open public meetings law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and attend meetings of public bodies at which any business effect in their interests is discussed or acted upon in accordance with the provisions of this act the Frankford Township Board of Education has cause advanced notice of this meeting and general agenda to be submitted for publishing in the official newspapers as well as district and municipal offices on June 29th 2023 please stand for the flag SE The Pledge aliance 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 can we have roll call Kathleen Adam here Le Anderson here Jamie Armando here Caitlyn Fredo here M's here Jennifer N here Charlene molar here John tiger here Jesse vaugh here so first off we have some recognitions student of the marking period that'll go over the DAT that'll go over today so for the third marking period our students of the marking period from fifth grade are Elana Solis lagat sixth grade Natalie gushy seventh grade Ellie Hernandez and eighth grade Alex Vasquez [Applause] and next up we have the staff member of the month we turn it over to Matt Storch Matt Storch uh good evening everybody Christine dubie uh nominated staff member of the month but unfortunately Christine couldn't be here tonight so it's my honor to read what she had to say I wanted to nominate Jess past actually for a couple of months now she's the type of person that could be nominated for any month just always greets everyone and other employees with her good mornings and hellos and of course with a smile the only time that she may not smile is when she is listening to a child who is upset this is her strength she really listens shows concern and understanding and really relates to the kids last month there was a girl who was having a difficult time coming to school it took a little bit but Mrs paston let the student know that she could see her and talk to her anytime the girl did take her up on her offer and visit it for a couple weeks the student is doing well now I have seen many disputes with kids and Mrs piston is the first person that I would send them to they go and talk and always come back feeling better and so many disputes are dissolved Jess is also the type of person to stop and offer help if anybody is having trouble in the hallway thank you Jess for all that you do for our school Community Emily slod also added Jessica has been working at Frankfurt for 18 years and in that time she had made a lasting impression on Frankford students and staff she's always friendly and professional while balancing the duties of being a guidance counselor testing administrator and a go-to when there is a crisis the students adore her and enjoy her engaging and meaningful guidance lessons watching her read a story to Children is wonderful to witness her love and passion for her job shines through and she is a valuable member of our Frankfurt family [Applause] got a GI card and a picture I'll get [Laughter] it you're welcome congratulations wait till you see Mr mone's photographic SK I went back and studied all this stuff time he took a [Music] we're going to take 17 or none one of those I I also just wanted to add a little comment uh Jess and I work very closely together with the children to Street c great for she's just amazing all she does for the kids always has the kids best interest of part and anything that's need It's a Wonderful working with you so thank you so much thank you um next up we have some special Awards our Frankfurt Heroes um in eighth grade we had I can't call Tommy Thomas joust and kayen Carney for the sixth grade do you have anything you to desire um just that these two students over this past month have shown exceptional SE selflessness and Leadership uh Kaden has returned on numerous occasions very valuable items that many students today might take home um and he has made it a point to make sure those are being returned and Thomas has on several occasions helped one of our youngest Bulldogs um he has a little bit of school anxiety and sometimes when he gets on on the bus is in tears and doesn't want to come and Tommy sits with him the entire bus ride ensures him that school's a safe place and a welcome them place and make sure that this first grader comes to school and [Music] is and now we have a student council presentation update by Bryce yanof oh good evening and thank you for allowing the student council to present this report my name is Bryce and I'm seventh grade student council representative on Friday night April 19th we had our final dance of the school year the theme was the 80s it was a lot of fun everybody seemed to have a good time last Thursday afternoon the student council arranged and presented the spring pep rally during the prep rally the following teams were acknowledged Frankfurt and branville baseball soccer softball and lacrosse teams as well as the Frankfurt School track and field teams Beford the Bulldog also made an appearance we encourage every want to come and support these teams our May activities will be our car wash fundraiser on May 11th and talent show on the evening of May 31st student council meets twice a month where we plan and discuss all activities thank you very much for inviting us to share our [Applause] activities Wonderful World presentation um okay so our next presentation is going to be on the 2024 2025 budget okay uh we'll get the the lights uh I wanted to uh start uh just by saying one of the most important thing for us to do or for me to do tonight uh is just to share with everyone the same message I've shared several times uh just about what's really going on with the budget the big picture uh just so people have a little bit of a snapshot of what's going on um over the last 16 years but most specifically over the last seven years we've lost money consistently um to the tune of 1.6 million it's a lot of money on a budget that's a little over $1 million those dollars in future State funding uh situations will not even appear and that's a problem uh for example next year let's say we got a little bump on our state budget I can number $122,000 you know on top of things you need to take a look at that in light of a $ 1.6 million reduction that's a problem the other thing that has been powerful situation and this is probably the most important thing that we can talk about relative to the budget uh is the impact of inflation I ask Chris to give me an idea of what our real inflationary number is how much things are costing more than what they did a year ago his estimate was just under six I believe right uh but the inflationary number so uh and we know right now there was a again I'm no expert on inflation but there was an IND index recently that came back not so good about the you know the interest rates going down and all of those things uh uh in other words inflation is is maybe here to stay a little bit longer than you hoping if you look at the last 16 years and just tally the cumulative effect of inflation versus is our ability to raise money and the state frankly is looking for the local tax dollar to do most of it uh it creates a problem for us it just doesn't balance so uh I just wanted to reemphasize those issues because I think they're going to come back to to haunt us again and again as future budgets come by there you know unless the state really changes things S2 is over those numbers are are over and they did promise a new formula in two years sometimes that's four years with the state but um we'll see uh I do think there'll be a little bit of a a bump that's what I'm guessing in the state a but nowhere near enough to make up for the inflationary numbers that we all know we're dealing with and uh you know the our ability to raise taxes we're trying to be reasonable with the taxpayer and we're also trying to be reasonable uh with our offerings for our staff and most importantly our children so I just I'd like to keep talking about that same message because it's important that people understand it uh because we need to be realistic about it so uh we're trying to make every possible U efficiency or put every possible efficiency on the table uh and do everything we can for the students and the staff um to budget work um and I think we did that this year and we need to deal each year I wish it was getting better I didn't okay so and unfortunately if you look at the the numbers for the for the county places like k k really got hurt we got hurt very badly too um just the way it turns out some some districts or one of our neighboring districts got a boost of $2 million uh we got 27,000 and over the seven years more importantly the 16 years it's 1.6 over 1.6 million dollar of loss so just again I'll keep talking about that because I I need everybody to just understand that and uh just focus on that a little bit that's really what we de with so okay okay uh so I printed several copies of the presentation for those who cannot see it obviously it's not the best positioning but uh the first slide is just the history as B was talking Mr money was talking about uh it's just our Aid history for the state just to kind of give you a perspective more visual as to how it's been going the first year it's it's a 15-year history only because it shows our progression since the state started adjusting the uh the state aid uh over the course of the past several Governors um so S2 the last section where is a seven-year reduction in just the last seven years alone the reduction was over a million dollar uh this budget year was the final year of that adjustment they still took or adjusted down what they call adjustment Aid uh but we got a bump in the special education Aid uh in the formula which is why we have a net increase of $27,000 uh reason for that is obviously special education costs are going up the state does recognize it um and that as a result of our increased uh classified population they gave us a small bump in that categorical Aid otherwise other things stayed the same but as per the S2 schedule we lost another chunk of money on our adjustment v um in this at the same token you can see on the tax levy growth and what has been happening in the same periods of time you can see when our Aid was not reducing so much the board had been trying to keep it down to flat or negative funding but over the years with the larger Cuts it's been difficult to keep it at 2% or less just to in order to keep the programs whole this year we have an adjustment for enrollment growth we are going the budget that's presented here is 4.01% tax levy increase uh however with the inflationary costs as you'll see later in the slide there were some significant items that are just mandatory increases we have zero control over so it's trying to combat those while at the same time trying as hard as we can to avoid losing critical programs for the school um unfortunately some of them are hard to avoid but the board's been trying to be as mindful as possible to balance the tax levy as well as balancing the the programs to to keep things intact uh on the next slide uh here are the general options for summary for for the revenues so our state aid as mentioned only increased $27,000 uh pretty much the increases the the the lack of increased state aid is offset by the tax levy which is 392,000 uh we are able to now start accepting students from other districts in our multiply disabled program which is bringing in $46,000 for Revenue um little history on how Revenue works from other districts you're not allowed to make money on these programs but what it does is our program was only five students so this brings in a six hopefully brings in more in the following year uh what it does is it'll just allow us to reduce the cost for the district as a result so it just gets divided out by the number of the actual enrollment for the year and gets adjusted each year going forward so in this first year we have 46,000 that has helped uh actually very significantly although not a relatively large portion of the tax level uh Bank interest has gone up 8,000 fortunately interest rates are high right now so we're bringing in a fairly good chunk of interest on the bank um so doesn't look like a big increase but we're bringing in about $90,000 of of Bank interest right now uh grants though as you can see uh decreased a lot in most of that is primarily to we received a couple of state grants for facilities those are onee grants so that's a decrease as well as the Esser funding which we got over three different Esser grants for covid money that is all expiring in August and it's been used for several things over the years a lot of professional development we had the clinician over for two years from effective School Solutions and it paid for a lot of technology and a lot of items but that funding is now expiring does the board have any questions on that okay next uh on the table it also has a copy of the advertised budget this slide here the budget SL tax Factor slide is just just a comparison uh of the advertised categories so these are the great the major categories of the budget instruction special education RTI um tuition co uh Co and extracurricular so this is just the this represents just the dollar Ford dooll changes from year to year on the budgets um you want to add any the the one thing we do our staff members reduced uh in this budget three uh full-time and um two part-time for a total of four uh we also have a short in special education we have a shortfall a compliant shortfall in special education um and uh we we we are looking to uh bring one more person in in special education to make sure that we're up uh to compliance uh it also may allow us uh to accept another child or two uh as tuition student because of all the that the uh the new staff member would be able to contribute uh so that's kind of where we are uh there's some other things I I I'll be talking about a little later uh but that's uh that's the main thing i' like to talk about here okay okay you want to go down the list or not we don't need to uh don't okay so these are a major this slide does the major inflationary challenges so these are the I guess five biggest categories of increases uh aside from you know overall salary growth for the entire population but these are the major items that are hard to control because they are actually completely out of control uh property insurance this year uh is one of the highest renewal years at 15% uh last year was 10% which at the point was the highest at that time um and this is being driven largely by all the natural disasters that have been happening around the country um you know pretty much wildfires tornadoes floods hurricanes those things have been affecting uh Insurance renewals across the entire country we are in a Consortium with other school districts across the state which does um spread out our our risk as far as out of pocket cost is concerned but with that as well as the Cyber Insurance uh 15% is the highest I've ever seen it's usually an average of 5% per year and now these past few years it's been getting into the double digits uh Transportation contracts this is a mandated rate re increase for renewals uh are increasing at 5.81% uh fortunately we were able to do an efficiency routing study this past spring or this current spring it just ended or the study uh and we're able to reduce from uh six contracted routes down to five which did save us7 $1,000 you'll see when we get to Transportation the budget doesn't go down 70,000 but with the 5% increase in the other items increasing in there there is some savings but that $770,000 is off the top because we're able to reduce our number of routes uh state aid increase um was only 3% seems reasonable considering our tax L it can only normally go up 2% but that's $27,000 when you're looking at uh benefits increased 163 uh out of District tuition for literally what is only two students increased $55,000 so costs grow up a lot faster than the state is keeping up with assistance um you have any questions uh next slide budget containment um these are items as as Mr Mooney had mentioned that we had um where we really trying our best to to uh contain costs to keep the program whole as best possible um this is where if you want to yeah yeah we we had uh like I said before we had uh three full-time and um two part-time staff members uh the total reduction in cost with all things considered was 260 137 uh we do need uh for compliance to add uh a special education position position uh and we're looking to do that uh the bus route that that uh Chris has mentioned before reduction in supp I will say this that the PTA uh has agreed to supplement the loss on our staff supplies uh to the tune of $7,200 $7,100 uh and um they've also agreed to add $700 uh to the uh budget for our Athletic program to keep keep that flat at least from from where we were uh we also have a proposal about a payto play uh for athletics band drama Etc there'll be a relatively small number but uh that is on the books at this point um and then we had miscellanous reductions that has to do with some software that we're able to eliminate uh and then of course as as Chris mentioned before we had the uh the $46,000 U in um in Revenue from other districts which make the what depending on availability [Music] plac just want to mention I know the P that these things open backwards but I didn't want to waste paper so I used them anyways uh so in summary though these numbers now are just how the tax levy and how the everything affects your your own tax bill um so the next slide right here just discusses the total increase general fund tax Lev is going up 4.01 18% actually total tax levy when we Factor the bonds that we are currently paying uh which those payments are going down next year our total tax levy for 24 25 school year 3.9 54% increase uh the slide following shows how the taxes are broken up between the two municipalities Branchville and Frankfurt um this is there's a couple factors that go into this this uh this number uh the percentage is recalculated every year by the by the state uh it has items it focuses on a few items enrollment growth expectations that the state has as well as a balancing of the relative wealth of the two M municipalities uh certainly people have seen this presentation over the years they know that Branchville considering they're a smaller percentage of the total population that tax levy tends to bounce around rebound back and forth from year to year and you'll see that on a later slide uh but anyhow when the state releases its state aid numbers it gives us these percentages that says here's the apportionment that each municipality will have uh for the tax bill uh and that is just to show you how this works uh going on to the next slide so this resulting in the tax levy shows that Branchville will see a decrease of $256 per house on the average assess value of 26,990 uh $191 uh on the average home for next year and on this Slide the tax levy increase this is to give you the perspective that shows how it works it shows the total amount our tax levy went up and you'll see that even in the years when our tax levy went down that the tax bills could have swung majorly in either way for either Branchville or Frankfurt uh it's just the percentages are much bigger on the Branchville side uh on average Branchville taxes have gone down for the past 10 years that doesn't necessarily make you feel warm and fuzzy but uh unfortunately there's that uh Frankfurt has been a little more gradual in the increases uh our average tax levy increase though over the same period time has been plus 1.81% per year and I think this is the last slide and this slide is what if you take your assess value card assess valuation card you get from the municipality you take that assessed value divide it by 100 and multiply it by your respective tax rate the 0.954 for Branchville and 1. 21173 for Frankfurt and you should get a very close uh calculation of what your tax bill will be for Frankfurt School alone I believe they're all combined when you get it from the township for high point and Frankfurt but uh this will help you calculate frankfurt's Port uh just wanted to add a couple of comments just a few more details about the budget uh you did have a finance committee meeting on our Friday and um at that finance committee we did discuss the situation with the special education instructor uh and the need for IEP compliance with that uh the committee uh chose to recommend to the board today and of course I informed the board and the mayors of both municipalities uh to increase the uh the the local share by about 52 um, uh putting it from 349 do I believe it ended up being 4.01 yeah uh so I and then there increases I shared with with the Mayors because that's what you know what we do uh the special education program is very important and we'll have hopefully two benefits one to our I students students who have who are classified giving them uh some of the services they need also uh you know special note I I want to reemphasize this I know I know I already mentioned it but the PTA uh did such a great job this year fundraising for us for our staff and for our students uh and they agreed to that $7,800 uh you know coverage for uh classroom supplies and for the Athletics uh just really great to have such a Cooperative group and I'll be talking during superintendent report about PTA again but um just it's wonderful to see what they want to do is they want to put their money into things that affect most students and classroom supplies for all the kids does that uh that could be decorations it could be a whole list of things that the staff members uh we want with that and of course uh helping with the supply numbers for our Athletic program which is very important for the you know the welfare of our students so uh again as always PTA is there [Applause] for talking PTA the PTA is parent teacher Association and we have a very active uh teacher group uh and you know it's the parents who doing a wonderful job in concert with our with our staff and uh I really appreciate all the efforts I can't help but notice uh all the teachers at all these wonderful events at the PTA sponsors I don't know how many people worked at that uh Tricky Tray they ran but there's a whole whole group of people so um it's a team it's a team and uh the team work really has been great and it helped our our students and that's what it's all about so you know many many thank yous to our PTA which is parents and sta thank you just one uh one comment um and I know we spoke about it at the last meeting so we did um have a finance committee this year so that consisted of Jamie Kaylyn Leif and the president was on every um committee so we spent countless hours in meeting with Mr Mooney Mr lard Mr Sylvester there was no stone left unturned nothing we didn't look into with the thought process of maintaining programs for the students um we looked at anything you could possibly think about including the Branchville bus as you all know um we we we're looking for $465,000 that's what we had to come up with so there wasn't an ability any longer to shave little things to come up with a little less than half a million dollars out of the budget um so that is um a part of the budget presentation that you're you're probably look that you're looking at here today um we were conscious of the taxpayers and very conscious of the programs at the school um some of the things that we discussed talked about um we're causing private angst between us and then reporting it out to the other board members after every meeting I called every other board member to let them know the thought process and what we were considering um and some of them broke my heart um some of these break my heart uh but in order to find $465,000 it is truly truly a difficult task and um we're here to hear all of your comments and and thoughts on the budget um but please do contact your free your assemblymen your Senators um I don't know what help it would do but at least if they know how bad Frankfurt is suffering um why is the school calling me Mr [Music] Money lch m I can't even maintain my own budget see um so I uh I you know I just want to let you know that this board has been working on this since January and it has been discussed in public meetings since January um and the the finance committee will continue to meet after the budget is approved or not approved tonight um we will continue to meet because we are going to start working on next year's budget already because we are anticipating a very tight budget once again um and that will be no small feat again so we're going to continue working together um and trying to figure it out so that you you know we aren't impacting primarily the students we want the students to have every program um that they possibly can so that that was the board's overall goal with the budget okay so that leads us into public comment okay one second I just so public comment um the rules that as you can read on the agenda there's a 3 minute time limit per person and a 30 minute Max so that gives 10 people I don't know who signed up um you cannot yield your time to someone else if there is time at the end you can ask for more time motion to open public comment second La Kate time starts at 6:33 yeah do you have the list thank you Robin first is Robin okay my name is Robin Z and for 29 years 28 was my home base so of course I'm here tonight to ask you to reconsider the elimination of the family cons consumer Science Program frers had a long tradition of having family consumer science for their students um actually 70 years 1954 was the first home economics program at this school and they continued it ever since because I loved what I taught I know how important it is for students okay it is real life not a simulation okay um it's an arena where all the things that they've learned in all classes can come together fractions science following directions but you do it in a situation where you have to cooperate with other students you have to communicate you have to work out the problems evaluate the mistakes and come up with a plan okay these are skills that we need today self-sufficiency who doesn't want their students to be self-sufficient okay um everything from the budgeting that we talked about the inflation how do you do how you buy food when the 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 family consumer science curriculum um some possibilities or some things that are being discussed are music appreciation digital citizenship financial literacy and College and Career Readiness uh we then briefly talked about my notes sorry uh procedures and promotion for retention uh promotion and retention uh there was just some policy that was tightened up um on retention uh nothing was new newly created there it was just tighted up a little bit um and then we did talk briefly about Title 9 the new title 9 uh regulations um but Mr Money really summarized everything I was going to say to you anyway sorry no I actually appreciate it um in his superintendent report he he gave you basically uh what we discussed there was a very brief conversation that's all great Mr Lard has an update for us on technology I I don't have any info on the State Testing I leave that to the principles but as far as the computer purchase uh was obviously was brought up about the purchase we have for Chromebooks uh this Chromebook purchase is being funded entirely through federal funds that we received from the emergency connectivity fund um so we received $889,000 we have a few 2,000 extra that are being funded for it but is being used to purchase not only eighth grade uh fifth grade computers also replacing uh Chromebooks in the elementary school so we have about 400 devices going down to the elementary school which includes some uh replacements for carts uh several classrooms as well as a first grade and so forth we are also replacing 10 desktop computers for staff uh another 12 laptops for staff all of these computers are 6 to 8 years old so they're definitely in need of Replacements as well as replacing five classroom projectors in this I've been working with Mr dubowski for the entire year to try and get a specific list of what we need for the computers um how the computer replacement works as far as the Middle School uh and this has been discussed in for a while at this point how that is going to work or how it is working is the kids in the middle school starting fifth grade they get a Chromebook it is assigned to them they have that same Chromebook through 8th grade when these Chromebooks are good for at this point a maximum of six years is the useful life that Google has set for these after that they are done there's no more updates and there's no more ability to use them because there's no more security updates or anything so at the end of the four years we're expected to have two more good years for that and those computers are going to go to keep funding or filling the Elementary grades you have 55 kids in a class by the time they reach 8th grade we might have 30 computers that are still usable but they are heavily used that point uh right now the outgoing eighth grade is going to move down to I think it's the fourth grade uh those computers are dispersed in there um but then we're supplementing the others but as we go through slowly cycle through these the lower grades will be getting usable computers will have some spares for to handle with those that have been damaged a little too much uh the good thing is or not necessarily saying the good thing is with the fact that we have these computers all of the students have an insurance policy to cover damages and stuff we wanted to make sure that when you come into fifth grade you're getting a new computer you're not getting one that's been beat up for a year or two years we want to make sure you get a new one this is yours you're taking ownership of it you're responsible for it we don't want you to feel like you're being responsible for someone else's damages that's why we're moving them down to the Elementary grades Daryl is managing those as best he can he's making sure we have spares to keep things running but we want to make sure that students feel whole that they're not being short changed with a used machine that's been beat up and may have other problems that we're not aware of we definitely have a plan for it but this computer purchase is being made using federal funds that we received this year we're just making the purchase at the end of the year because we got new ones at the end of last year we're trying to make sure we stretch our dollars as best we can to avoid affecting the tax levy there will be a smaller much smaller purchase next spring uh however that'll be just one classroom wor uh for that matter and we'll be figuring that as we do the budget hopefully we can get some more funding from the from the universal uh schools and libraries division which is the emergency connectivity fund that's paying for it now if we're lucky we'll get some more of it um at that point we're just going to take it one year at a time that's all I have on there I don't know if Dave or or Bobby want to talk anything about State Testing I know I have put in some purchase orders for additional headphones um mice things of that nature but one second okay um but thank you Mrs eer for bringing that up and uh giving a problem with a potential solution that is always very helpful so thank you we met with Jess and Jen um we also had a fa meeting with Jess and Jen uh led the discussion about the testing uh we've done this before uh I think we're in relatively good shape with the testing uh I'd also like to commend that the teachers in the classroom relative to testing because uh they they really do everything in their power to stay with the the pacing uh and the plans that we have because one of the things we need to do is get to the end uh by you know the testing dat um and uh teachers have done a really very good job from what we've seen about getting doing their best to get to the end spiraling back so that you don't have to spend three weeks reviewing a Year's worth of work spiral back to unit one back two Etc uh they're using the uh the test actually learning um uh standards for uh as their guideline and uh you know staying on T task with pacing uh recognizing that the program that they have the on course uh and the curriculum are tools they're helpful uh so we're very pleased with the the effort this year uh to enhance the testing and hopefully we'll uh our schools our scores will start to go up and I think they will um so um that's really what I wanted to say about Tes anything else want to add day uh just an email went out today with the dates in regards to the middle school I would like to just note that uh it says to have your child have have headphones make sure they're wired headphones Bluetooth headphones are not allowed okay so moving on to finance physical plant and transportation um we discussed what the finance committee met about on April 26th last Friday um the tuition agreement is on here that's a tuition agreement for a medically Disabled Student from another District um placed into Frankford um and that tuition does help our budget um and then we have the sewer discussion so um as many of you know our school is on a septic system there three septics here there are three septics here one was replaced in 2018 for the b-wing um we are having quarterly meetings with the Mayors um to just discuss um overall situations between the towns and um and the school and one thing that was brought up is that we are in a sewer area to hook up to the Sewer in Branchville um our septic system for awing right Mr Lazard is 60 years old or older it's original to the building um so that that's old um right Mr money that's old not as old as your your interal superintendent and I the building 1950 yeah so that's it's original um it's original to the building um a part of the sewer discussion is because we are in Sewer District um Mr lard um believes that there is a one-time in-kind replacement um for the septic system uh the county may not afford US a um permit for repairs and replacement which means we would have to tie into the sewer system um we are working right now to start that process because if that septic were to fail and the county were not to give us a replacement um that would be detrimental to the school um what was originally designed by Harold pellow is something that we're looking into um it would include a pump station uh I think and Mr Fredo let me know at the time when the sewer was put in place it was over a half a million dollars to install that pump system $450,000 about $450,000 so right now you could imagine it's going to cost more than that and you realize our budget constraints that was seven years ago so we are um in discussions with the towns on that um and planning so that we don't hit that detrimental state where we can't open the school because we don't have bathrooms um so that's another part of um things that are in the back ground of the of this board's heads the things we lose sleepover um but just to make that public knowledge uh that's where where we're at with the item on here called sewer discussion just short there are things we can do uh to get out of that jam there's always answers but they're not good answers so I just wanted to mention that there are there are this isn't the first time hopefully it'll never Happ here that's we're planning void but there are some answers that that could bail us out for a bit but they're not good they're not good answers they're expensive expensive and they're inconvenient and um when the septic I believe on bwing went when we replaced it 2018 there was a pump truck that came I believe every other day and the cost of that luckily that septic failed in May so we only had to do it for a few six weeks or so until school got out and we could replace the septic so that was like a lucky timing portion of it um but we cannot afford to pump a septic every other day um for a school year um and then it's also you know we we need to get with howal Pell and uh start discussing that engineered design that he has um and what the previous um discussion was seven years ago when it was brought to the school's attention that we could tie into the sewer and and moving forward from there um the school safety and climate um so apparently there's a fire drill on my birthday April 16th 2024 um there will be a lockdown drill um the school bus evacuation drill was completed on April 25th um and that just gives you more information on there about the bus numbers involved and who supervised um Personnel uh has already been discussed so that brings us to the regular consent agenda and the following items are matter of routine business and will be voted on by one motion and that is number 20244 293 and that goes until until no we do a roll call on on the other ones right so that will go through uh 20244 2939 yes so be it resolved that the Frankford Township Board of Education accept the recommendation of the superintendent of schools to approve the above identified regular agenda items 3 through 39 Kate Adam we need a motion oh motion I thought Kate was gonna motion it that's why motion second and Caitlyn will second um yes Kate Adam is a yes Jamie Armando yes Caitlyn Fredo yes Jennifer N yes Charlene molar yes John tiger yes Jesse vaugh yes Le Anderson yes Andy J is a yes um we enter into the budget consent agenda the following items are matter matters of routine business and will be voted on by one motion resolve that the Frankford Township Board of Ed accept the recommendation of the superintendent of superintendent of schools to approve the above identified regular agenda items number 20244 2940 through 20244 2941 and that is the 2024 2025 school budget and the budget and tax schedules motion second second K Adam um sorry I'm ready my second who's second Jesse thank you um with regrets yes Jamie Armando yes Caitlyn Fredo yes yes Jennifer NST yes Charlene molar yes John tiger Jesse vaugh yes Le Anderson yes Mandy jst do a yes we know yes yes um next we have public comment again it's a 3 minute time limit per person with no y to anyone else there's a 40 minute maximum this time um and if there is time left over you can ask for more time at the end um we're going to start at 7:37 I make a motion motion second second anyone sign the public Lori eer gonna pass okay Sarah Henson yeah there's no point thank you motion to close public comment make it second second other items for the good of the order um please complete your annual ethics disclosure online deadline is tomorrow um our next meeting is May 13th and then we have another meeting on June 10th um is there anyone that needs to discuss any okay just really quickly I was like to point out that we've received a donation from the kid Masonic lodge and the East Coast combustion specialist so said thank you for them thank you yes I was uh I was wondering Mr Mooney for the mo MOA yes are we recommended to report certain behaviors and actions to the prosecutor well we've been discussing uh that uh there's been a little controversy uh about the mo MOA the mo MOA is the memorandum of agreement between the schools and the basically it has to do with the state police but it also includes the prosecutor and the county superintendent all four parties need to sign that uh Mo MOA uh there's been a committee of superintendents and that have met to discuss uh certain uh aspects of uh Thea and recommendations related to the mo MOA uh some of those concerns have to do with uh topics that need to go to the prosecutor's office uh and um also there there was another request something I chose to hold on which is a law enforcement team and I decided that I didn't want it's not required it's uh an option related to that and I just didn't think that that would be what we should be doing at school employees and officials at least I'm not convinced that it's a good idea yet uh but yeah there are there are some guidelines related to that about uh referring certain things to the prosecutor's office uh we've had meetings I've had meetings with the state police about that uh We've also the County prosecutor I think is actually the county assistant prosecutor was at our meeting uh when when we were signing the documents there are some controversial things one of the things I will say and again this is just me my opinion uh having been involved with this for so long uh there's very little uh uh that is going to be coming from our schools that are going to result in any action by the prosecutor's office it's just you know the odds of that happening are are uh remote there may be items that come up that we need to be Pro to the the prosecutor office also things we have to refer to the state police but there's very little uh response it's just you know we it's just the way it is they usually just say school will handle it and it's kind of things we've been handling for a long time uh there is a little complication that John's been talking about which is uh you know the upcoming Title 9 uh situation uh but yeah there there's there's some controversy regarding the mo MOA yes now uh before that before we had to go to the prosecutor we would go to the State Police right typically my my practice uh was to go go to the state police with issues and it was my understanding for the best of my recollection if needed the the state police would go to the um uh to the prosecutor's office really never happened uh really it really never did happen uh and I you know I know there's a lot of debate on the police State Police level uh there's a lot of debate at the superintendent level uh and um we'll see where this goes but on a practical level and you know it's something that we actually have to deal with the odds that some of these things would ever be heard or dealt with by the prosecutor is virtually none the kind of things we're dealing we could have something but very unlikely yeah who's asking us to report like who who came in and there there's some wording in there that the county superintendent have have challenged a little bit about this and also there's some controversy like what is the state of New Jersey asking us yeah what happened with the the Moa is we were waiting for the new MOA for a long time it it came out uh and uh it was you know presented it is a required document that we approve it uh and we've always had an open relationship with the state police here as I've had in other districts with the sometimes the local police uh and uh you know we are obligated to give certain information information to the state police about certain cases again almost never comes up particularly in a K8 District um but there's some controversy attached to it again I don't think it's a great controversy now it doesn't have legs on it yet but there are there are some discussions so I understand concern so this would come from the governor or it uh I I think no I think it's more uh from the attorney general the State Attorney General if I if I'm reading this correctly that would be my understanding doesn't mean the governor isn't buying into it I'm not suggesting that but it is a it is coming from the attorney general from all that I've seen the Office of the Attorney General and um so that's kind of where we are this can I just make a blanket statement I'd suggest that uh parents look into Title 9 and look at the new revised version of Title 9 and look at how dangerous this new title 9 revisement can be to having to deal with the new Mo MOA as well I I I believe everybody can do their own research and we'll be talking more about it soon right if I if I'm reading it correctly Title Nine documents are are federal documents um from what I understand and this applies to K through 12 federal college it was only meant for college though I but now it was only met for college though wasn't it in the beginning original let me tell you what I know about Title 9 which is limited but some of it would be meanful I think originally they were talking about equal rights for girl for the girls and the women and and you know at the Collegiate level uh for example you're supposed to have either the same number of teams or equivalent programs for for the girls and the boys that was what we were hearing for for years that there was that area of concentration uh now they're it's branching off a little bit it's still about rights of of students uh and uh you know balancing the the issue but Title Nine as I mentioned before uh the snapshot of it is that there there are guidelines for harassment um sex related harassment and intimidation uh uh and there's also uh guidelines for policy that should be approved by this board in July and also at least first round first uh we don't meet in July we don't meet [Music] in I've never I never have been here until last title Title 9 is no longer just for women just so everybody beond that yes yes to clarify these comments are coming from Mr tiger not necessarily the no no this is all me guys this is me I fig bring it to attention is a federal law job and um you know the influence that we would have on on a federal law is you know whatever doesn't mean we don't vote or individually say what our pieces I understand the board's not saying that John tiger is and I get that but just some clarifications from what I know uh and I think what I just said is rather accurate although I claim to be no expert in the area you know but these are items to discuss in public for on on yeah in the public form and we we are starting to do that and uh uh I think we have to see where this all rolls out uh there's a there are documents that I believe the board has at least received the links for uh a lot of reading um I've done some of it I haven't done it all yet but uh and I thank you for bringing uh one of the things we try to do is I try never to surprise the board and the board is very good about not surprising me so John thank you for that I appreciate that that's the way it's supposed to be anyone else I just one thing um I just encourage everyone this is coming for me to write to the governor to the assembly men because these guts are not going anywhere and again I know it was very hard for all of us everything that we approved is not something that we wanted to see for Frankfurt ever um unfortunately our hands are tied and it's coming from somewhere else and there's really no W wiggle room there's nothing to come up with $400 $65,000 there's really not a lot for us to do so I please I'm encouraging you all I know I've been writing to the governor written since January um at least twice a month um no reply um but I just you know I'm encouraging everyone here to just let them know that we are in need over here iny that you know we're not doing so well so that was and just to expand upon that there is something that the Senate LEF brought up in in a committee meeting um where they are they are going to allow you instead of a 2% uh tax levy up to what 9.9% um but again that's not state aid that is raising the taxpayers money so that's more um to pay here and I I believe Mr Fredo did you say at one meeting 80% of your taxpayers are on a fixed income or about 35% and about 80% don't have kids in the school yeah that's the statistics go so um you know we are we are in need and any any help anyone can give any push suggestions any yeah we're open to anything um but and thank you all for coming tonight and expressing your opinion and and those of you that stood up I know that takes a lot of Courage so thank you for doing so um and as I mentioned before we're continue all of our committees are continuing to meet um throughout this entire year um to keep moving forward for next year to see how we can plan ahead um because I I while we while we were discussing it and we did have discussions in public meetings since January on the budget I'm not sure that got put out to um anybody who doesn't regularly attend the meetings um and last meeting it was dive into dive just out way into dove into a little more at the last meeting so I think people understood a little bit more at the last meeting and then hopefully this meeting uh sheds a little more light onto it but again it's nothing that any of us took lightly motion to adjourn I'll make it second thank you