e e e e e e evening everyone evening everyone and welcome Hi how are you um going to start thank you for coming to the board meeting this evening in compliance with the open public meetings law of New Jersey notice of this March 12th meeting of the Bridgewater raron regional board board of education was posted electronically on the district website and provided on January 3rd 2024 by sending to the Ann sending annual written notice to The Courier News Star Ledger Bridge waterer town clerk RAR and bur Clerk and by posting on the board board in the harman v Wade Administration meeting if you'd like can you please stand and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance thank you iedge Al to the flag of the United States of America and to the republ for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all Mr Stars can you call the role please Mr Pepe here miss Freelander Miss Lee here Mr Joi here M kist here Mr singer here miss Asuna here miss lockran here Mr Walker present move a quum um next on the item agenda is the superintendent report thank you Mr Walker so tonight as we see in front of us we have some special guests this evening and I want to take this opportunity to celebrate and honor the accomplishments of a of the group of young people in front of us here uh who representing Bridgewater Aron High School in its second year of existence the unified basketball team qualified for the state tournament and ended up losing in a tough fought battle at home to the eventual state champion hun Central all right I want to start by thanking Dr Dan Sylvia the director of special services and Jen horn the the supervisor of special education 9 through 12 for helping to make this program a reality two years ago next I want to thank the coaching staff Cynthia Wong Chris Osborne Leslie Thompson and Ronda [Applause] Fishburn and we save the best for last now we want to honor the students here in front of us um and I I mean this sincerely that these young people in front of us are emblematic of the values we try to hold at Bridgewater ritan we see the slogan one and all in all of our buildings and and as we all know and any of the people who are part of the the UniFi program or who have watched the UniFi program know that the benefit is built on inclusion equality equity and belonging for all students right and and I'd also like to add that it's one of the few sporting events I've ever been to where people walk away happy whether you win or lose now I know a lot of people weren't happy at the last game but but it was and and look finally I think what's so important is all of you in the room tonight you're part of something special and I mean that sincerely and and I love to see the friendships that you've made right and and the way that everyone interacts and works with each other and the sense of belonging it's created you're part of something really good here and I want to thank you for that there you go and now next I'd like to turn it over to Mr Walker we've got an official board resolution we have a Bridgewater riton Regional Schoolboard Schoolboard District education Proclamation whereas the hard work dedication sportsmanship talent and exceptional team Comm of the 2023 2024 BGE water Ron High School unified basketball team finished with a record- winning season enabling them for the first time to qualify for the New Jersey state tournament and whereas coach Cynthia Wong and assistant coaches Chris Osborne Leslie Thompson and Ronda Fishburn provided leadership and support while encouraging the the talent of all the team's members and whereas High School athletics provides opportunities for all as they can teach students teamwork cooperation Sportsmans ship and Leadership and whereas student Athletics can take these learning characteristic character traits into their everyday lives as they build confidence not only on the playing field but also in the world now therefore be it resolved on behalf of the Bridgewater riton Regional School District Board of Education the administrative STA and the administrative staff I Barry Walker board president do hereby recognize and congratulate the members of the 2023 2024 Bridgewood rton High School unified basketball team for their achievement as New Jersey state tournament qualifies resolved this 12th day of March 2024 the board officially recognizes the accomplishment of these coaches and team of students and calls upon the school Community to join in the celebration of the success do I have a motion is there a second all those in favor I thank you all right so now we we would like to call up the team members individually and after your receive your certificate once we go through everybody I'm going to ask everyone to join us down in the old gymnasium here uh for a group photo so parents will have the opportunity to take to really get the whole group together get a formal shot and and uh and again I appreciate all of you for coming out you know on a busy uh middle of the week evening for all of you okay first up Matthew Baxter thank you Prav pth Haley [Applause] billerman Matthew Burell [Applause] [Applause] Michael K Joseph [Applause] suo Anthony [Applause] confalone Kyle [Applause] cenza congrats Chris [Applause] Craig I think Chris was the best shooter on the team wasn't he one of them I mean he had his day okay Owen kriens audre [Applause] day oh did I say okay yeah Logan [Applause] Ernst [Applause] don't want to miss my spot Alysa [Applause] etman Andrew gallop Aiden Higgins congs Matthew leberger Nicholas [Applause] Lloyd Lee Burger I'm sorry I messed it up Lee Berger thank you I get a little nervous up here I'm sorry it is not Joseph [Applause] Rando John [Applause] Magner Brody nusman okay Daniel oldum [Applause] that's for you Jaden Patel thank you I'm sorry I missed it [Applause] up Lexi Pearl [Applause] Emily Rada Elon [Applause] Ramirez all [Applause] right look and I I think we got that on the video so we're in good shape that was nice Mr Walker is going to do that to end when we're on stage Isabelle [Applause] Rivera Justin Rond [Applause] denone Joseph [Applause] spir honor Rog traid Sarah win shock thank you thank you Summer Wind shock thank Colin [Applause] Woodring Arun Yaman chili I'm sorry I murdered that [Applause] name [Applause] shagi and last Cameron yarwood all right finally let's give one big round of applause to these young people and now now if we could head outside these doors we'll go down to the gym and up on the stage we'll take a group photo no cartwheels or anything along the way we'll be our keep everyone safe for e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e so we're going to um move move move around the agenda a little bit we're going to have the student report now so Iris and GA you guys ready yes so I would like to start by extending our congratulations to the unified basketball team uh but they're no longer here to receive this um we also wanted to touch on the second dodgeball tournament that um took place last Friday that was sponsored by the PTO um it was a major success this year and the participation rate definitely increased last year we um had 15 teams that participated this year it was 24 so that's definitely a big increase and it was very fun event so another congratulations is due to swimmers who competed at the New Jersey state me of Champions especially to those who placed which was Erica malv she's actually a senior who is recruited for upen next year and also a sophomore Jaden Lee um and last Saturday the Winter Guard served as the host to the mid midatlantic indoor Network competition um so they hosted 33 other teams from the tri state area and um they did an incredible job on March 1st two Fridays ago we had a China night I was there and I got to experience some delicious Chinese food fun games in karaoke I thought that there was great turnout and it was exciting to be there with my friends um today and tomorrow the juniors are testing for the NJ GPA um to meet their graduation requirement so far um we've heard smooth things about it um I guess the seniors are very excited for the delayed um but so far so good everything's going smooth yes uh our classes feel a lot emptier this week and that's because the fbaa club the future Business Leaders of America is on a convention to Atlantic City for a few days for the state leadership conference so we're all wishing them good luck um next week the Fine Arts Festival will take place um with the band and Orchestra from our high school and middle school um we're looking forward to attending and the prowler definitely looking forward to covering the event as well so we'll update you when that time happens we are also looking forward to District Wellness week which will also be next week for high schoolers and middle schoolers so that we can focus on our mental and physical health um an update on our seniors with the college application process um there are changes we'll do the changes of the FASA um this year many colleges have actually pushed down their commitment dates to June 1st the traditional date was May 1st um so seniors however are starting to receive um their regular decision deadlines by the end of this month um and so they're looking forward to committing but at a later deadline this year many high schoolers are a lot busier after school because spring Sports have started beginning with tryy outs um prom tickets information about prom went out this or last week and they will be sold the prom tickets will be sold the week before Spring Break um students are very excited and eager to um go to prom and underclassman have been redistributed to the two new guidance counselors that we have El Gulick and Anthony azado but seniors are staying with their current guidance counselors and last week I um about Friday um students were sent home their results for the Seal of by literacy test that they took um some statistics that we have is 68 seniors this year earned the seal out of the 86 that tested for it um which is about 79% pass rate um and 12 students earned the seal in two different languages um compared to last year 89 seniors um earned seal of B literacy um of the 125 that tested um which is a 71% pass rate so this year although we saw a decrease in the amount of people that took it the pass rate went up by 8% um and 10 students last year achieved the steel in two languages um so me personally I took it in French I passed um and I'm very grateful yeah thank you um I I definitely will say I'm very grateful for the language Department in our school I've been taking French for the past six years and I'm so happy that that's on my diploma and I can speak French um also an um update on the digital sat that um was taken last week um we overall heard that it went smoothly although I think some students some feedback that I heard um was that they were surprised by the content of the actual test um I guess or the like the layout I think a lot of sections were cut in half or there was different amount of questions and I think some students weren't expecting that per se um so I think but but in terms of how it went and how it was um administered I think it went very well and that is the end of our report thank you and and it's great to hear all of the awesome things going on at the school and uh I know spring is in the air when we start hearing about prom tickets and things like that and um right we are we are rapidly getting towards that last quarter of the school year and um you know and and we know it's a Board of Ed and and even school events and everything this right the the really busy time is starting very soon so uh so again it's great to hear your reports and really commenting on uh all the great things that are happening at Bridgewater R thank I just I just want to do a quick little add to the two testing parts so the first one B the Seal of biliteracy did an excellent job explaining that with the change in percentage um we are expanding that into 11th grade next year so we're excited because we think next year will be the first year where we are also going to be um offering it to 11th graders so we'll see what happens there and I also heard that the SATs went very smoothly Mrs kotas actually was there on Saturday to make sure that we didn't have any technology problems and from what I understand it went really well for the for the first Administration so thank you and do I have it correct it's the first time it was done digitally yes and so the other thing that I think they did really well at the high school is communicating out all the things you had to do in advance like that blue book that had to be on I think that's what it's called on your computer and you had to have it pushed out and you had to have the test ready to go and downloaded and if you were a parent in another District who didn't see this until the night before your child was doing it last minute but here we communicated it really well do you bring your own device or do they give you a device well you can do either they prefer that you bring your school device because you can push things out on it is you know but you can bring your own device and um we also had students who take the SAT from other districts as well so the concern was more like oh what if we have a problem they use our um right but but it but you know what it all worked out really well so we were happy about that so go team well I want to make a comment uh thank our both our student Reps for a wonderful update not only exciting for the content but I actually like the energy how you presented it thank you for delivery yes and the completeness of the of the update thank you yeah a round of app cluse thank you super tend report okay the the second part of of my report is going to be very short um because we're going to get on to our um budget presentation but uh the one thing I wanted to add and and the young ladies talked about the Festival of Arts next week but I I believe Mr Moran that we're going to attempt to live stream some of these these uh concerts for the first time so in in collaboration so Bruce in collaboration with brtv right we're we're rolling out the first live stream of our uh School concerts tomor wow y so that that will be fun if you can attend in person you'll be able to view it online or or later so fingers crossed everything will go well but uh but I I really want to give kudos for for some of the folks who have made that happen how can we push this message out do we send a constant contact email or something like that so that people know it is oh yeah all right thank you well in the thousands of fans that are watching us tonight spread the word as well we need the more to be down the fans tonight so yeah is there is are any of these events things you need tickets for and you to have planed events or if you uh can can you come the night of the show so that's what I thought okay now I'm going to turn it over to Mr stars and the budget presentation thank you so tonight is the um the uh presentation on the 2024 2025 tentative budget this is a tentative budget what this means is that um we will then after approval hopeful approval tonight we submit this to the county and the county uh department ofed will review it for um various things and um they might provide some feedback if not um we will move forward with a public hearing on April 30th um but between now and April 30th obviously the board can have uh conversations uh about the budget and it is able to change before April 30th so with that okay so as we start off we we're looking at our uh District enrollment at at a glance so we've got the enrollment in the uh in the top row number of employees so we've got 7,800 78 students 1261 employees and that's everyone from administrators to teachers to to uh cafeteria workers bus drivers Etc the square footage of our buildings 1.23 million square fet we transport 8,102 students and the reason why that number is higher than the enrollment is our outof district placements and also uh private school transportation that we provide and and in the final row you have our District budget which is $78.4 million the budget goals we we really tried to align them to our district goals and again I just a quick summary our district goals are to optimize conditions for learning by implementing effective instructional practices that support all students we want to ensure a healthy and safe learning environment by refining operations and providing opportunities to Foster student and staff social and emotional well-being then finally we want to ensure Equitable allocation of District resources to support the district's mission and goals including access and utilization of grade level materials resources and programs so the challenges that we face this year are not unlike prior years um we are uh constrained by a 2% tax levy cap in certain years there is an ability to go over that 2% uh tax levy cap with uh adjustments to the budget however we don't uh currently qualify for any of those in this in this year's budget so when you have a 2% tax levy cap on the revenue side um the other things that are pushing that to the brink are Personnel costs you know most of our contracts are settled for over 3% benefits everybody knows health benefits medical benefits are uh well in excess of 5% increasing Transportation continues to be um a driver that no pun intended um of cost in fact the uh the um CPI for uh Transportation this year um that were allowed to renew contracts for um is 5.81% um and then obviously utilities and the inflation that um is currently well over 2% as well so despite those challenges um we believe we put together a uh a quality budget here that uh addresses the goals um so we are recommending a 2% tax levy uh increase on the revenue side you see our state aid number went up this also includes we're um anticipating more extraordinary Aid this year and what extraordinary Aid is is um AIDS specifically for High um cost uh students um special education special needs students um so we apply every year to um based on our actual cost of um educating uh certain special needs students and we U generally get some Aid if they cost over $40,000 if we do it in-house or if they're out of District placement over $55,000 we will get some of that money back um we continue to uh reduce our Reliance on the fund balance appropriation again we're going down uh which we've done the past several years years of $250,000 and miscellaneous has uh reduced a little but that is largely due to our goal of eliminating the activity fees that we normally collect so assuming that we pass um this budget um come May we'd also then eliminate that policy that calls for activity fees I believe we mentioned this previously I know we did at a finance committee meeting how is the money being spent that uh those revenues are being collected for um salaries and benefits are uh a big bulk of it approximately $134 million uh maintenance and operations that includes uh utilities and the upkeep of our facilities at 15.6 million Transportation as I indicated before is is is significant that's 13.9 million and that's a larger percentage going up there's a general category that we're just calling other that lumps together whether um Legal Services Communications contracted Services um software uh licenses this is software licenses have has gone up uh recently as we uh expand technology and our use of it uh tuition this is out of District placements these are the students that we can't educate within the district and need to send to uh private schools or public schools that have the programs that they need um supplies and text this is uh straightforward for classroom uh supplies and texts throughout the district our Capital uh projects and Equipment um that is going down a little that is approximately 1.8 million and this general fund totals the same as the revenues which is $183 million a total increase of 2.59% and again facing the uh constraints that I talked about earlier um we feel that's uh a a good place to be uh different way to look at the um expenditures is the good old uh pie chart as you can see we have uh instruction of about 40% the business functions is 20% that's inclusive of health benefits that's in the health Ben health benefits are part of the business function line items um then you have Support Services support services are things such as uh guidance and child study teams that aren't necessar specifically in the classroom but outside the uh classroom and supporting the education of students administration at 6.1 operations at 8.6 again that is maintenance and utilities Transportation at 7.6% tuition of uh again out of District tuition is about 3% and equipment and projects is 1% some of things new to the budget this year um we we receiving or we currently are receiving Esser funds uh that are being spent on some positions outside of the general fund that money goes away come June 30th so we are putting putting those positions back into the operating budget these are uh mainly instructional coaches um we added two new guidance counselors um and this is being kind of funded through a reduction of Staff through attrition and enrollment we are um reducing it at the seventh eth grade level another team team of or I believe another team of five uh FTE um and then by attrition and enrollment at the 56 level and 92 level of six um FTE is full-time equivalents which is staff members or positions I should say not staff members positions curriculum would you like to uh jump on that or do you want me to butcher or do you want me to butcher it turn this on first it's on I kind of would like you to butcher it and then I'll but in but um all right so for curriculum in the permanent allocations there are really four areas that we're always looking at so one is um curriculum writing which is really your summer projects and then we have materials and resources textbooks and professional development so when we look at um you already moved on just go back to the first one please um so for summer projects um that really involves curriculum writing curriculum revisions and projects and from that I mean um that for instance the state often changes our standards we have a lot of change in standards over the last several years this year we actually have a standards that are changing in English language arts and math and so we will be realigning all our curriculum documents in English language arts and math K12 um additionally we have new courses that we create such as when we're creating robotics engineering courses we'll have to write curriculum for that that would be new as opposed to revised and then we have projects so when we're creating new resources or assessments um also AP college board is good at like giving us new um requirements for courses that involve revision as well so those are some of the things that we would do over the summer as part of summer projects um the second area is supplies and materials Peter so supplies and materials or any kind of instructional materials that are not really specific to textbooks or electronic platform forms um so this aligns with our program development for example we're obviously going to need to buy supplies and materials for our Robotics and Engineering courses cameras for digital photography when we're creating phonics programs we need to buy decodable text or math you use manipulatives right to learn mathematical Concepts and then also just something that's kind of interesting is all the IND district testing that we do for Universal screening for gifted and talented for intervention for the Seal of biliteracy we just mentioned or even even when we're testing everyone with PSAT that all also would come out of the supplies and materials funding um textbooks and resources this really shifts widely from year to year so when we're in a year where we're doing a major um new textbook adoption like we did a couple years ago two years ago with the math resource that's that's you know an expensive item when you're doing something K5 or K8 for next year we actually don't have a major textbook adoption what we do have is that we're renewing our science K5 so usually when we have an electronic platform that works as our textbook or our resource we have like licenses for three to five years so it's in a renewal phase um we also have some other uh textbooks that we need to look at because of changes with AP classes and then finally we have professional development so when you consider all the things that I just mentioned the new courses the change in standards um additional resources anything that we're doing like that requires that we're providing professional development for staff so this is something that's ongoing and those are really the four areas in curriculum thank you I couldn't have done it any better um thank thank you Mr Stars the uh next up is technology allocation um we have an annual um refresh of uh Chromebooks um and cases and license for students in grades five and grade nine um we're looking for new laptops for staff at a certain at grades 5 through 12 we continue to update the infrastructure and uh cyber security evaluation improvements are are ongoing and as we have done last year we are using manage services and backup um as a service um with the technology monies as well and I mentioned earlier about renewal of online resources that's one of the areas that was in the uh software line items um before I go on I just like to mention that um at the fft meetings we did have uh Miss Jones and uh Miss kotas and actually Dr Sylvia also came to discuss their specific um areas and to go into more detail of their uh allocations and their expenditures facilities projects some of these you've already uh have voted on and seen um we're doing the grand stands this upcoming uh summer Hillside gym floor replacement we're hopeful for a Turf 3 three field replacement we're in Communications with the uh Township who is supposed to be taking the lead on that um so we're still optimistic about that happening uh painting projects and in addition to all these we have all the referendum work that is going on we have secure vestibules at all the schools except the high school um window replacements should be getting started at JFK being the first school to hit that but um as you know we've awarded a a contract for six schools to I believe it's six or seven schools to be um started um we're doing toilet renov ation at the middle school and the bassone Fieldhouse and parking Renovations of the uh bassone complex is uh all occurring this summer so it's another busy summer for the district as far as facilities is concerned um now we get to the fun part of the tax impact and it's a little showing it a little differently this year and it's a uh it's not it's not a easy uh easy area to uh to explain or or um so I'll give my best um so the average assessment uh on on an unequalized house in Bridgewater is [Music] $564,500 bridgew and Ron so the average assessment up there is really for informational purposes only um because to calculate your own individual taxes you'd want everything to be either equalized or unequalized you can't necessarily have a have a combination of the both of both of them um so the general fund and I also this year broke it out by general fund and Debt Service fund tax rate because The Debt Service as you know is to start the payment off the bonds that were previously um was appr approved last year and that we just um sold in December so that's going to be a tick up for this first school for this 24 um but then it should be leveling off because this is the first year that we're um uh the T Debt Service is about $10 million um although we're getting close to four million from the state so with that the Bridgewater uh uh general fund School tax rate is about 1.27 equalized which means on an equalized assessment of $100,000 would be about an increase of $46.63 The Debt Service in Bridgewater on an equalized $100,000 assessment would be $23.15 in raron um the average assessment unequalized is it's 1.24 I'll say um which is actually a decrease of $99.75 now what happened uh well let me get to The Debt Service Debt Service is going up $19.51 you see the rate there 0064 so part of the calculation is the ratables for each of the communities and in Bridgewater the ratables uh went down a little bit by 0.13% but in raron um they went up 5.2% so that's part of the reason why that it's showing as a decrease per assessment because the ratables went up um the other thing that changes from year to year is the split or the ratio between um Bridgewater and Ron um actually the ratio this year is bridgew is getting is responsible for 86.7 4% and uh rare is responsible for 13.26% and that's kind of a shift actually from from bridgew Bridge had a higher number last year to to to rtin and that fluctuates every year and that's based on the equalized valuation of both communities so because rtin um equalized ratables went up their percentage also then went up of what they should be uh responsible for so um like I said that's a uh a down and dirty try to exp explain it as uh clear as possible I know it's probably not clear um but it's not a it's not an easy uh calculation so with that we will open up for questions can can I jump in on that last Point certainly thank you um I I know the equalization and unequalized I'm still still learning it um is that something that happens just between the two H between the two towns or because we're a regional district or is that a Equalization of broader thing that happens at the state level and then impacts us because I understand like like the ratio makes sense and I you've broken that down for us before the the one thing that gets is is the actual tax rate in in Raritan at least winds up being higher than that so I'm not sure if that's because the I know that the houses aren't uh reassessed as frequently I'm not sure if that impacts it do you have any sense what might cause the number on that build just to be higher even if the ratio is correct that that does impact it because I think the the um generally speaking in the historically the uh Bridgewater has been uh you know their their their equalized value their equalized ratio has been about 90 in the 90% area and Ron has only been about 75% area yeah so because of that um that's what drives that rate up at least at least the figure the school tax rate yeah School tax rate up is there any way to predict what that will be ahead of time like when it comes to the April presentation uh possibly I can I get that information from either the county or the tax assessor so yeah there's a lot of different Source stuffs coming from I've learned from this thanks for that answer and for all your work on the budget so I I have a few comments questions observations if you will um so for the past I don't know how many years we have to stay within that 2% budget right correct and we've been staying the tax levy cap yes and we've been staying within that for uh well there's been a couple years where we actually have used um waivers to exceed it that you're allowed to exceed it by yeah um and with regards to the uh the assessments and how much it's going to be per $100,000 doar um this has nothing to do with the referendum or any of that right this has no impact on the passing of the referendum well which ref so the big referendum the only thing that is it's it is increasing The Debt Service right uh uh cost for the district okay so what I'm getting at is that um you know the the numbers in spite of the reassessments and the referendum and all of that the numbers do look you know pretty steady and stable throughout the years uh does that have anything to to do with our rating I mean you know the bond that we sold we got an excellent um interest rate on that correct which kind of reduced um we reduced the total cost of the referendum you know over the life of the the bonds because it's a lower interest rate but that's all now uh put into put into the calculations as far as the annual cost of that so it's due to and I'm just trying to educate myself it's due to our you know I know this is buz word but us being fiscally responsible throughout the years to get that nice rate otherwise this could have been even higher we received a good Bond rating um based on our finances which we believe helped the yeah reduced rate interest rate that we got yes okay I know that's why because I know that in this current climate to get a good rate is difficult so we must have been doing something right to get that good rating um and Peter and his team it perfectly they were able to time that market right when that that note dropped we we locked it in yeah so I just wanted to make sure he knew that November was going to be the time that the budget and the numbers are are good and that is the reason why we're seeing the numbers that we're seeing otherwise this could have been even higher and you know with the assessments coming and all of that this could have even pushed it higher so I just want to make sure that people understand that uh we're doing right I believe this board is very financially responsible yes all right that says that's all I wanted to make a comment on thank you for uh Transportation there was uh last year there was an increase for hazardous busing is that included in the the budget for for this year has that been assumed into the yes so yet last year we removed that as a revenue but and Incorporated the cost is still in there yes Y correct there's where you use Bank app correct that was a bank app or your memory might be better than mine I think we use Bank cap for that we used that's actually an example of using Bank cap because that was on fun a revenue stream a revenue stream that was no longer possible so we used Bank cap to accommodate that during the budgeting process can I have a question sure all right so um I was looking at slide five uh there is a um uh 23 to 24 on operating budget local tax levy that column can you turn to that page please so that we all are looking at what we're looking at so that number 158 812 and 45 that is actually uh a number that I looked at our uh meeting last year uh when we approved our budget from for this 23 to 24 on APR 25th uh if you look at your um record if all of us look at our record that number is U uh actually 116 355 94 945 so that was what we budgeted for um at April of last year and uh it's not the same number as what was on this page of U uh this slide and that difference is about 2.6 million and I understand that is the um that is referendum kindergarten operation budget so it so um can I uh ask uh how did we spend this money uh where is this money right now like since we budgeted in last April not budgeting for the income of the uh of operating cost and now it appears here uh what's the difference and where did it go so the 158 is does incorporate the 2.46 million that was voted on and approved in November yes it does include the my question the 58 that's what the 158 is so I just want to make that clear right so um so yes so now that is our base general tax levy that we work from uhu um that 2.46 is now built in here for 2425 we know that we have to have that 2.4 um available to us when we um uh begin to full day kindergarten in uh hopefully September of 26 so that money currently is set aside uh within the proposed budget in the um uh Transportation there's $800,000 in there because it's that was part of the 2.4 there's the um 1.18 I believe that's in fund 12 which is our Capital which is our projects uh piece and then we also bumped up the C per curriculum permanent allocation by $500,000 to make that 2.6 so that's where that money is so are they spent or are they set aside well I'm talking about this is what's in the 24 in this set aside currently for the 2425 and they it will be spent in 2425 for those for those different things but when it comes to uh the budget being built for 2627 it's going to be pulled from that from those areas to to fund the necessary Staffing that we need um I'm not certain that I fully understand let me rephrase so the uh the 2.6 difference between what's showing on the slide here and what we budgeted for last April that money is allocated to spend this year but it hasn't been spent this year yet I was speaking to the 2425 proposed budget in 2324 um that money is going to be used uh it's going to be used for onetime items if it's going to be used by end of this year yes and if and if it's not then it gets rolled into um either fund balance or capital reserve or maintenance Reserve so so basically uh for 2324 last April we budgeted for 156 and now we have a a difference because referendum passing a 2.6 million and we're um hav an excess money that for for we haven't spent yet right for for we've some of already we we've earmarked some of it already I think the the the answer to your question is what you have to do from a budget point of view is you have to make sure that that money that was approved by taxpayers for a certain purpose goes to that purpose and we know that's what I'm trying to make sure yeah and and exactly so what we're trying to do is in the budget those H right so you have a couple of years before it's going to be spent on those items you have to make sure that it's placed in in in areas that are one-offs so to speak versus recurring costs and that's why Peter explained that it that it's in capital projects it's also in curriculum so when the time comes we can easily pull from those areas and and push it in but but will the money be utilized for projects related to you know to uh the objective absolutely but they're they're in oneoff accounts and they're not allocated towards salaries Etc because we've got to make sure that we can we can hire those folks as we get closer and then you know we we talked with Dr fonder he could probably explain it a lot better than I can we're also going to start hiring people next year for kindergarten we may have smaller class sizes but as we know when we plann for this we can't just go and advertise for 15 kindergarten teachers in one year you're going to have to go you're you're going to hire a few then hire a few more and a few more so as time goes on we're going to allocate that and make sure that that the dollars are used for for the purpose that it was uh that it was voted on by the public we know that we're going to have this 2.6 2.6 million again this year um with this with this 2.6 million from last year that we didn't budget the expense for and for this year again that we don't really have a full operating kind yet would it be possible to use that and offset some of those 2% cap because um I think that we got to be um running our our programs but we also want to be cautious on what we have to spend and uh when we actually have to run the kindergarten we want to make sure that there isn't a gap so I I I hear what you're saying and and I anticipate this question from the public and and here's my answer and it it it you may agree with it you may disagree in November taxpayers voted right by a pretty wide margin to approve a certain amount of dollars for kindergarten okay wait wait let me finish for Kindergarten now if we were to do what you suggested we would would have taken that money and now put it towards a tax offset that's not what the people voted for and that would never be my recommendation because we had the Democratic process people said I want this 2.46 million let's call it 2.5 dedicated towards that cause so if three months later we say okay now we're going to get cute with our budget we're going to offset $2 and A5 million so we don't have to raise taxes now you don't have money to open up kindergarten and and if we did that we would actually be going against what the majority of taxpayers and voters in the or the majority of Voters voted for back in November I I I hear your point the thing is that I think the majority voters wanted to found the kindergarten when it's functioning the reason that we're taking the tax already now is because a law that asked us to do that not because uh so so we have to take it not because we needed that money to run for the kindergarten so there is this wait wait excuse me yeah CU we're not in current cost associated with the food at least not 100% like we are able to get funding the purpose here isn't a back and forth I can tell you why we made this decision you can choose to disagree with it sure taxpayers voted for this money to go towards kindergarten what you are suggesting is to take that money that taxpayers came out and voted to allocate that for and put it towards tax relief that would be going against the will of the voters and that and look the board can do what they want okay we can vote no we could say we should do this but I wouldn't support that and it wouldn't be the resolution that I bring to the table now this budget gets uh passed through the the county and eventually it has to be approved by the state as well right they do go through the county is the state yeah so they do go through it by so if what Mrs Lee is saying um would be flagged if it was erroneously collected or was put toward some other purpose it wouldn't be allowed right uh I don't think they would get into they don't get into that per se they're looking at the the numbers as far as the the tax levy which it is currently 158.3 and the fact that you're not we're not going over 2% well if I can make a comment about this I feel like we we should one way or the other account for this 2.6 million uh the voters have decided to support the fly kindergarten with that money before it's operational I think it should be used appropriately with caution and with the um mindfulness of of how they how this school school budget is impacting everyone's um property tax well we believe we did that so we agree thank you I have a question actually when I I lovely every March I get a reassessment of my house and in the last two years it's gone up over 20 23% I find it odd that the ratables have gone down can I can we request to see the breakdown of those ratables from commercial to residential is that possible from our tax testor and can or could could the taxor even attend an fft or board meeting maybe to explain the ratables a little bit better because I think that whole understanding I think that's important because I think that's some of the things going on because I look at this number on the slide where you said the average house pays but is that average $100,000 of ratables or is that average residential house so I'm a little confused and this is my 10th time through the budget and and so you know I'm just wondering is that possible I I can share with you what he sent me which has the breakdown of of what you're looking for I believe the residential commercial increase and decrease was I can sh I can share I've seen a 223% increase in my house value in the last two years so that's just you know sharing it's public knowledge you can look that up so I'm not saying anything different I'm sure some of you others have seen that same got the got the assessment the last week so I'm just concerned about that where that's going and if the assessed value goes up usually you're your tax implication if everyone goes up the same kind of stays the same and what I'm seeing here is that even though my my assessment's going up my taxes are going up so I don't see the same Rays uniformly across all all areas potentially just a little explanation on that from the tax be great and if he feels like coming to fft meeting that'd be great or board meeting to talk about it that'd be wonderful too any other questions thank you Mr Stars Mrs Jones Mr Beer great job um I know the budget you know it's once the budget process starts it starts all over again so it's a never-ending project so thank you very much so it's the president support I would like to extend um I I felt very inspired when I with the Unified sports team I've gone went to about three games and just watching as Mr Beer says they're it's always happy but just the the commitment of all everyone out there I think the community of it I I didn't get to go the last game I know Mrs Law Firm was there and you know they they they they're out there with their pride and they represented themselves and and really brought great great pride to the district um also lastly I I want to um I sent an email a while ago and um I'm just um there's a chain of command document on the website if you want to share I can actually actually want to pass it out right now to everybody just to take a look at it and I'd like to get it modified that way if you can you share it that way share it that way please and see if we can make it better and it adheres to our policy 9130 which is um goes through the the some questions there we have two two grievance areas when we get questions so people have questions or concerns there's a student grievance which is G policy is 5710 and the other one is the public grievance is 9130 something to think about this document's not adequate let me know we can rephrase it if it needs to be better put in the website something to talk about I think something can be shared in information so that's just a comment I was just saying this um the policies are like wordy and I thought something that looks like a flowchart that you would find not cartoonish but a little like colorful M and like if you have this issue do this if you have this issue do that something that can easily be shared that like oh I have a question you know I have a problem with homework who do I send a note to and they'll say like you should do this but something just a little yeah yeah little a little more fun I think one thing that might be helpful also is that a lot of this um there some presumes that it's a student or a parent if you have someone in the community who has a question for off of the board or the uh just the administration if you go to the I guess that would be under curriculum I guess all I guess that first section classroom teacher a relevant staff member I guess a classroom teacher doesn't make sense but finding that relevant staff member so there might be if we're going to look at this there might be something to do for people who don't have any kids which is a lot of people but no kids in in the school no kids in the school system so is true no kids currently attending attending the school district or at all you're right who may have suggestions or input or complaints or POS there's a complaint policy there is a way to grievance policy that's 9130 so just everyone knows there is a grievance policy for a public complaint is in that in our policy maybe we can lay that out better I think it's a good idea I just want to bring this to your attention I think we get a lot always get a lot of questions and how to handle it and so this gives you something to look at I know I shared it earlier we had an email about something I tried to be frank and working through training command makes things more effective oh absolutely and we're trying to make the most to finish his operation and go and and so just passing that on yeah just Miley yeah so we'll we'll you know bring that up again I'll make note of it I'll see what we can do I'll look around out there yes I do have one more question what would be an appropriate thing for someone to bring to the board a member of the public where on where where is that on the chain of command that's a good question it depends what it might be if it's curriculum related it would go towards the administration right everything goes towards facilities go most of it goes to the administration I mean the board would be a budget question potentially or a um trying to think poliy policy thank you very much your regulation you know superintendent question because he works for us with one employee that type of area other than that the administration handles majority of the questions it's not our job in a way so just trying to you know keep takes a lot of weight off your shoulders we could put something under yeah we can add to that if it's this exactly that's all I have and I want to thank everyone for the the um unified they're not here anymore but coming that that was great so I I love student achievement recognizing students and next on the agenda the K reports we only do it once a month yeah that's the way it's that's the way it's been handled only is once a month correct Peter um committee reports Mr josi academic committee our next meeting will be next week March 21st virtually um next community community relations Miss kist um we met on March 5th at 5:00 pm virtually in attendance was myself Mrs suuna Mr beers Mr Walker and Mr Moran um we started out by talking about strategic planning we discussed the second meeting and how it went and how there were 58 community members who were present we discussed the final meeting would be March 6th but obviously that already happened um and then we felt that we had a really wide range of um Community involvement next we discussed the high school middle school graduation uh we talked about how they plan to move the Middle School graduation to 6 pm. on Wednesday June 19th so that families who have both 8th grade students and 12th grade students will have more time to get from one graduation to the other we then discussed the school calendar uh for 20 I with the year what year thanks 2025 2026 I forgot that in my notes uh we discussed going back to school on Friday June 2nd 2026 after the winter break we thought that many families would be away or not returned for one day since it was a Friday so the committee thought that it' be better for students and teachers to return on January 5th um and if we do that the day would be made up by having graduation on Friday June 19th 2026 any questions I have a question um so there are two calendars um linked for this evening which one are we voting to approve or are we discussing or we or is it a discussion yeah I was hoping for a brief discussion and then we choose one and put it up got it okay I had a question not really sure um when will we see the results of the strategic planning it's a good question um we received notes from Gwen um at the end of last week so we're going to take a look at at that with our team and I would say you could be prepared for a um a presentation to the full Board of Education and to the community and we'll run a past committees prior to the May meeting all right a the last meeting in April is pretty packed we've got renewals all those types of things final budget uh hearing so we we're looking at one of the May meetings to present that to everybody and then that'll that will provide us plenty of time where once once we go through that then when we form District goals Etc we can utilize that as as a as a guide we could share preliminary with the board through brief next time you want do that something like that that'd be great we have the document which came on Friday so it's where it's at and we had I was just wondering we didn't had in the third meeting we had less turnout which we expected what was bad weather it was rainy so wasn't snowing it was just rainy so we have been updated on the first two strategic plannings we've gotten emails already it's just the third so we we just got it on Friday so it was correct and Bruce and I are gonna huddle up this week and we're going to send something out to to everyone you know to the board and then to the community just a brief synopsis and then we'll have it more in depth for on our Constant Contact at the end of the month so it was nice but we we were still approximately 40 people at that last meeting we were in that neighborhood a lot of good discussions there were were so it was fun and that was expected as when went through the process explained to us here and at the meetings it happened you have a tradition and those you know it takes a lot of time and so we had some new new ones coming in some old ones coming in so it was a nice mix of both in the in the group I would love to see what we did especially at that first meeting as like a once a year or once a semester just like a community night to come and break up into random groups of people that you don't know and chat about stuff related to school I thought I was was very impressed with everything that people said if I can add a comment to that I think it was a great process that we we're taking um I think we have a lot of community participant um glad to hear uh the voices from the community um I was curious like um for the for the summaries does that come from Guan or we actually process it uh in our in our Administration or one of the Committees how do we do that Gwen summary Gwen summarize it Gwen Gwen summarized the the work of of uh each each group who presented right at at the final meeting then we're going to take that as a team and we've got to create a a a plan right an actual action plan based on these goals so we're going to go through that um you know it's something that I I know we typically have some type of board retreat in April or May in that time of year and that might be a nice topic to uh to discuss it that okay so it'll go through our full board kind of looking yeah I mean the action plan is made by by the administration obviously we'll we'll take input but it's it's not a you know kind of a freefor all either so so the the administration will take it and then but the we go through our whole board add a retreat level that would be a best practice unless so that's our plan sounds like I I would like and then they their job is to do how to execute the plans that came from the what came out of the goal setting and then also it it will present at the full board also the board meeting usually does too so we'll discuss to the committee probably go that way yep I think having a go through a board would be a a a a good idea absolutely thank you we're 100% transparent y okay nothing else just one one random question on graduation to to swing back I know it's one o'clock I I was planning the last one I went to I forget what time it started but I know that if you gotten there at that time you would have been late and all for all intensive purposes because everyone was already pressing processing in had taking their seats I know it's a 1:00 start and it may be too early to know this is it like doors at 1:00 is it the ceremony at 1:00 just for and the procession will start at 1:00 procession starts at 1 so if you've been to any of our graduations that takes about 20 minutes yeah so I I would say the procession begins at 1 the actual ceremony up on the day that's probably 1:30ish okay so people should be plan on arriving before I'm sure you'll get people there at 8: a but Mike if you're if you're a little bit late I'll crack open the back door thanks I appreciate well I've snuck into a few basketball games that way so the same thing what's that tailgate tailgate get some breakfast sandwiches okay all right I'm gonna move on okay next we discuss the uh the new website um we are going to be actually reviewing it in person at our next meeting just so you know um our plan for that meeting is actually going to be on April 11th in person but we haven't figured out the time yet uh next we did a little policy review um we reviewed policy 9323 it's the notification of juvenile offender case disposition uh the committee thought that all the changes from Strauss Esme were fine and we didn't suggest anything else um the last thing we did discuss though was how the committee wants to review policy in the future um since that is a board goal we kind of came to the consensus that we're going to put two to three policies on every agenda and review them any questions okay uh we adjourned at 5:40 p.m. and our next meeting as I said is April 11th time to be determined Mr singer Finance facilities and transportation committee we met on March 4th 2024 at 5:30 in attendance was myself Mrs lockran Mrs Huna Mr Walker Mr Stars Mr beers M Rogers and Mr Dr Sylvia uh first we discussed the 2425 tentative budget which we just saw the presentation today as uh Mr Stars just mentioned uh Dr Sylvia was there to discuss the special education program and reasons for increased costs therein Mr Stars reviewed the administration's tentative budget draft PowerPoint and provided rationale for certain line items increases the recommendation of the committee was uh to approve the submission of the tentative budget to the county office public hearing and final adoption of the budget is scheduled for April 30th as Mr SARS has mentioned are there any questions about the budget that weren't previously addressed seeing none next we review the business agenda that is up for tonight uh Mr Stars reviewed the draft business action items for tonight's meeting with with specific attention to the purchases PSG direct install resolutions the rod Grant resolutions and the rebidding for boilers uh the consensus was to approve the action items uh and I just want to uh uh say that we really appreciate Mr Leto uh for uh going after those psng direct install resolutions uh it's going to save the district a lot of money um it is something that he had brought up to the committee before and it's really appreciated when he goes out uh and does that kind of thing any questions on in that regard next we discussed policy and regulation 7610 for review the committee reviewed and discussed the stats asme recommended changes and the committee endorsed approving the changes for the first reading set for tonight our next meeting is set for April 8th and after that is April 7th um May 7th which is a date change which was agreed to at the meeting we adjourned at 6:48 p.m. I have a quick question um I had it in my notes that the budget hearing was on April 23rd did I have it incorrect or did it change it is the 33d any other questions leaz Andel reports who' I oh right personel Comm me Miss Freelander sorry about that just to be formal we are meeting on March 19th 20124 now leaz in her Deli reports just from ridan I'd like to thank everyone uh everyone from either Community who came out to the strategic planning uh at the last meeting we were honored to have the mayor Bren Nick Cara and councilman Mike pente um work uh with two of the groups and uh the mayor actually uh presented his group's finding which is tremendous and it really uh drives home how a lot of the things we do particularly with facilities and budgeting and communication are also things that are going on at the municipal level so I was very happy and thankful that uh we got that Insight that night and from everyone so thanks to them and thanks for putting the night on I I I was really appreciative that they they came and were active participants and and presented as well I don't know if it was his first choice to present but you know being the mayor I think he was kind of coaxed to do it but but yes thanks Mike um brid water had a my screen just went sorry um briwat had a council meeting on March the 7th uh there's usual business and there's not allowed to report to um there's next meeting on March 21st I was there remotely thank you thank you um little update wa the CSA meeting this morning um M gri and I were there Mr beerus had shared some drawings and information and updates on what are happening throughout the district we we saw the middle school middle school draft and and the also what's happening in the Fieldhouse and and the um stands so the stands that's going on there so that was good to see um also we had an ed Foundation meeting yesterday yeah so sorry yeah that um did you want to jump on something oh no all right so before i' and then we had foundation mean AJ and I attended that AJ I mean we have the there's a golf outing they're going to do for fundraiser on July 11th and then a um dinner is to be sometime in May determined so be yeah we tried to post place so work on that and the grants are still open for that I know they've been sent out e blasters of the district I know there's you guys actually apply what Bob got there's a there was a superintendent Grant last year and Mr heran is you got the cameras for that so they've donated a lot back through over a million dollars total in different areas over the years so any questions okay item nine individuals and their groups are invited to present their concerns comments and requests regarding the following action items to the board of education at this time in accordance with the board policy members of the public are allowed one opportunity to address the board for a maximum of five minutes during this period of the meeting please be advised that a video recording of this meeting will be posted on the district's website seeing none I'm going to move on item 10 approval of minutes from the February 27th meeting 2024 do I have a motion so moved second discussion see n Mr Stars can you call the rooll Please Mr Pepe yes Miss Freelander yes Miss Lee yes Mr josi yes Miss kri yes Mr singer yes Miss Huna yes Miss lockran yes Mr Walker yes motion passes action items Personnel 24-24 is there a motion so second any discussion Mr stes can you call the rooll Please Mr Pepe yes Miss Freelander yes Miss Lee yes Mr josi yes Miss kist yes Mr singer yes Miss Huna yes Miss lockran yes Mr Walker yes motion passes curriculum 24- 51 through 24- 53 is there a motion so moved second any discussion Mr St can call the RO Please Mr Pepe yes Miss Freelander yes Miss Lee yes Mr josi yes Miss kist yes Mr singer yes Miss Huna abstain on 2451 and yes to the other two Miss lock Mr Walker yes motion passes business 24- 98 through business 24-105 is's our motion so moved second is there discussion yes Miss Le I think we've discussed about the budget and I want to make a comment about our tenative budget um let me see a few numbers um in 20 last year at April when we approved our budget 156 million uh at that point um we were budgeting for spending for 156 million and then with the passive referendum we now see a a backtrack budget of 158 million and that was 2% increase on top the 158 we're looking at the 162 million so this is a 5.6 million net increase over one year I want us to be aware of this uh number and with if we project to use 2% for next year we're going to arrive at 165 which is going to be uh 88.7 million um sorry 8.87 million more than our um last April's budget that is going to be a 5.7% increase over the two years and then that's uh for this year this proposed budget is 3.5% over last year so I want us to know that actual numbers and for this reason I feel like um our uh allocated resource could be reconsidered to uh consider the actual spending on the voter's choice for the current Garden which is not being operational yet and be mindful of this impact on our uh community so I intend to vote or now and I encourage you all to consider uh Recons this budget as well thank you I'm just I do have to interject that that your figures are incorrect which number you you have the numbers correct but but the uh the application of them is incorrect and and just for the record I have to say that $2.4 6 million was approved for the referendum that is outside of our normal budget process so I feel to to combine those two numbers when the voters did in fact overwhelmingly vote for this for a specific purpose that's outside of our current current budget I I don't feel that we're being 100% transparent by stating that our budget has gone up this much just for spending we know and and and we've gone over this multiple times that 2 and a half million of that is ear March for full day kindergarten which was approved by the majority of V people who voted that's all can I ask a question um so we had gotten like grants and and funds like that is that included in the like increase of our budget so if we were to get income from outside of say raising taxes does that get rolled up into the inclusion of the increase of our budget uh if you're so the resolution has a line called special Revenue fund that is where um grants go so like federal and state grants go in there in that line item so that is not impacted in the general operating budget if I I can make a further comment um I hear what Mr Beer was saying however I'm not convinced that the way that the food day kindergarten fund the way that is budgeted for is really allocated for that purpose I'm not convinced so again my vote will be a no and encourage all to reconsider this thank you so I'm just going to interject here because you've said the same thing now three times and just because you don't hear the response that you want to hear doesn't mean that the response isn't accurate or transparent you're suggesting that the administration is doing something untour with the budget and I'm really kind of It's upsetting to hear because it's ridiculous the budget that you're that was up for last year was voted on in April the budget in November was then increased by the popular vote there's nothing that can be done about that other than making that absolutely the number that goes into this year's budget to suggest that there's anything UNT going on is just ridiculous I think we're all on record how I said what I suggested is very clear I don't think there's a reason to speculate thank you yeah and I just want to add that I have full confidence in in your skills Peter and um and I've heard nothing but the best of your reputation so thank you for your work I think if there is money going other places it's even if it's not going toward kindergarten this year it every confidence that it's going toward things that are going to help those future kindergarten students as they move through the district whether that's whatever that that might be I think it was a a little bit summarizing this I think it was a great thing the community did this is one of the areas we we we went out there and we asked the question both what did you want to do kind of like in our strategic plan process we asked the question we said do you want to fix can you help us fix our facilities in this and here's how we're doing it and then you know we were one of the at the time 10 districts in the out of the state of New Jersey that didn't have fullly kindergarten we wanted to equalize equity and and and and bring our students better achievement and did that and they voted yes I think as as stewards of this community we are very fiscally responsible and I'm proud of the both the community that said hey we understand that and we're proud of what going on we want to be a community we want to attract people in that way and the vote they voted yes and so it's a great thing and I I I thank them for that and the budget there were if they had voted no there would have been no Debt Service a in the budget and they did vote Yes you know put that in there if they voted no there would not be the additional operating cost to be used in both the preparation and fulfillment of the F kindergarten so and and in a budgeting standpoint you know they're doing their budget now it's not March we did not know where we were to be in November until the third question passed and that question was very clear that with the first question the second question was tied to the third question we took an intive process through it we educated the community I think quite well I mean there were a lot of people maybe may not but I felt majority of the community made a good turnout we did a good job the administration the board and the community so I thank them and the budget is such even though uh we absorb some costs that we wouldn't have for example the uh hazardous busing what was that $500,000 near between two towns and and we yeah so yeah and the sewer bill and the sewer exchange that's close to a million dollars that we' almost AB total cost in those areas last year was 1.3 we absorb so in a way you know in spite of all of that the numbers look good and we we're reducing our our Reliance on fund balance we be more Equitable removing the the activities fees so it's those scenarios I mean we're being proactive in what we're doing and keeping what's best for students first any more comments yes I think that the discussion we have right now isn't really about the referendum uh itself uh it's more about be a good Steward for the for the money that is at our hand right now I think all of us has responsibility to see that it's uh span for its allocated the purpose and SP efficiently thank you any more comments Mr St can you call the rooll please oh first i' take a moment i' like to thank you for the gifts I'm sorry I got a little Mis Miss I mean we have such a a great community in PTO there are several gifts here um Clan enhancements by the van Holton PTO we have student certificates from the Hamilton School Mr Matthew shore shore thank you very much and pins and membership cards from the bridgew r Middle School from Kai and Holly barito so I appreciate BTO thank you I apologize my pronunciation this even but I thank them and it's great we we have a lot of donations that help us throughout the district you know in areas and grants so it it helps us meet the needs and special areas that you know some are only budgeted for so thank you Mr Charles can you call any more comments well Mr Stars you call the role Please Mr Pepe yes Mr Freelander yes Miss Lee no to 24 104 yes to other Mr Joi yes Miss kri yes Mr singer yes Miss Huna yes Miss lockran yes Mr Walker yes motion passes special services 24-28 through 24-29 any discussion Mr Stars can you call the rooll Please Mr Pepe yes Miss Freelander yes Miss Lee yes Mr josi yes Miss kist yes Mr singer yes Miss Asuna yes Miss lockran yes Mr Walker yes so I have a question here on the calendar do we which one is on there there two calendars which one you proceeding with under the calendar goes that do we want to have a conversation for us so make a motion first or separate so par the procedure here I'm not sure Mr Stars Mr beers if we can have some brief conversation and then you know we'll move that one thank you so I would like to have a con conversation on the calendar at the moment so those who have we have this discussion there were two calendars presented basically the difference is we're moving the end of the school or taking off the January 2nd to the then school work the other way and I can tell you the two drafts that are there draft six and draft seven draft six is what we presented to the committee and after feedback from from the committee uh and and suggestions from the committee we uh we created draft seven and the major difference between the two drafts are are as follows it is the day that is January 1st I'm sorry second I'm sorry January 2nd is a Friday so on the first draft we will be coming back to school on Friday the 2nd and a Stacy's motioning that was not received well almost as well as starting in August um so the change on draft 7 was made giving us Friday the 2nd off and then it pushes graduation to Friday June 19th typically we don't graduate on a Friday but now we don't have Project Graduation or any of those things anymore so that would be the high school graduation most likely in the morning of the 19th and the rest of our district is on a half day during that day and I think June 19th I think will be a Federal holiday right might be that's that's perfect right yep some people might be off graduation party Friday night put it a I know it's not on the table I'll put it a plug for starting in August at some point in the future I I thought I would hate it but it's at least from a teacher's perspective you kind of get that work done at the very end of the summer you kind of get like a soft start and then you kind of get that Labor Day weekend to actually have a holiday and then you kind of really take off everybody comes so I know it's not before us but yeah I Le are the craziest idea I could tell you that we took that idea to the calendar committee back at the end of February and it was basically greeted with a pretty deep group of size but also I have to say I don't know some people did kind of agree to that if they had the Friday off well they would come in Wednesday Thursday and then have that four day Friday Saturday Sunday Labor Day Monday off that's a nice four- day break when you right and then you start on the second what did the majority say in the committee AJ H actually the person who brought that up well I was surprised so here's the problem what the majority brought us a different calendar right I don't think that was if uh if we pushed it I think uh calendar six was my best attempt to listen to the committee and and place it on now now we should know one of the the major difference as well in the calendar is that we did add Eid as a as a holiday right and that's in both drafts six and seven so I had a question actually on that well more of a more of a concern first of all I'm ecstatic that Eid is on this um calendar it's something that a large uh portion of the community um has been advocating for for quite some time however I was looking at the inclement weather um the excessive inclement weather days which would unfortunately be February 17th and March 20th which would affect Lunar New Year and Eid and I understand that we're in an impossible circumstance here because we do want to you know represent our diverse Community I guess what I'm might concern is and and I am a religious minority so I I deal with rashash SH and yum kapor um we don't have offer the second day of rashash Shana so students or staff who would like to use that day use the religious observance excuse if climate change changes again and we do have to worry about taking Eid or Lunar New Year back um I just want to make sure that it's understood that um we really uphold the policy of ensuring that our students who are observing those holidays if they did have to come to school or they don't want to come to school because they're observing those holidays that they would not be missing tests quizzes major projects or assessments because that has been an issue in the past for Jewish students on the second day of our shashana including even this year um so I just want to be sensitive and make sure that if we are going to use those two days um as the inclement weather days uh the takeback days that we make sure that these students um who would be observing Lunar New Year and Eid on the that year 2026 are protected um and I also again wanted to say that I was looking at this calendar and realized that unfortunately these two holidays do fall after February when we would be impacted by um snow maybe if we if climate change decides to change again so that was just my comment um I did also think about it Mike about like could we could we get that one day in at the end of August so you could start on September 1st um so everybody could come back on the second but if that's not if that wasn't something that everybody was agreed upon then unfortunately that's where we are so so we two calendars before us when do we have to um get this in by this evening it's on the agenda so we have two calendar before so we don't have another so I guess I have to take a straw poll well Steve go ahead why does need to be this evening we had always attempt to approve the calendar 18 months before the beginning of school and that has been I think an ongoing Mr star since you've been here I know hasn't always been that way but most recently yes yeah we tried since I've been the board we try to do it 18 months in advance the next school year well it is silly to have the students and staff you know come back on January 2nd and and I agree that if people are on vacation they're not coming back for a Friday so the second version of the calendar is certainly more palatable so what happens if we don't have enough kids in attendance or teachers let's let's say we we did the one where we come back on January 2nd and if for whatever reason let's say half the school doesn't come back there's no rle it's not only students but teachers may not be in either I'm sorry I got lost in all the calendar talk so the January 2nd calendar where we would be theoretically coming back on a Friday what was the change in order to make that happen you push graduation one day out you push the graduation graduation June 18 it graduation on in that calendar where you had you are in operation on January 2nd would be June 18th it's a Thursday with June January 2nd off the graduation will be June 19th which is a Friday and and and look when we look at it I I know I always get in trouble saying we can overthink this um but the the challenge I can tell you with the 2526 calendar and it's a while away is every single holiday happens during the week and Christmas on a Thursday provides one of the longest winter breaks so you have all of these forces at play and and then finally we don't want to go into that last week of June a because if you've ever walked through a school in the last week of June um it's tough to see quality learning when it's that warm and uh and then second we've got a lot of construction going on in the district yeah so so I mean there is a lot and and look if if the board wants the table it we want to explore the the August I I think that could be a prudent option to give us more flexibility as far as as uh uh you know as Mr singer had mentioned you could build in that third day right so so you don't have the chance of giving up these religious holidays um Mike what when do you guys start in August we we start the two so teachers since I've been in my district teachers have gone back the the Tuesday and Wednesday before Labor Day okay so students start THS no I'm sorry Monday and Tuesday students Wednesday and Thursday for half days and then it's a four- day weekend yep and then you come back labor day that's correct yeah for for two a lot of schools are doing that because of the all the holidays and everything because of this calendar um I I know Watchung Hills and Warren have their teacher in service days in August and what that does is you say Okay school starts on on uh uh September 2nd you could build in that extra snow day and maybe have a little bit of wiggle room in your calendar and we don't have to worry about yeah you know I would love to see us go back to the table and maybe look at that just to protect those holidays um we could do that yeah I mean if so what we say we table this and come back at the next meeting we'll have a meeting this we I mean either way ID and Lunar New Year are going to be on the calendar it's just a a decision as to whether or not they're going to be takeback days look I can tell you my see I'll show my bias once more it's um my kids at North Hunter and Vorhees they their first day of school is August 20th I mean and they're done basically at Memorial Day and that's and see there's another strategy to that as well where where it's biased towards your high school kids but we talk a lot about homework and pressures and AP tests and the like when you look at the AP schedule those tests start the first week in May same thing with with State Testing exactly before njsla so you're you're cramming everything in and you're right Mike I didn't think of that thank thanks for bringing that up so you're you're cramming everything in and and there are districts and I know Watchung Hills to a degree um West Morris Regional North Hunter and vores they chose to go in the direction of all right in order to alleviate this pressure and the crush on students in some of these high powerered classes if we started a little bit earlier right it just provides more instructional time and more lessons to to do that now I'm not saying we should start on August 20th that wouldn't go over quite a question but it's not a bad idea and and other people as you said have these professional days in August and then I think parents know if we set it up that way hey the first day of school is the day after Labor Day and and that's correct is is there for that uh Jan if we do go with the school on the second any way to make that a like a half day open I would sayate opening no one I'm already mad at you for for saying it out L because I've been in a district that had to come back on a Friday at the end a spring break for for whatever reason so when when that was brought up by somebody and I was very surprised who brought it up that uh 27th and 28th would be the PD days 29th you're off and then August I was talking about January second being oh oh oh oh okay yeah because they both land on the second that's why Monday yeah so there were although people didn't vocalize they were lot of shaking heads on the screen so said anything make it I I have a feeling that we're not going to put that on the I would recommend that we push this back till the next board meeting we don't need actually we don't need to actually make a motion for it so just leave it off secondly the last time this happened was 2014 and we actually lost spring break that year so a little history of that FYI so we lost spring break that year parts of it you know and teachers make plans so you know it's it's 10 years ago and cl the Sun goes through 12 to 13 year cycle climate's interesting I leave it at that so are we okay with just not we're going to push it back we don't need to make motion to table do I have a motion for other 24-30 and other 24-31 so moved second any discussion if we would have to do they would be done in close [Music] session C none Mr stes can you call the role Please Mr Pepe abstain Miss Freelander yes Miss Lee yes Mr Joshi yes Miss kist oh thank you okay I'm abstaining from in um other 2430 25 9366 and yes to everything else Mr singer on other 2431 no on 29585 and 260 222 yes on everything else Miss Huna yes Miss lockran yes to 30 no to 31 yes that voted on 3 we're not voting on oh sorry sorry that's right I forgot Mr Walker yes motion passes policy 24-16 through 24-17 is motion second discussion I had one question on 9323 the one part and I maybe I didn't realize before the word disability was removed on the second page I'm just wondering why we're taking that out wait on which policy the oh the one that we've reviewed yeah that would be in the Strauss Esme report which is in the fft directory so there's some information there usually as me when they give a policy change the reason why for corre no it was in our it was it was Comm Comm relations sorry so it wasn't there it was in our first page I don't remember it was it explains why the changes are being made um it was St assment it made changes not us correct yes any more discussion Mr Stars can the roll please Mr Pepe yes Miss Freelander yes Miss Lee yes Mr josi yes Miss kri yes Mr singer yes Miss Huna yes Miss lockran yes Mr Walker yes motion passes item 12 open to the public individuals and or groups are invited to present their concerns comments and requests to the board of education at this time for any matters in accordance with board policy members of the public are allotted one opportunity to address the board for a maximum five minutes during this period of the meeting please be advised that a video recording of this meeting will be posted on District's website you need to please get your name and your address and write and fill out the form please too thank you it's right there yep should be I'm sorry what am I supposed to say your name and address address okay my name is Glenn buono my address is 833 haon Avenue in boundbrook but that's Bridgewater okay um uh I'm U grateful that I have an opportunity to present something uh and I hope you can help uh in 27 days on April 8th a solar eclipse will be visible in the Northeast area in Bridgewater the blockage at its maximum will be 92% the eclipse will begin approximately at 2:07 in the afternoon maximum blockage will be achieved at 324 and the eclipse will end here at around 435 uh there may be some families um in the district that would like uh to experience the total eclipse 100% blockage which provides a more spectacular experience um unfortunately the closest areas to Bridgewater where there's going to be 100% blockage is at least four hours away okay um uh like Erie Pennsylvania uh Buffalo syak huse uh um Burlington Vermont um I'm even I've been personally considering taking my son up to Lake Champlain because this is just literally a once- in-a-lifetime shot uh as a matter of fact the uh the next total eclipse that'll hit this area will be in 55 years so this you know maybe my son might take his grandkids um so I I I was wondering now the extra Nuance here is it's the first day after spring break but I was wondering if it would be possible to allow students to have maybe an excused absence from school provided it was used to do something like this um where I mean seriously I mean I'm I'm probably going to do it anyway because again it's a Once in a-lifetime Opportunity my son loved it when we the last time was uh I think over the summer in 2017 I think it was yeah this is not a back and forth guy Mike Mike it's not a back and forth it's public comment thank you um and that was great because the library uh they even had live shots at the library of where it was 100% while the K while everybody was there observing I think was 60% uh so I was wondering if it was if there was a possibility that the district would allow uh uh families uh students to be able to ex be excused uh an allowable uh uh ex absence to experience um the 100% uh solar clubs I'm sorry this is not back and forth is public but thank you are oh so I'm just pitching out you okay if I for superintendent would would we like to address that we can you're more than welcome to email the administration the board also no and I I appreciate your comments and there are activities we planning in school um you know for that day and and um it's always tricky to say what's an excused absence because we have high school kids uh you know and and and certainly they're they're different rules Etc that are tied to to attendance but but I mean if students are are within their limits or or they're not at the high school parents are more than able to take their child to experience what what they do feel um or what they want to see but um but along those lines we are planning for things in in in our classes during that day so kids can experience it safely okay thank you um hi uh my name is Sean scano um I live at 1689 Brookdale Drive in Martinsville um I'm not here to talk about the solar Clips although just very briefly say I'm very much on board with what you just shared I'm planning to take my children out of school um to drive to experience the total solar eclipse I also saw that I think Livingston or other nearby districts had uh made a revision or had planned for this due to fear of kids egging school at the exact time that it's occurring and uh Elementary children looking up and possibly having damage their eyes I didn't look into how reasonable that is but that is uh something that is happening in other local districts um so thanks so much for everybody for kind of dedicating your time I really appreciate it um to the the school um I struggled quite a bit with whether to come tonight um mainly because I think um um I'm not sure if it will matter um but I kind of ultimately felt like it was necessary to advocate for my son um I want to start by saying my husband and I very much appreciate the initial response we've received from Mrs hste and Dr Sylvia about this matter um they've been uh very quick to call us and uh diligently handle the situation to um the best I think they could sorry um so again my my name is Sean um I have a third grader at Crim I have a first grader who attends an out of District school school he is my uh my youngest son's provided Transportation as a related Service uh in his IEP he's the only child on that route um he goes to a nearby public school um in a self-contained classroom um he came home on Tuesday February 27th uh very upset arrived home from the bus came inside reported that he was uh hit by his bus driver um we went through the process of requesting the videos through Bridgewater Transportation um un for we were told the bus company did not have working videos on the bus um so we are unable to see what happened I think at um best he was mistreated at worst he was assaulted um he for a few days after that had brought up to me concern of are you going to send me back on a bus why did somebody hit me um am I going to have to see that person again um which of course he is not um and and Bridgewater has handled that properly um and we are currently driving him um so uh it's my understanding um and I I apologize if I misspeak on any of these polies it's my understanding that video cameras are requ uh requested um on buses especially special education buses but there's no safeguards in place uh for ensuring that they are working um or that there are any consequences if bus companies do not have working cameras or unable to produce a video when requested within a timely manner um well I understand the technology can certainly fail um even if every body was doing what they should have been doing um I also know just from also working in a school district it's actually very common for these video cameras to not be turned on or not be working um of course nobody knows that until an incident occurs a video is requested and then we find out there was actually no video to be had um so I'm really here uh to the point that was made earlier hopefully this is the appropriate place to be be saying this uh to plead for the board to consider um enacting a policy to you not only require special education buses to have working cameras um but have consequences in place if companies are violating that policy um consequences would incentivize bus companies to ensure the cameras are working um at all times and to turn over videos when requested one suggestion could be toine bus companies if they do not produce videos within a timely manner maybe 24 hours um another suggestion could be pulling videos randomly um certainly on special education vehicles um and you know with ability to produce a video during that random check resulting in a fine or maybe loss of a contract or something along those lines um a second request would be to consider implementation of a more robust training procedure for school bus drivers transporting special education students as of now all School uh bus drivers who transport special education students need to complete basic mandatory school bus safety training um unfortunately this is a bare minimum requirement and it's clearly not adequate for at least some of these drivers given what's happened to my son it's feasible to develop training using District staff who might be more familiar with the populations of uh students um that are on these buses um and perhaps they could provide uh training that better suits those students the drivers um and maybe have an opportunity to identify bus drivers who are not uh in a place to meet the needs of the students on those buses um you know as a parent I'm left very nervous to put my son back on a bus um come esy when that's going to be happening um I'm also unfortunately in the position where I work full-time and I on that transportation to get my son back from school um if I could skip the bus all together and pick him up I would but it's just not you know I have one child in Crim one one in in somewhere else um and I work uh as in a school as well um I believe stricter policies that I said above our necessary minimum steps to thank you very much we allow five minutes I appreciate what you're saying but we have here to a five like two literally the last sentence do you mind if I finish literally the sentence so I believe structure policies that I cited above are are necessary minimum steps the district should be taking to help ensure student safety and the safety of my son um I appreciate you hearing me out thank you you're more than welcome to email that to the board ofed and the superintendent if you'd like also I will thank you so much thank you for your comments is there any other public comment seeing none I'm going to close public comment old business is there any old business okay seeing none is there any new business yes um I just wanted to take a minute to recognize um four Bridgewater ridan high school students who were chosen by rers University to speak at the Dare To Dream student leadership conference today amongst them were Holly lamp haly Lampa Joseph Hollywood meline Dolly and jul Julia iie all four of these students spoke about their experience here at bror raran school district and how it has how their disabilities or challenges how they have been supported by the school district and how they have overcome them to be successful teenagers and I did uh share Joseph Hollywood's speech with the board if you haven't had a chance to watch it you definitely should it was inspiring and it should make us all very proud to um have him here in this school district um I also did want to um again thank the school district for uh the work on the uh new calendar and um when I looked at it I really looked at it and said wow we are a very diverse and amazing community and it felt really good to see so many groups represented um with their holidays on our calendar any other new business if I want to ano uh what the sty was saying I think that our school district is doing very well in recognizing our diverse uh population and by the calendar items that were recognizing and I appreciate the the comments about preserving our religious holidays and I uh uh I am on board with that as well and uh I look forward to discuss more calendar issues thank you just to sort of tag on only because I know about the solar eclipse because my daughter will in Buffalo and I was hoping to be there with her um there are they're making some changes there because of uh the lights won't be on like they are at night and there won't be any light and there's some dangerous road issues and I'm just thinking about our high school getting out and the kids crossing and what we're doing about that it does start after our high school gets out 224 it begins maximum is sorry maximum is like maximum block which is 90% Bridge Water is at 3:24 so we do have bus that's running during that time I know we're g to do this we're going to do this oldfashioned thing we're going to work with it because there are other times when there are storms and it's pretty dark out and I know solar eclipse is that but it's that good oldfashioned we're going to be okay there we're going to make sure the people are safe no one's in danger we're going to be all right just wanted to uh plug real quick uh I I I attended in person the uh njsba leadership series which is held in um Mercer County Community College about two weeks ago lock was there virtually from from her living room I I believe I just wanted to plug what a wonderful opportunity um because there are two more coming up one in South Jersey I believe in Salem County and one in North Jersey and uh the County College of Morris and I think each one is going to be have a little bit of a different Focus but I don't know if it's just because the rain that day there were only about 30 people present there in in person and maybe a couple dozen more online but each each speaker was was wonderful we had the county president uh we had the president of uh merer County Community College who talked about um Pathways uh getting college credit and different ways to uh get credit for high school students uh there there's attorney for a number of school districts who talked about Personnel issues was able to feel the number of questions um like like like really good ones I know sometimes you're at these things and there're 80 people online and maybe you get your question answered but this is a really really wonderful program I almost would have said it would have been worth it to drive to Salem County for it if it had been that one so if anyone's considering looking for something to do I think it's the uh I think it's like two weeks from now then you can check the NJ SBA website the leadership series one South one North definitely worth worth considering going to uh you can make some great connections there was lunch they didn't put that on there and it's not just for board presidents and vice presidents because their uh their uh messages about it were a little bit confusing look like maybe you had to be in the leadership role on your board to go but that's just one portion of it so I can't plot I was saying thank thanks to them for a wonderful event as they always do and I can't speak highly enough about it yeah it was it was a really interesting event and I think the topic of the next one this one was was it legislative on this one like was that the whole I believe this one was specifically Personnel oh was that's right it was personel one the one coming up the one near here in Morris is I say f on communication okay um well I just wanted to add that it was free so definitely take advantage of it if you can it was worth it so the next one is actually Saturday oh is the 16th and it's in South Jersey and one other area that we coming up is Monday is the unsung heroes at the votek I didn't bring this up early so 6 PM is one of the ceremon the the these presentation starts I know we have many of our staff attending as well as a student so I had some conversations as you know I sent an email earlier I only got one response on I'd like to you can more talk to me after about that but it's Monday at 6 p.m. the vot tech please come there'll be light refreshments and it's a nice evening so all right all right thank you any any other new business I a motion all those in favor all opposed have a nice evening um so I'm also like a