e it's G to be delayed I'll let you know this meeting to order the New Jersey open public meetings law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interests is discussed or acted upon in accordance with the provisions of the act the shuford board of education has caused notice of this meeting by having the date time and place thereof provided to the record and South bergenite newspapers to have published and posted in the vestibule of the burrow Hall and public libraries copies of agendas are available 48 hours to said meetings in the board of education office and are posted on the east Rutherford school website www. erboe.net uh please stand for the flag salute and remain standing for a moment of silence in honor of the members of our First Responders I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all roll call Mr Banker here miss Caruso Miss KY here miss Mena here Mr segalini here miss shamley here and miss larusa here uh fire exits are located in the front of the room to your right and out to your left um School business administrator report Mr verace thank you Madame President uh first item is our July and August report from our buildings and grounds and transportation supervisor districtwide activities uh throughout the three schools routine work orders and minor special projects um we are regular maintenance of the HVAC systems light in and plumbing to Ure all facilities are in optimal condition uh repairs they're addressing they're addressing issues such as broken windows leaky faucets and malfunction in electrical outlets cleaning and disinfection uh throughout all three schools as well as the board office uh there'll be conducting thorough cleaning deep cleaning of classrooms offices and common areas to main to maintain hygiene standards disinfectant they're using a hospital grade disinfectant to sanitize surfaces and reduce the risk of illness uh the next thing is that the all three gyms will be resurfaced they be sanded and refinishing to restore their appearance and functionality this is something that we do every year uh McKenzie will be on August 1st and the reason for that is because of the esy and the enrichment program that is over there uh an update on the McKenzie school kitchen upgrade uh we did receive our appliances uh installation of a new energy efficient oven a warmer a hot and cold table a refrigerator and a milk refrigerator These funds were from the excess cash when I first came aboard agriculture informed me that we had too much in reserve so I was tasked with uh spending those funds and myself and Mr bani and Mr Jan Casper we recognized that McKenzie needed a the kitchen at McKenzie needed an upgrade so that's what we're doing we're upgrading the electrical panels to support the new kitchen appliances at McKenzie as well as Plumbing work we are replacing old pipes and fixtures to ensure efficient water usage and prevent leakage and finally from his report the transportation department we have interviewed candidates for the full and part-time bus driver position on the agenda tonight we are putting forth two uh candidates one for full-time position and one for a part-time position we are bringing back two candidates to hopefully fill the third position on a part-time basis so we are moving in the right direction [Laughter] okay not collapsing on to Food Service uh maso's June report prepaid balances at the end of the month was $536 98 cents negative balances at the end of June 2024 was NE 6,754 111 also I want to report out on the Food Service program I know last year when I first came into to the district there was a that the food service program was not self-sufficient it didn't make the district any money I believe we lost close to 20 to $25,000 I'm happy to report that as of June 30th 2024 that the net income that we earned was close to 33,5 $500 so a big a big difference from last June to this June where we want to see our food service program be self-sufficient and run and not to run in the red uh what we're also going to ask the board is myself and I have to really think my office staff with helping me with the with all the negative balances so there is a resolution to clear out the negative balances of inactive students what might myself and my staff notic is that there were students from 8 to 10 years ago and nothing was ever done so those negative balances keep moving forward uh but just to let the board know I did look into no you didn't come up there's negative you search you search for it I searched everybody I searched everybody um so with that the board doesn't get a true indication of what the negative balances are because those inactive students keep getting carried over month over month month over month so I looked at our food service account we have plenty of uh funds in there to cover to cover this request okay uh pf1 is the approval of the 2324 statement of assurance submission for lead and drinking water that was submitted to the state uh pf2 approval of District use of facilities application this is direct Department if I'm not mistaken for uh volleyball and F1 approval of bills list number one thank you Mr Banker for coming in I appreciate that F2 is the approval of the June 2024 payroll F3 and F4 were addenda Minds because we did not receive the treasures report until after the agenda was sent out to the board members so we are we are where we need to be uh F5 approval of providers for tuition extraordinary Services contracted agreements for 2425 F6 approval of before and after CARE program for the 2425 school year pending board attorney review this is the Y the metaland YMCA requesting to utilize McKenzie school for um for the after school program myself Mr Jen Casper we have been in conversations with Mr coin about this and we have talk we have spoken to the metaland YMCA about making sure they make sure that they pay on time and not be in aers so that's where we are and I believe just one thing I'll add when we do that resolution I'm going to orally tweak a couple things on it before we adopt it so just when we get to that okay okay uh F7 approval School tuition rates for non-resident students for the 2425 school year this is based on the state budget software when I put everything the last line of that spreadsheet shows what would it cost what the what would it cost the district to educate a child 3K grades one through five 6 through eight MD whatever other programs you have that's what that line shows what it costs the district to educate a child whether they're gened or special education so we do have a student who comes from out of District that's what we would let them know what they would need to pay and just so the board knows because it was a question that was brought up there's zero right now zero tuition based students uh f8 I alluded that into my food Service uh conversation is the authorization of write off for outstanding food bound Services again this is not for active students it's for inactive students and when myself and my my office staff we looked at it there were students there from 8 to 10 years ago so uh I thank the board in advance for their support of this um f3a is the now we're going on to the addenda miners f3a is the approval of the financial reports f4a is the approval of the transfers for June 2024 f5a is the approval of provide I'm sorry so F5 is an addendum my apologies f9a approval to amend F6 as approved at the March 18 2024 board meeting as shown below with a not to exceed amount when it was approved it was a not to exceed amount now we're putting not to exceed amount for $45,000 for the school year f10a is the approval of contract agreement with Kelly Services for the 2425 school year that's our substitute company uh that we've been using for a few years f1a is to approve and accept the Grant application for individuals with disabilities Education Act funds for the 2425 school year and finally f12a to approve and accept the elementary and secondary Education Act consolid for 2425 school year if there's any questions I just have a quick question for F7 is there an exhibit there I didn't see anything attached I just didn't know if there was something it was should have been there reference is an exhibit a but there's no I didn't see it on mine I just didn't know was hold know I saw it earlier today when I reviewed it that's strange that's not there there was yeah there was like this spret yes I I saw it yesterday or two days ago yeah no it was it was there it it was there yeah no it was it it was there no it definitely was it was a spreadsheet no it's not there it's there earlier today I saw it I do apologize about that yes like I said it was there I questioned it so it was there yes we'll get it up there yes we will any other questions uh yes I'm sorry I just have one driver is that a new position yes it is we do have a full-time bus driver so what we were trying to do is to as everyone on the board knows we do have three bus drivers who are maintenance and custodians they've expressed their concerns that they no longer want to drive the bus we've made it a a mission myself and Mr bani to to go ahead and and hire people who will be solely for driving the bus so that our people can stay here and not be worried about driving the bus and we've talked about this in length that in an eight hour day four to five hours they're not here because between driving the bus morning and afternoon and their lunch so we felt that there was a need to uh hire drivers just for transportation okay thank you and bless you y I had a couple questions so on f8 when so we're we're writing off the money I imagine it's AUD you know we ran it by our Auditors about the process have to write it off to make sure we don't get in trouble and then going forward is there like a check now to make sure like at the end of the year say June these are the kids that roll off and absolutely thank you for your question I did speak to the Auditors so this is as of June 30th 2024 when I did reach out to pay schools it will not be reflected in the 2324 audit it will be reflected in the 2425 audit so the Auditors I've been in contact with them I let them know this is what pay school said they could do it as of the June 30th but it's when they actually clear it out so it would be actually for the 2425 audit I figured but the Auditors were aware I was hoping to get it for 23 24 but P School said no but the Auditors were were well aware and they were very supportive yeah I assume so but I just wanted to make sure was on the record because I know you do everything by the book yeah and of course and then next June and then next year it will be the same thing if we have more inactive students I will come to the board and say we have more inactive students no yeah yeah as long as like I said so that we don't run into a situation where years thr you know exactly yeah it just and it it it kind of just misrepresents probably the balances and everything exactly right and uh it makes things look much worse than they are exactly so when I read out to you when we have negative balances it's for active student students not active and inactive students so it's we've tried it's like how are we how is the business office supposed to try to collect funds from inactive students from eight to 10 years ago it's impossible imagine if you did get a uh I check uh and then f10a what was it probably in January we did a analysis of year like a year-over-year yes comparison of with Kelly are we able to do it for because and I the remainder of the year just to do like a full year over-year comparison just so we have right because we we had upped the rate for last year and we had all talked about that would boost that would boost the the substitution fill rate um and just you know we had we had done it and it showed through January I think our our I think uh G you you had done it through maybe even October November and it showed that it was the filler was increasing and just to kind of complete the complete the loop I'll let Mr Mr hasper you want to add anything to that I mean I yeah just we we had done that before so I'll definitely add the fill rate from I believe it was January to the end of the year yeah I think I think we had done it through December and we had got it in J yeah January to June and then also what we've been looking at we've been really looking at the amount of substitute usage that we have um to try to re budget a certain amount of money we don't want to go over that money so um a lot of times what we were doing is we were putting floaters in so that we had the coverage so we're just looking in on that I had an administrative core meeting with the admin ministration just to try to bring down that number because it was just yeah an exorbitant amount of money for substitutes so we're looking at that um and uh we should be in good shape we should be in good shape and then just lastly thank you to you and and Mr AB Shan and ju as well um it's been a a long effort as the rest of the board knows to get bus drivers it's it's taken a lot there's been a lot we've been doing a lot of work and uh so hopefully this all works out but I know I appreciate the work you put in you're welcome and it's of the support of of the Mr Jen CASRO and uh we hope to find a third person relatively soon and I just want to publicly thank you know the current sitting bus drivers that have put their time in over the years to assist us with you know transporting students to and from school so um as we move forward you know with the drivers coming in which would be great so that we can put our maintenance people back to where they need to be to assist us to keep our beautiful schools the way they are but I want to just you know publicly thank um all their efforts over the years at least that I've been superintendent that they've been driving our students any other questions no and that that concludes my report Madame President uh thank you Mr verace uh superintendent report Mr Jean CASRO thank you madam president uh so for student enrollment there are not exact numbers because students are moving in and out um as we are in summer stages So currently right now uh 381 at McKenzie F School 237 Lincoln School 156 774 students but that changes dayto day believe it or not um fire drills were done just for Mackenzie school because we have the extended school year um that was taken care of we have an HIV investigation one was put in place reopened and then a simultaneous one done at the same time so I'll be reporting out um that this evening in executive session uh qac so we did get our report which you all have um that we passed cusac uh again kudos to the entire District staff um it was a lot of work um but I will tell you that when we look at qac we just don't prepare for qac the year that qac is coming right it's it's making sure that we have best practices inside our school district so that when it comes we're not like shuffling papers trying to find things so that we try to do this um even starting this year for the next cycle so we're just preparing all of our paperwork making sure we dott all our eyes cross all our te's constantly working with our Auditors constantly working with our our counting offices which are they're second to none so thank God for their support and their assistance um this evening was part of my presentation right after I give this information we're going to talk a little bit about the preschool Aid I know they say preschool Grant but it is Aid so it's a money that we do get every year as long as we have the program I know parents have been calling and asking Mr G when are you going to expand your preschool program because I just don't want I want to keep my children here in East Rutherford so um we've been working on that last year um and now this year we are in it's not it's not if we will get the money it's when we will get the money so I will we will be presenting that today uh to this evening Dr King Dobson and I uh and the reason why we're presenting this evening so the board knows is because that's a prerequisite in order for us to the the funding or the grant uh the um the aid money that we're going to be getting we have to have Public public presentations so this will be one of a couple um that we will have um so that um the public knows that we are trying to do this and one of the great things about this and you'll see in the presentation is tuition free so we'll talk a little bit about that I don't want to put the cart before the horse all uh h B annual score was presented we have that we'll be approving that our long range facility plan we're still working on with the help of of um Mr verrai and Mr abani regarding the McKenzie roof project full uh the roof project over at fou school which is a small section of it um as well as our external and internal doors over at F school um over at F Lincoln and McKenzie School uh currently what we are doing right now is preparing for the 24 25 school year we're um looking at scheduling we just did our district Staffing um amongst all three schools uh we're preparing our student handbook our faculty handbook we're getting ready for our new teacher orientation we have a lot of new teachers coming uh to East Rutherford uh to to join our wonderful wild Wildcat team a calendar of events are being looked at COD of conduct policies uh this evening which will be first read tonight and next read next month and then we'll go into action for September 1st uh let's make sure Bing grounds we went over in special education to date we have 140 students up one student um in District 125 um and out of District 8 which has stayed zero so no no new students going out of District our extended school year program is doing quite well I like to thank all of our staff members Mr Barrow Dr King Dobson and all of the team there um making sure that we have a seamless uh extended school year uh also uh we're looking at the Staffing for special education for our elementary MD fou School MD classes we just we just re we just submitted our HIV self assessment which you'll be approving for all the buildings this evening which is an annual item the Essa Grant is now completed and uh again we working on the preschool Aid which we're going to talk about in a little bit curriculum Elementary Ela revision and new standards have been completed a meeting was held with our new four through eight science coaches to discuss coaching plan for the 2425 school year meetings were held with the Middle School principal and school counselors to Just sh up the middle school schedule because we do have staff members that are shared between Lincoln and F school so we're just making sure that that is Stellar um and a meeting will be held with the elementary principal and supervisor of instruction as we roll out the full new implementation of the phonic first um just to make sure I know there was little buzz out there just regarding building principles being moved building principles are not being moved Mr Barrow is still the principal of McKenzie School uh Mr V Mr valard thank you is those Italian names um LOL School Lincoln School will still be you know Mr vardi and Mrs uh barali will still be the principal at over at fou school so just wanted to just make sure there's any clarification anybody need to know that that's um set um over with our agenda so if we look at Super superintendent resolutions we have our enrollment our regular fire drill HIV which we went over the self assessment you'll see it for S4 S5 S6 that's our annual approval of our self assessment underneath the area of curriculum it's an annual approval for our mentoring program um which we have to provide to the county that we do have a mentoring program for any teachers that are going to be mentored student transportation request ests for the 2425 school year Transportation requests for Cross Public Schools for borrowing buses we we never really want to turn away our our neighboring schools but you know right now we're trying to not Grant Recreation for our buses for the month of August because we're really trying to prepare our buildings so just for the month of June and July of course we're trying to to do that um which will continue to do and then our extended school year calendar we always have to approve it the year before for the following year um also our school calendar has been revised um there was a quick change to our new teacher orientation so instead of the 28th and the 29th it's the 27th and 28th um because I spearhead all the superintendant in southern Bergen County for their training on Danielson and the new AI training which will be housed at um and cross at public schools on the 29th so that's why we had to to move because the gentleman who's going to be providing that training is in Italy and then comes back so he will be taking care of that um personel um you'll be approving the K Kelly education um substitute listing Personnel actions I was in touch with chairwoman um Caruso regarding our Personnel actions um Madame President all personnel has been rised um so that you can freely speak in executive session about all staff members our travel expenditures will be approving tonight in the acceptance of Miss Pina debrowski who who put in her re retirement papers with regret and then um we have the policies and regulations that were sent to you with a description on they're pretty straightforward there's nothing major big like red flags out there they're just normal um just changing of language throughout um and I believe that's the okay yes one other thing so we have under C5 on here there was a quick change so there's for addendum items so there's c5a which is the stability transportation plan that's for like um children that are um uh it's resident students that are on home school or to we're we're transporting no students back and forth that's what that plan is for which is done um that we're approving this uh this evening the six uh c6a which is the comprehensive Equity plan the county just gave us an extension so that we do not have to do a whole C uh they're extending it for one more year so the next time we would have to do it is the 2526 school year uh I want to personally thank and publicly thank um Mrs delinsky who's been working on it we are going to reach out to the county office because we are prepared to prepare the C we're pract uh we've been anytime anytime we get a new policy or revision to a policy uh it's always updated so I'm going to be reaching out next week to um the county office if you know do we take the waiver we're putting in for the waiver the SOA but we may be able to just bypass that and just do it some Personnel actions that are there some additional Personnel actions as well as the revised um calendar um there is one other thing which is C6 uh C6 sorry c7a c7a and that just came to us that is the revision of our our um remote instruction emergency instruction just in case got for bid we have to go to remote again we have to annually do that so that's on there for your approval there's a checklist on there so if you look online you can see it I just updated it and put that on there so that will be um on on your agenda for approval which is c7a that was the only new add-on that we were just told that that had to be done before July 31st in our next board meetings until the end of August and we would miss the deadline so so that's the reason why that's uh before you and that's all I have for the presentation after there's any questions any questions I have a quick question for the enrollment I know that we had projected a large number when we did our budget where do you know where we're at in terms of how many I know you said it's changing daily but do we know if we have an increase in student enrollment uh right now we're up one okay just but it changes like sometimes we've had it where we're down 10 and then we're up 20 it's just crazy how it because we're are transient District in and out but right now we're up one okay and that was as of Monday this past Monday okay okay any other questions no all right okay you want yeah do you wanna e e e okay so thank you uh board of education for allowing me to speak uh along with Dr King dos Dr King you want to come up so uh this is something that we have been trying to to uh Implement here in the east Rutherford school district um which one of the things that we pride ourselves here is no we hear we do hear um the cry out from parents about preschool and Mr G can you open up more sections can you open more sections so this has been something that we've been looking at um and we did see this is not new news but um some districts have been applying for this Aid uh and have been granted this Aid um so again I want to thank the board for allowing us to speak we'll try to get this within like 20 minutes if not quicker for you to understand it but it's important that we go through this so basically our mission statement um as you see here is is basically really shaping lifelong Learners here in East Rutherford and in order for us to have a stellar program from preschool 8 it's important that the foundation of our of our students which is down in preschool we start there and we build a strong Foundation as we start to elevate these students through the grade levels and I can't tell you and thank the staff enough for doing the great job that they do for our Wildcats and making sure that they have the academic rent making sure they have the emotional resilience that they have and really get them ready um to become responsible citizens here in East Rutherford so that we can be proud always of our students so one of the things that we were looking to do is of course access free high quality preschool education and this is for every child every child here in in East Rutherford while really making sure that our learning environment is is very engaging for our student and make it worth wild and really making it a stimulating place to stimulate the the the creative juices that are embedded in our children and really bring out the best of them the ongoing professional development opportunities for our preschool uh Educators and our AIDS one of the most important things that we do here in East Rutherford is to make sure before we bring any program in is we always want to make sure that we are making sure that our teachers are ready they're trained and ready to go from day one and that's what we want to do and that's what really builds a strong program here in East Rutherford stronger family and Community Partnerships I know the board has always charged me with that as a superintendent of schools to make sure sure that we're making sure we build Community Partners making sure we're open making sure we're transparent uh doing all of those things and really listening to parents listening to parents um whether it's you know negative positive you know we always take um all of that information to heart when we do that and then also looking for continuous Improvement of our preschool 8th grade program so the agenda this evening we're going to talk a little bit about preschool in New Jersey uh we're going to talk about the mix delivery for Universal preschool and the key word is mix delivery so going to you know hone in on that when we talk about that really important part in order for us to Asain this money it's important that we have preschool program requirements so in order for us to get that money we have to make sure that we have the program requirements that are there or we don't get the money it's that simple right Staffing components really really important and then considerations that the East reliford School District has to put in place so just to keep an open mind as we go through and if there's any questions at the end just let us know and if there's any questions that you think board members about something that you think along the line just you could always email me with this list of questions I know you've been great with that and all of you have been great with that so if there's any questions send it to us and we will make sure that that goes out and we can always present that at the next board meeting if there's any questions that parents may have so over there's over 275 school districts right now in New Jersey that offer State funding preschool and about 20 in 2025 the budget is about $125 million uh and if to support the expansion of our preschool programs and about $20 million do span is new funding un unfunded District so that's that's what we're looking at in our district one of the things that we look at is to aim at 90% of our universe so what we look at over five years so we have to serve 90% And what it looks at is the first grade enrollment right so if we have 180 students we double that right sorry we have 80 students double that that's 160 90% of that is approximately about 150 students over five years that we would have to serve uh Dr KS I'm going to turn it over to you and then we'll go back and forth so thank you for your time uh if you could go to the next slide please superintendent Jin CASRO okay so I want to talk a little bit about uh the mixed delivery for Universal free preschool this is something that the state emphasized they want us to try and collaborate with our Community Partners um because once we start offering free preschool they've realized that it will affect um local businesses to some extent because naturally the parents will want their their their children to come for the free preschool so they're encouraging us to collaborate with our um local Head Start program or Child Care programs and um one of the conditions of that is that we would be responsible for the implementation of those programs so although we are partnering with them we would be responsible for the curriculum for the instructional quality and um the state funding for those programs would would flow through the East ruford School District um one of the things that they they have outlined for us is that the programs can be near the district but do not necessarily need to fall within the district boundaries okay so preschool requirements I'm just going to go through this quickly so you have an understanding of what they're requiring of us uh classroom spaces and this is based on um New Jersey chapter 13 code and also uh title 68 chapter 26 right um 950 square feet if there's a bathroom within the classroom 750 if there's a bathroom outside the classroom um if we have 700 uh square feet of usable space we might apply for a waiver um for those classrooms but the 700 does not include bathroom and and storage space we're not allowed to have classrooms on second floors um some of the funding can be used for minor improvements and startup cost I'll go over some of the financial implications later on in the presentation we can use uh funding um to cover uh renting spaces or leasing spaces if we need to and um one of the requirements is that we must offer full full day preschool so you know that we have a a blended model where we have half day full day all of our half half day students will have to be converted to full day preschool in order for us to assign uh PA funds um to to those classrooms and um one another requirement is that we can we only we're allowed to have a maximum class size of 15 next slide please um other requirements each classroom must have one certified teacher one par professionals and the program will be designed to serve or three and four year olds we have to use state approved curricula um here in the district we already have creative curriculum so um we we're okay where that is concerned inclusion of preschool students with disabilities we already do that and we always um assign spaces in our preschool classrooms for students with disabilities so we already meet that Criterion uh coherent and comprehensive PD we do do PD and um what would be new to the district would be the of the requirements is that we have to provide preschool coaching for our preschool staff um implementation of a system for continuous Pro uh program Improvement we already do that we have the eer raing scale which we use and our preschool teachers are very fluid and fluent in using eers so that is something that we already um are doing uh something new for us would be that we have to establish an early childhood advisory councel and um I'm assuming that parents would be a members of that Council so we would have to get preschool parents who be willing to sit on that Council and we must participate in the National School breakfast and lunch program or the child and adult care food program and so as you can see like there's very specific requirements that we have to adhere to as we go through Staffing components uh lot of requirements um but the good news is that although they're requiring all these positions there will to fund the positions and another good thing is that uh so let's say for example a school nurse we're required to have a school nurse we already have a school nurse in McKenzie school the good thing is that we can assign some of her salaries with to the preschool expansion Aid and that money can be returned to the local funds um if we have uh a staff that we're using for another position say for example a supervisor if we decide to assign a a current District staff to as part supervisor of that program we can assign a portion of her salary from the paa and then we can return those funds to um to to our local um budget per se I'm not going to go through all of this um I think the board members have the presentation they can go through the different requirements okay so I just want to bring you up to speed about where we are in our collaborative efforts um I have started reaching out to um Community Partners as as early as may even though we did not have our um required meeting until about uh two weeks ago we had the meeting but I started in May because I knew it was coming um so far these are the the Community Partners that I've reached out to and um you can see the ones who were interested not interested um we have a few that are interested I have a meeting set up with uh the YMCA for next week we're going to be talking about um some classroom spaces um My Little University um they're they're very interested I did some inperson visits to these sites uh because I wanted to meet people have face-to-face interactions let them know that we're serious about the partnership that the aim here is not to compete but to collaborate per se so um this is this slide is just to inform you of of those efforts um so what I put up here is just a just a few just a few um just a few things for uh consideration um if we decide that we are going to do this in year one without mixed delivery which we can do uh we have the the information and the documentation that we can present in the application to say hey we have reached out to collaborate here's what we have and here are some agreements that we have for the for the the following school year um currently assigned CL only assigned classrooms in McKenzie meet the the the the classroom space requirement that they're asking for I had Frank um go down to do the measurement we have to be precise even if we are a few feet under square feet under they will not fund those classrooms so we have to be very precise we have to upload the floor plans for those classrooms and um you know all the all the kindergarten classrooms they have bathroom outfitted in them that was part of the referendum and so one of the implications that we have to think about is that the in the current kindergarten classrooms would have to be uh reassigned as uh preschool classrooms and just to just to picky back on what Dr K say is we've already had conversations with the building principal Mr Barrow about some suggestions on what he would suggest as the building principle about movement uh where we would allocate different classrooms according to the requirements so this is something that just doesn't get done overnight it's it's been an ongoing conversation um with everybody involved as an administrative team so just wanted to keep that right keep in mind keep in mind that we're not saying that this is precisely what's going to happen because we're still having those conversations with the Community Partners and if they can give us space we will utilize that but also keep in mind that we're putting this framework together we have to put together something that's sustainable over five years years right so that's something for us to think about next slide please okay so this is a lot of information here but um I kind of wanted to break the information down for you to see um you have the presentation you can look at it but I will quickly go over it um here I put in the slide for you our current prek half day enrollment and prek um full day enrollment to show you what the conversion would be and how many students we would be servicing so basically Ally under the preschool expansion for prek 3 we would have a total of 19 students with our current enrollment and keep in mind we would have to return tuition to these parents because it is free right and then um for our pre four students uh a total of 25 students we would have to service I presented two options within which we can um meet these students needs with the least disruption possible at McKenzie school um option two uh would be to um find one additional classroom just one additional classroom and combine create a combined prek 3 prek4 class because we're allowed to do that and that would buy us some time to figure out what our next year would look like because we have to submit an annual plan um every year for the for the for the five years we do not have to do an application every year but we have to provide report and we have to provide a plan for the upcoming year because over five years we have to service those 90% of our of our so just keep you in mind so it's the logistics it's the requirement right that's there and we want to make sure it's least disruptive that was the key word least disruptive uh to the to the the way the working of McKenzie school is is the option b now option b this would be you know ultimate um and it's ambitious uh with this plan we would need three additional we would need to create three additional classroom spaces at McKenzie school and um the information is there is broken down for you to take a look at and and and go over um at at your convenience and to discuss you know with superintendent genan CASRO any feedback that you have any preference that you have um I would encourage you to share them as as early as possible because the application has to be completed by August 14th so we don't have a of turnaround time and one of the things that you know people have said to me is well can we apply this year and start next year that's not an option we have 75 days within which to implement the the the the program and we put in the application August 14 we submit the application we do not know if we're approved until in the fall so somewhere uh September maybe early October and then the calendar days start ticking after that in order for us to um to provide the service is it doable absolutely um I'm confident that we will get the funding based on the way the application is set up and the points that are allocated and also because of the of a percentage for free and reduce um our district is one of those districts that would be given priority uh based on the data that we have for our district so I'm pretty confident that we will get the funding um you know for the for the for that Financial implication it's a state aid so every year the state will give us money for the program right um and if whatever our upcoming needs are we would have to let them know and they will just funnel that into our um state aid uh funds um and that's it yes I I went over everything else there um cost covered instructional salaries benefits including teachers power professionals coaches School nurses supervisors custodial Services instructional materials and Furniture transportation is also covered um one of the requirements is that if we provide transportation for our um K through a students we must provide transportation for preschool as well so um but they allow it they they allow I don't know if anyone will put their babies on the buses but who knows but they do they yeah they do they do allow for us to to factor that cost right into into into our cost analysis right so they will pay for for the bus driver they'll pay for whatever those costs are but we we have to offer those um those services so so the last one of the last slides is the consideration for the East wetherford School District of 25 26 school year so basically we're looking to find Partners outside for approximately one year right and as we saw the transition now if you remember those of you who were with me when we started the referendum we were looking at preschool third grade four five intermediate 6 seven8 which is the middle school right uh we were looking a couple years ago before some of the board members came on we were looking at additional space outside by MacKenzie School to make it a true Early Learning right so with this transition is moving third grade ultimately now this is not set in stone as Dr kobson said right I'm gonna say it again this is not set in stone until we know we have everything in hand right so ultimately moving third grade over to Lincoln School and that truly makes McKenzie school preschool too uh which I know a lot of teachers you know when I was talking to the teachers about they were like this is great preschool too which is a great environment for children to learn and and and flourish you know and then we have Lincoln School which would be 35 which is a true intermediate which is nice because third grade is like still Elementary a little bit fourth grade they're like in between four five and then they're not really middle school but they're not really Elementary they're in between and then making foul School a true 68 I know Mrs barale was extremely excited about a 68 still keeping at 68 which would be nice and then further exploring mix delivery methods so just to keep that tuck that away um are there any if I may are there any questions of the board at this time if you don't if you can't think of anything now don't worry just send me email I'll answer any question that you guys may have um whatever floor is yours I I'm just G to make a I obviously I think I'm a little conflicted I have a obviously a personal stake in this given that given that I'm gonna kind of take a step back right right I just want a great presentation thank you for all you you've done um if I may ask just kind of clarifying questions U oh I will make a statement as someone who has contacted all of those daycares they don't contact back like they're never going to pick up um yeah yeah I know you go in person half the time there's no one at the front desk yeah it's great it's great yeah um I love all you daycares please don't uh yes yes throw my throw my applications in the trash yeah um but but yeah obviously there are a lot of and I I appreciate us partnering and and thinking about partnering with with some of them it's for space um the one question I had now now I can't actually think of it um oh so the 90% is based off of doubling our first grade first grade enrollment so we have to have correct we have to have space for that right not space for the at the numbers because we have we obviously have a wait list and we have the numbers right but is is the 90% of doubling first grade more than that and then do we need to provide spacing based off of that 90% the 90% of doubling or first grade over five about 150 students yeah cor yeah right so if you break that down average like 31 30 yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah so but but keeping in mind also that um we have to filter special ed students and the preschool expansion only accounts for Genet so it's rarely 10 let's say 155 um Genet students that we would have to service over five years so it's not all in one year you can start small and then you can gradually increase or you can start B and scale back I I'm just thinking this because there is a possibility there's still a weight Larry where we we basically we have I'm saying still is right like like we have to have a special Le class we right 31 would mean we have basic two classes plus a special Le class we have three classrooms still have a wait list right I'm just trying to kind of obviously I think we're all trying to figure this all out and that's that's why I put the options up there see what the options would be um currently the way that we are if you look at Option a right now for if we decide that we're only going to service the students who are enrolled currently not the ones on this on the weit list right because we could say to parents listen um this is the space that we because it's it's going to be fail driven right so we can service those students now with one additional classroom which we we which we we will be able to find one additional classroom after having the the conversation with um you know uh principal bar we will be able to find that um if we are to service the kids on the wait list as well that's when um we're going to need about three additional classrooms when you do the numbers but if we do the 26 then say 26 28 but then we need to go above that right eventually because we're gonna have to average 31 keep in mind it's 15 each so you're saying 155 kids in five years 15 kids per classroom that's 10 classrooms that we would need to allocate so assuming that we filled up this spot that means in five years we need 10 classrooms to fit all these prek students and Mackenzie is certainly yeah and the whole point of this was to not have a weit list correct so correct so we that's why the Community Partnership is important but by saying there was just a comment a minute ago saying that something about the weight list if we have to service the weight list we do have to Ser that's the whole point of this is to service the weight list right we we want to open up more spots for preschool correct right but we're still gonna have a weight list for the next few years right until we can fully implement it is there a way that we can get the numbers of the previous year students that were on the wait list to see like how many this year were on the wait list 30 so that would be two additional classrooms so in five years 30 approximately 30 from 28 to 30 students that we have to put on a wait list because what's happening right now is we have a certain amount of spaces but we also have to allocate for fourth grade four year olds we have to have a certain amount of space for three three year old students to get into four so if there's spots open in a four-year-old we have to have that then we have special education students that are going full day too do we have room at Lincoln currently to fit third grade we have five SE we have enough that we we anticipated have five sections we do have some space there but we have to work with both Mr Barrow and Mr valard on how we're going to logistically do it but we again that that's only if we're just gonna stay with East Rutherford we could still have our partners as well we have so we would split up prek we would split it up and have it in two separate buildings half in Mackenzie and half elsewhere and how would we choose who goes to that I'm going have to ask Dr King on that one that so I want to take it back to them encouraging us to have a mixed delivery system right so we can have some classrooms in District and they they make the claim that by or by getting our Community Partners involved we're giving parents a choice right so our so our preschool program does not have an after school program that we run they have they filter into the YMCA program right so their thing is if we if we partner with a local daycare then the parents also have the option of an extended day if they want to go beyond the six hours that we um that we that we we you know we are able to provide But to answer your question yeah I did think about I I I came in here extremely cautious and conservative um my first instinct was let's move all the third graders over to Lincoln and let's do this but I don't know if everybody's ready for that I I know I'm certainly up to the task but um so this is why I'm just putting it all out there so you can think about it mull it over and you know give us feedback in terms of what you think it is that you want to do can I just ask a couple questions so let's just talking space let's say we were to open this for SE whatever we 75 days after it we get approval how does it and we have to take over some of those kindergarten spaces move people around do we have enough spaces that meets the kindergarten bathroom requirements and those kinds of things yes well well for kindergarten if we if we need space that do not have a bathroom the county provides a waiver for us correct certain and we have to we have to get that approved by the county the county will get we've done that in the past when we had the old but I'm saying we have enough close enough that the waiver would right now we currently do correct it would just be premature to give you a specific because we still have to work the leg no absolutely absolutely that's a fair question right right right right right right right um the other thing I had a question about so just clarifying so if we were to use an outside provider um they don't become District employees correct we are just paying them tuition and then how does that affect in terms of like so often some daycares do have certified teaching staff but some do not so would they have to be become certified teachers right so one of the conversations that I had with one of the the the daycare around here and I was truly impressed with their program excellent program they use a creative curriculum they have all the right things in place the only thing that would be a deterrent is um the size of their classrooms and I did reach out to ask about that if we knock on a wall would the grant cover that and would we be a you know so questions like that we've been we've been asking um but yes we they would have to have a certified staff in that classroom and then if we needed so let's say they would then need a nurse though as well right they would need those positions which would all be subsidized by the aid would cover those positions so if if we say we need a nurse then they will we will put that in our um workbook and in our in our cost expenditure and um that will become a part we can't necessarily like split the the nerve right so let's say we have B Riders now we need two nurses plus our nurse at Mackenzie right I'm just saying no so the goal is to find one place multiple class I don't want to say that right right right all right and then my other question is so in terms of special education so our current Preschool teachers do they have special ed and general education certification like are they integrated so we have two P PSD um classrooms I did not Factor them into this equation at all because I wanted to leave those untouched but what about so we're saying that these classrooms they have to make leave space for special education but not required to be special ed certified okay even though you're filtering special ed um teachers into it's an inclusion classroom they're not required to be um they're only required to be prek-3 certified okay and then would we have the flexibility though to have like integration opportunities let's still utilize that without counting them in that 15 okay absolutely she just wanted you to repeat what you I didn't hear what you said earlier in response to Sharon said something then you said something and I completely missed it oh yes one location multiple classrooms instead of multiple buildings with mult because then we would require a separate nurse right we also require a separate building principle then and a supervisor overseeing it so we would have if it's a certain number correct the one supervisor in that one building not multiple buildings if we had multiple buildings we would have one supervisor different have to figure other way like something you know it might go and there might be four different buildings right so can I wait can I just because my district has about nine of these classrooms already set up okay so between the two elementary schools we have three classrooms one in my building two in the other building then we have over multiple different providers we have about four or five classrooms I think broken up I think two or three I'm not sure how many providers so yes in each of those buildings they do have a nurse but I believe overseeing those nine classrooms there's one supervisor that we have a central location for that supervisor and she oversees those nine classrooms does that cut didn't I so for things like sorry okay like the certifications right for these outside providers are as a district are we required to provide like the funding for them to get certified or they're responsible for doing that okay we do not we're not required to put any expenditures out right anything that we have a workbook an extensive workbook that um ba and I will have to sit go through next week um with various phans they tell us we custodi um you know if we're at the prek we're going to need more custodial services so that has to be added you need the mic here that that would have to be added into the um into the expenditure and is there any like requirement that this then becomes like Universal every student who's three and four in the district would be guaranteed a spot in it or you were allowed to still have a set number of spots and have a wait list and set number of spots 90% over five years okay I have a few questions uh just to confirm that I understood this correctly and if we needed to use a separate location would the curriculum be exactly the same yes so both location they have to follow the same curriculum yes okay and then in terms of the cost just so I am very clear in understanding this it is 100% fully covered so if we need an additional nurse if we need additional supervisors if we need to do anything we as taxpayers the community is not putting out any additional that is correct that is correct okay and then my last question is in terms of the enrollment so I had asked this question earlier because originally um sgan casbro during the budget meeting we had anticipated a large increase which is why I had asked that question earlier but now doubling down on that if we are anticipating the numbers of enrollment to go up tremendously when we look at the projection over five years that means increases in everywhere which includes prek which is then the only concern that I have I I said it earlier when we were doing the the discussion on the prek I am all for it but my concern now becomes we're talking potentially another expansion to McKenzie long term or to Lincoln because if our numbers keep increasing and now we're adding an additional grade to Lincoln where are all these students going to right now you're saying we can allocate the space but is that going to be next year is that that's an excellent question and what we have to really hang our hat on is the demographic that we did prior to the the referendum which we're trying to see where that number is so whatever that number is which I don't have on top of my head and I get that for you is that's what was built that was built to sustain that number those many students right but what Dr kopson and I just presented is that we have that mixed delivery right we have that that we can hopefully with preschool but like you're saying kindergarten first second third we've already anticipated that and we built based upon the the demographic study now just keep in in mind we by law cannot build bigger than right we can't say we're going to have a a another 20 students in each grade level we can't do that the state will never grant us a referendum right anything like that or the approval to go out for a referendum so we we projected within the restrictions of what the state department allows us to expand any kind of given um template of a school district so to your point I I hear you loud clear what is if we have a lot more students coming in well well that's what we're anticipating right our bu preschool for preschool right for even it could happen sure it was I believe it was almost 130 just remember Based on data we have to make decisions based on data we've also seen that this is a transient District we see children on a monthly basis 15 in 20 out 15 in 20 they're constantly you know it's a revolving door um that's some it happens right I mean we're try we try to go based upon what data is is telling us but unfortunately we're at the mercy of who comes to our door um you know what we're planning to do in the next year right is do a re-registration right making sure that all of our taxpayers that are here their dollars are well spent and that we don't have people that don't live in East Rutherford um reaping the benefits of coming to our school without tuition-based um money so that's something it's a big uphe it's a lot of work to do um but we're putting that out there as an administrative team to do a re-registration that parents need to be ready to prove residency um because again once you open something like up it's the floodgates everybody's going to be coming in because we do have a really good Pro we have good programs here in each other and we pride ourselves in that but again we have to make sure that everybody is truly hear each can we charge re-registration costs to this program what is that could we charge re-registration costs to this program well any [Laughter] would wouldn't hurt yeah and and I just had a question and a comment uh slide seven it says no classroom above the second floor so it could be on the second floor correct correct not above right not above right okay and just one thing to that anybody who's paying tuition for or pay tuition that might be a question for parents that are listening in so if you're paying tuition you no longer pay tuition and that was my other comment that is going to the weight list is going to be bigger than it is currently because of that correct the whole point of this was to not have a weight like to reiterate that that the whole point is to educate all of our prek students correct but again you have to also keep in mind that we are making a cognitive decision to move forward to do this like as we can sit here and do nothing and then kids still come and have a weight list but at least we're making as a board we're making a decision to assist a taxpayers that have children that are paying an exorbitant amount of money in daycare to come in now and open this up for free right so as long as I think we're making a a really a good effort and to your point Erin 100% I'm with you but yeah it's to try to minimize that weightless yeah so question if let's say the I want to clarify if we have 30 kids that want to come and can we put in our plan to open up two classrooms the first year and then that eliminates the wait list like if we so can we it's right here it's option b I believe it is this is the best option for us this will take care of the weit list so when we get our answer comes September 75 days probably sometime around which try December Janu whatever because I know from experience a lot of these classrooms open up in January um we're trying to get a commitment right from these so if we have a commitment from we have a classroom at McKenzie and then a commitment at a local from any of these providers from one of these providers so then ultimately come January we could have no wait list and they would be they would be ready these places would be ready to accept students in January knowing like so here's my other before January before January all right5 days now here's my other my other thing now if we're looking at this this classroom in McKenzie okay are we putting students in this classroom come September to not prek like say we're using it for kindergarten okay so say we're using right now that we want to put this extra CL the kid we're using it for kindergarten where is that classroom gonna like if we're going to open it up and use it for prek then where are those kindergarten kids going again like are we going to root them and move them well that's what we said in the presentation less disruptive well right that's so that's but there was no answer of where those kids were going right like I get it yes you don't want it to be disruptive but there was no answer to because because remember what we said we still have to meet with the administrative team on the logistics Dr condution your hand rais so part of this is that just come to the mic so parents can hear you at home just want to make sure everybody hears you um a part of this is that you have to plan you have to plan ahead right right so if we so this is why we're having these conversations if I know what we're doing then the the the the wheels will be set in motion per se so that one classroom will be vacant will be there so that so to to your to answer your question no right it would not make any sense right right and just just to point out that you said that and it's true a lot of these classrooms they start maybe in January or so but when you get the funding they give you the funding for the entire year right they give you the funding for the entire year so let's say we want to be bold and say you know what let's start this classroom in September anyways because we know we're going to get the money for it right um that's another option that's another option that we you know that we have we can start the classroom and I know that there's some districts who do that they you know they're like what are we sitting around and waiting for we know we're going to get the funding right and we what we don't know is how much money we're going to get right so if we don't go big much we should be okay if we start let's say we start so if we want to do that that's another option that we have we just have to decide what do we want to do which way we want to go and maybe we should take some time to to I was going to say what is our like obligation as a board are we deciding whether or not to submit the application is the application being submitted and we're decided whether to move forward if it's accept like I'm just not sure where it's being submitted it's once we get the okay now we have 75 days to implement it so I guess with Dr kopson and I have to hear do you want to go big or go home kind of thing do you want to go B you want to you want to free classroom what I'm saying is this a decision we're making tonight well no there's really no well once we know we have the funding then we'll have to come back hopefully by August say Hey listen this is what we got we have the funding which way does the board want to go I think we have to just think about some things logistically here and Antonio I know that you're just gonna love this comment but the busing is a big issue cuz you're talking now you have to BU we don't we don't bust the pre- students right now so you're saying if we accept these funds or the aid rather we are obligated to bus the prek students or parents can take their children to day like to the to the preschool it would be the only two options we have so yeah yes my concern now becomes can we even facilitate the busing for all of these pre- students remember we would have funding now to pay for more full-time drivers but we couldn't get we couldn't we couldn't get fulltime drivers that was our current an option that we have an option an option and we need more buses an option that we have is that we do use sbjc for transportation right joint so there's an option that we can go to to provide the the the additional busing there's always a a a an answer right um we use sbjc to transport our out of District students they handle a lot of our all of our contracts for so they can put a bid if we need a bus for 50 students they could put a bid out for us that could be built into um the expended expenditures if if that's a if that's um if that's a concern per se okay thanks Ain can I go ahead sorry one last question for the in the event that we have a separate school they're they're hiring employees right so if we go to one of these prek the other pre that we utilize we hire all the employees so we're doing all the vetting the back our program they're just housing us just just confirming 100% no it's excellent question yeah I thought that was different because I asked that in the beginning I thought we said that we were paying tuition but they still had to meet our requirements but they weren't like getting paid through our they're our employees getting paid through the to the AG so we're hiring them yeah because you asked that question about the daycare St right so here here's how it happens right there are two ways we can do this we could go in into let's say my little University and I I say to her I want to take over this class you already have students I want to take over sharing your mic just so parents can hear at home in case there are parents listening I'm sure there's parents listening About Preschool so so let's say we go to um Little Tots and I said to Little Tots you have a great setup here do you want to I I would like to use um partner with you to use um paa for this classroom that that's one way we could do this right I could say to her listen I need to get a certified teacher in here car professional you already have creative curriculum and all that stuff and the state gives them um an amount per pupil right that's that com they look at the county they look at the rates for daycare and then they churn a number out and that goes to the daycare but all the funding for that program so if they're use for their custodial staff if we're paying for that for some a portion of that that comes comes through us right the state give us the money and it comes through us then the other option is if we're leasing from them or we're renting from them then that's we have complete full ownership of of that um of that program does that make sense yes just so just so I understand if we are partnering and we do not lease and we do not have ownership we are utilizing their employees it would be their custodians their teachers all of that their teachers their teacher is pre- certified if their teacher is not pre- certified they have to because there's a contract they have to sign with us with the understanding that if your teacher is not pre- certified then now we have to find a pre- certified staff to put in that classroom okay so will we be doing thorough background checks and everything that we would require like we do with every employee of ours even though they're already hired there I just want to clarify we will still go through and we're going to require them to do the fingerprints and the background checks and everything else I would definitely make conservative effort to make sure that that gets done absolutely okay yeah they do they do but just again we want wait on the record right yeah yeah no no those those are excellent questions exent questions concerns thank you okay thank you I apologize happy birthday Amanda happy birthday to your daughter e sorry August if unless we wait until school starts and then maybe do it in early September maybe a back to school night something like that or a parent Academy that's another one I know no not back to school night is crazy but maybe a parent Academy that's just fixated just on this so the parents at home have an have access to it so they understand okay any other questions are we okay I'm looking at everybody okay yes Maria will be right back but I'm gonna continue Okay is Tom Tom's right here is okay so at this time I'm GNA open to the hearing of the citizens opening public comments on any agenda or non-agenda items state your name address for the record address the board president each person wishing to speak will have five minutes each anyone wishing to speak will be given the opportunity to do so makes me happy go okay so um yes so I I got your email okay um I'm willing to extend the time so you don't have to come back multiple times given within a reasonable amount of time so how long do you think you're going to well here's the thing my a from my husband is gone home at 7:30 so I'm okay so we'll start if I have to come back I will how's that but I don't think I would have been you know more than maybe 10 minutes okay perfect this is gag it's just before you start too problem before you start too just a couple of things board we can't discuss obviously Personnel issues or anything critical of any Personnel anything like that so I would just be like cautious and mindful in your comments um to bear that in mind that we can't be critical of other employees and and employees on the board and the board can't discuss anything or respond to anything in that regard so okay hello all right all right good evening to all is it truly Equitable for one individual to have 40 minutes to present their defense while I'm a lot of five and thank you for the extension um I stand for you as a former dedicated employee of this district and a committed citizen of our town for decades throughout my tenure I have consistently demonstrated my dedication to the truth and the betterment of the community the opening quote presented at the June board meeting was quite upsetting the comparison of misinformation to a disease is apt but it is crucial to address the context in which it is being used when we discuss misinformation we must be diligent about its sources and intentions unfortunately rather than answering the legitimate questions I have posed some have resorted to calling me a liar this tactic is not only unfair but also a deliberate attempt to deflect from the essential issues at hand accusing someone of spreading misinformation for their concern is a disservice to the principles of transparency and account ability that our community upholds it undermines trust and shifts the focus away from the answers we all deserve as a longstanding member of this community my commitment has always been to seek truth and Clarity not to deceive or mislead let us not allow baseless accusations to Cloud our judgment or detract from the real issues instead let's focus on constructive dialogue grounded in facts and mutual respect it is through honest and open Communications that we can truly Safeguard the foundation of informed decisionmaking in our society again let's be clear I know what the title one BSI program entails and during my in-person address to the board in May which I emailed the hard copy to each one of you on June 5th 20124 I referred that the many documents in the packet which include the student information worksheet it's in the packet that I gave you and the student is was ofmost importance and I have highlighted that and uh boxed it off I never debated all the pertinent information needed to service our tier three tier 2 students all this information We Gather is vital for the state funding to service the students who meet the criteria for entrance into the program what I was referring to is the roster and monthly minutes in your packet on the other side two separate sheets um okay oh I just lost my plate place before you are the few documents so that you can visibly see what I'm referring to if you look at the student information sheet and the individual student Improvement plan all the students information is there even the week student services that indicates times per week and total hours and minutes my concern is why do we have to do a monthly roster and monthly minutes when we already submit this and update it accordingly within the school year my take on it it's only my opinion that it made it easier to complete doing the work however don't tell me that the state mandated these two forms since our assistant superintendent did say she came up with the two forms at her presentation they were never part of the main packet and when I called administrators of course they knew all the pertinent information needed to service these students they had no knowledge of these other two forms also once we fill out all these 12 pages of information and send it to our assistant superintendent it should have been recorded on the Genesis platform after all this is a 21st century and BSI should have been tagged all students then all stakeholders would have all the information needed at their fingertips ESL is tagged it's usually with a flag special ed is tagged it's a folder even the nurse tags any students who have a medical issue with a Red Cross but no basic skills students were tagged when I was working it would have have alleviated a lot of paperwork it would it would also show when they enter exit the program and so much more but I don't have the time to go into that when I asked the child study team why this wasn't done the response I received was it's not their job well then whose job is it who then tag specialed students I have an idea and ESL students maybe the ESL coordinator and that ESL teacher does get a stiping if ESL is under the title umbrella I'm sorry I think I put title one I think it's title three then why didn't the ESL teachers have to do a monthly roster monthly minutes as well what I'm fighting for here is equal equal opportunity for all notice I have a parent letter in there and the parent letter States during the regular school day these programs will give your child the supplemental instruction noted below having the afterschool program is a wonderful program I first ran it but that does not suffice for the inclass or Pion instruction our sister and superintendent said yes we have basic skills and I believe she was referring to the after school program in the students who received BSI in grades K and one again what about our second third and fourth graders that was not answered also not every child who meets the criteria enrolled enrolls in the after school program they have other things to do after school so how do we account for them let the truth be told they totally missed out members of the board I ask you who now information not me it's all in the forms so I have these talking points because I didn't know whether or not I would have time but um there were some um uh in presentation that there are two be basic skills teachers in McKenzie I would love to know who the second one is second one could be on paper but that person was pulled to take over another class the MD class under those circumstances so I would love to know who the second BSI teacher is I left and that was it um and she also said that the BSI teacher from McKenzie occasionally goes to Lincoln that was me I went to Lincoln School every afternoon McKenzie in the morning Lincoln in the afternoon no one from McKenzie has gone to Lincoln School for vsi um and then that F comes to mck menen well in all my years down there not one of the person th came to McKenzie for BSI okay um it could have been that she's referring to the after school program yes all the teachers then come down and service the kids for the extended year so um that's not instruction during the school day which I highlighted in the parent letter that the instru instruction would take place during the school day not the extended year and that's a different letter that goes home to the parents then it was said that we have annual meetings I had one annual meeting when the assistant superintendent or director of curriculum came on board and that was the first year never had a meeting after that parrent meeting first year never had a parent meeting after that we did have that with Miss P every year we met with the parents all right so if you look at the forms and those are just a few forms I put in but I emailed you the whole packet you will see that this monthly minutes and rosters is redundant and if I didn't have the administrative um permission to get into Genesis what happened before I did we had to run around and get all the materials go to child study team they had to print out all the state records the the the the state testing the map testing and we had to create our own Excel sheet from there to see what kids meant the criteria well why this like again this is 21st century we need to put this all on Genesis and this was not and I also put it in the the staff memb observation because the assessments weren't even tagged they might be now I don't know but I did put it in a staff member's observation you need to put state in Genesis and I did that for two years in a row and as a supervisor doing the observations we make recommendations and the next supervisor that goes in should be reading my recommend ation to see whether or not that staff member has implemented what I recommended so it took two years and um again I don't know if these assessments are um are there Mr Gian Casper said we have a director of curriculum and yes that's another title but it's not just writing it down on paper I mean someone to go in there in the trenches with the teachers to oversee what the coaches recommend to enhance instruction and by the way those coaches are there maybe twice a month when we have our PD we have it called lunch and learn so those coaches aren't in the classroom they might be in the beginning of the year they might go do a demo lesson here and there but then we met during lunch and learn and again wonderful woman I'm only talking about the ELA coach okay wonderful woman knows her material knows every but yet again making those recommendations to the teachers who's going in and seeing whether they're implementing it and that's what a director of curriculum does funding I never indicated that funds were hidden I just asked where the funds went and I got got an answer $80,000 I believe went back to the local funds and for years I have asked Administration to hire another BSI teacher if not full-time part-time but we always they always came up and said we don't have the money one other thing we can't get substitute teachers I don't know why many times the ESL teachers special ed pushin teachers gifted and talented teachers BSI teachers have to cover classes so now we don't have contact time with our kids so how do we get away with that well it was stated that well BSI kids are in there so you know we recovered however I'm not I am not giving services to my students and there's one thing that really bothered me here is what was my title as a teacher because as it was stated last month I am not tied to Title One funds so what is my position that's what I'd like to know I twe for many years so I want to know what was my position if I was not tied to title ones and I understand that only one teacher is to get these funds but to say that I retired and I had nothing to do with Title One funds that is hurtful because when you come and we do the budget you are giving me some money for title one so I am very upset about this whole thing and yes I could have brought this up a long time ago and I didn't because I have respect for everyone but when a year and a half goes by and you're telling me basic skills what happened to those second third and fourth graders that didn't attend the after school program because that's what you're trying to get away with thank you if there's any questions just let me know if you don't understand forms just look at the whole packet look at the whole packet and you'll see on every form the ethnicity is there everything that needs to be recorded for the state you can get off there and yes fine uh you know that little uh roster and and monthly minutes did make maybe Miss uh the assistant superintendent's job easier and I don't have a problem with that but we had a run to get the grades from the teachers before I got that access in uh in Genesis okay thank you I'm sorry no that's okay thank you for your comments and that was a great presentation I have to say I'm very happy about that whole pre uhk program makes my heart happy thank you thank you okay Mrs gagas thank you very much for your comments um especially last month I I do want to say that one of the questions that had come up um was what you had represent you said tonight you know about hidden hiding funds and when he had mentioned about no no no no when you mentioned about funding um we just wanted to make sure that we were clear with the public because it was a public comment about you know what we do with the funding that we we find we we're very strict with those things and making sure that we stay within the law so that was something that might have been on our part the way we perceived that but we didn't want that negativity to be perceived out there in the public right so that was number one number two I want to publicly say that miss gagas you have been a pleasure working when I work with you um Miss gagas has had a plethora of things that she had said to us and knowledge based that she had on instruction and that's why as superintendent when it came to my attention to make miss gagas a supervisor of instruction there was not one person on the administrative team that said no Miss gagas no you know that was Full Throttle ahead um one of the things that sat with me as superintendent is because of the relationship I know I had with you um and the administrative team thought so highly of you um and even the teachers the teachers went to miss gag so many things Miss gag like they're always in my classroom you know asking questions and that's just the truth and I'm not just blowing steam at you that's just the truth that's I want to go on record that that's the truth um I just wish that you would have picked up the phone uh contacted me directly or Dr King Dobson because I'm still giving you the invitation like I gave laugh month to you saying that please you don't need to come to a board meeting right and share your your feelings of it because you're a wildcat you're still a wildcat retired but you're still a wild cat okay and you have really important Insight on things that you need to share or maybe something that would have been bothering you especially during your time when you were tenured here you know because you said this is going on right so even when you were tenur I wish you would have brought because you've mentioned things to me over the course of the time that we've been together um that maybe bothered you because you are always about the children and that's what I you for right and you still are um so I I I invite you again this is the second invitation to have Mrs gagas come in on your time so I know your schedule is tight come in with this list sit with Mrs King Dr Kings tonight let's go through all the pieces that you're questioning because some things changed since you've been employed here and things that have been added and taken away and you know and if there's redundancy we're open you know one of the things that he's not here right now um truste uh calini had said is that being transparent it's why we're we're out there televised right um and I please come and see us don't wait until the next August boy me come there's a time we're always available we'll make our time available for you to sit down to go over these things yeah please and like I said I just don't and and and and believe me when I that comes from the bottom of my heart and this is not to cover anything or you know make you feel a certain way but that's the way I've always L as a superintendent and you know that if there's something that you believe that something's not right come and I will make sure that I'll let um Mrs delinsky know that we spoke to reach out to you you let me know when it's convenient for you when you have the as much time as you want and we'll go through this we'll go through line by line things like that and then I will report back out to the board about what our findings were what needs to change what was indifferent and we'll go from there that's all I can offer as a superintendent of school so comment on that but I will when I come and sit with yes please I appreciate that Mary no of course of course and I we appreciate you we do we really do I did want to sit down and speak and picked up the phone and said please stop by okay well and we'll address that we'll address that I promise you that thank you m thank you no pleasure thank you any other comments no okay seeing none I close the hearing of the citizens I have done a power minute split screen or you don't do that I just was wondering because I was like you know no yeah no no yeah no yeah no the email and the attachments we all had so that was we knew what you were referencing okay and and just so you know Miss gagas the information that you sent this because it's not on this Communications correspondence you'll see your communication on the August correspondence even we addressed it tonight just so that we have it on record that you provided more information to the board okay you're welcome thank you okay so correspondence to the members of the board uh we have one that we received 62524 an email from a Caruso regarding a title one communication and services um due to the content of it because it has to do with students and whatever um I talked with the attorney and we are going to discuss it but we're going to discuss it in executive session due to that it has to do with student I just can I understand that portion I just have I guess a generalized question um that I think is worthy of addressing publicly and that is to Circle back on the previous meting and just to double down on Mary's comments I'm I guess a little confused as to like I need Clarity did we have a laps in those yeah we we're gonna have to discuss this in executive session um because this involves Personnel actions um Personnel issues like uh children's identity in this one um and I got to get my head around all these accusations because if we start talking about that now it can adversely affect people's employment so we can't discuss it in public we could talk about an executive and there's certain issues you want to talk about we have to vet that and figure out whether we can go into public on it okay so even though these were a part of the presentation that we had addressed last week it's the same question priority gon have to go into executive and we can talk about it in executive and see how we're going to deal with it um but if there is stuff when we come out that we can discuss Us in public is we do want to be completely transparent and know that we are going to discuss this we can come out and then discuss what doesn't violate the student privacy and the employment out in public okay okay all right um adoption of Prior board meeting minutes um upon the recommendation of the superintendent the board hereby approves the following Board of Ed meeting minutes May 23rd 2024 public session meeting minutes um May 23rd uh 2024 public executive session meeting minutes June 13 2024 work session meeting minutes June 13th 2024 work executive session meeting minutes June 20th 2024 public session meeting minutes June 20th 2024 public executive session meeting minutes just a quick question for those board members are wondering why we have three on there because in may we didn't have enough board members to approve the minutes that's the reason why we're doing may now we have enough but before we didn't but you weren't here in the May so last month we didn't have enough now we have enough there were certain amount of board members who were absent so that's why we tabled it for this month can I there's four of us that were here yeah yeah yeah we were here you can still vote on it tonight but you couldn't do it we couldn't do it l do we need to make a motion before I make a comment or no I don't know correct no no she he wasn't one two would abstain one two three three would abstain I can I can vote on the executive but not the public for June so we would have to table June 20th public session meeting minutes only and everything else can be voted on but just can we just note in there um right it's just the majority of who's here correct still can we also just like for the 20th though public session meeting um for the walk-on item um it was f22a mine was an exstension because I wasn't in for the beginning so I didn't vote on the walkon because I joined just during PR public uh executive session and then came out but didn't vote on the walkon so it said yet that I voted yes to it in the minutes an F so f22a under June 20th mine should be an Obion and then we just table June 20th f22a walk-on resolution it was but Drew had asked he said that it would better sa since I wasn't there for the previous discussion rest of the meeting and then we just table June 20th so have just table June 20th the next the there the public session meeting everything else can be voted on tonight okay um I need a motion to table what don't we just remove it without the uh the one that we don't have enough votes on June 20th we're going to remove remove uh public June 20th we're GNA not move we're going to table the public session and the executive sessione I think exactly we have enough don't we no we have enough to the executive session don't we she J Jillian came late oh so now you got table both I can vote on the executive I think right was there for the end right 15 minutes in just remove the other ones okay got it so yes and then just move 23 and 13 13th and I have a motion for May 23rd public session May 23rd executive session June 13th work session and June 13 work executive roll call Mr Banker just a little tricky um yes on June 13th sessions okay and obstain from the May 23rd um right because there public session right so yeser June 13 abstained from May 23rd correct Miss Caruso yes Miss KY yes Miss Mana yes Miss shamley yes and Miss laruso abstaining from the May 23rd and yes to June 13 okay noted superintendent resolutions upon the recommendation of the superintendent the board hereby approves the following motions S1 through S6 S1 approval of fire and emergency drill report S2 approve approval of enrollment report S3 approval of harassment imit intimidation and bullying monthly report S4 authorization to submit Lincoln School 2023 2024 self assessment under AB S5 authorization to submit fa Middle School R 2023 2024 self assessment under ab 6 authorization to submit McKenzie school 2023 2024 self assessment under AB no moved second um any questions roll call Mr Banker yes Miss Caruso yes Miss colie yes Miss Mana yes Miss shamley yes Miss larusa yes uh curriculum committee Miss Shamy thank you Madame President uh upon the recommendation of the superintendent of the board hereby approves motions C1 through C4 C1 approval of the East Rutherford school district teacher mentoring plan for the 2024 2025 school year C2 approval of student transportation requests for the 2024 2025 school year C3 approval of Transportation requests from cep public schools to borrow buses and C4 approval of extended school year calendar for the 2024 2025 school year I'll move any questions roll call Mr Banker yes Miss Caruso yes Miss kie yes Miss Mena yes Miss shamley yes Miss laruso yes um Personnel committee Miss Caruso thank you madam president upon the recommendation of the superintendent the board hereby approves P1 approve the Kelly education substitute list P2 Personnel actions P3 leave of absence P4 approval of travel expenditures and P5 the acceptance of retirement for Paulina Dei with regret second any questions roll call Mr Banker yes Miss Caruso yes M KY yes Miss Mena yes Miss Shenley yes Miss L yes and that ends my report Madam president thank you uh physical facilities committee uh since Mr calini had to leave Mr Banker sure do you wna let Miss Mena read this since she doesn't have anything in her no I've got stuff tell do okay I do care Miss never mind never absolutely upon the recommendation of the superintendent the board hereby approves the following motions pf1 pf2 pf1 approval 2023 2024 statement of for submission of lead uh drinking water pf2 approval of District use of facilities applications second any questions I seeing none roll call Mr Banker yes Miss Caruso yes Miss colie yes Miss Mena yes Miss shamley yes and Miss laruso uh yes to pf1 and I'm going to recuse myself from pf2 okay thank you um let's see Community Relations Committee Miss colie thank you madam president um upon the recommendation of the superintendent the board hereby approves motion cr1 uh waving requirements for two readings and approving the following mandated revised policies and regulations do you want me to read those policies the names of them no we don't need to okay second any questions any questions oh all right roll call Mr Banker peruso yes Miss kie yes Miss Mena yes m yes Mr Russo yes uh technology committee Miss Mana even though you don't have any agenda items but I do believe you have a report this is my moment to shine all right so for technology as part of the information security program plan the district continues to proactively evaluate all appropriate District Technologies to ensure the safety and security of our data and information systems planning scheduled maintenance and improvements for the 24-25 school year is ongoing e- rate purchasing for the 24-25 school year is ongoing to support the technology infrastructure ac across the district with the start of the fiscal year being passed work to fulfill components of the plan has commenced purchasing based on the approved budget has begun with major purchases including staff laptops being a main priority student devices were collected and inventoried following the conclusion of the school year finally lists have been created and the technology department continues to send notices to the families of any students with outstanding fines fines must be resolved prior to the district owned technology in September the 2425 school year will see the continuation of the annual technology fee to help support technology programs in the district all students throughout the district will need the fee to be satisfied alongside their acceptable use agreements in order to use and take possession of District owned Technologies for forms are updated annually to account for new information the district continues to use Genesis to share and collect data from families through the fors portal to allow for efficient and paperless communication the district continues to evaluate varying technology platforms to help support productivity efficiency and instruction within the district the district continues to evaluate policies and P and procedures related to the appropriate Technologies to help support productivity efficiency and instruction within the district thank you madam president see Tommy I told you second does anybody have any questions okay thank you Miss Mana all right finance committee Mr bka upon the recommendation the superintendent the board hereby approves motions F1 through f8 F1 approval of bills list number one July 2024 F2 approval of June 2024 payroll F3 approval of financial reports for June 2024 F4 approval of transfers for month of June 2024 approval of F5 approval of providers for tuition extraordinary service contracts and agreements for the 2024 2025 school year F6 approval of before and after CARE program for the 2024 20 I'm assuming that's 2025 it says 2024 2024 it's 25 correct yeah yeah that one you guys vote on I'll okay just before I'm sorry Mr bank before the board votes you will not be voting on F3 F4 and F5 because those were addendum items so it'll be F1 through F2 no that's an addendum item F5 is an addendum item yes and F6 through f8 I just wanted to make that clear okay F1 F2 and then you're GNA move F6 because because F3 F4 and F5 became addendum items okay so should I start over on that yeah okay okay so F six correct yes F6 F7 oh F7 approval of school tuition rates for nonresident students for the 2024 2025 school year fa8 authorization of outstanding food service balances right off as of June 30th 2024 so before we uh one minute we have to second it first or I can talk about it now that's one and then you guys can second it okay so if you guys uh are looking at it um the date of the agreement is going to be June 26 but that's not really material um in the second whereas Clause we can just take out the second sentence the the fee is 27,500 the contract six yeah um it's paid in two installments per the contract but we don't need to have that second sentence in the uh the resolution um you're going to prove this with changes uh that I I think are necessary in the contract and I'll run them by Giovani the YMC tends to revert back to Prior forms all the time so they've watered down Insurance they've watered down certain other things so I got to revise it to bring it up to up to speed and then there's going to be a revision in this agreement which requires them to also make the back payments okay so there's going to be another Clause added that it's um further resolved that um the contract is going to be amended to provide for payment schedule for the prior payments that are due under the 2022 23 contract and the 23 24 contract okay and just so you know 2223 was paid in full they satisfi they satisfied that it's just the other piece that we can't wait so we need to have that and they were very amicable it was a wonderful discussion we had with the Y so it's just we're we're in a good place we just want to memorialize everything so that we have a paper trail for the board that's it yeah need a second [Laughter] any questions roll call now this is for F1 F2 F6 F7 f8 that's correct okay Mr Banker yes Miss Caruso yes Miss kie yes Miss Mena yes Miss shamley yes and Miss laruso yes hey addendum items upon the recommendation of the superintendent the board hereby approves motions c5a six c6a c7a PTA C r2a f3a f4a f5a f9a f10a f11a and f12a what can I finish please this where you want to do this c7a too it's in here c7a the because um the reason why Tom is because tomorrow we have to do certified minutes to the county office before the 31st to approve c7a okay I just didn't realize yep okay c5a approve educational stability Transportation plan for 2024 2025 c6a approve the submission of the 2019 to 2022 comprehensive Equity plan extension s SOA and aao for the 2024 2025 school year C a approve the east Rutherford school district remote instruction emergency plan 2024 2025 p2a personal Personnel actions cr2a approve revised school calendar for the 2024 2025 school year f3a approve of approval of financial reports for June 2024 f4a approval of transfer report for June 2024 f5a approval of providers for tuition um extraordinary service contracts and agreements for the 2024 2025 school year f9a approval to amend F6 as approved at the March 18th 2024 board meeting as shown below with a not to exceed amount f10a approval of contract agreement with Kelly Services for the 2024 2025 school year f111a approve and accept uh the Grant application for individuals with disabilities Education Act funds for 2024 2025 school year f12a approve and accept Elementary and secondary Education Act uh cons consid olid Consolidated entitlement uh for 2024 2025 school year do we have a motion motion moved second any questions uh yes Madam president I do okay um in the Personnel action section the person that will be assigned the GI gifted and talented what grade for what grades elementary uh Brian barville okay do we do we have a gift in town sorry Brian was n speaker Brian bal's building okay that's for McKenzie do we have one for Lincoln for Lincoln School uh for Lincoln we do have um I I have to check on that Maria just to make sure I believe they may be between schools somebody I will yes I will check that out for you Lincoln and Lincoln and the Kent our service yes we have the service we have the service g&t preschool 12 okay K12 okay or K8 so K8 okay so this one is just this one is from McKenzie this one is from mcken okay any other questions roll call Mr bka yes Miss Caruso yes Miss colie yes Miss Mana yes shamley yes Miss Luso yes old business new business um I will open uh public comments on any agenda non-agenda items state your name address for the record address the board Pres president each person wishing to speak will have five minutes each um anyone wishing to and the opportunity to do so okay seeing none I close public comment um and at this time we will adjourn to Executive session um resolve that in accordance with Section Eight of the open public meetings act chapter 231 the board has the authority to adjourn to closed session to discuss matters pertaining to Legal Personnel negotiations attorney client privilege and or student matters said matters will be made available upon determination by the board that the disclosure of the minutes will not detrimentally affect any right or interest of the board the board expects to return to the business portion of the meeting and approximately I I only have one Hib I just don't know about negotiations Tom negotiation mostly hinges around negotiations and Little attorney client communication on the bus driver isues and stuff I only need five minutes but we're gonna discuss the communication to the board I'm looking at me so what do we think I'm gonna go with back out as usual so I say an hour an hour okay to and no formal action when we come out okay okay so moved who motion I motion uh faor all in favor I any opposed okay 8 11 sure in discussion yes discussion questions semantics I don't yeah people just want you know the mo okay I'm going to go that I'll go this one I'll e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e yeah yeah e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e for e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e [Music] if anybody wants a side petition oh does have no she she forgot I haven't you know no not biasing towards it anyway go like it's hope it goes like it's been fourth position exactly EX we got to come back in so yeah Michael sign it yeah can you ask him you might ask you do [Music] got plenty I me gonna be around I get guys we can look at pictures when we're done I need a motion to return to the regular order of business all in favor any oppose uh motion to adjourn second all in favor I anybody opposed