yeah we have to wait for it to come out the TV okay good evening this a public meeting of the board of education at Clark Public Schools adequate notice of this meeting has been given in accordance with pl1 1975 chapter 231 and the special notice was main conformance with Section 13 of the ACT thank you and with that can we get a motion to return to public I see Miss Hickman and Mrs Harrison all in favor I at this point can we all just rise for the pledge of aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands my nation unto God indivisible with liy and justice for all can I please get a roll call M acalones here Mr Binga Mr B Mr breedy here M Guerrero here Miss Harrison here miss Hickman here Mr Lewis here Mr soral here and Mr duners here having eight board members we have a quorum thank you and at this time we'll hand it back to Mr or hand it to Mr Grande and Mr vzo for the presentation of the annual school [Music] budget [Music] for e e 2025 uh budget presentation our distinguished board members Mr dun SLO president Mr Lewis vice president aalon de binko Scott B Robert breedy Harrison Christen Hickman Robert SML and Naro rep Miss Christine Guerrero I will now hand it over to Mr Grande thank you Mr our mission statement that guides us on an ongoing basis is Clark Township Public Schools will in an active and responsible partnership with the community provide a quality education that ensures all students achieve the New Jersey student student learning standards at all grade levels through a nurturing relevant learning environment we will assist in the development of productive respectful and accountable citizens or lifelong Learners our educational initiatives for the upcoming year that are funded through this budget include expansive programs from our kindergarteners which we have been offering a full day program for years now where many of our neighboring districts are just getting on board with doing so having our students as they leave alj College ready and funding many of their AP and dual enrollment options we will continue to aim for class sizes at a maximum in the very low 20s along with our strong commitment to professional development sending teachers and administrators to workshops and institutes during the summer months along with sending people out during the school year and bringing Consultants into District this evening we're approving under the curriculum and education section of the agenda a number of curricular revisions and we're thrilled to have no staff reductions in this budget in fact we're able to add one or two positions and I say one or two depending on our needs when enrollments are finalized technology to supplement our one toone student Chromebook program across the district will be in place for example a subscription to the Raz Elementary learning site linkit for data warehousing and benchmarking and we'll be piloting our benchmarking in grades 3 to 11 this spring before we leave to complement the data that we get from linkit we'll have theel in support for students in language arts and Mathematics along with most updated three to five Reading Wonders Elementary literacy program and getting back to technology the infrastructure to hold these programs will be continually evaluated and upgraded as needed thank you Mr vuo so as per pursuing the 6823 a-8 8.1 we are required as a public school district to have a balanced budget submitted to the county superintendent for their approval um and to provide a thorough and efficient education components of a school budget the general budgets comprise of funds 10 11 12 13 and 18 that's basically the engine that drives the budget um that's where the tax levy is allocated to uh special revenues fund 20 that's more like your grants your title one title 2 idea Etc capital projects would be fund 30 if we had a referendum that's where we would the money would go to fund 30 and we draw it out from fund 30 and that service is fun 40 uh that's the components of a school budget the revenue for the operating budget for next school year is 43,7 45,000 uh which is comprised of 36 million with the tax levy tuition 1.9 tuition that's the guard with tuition uh with the send receive relationship we have with Garwood our state aid is $3.1 million uh Mr Lane's 108 and our fund balance is 2.7 and actually if you look at the budget it only went up $5,000 from this current school year and from a pie chart standpoint you'll see to tax levy is 82% uh tuition's five state aid is seven so we get very little state aid you have some districts where that's the tax levy and state aid is reversed where they get 8 82% and then the uh the tax levy may only be 7% so the bulk of our revenue does come from local taxes total revenue operating budget is 43 million special Revenue 2. 2 our de service a was 1.8 total budget uh for the 2425 school year is 47 m84 275 Appropriations broken down into your core components we have total instruction 15 million your special education is 4.3 out of District tuition's 2.8 employee benefits is uh 7.5 Transportation 3.1 uh our support is 10 10 million and capital all is 167 for total operating budget of 43 million 745 397 total operations again Appropriations rather 43 million uh operating budget special Revenue 2.2 and Debt Service 1.8 for total budget of 47784 275 which matches the revenue which we saw prior so again we have a balanced budget we cannot submit a budget that's not balanced it will not accept it so we we have to by law submit a balanced budget uh fixed cost salaries 55% uh benefits 177% total salaries and benefits comprises 72% of the total budget out of District tuition 7% and transportation 7 and plan operation security is 11% so total fixed cost 97% in previous years that total fixed cost if you remember uh was maybe 90 91% now it's shot up to 97% which is a huge number uh and we have very little flexibility even at 3% you can you can make the argument that you know we need supplies we need textbooks um so it's a even though it's discretionary cost uh 3% of the total budget again the operating budget you'll see salary and benefits kind of eats up the entire pie uh tuition Transportation plan operations another 3% a fixed cost as you can see it kind of eats up the entire the entire pie taking up 97% so we don't have much wiggle room with these budgets not just us it's all the districts here in New Jersey we're just getting killed with Transportation cost uh years ago used to be the benefits there was a big talk about the health benefits driving and everything now Transportation has taken over the health benefits portion of driving the budget we're trying to get some relief from the state uh we'll see what happens pubes on Roll we have a three-year uh 101522 is are actual 1013 23 is actual we're projecting for 2425 uh total students are roll will be 2441 uh going to private school of 15 special ed special Rel to other districts are eight and receiving from high school which is Garwood 124 students and projector Gare students we have here in grade nine 26 regular Ed two for resource grade 1034 and 7 grade 11 22 and 7 grade 12 19 and 5 and share time is 1 and two sh time means they spend time here at the high school and they also go to the votte whether the morning or the afternoon so that those are classified as sh time for 124 students I share service with the township uh the township does a great job with us they they support us in many many ways uh snow removal few leaf pickup groundskeeping recycling Recreation programs uh we also share with un County at Service uh share bus routes uh we we do a lot of Cooperative purchasing with that data uh the Education Service Commission in New Jersey etc etc now our projector School tax for 2425 is a projected $131 increase in school tax based on a average home ass assessment of this cooperation help us to build this budget does anyone have any questions thank you thank you for your time have a good evening so at this time we'll open the floor uh to the public for questions about the school budget only after this brief [Music] intermission so if there's any questions about the school budget and the school budg budget only now would be the time to come up and discuss it seeing none we'll move on to getting a motion to pass the school budet 2425 budget can I get a motion I see Mr smoral followed by Miss Hickman any questions or comments roll call please M acalones yes Mr breedy minutes no this is the budget oh yes sorry Mr bre abstaining no yes oh yes sorry he was on minutes he was confused M Guerrero yes M Harrison yes M Hickman yes Mr Lewis Mr smurl yes and Mr dun Sloop yes motion carried so at this time can I get a motion for the approval of minutes I see Miss Harrison followed by Miss aalona are there any questions or comments seeing none roll call please M acalones yes Mr breedy oh abstain this time M Guerrero abstain M Harrison yes Hickman yes Mr Lewis yes Mr smurl yes and Mr dunker SLO yes motion carried thank you so now at this time we'll open the floor to the public for uh any comments or questions about agenda items only so if there's anything on the agenda specifically that you like to talk about now would be the time at the end we'll talk about nonpublic or I'm sorry non-agenda items so seeing nothing for the agenda right okay so seeing nothing for agenda questions we'll close that portion of the meeting and we'll move to Personnel items 1 through 15 can I get a motion see Miss acalones followed by Mr uh breedy any questions or comments roll call please Mr acalones yes Mr breedy yes Mr Guero abstain on 2 10 13 and 14 yes on the rest thank you uh Miss Harrison yes M Hickman yes Mr Lewis yes Mr smor yes and Mr duners yes Mo should car read all right so on curriculum we have items 16 and 17 and I just want to add the note to item 16 that the tools of the Mind training is to include the grade two teachers that the grade two teachers as well with no cost uh change to that item so with that can I get a motion on items 16 and 17 I see Miss Harrison followed by Miss aonis questions or comments roll call please M aonis yes Mr Brey yes M Guero yes on 16 abstain on 17 M Harrison yes sikman yes Mr Lewis yes Mr sorrow yes and Mr duners yes motion carried thank you policy we have item 18 can I get a motion 18 uh Mr breedy followed by Miss Hickman any question questions or comments is it a roll call acalones yes Mr breedy yes M Guerrero yes Miss Harrison yes Miss Hickman yes Mr Lewis yes Mr SML yes and Mr duners Sloop yes motion carried right now we have board governance items 19 through 22 can I get a motion M Guerrero followed by Mr Lewis questions or comments roll call Colonus yes Mr breedy yes Mr Guerrero yes Mr Harrison yes M Hickman yes Mr Lewis yes Mr sorrow yes and Mr dun yes motion carried finally we have Finance items 23 through 44 and aena agenda number one I see Mr smor with a motion and Mr Bry second questions or comments roll call M acalones yes Mr breedy yes M Guerrero abstain on 25 and 27 yes on the rest including addendum thank you uh Miss Harrison yes Miss hman abstain on the addendum and yes on the rest Mr Lewis yes Mr Smur yes and Mr dun yes motion carried all right so at this point we'll hand it over to Mr Grande for the report of the superintendent good evening and thank you Mr donut thank you Mr vzo for the budget preparation and for leading us through the process in such tight Economic Times outside of the school district just in the state and the country in general many thanks to the finance committee led by Mr smoral Mr Bowman Mr Brady as members the full board and our administrators the process even funnels down to our staff in the sense that they submit their wish lists that we try to accommodate and the presentation will be on the district it later this evening on this evening's agenda we had our reappointment lists of our certificated and non-certificated staff and we are thankful to our faculty and staff for all that they do for our students tomorrow is teacher appreciation day and we're so very fortunate to have the staff that we have here in the Clark schools we also approved our curriculum writers for this upcoming summer along with our summer reading lists from for grades K to 12 we're thrilled to be accepting three donations Acme Gift Cards totaling $3,200 on behalf of Acme Markets foundations nourishing neighbors program and gen youth each School received 32 gift cards valued at $25 each to be used at acne markets for school related purchases a very generous donation second a check in the amount of $1,000 donated by p&j Fuel Incorporated under the Exxon Mobile Educational Alliance program for use by alj stem programs and lastly $10,000 from Clark Recreation wrestling towards the purchase of a wrestling mat for alj and lastly our wellness policy annual School progress report our schools across the district are in compliance with the wellness policy nutrient St nutrient standards for meals and other Foods number 8505 and they have made progress towards attaining the policy goals there are no recommended changes or an action plan for next year's implement mentation of the policy thank you and have a great evening thank you Mr Grande at this time we'll open it up to the Committees for any reports any reports of the committee seeing none any unfinished or new business that would like to be discussed seeing none we're going to pass it over to Abigail hi thank you and good evening I'll begin with the events of the high school this morning AP testing begun with advanced placement government and politics taking place this morning everything ran smoothly and a calm week ahead for those testing additionally njsla testing has begun and will continue through tomorrow in May the director of School counseling Mr amund DOA will be holding an event to speak with parents about preparing for college AP testing will continue through next week Beyond this the sports teams continue to perform well with the lacrosse golf baseball and softball Seasons well underway looking to the Middle School the National Junior Honor Society induction ceremony is Thursday May 9th and on May 15th the come SS o team will be attending the clean ocean Summit at Sandy Hook the day after on May 16th 40 come students will be attending the teen Arts Festival to show off the skills they've developed over the year finally the fourth marking period report cards will be posted around May 15th at Valley the brain alliance assembly was held and students learned about bicycle safety bamb Bonanza was held at alj and the vrs variety show was held as well take your child to workday had a lot of students visiting their parents' jobs and some of the staff's children visited the school May is a busy month ahead with State Testing but some fun events are planned like field trips for the kindergarteners and grades 1 4 and five elante music comes in in May to distribute the to demonstrate the various instruments that their greaters can play next year the robotics Club at Valley continues and the PTA plant sale will be held in time for Mother's Day moving on to events at Henley April was a busy month with assemblies on bike safety for grades 1 through 4 presented by the brain alliance the Garden Club landscaped for Arbor Day by planning flowers in preparing the kindergarten Garden for the preschoolers to help later in May career day took place with kids from kindergarten and second grade from kindergarten to 2 grade where the students visited Community establishments and grades 3 through five rotated through sessions about careers presented by family and friends of Henley students and staff looking forward to May most classes will have their annual class trip and third graders will begin a battle of the books along with being introduced to the instrument program available to them in fourth grade the njla has begun for grades 3 through 5 and a kindergarten orientation will be held on Thursday May 30th for those registered for the fall thank you Abigail yeah I I want to take the this moment Abigail our next meeting is June 17th you're going to be graduating the 19th on behalf of the Board of Education we'd like to thank you for your services um for how you articulated each meeting well and I do believe you're going to what college I'm going to be attending Georgetown University in the fall to the public that was not on the agenda you have three minutes per discussion if You' like to speak come up to the podium state your name your address and you have three minutes uh bill dragy for Post Road Clark New Jersey um well it seems like um uh President Biden has made all the states just like Jersey uh well not until August 1st with his Title Nine um Department of Education changes he's always talking about other politicians becoming dictators like Trump but if this is not a dictatorial rule he didn't get any advice from the senate or congress or anything he goes and puts Title Nine in changing uh discrimination on sex bringing in LG lgbtq plus things just like Jersey has well makes sense because uh he's just like Murphy a Democrat and so now it's not going to be just Jersey and California and a couple of other Democrat States but all the states on August 1st uh there are certain groups like uh moms for Liberty that are very concerned about this because they have helped other states get out of uh the uh lgbtq uh requirements and they're worried that this is going to uh stop these states also it's going to just make every state like like Jersey and California and they put a lot of work into uh protecting moms um protecting a parents rights and they're very worried about this uh because basically it's making uh it's really taking governor Murphy's laws and putting it into effect in every state starting August 1st so not letting not letting parents uh uh have control over their children and secretively a child can may be be taking uh hormones and not true uh sex changing uh drugs and stuff and even mastectomies without the knowledge of this of the parents probably that would be very rare because I'm sure it would get out somehow to the parents but that's that's that's the law that he wants to put into effect again to all the States President Biden but there is still hope on the horizon because in Idaho actually before the last meeting I meant to bring this up Idaho came out with a rule that says no uh Health Care can be given to any minor under 18 dealing with any transsexual uh changes and if they they do uh they could have a 10-year imprisonment for doing anything like hormones and puberty your three minutes are up thank you so if anybody else would like to have something to say please step up state your name and your address for the record you have three minutes per topic and cannot come up again until everybody else has a chance to speak hi I'm Ed Bloom 46 Jupiter Street good evening Board of members of the Board of Education um I stand before you today with several other parents as well as students from both Johnson and from the com Middle School um advocating that the girls gymnastics team be reinstated for the upcoming 2024 fall competitive season at Johnson um our understanding there was a team several years ago um dedicated gymnasts eager to Showcase their talent backed by two committed coaches and a well equipped training facility we believe we have the essentials ready to get ready to get started again in the fall um those two committed coaches that I've mentioned are former graduates of Johnson and they both had competed on the gymnastics team we've also been in touch with Sergent Elite Gymnastics located in Westfield New Jersey for the use of their facilities um for practices while we are aware that the budget has been set or predetermined for the next academic year um we have considered some of what of those costs would be uh we expect these costs to be relatively modest include the salary for the coaches meat fees and a monthly Insurance fee to surgent Elite uh the plan is we would also look to fundraise to help offset some of those costs um we do want to also mention that there are for the academic school year of 2025 to 2026 we are aware there are a fair number of children coming up from the middle school so that at least the program would look to continue further than just this one this one upcoming year so we do appreciate your time and consideration and helping us pave the way for the future of our kids and our dedicated athletes thank you I have you discuss this proposal with the athletic director with who I'm sorry the alj athletic director Gus kikus yes the the ladies that are here tonight they did go to see Mr kikus about this yes yeah how many how many students do you have that are in the high school that plan to approximately right now it's 10 okay yeah i' I'd say we we tried this two years ago right and Gina and I and we and we had and I and I looked at the list right cuz I knew a lot of the girls and they were definitely qualified um gymnasts and and then when family ID opened it was like two signed up right so it's not it's not the lack of willingness to have the program it's more just we need to the numbers to support it and if we do we're you know certainly Mr cus and I will meet along with the athletic committee to figure out a way to get it going so um hot button issue for Mr Lewis he doesn't love fundraising for for sports uh so we uh we would certainly look into the athletic budget to to cover what we should be covering for the program right I mean obviously with um you know the laws of New Jersey they try to keep if where the where the interest exists they try to keep the male Sports and female sports equal uh in terms of number of programs so that's something we consider as well right so not having a program isn't really a good thing for us we we would like to have a program so what I'll say is I don't I don't know if he opened family ID for the fall yet but if when it opens what I would recommend is to enroll right away because that will give us time to and and I know he has some ideas already too and sounds like you have some great ideas is in terms of getting it back up and running but we've spoken about it as well and it's definitely on our mind so we need we just need that enrollment to really talk further about it right great so you can always walk two doors down and ask too thank you I I I just want to you know piggy back on what uh Bob said there's 11 schools in unu county that have gymnastics okay uh being it's a late date one of the strong considerations to discuss with Mr kikus is a co-op Bob had talked about the quas collapse of it there is co-op programs in the county because the numbers have been dwindling uh but it's still a very competitive tournament they have older tournaments Cranford Scotch Plains you're sure you know the tour uh but that's something really that you really have to get in a the so-called master schedule cuz lacr I mean gymnastics sport where a lot of it is invitationals which you know so I would I would talk to Mr K is because obviously uh it you know we had gymnastics we had it and once upon a time it was very vibrant and it really kind of died off along the way so it's something that really to look into that part of it because you're not going to really have a program in September to go into the county more of a co-op if you have a feeder system with com uh gymnastics coming through as well so I think that meeting would be good with the athletic director to see what he could possibly do for the girls for the fall because it's a obviously a few months away thank you anybody else okay so seeing no more comments from the public we'll close that portion of the meeting and at this point I get a motion for adjourn motion Miss acalones Miss Gro all in favor I thank you have a good night everybody