hands all right it it's really sickening and that's why I'm here tonight because I seen this and I said what a disgrace what a disgrace I want to know what you are doing to better these kids' education nothing that's what I thought thank you it's a good thing that you're leaving to the chair just to clarify the fake the fake news party we have two wood shops just so you know but and you're here tonight because you're running for Council that's why you're here so let's be clear um but we do have two wood shops so if you were here more often you would know that but so I'll make that very clear and if you can leave that so I can look at the source or can provide the source for me I really appreciate that cuz I don't know what you're reading but thank you very much it was nice to meet you I'm sure you would it was very nice to meet you Mr per could you Mr standing right there if you can hand him a copy of that piece of paper so you can take a closer look at it that' be great he's the one stand with when you have a chance with the verbal to no okay so the only the only I want to say is it's okay that's if it's a piece of paper that has lines on it we'd like to see a copy of it if we can't then we have no way of responding or answering any of the questions for example what are you doing about the scores because we don't even know what the scores are it's a piece of paper with lines on it otherwise it could have been you drawing hopefully it's not I imagine it's not but the only way we know for sure is if you gave it to one of our staff members we can review it and and maybe it's what you say maybe you don't give ansers you don't get answers [Music] okay all right so let's close the remarks um do I have a motion second I was signed up I was signed up on the second sheet I'm [Music] sorry time this time good I get 10 minutes now right sorry all right uh start off by asking the board especially its president and chair of the finance committee to please uh insist not demand that the administration make available the budget sheets the appropriation and revenue sheets for the workshop make sure that they're posted online as Excel documents not PDF because I've gone through this Roose as well where they posted scan PDFs which make it impossible to search or do anything so please you're in charge of the finance committee and uh uh miss Ben me is the president please get those sheets up i s my time um Dr Tom just uh to follow up on what Mr Fran ton was saying when you uh made your first address here um in February of 2015 it was in this old senior Lounge um you warmed the cockos of my heart when you said that one of your goals for the future was to see to it that 50% of our of our high school graduates were proficient in trigonometry but uh Mr H wasn't going to give the source but uh I sent you all the email I I have out of curiosity I plotted yes yes I it's all I sent it to everybody on the board you included check your email it's there the source of this of course is the New Jersey school performance reports it's off of the New Jersey Department of Education website they just right but the thing that really concerned me is that in the LA you know up through 2021 20 the 2021 I'll give you copies of this don't worry about it you don't have to but we you know we were showing actual real growth uh for that Academic Year our total sat was 1069 but covid descends upon us and we have now plummeted almost 200 points in the last two years uh we we hit 869 total for the 2122 year and 877 for 2223 so if you haven't gotten cop I will send you this but I mean this yes covid had an impact on everybody but I also out of curiosity plotted the data for our nearest neighbors Nutley and Bloomfield yes they also showed some dimunition uh the state average also showed some decline but in no way have they had the impact the devastating cataclysmic impact that Bell has suffered I mean the only chart that shows this sort of precipitous drop is Donald Trump's media stock price I mean you know this this something something is is greatly am miss here it seems to be singularly unique to bille and we need answers for for this uh the up the parking garage I know that the legal announcement came out over the weekend and I shared it with a bunch of people uh you have only $6.9 million left over from the shared services Bond ordinance that was rushed through the process in March and April of 2022 and as that was being rushed through I got hit with uh one major lawsuit and the threat of another to basically shut me up about the details but uh um you don't I assume you don't have any extra money available so are you going to be able to build this garage for roughly $7 million and I know the uh bidbox documents are supposed to be posted tomorrow uh probably has to do with the board agenda at 1201 a.m. tonight I'll be looking at the solutions architecture website for those plant to see what's uh what's going on there uh you mentioned earlier that uh there could be a dramatic sea change with this C coming up in a in a month um as you know very well for years while I was a board member while I was on the zoning board and just as a regular citizens activist I have been at every council meeting every planning board meeting decrying what this planning board was unleashing Upon Our Community all of this Relentless over-the-top Redevelopment these huge megalithic structures and you just recently acknowledged that you're starting to already see some of the impact even the the two I think two months ago you cited a statistic that of nine two family houses recently built they had produced 15 total students so if you extrapolate the demographic study you recently referred to is indicating uh upwards of 300 students being added in the next few years and we don't know what in the hell is going to happen when these huge colossuses are opened up in the next couple years you know we're looking at another four to 6,000 residents in Belleville before we get 5 years from today um I I think you know I I just kind of euphemistically say that you're getting out of Dodge right now while you have a chance because you we're going to be left with in all likelihood a major disaster here you said that we're going to probably have to build at least annexes if not new schools to accommodate all of the expected students but um you know the the future is going to probably be hell for us here in Belleville the last thing I want to say here is that um when you have the public hearing when you posted this budget summary table uh last month you indicated that your expected anticipated revenues for the next academic year would be $68 m600 th000 but Governor Murphy is giving us 75.4 million in state aid that's 6.8 million more than what you're saying you're expecting in Revenue so right here at the top you know there's there's something something a miss here there's an inconsistency $7 million that needs to be accounted for thank you yeah chair answer that the budget yeah do the I just wanted to appreciate you giv me the source of that now I guess I guess everybody got it from you who got it from the performance reports um actually Mr Frank Tony said that I I said we can do better I think I think I say that to my kids too and hopefully all parents say that you can always do better you should be trying to do better so I always say that and I I don't want I didn't want to get into a whole thing because everybody knows how I feel about test scores because the test scores have changed over um the last 10 or 15 years and people that are new here like a few people in the front row should understand how this works before they get up and talk so to to make it very clear when I first started as an administrator 25 years ago ago there were fail safes that were in these score reports that were were really good so for example if you were I don't know if you came into District in January right you moved from a different town or a different state uh your scores doesn't count you know if you're special me student or if you had you know just because there's different things that are happening right so that doesn't happen anymore um schools scores now are based on anyone who takes a test and the only individuals that don't have to take a test that year are are individuals who move from another country for the first time they're they're not they don't count on scores so in saying that just to not to make excuses but like I said um maybe I'm a little bit more candid now because I do have only a few months left but I think it's time to start looking at what's really happening in many townships including B so when you look at the aggregate scores when you look at just that one that that that overall score we're not considering a lot of the hurdles that happened here so for example example last June which are these scores that were just on the performance report there are 200 maybe 205 extra students that never Ste foot in bille until after June of that year so we got students from all over so I I can't even tell you what those scores are like um but you could imagine that regardless of what they are they shouldn't impact how we benefit um as a district that's trying to take assessments so that being transient um doesn't help aggregate scores so what we look at is growth I've always said growth right but the naysayers and the people that like to twist data like I do CU I'm good at that too will always look at the Aggregate and I get it I get it you want to say oh how many kids pass I totally get it but the reality is that we have to start thinking of some of these things so when we talk about sat for example yes the scores are low but don't forget sat is not mandatory anymore so I don't know the exact number of students that took it um they're they're becoming mandatory again but the number of students that took the SATs for the past two years is very minimal uh in here in Beville maybe Nutley maybe Bloomfield more students took it and as you know the more students that take it the better your average score is so I I don't think it's a real I I understand it's a low score um I don't think it's a fair assessment it's definitely nothing to stand up on a Pulpit and talk about in my opinion I think it's it's very naive to think that those scores at this time when kids were getting into I leagues without taking SATs right post Co that just started again Harvard Yale they're just now Manda in SATs again um so I I think that's a tough one two years from now let's look at it again hopefully we're back past the 1065 or 1063 I am very upset about trigonometry that was something we wanted to do and and you and I worked on that curriculum Community together trying to do it and we just couldn't get there but but I just want to say this for growth and I won't be able to say it next year uh because I won't be I won't be up here doing the grading report when when we we have people come up here and talk about the scores but just so I do get chance to talk about growth and what's happening here in this incredible Community with our kids and where we where we've come from um with postco stuff and I hate saying that but this past year six six of our nine sites uh increased Rank and and a formula scor that's that's pretty impressive uh and that's with 200 students that really didn't belong to us prior to this year um four out of our nine sites uh raised their Ela scores and six of the nine sites raised math scores so we're really excited about that and that's the growth uh growth growth-wise um seven out of eight sites either met or exceeded the growth standard in math so that's that's pretty impressive so these teachers these administ administrators did an incredible job but I think the more alarming thing that you need to understand is this we have four four schools that are over 60% free reduced lung that means four schools are over 60% poverty now that's something totally different than 9 years ago when I when I was here um our average our average out of those schools 57% of our students are free and reduced lunch that's what Mr Paladino is talking about help with these lunch applications individuals that don't fill out lunch applications don't qualify for free and reduce lunch and and the board has to pick up those reers um so our our biggest population um right now for a single school is 68.5% of that school is in free reduced lunge all right so there's a lot of challenges that go along with that um we have we have one school with 33% of the population is has special needs uh we have a school that six 17.4% are English language Learners that means English is is they're struggling with English is not their first language so these are incredible things to have individuals you know a few years ago our um our validator was was at elll English language learner when she was here so we do incredible things with growth here right so we have to become a community that stops looking at aggregate scores and stops using it for rhetoric and stops using it to point fingers because the only people that are getting affected by this are the kids and the overall knowledge of the township so stop doing it right going on to the other side um you know uh I think at some point uh there there comes a time where we you you have to start looking at the positive things in of always putting blame on negative because you think you get more people to to listen to you um no nobody benefits that way so again um the satps and all those other things uh I think that's not a fair assessment this year uh but moving forward you know our graduation rate or 5-year graduation rate is 95% I think it was in the 80s when I got here I mean it's incredible stuff that we're doing here as a faculty and an Administration so let's continue to do that continue to work progress um and uh again there is always room for improvement so thank you for those few minutes you're welcome motion to close public comment I'll move second motion second okay all those in favor okay um the board members decid tonight that they were going to skip public comment we didn't um or not public comment comments from board members we didn't have committee meetings and it seems like the priorities for us right now are the budget um so we're going to just refrain from tonight but I think I I want to say as the board president um that Dr tonco we have a lot of respect for for you um it is sudden that Dr tonco is leaving none of us were expecting this so we do want everyone to know that we are working with the board attorney and that there is a process and that's all we're really going to say right now about that because we are in discussions about what our options are uh for the people that are sitting out there and the people that are watching it's election time so I think we can all figure out what's happening right now and it's again very critical because it's budget time and at the same time um you know we're looking for the the vacancy of of the superintendent uh that's coming up very soon so that'll be it uh the next meeting or we will see you next Monday night for the budget presentation at 5:00 can I have a motion to close so move second all those in favor have a good night everyone