may I call to order the what we the April 30th 2024 meeting of the High Point Regional High School Board of Education please stand Al FL of the United States of America to stands na indivisible andice for [Music] all open public meetings act statement the New Jersey open public meetings law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon in accordance with the provisions of the act the board of education has caused notice of this meeting to be published by having the date time and place thereof hosted at the Augusta Branchville and Sussex Post Offices and notice sent to the new Julie Herald the Sunday Herald and the clerk of the bureaus of Branchville and Sussex and the townships of frankfur Lafayette and wage mission statement High Point Regional High School in partnership with staff family and Community is dedicated to the Quest for individual Excellence by fostering High standards of achievement we prepare students to become responsible and productive members of a diverse society and call for Mr cfor here Mr dun here M ory here M pal is not here miss Schuman here M Tona here M wise here Dr Richard we havec um should we read that that was that was posted that the page yes uh just just okay so a notice will a motion will now be made that the High Point Regional Board of Education enter executive session to provide an update on legal personnel and negotiation items which are exempt from public participation pursuant to New Jersey Public Law 1975 chapter 231 open public meetings act any discussions held by the board which need not remain confidential will be made public when appropriate minutes of the exec session will not be disclosed until the need for confidentiality no longer exists the board will reconvene in public in public session in person and virtually at the conclusion of the executive session is not anticipated that any action will be taken uh for the Public's knowledge we expect to be back by approximately 7 p.m. uh I'll make that motion may have a second second all in favor anyos okay 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 [Music] may I have a motion to return to public session I have a second second all in favor I okay any opposed same now we are returned to public session so back to our agenda we have no unfinished business uh uh next up is approval of minutes regular meeting minutes for March 19th 2024 and the executive session minutes of March 19th 2024 I'll make a motion to accept uh to approve those minutes may I have a second second any comments [Music] Corrections M yes Mr for yes Miss Wise yes M shman yes Miss ory yes yes this done yes okay uh first public comment section of the evening in accordance with the open public meeting act we will open the public comments for agenda items only at this time each speaker should State his or her name and address you will have three minutes to address the board which will be timed by myself we will limit this section to no longer than 45 minutes please be respectful and mindful that your comments are being recorded and uh in typical fashion we have two methods uh to address the board one in person at our uh uh Lector over here and uh second via our online platform uh virtually via the email address that is posted there nothing virtually either no I have a motion to close public comments and a second all in favor any oppos okay moving on presentations our first presentation is the public hearing on the final 2024 2025 budget Dr Scott rley will present good evening this is uh the 11th the 11th uh budget that I've been blessed to be able to be a part of and uh thankfully this one is all generally good news and I know that other places around the county are struggling and uh we're very blessed to be in the situation we're in now and so this is the same uh front page we've been using for years maybe next year I'll change it up so all right this is an explanation of where our money goes uh we'll see a pie chart in a moment but this explains the full context of what is it that tax dollars and state aid and federal grants what do they what do we spend our money on and it's listed all there you can read it uh it's not hopefully you can read it but as it says salaries and benefits of course which are the largest uh portion of the pie but there's a lot of expenditures that I'm not sure that people are aware of you know I mean everybody knows you have to have supplies and materials but there are uh requirements that uh other people may not be aware of like professional development um one of the things in this budget is uh maintenance of the of the building we have two more projects this summer uh for which we are not going out for uh for for uh what's the ref referendum so we're using our uh Reserve money or and money that we have budgeted for for next year uh to put forth this budget and so over the years we've done quite a bit to the building because we have to be good stewards of the facility that have been given to us so this summer we're going to be putting uh HVAC units replacing to some degree really really old HVAC units for which we got a state Grant by the way uh on the roof we are also for uh which was also Grant funded we're also putting uh HVAC units in the upstairs classrooms which is really exciting look we know how important um AG vac units are particularly after the the last four years we realize how important air exchanges and mve ratings and all these different things that we never knew well before so we're going to have air Exchange in uh in in HVAC units in all the building in the rooms upstairs that includes air conditioning and so I don't know that the staff has been informed of this yet but uh the opportunity to have air conditioning the upstairs is huge because it does become a significant problem in the late months of the school year and the beginning of the school year we often have those giant um airplane fans going in the hallways which may be you know a problem but it's so hot we had we had to clean unand all right so we're going to do some uh some stuff on the facilities this summer all right all right this oh there these are small um here here we go so as you can see I don't want to get in the way but you can see the biggest portion of the pie of of course the salaries and benefits we like to keep this at 70% or under this year it's at 70 I think two years ago we had it down to 68% all right and that has to do with the experience of the faculty how many faculty we have and that it it does um it does change slightly over over time but we're at uh 70 this year we have purchase services for 8% Transportation 9% this this piece of the pie is something something that most districts do not contend with to the degree that we do we are the largest sending District in the state um and the cost of transportation is prohibitive and I don't think people really understand that particularly we were talking about a school that's a walking School Newton's a walking school they don't have this 9% to have to fund and the degree of funding we get from the state for transportation the state will say oh well we give you Transportation money yeah 10 cents on the dollar because the cost is so significant in a rural area like ours then we have special ed tuition 7% this is something we try to manage but often times it's not something we have control over people say well can you bring any of the students who are uh being educated back home we try to do that but if it's not appropriate for their uh individual educational plan then we don't do it but this is you know if you have some some uh new kids who come in and move into your District the uh this this can this can go up quickly all right vocational uh School tuition we pay every time a kid goes to Tech we pay them a certain amount um few thousand per kit um maybe that'll slowly reduce and uh supplies materials and techs are 5% so that's where it all [Music] goes all right budgeted Appropriations where are we getting the money all right so in our current school year we see here anyway I'm sorry I got confused all right so you can see that our we are going to raise the general fund and I'll explain this here these two fund 11 fund 12 is going to increase by 391,000 or 1.65% special Revenue which is federal grants uh Ida Essa Esser and Perkins here's the compelling factor with this this is going away in September this was a lot of money in the last three years a lot of money and so if you look at the federal debt I think which is reaching a 100 trillion this week some of it went for Esser funds which helped us you know helped us get through the state aid reductions all right Debt Service again we have no Debt Service we have not had it since fiscal 16 and so if you look here do the Appropriations what we're currently working on is 25.5 million we are reducing our budget year-over-year by 3.72% or $835,000 that's not the tax levy but that's our overall operating budget is dropping by $835,000 all right this is there's a lot of numbers here and I don't want to bore everybody which I'm probably already doing all right so if you look here the tax levy is in we're in did I did I I'm pointing at this but that's not the computer dope is this where I'm at you just did that one I did oh my gosh I'm still pointing at all right here we go no there we lagged okay so up here um this is the general the tax levy uh it is an increase of 1.75% year-over here all right um and there's a reason why we didn't go we didn't have to go to 2% but it is going up 307,000 we have moniku tuition which is basically flat this year and but listen this has been a curse and a godsent and the Very fact that here we are 12 plus years later to have this level of a uh tuition money every single year is is very significant something about which which we should be very happy and pleased and I'm hopeful that mon is happy for the fact that they're fully institutionalized in in institutionalize that wasn't the word I was looking for fully acclimated into High Point all right budgeted fund balance this is money that we saved year-over-year so one of the things we tried to do to get through the state aid Cuts is become very parsimonious during the school year with spending I will frequently issue a moratorium on spending sometime in no November and I know that gets the administrators very angry but it's how we control our spending and how we've managed this state aid Cuts in the last seven years so last year we put in money saved from the prior year a million this year to fund fiscal 25 budget is $941,000 all right school choice are we losing a student Mr Campbell I anticipate we'll remain uh at four funded which is which is all right good all right um this is going up 280,000 this uh miscellaneous um Reserve accounts semi which is uh special at Medicare and extraordinary um extraordinary Aid this number is increasing so significantly because we have a fabulous director of special education she has done wonders with our programs and and she has brought in Revenue that we had not seen in the past so this is tremendous all right State eight we got got almost $200,000 more than we did the previous year so while there's a lot of people around the county jumping out of Windows because they're still experiencing state8 Cuts this is two years in a row that we've not seen Cuts now I'm not suggesting that 198 increase is phenomenal but it's a whole lot better than losing $941,000 which we did several years ago so that's fantastic all right um funding from purchase orders the year before we don't know that yet so it's a it's a it's a push and so the uh the general fund is going up 1.65% however because we are losing grant money this reduction here the overall operating budget's dropping 3.27% and as a total of $835,000 and so we're operating with less money year-over-year and you know that's what we've been doing quite some time but we have not cut in the 7year state or 8year state aid reductions we have not reduced one position because of money and I don't know that anybody else can say that around the county maybe but we have not had to that's how we've been able that's a demonstration um of an example of how we've managed the state aid Cuts all right here we go this is just to give you an idea of how each municipality is going to Real ize a tax increase or decrease again as I said this before the amount of money that each individual uh Township pays is based upon the number of students that they send to High Point and their um their value their total evaluation of their um residential Industrial and Commercial uh all put together all right and you can see that there I'll I'll get this better on you can see it and I bet I'll break it down a little bit but if you live in Sussex or Lafayette you're going to see a reduction I think all right this is just an example of what's gone on over the last 11 years we've lost 2.7 million in state aid over the last 11 years which is uh 52.3% or an average of almost $250,000 a year or almost 5% per year and so what we've done over that 11 years is we we have an average increase of 1.2% which is significant because if you went 2% each year which uh each district is permitted the uh the amount of tax levy that we would have would be approximately $3 million more than what it is now so I think that our tax levy this year we're looking do is um 8 18 Jim what is it I'm sorry it's it's on another slide anyway it would be significant ific L higher I think $3 million higher if we went to 2% each year over the last uh 11 years it's gone from 175 to 178 all right 300,000 all right good thank you um and so this shows you over the last 11 years the overall fund uh the overall budget has gone up 78% a year that's the increase in spending per year that we've seen over the last 11 years I keep pointing at the screen I do this all the time we go again just an example of our tax uh tax levy history I know there seing people would love to point this out and say that that was terrible but they don't look at this when we dropped almost 7% because we were trying to be fiscally responsible so over those 11 years we would uh be significantly higher if we were not fastidious about every nickel that we spend and here's the uh valuation of each Township the total valuation so if you live in Branchville everything in Branchville is worth $128 million and if you live in wage which is the largest it's 1.21 billion and you can see the increase there's no difference in the valuation in Branchville year-over-year sorry and this gives you an idea that Jim looked into this if you you own a $200,000 home in each one of the municipalities listed you get to see what your tax bill will be different the year over-year so if you live in Branchville you're going to see an increase of $104 if you own a $200,000 house and that shifts from the high school yes they break your tax bill out different that's the high school's portion yes and the reason being again is what I told you is the number of students that they send to High Point relative to the number of students that everybody else sends so it's a a complicated formula so it gives you an idea of what you're going to see in your tax bill I think that's it all right any questions you know it may seem as though 1.75% is a token reduction off of 2% but there is a cumulative effect in 11 years of going to 1.75% this year or a flat that next year or increasing there's a cumulative effect that equates to approximately $3 million more than what we uh our tax levy is now had we done 2% every year over the last 11 years so it matters so in spite of people's frustrations anger and disappointment of what we did several years ago I understood that and I went around to the municipalities to discuss that but the degree to which we've been fastidious over those 11 years demonstrates in my opinion a level of fiscal respons responsibility that allows us to stand here and say we've not had to cut one position to state aid cuts and we continue to be able to fund building projects without going out to a referendum that's something about which I'm hopeful the board is proud and we're proud at High Point to be able to say these things I'm not suggesting that everything's perfect but when you have these deg this degree of deficits and state aid reductions to be able to manage those reductions to the degree that we have is something that I think that we should be all corporately very proud of and I'm very appreciative of all right thank you do this Dr rley uh doesn't look like we have our student council representative here this evening nope okay so uh next we have uh M parli HPA president update board on HPA hi good evening um I know there's been a lot of controversy or we say in brit conty over the bathroom issues that have been going on but um I'd like to say um the students are apprehensive but we have gotten data and we appreciate the knowingness of the administration to try to do this test uh service the smart test we have data and the bom lines have no longer existed now and this is just a test so I don't know where we're going further with it but I can say I see a big difference in the hallways I see a big difference in the students and I don't know it's like anything else that's new nobody likes it but um like when the students complain to me I say well it must be working cuz you're upset and you went five times today and you were over whatever whatever and it's not monitoring who's going to the bathroom it's more of being aware of time and being we want them in the classroom and that's what we all want and we want everybody accounted for and so as far as where we come from and where we are it seems to be working in that respect I know there's other sites every story but as far as the staff's concerned and I speak to them every morning most of them and they're happy with it cuz we we know where the students are um and as far as um the school year it's been a long one and uh we're getting through it and we appreciate the support of Mr Talam Mr Campbell and everyone else uh and we're getting to the the Finish Line I think there's what 36 days left in school is is is hopefully they don't have a snow day anyway um looking forward to uh graduation and continue on for next year and I believe tomorrow night we have a negoti look forward to thank you very much tell me principal support report evening everybody I apologize the Allies have stolen my voice a little bit so like everybody else right um what Mr muus was talking about um for those you that have not heard or don't know it's a company organization called smart pass um pass is a basically if you remember back in the day the old wooden passes they had classrooms this is a digital version of that um so many schools have gone to the smart past technology over the course of the last couple years we did a lot of research on it myself Mr Yardley Mr Sara really and and Mr Emma leading the way on that and said can we work with this company and I always like to Pilot things first and see Hey where's the U wrinkles going to be let's get those ironed out and roll into that um as a future resource if it works for us at Point works for somebody else doesn't mean it's going to work for us so um we're kind of you know a few weeks into that right now have seen some positive results of that like anything else Chang takes time um and we're monitoring that and see if that's something that we want to utilize as a tool and resource for um next year there's a lot of things um that we're not currently using that right now using as the main pass system but there's emergency planning purposes there's emergency capability drills there's a lot of things that within that as well asides just the the pass version so just to give you a little background what what that is on to the school report um a few things to talk about one we had our combined Honor Society induction ceremony last Wednesday where we were able to honor and recognize nearly 100 students um across multiple um honor socities Me by that we have a um main NHS National Art society and then we have satellite organizations um NHS and World Language or F FN LHS for language are the two main H societies and then their satellite umbrella hze um below that so across the board there over 100 students that recognized I just wanted to run through a quick list of thank yous thank you to Art Miner for the NHS Teresa Emma car for business NHS te Marie Carol Matthews for foreign language NHS Aaron B for science ter James SL for music and J for math cor social studies and Kell ni for art so those are all the areas um that currently have an existing um satellite Honor Society you know program some are new like music is a new one this year um so they look at at developing those um based on on aief interest overall so that was a really nice event um last Wednesday also U we had our first um High Point art Invitational um that was coordinated by Miss Aaron Myers right here in the media center and we had nine school districts that represented and invited um all the way down from M mon Olive um and we had done that years ago um and had not done that in many years M I discussed M McCarthy and um the lead on that as well as the art department so thankful for all their work on that there were schools that were there art schools that were there from all across the country um particular um schools in Philadelphia as well and offered our students scholarships um so some of our students received a scholarship if they were to apply and be accepted to that art school significant scholarships we're not talking about $1,000 or so some of them were $25,000 or more so today's day and eight College um education being at an alltime high it's a that you can't understand so that that was great as well uh this weekend we had a a busy weekend with chamber singers um and B and choir up in Boston return late Sunday night that Friday morning congratulations to the chamber singers um Mr ricardi they um performed what they call the world strides music festival in Boston and CH received the top honors with the gold Superior rating so we talked about field Tri Dr Ry did a nice job outlining all the things that happen behind the scenes field trips is something that we believe in um Dr R board have always supported um because it's good for kids get them out of this area explore and see other things they're in Boston and they're able to receive that rating they're also edicated by Christen Huffman professor of the Heart School of Music Amy woodh house SCH director at the University of Island and Dr Richerson artistic director from the Main Music Society so as part of that experience they get a chance to be um orchest and directed by these very very individual so congratulations to them um a couple things coming up um very soon as May is upon us tomorrow um we have a u we call prevention activity that we're going to be having on the 14th that's prior to our prom we're having um somebody name of stepen Hill um speak speak sobriety um he speaks about has become highly recommended for many of our counselors have seen him based on life experience um vaping is an epidemic levels um across the country not just um here in our in our state um he speaks about baby speaks about substance awareness um drug and alcohol use where he struggled with that on his own Court um as a high school athlete um but also how he made positive changes in his life um to make a difference now he goes all over the country um speaks about that so that'll be before our prom our prom is the 16th that same week um we'll be sending information to our students and parents as well about um prevention awareness um and how that we as a community can be more aware of those things so the problem 16 looking forward to that um and the master schedule as we talked about last month is really in full swing councils are working hard at fixing our our so we're ready to go before the end of the school year we have an e8th grade picnic here where we host all of our Senate districts on June 4th invite them to come up just view each other get a chance to be with our Athletics and our clubs um and see different things that high has to offer and the next event we also have a senior scholarship dinner coming up nothing really going on in May um on May 22nd so I know that something that the talks out as well since May 22nd at 6:00 at the Red Lodge that's coming up next month as well as a senior dinner cruise which is the the Friday of that week so a couple things happened in a short amount of time but we're excited for for that Senor a chance to cruise around Manhattan and again the out an area that as I talked to them all on on the ship how many of you have been on the Harbor or seen the Statue of Liberty where you really almost touch that many of them have not even been to New York City before um so really a great opportunity for them um some individual students for Awards Faith post of Rebecca Kos and Jet Stevenson were recently recognized because they had published art um in blink magazine which is one of the large our companies that's out there as well um Kelly Shai is one of our teachers who recently also published in one of the AJ Publications as well so great to see our um students and also our staff to recognize for all that they do quick transition to Athletics that's okay done um baseball is the number three seat in hws soft ball is number two seed which is a pretty high um standard because that you get some home games that's nice because otherwise we not traveling right way to northal um so good good for them and having a successful season today we had a busy day but spring Sports Athletics here um just today alone we had boys and girl tracks me see today um with unified as well we had a boys lacrosse game we had a softball game to the university um we had we had bo tennis all here on the campus pleas to say that softball won boy boys and girls track won boys the cross won Tennis had a tough tough match they lost um girls across one away as well um so it was really nice to see um so much success in a busy spring season so good Mr deur it is difficult to Advantage busing transportation and officials um as we work through this we had 21 senors recognized today for our boys and girls tracks uh season team which also included um UniFi aths be recognized as well so really cool thing really fun event um and then you went so it's nice as well okay any questions on any of that anything else thank for your curriculum instruction Mr shanus Campbell I support you know I want to say uh thank you to Mr Yardley who's here every single month and he's always uh happy to be here and he's always necessary for us to have here because we've never had any it snafus or struggles and it is a it is a blessing to have him on our staff and he just does a phenomenal job and I'm personally very thankful for him thank you Mr yard thank you thank you so obviously you can see spring is here and it's absolutely beautiful um in front of you are some swag items from our College and Career Fair we are not officially sponsored by shop right of subects but they were one of many uh Representatives that were here on March 20 uh we we've had this event in the past um but since Co we just brought it back in a grand scale for the first time on on March 20 so I want to thank two of our newer guidance counselors Mr Kevin flater and M Cheyenne picario for their vision and hard work to augment our college fair which uh Mrs Maggie Meyer runs every year along with um M Christen jacking um m m Jess Cardinal in the D department and court so our counselors do a fantastic job and this year we got back to recognizing that we have a large number of students that head to diverse um postsecondary opportunities so we want to make sure that every student here has their Vision supported and encouraged and addressed at the at the career fair there were boots where um and I have to say that the swag is like magnetic students are drawn to it uh second only the food would be plastic Trinkets and pens that they can give away but it's a chance to informally speak to Representatives from oh u t Labs from uh trade schools from Sark Etc um and also our military was here in the annex so we had college with military we career in addition to the fair we also had breakout sessions where students could select to go and hear from um a representative from a certain career so um it was great great event and um very proud of the fact that we're doing a lot to trying to link our students with a reverse uh um array of post High School opportunities in that same Spirit our guidance councilors this year have organized trips to various colleges actually going with the guidance counselors to the school and talking with the admissions counselors there so the high school counselor the college admissions counselor and the students on campus really valuable way trying to support the student making that transition we've also taken trips to um the universal Technical Institute um the Carpenters frankus facility the international Union of operating engineers so we're we're bringing our kids to places that fit all of their potential futures um so head off to our counselors for doing that twice a year we are required by law to present publicly on our student safety data as well as our harassment idation and bullying so this presentation fulfills the requirement for the Public Presentation from uh reporting period one July through December I think the public or the board has seen this before violence vandalism weapons sub abuse and hits now we do this twice a year when we do it in October or November our assistant principles are here Mr s Mr Emma Mr pal uh give a more comprehensive approach on how we're tackling these issues this is our second um of the two but nonetheless get into a few items here you can see historic data that shows these categories year over year from a 9-year period and you'll see there in purple those numbers represent uh just July 1st through December and to be honest there's very little activity in July and August so it's really September through December represented there in purple when I look at this here's what jumps out at me personally it is that um we saw a uh a decline in all incidents obviously during the 3 years impacted by Co and we're seeing a return and then some when it comes to substance um and I think we've already heard some comments about it tonight the bab epidemic is significant um and it comes to Mr tal and um Mr s and Mr Emma uh working very very hard Dr has helped spearhead a group locally that is coordinated with the prosecutor's office with the center for prevention and with the Department of Education to try and strengthen um how we handle this so when you see substance on there it's reflective of the battle that we are undeterred but we're waging every day against babing um I know I speak for my fellow ad it's really their area of expertise but we care uh deeply about safety and when we when we have incidents where students are exposed to um chemicals uh it's scary It's upsetting um and we're we are committed and undeterred to attack that that issue from reporting period one you'll see that for violence there were two fights one assault and for subance abuse there were three confirmed use I'm sorry 18 confirm abuse and three possession we shift to H for a moment you'll see that in the first portion of the Year there were 13 investigations zero confirmed kids three of them were code of conduct and 10 of them were unfounded now this second column here July to March that shows you the entire school year in the Aggregate and you'll see that there's been a rather dramatic increase in the last um 4 months in his so all together this year 35 investigations 22 of them have happened since January two confirm PS both of them since January six of them were deemed code of conduct 17 unfounded and 10 investigations that are still ongoing and have yet to be able to be completed because of other circumstances preventing that we all know that there's an enormous amount of time that goes into this so um Mr rice Mr C the entire administrative theme really Mr emna and Mr s in particular um sure yeah sorry uh I know this presentation is only supposed to be half of the year so the public the legal requirement is to present July one through December 31 but I thought it would be appropriate well and we have the acceptance for the not in the agenda I'm a data person that that floors me [Music] um the more so the and and we need I think it's fair to distinguish between investigated incidence and confirmed HS right that there's there's a significant difference there um we had none no confirmed HPS and now we've got two which that doesn't surpris me too much that's about right but the ratio of then the unfounded right versus and and perhaps maybe the tended or left could turn into something they could but if you're using the ratio that's there probably not too many um I I would say that sometimes these incidents and several my colleagues in the room deal with this uh extensively they tend to occur in experts right so there are perhaps peer groups involved in Conflict um uh sometimes we will get six seven or eight of them in a 4our period sometimes we'll receive um multiple HS from the same um parents um within a day so um you might come in on Monday morning and and that number 35 is actually 15 and by Wednesday um it's at U 28 so it's not it's not like um lakes or or other areas where you manage to behavior it can be extremely um inconsistent and sporadic about how these shoes arise and off that no but you mentioned there is a significant cost both at time and while time is is money and I recall like the whole harassment intimidation and bullying when it was instituted was an unfunded mandate there was no money given to schools at the outset to Institute just and all schools have had to absorb it right what we're having to absorb here now is is what's our recourse um well I know that in every admin group that we're involved in it's a conversation um you know I spoke to Mr Emma today about this and um even with the um support that uh the administration is extremely grateful for that we've recently contracted for it still requires an uh an extensive amount of administrative time to be uh play a supporting role when interviews in place um you know when when in certain instances um a claim is made and it can be to your point it can involve a lot of human resources and statements um to look at uh video footage um and it's it's it's frustrating um I mean it was well it's well intended and I'm not doubting the benefits of it if it's used in proper way but I mean I guess there's also a way of using it and that's what I think I'd like public to know is that there are cost involved in what we have to do here related to I think there are times where and I'll speak for um Mrs S and Mr Emma there's times where it um dominates their days so um I'll have a we'll have a planning to do something curricular related and go into the classroom and work with teachers and um it it's frustrating because it it does um um there's a lot of things we want to do as I'm speaking on their behalf as our assistant principles um and it's daunting trying to keep up with the investigations that this law requires I know too at my school that I'm on the hi committee and there that people are misunderstanding what a hi actually is and so then that's why you get this discrepancy because people Mis understanding it and so it's not confirmed so and one of the frustrating things is that when T does an excellent job of communicating very thoroughly whether um an incident was determined to be a hi or not and often times the parent um May it was a Cod of conduct issue so when you notify the parent to say it wasn't a hi there often times is some frustration because perhaps a real problem did exist that was dealt and you you now 8 years into it you're still trying as hard as you can to explain we're not saying it wasn't an issue we're not saying that that this necessarily didn't happen um in some cases we are in some cases it's um we cannot corroborate but in many cases we can corroborate that there was a problem but it was primarily here adolescent having conflict so it's um it continues to be very very challenging um some ways in which we provide support um I won't go into all these smart tasks mentioned there um because this is not just hi but we're really trying to tackle the issue of um vaping in the bathroom we hope that smart pass continues to be effective our mtss program we continue to be creative and how we link students with clinical Mental Health Providers um so we we do a lot we do a lot to try and support students um and we're very active um some members of our our head team um and this is not a although we're only required to present twice a year I think this conversation has kind of reaffirmed the point this is a daily um daily Focus both the issue of Bing and how hard Administration is trying to tackle that uh and the staff um not just the administration our teachers are um committed to working to try and improve that and and so all of our hi information is available on the school's website you go to the opening page website in the bottom right you get the information on here there's an anonymous app where someone can support um someone can report a uh allegation of a k our policies are there reporting forms are there contact information is there and to your point it is well intended and we do have um a passionate commitment to not allowing bullying despite the fact that the law has some imperfections that [Music] be and I I don't want it to be misconstrued I think you know the board is very much in favor of the statute being used as it's intended so I don't want to give the false impression by asking some probing questions um just I would say often times that the administration is already handson and actively involved in solving a conflict and someone uh might suggest that it's a hi and now that triggers a whole another level of um of work involved in the investigation where I believe this may have been um really needed and and highly effective are incidents where the school is completely unaware of of bullying and now through the report we're required and empowered to take action I think in that sense it still serves a meaningful purpose thanks that concludes our presentations for the evening I guess we move on to past other business we have none two action items and may I ask you instruction no that's not sorry I'll take okay so we have faculty attendance rate and student attendance rate and the suspension report uh want to make note of that there are attachments for those and I would like to um discuss the head report for March 20th through April 30th um I'd like to move that by itself making motion a second okay discussion on that okay roll call please for that Mr confor yes M yes M Schuman yes M dorsy yes M Dona yes M dun yes okay and then I'm going to move items 5 through 10 together number five are the field trips um as listed number six professional development activities is listed number seven is the um to approve the local education agency guidance for virtual remote instruction plan it was previously known under a different name for the remainder of this school year and for next school year number eight is to approve the graduation date in the class of 2024 which will be Monday June 17th at 6:00 p.m. number nine is for the revised 2324 school year calendar to reflect half day schedule for students on those dates as listed uh number 10 is to approve stepan mcra is our title to coordinator making a motion see you second second any discussion they're both of this Miss Wise yes Miss Schuman yes Miss ory yes Miss Tona yes Mr confor yes Mr dun yes next Personnel now yes uh I'd like make um a motion to move items 1 through 7 uh number one one is to approve following substitutes for the remainder of the 23 24 school year two is to approve and unpaid Child Care Family Leave absence Accord to the New Jersey Family Leave Act um for employee 964 as listed number three is to approve the certif certificated and not certificated staff members for the 24.5 school year as listed um number four is to accept the resignation ation from Amanda Vella I do Vella okay Vella um parttime confidential secretary effective June 30th 2024 depending upon arrangements with future fler uh number five is to approve Dr May Mr Roger foco uh Jr as teacher of mathematics for the 2425 school year as listed number six to approve Miss Ashley Harper as the teacher of science for the 2425 school year as listed number seven is to approve Mr Gregory bran as the interim business administrator board secretary effect of July 1st 2024 for the 2425 school year as listed and that's it make a motion see any second second I'd like to move it looks like there was a typo error but I'll do this formally i' like to make motion to amend number seven uh that the the rate not to exceed rate is actually 1495 versus the 149 that's present there so that is the entirety of the modification Mak motion modify number seven we so I'll make I'll make a motion that we modify number seven can I have second second do I need a can I do it all in favor of that you can do all favor uh all in favor on that modification I any opposed so now um maybe just reread the seven modification so number seven um it's recommended by the superintendent that the Board of Education approves Mr Gregory Brennan as an interim business administrator board Secretary effec of July 1st 2024 for the 2425 school year at the peran rate of $650 uh if not to exceed 149,00 pending County Office approval what county approved it today oh okay just late this second okay great thank you so making a motion to uh seeking a second to approve one through 7 second any more discussion uh i' just like to uh recognize Amanda mcell in our office she is moving out to a full-time position as an assistant to the business administrator in for me so uh she did a good job of us and she's she's moving up and on so to her anything else R call please miss sh yes M ory yes Mr Dona yes Mr confor yes M wise yes Mr D yes um uh I'll move item one one is recommendation uh to accept the resignation of John Gardner as Ed wring coach effective immediately I'll make that motion may have a second second any comments Mr Gardner is a legend as you all are likely aware and is uh a tremendous asset to the community um obviously been since he was a young man and um him stepping down from that position I he's not going to go far far away from that position but stepping down from that position is really um you know changing the guard because he's really impacted children the kids and now adults of this community in a profound way and my kids tell still tell me the best coach they ever had with John Gardner um yeah I happen to know uh one personally that he is infected it's my daughter's boyfriend have heard such great things um I hope he knows how many how many students he's he's affected and not just on the rest of the M but off uh hope he stays at High Point as long as we can have it and other capacities any other comments okay roll call Miss or yes M Tona yes Mr conord yes M wise yes Miss Schuman yes Mr dun yes and two is a recommendation that the board approves the new extracurricular Club unified connections a unified Club the goals of this club are to promote self advocacy connections aiding transition to high school aing the transition after graduation with the overall goal of promoting inclusivity this club will be supervised by the following volunteer advisers there is no cost to the board and they are as listed I'll make that motion have second second any discussion comments M ton yes Mr conord yes m w yes M Schuman yes M ory yes Mr dun yes and I'll move item three separately uh a recommendation that the board uh accepts the resignation uh notification from Michael Beltran as head ice hockey coach effective immediately I'll make that motion may have a second second comments discussion I don't know much about him but I've heard that he's been a great coach and that uh yeah I appreciate the years that he has yeah he's built the program and uh it's had a tremendous impact on kids so we're already to see him go which one the best M pona yes Mr conord yes M wasse yes M sh yes M ory yes Mr Don yes okay I think I can move the remainder items 4 through 10 together for is a recommendation to approve uh June 27th and August 8th uh as the dates for physical to be performed by the school of doctor for the 2024 2025 School season is listed and of five is a recommendation to approve the cheerleading team to attend the NCA cheer camp at M University Tuesday July 23rd through Thursday July 25th uh cost paid by the athletes through their Student Activity account across the board uh they're responsible for their own transportation item six is a recommendation to acknowledge and improve the high point baseball and softball teams hosting a charity fundraiser alumni game on May 19th from 10: a.m. to 4: p.m. all proceeded will go to the doc erors Memorial Scholarship fund through the baseball booster club item seven is a recommendation approve renew renewal of a Cooperative agreement with WV Valley high school for boys boys and girls swimming for school year 2425 and 2526 item 8 is a recommendation to approve the renewal of the ice hockey triart fight Cooperative agreement with wo Valley high school and K high school for school years 2425 and 2526 item 9 is a recommendation uh to accept the resignation of chrisan jaine as save advisor eff 30th 2024 and iend is a recommendation to approve book Martin as a leave replacement assistant track coach affected May 6 from June 1st uh 2024 as listed I will make the the motion for 4 through 10 man have a second second any discussion or comments I just would like to say U comment number four that I it might seem like a small service but I really appreciate the service of the think the uh physicals at the school really makes a lot of convenience and I hope that we continue that M wat yes M Shuman yes M ory yes M pona yes Mr confor yes Mr joh yes moving on to policy okay um like to make a motion to move number one a recommendation to approve to abolish the following policy 5755 equity and educational programs and services any motion see me a second second any discussion all right roll call please M Schuman yes M ory yes Mr Don yes Mr confor yes M wise yes Mr yes all right and then I'd like to uh make a motion to uh for number two it's recommended by the superintendent of the Board of Education approves the following revised policies and regulations that are mandated um most of them are mandated policy 1140 is educational Equity policies affirmative action policy 1523 is comprehensive Equity plan uh policy 1530 is equal employment opportunities regulation 1530 is Equal Opportunity Employment Opportunity complaint procedure policy 1550 is Equal Employment anti-discrimination Practices regulation 2200 is content policy 22060 is equity and school and clro practices regulation 2360 and school classroom practices policy 2411 is guidance counseling policy 2423 is Bilal education regulation 2423 is Bilal education policy 24314 is prevention treatment of sports related concussions and injuries regul 43 1.4 is prevention treatment of sports for percussions and head injuries policy 3211 isent ethics regulation 5440 is honoring student achievement policy 57 5 is Equitable education opportunity policy 6 76110 is vandalism and regulation 7610 so making a motion seing a second second any discussion the um the each of these was there's a long list and they're all relative to the the notion that these revisions um remove the list of protected categories and replace the list with an expanded list as defined in inj 6A and so that's what they're all they're all updates of language that defines protected categories any other discussion okay roll call please M ory yes Mr Tona yes Mr confor yes M wiv yes M Schuman yes Mr dun yes uh want to thank you Mr M for getting all of those Dr rley for getting all those policies out to us so we had some time to review them ahead of time quite a few that was and I decided that this month we need to send them out earlier again it's very all similar situations so what that uh we have no negotiations items more than we have any buildings and grounds so move on Finance I'd like to move items 1 through 7 uh together item one is a recommendation accept the report of the business excuse me board secretary dist administrator for the month of March 2024 and two is a recommendation accept the report of the treasurer for the month of March 2024 and three is a recommendation to approve the report of transfers and minimum extens transfer report for the month of March 2024 and four is a recommendation to approve for payment via attach schedule of audited bills dated April 30th 2024 and item five is a recommendation to accept the adult education agency account athletic account cafeteria account principal petty cash account scholarship account school store and Student Activities reconciliation for the month of March 2024 item six six is a recommendation to uh Grant permission to host the non-affiliate co-ed hoop HP Hoops Camp uh ages 16 14 which will run July 8th through 10th 2024 uh as oh and July 15th through 7th uh Camp will be self-supporting and will charge $95 per Middle School participant and $75 per Elementary schol parti and uh item seven is a recommendation to Grant permission to the HP tennis camps to host the non-affiliated to Camp ages 8 through 14 which will run July 22nd to 24th uh that camp will also be self-supporting will charge $50 per participant so I make that Motion 1 through 7 I have a second second any questions on any of those items just like to say I think that the camps are a good way to keep building the program and uh you know keep students interest as they come up into the high school and we have the facilities so yes keep kids busy Mr con for yes M wise yes Miss Schuman yes M ory yes M Tona yes Mr gun yes okay item a is the big one uh the first portion of this resolution which deals with travel and related expense reimbursement 2024 2024 to 2025 uh is as required by law I'm not going to read that portion uh it doesn't change from year to year uh so I will move down to the uh portion that begins adoption of budget 2024 through 2025 be resol that the budget be approved for the 2024 2025 school year using the 2024 2025 state aid figures and secretary to the height Point Regional High School Board of Education be authorized to submit the following budget to the executive County Superintendent of Schools and uh in the table I will read the total amounts we've already had our budget presentation by Dr gley uh so these same numbers the total expenditures 24,6 73,0 less anticipated revenues uh which are 6,822 67 yields a taxes to be rais raised figure of1 1,851 193 be it resolved at the High Point Regional High School uh Board of Education approves the levy of general fund taxes for the 2024 2025 school budget to be 17,859 this budget addresses health saate the issues related to facility Capital spending student centered items and integrity and to advertise said budget said tenative budget in the New Jersey Herald in accordance with the form suggested by the State Department of Education and according to La I will make that motion and I have a second second I discussion on budget uh just a couple things I would personally like to high highlight and I I say this I'll repeat it again I consider the budget one of the most important votes a board member can have in uh in the year debt we have had no debt in at least seven8 years uh we have been debt free we are not paying interest to any Bank uh to carry debt for us we have managed to not have to go out to afford municipal bonds or any other sort of service um and that is unusual uh it's it's certainly a benefit uh Financial the tax levy increase realize that this is more for the public as I know my board members all know this that the state statute when it was changed to allow School boards to be uh elected in uh November permitted School boards to increase their tax levy by 2% over the previous year without having to go out to public vote um 2% in in an environment where inflation ranges somewhere 78 certainly a lot higher than 2% can be very challenging um we we came up with a budget uh central office and Dr Ripley and Pres it to the finance committee and we have now for two years have proposed a budget that is under the 2% cap you may say it's not much under but it's under okay we did not go to the cap uh as we would be permitted to do so and um say what you want if it's a token amount or not but an effort is there to try to relieve the pain that our taxpayers feel because we are the we are taxers as well um so we just wanted to make make that note um and that let's vote on bu unless there's other comments Miss wi yes Miss Schuman yes Miss ory yes M Dona yes Mr confor yes Mr done yes um I would like to move items 9 through 12 together on finance nine is recommendation to recognize the attached list of sponsors for the baseball and softball booster clubs and approve them being represented with signs on the fences of the varsity baseball and softball fields they are as listed uh we're thankful for all of them I don't happen to have those names handy to read them all um item 10 is a recommendation that the board acknowledges and gratefully accepts a donation of a gently used proor eliptical machine from Miss Leanne Smith and family with a value of approximately $550 to use the waight room it 11 is a recommendation to uh acknowledge and gratefully accept a donation of $1,000 from ail for ail worly family to be used by the media tech department and item 12 is a recommendation to approve an award in the amount of $7,295 from the 2024 2025 njaa frerick L hi foundation for excellence and education grant Miss Corey boola secured this funding which will support high points annual interdisciplinary Symposium so I will make that motion may I have a second second uh i' just like to thank uh Miss Leanne Smith a former board member and her family for Their donation um like to thank the whle family uh Nolan who was our recipient uh not too long ago um here for the uh unsung heroes and uh thank you to Mrs Loyola for uh for working applying for and receiving the funding from the HB uh from the NJ [Music] did M ory yes M Don yes Mr conord yes M wise yes M Schuman yes Mr D yes um all right let me move uh 13 separately uh being resolved at the High Point Board of Education upon the recommendation of superintendent consultation with the school business administrator approves the basee contract award and the fsnc basee contract with maschio's food service management company for the 2024 2025 school year with an annual management fee of $26,000 management fee shall be payable in 10 monthly installments uh commencing September 1 2024 ending June 30th 2024 uh the further resolve that maschio's fmnc guarantees a loss not to exceed $5,000 to the local Education Agency for the 2024 2025 uh he further resolved that the total cost of the contract is 47,3 47385 54 I will make that motion Su is any discussion I know we discussed this in the finance committee um every 5 years you require to go out for proposal for food service you can accept a bid and then you can renew that bid for four more years but then you're required to go out for a proposal on the f after the fifth year so we went out for proposal a lot of work uh Jamie Noah in our office uh put together the bid packet and it's very very stringent uh you work with the Department of Agriculture and we received one response one responsible bidder it was mashos and I believe our geographic location probably has something to do with uh you know not getting more bids than that um but mashos has worked well with us and um we're glad to have them back so they Supply other schools locally I mean is there something you can Co up you can put together every school together um I've never heard of that we there is satellite um we we satellite with mon well just maybe we might get some better bids in if you put every school together bid is a group and maybe you'll open up doors for another company to have a different type of proposal that's uh interesting thought I'm going check anyway you know but not heard of that it's good ide especially in an area [Music] like we do we do satellite with m m and monu set up a good deal a couple years ago and they're happy with it we're happy communication to see what other schools are using locally a lot think a lot of them use mashos County might one other there's there's a couple schools that have sedak up and they've jumped uh in and out I know that I think Sparta had s dexs on Vernon had s De on so now multiple is there a quality difference between the two as well uh I think the services is is big part of as well quality of food wise the Department of Agriculture sets such stct and dietary limitations on yeah I've heard I've heard that SP and Vernon it was it was largely surfice issue because they're local and they very responsive to service and so de is a big National company in there not as responsive for small this year yeah I went to Mount Olive about 5 years ago to check out sedexo and uh they were disinterested in our business we get for I could do real that's an interesting idea any other comments on that M Tona yes Mr con yes M wise yes Miss Schuman yes M ory yes Mr dun yes and the final item in finances recommendation approved and authorized the execution of the following tuition contracts between High Point Regional sending district and the following districts and related information as listed um I will make that motion may have a second second roll Miss W yes M Schuman yes M oron yes M Dona yes M conord yes Mr Don yes any volunteers to take uh items 1 through 11 in transportation y thank you through 11 or through 12 uh did I miss 12 12 yeah don't forget wait 11 amended the board upon recommendation superintendent approves the authorizes the execution of following joint Transportation 2324 approves and authorizes the execution of following joint Transportation 2324 approves and authorizes the execution of following joint Transportation 2324 approves the authorization the execution of following joint Transportation 2324 approves and authorizes the execution of the following joint Transportation 2324 six is the same seven is the same eight is the [Music] same authorizes and approves the execution of following contract addendum for additional mileage for 2324 and authorizes the execution following quoted contract awarded to only quote for the 2324 school year and 11 approves and authorizes the execution following joint Transportation 23 24 seeking a motion second any discussion call M Schuman yeah M ory yes Mr Dona yes Mr conort yes Mr wiise yes Mr dun yes believe that concludes our action items no legal correspondence items uh no misscellaneous other than our standard uh so second public comment section of the evening please state your name and address same rules apply as was mentioned in the prior session uh feel free to come to the lecton or submit your comments via our virtual platform uh to the email address listed there again PA a featherman Wantage at the last board meeting I had reminded the board members that Mr Ripley had put something in my daughter's records that was incorrect I have the proof if anyone needs to see it it's totally incorrect it was a mistake it was a mistake correct it you do wrong you make a mistake anyone goes to work they make a mistake then they're forced to make and correct that mistake if it wasn't a mistake then I say maybe it was retaliation something he's accused me of and again I can show proof of that you don't have to like me Mr Ripley but you do have to do justice to my daughters who are members of this High School both of them and I think it's time that this board forces him to make that correction because if he put something that was wrong in any one of your students daughters or Sons files I'm sure you would be a little bit upset too if he would not change it I'm not even asking him to change the entire thing I'm just asking for a little correction this was an oversight by Dr Ripley this is my correction by his unwilling to do this I think it's more the ladder of [Music] retaliation it's time that High Point forces their people to do the right thing everybody is working for everybody's kids not me not you guys not anybody else's these kids I mean people but their kids and it's wrong that because Mr Ripley does not like me which is fine but it's wrong that he takes it out of my kids records that's going to follow them through life all I'm asking for is a mistake to be corrected that's it [Music] com uh I will make a motion to close public comments have second second all in favor any post comments are closed uh we have actually I shouldn't say that do we have have any non-committee board member reports or comments no board member Qui dry you I just wanted to say that a longterm member of the uh of the staff and a seminal uh player participant influence on our community past recently Miss Virginia Perry who was a uh worked at High Point for many years was as Pleasant and lovely and loving a human being as you'll ever meet and was here in in multiple capacities um for more than 20 years I think and uh we loost the community lost a special person and uh someone that uh Mr T held a moment of silence uh earlier in the week or last week for uh Miss Virginia Perry who was called Jenny and uh she was a lovely human being and she wouldn't miss we have no other business so I'll entertain a motion to Second all in favor any post