order it's 6:02 p.m. do you do a roll call for the uh session roll call please Dan he said he was going to be a little late he's coming straight okay m g here Mr M here Mr VAR present Mr mcil here M Lin here Mr Jess Mr Seer is and M Stone um as we go through the agenda obviously there's a the first thing that we will vote on will be the approval of minutes from our February meeting uh give everybody a second to bring those up just in case there's any questions comments or change me on that particular uh item got bling anything on the February minutes any questions comments concerns on the February minutes Community the aison reports because we have a zoom meeting with the architect probably move my comments to after that part of the uh meeting because I want to make sure that we get the architect on um in time but you know we want to make sure we're pretty student recognition as well uh superintendent report Dr Fitz on there you want to go over the items on there with us real quick and then we'll ask 15 questions look smart now you're in a different t just be getting our report I mean our principal report we talk about our enroll it here in the school and after that I got a couple of resolutions there that I'd like to get get approved and then CL section the Pres on present on the merger uh process will asking you to share with us your questions you might not be able to answer all those questions tonight but at least we'll take them down and be prare and get an answer specifics about question regarding the uh DTA employees and non bargaining DTA employees carrying over Maximum five vacation days of school year I know that's policy in my district what's the current policy I don't have any information of current policy for the district have you had this issue before I'm just trying to think like if it's coming to us I would imagine that there's some sort of issue of resolution got brought up to [Music] us and that's the same honestly the same exact policy it's in my district and they can't like I can't roll over five this year and then add five on to it next year it's just [Music] five say n n unit so I'd imagine that the secretary secretary's 12 month and the next one to is that we we asking inform to really fully explore looking at MJ program that deals with a lot of students we need additional support in the of Social and emotional learning uh this is a program that's no cost to a district uh that is funded by the state and that other school districts participated in in this uh and then we gave you an attachment and we said take a look at it see if you really would like to support it because you would like to be you would like to get started in it as early as this year uh once you approve approve it uh because our kids are really really in need of a lot of support systems here whether it's co virus or whatever it might have been or might have caused it we we need to provide that service do I ask questions now like so I'm still like I knew before when we had the first meeting of the first of the of the two of the month we asked questions so yeah this part of the meeting here the workshop would replace that so this is the time so so then my then my other question is so I don't ring this up again then my question is during the 7: right okay that's better so um I'm very familiar with this program I did never use their Counseling Services there's a huge rating list of Legacy with the counseling piece that third part but I keep asking respect every month if this District utilizes the services of family crisis intervention unit which is also funded by leg Legacy treatment services but it's an immediate response and through the legislative Landing of the fing Crisis Intervention unit one of their five areas is absolutely school you know students so from my volunteer work very much positive on the prevention and the primary prevention then of NJ 4S but on the Legacy part there's long waiting lists and actually Riverton schools use this made a little phone call just as a citizen and um she wouldn't tell me I could mind having a wonderful success with the prevention piece but maybe not so much with counsel but the fciu in this county is phenomenal is that something that is it possible and I'm asking people to have expertise in this particular area is it possible to sign up for one program while you know utilize the services that are excellent in that program while we explore get into that other program as well which is state funded for the account so lots of nonprofits already use the prevention piece and the primary prevention P era they don't necessarily go for tier three which is the counseling intervention services because sort of we utilize a National Corporation car that works out very well as well I'm pretty sure car is a especially if you presented with Title One funding you get an extreme discount with Title One funding with that we to be a crisis clearance from Jefferson hospital for I believe they build par insurance so I know that the great thing about care solic is they Network you call them okay I have a child that needs to see something for anxiety okay um they take notes while you're still working they go find they do the leg work and say you're your top five resources to you and you're automatically at the top of the list who car off I think Eric i r sorry is that is that a contract with their crisis unit at either Kennedy or Jefferson the CCIS unit all I know is it's a service we utilize and we utilize a lot through our M counseling sa counseling so we have to send a student out for crisis we go to directly Jefferson I don't know the direct Logistics cuz I did not set it up our superintendent but I know it's a service that a lot of districts are jumping on and they're very good with their I think jump on I know we use um right there as well but I couldn't tell Youk you I couldn't tell you just and here [Music] vir Research In addition to this as well this is really great it's really perfect the girls program and the boys program um really I think that you can also see too that we are completing uh Personnel for our child study te have a resolution Social Work social work okay let's get to budget and finance personel too um budget and finance we're going to be doing the update on the budget for the 2425 school year you have a hand out in front of you that our gave to you we're not going to go over it just yet right um but it's preliminary well it's not preliminary the bottom line is you're voting on tax levy and you're voting on the current expense there may be a little movement in between accounts but that should I should tell you that this budget process has consumed an incredible amount of time and going to say the reason why is it's a paining experience for us we we really had to remake the budget we had to search to try to find expenditures then we had to match try to match them up with the right account so that we could get a true picture of our spending and what we need to try to budget for for next year I'd like to just say thanks to arene for the time and the hard work that she has put into working with the budget but beyond that the administrators they have played a critical role is to say look we we just got to walk backwards in this process before we can go forward and so the principles T ter and all of those that we needed to be in contact with helped us immensely in getting us to this point to say we believe that this is the best budget that we we get offer to stay within what we call the conversations that we've had with you as a board with the president to say stay try to stay Within These parameters we lost 439 State a and in addition to that we have a little over 500,000 from free balance from last year that we did not have this year to reduce tax levy so I had a cut almost $900,000 in spending from the between the L state aid and on the um on this part of the agenda M um um this part of the agenda is reflected in this yes okay so it it was 92,84546 I went I pulled up last year's agenda last year current expense was 11, 33298 this year is 10 Mill 56537 look at your page pardon look at okay I'm just talking about yeah this reflects this right yeah okay so I just went back to March of 23's agenda M and in this area it was noted as being 12, 251,000 that's including your special Revenue you don't have okay because that's the that's your total which that would be special Rue this is like a normal procedure you get this like right in the meeting and we're supposed to vote on it just like this we have to actually tonight you're voting on the tax levy and you're voting on your current Bud okay Debt Service is the given I mean that's what we have to pay back to uh for the preliminary your public hearing is April 24th right thank you that I'll go into more detail I can tell you what this covers you want to go well we should do it with the public like if if that's something if you anticipate a question feel I can tell you what your budget's made up it's a nightmare but'll wait till the um looking through the rest of the budget and finance section you have your monthly bills it's itk line transfers exhibit L are there any questions on those you um which exhibit so I can bring it up just um the um payment of bills mic K yes please um just to better introduce myself uh Brett denovi Associates that's been a that's been a current contract okay and um how much property is left in legal services for the year what was the question I'm sorry if I read if I went backwards there was like $30,000 for Legal Services I think there's 35,000 budged okay I was just wondering what the the balance um under the accounts of um 1326 and b381 Preferred Home and health and nursing Services um I have the same question for both our is any of that can be reimbursed through Medicaid dollars not for us so we we think for a fulltime nurse for one student um we we apply for Extraordinary Aid through this through uh the state and you're allowed you don't get tuition and then you're allowed a percentage of like a oneon-one A or OT services but there's a formula how much you're allowed yes last year I think you got a little under ,000 reimbursement from the state for outside Tu and services and that 300,000 make go went back into free balance because the um reimbursement is due in May and you don't see the money coming in for probably beginning of the summer so what the auditor does he puts it into pre balance thank you um and then I had under number 1425 for the Yale School in um July the board approved two students for you is it still we have two kids in you there are uh four we just got this contract down the students been there since September high school student so now there's four children in you and then my school student this is a high school student been there since September the contract just came through I know I know they were Riv that's why and we just got because the kid went there and they they decided they were going to send him the Yale um potentially we don't have to do now we people to so the previous previous ones did not would not talk to Riverside now we' opened up that communication with getting rid of the uh the ESU and moving on toward our own internal people right right so do we get the money back from the Riverside tuition was going she she was going to the whole time um we don't get charged I don't know how much how that works because their child study team is actually following that child so they never us that I have to check did you want to address yeah we looking at these external contracted services and then looking at them we look at them through several things we look at them in terms of the quality of services they providing we look through the lens in terms of how much they're charging a school district us and then we look through another set of lens can we get the same services and do it at the same level of expertise or even higher and so when we look at you know but we said look this is just out of line with what they say they are doing and what I actually see them through and we said what are the alternatives to continue to provide quality services to our youngsters so the team all of us we said we believe that we can provide it through employing Personnel to be employees of the district on an hourly basis to work with us because some children can use shared services rather than being identified to have a one to one so in in looking at that and looking at how much we been spending on this project we decided to reduce the number of contacts that we would have with the NOA for the rest of the school year and that's what we've done we reduced the number of contacts with Personnel to be working with us and we are bringing in our own Personnel to provide those services on our basis so so we we had to look at it we we couldn't ignore it there any more questions on exhibit KL okay and we have the monthly certifications uh in three and four that we have to do every month number five would be the uh tuition with Yale School that was previously mentioned number six would be a tuition contract of cinam Inon Township it's in your confidential drives is September one been there since September is that a high school age student as well out of her um that one I'm not sure I don't believe so you what's what's happening now is they're looking for their contracts and say GE you don't have a sign one but we don't have the contract period for this child for you know files he didn't have cont so just something about right um number seven is a tuition contractor Brookfield that's new and number eight I for number seven and eight this is this is the actual amount that it costs for this child to go to school from March 12th till the end of June that's Transportation no this is and then there Transportation cost more than school so roll your eyes on love this question so I'm wondering is there any way we can I mean a child can go with with a child that may be going from Beverly or Riverside this this was arranged through brington special u a Services Commission they handle our transportation so they'll go out Andy to get us to you know hook us up with another um another town you know if they have bu going in that direction there's nothing going here so nobody from Riverside or goes to okay just the tuition alone for the full year is I think 9,000 thank will be accepting a TCC Verizon grant for $2500 is that something on that's they've been very kind to us in this indry uh it's down to about $2500 time was up around $3,000 this is what they've been able to award and I believe they been using those those what those boards you guys that we that you'll be installing they already they already on the ground now I see them back in the storage room there but installation will be taking place short you don't want to disrupt instruction no you're going to have to drill the wall and everything like that probably the m so you're going to want to do it after school hours or grade or something like that so it'll be fun times for Dave and the uhic um resolution to approve preschool tuition rates for 2425 um 400 for a half day 875 for a full day um those rates the same 375 it was the year for but we had to invest money and starting up to preschool correct so we had to fix a lot through yeah we had to buy you know furniture and we had we have bu cafeteria that's we decided to raise the G price has there been any word whether the application for the state to 3K address we have't done an application right now we're going through the county office for approval special courses classes I think it's too late to make that application this year have to really con yes I think what you're and I see your face okay and I know what you're getting at um and you're saying in the back of your head if you're giving me didn't you do this didn't we go through this ledge so the the previous administration started to fill um you know everything out and uh you know we are going to need to do things just like we're we're fixing things and making things right we're going to have to fix things and make things right with that as well I'll bring a paper bag many students seven so that's distri and you mention special special about special have inclusion is the reason why we only have two because of C No No actually they're half well they're half day we're we only have room for four half day people one shows to be full day the other three are half day and the the rest are special so in a prek program even if it is classified you're allowed to have as much as 12 okay so are we treating it as a special ed 3K and it's 12 C are we treating it as a it's an inclusion an inclusion so what's the cap so we're still going to say 12 so a half day counts as a full day single body right because I'm assuming those seven that are classified students are full day correct Okay so you're telling me we have two half days n we have three actually three children and a half day one is full day so we have 10 yeah we have one teacher and one teacher so we had interest to fill the other two from outside that outside people said I'd like bu cuz the big argument last year was 11,000 and you had the lady from oh I I once was at Godard and we understand the private part of Godard and how much that cost and then it was a comparison of tuition of US versus tuition of Red Balloon and two other places or we at that point where we should say hey guess what well we're going to charge 8500 so we can fill in those spots or we have to add some more sta too but we do have what you're doing you're doing exactly we've been looking at now where our are how best could we gener some income based upon where I that is a that's a recommendation that we need to struggle so if we knock on Edge Park door Riverside's door or Beverly's door saying hey we have a pre program because honestly you're at the point where you got steal from other private schools and there one here is DCs that has four open preschools one classroom okay but we still have two missing spots and that's $50,000 student have sity of it's Staffing it's the staing it's the Staffing we have the space the space availability I've been down in this classroom we have excellent teachers excellent AIDS working in there it's not because it's not a good program bu it's just that we have not gone out to recruit and I'd like for you guys de Us in the direction we can f these spaces what's the space you need an extra par now we can we can fill these open whenever I have space in these classrooms like down there say yeah guys going and fill them recruit get them in there you're talking about staff just you as a b said yeah we have no problem with you guys fing you know filling those other things with with students cuz technically you can fill it to 12 yeah and you don't need anything but an extra power from my understand about what that's about what I would would need so if you were to do a successful free you have one teacher and two parents that's good unless you have correct now we're talking life skills versus versus but technically by La you're not allowed to do that diagnosis prior to break work but they still do I I feel you on that one but okay I just know I hate to say it but this is the business part of education and you got General Ed and unfortunately the most fragile group with special ed and JS into a business from related services to every different disability under the umbrella and how much it cost that young man next to me here he hears about that's why we going back you lower and then they don't know what they don't know what secondary me we push secondary to 7 or you can get nine but think about all those bodies everybody needs a one one you have six St and yeah so we're going to end up doing um we're end up kind of giving you guys sure that go ahead and try to build build those seats because that we need that to make this program successful number 11 is just an election calendar that we had a make up forc so I just put the dates that are coming up as far as what's going on tonight would be the preliminary or you're voting on The the rbl tax Lev and the expenses um public hearing next month and then the last date same in every District it's May 15 got Noy next year so um as we start kind of getting into April Comm that's that's those discussions take place um adoption of preliminary budget we be on there we have to vote on that and that's going to be part of presentation later today that will be a roll on that I think you're looking about C tax that's at the yes that's just basic like where um actually I have you can show the new gra just allowed me to put in the tax L um I also was looking where we he the u i account not the account the um architect tonight uh the current service that we have the last payment is due August 1st of 2027 so by the time the project goes off in November for the group and the you know fitting goes out selling the bonds and whatever uh it you should be breaking about even for the referendum because you're talking about $56 a year for the root project on a house on theage assess $56 for 15 and uh and it's something that they'll address too we talked about it you can't really explore Sol because of the rber rber uh you don't know if there's any but you don't know if the uh airing units up there what what the status is of them I know they were having trouble with some of the motors so again we project T those motor systems of prob has always buil that she's very difficult to to find parts place right so like moving on operations facility she'll have ATT report on maintenance activities uhum boards being installed the week of March 25th we just talking about those D so there's the actual uh time frame on that one and uh I didn't see the tech recycling list um for old phone system stuff and the your repairable it related items there something I um where the ason reports will have I did forward something from Joanne uh for bcba you guys earlier in the week hope have to take a look at that there's good update there about when I students an honor tonight and a student recognition aspect of the meeting as well so good stuff and I know you were talking about you want to hit Personnel so personel all right if you look at talk about apping teachers to serve as a mentors of teachers same last year um we have one of our guidance coun to participate uh in professional development acity and that is something that we prob going have to increase our participation of our staff members in growing professionally to to turn these experiences that we sent them out to learn from and bring them back into our school okay we have U our nurse to attend a professional development activity health and wellbeing is a big topic right now and we have to just stay on top of it for the work environment for staff as well as for students as well as for Citizens that that's coming into our building public event so we we just got to stay on the high we got a we got another resolution there for that for I believe to attend a summit requires registration and some mileage cost there okay uh we we're hiring a u social worker to join the child study team this will be a full-time social worker in the district this will be kind of like the stabilizing for for our child St because other members of going to be contracted consulted at a far less that we've been paying in the past of child services it's going to really give us real have continuity of services for for our youngers and for our staff is that um we we also will be hiring substitute custon um to do some to do some work for us we must have aoni on on site of their after school activity they must have more license and of the person me all the requirements so that we we are properly staffed at the safety level to be able to cut off emergency vales whether it's gas whether it's water whether it's electric electricity should we encounter any problems uh the next thing is is that we to be dealing with uh we got to substitute custodian there that we have G there we we've obtained the services now we have the resignation of the spe of our speech teacher but interviewing process for our new speech teacher so that we will not have disconnecting Services uh for our for ours uh one of our instructional Aid is also resigning uh is that that a will we replace we po we have a pool that we drawing from from and that now we're beginning to change the name I believe they're going to be called educational instructional assistants so we going to see some old names disappear and a new name is going to come on board and but these new people coming on board is going to go through levels of training and you will probably see in the future is that if you go through this level of training there might be uh I believe we talked about that could be like a little difference in compensation we yeah we going to recommend is an increase for July 1 this right yeah so that's the encourage that we we grow the staff professionally to be able to do the job that is required for us all our work that we're doing whether it's written into the I or whether it's just based the a child so that's being do we're doing that we're looking at obtaining some Professional Services from uh from other agencies where we can get them from at at the best price point okay and and at the quality of services too uh that we need so we looking at M County Educational Services Commission down there we've even talked to cam County Education Services Commission is see there available uh to provide the services so we will be in good location with good history of work performed to bring into our community here and we we also hiring a person to serve as a u as a part of the child study team these are basically persons that will work per day so many days per month and it's all almost like some will work maybe 8 days a month 10 day 10 days per per month and that not only will they be doing evaluation but they got to serve in the role consultation to teachers when teachers administrators are experiencing uh issues in their school and they believe that they keep these issues can be addressed by these Consultants who are better prepared to help them to look at options Alternatives make modifications into the make modification in the school environment to accommodate to better accommodate the kid so they are not just only doing testing they are fulfilling that other role that's required of that person to work in that position so that kind of takes care of us doing that we've also retained a grant writing recommending a grant writing we had a number of people to apply uh of this position this position doesn't have a huge amount of funds it only it carries with it about $21,000 so we really couldn't can't hire a person to be fulltime and get into benefits and all of that so what we we looked at we said what about if we look at this position to say you will be the grant writer to write the grant okay we can give you a small small amount to write the grant but in writing the grant we have to write you in as the person who will be responsible for running and operating this grant completing all the reports for this so you really will be the you are the contractor but all the funds must be housed and maintained in the school district so you own the Grant and you will pay them out whatever the grant proposal suggested that you can pay a person to be the contractor to operationalize this grant okay so that's how we plan to spend the $21,000 to see how we can get as many grants written as possible to fit our need here in the school district which are educational need social learning needs variety of needs okay and now we're saying you own it run it operate we don't have to come in and hire any people you can hire the people through your Grant but we are not hiring people and we pay you to do that so that's how we're looking at the grant consultant work that we will to do to do the application question yes I thought the gr R position was under the township referendum uh in 2022 that was like for $75,000 that included a grant writer and then bringing back specified Sports I no no not Sports excuse me it was the impact group and the newsletter yeah 75,000 was the total I just looked it up yeah um 75,000 was the total for the hiring of a grandmother uh grant writer excuse me and the reinstatement of extracurricular activities Athletics including but not limited to safety patrol Boys Baseball eighth grade advisors girls softball Middle School newspaper and club and extracurricular activities related items such as transportation and supplies approval of these uh this separate proposal question will result from the permanent increase in the district's tax levy these proposed additional expenditures are in addition to those necessary to achieve New Jersey student learning standards um I was operating that I had [Music] $21,000 okay that I have 21,000 for the just for the gr right so we spent our time thinking about how best to utilize this $21,000 to get our grants to get grants rid from all the district so the remaining of those dollars what sports impact and the newsletter but wasn't there also an additional separate and apart from the referendum just a separate appropriation from the township for sports that they they send us U we'll send them a bill on they us reimbursement monthly or whatever that was was that for a separate season of the time this this specifically reference well we that I guess Donald so so the from the referendum it's, for impact and sports remaining [Music] 21 yeah this was in 2022 that this went so you're talking school and mering time couldn't it's been a Hot Topic priority topic for us to get that done this year get somebody in we have somebody if you want to talk about the experience educational grant writing experience to the point where they feel conf they're going to be able to bring in a decent amount of money to thect which was the selling point for this person I know we [Music] also I don't want to tell you that they all have compliance but this team ising all the okay and meeting with the parent in compliance with the state law the law a policy and making corrections to to the I is an ongoing piece of work they setting up their schedule working with the parent working with the teacher get this done they ex now we not had to change PL like you know we have we had good conditions for department for depart working with the Dr D there and they and they've been very supportive of punishing us with the children that we asked we got all right Work Management I'm sure we'll discuss that more in depth right um we'll have a couple things about professional development that will be a to I know there's going to be a couple things add school have um there will be an executive session at the end for that presentation at Dr Fitz so at this time unless there's any other questions or concerns I'd like a motion to adjourn the work session committee members have mention or quoted this idea of um I back Senator single we have a meeting with him on Friday right about the but um he had sent a note to the C committee asking okay but um so a few the committee members have voted this idea you know um submitting some perhaps the school project um so I don't know exactly what sort of table I'll be on the zoom meeting um and I I can you know you can figure out we can have would be on there how set that up myself St just to clarify this this would be separate correct last year there was a definite Fe behind a lot and I think the understanding know motion to adjourn the uh the work session meeting dancer second by Mr mne all those in favor please signify by saying I I oppos abstain motion carries we will reconvene in about 4 minutes thank you everybody please rise for FL I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all please Mr M Gardner pres Mr Mas here Mr V here Mr mcne here M here Mr yes Mr s is absent Mone notice of this meeting pursuant to the open public meeting act has been given as follows advertising and claring Legend Courier Post on 17 2024 posting on school bulletin board of main engine stores on 15 2024 filing written notice with the clerk of Delano Township on 13 2024 and posting the notice on the district website on 3:15 2024 like a motion to approve the minutes from the February 1st 2024 regular meeting exhibit D moved by Mr Dancer seconded by Mr mcneel are there any questions or comments all those in favor please signify by saying I I oppos abstain motion carries uh Community leaon reports Riverside High School once going twice Delano PTO hiin here this isano P um for our report tonight we have a $2500 Grant was approved by Verizon which I saw on your agenda um our pretzel sale was a huge success and we look to do it again on early dismissal days our book fair is running successfully for our next early Christmas SCH we are doing a Happy Meal fundraiser and after spring break 4H will'll be back to host after school programs again and that's all thank you thank you daa Recreation and Township committee uh I'll speak on behalf of daa and Recreation um my name is Kate fitzp I'm a member of the deler township committee and on behalf of recreation number one the Easter EG hunt has been continued to next Saturday because of the weather this weekend so March 30th okay uh number two Recreation has actually agreed to take over the Centennial project for Delano for 2026 it will be our Centennial Year we hope to have celebrations throughout the the town and we would like to have volunteers from Bo of B from some parents and from some teachers so as a little bit of history of Delo and as a student who went through the Delo schools we had secretary here Mrs Claire for a number of years in the main office well both of her daughters went through school I I went to school with them but one of them Joanne Claire came back to teach at Delan she taught second grade and for the sentennial the vice Centennial of the United States her second grade class made this quilt and they printed their name and then they embroidered it the best they could and they have donated it to the D the township but this is just to give you an idea of something that one of the classes could do for Delano Centennial we have a community quot that we did in Delano that is hanging at Town Hall if anybody wants to get some ideas on a different type but I thought this is really this is really an incredible work of art for kids in the second grade and I know some of these children um they from me a couple of them grow them up but um anyway so that's something we would like you to consider volunteering for the Centennial subcomittee for Delano Township through Recreation so think about that and if you have some ideas or you'd like to join our sub you contact me or you can contact Aron provano at township she's our coordinator for recreation um the other item is we are working on the basketball reports ref finishing them and putting a fence up and we're working on the waterfront park we finally have agreement with d to complete that project and W is very anxious to get that up and done as far as ad Del RI which is a lot of people may know as daa um their basketball program is winding down and if any of you have played basketball this year have been involved it's really been an excellent time for the kids and their um spring sports baseball te- ball and softball will start April 13th opening day at Westfield Avenue so anybody has any questions feel free to contact me okay thank you I'm assuming did that hit everything or Mr Templeton do you have anything I'm not going to get any appuse for it U I'm temp I'm also on the township committee we out of bre and I have to speak in public anyway Township committee Monday night introduced our 20124 Municipal budget it's all on the con website at this time it's on the homepage but you can get to the budget message and Mr Schwab has kind ofely some of the high points and if you wanted some good bedtime reading there some of the details in there uh for this year we're looking at a total budget of a little over $8.4 million of that the tax levy the parket taxpayers pay is about 61% and that comes out to for the average assessed house about $39 uh the average assessed home in the L so uh there's a lot more in there about details we've had some adjustments we got some Personnel changes people uh leaving consolidating some positions moving some people around and looking for the ways to accomplish and accomplish our job and do the right with quality services so a budget's not a one shot deal we always look out 3 to 5 years on where we are and looking forward and try to cons serve resources dolls and U so we don't run out next year or the year after that financial difficulties down so anyway that's where we are the agenda uh public hearing is April 15th for the budget so thank you yeah I'm going give you that yeah we um obviously we have a student recognition coming up as you can see we have Garrison Architects who's going to be doing a zoom call with us after student today for a potential Bond referendum for a group prare project Pearson uh we have a meeting scheduled with Senator Singleton uh this coming Friday at 10:30 uh and I'd like to thank Mr Templeton uh Mr Bartlett for uh scheduling a meeting between the Board of Education and the township committee coming up uh mid April and the 18th kind of been between both of our public budget hearings so I know it's during a uh a busy time for both both of us so I thank you for taking the time especially during that time FR that I know we're all kind of bogged in and hope to get some production uh productive conversation done in those meetings uh at this time uh we'd like to turn the floor over to Mr P for the first of uh the student of month announcements Colton all right can I uh let everybody know about you okay your favorite food is pizza that's you okay color is red and you like cats your birthday is February 3rd you want to be an astronaut and make a lot of money all right hold this up in front Okay can you you get no we can get one later all right good are we good Perfect all right good job Budd tan okay Tan's favorite food is strawberries her color is yellow her favorite animal is a giraffe she wants to be a teacher her birthday is the 4th of December Jemma everybody know about you is that okay first of all momy's over here all right so I'm going to tell every now tell me is this really your favorite food is McDonald's oh chicken nuggets all right your favorite color is white animals giraffe your birthday is the 6th of September and you're not sure what you want to be when you grow up is that true or have you changed your mind all right what is it you want to be an astronut too m not your face not your face down here down okay Mom ready ready thank you you wel good job James all right how are you okay wait where's okay all right okay ready James's favorite food is steak he loves the color green his favorite animal is a dog his birthday is the 11th now this is an amazing thing you want to be the Philly fanatic yeah Cadence all right I'm glad you're great okay okay so we're going to go this okay all right your favorite food is pizza y Color Purple the animal is a griffin yeah okay okay February 18th and you want to be a veterinarian yes all right hold this in front of you ready Emma okay Emma likes Pizza her favorite color is orange favorite animal is a turtle uh her birthday is the 22nd of December she wants to be a chef or a cook McKenzie okay McKenzie's favorite food is a hamburger by the way she's got a great smile all the time color is pink and purple animals or dogs birthday's the 22nd of February and another future teacher Shane okay Shane's favorite food is pizza color is green his favorite animal is a T-Rex birthday is on the 26th of January and he wants to be a career YouTuber oh Aubrey over here over here over here over here look at Mom okay your favorite food is pizza the color is brown your favorite animal is dogs your birthday is the 6th of March wow you want to be a labor and delivery nurse who good Brian I want to all kids love pizza huh Pizza okay okay here we go favorite food is pizza color is blue animals and dog your birthday is the 23rd of September and you're not really sure what you want to be right you girl hold this hold this two hands not in front of your face down lower good good job now I know Phil's here cuz qu his father all right all right here we go B Pizza correct color green animals of monkey birthday's February 14th and you are going to make a lot of money because you want to be a mechanic right there's a need for mechanics not on your face two hands two hands okay ready congratulations Melina definitely smile right okay where's where's Mom okay favorite food Chick-fil-A color pink animals a dog May 1st another YouTuber right all right good job all right John Marco I okay another McDonald's fanatic here color red animals of line February 4th and he wants to serve our country in the AR say Sir all right okay this student has a heart of goal he's always caring understanding empathetic consider he displays his characteristic quiet often go out of his way to assist others he wants to do well and gives 100% in every aspect of school shows his caring nature with respect to his peers and teachers he's an excellent student he chosen his character tra where are you Eli bitsky all right this next student was an easy choice for the student of the month car when his teacher returned from returning leave in January he's extremely welcoming and offered to help with whatever she needed you can often find the student helping his classmates as well as looking out for them he goes above and beyond to make others feel valued and appreciated we're proud to recognize his kindness and empathy as it truly makes a difference in our school Community keep up the Amazing Word Christopher Miranda esposa all right this student is a caring and sympathetic individual he's sincere when inquiring how someone is doing and I know this personally because every time I go into a room he always gives me a fist Bon Mr sh how you doing I I know that's probably the only time someone said he's attendant to his peers tries to be The Peacemaker when conflict arises all his friends and teachers noticed these qualities last year but this year he's grown so much more when he's not in school his absent is felt when a new student started this student took him under his wing and showed him what he was supposed to do and where he was supposed to go he was very helpful Mr Benny Bento all right this student has been selected for the student Spotlight for caring before she exemplifies all the behaviors of a person who cares about others it's not uncommon to find her helping a classmate with an assignment or checking on how they're feeling she always treats her peers and teachers respectfully and takes great care to complete her work with precision and in a timely manner she's clearly one who deserves to be recognized for her caring nature are you here miss Maria Pome so this student was chosen since this month's student Spotlight because she portrays all the characteristics of a caring and compassionate person she's polite considerate generous patient understanding I swear this is what your your classmates and your teachers so we're not just adding on Words should include loving forgiving she goes out of her way to make others feel special sensitive to others feelings and genuinely concerned with the wellbeing of others she's a great way of connecting with them even in difficult situations it's helped her create maintain and strengthen her social relationships with her te teachers and PE she's a pleasure to have in class and is a role model yeah yeah yeah that's you hey the Clown last but not least see this student has been selected as a student Spotlight recipient for caring she displays compassion and empathy towards others she's quick to forgive others for their mistakes and is always willing to lend a helping hand to those in need she maintains good manners at all times and is a pleasure to work with and have in class Where Are You Alicia stti stack house are you all right for all right so we had one of our students participate uh from the Jersey School Board Association as our 8ighth grade dialogue recipient so this student embodied all of the positive nature that we have as well as bring a great unique perspective to all sorts of different areas he needed to sit up on a de and answer a number of questions in front of a lot of people he did a fantastic job so much so that one of my board members gave me like three pages of like awesome answers that he gave so let's just give him a warm Rowdy Applause because he deserves it Mr Caleb B there you yeah you do a lock do the lock bring everybody up together I know Joanne was at the uh the eighth grade dialogue had a lot of POS posi things to say came back uh with some awesome emails to us as updates to that I don't know if you want to say anything about so in the directions from the state School Board Association it was not they really were seeking that child say about being around and um there were 26 children and Caleb you said I could say what you said right so there were 10 questions I asked of every student and it was so every student responded and Caleb's answer for the question of what is your dream to do after high school Caleb's response was if I can't become a professional soccer player I'd love to be a mechanic and you watch every the president of the County School Board Association the vice president right on down feverishly writing what Caleb said because there's been such a push for were vocational and and those trainings every other child and I I wrote it down they said they wanted to attend a 4-year University and beautiful right but it was so cool so I thank you Mr s and whoever else chose Caleb actually budy you need to come here and give feedback because the students did a phenomenal job of how schools can do better by kids and it's about and about honesty and this kid blew them away so thank you incredible par and his brothers were there and your brothers go to the votek too and they all have a plan and to see the love of your family and the proudness honestly God you affected and I wouldn't have changed that date for anything from what I learned from the kids it's such an honor to sit here but to your son is here your son thank you so much so we had um a group of 13 of our eighth graders attend Lo Engineers week they had a lot of different opportunities to a lot of the inner workings of what happened at L par and instead of me telling you about it they're going to tell you all about it including their awardwinning project which we had to keep secretive and to the side and that project was better than every other project every other student in every other school that g that debt so please warm welcome to our eighth grade Lo Martin we went to locky Martin for engineers week there are many opportunities for us to learn for us to learn what we will share about we were created and brought to a central area where a presentation was made by Engineers from Mark we learned about the large number of Engineers and the many different types of engineers we thought ly Martin was just for the military but they build many different things we did see many scientists and they us too to get our first experience we walked through the Avenue of Excellence it was a tunnel that displayed pictures of past and present walking Martin Creations such as fighter gent battleships sonar and more each picture looked a bit different and there were diagrams and comparisons of each the first experience we had was to learn about building a robot from Iron Devil's robotics from Cherokee and Sh high schools they shared with us how to robot out of recycled objects and controlled by a PS4 controller it could shoot a large ring 5T in the air and try to catch it it went up to 35 mph some of us control the robot second experience we had was the gum drop F we were get two p and sorry gum jobs and told to create something that could hold a lot of weight we given very little Direction 15 to 20 minutes to complete our R structure is so strong and can hold many bottles of water and more we even have Pi we then traveled to the factory floor we saw how locky Martin buil some of their things they made everything we saw was built with robots robots we saw 60t High solar panels and many things we've never seen before overall we had a great time with many different experiences from playing with the robot building the gum drop tower the Avenue of Excellence we will now share our me so yeah it's got this so so I remember they like explain the um the idea that we had to like do like what we had to make and the first thing that I thought was triangles I think everyone in a on that right so then we go for like a l Bas um So Courtney with courney with building the base um and the general shape and we all agreed that what we sort of wanted to go for was a pyramid both up [Music] the we built like the sides and also some of the base of with miniature triang because from Miss Harper we learned that that's the strongest structure uh so we taking that into work I owe did a lot of sides and we alled to the top because we running out of time yeah I how actually became successful all worked together we used like goodam and we all had an assigned position yeah we all like knew what we were supposed to do so I think that helped us in our all right congratulations thank you so much I just want to say take picture yeah we're we're going to bring everybody up and everything Dr fish just wanted to make a com I'm sorry I just want to take this opportunity to say thank you to the parents and thank you to the students for giving us the chance to recognize them all of you for your aspirations and for what you'd like to be and what you like to become this is what our work is all about as a board of education as a superintendent as a principal as an executive team of school business official is to make sure that we provide opportunity for these children to be the best and the finest in every way possible so you can you will be hearing from me because for these young ladies that took on this project this is the beginning of what I call the women in science program the girls in science program so you're going to hear more from me about that and asking this school district that says look let's pump some money and energy into our Science Program here in this school district starting at the elementary level what they want you got to really think about it it was huge with the number of schools represented there I mean big schools good school outstanding schools and these young ladies were thoughtful enough to design you should have some of the pictures of the weight that this object was able to withstand okay and they warned that from all of those other schools so this is a real achievement and I'm going to take advantage of this achievement okay so boy we going to get started on an engineering program for girls okay I hate to take time because there's a humor side how many of you girls I saw down in Mason didn't I see some of you Inon Mason's department store oh oh the reason I bring this up is because I was down in Macy and I was walking through the maon store and someone called out my name and I thought one of might have been some of the girls from the the locky Martin project and guess where they were they were at the makeup count so they like to think you their personal appear but they're bright they're talented and they just great body of students so I'm excited about you I'm excited about the work that you're doing and all of you and so keep up the good work you got my support this time we'll have a brief recess we'll bring everybody up to do some pictures and uh you know they they can get the the pictures to the side but congratulations to everybody and uh when we resume in uh you know 3 to 4 minutes we'll end up doing a zoom meeting all right bring everybody up everybody wanted all all our students all right like to call the meeting back to order at this time we are going to switch the order of the agenda going to move the zoom meeting with Garrison Architects ahead of public comment on agenda items Garrison Architects has been waiting very patiently for us and they're going to be presenting plans to us uh that they designed for a referendum to go on the ballot for a roof project here at Pier so at this time I'll turn the discussion over to Bob Garrison who I know from working at referendums at penson and at Riverside so uh Bob the floor is yours all right thank you very much and my partner and brother Brooks has joined me this evening it's always great to be on a zoom call and look at um the the results of a previous ref referend you're sitting in the gymnasium so that was a great day I know for your community and we look forward to moving ahead and helping you with your new referendum um so as you pointed out thank you for that introduction I've got Brooks Brooks will talk a little bit about the the technical aspect of it um we pride ourselves at Garrison archex of having a track record proven track record of being successful with refence s and this referendum like any other referendum starts tonight with the incubation of the scope of work getting that right making sure that we have clear understanding of the scope of work and that we communicate that over the next few months all the way to the election day we've also been very successful in our public relations campaign recently you may have read about Tom Iris success 65 5 to 400 it was a it was a very very tight race over there a lot of money they asked for the community they did a great job in promoting the referendum and demonstrating the need and I think that's what what matters in these instances so a little bit about the process in detail can you hear me or we can hear you Bob I was having him uh put you guys on the screen because we have a a picture of the plans on on the screen for you um I don't know if you're going to share that on your screen or if you want us to have that up uh it's up to you I didn't know if you had something you were going to share on the screen so I wanted to give you that option okay um so as as I'll continue and then books will get into some of the technical aspects the scope of work is important once we establish the scope of work and everybody's comfortable we then take that scope of work and we partner with the state of New Jersey it's important to understand with these referendums that the cost of these projects and you have a highly eligible cost right roof replacement is part of your building shell and securing your envelope as well as some HVAC again very desirable from the state of New Jersey the state of New Jersey will provide a minimum a 40% in debt service sa once we get those applications up to state government we will help you analyze their offer uh with their state share when it comes back we will take all this information and we will include it in a PowerPoint presentation and then the public information or relations uh project starts and that's where we build the website we develop the handouts we make sure that we have key communicators engaged um we get out with the Grassroots campaign and that all happens up until the November date which is the date I believe that you have selected in addition to Garrison Architects we of course have our mechanical engineers that have looked at it along with Partners in the areas of expertise of roofing uh which folks will talk about a little bit Additionally the Board of Education will have to hire a bond Council worked with many of them most notably Tony Salini and I've done many together and a financial advisor because once we craft the cost of the project the state aid we need to be able to communicate to the taxpayers what the financial impact will be um that's going to be very important and eventually that Financial impact uh will go on the website so that people residents I should say can see exactly what their impact is uh based on their assessment so with that Brooks and some of the staff have tored the roofs and uh it's important for you to understand the contemplated scope work folks so thanks for the introduction Bob U and again it's our pleasure to be again in front of you in delank uh I'm coming to you from mortown right off the Creek Road uh just about 10 minutes away my father-in was actually born there in Delano uh so we have long ties to uh your school district and the area so we're privileged to be back uh we were a key component players obviously in the last refer project and a portion of that uh area is on the roof uh adjacent to the areas we're discussing tonight so if you would be so kind as to put up the presentation board I can help walk you through uh this the three different Roof Systems that you have that I'm sure many of you are familiar with so again coming to you from the uh green standing steam metal roof area uh that area is in very good shape uh that addition was done less than 20 years ago and is in a you know perfect shape we're talking about the area that looks kind of milky white looks like suntan lotion that's worn off that's a low sloping EPDM roof which is basically a single fly membrane roof uh that has far exceeded this life expectancy and the area again adjacent to the left in that slide presentation is a slagging gravel dark roof area again a low sloping roof area but with adequate slope and Performing very well having uh been less than 20 years on your building so the area we're talking about um is the single ply EPDM roof area totals about 20,300 s ft and again in the images that you see there uh you can see that deterioration of the white Coatings uh that were put on to help extend that useful life the issues with EPDM roofing single ply Roofing is that over time like many things it tends to shrink and it loses its pliability and therefore it begins to crack and it also has a tendency to tent at the edge where it's pinned against the perimeter edge of the roof and then the slope areas that go up from that giving you essentially a damin a effect at that roof Edge and the difficulty with that is of course that means that wind and uplift resistance have been completely compromised and around that edge especially in the corners is where you need to really protect the roof from tear off so the roof has exceeded its life expectancy U it is a low sloping deck area there's several different uh two different roof decks but below that um and again we would propose to go back with a consistent manufacturer that's performed well for you on that roof that put on the sliding gravel roof and that is the Garland company that is a two- ply modified polymer roof uh that system would be put back with the proper insulation to meet current code requirements which means about twice the insulation thickness of what you have on that roof be a total of 5 1/2 in of roof insulation it would include two layers uh about a 100 mm thick so you're going to end up with a roof where the EPDM is about 60 mm thick this would be over 200 mm thick uh the roof surface itself would be a white granular cap uh that white granular is uh designed just like this white protective coating to protect the roof uh from foot traffic and also most importantly uh ultraviolet light decay so the new roof system would have roughly twice the insulation also have twice the roof slope as to what's there currently you have about 1/8 of an inch per foot slope that would be doubled to a/4 in slope and at the edge of the perimeter of the roof where the perimeter gutter is we'd accelerate that water with a steeper slope at that edge up to a half of an inch of foot in the last 4 ft so we use a combination of tapered insulation flat installation and then a recovery board or a harder board for the roof surface to receive that surface all that will give you the durability uh it'll give you the traffic resistance the wind uplift meet the energy code with twice the insulation and provide you with a 30-year manufacturers warranty that would be leak proof now with the doubling of the roof insulation adjacent to existing Rising walls where you have the the gym for instance brick Rising wall or the rising wall against the standing steam metal wall we would bury the throughwall flashings that were installed during construction originally so in those cases and with the deterioration and penetration of moisture through that brick surface we would recommend putting standing sea metal wall panels on those walls so the roofing would also include same manufacturer same 30-year warranty on wall panels for adjacent Rising walls where the rooms are higher than the roof area and that would provide complete weather protection through wall flashing protection and cover those walls essentially with a product that's part of your roof system all that combination uh after review would cost just under a million dollars about $950,000 uh We've walked that roof now I think three times I've walked it myself off and we have uh you know the capability and will provide a drone uh Sur of that Roof System um so with the complete Roof System it would be a complete tear off down to the existing roof structural deck which would mean the rooms underneath of that area could not be occupied for safety even though the structural roof deck would be fully intact uh for safety reasons we uh vacate those spaces therefore the Roof System would be put on in over the summer and that would be planned and phased so that it could be uh minimized the disruption to the school area below our specifications always include a full-time Cleanup Crew during the demolition phase which typically happens in the summer very early starting around 5:00 a.m. and completing early in the afternoon noonish 1:00 to avoid the hot um sun and the heat uh heat exhausting for the workers is a major concern in the summer it also gives us an opportunity uh to have the full-time clean crew inside so they preparing the next day's work and cleaning up the last day's work additionally they're on site if there's anything that does go wrong uh with vibrations Fasteners or God forbid uh flash rainstorm that comes the cleaning crew is already there to clean up so again Roofing is part of our area of expertise uh We've provided almost a million square ft of roofing last summer was probably the largest summer Roofing projects job we ever did uh we completed 10 roofs in Cherry Hill for over $25 million all last summer so again this Truth uh we get that same care and expertise and I'm certain that we could give you a product that you'd be very comfortable with for the next 30 Years along with that we're going to study your mechanical systems uh we met with Tim Allan we started some discussions on that we we have the contract documents together uh for the roof and we're now looking at the mechanical systems that need concurrent replacement obviously it's a great time when we take the roof off take all the mechanical equipment off the condensers and Cress just been on the roof and other devices on the roof and replace them uh as part of the roofing project so that will be our next phase of design work leading up to a complete scope for the referen so with that I was wondering if you have any [Music] questions Brooks and Bob we're just putting you back on the screen here so um one of board members I I heard you mention a $950,000 cost uh earlier in the presentation they had a clarification on the cost and what could be the amount going into the referendum I know you guys are still researching and putting a lot of that together um but I don't know if you have a ballpark that you're looking at there we don't it depends completely on the mechanical system replacement scoping which is the next phase of our investigation so I you know I know there's discussion of borrowing up to $2 million for the referendum um again we think the roof represents about mil of that we have to look at the mechanical systems Replacements and then also include all of what we call the soft cost that's the construction cost plus all the soft costs include all the design legal um referendum fees permit fees construction management fees or inspection fees so a complete package of all the systems so again in the next month we will be conducting that um thorough analysis of the mechanical systems come up with that construction budget number then with those to look at a total uh construction estimated cost and refer of value for those that that happen worked with that Garrison Architects they do a great job as far as going above and beyond as far as setting up that website doing the public meetings making themselves available um to be able to present all of this information when it's all kind of come together and put out there um if I remember correctly from the other ones that I've worked on you guys with you put about what like a 10% buffer in there as well just in case for various costs um and things along that nature correct sure as part of the Department of Education approval the form formula for the state will have a construction uh budget that allows for soft costs and contingencies on top of those costs so that there'll be like a bricks and mortar cost the roof and mechanical system proper and then there'll be other fees added in the state form that include again Legal Professional Services Inspection Services uh permitting costs and then a construction contingency if you will for unforeseen conditions any other questions from any uh board members this time all right seeing none I I'd like to thank you for your time um and we look forward to to hearing uh what you guys come up with in the next handful of steps that you're going to be doing in the next month or so great and just if uh I think the palar website is still up if you want to look at that uh you know it just passed last week and the colle would L we website will be launched on Tuesday as that goes public with a large program that includes an acquisition of a building and then a lot of the same things HVAC and Roofing and whatnot so you can see kind of how once you establish the scope of work what the bells and whistles are with the public relations campaign thank you Bob thank you again for your time Brooks Bob thank you you're welcome thank you I'll getting kind of wait for Dave to stop that so now that the zoom meeting is done I'd like to open up the meeting for public comment on agenda items public comment on agenda items only is there anything on the online form [Music] are can I ask a question it's p well because you're discussing the bond referendum um do you have what the cost was for the last Bond referendum that the school did for the gym and the Edition and the library I mean I campaigned with Joe Miller for that Edition but I I I thought it may have been around million I can't remember yeah that was a long long time ago cost have gone up a lot since then I know but I was just wondering if you had those figures to have an idea um and it was about I mean I was on Council committee it was about 20 years ago CU I did it took three three times to have that referendum put up but I was just wondering if you had that information it would be relevant to have an idea of what it's like I know the last payment is due August 1st of 27 okay so this referendum should kind of even out the cost to the taxpayer okay yeah because it'll be by the time it's on the other one that long but I I have a feeling it could be similar but the construction was different definitely plus you're getting Deb service from the state we did we the school got that at the same time but each year that we had to run the referendum the cost went up because it wasn't it wasn't approved the first year or the second second year was 30 years took a lot of work but we had it done and if I remember correctly you had stated in the work session meeting was about $56 for a 15-year payout on $2 million it's $56 a year which is big I actually just went to uh Carn by 165 Second Street I went to Garrison's website and they actually have all their referendums that they were involved it look it was $10.2 Million March of 2005 for two elementary school health and safety and gym editions I'm just she a wizard Town what a GI Al shaking head good shaking his head yes um any other public comment on agenda items at this time seeing none we'll move to a close public comment on agenda items and move on to the superintendent report Dr Fitz okay my report is pretty simple is that we're just working the best interest of children show tonight that we recognized a lot of children our children are doing exceptionally well I'm right in the midst of doing my observation of teachers and and the teachers that I'm observing and the children that I'm observing you are blessed to have a good excellent group of teachers here in this District okay and what we want to do we want to maintain them support them and enrich them with what they need to do a great and better job okay so I'm just delighted to have that experience we Vis working on a budget we're working on a budget to sustain us and to carry us forward but it's presenting incredible challenges to us as we try to maintain a good solid foundation for our youngsters and keeping the cost at a modest level our lead is doing a phenomenal job of working through the process of unraveling what we found it very difficult to find and yet instill while we Tred to put together a good budget for this District we're continuing to work on delivering services for our youngsters we have a full comprehensive child study team that will be joining us uh very soon some of all are already board and that we are supporting the needs of our youngsters and our staff by continuing to follow the guidelines the state statutes the code and and all of that and that we are right in the midst of our IEP uh scheduled right now we also working on bringing two schools together a school within a school and so we're going to be making a presentation to the board tonight to get further Direction in terms of where we should go and what they are thinking about and what we have not considered so we're not ready to roll it out completely until we get the nod from them to continue the work and to continue to go forth but that's in the making for tonight you can see from the a agenda here that we have some okay all right I I kind of was getting ahead of myself they telling me to stay in this zone so I have a tendency to go ahead I'm already down to my girls in science already so I'm already which during women's history month is a great thing right all right so I just want to bring you up continue on that but um nevertheless I I think I've covered the areas under my under my it so we would move uh obviously we would have that in executive session um that that uh that presentation to us uh but there are two action items on here under the superintendance report one is a resolution to approve non-bargaining DTA employees to carry over a minimum a maximum excuse me a five vacation days of school year and another resolution will approve and review and investigate the possibility of utilizing NJ 4S program as a student support system for social and emotional learning uh so I'd like to move move items one and two on the superintendance report motion for Mo motion by Mr Vargas seconded who was the second by Mr dancer are there any questions or comments on that Joan the principal reports are here too I say something yes um Mr s uh in his report is one of only two newy administrators nominated anded attend the oh Jesus delot courageous principl PD conference for 300 Nationwide Public School administrators in left SL so congratulations of you're ahead of me I was going to put I was going to say something on the the other part but I look yeah it's a great honor for him we congratulate him I know we had the email thread um the other day back and forth with that but pretty good stuff any other questions or comments on those two items call Mr D yes M garer yes Mr M yes Mr yes M yes Mr J Stone passes uh budget and finance our Le will be doing the uh update for the budget for the 2024 2025 school year the floor is yours as many of you know we lost state aid in the amount of $439,000 which was a very big challenge to try to put this budget together in addition to that I have less free balance to put into the budget we had um 513,000 less than we did last year we're anticipating a tax levy of just $ 142,5 144 increase over last year's tax tax levy and I think it should be around a 3 increase is that which is is at the 2% cap um other than that uh most of the budget is consists of out of District special ed placements which are very closely between that and Riverside tuition it's probably close to $4 million out of our $1 million budget that we're paying for that um teacher salaries are in there building Insurance um let's see else uh child stud team we brought in our own child study team we left Burlington County Special Services and that's about it we only have two areas of special deed funding Title One and Ida Grant and that would be it our public hearing is April 24th and I'll go into more detail and fine any questions yes I'm sorry about I'm just a no I've been following the delinko Facebook page so I try to follow all of the banter and see what's going on my curiosity is and I'm just asking this I know this is going to sound so cliche as a millennial new homeowner young kids my daughter was actually one of the students up there right um so she's actually graduating from wut but my son um technically not next year but the year following would be I guess at Pearson how does that impact Us in terms of if there's such a significant what contributed to the you know the cut like was it like a um a deficiency in performance or it's like there isn't a need in the district because for example I'm also an ABA therapist um as as I I work for the government for the state department Department of Health I'm as a nurse prent but in the evening I'm actually a behavioral therapist and I know that some schools have those services in their school versus sending the children outward is that something that happens in Theo I'm just new to this um you want to answer that about outside Services yeah we provide we provide the same Services we will we will provide the same Services if we need Behavior therapist we will we provide those Behavior therapist if we need educational Specialists uh uh for our kids we will provide those services for our kids our kids are not going unserved okay I just want to make that clear to you our kids are not going unserved we provide third services for our kids either inhouse or exter so they so is there rationale to the 430 I'm I'm just curious that's my only question did was it provided like why Del or like like another town receives a substantial amount versus up it's almost 500,000 I was curious to know it's a formula that the state department Ed as a matter of fact I was at the at the county Round Table meeting with other directors superintendent and we all are moaning and groaning in terms of how did this District get some additional money how did this district and how did we lose money that's why we now meeting with Senator Singleton to see if he can try to find an answer to some of those questions because we are all in of funds for our schools is that I give you a example technology is uh is just is becoming outdated in 99% of the school it changes only every year and so you know we all suffering with insufficient to do the job that we need to do we still suffering with the levels of Cirus 19 is that our kids uh you know they we don't think they have permanent loss but they have measured loss where they should be they are not there and we say now what do we do you know some of us thought about can we put together some summer enrichment program after school enrichment and we look around no money to do it one we one reason we lost the money is we had uh uh 20 children less as of this past October that's where we lost the funds because our Roman went down of course they don't account for the children that are coming in now they use the October 15 count what was that count um I thought it was around 383 yeah it but of course too I mean we're getting additional special Even in our school that are you know less severe and yet their require it's tough it is tough because that number looks significant that's going to impact the students significantly but the children are not Laing which is very important before we continue we had the the microphone on for the uh for the zoom meeting same way required do we need the microphone I want to make sure everybody can at least hear us as we're it it'd be nice if we use the microphones sometimes it's hard when the generator comes on to hear you um you know if you don't mind if you're doing like long drawn out presentations we can hear Dr Fitz very well I think he articulates very well very well help is it on Dave daab is not on all right don't worry I apologize and I'll use my teacher boooks there you go thank you arleene a motion is requested to approve items one through through 12 excuse me 1 through 12 on the budget and finance section moved moved by Mr Dancer seconded by Mr mcneel are there questions or comments within the items in the budget and finance section go ahead how is the um the annual contract negotiated with Riverside Township schools for our high school students there is no there is no the state sets the figure right so there's no negotiation with that figure no in addition to that we owed them $145,000 for back years of tuition where there were more children going than what was built so if Riverside got a $5 million in right that would then in turn I'm assuming cost for goes up so then do we pay more they increased to us $1,000 per student plus the number of students going there are more than last year where with BCIT we pay $3,700 per student the CIT vocational yes you're paying almost 300,000 for there for how many student I think there's 79 okay so um most respectfully um How is I mean um do we so there's no wiggle room with a school district that has no high school to renegotiate a price for student no so wouldn't it be cheaper to send our kids to a private SCH no okay thank don't be add it I don't know no because you're you're paying a tuition on top of your tax payers like the tuition to a private school can still per the state you still have to come out of a taxpayer po okay it can't automatically send students to dcit because it's preferential rhs provides differing uh scope and sequence when it comes to academics to college to riger versus BCIT just like B say BC another but you know do Academy is still 18,000 Holy Cross Academy is 145,000 and then on top of your taxpayers if you're paying my house $9,000 so ultimately it cost me $226,000 to send a kid so so okay so so I'm dependent on the $9,000 that I'm paying taxes 6,000 of that would probably come out of the tax L to our budget so that pays 50% of my child to go to Riverside where the other is consumed by the budget of people who do not send their kids or do not have kids in the education other and then when you look at the referendums you got to realize that $5 million of the they received from the state what that is doing is that is building a climate and culture of Riverside and that's building a structure Foundation which then causes the tuition to increase but they're two separate tools then you're getting into what you can borrow from last year to this year what you can put in some type of a debt consolidation if we have like let's say we were $1.3 million in Black we were a posit we can't just put that into staff salaries we'd have to put that into some type of a school Improvement fund which is structural you can't confuse it's it's what's living versus what's not living and there's two sets of funds so maybe that's a talking point with the senator is maybe create a piece of leg no listen I I was just on the cam County Board because I lost $1.3 million it's because a neighboring District put the wrong number and it caused a $200 million short uh elevation and threw everything out of whack from came to County so now they petitioned it all the superintendent petitioned it it's already at the state level and that's their top like I got to fix it and it all came down to literally 12 houses that live in Pine Valley the Vol correct so we abored Pine Valley when it's like no P Valley belongs to another district and it threw all of our numbers off as a receiving district from a high SCH so they're trying to clean that up does Riverside give as far as a formula I'm sorry there's you can go to Every legislator and 90% of them do not have a background in education and it is all about what financially is going to work out to the best even to testing where they're say who can make the most money off what material they're going to sell you because unfortunately education's a business no I understand that question I think and I appreciate you answering that I think that that gives a little bit more context I'm saying to you like for I'm not I'm a new Resident I barely have $440,000 is roughing 5% of our budget yes that has a huge impact so for like let's say those of us who are purchasing homes who are moving in cuz I came from North Brun full transparency it's day and night the school district you know what I mean so my thing is that but I said to myself I am buying a home here so my intent is to give what I can to my community make sure my kid doesn't go to cuz I went to prep school where I was a kid my Tu was 26,000 I'm from New York you know what I mean so it's like I'm like that's like old news I'm used to that my thing is as is if we can contribute to our community how do we get context as to how can we help with these even if it's a volunteer post you know what I'm saying meaning that if there's an offset in finance cuz when I was in Corporate America when someone took away this kind of money it's there was usually a reason it's like you didn't use a program you didn't you didn't do something right so you don't need this money I'm trying to get context as someone who bought a home here and I want to do what I can for Delo I don't I also work for the government now and I'm not far from my office I Haven really plan to move so I want to know I wanted to make sense of it if that makes sense we'll have uh more understanding better understanding when we meet with some of the political figures on FR I was just curious no we'll have answers yeah the issue is we're still trying to find out the answers literally what happened to us in camon County we had to sit down with a legislation and we came up with I was right next to nor CWS I was right next to a couple other influential figures and it was nope there's a problem here's the formula it's the same questions we have asked yeah it's cuz I met other people for my age we brought homes within the last year and literally like we kind of look at each other like okay like we like you know it's like it's give and take but the goal is okay I'm going to build my home here pay my taxes here do what I can and then you're on Facebook and then you see this this back and forth about what's Happ sh sharing's more negative but you can use your voice well that's right I'm here well not just with us cuz unfortunately we don't control those PS but you can write to Senator single there's somebody here who just did it right can write to theate legisl and voice your displeasure I mean Carolyn emailed me a similar link that I I filled out right away it was more people from this town that they hear from the better we really they this we've been down this road before the same politicians and they haven't followed through so the word of voice I appreciate the under the um New Jersey School Board Association under their overview there is a portion that if you have your PhD you could understand the formula but there's it is written congratulations on your your job being on awesome I know Ryan's daughter was a part of that well you guys have been awesome at w it was we were concerned for the transition but she's doing very well there and Mr St is awesome very look I always like to you know that any other questions or comments okay this is a roll call vote Mr dancer yes Mr M Garner yes Mr M yes Mr VAR yes Mr mcneel yes M yes Mr ja yes M Stone motion pass thank you moving on to operations and Facilities would like a motional approve items a through C in the operations and Facilities section moved by Mr mcneel seconded by Mr Barb any questions or comments on the operations and facility section this one is a Voice vote so all those in favor please signify by saying I I I oppose abstain motion carries you okay Kim yes okay uh board liaison reports uh Riverside High school um Sports site was uh this you know a couple weeks ago it was great to see a lot of Delano residents on both teams where where the the white team won the first night Maroon won the second night and maroon ended up winning um so it always great to see um that that kind of cultural staple of sports night uh come together girls work extremely hard on on what they do and uh you know they congratulations to every that was involved in that as as Ryan hit on Riverside did receive a significant increase 25% in their state aid um and their their bond referendum projects are moving along quite nicely where they uh for the first time I believe in school of history have a legitimate track that's not gravel uh where they can run practice on jump it's some amazing stuff that you can see there they they just became Blue Ribbon vegan schools all three of them became went through the blue uh the Blue Ribbon process and uh just this past month it was announced um that they became no the beacon is level lious and shoo for Lighthouse and njsba bcba Joanne I know we got the BCS update um from you County huh the county piece do you want me to the city piece there's something you want to report this is your time okay um the legislative committee met on the um the U 14th of March so there be um before that meeting the New Jersey state Schoolboard Association had a meeting and of course everything surrounding the um formula for U State a it's from 2008 it hasn't been updated and there's exorbitant amount of pending legislation to update that um the focus like I said was on the school funding formula uh there are two senators um that attended the State School Board Association that are on the committee the uh education committee for the Senate um very well versed and I thought to be tremendous Advocates um the committee took testimony uh it was open you could listen but you know if you weren't invited you couldn't participate um they're looking to it's called the school funding Reform Act and they're looking at specifically a census method of special education funding with an a formula is more aligned with District's current actual needs and at one meeting recently Brian about um as a general it's now up to 15.9% of your total population they'll pay for the special ed pce Lango is running at 33% of our students are special ed so you're absorbing that a tremendous plus but every every school gets 15.9% they think that their population is special ed so if they're zero they're getting that money but the district like ours it's half so big issue um they're looking to stabilize year-to-year Lo share increases by using a multi-year average of Equalization valuation instead of the onee snapshots um they're looking to revise the transportation Aid formula uh to include costs for transportation um two out of District placements but also uh extracurricular activities um there's also looking to advocate for uh security aid for pupil I believe now it's $95 per student um and they're looking to increase that because of course everybody wants their kids save and that cost a lot of money um also within um the discussions were School District tax ly growth cat flexibility to allow school districts particularly those experiencing statuses of reduction in school aid to reach out a local fair share and have that um be looked at um they're looking to increase funding for Extraordinary special education Aid um and actually the State School Board Association is looking at 586 million which is a total struct uh standardized cost now eligible for reimbursement so they're asking for that in addition um the assembly Appropriations Committee met on the 14th as well and they're looking at uh tax cap relief for certain districts experiencing State AG reduction um under assembly Bill 3452 uh the following additional items would be provided and that is the 2425 school year um for a school district experiencing um a state aid reduction and increase in the amount equ to the district State reduction so back um what Rob and Eric said um I actually learned from Rob before I even became School Board member um unbelievable Advocate never stop contacting your legislators um and even at the county level because they do control the spending for the brt county Institute of Technology and also the special school Serv so it has to be consistent most respectfully it can't be just time but there's um they're looking for in uh the 25 26 school years and thereafter for school district uh experience status a state of AG reduction as a spending below um my uh go to pursuant to njs 18a col 7-20 and increase to raise the general fund tax l um so that would be a conversation actually with Theo um a version of the bill has passed the assembly Appropriations Committee has been forwarded and on the 19th of March uh there was testimony given um to the Appropriations Committee um looking to increase the extraordinary Aid de so that's the other point being there's a dual track on that and then under another bill under Senate 2837 special education um the special election separate proposals which would allow districts to submit proposals to voters at a special school election to raise such additional funds um to the subsequent year so um right now there are 287 bills pending under the education committee um I think I'm supposed to say personally uh so much of it is geared towards mental health very few pieces for advancement in curriculum surprise me lots and lots of mental health um which is always needed uh but it is a Hot Topic um so I always encourage people to look and um it's very easy to contact your legislators very easy so um one great personal very dear to my heart is there a piece of legislation to break that person I wrote three letters Rob three incursive INE Mr since our last meeting uh the township committee has been very busy um not sure this was was by Design since it did women's history month but there was a very moving um and touching ceremony um by the uh by the municipality honoring one of our citizens Jude Spencer um who uh I took some notes Here was the first female EMT firefighter and police officer um in so was very very nice to see um very inspiring um especially father of a little girl it was very nice Deion um there's discussions surrounding um installation of the lights um and a playground at the uh the Field of Dreams um the township has um or is in the process of purchasing old street sweeper um which we are going to um utilize in conjunction with u Beverly shared services AG um surrounding that street sweeper which is pretty cool um there was a discussion um regarding um issues you know plaguing the municipality over the flooding um at that brid which I'm sure we've all experienced it late um and then the the issues uh working with the county to uh to get that resolve not sure when to get we're going to see any solutions there but um the committee is working on it and then um as uh Mr temp know earlier Facebook I time I go to Facebook you see the bridge is Clos um moving on to the Personnel section I got a motion to approve items a through m in the Personnel section M moved by Mr dancer second second by Mr mcneel questions or comments in the Personnel section like to uh thank Dr Fitz and everybody for working hard to get a grant writer onto the agenda here I know that was uh something that we've been working on for a while and be able to to start to see that fruition is a a good feeling that hopefully we make a positive impact in the school right this is a roll call vote seeing no question Mr dancer yes M gner yes Mr mus yes Mr VAR Mr yes M Mr yes M uh old business as I discussed earlier uh we are going to have a meeting I I believe off top of my head April 18th with the township uh regarding uh Library contract no all just kind of sitting and trying to see what we can iron out and IR put our goals out on the table Dr Fitz has offered to host that meeting here um I think our email she might not be available on that particular date so hopefully we can uh collaborate and kind of work on that ahead of time I know that'll be the first um yeah um Township committee has worked with us uh you know especially over the past handful years so we we appreciate that her willingness to come to the table is there any other old business to discuss this time Joanne um again I'm going to bring it up does this District utilizes Services of the failing Crisis Intervention I respond to that but I answer did the lawyer get back to um you guys about committies no so the the Committees that I emailed her and and um we uh you know obviously between anle legal situations that that they've been working on um might have been in the weeds I I emailed a proposal to her um waiting for her feedback with five different committees um and those commit that IA emailed her about include number one a budget and finance committee number two a committee on facilities and school safety three a committee on curriculum and policy four committee for communications and community outreach and five a uh committee on co-curricular and athletic activities so those were the five that I had recommended and asked for feedback on you know is this something you think would you eliminate one would you add something different um she did reply that she was going to to do some research and get back to me I did not hear back at this time regarding that particular proposal but that was what I put out there just just to be transparent that's what I why do we need of the guidance of an attorney in this I think it was just something that we were yeah I think the attorney was here at the time and uh we we defaulted to that saying that we were going to ask for her guide sheered uh for it um I think Dr pit said it was a good idea at the time I believe that was um was the last meeting it was the last meeting came here oh she the presentation it it was when she gave the the ethics presentation we had that discussion um then I would ask um going ask again about Dr Prince you had mentioned I believe it was in January that the super the county superintendent of wanted to meet with this board and I think you said March is that been just continued or put on the back burner it's probably on the back burn but I will inquire I can put that as a question to him find out he's skill interested and then my final question is I'm asking again we had talked about the last meeting of community volunteers that they can pass background checks we we lost our after school Dragon done and if we can think outside the box and get volunteers to work with kids for I know that we've looked at that policy we do have a policy in the district uh for Vol volunteers now the next piece that we got to look into we got to talk to this baring you because I believe that you use teachers to deliver that service and I don't want to get into a grievance here prematurely so I'll put that on my agenda as to be a topic of discussion with them and get back to get back toing their old business to discuss new business I saw when the test scores come out um the standardized testing that was done in the fall um when do those results no we received some tests very uman we the uh the do stopped uh doing B testing a couple years ago Sor start strong um it didn't really start strong so they've gone back to just the spring testing I apologize no no no no worries we're all learning as we go here um so we have our scores from 2223 we got them early okay but in terms of testing now we just sat down and develop our testing schedule for this year and then we'll get the results usually sometime the sumary the call do we have the test results for 22 23 we do okay thank you so much we we even just did NJ GPA we just did the NJ GPA test is that that's a high school a high school but it's different you know it's you're coming in the testing SE and what test will our children be taking what test will our children be taking in theun what's that just finalizes um get that community board the next couple as aard M really what is that we do here so for me I had find out for this board and I'm just wondering I know that we were of our AIT so we are um dting a lot of eyes crossing a lot of teeth had AE change we had a previous and there are some things that are still not tied up from the exit so my question is where do I find the goals and objectives and how do we make the goals and objectives of the district um available to the community so that our parents will know what it is that we're working on so then when we do have these types of meetings and we do ask for referendums and we want more money and we don't know where our money's going and we don't know what's happening how do we get that information published so um I've gone to a couple of different communities and sat through board meetings and sat in back and see what people are doing and what's working and what's not working and I'm not saying that this doesn't work I'm in here I don't know what what's working or not working but I join this board so that I would have a better understanding of what's going on here and I and is what frustrating to me because I thought I was lost when I was sitting over there but I'm totally lost sitting right here so I thought that we have committees and we don't I thought that um you know I thought that joining this board would mean that I would be allowed to have a little bird VI into what's happening here I'm I'm adjusting to the fact that I don't really make any decisions here I'm just or or an and I find it just really confusing so what I'm asking for is that first and foremost I would like for the goals to be published I like to know what they are because if the goal is just for us to pay for special education then I don't see how the rest of our children are going to get anything here we're going to have Ro or we're going to mer K in the same building I want to make sure that everybody in this community knows what we're doing I don't want on own Facebook page I wanted to be a a conversation that's had in some people and some people don't I wanted to be like really transparent so that way we can get more involvement we don't have any volunteers we don't have I I'm just so confused here and I'm just like I can't take it any I want you to be angry number one I was just talking and you started talking to Mr and no I was what I was talking what I what I wanted to ask Dr Fitz there was um if we had a set of goals that was approved because I know we had a conversation about it when he first came on did and um and that's respect what I was asking him it was 110% related to um exactly what you were talking about and then I was going to ask him even say like if that wasn't something that had been done that that could be something for a possible Retreat type meeting ictober I think in October November they were just listed though like discussion justed on everybody should know what our gos are so I'll look back and I'll see I don't know what our gos are I don't think our parents know what our gos are don't that you know I'm almost certain that our they know what our gos are and I'm sure anyone I but as a new person as a new member of this board that's someone who is tasked making sure that we meet our CL expective to know what they are and not have to around find countless hours of school meting I really good I just want to make sure we're not it sounds like the goals you're talking about the objectives you know x% students you know proficiency and all least you're talking more like like other stuff than just numbers right I'm talking about other stuff just numbers right so so the goals that we came up with just I think thetics I don't what are we here for what are we doing what we tell me that I'm supposed to be working toward something that I'm supposed to be part I'm supposed to be my research I'm supposed to be pres um and I don't know what I'm I don't want to be part of the solution I'm not a person that's going to put a problem without a solution you know but I just don't know what I'm doing here and I'm wondering if that reason why we're in this because some of us don't know what we're doing or what we're doing like you said like education is a business right and there's a lot of money invol these are people future voters future taxpayers like the parent in the audience I move to this community and I you know I don't know what my investment looks like I see lots of houses for sale sell really quickly here but what are we selling what is our product what do we produce I just like to wa in on this this is a very healthy topic and it's a topic uh it's a very timely top topic I think what you're talking about is saying what is our strategic plan okay so every school district should develop a strategic plan so we might we got to go back and we'll look in the archives and we see if has been developed because that's what you guys that's what the board is going to have significant input into say this is who we are this is our bread this is what we do and this is why we conduct these meetings to make sure they addressing the issues the goals and objectives in the Strategic plan then now you turn around and you say now superintendent what are your goals and I have to write out me set of goals you know maybe about five three three to five and I have to give them to you and I remember when I first came on they asked me what are my goals and I said here are the five or three to five things that I'd like to work on and they said can you would you be willing to work on it I said no no no that's outside of my my expertise and so I have to say these are the things I'm working on but here are the things this board is focused on doing and everything must somehow line up and so you know what this board is focused on but me as a member of this board I don't know I don't have the Strategic I got to find that strategic plan I I don't know that but I know what they asked me to get busy on doing when I first arrived and I said yes I'll I'll work with all those things I think I think when I first came I asked the same question question you're asking what are our goals what's our vision then we got a new superintendent we had to deal with what we were dealing with right now and I think that took us off that purpose because that was our goal we wanted to have a vision we wanted a vision for our community but we have to deal with these other things first to keep deal with other things first right because there's always going to be something comes up and that that's the argument there too and I see where that remember asking that same question what's our Vis what kind of vision have where is it when I ran I ran under the thought of there's significant amount of talk of you know this these finances are bad this this might cause this this might cause this and I I ran under the preface of there's got to be a way to save this school district and 2022 really Champion everything that's going on within it um and yes we've been dealt since uh let's just say since like August um to October and then August to October with the uh the resignation of administration toward hiring new Administration and then giving that Administration the the run and say like hey we want to know if this District can be this we want to know how bad are these financing and and we're really starting to get that that grip on it with with Arlene who's extremely um experience in the ba World Dr Fitz I mean his resume speaks for itself as well well um that where we have that leadership it's going to help point us in that right direction that that's why we're having a a presentation possibly on on some building consolidation that that we've been talking about as well uh in regards to your comments about committees I'm 110% like I I I propose those five I'm willing to propose those five to us and then if we're okay with it then I'll put together a Google form and say what do you want to serve them um or if somebody else has a different idea for a committee I'm I'm 110% on board for listening to that and having a PO come to a collaborative decision we can do that tonight if I'm fine with it um if if Dr Fitz can't find a strategic plan that was put together maybe that's something that that a handful of Us come together on a retreat type day to start to develop uh and and also help build that knowledge and that confidence especially among our new members such as yourself which by the way would extremely happily value you and your contribution please um know there Riverton Riverside Burlington Township um lots of school districts in I say the river towns they actually have a committee that's called strategic planning so um you know I know we did something since I've been on the board I just can't find it now there were three points it's on the but maybe it's all help conversation forward just to do better um it is part one of the things arene said about governance trainings um I had to do one and two real quick and here's like we should keep talking about the process even of evaluating superintendent and maybe that up started in October but lots of boards when you look at their minutes they talk about you know continu what I will do is I'll put together a Google form that'll come out to everybody and I'll put those six committees I'll put strategic planning on there I'll put it together with one of them and I'll say what committee do you potentially want to serve on we'll bring it to the next one possibly just put it all together um and and move forward at that if everybody's okay with that we do have one for the uh for that yeah so that's why I do that's why I was saying like let me put together that Forum let's let's move on to that so that way I can get everybody's feedback as to what their passion what they might want to serve on and then we'll tackle that at the next meeting on their old business we can also tackle that ex we can thank you for take my questions no no worries um at this time we'll open up the meeting for public comment on non-agenda items public comment on non-agenda items Carolyn's hand went up very quickly sen just to to follow on Miss Stone's uh frustrations and comments I understand where she's coming from I feel like by not having subcommittees you guys are showing up once a month you get the agenda the day of and you say yay or nay when you said as a Township Committee Member if I wasn't on subcommittees and if we didn't have subcommittees nothing would get done like literally we would just come and approve the agenda and improve our budget and improve our spending every month and that's it but nothing else is getting done if you don't subcomm especially with the state of the district you guys have to hit the ground run in and brainstorm and figure out where we can improve other than just focusing hyper focusing on numbers obviously that's what runs the district but we have many many other things that you have to address and I think there's shared frustration from the board I've talked to other board members and they're like what is our purpose what what are we doing what are our like you said what are our goals and it's frustrating I'm sure from your perspective that nothing is really getting done I know there's all these issues but there's things that can be done in the background by letting Bo members have these subcommittees and I don't know why you need to talk to your attorney about having a subcommitte well that's why I said that I'm willing to go by that and I'm going to combat the comment that that you just said as well um about nothing getting done I'm going to say that there is a significant amount that's been getting done and I I I really take offense to that that well I'm not saying nothing's getting done but I understand you want to focus on curriculum you want to focus on other things but those things sometimes get pushed to the bottom because of all these more important things that come up in these crisises and and you feel like you get one thing done and there's another crisis the next day so unfortunately there's some things that get push From The Bottom Of course there's things getting done but a lot of it by having subcommittees can be more FOC car what I would say I will gladly put that out we don't do a good job of publicizing all the good that we do do yes because you don't have a way to publicize you know what I'm saying so I think we know that yeah right and so since Dr Fitz has come on you even see even when we're doing our presentations we're putting out all the good right so now we know like that next step and something that Eric has talked about is getting that digital presence yes right so our road map becomes not just the one square mile but millions of miles and that's really where we need to go yeah right I know there's amazing things happening in the school but and I've been saying this for two years now you got to have social media as much as we all hate social media have to have social media this town has no idea about all the good things unless they have kids in this school it's very simple or unless happened to Duncan or it's a yes right and and and or or if one of us comes to a meeting and then we post it online but I feel like there's so many amazing things and there's ways to have parents advocate for the district they're just not getting the communication unless they're on the newsletter and there are still some people that read the Beverly be and newspapers and believe it or not if you read the Beverly be you'll see Edward or Park School they probably have a page and a half of the the activities that the school does and it wouldn't hurt our school to have a picture of these young ladies who just did this project in the Beverly B and and these kids who win student of the month I mean you take their picture put it in the Beverly day the other the other towns do it and uh I think that is a big asset for Delano Township is because we reach out we have the aison for every group in the town and we're active and maybe you can't do some of the same things we can but you can advertise what you're doing so we know I mean I have to come to a meeting to find out but I want to be a part of this I want to be working with the board of EDS so that we have a cohesive team again we did once before we should Happ again it's it's imperative for the for the residents but I think I think that's what you need to do and let them know where we are what we're doing and um all your future good things now after the last meeting when Steve J said something about the Beverly be I emailed them the day after um made sure they had our our board members and when she emailed back saying thank you for this information I emailed back and said hey you know if you ever need more content or would like to feature us please let me know and I'll forward you to the appropriate people I never heard of Peep back she well you know what she put information on the back of the B did anybody read it she put the Board of Ed Under the township committee and then the Board of Ed again so she has uh the mayor and the deputy mayor in dco and then she has the Board of Ed let right under that and then she has the board of I we always had a really great spread I think it's something and Dr fit I brought you the bever right and maybe it's just something that change change with administrations but Mr s had a great idea too is about sharing the kids school news people yeah all awesome so ex take some of that email that there's a there's a there in the paper I'm so sorry to cut you off there is a sufficient deadline and so we'll you have to send it to her she does not reach out to you because I do send her things on occasion and uh but use it it's we Township pays we pay to for so many pages in that Beverly B so what I'll do is I'll email to Beverly B with the administration c seat on it and say you know these are the uh the administrators a list of the administrators District who are going to be forwarding new content uh moving forward uh you know please uh be on the lookout especially for some uh some good women in stem type field stuff we that picture should be in the Beverly be the deadline is the second the second Friday of the month yeah April's is already F cuz I tried to get something El try to get something in for May and that that should be there should a picture of that with those girls and that should be in the Beverly big I agree yeah I mean that to me is I I enjoy reading it I contributed to it for a number of years but I would love to see some of the like Municipal notices taken out and have some pictures of what's happening at this school nobody cares about Le collection yeah I mean we can fill those pages with some good good information what what is it going to take to get a Facebook AG or social media for the district like every I feel like every other school has so Riverside has great PR campaign so to speak and that's something I spoke with Dr Fitz about about increasing that digital presence um and having somebody on the the staff start that um because that that's day-to-day operations that we can't necessarily get into and I know that that um she has a question sorry my name was I I I was just about to ask I'm like man I was going to say I'm so sorry that I don't remember your name no no no it's okay I actually want to piggy back off what you said and you to your credit you're very correct um all of you um Mr s and both of you um full transparency um I also own my own practice um but it's in Central Jersey and I also I'm CEO to another Medical Practice in New York I can't tell you no matter how much we want to believe that hard text and word of mouth and all of that has value digital footprint is incredibly powerful I have a lot of my onl plate but I will be fully transparent if it's like that's like my expertise like that's like why I work where I work that's why I get paid when I get paid because I understand the value like you're correct there're people they're not I I found myself in Facebook because I Google things to do in delango Google only gave me the Facebook page that's why my point of reference was the delinko township Facebook page so to your credit you're all correct you should be sharing more of the good and there needs to be more of a digital footprint because unfortunately we can put in hard text like I'm a person I love to read I also want curses back I could going to Catholic school before I went to prep school cursive I still write cursive till this day you know what I mean so I find Value in that but there are some people that are they just want instant gratification so badly that even if it's to see the good that's happening in Delo there's no sour source if you want me to run your Facebook page it is something I do in my sleep like I don't need to get paid for that just because I think there is value in the trickle effect and basically once people see the good there's less frustration like what she's saying is that what is my purpose maybe people will start to voice their concerns so then you create your objectives based on what the people want versus hey the bridge is closed I think there's more context to that I don't know what is what are the stipulations of that if there's someone in your office that needs training I could train them again in my sleep about that but that is a concrete thing people want digital context as to the good and the bad but trust me n out of 10 times if people see that there is good happening in delinko they're not running just to Del Linko Township um Facebook to find out what's going on they're going to be like wait a minute I saw the girls get like for example I only know of a lot of the things happening here to be fully transparent cuz my daughter's one of the students always getting them that's honest true that's the only reason why I I don't find any other um engagement coming to the parents without me having to fish for them if that makes sense my district that falls under me where we have a minimum of at least three social media posts a day that are scheduled well ahead of time we have a district newsletter that goes out once a month that has a QR code that now is going to lead to a fully functional online newsletter translated there's so much room for growth with it um and Kim Rob you guys will remember that previous administration when we were doing um an evaluation I made specific to put in there about one the social media present that was very specific about our Administration changed we had to deal with the problems that we dealing that's where we're at that's why that's why I think we're at right now problem is I don't think I can we have a brand new board everything is brand new so we're trying to figure it out honestly because that's one of the reasons why P we have to do this we have social media we have to do all these things but we got the time TR no I think it's wonderful what you're doing I'm just saying that if if social media is one of the deficit so that way you don't have to do a sub committee two three meetings for it you want someone to volunteer I'm telling you it's possible it's something I literally that's a side thing I do I build cases in a day a website in minutes and then you get social engagement to get yourself that's the world that we live in by the time we have few meetings somebody has I I think Kim in her comment um really right to the part of the issue here right so um when I came in on the back in the summmer um my understanding coming on and not to put too fin on was uh we had sort of a sinking ship situation and we bring on Dr Fitz and we bring on our me and we've sort of been in bailing water and my experience so far for you know going through these agendas all these Bulls are action items that are being taken by the administration in furtherance of bailing out that  now I understand that there is a PR component to all of this and perhaps it's an issue of being able to walk and shoot down at the same time but I think that before we start focusing on or putting too much uh you know emphasis on like the bells and whistles and I you know I think it's it's fair to characterize Facebook and social media engagement as aell and a whizzle I I think we need to get the ship to boing again you know um which is what I think our Administration is working towards doing and it's it seems like it's a slow process cuzz as as I keep coming and I'm seeing all of the work be done it looks like there was a lot of work that needed to be done yes so you know I say all of this um not to sort of air any dirty laundry but just because I was a little concerned about the taste that this whole discussion would have left in the citizens mouns here that you know there are problems and we know that it's cable but we're working on it and Dr Fitz and and and Mr pup and Mr s are working and they have my whatever work that um so I understand that you know there's a PR component where we might be lacking but let us continue to work to fix the schools and all of that other better stuff I'm I'm to come in and help create those Facebook and social Channel but I would have to hand it off because I don't think I'm allowed to run well it's on Facebook already yeah somebody post CHR Arnold posted the girls picture and their project so it's on Facebook there's a positive thing happening right here the only thing it's on her page and it doesn't say it doesn't say Delanco um but it is on Facebook already so somebody will get to her share so we can put Delo Delo Delo I took a picture of the we could post it on the Facebook page CU I the administrator presid Beach which by the way is not yeah right um trust me no one understand more that nothing quick happens in government and to write a sh Tak months and months and months and years so but trust me I know you guys are working hard is there anything else you can do really my only point I just like I know about weing that once a month coming from a t comme member perspective I don't think anything can get done and that's really all I was trying to relay I know you all are working hard we appreciate all of your time your volunteerism there's not Volunteers in this town and obviously the school district wouldn't be run without you and the new Administration so thank you for that Al I saw you had your hand I want to Ted was saying as far as subcommittees they're so important being coare Recreation I'm one two of them and it really really helps the value of it is just immense we're able to get out there me and two of people work through everything have it ready for our next meeting so yes you guys are volunteers we all have lives we have kids we have jobs I understand that but the subcommittee it's an extra meeting almost you have three people five people whatever you want to nominate to get things going to present in excuse me executive Sally when you come in front of us you can give us more and like people were joking with you know leaf pickup um the town is just so worried about what's going on with the rumors that we're hearing from 7-Eleven Dunkin Donuts are we merging are we not pack your thing should I should I not that's what we're hearing so by hearing that it's only making the school look that much worse so as the board you guys it's a slow process I understand that everybody wants everything yesterday if you can expedit to somehow to get verbage out there to let people know what's going on in the school the good things that are going on in school cuz everybody know knows the bad things that are going on to school in the town and it's not there to you the teachers the principal the super so balls in your court you guys just have to do something if you remember last year I was the one that that brought the committee structure to the table yep um proposed it a handful of times on away from committee a whole week made that progress to go toward the one meeting and I I think I was specific in that saying like now I I want to go toward this um I added planning I've already created the Google while I'm sitting back here but I know we're going to talk about it in executive is runs so to add to that if I can it's almost like Little League Sports you get that parent doesn't come to practices but he's there for the games and why isn't this kid playing why isn't this kid doing that there are parents in the town that just send their kids to school almost like you're a daycare and they don't know but there are a lot that do care so we do want to know what's going on I two kids go through the school program so I completely understand that um excuse me the problem with is is just the transparency isn't there you know and I understand from the last Super you guys did get a ball yarn was almost impossible to untack them so your hands are tied we understand all that people just want things to happen faster so the only way you guys can combat that is let us know what's going on and it's ER the board for a number of years I mean I've been involved Ina Township for probably 40 years only on Township committing for 22 but they always committees at one time and for some reason they stopped they wanted every member of the board to be on finance and be on this and I think that really stretches you I mean I have five lisons through the township Carolyn and I are Co on wck and we together on several things but we spend a horrendous amount of time working outside of our meetings to get the job done in Theo so it is it's difficult it's it's a lot of work but I can tell you that we appreciate every single one of you what you've been through and what you're going to get done and accomplished for Delo that's why we're here we're here because we appreciate you and we want you to know that the township is behind you yeah we support you as much as we can I mean so we're just trying to give you some experience that we have and uh what worked for us you remember when the township when the when the Board of Education went um away from the committee structure before any of us at this table were sitting at this table I there was a significant amount of distrust on that board and I think what what I tried to do is create that trust point right and I I think you I think you're doing that I mean I think you have a great group and um it's I don't know I think it's an excellent I think you have a good chance of getting some work done and accomplishing your strategic plan on our meeting on Monday I know Joan was there I don't remember if you were there Mike yeah Mike was yeah and Mr Jess we had an opportunity to submit well we have an opportunity to submit for uh up to $350,000 for a grant the senator put a request out for the town what do you want what your wish list s a couple projects that's what we did last year and we got to $250,000 for the lights with the Field of Dreams with soccer field yeah explain that to I mean to me yeah and um one of the committee members wrote back immediately $350,000 the school and literally I have had that same conversation with M with mayor Barlett how are we going to put in at our level as a Township level let's let's build another Park meanwhile our schools are struggling and got a $500,000 increase so it's very upsetting and we're trying to do what we can from a legal perspective from C but also it weighs on our soul as a as a counter Committee Member to see that we are two separate entities right we all pull from the same amount of taxpayers event eventually so we do care and we're trying to do what we can to support you guys so that's all we know there's a partnership here seeing no more public comment on non-agenda it going to move to go into executive session for the purpose of Dr Fitz and presentation so everybody will be involved in that presentation and motion go by Mr Dan second by Mr mcne all those in favor please by saying I Iain motion carries like to call this meeting of the Delano Township Board of Education back to order at 10:41 p.m. would like a motion to adjourn so move moved by Mr Jazz my second seconded by Mr mcneel all those in favor please signify by saying I I opposed obain motion carries we will see everybody on the 11