e e Miss paach Chana yes Miss Falcone Schubert yes now moving on to number seven the appointment of board member to fill a vacancy um after considering three candidates to fill the position vacated by Mr Alex MC the Board of Education wishes to appoint Scott Francis pursuing to njsa 18a 12 to5 because this vacancy is being filled prior to the third Monday in July the successful candidate will serve only until the organizational meeting following the next annual school election can I please have a motion motion second please call the RO or there any discussion it need any Mr Falcone yes Mr dhano oh let me think about that yes Dr Capello yes Mr citr yes Miss gulan yes Mr chaffy yes Miss paa yes Miss Falcone schert yes congratulations welcome back welcome back first time nine people ever agreed on me took a lot of convincing Mr Francis you want to come up sir very compelling letter you wrote the position ex the song California you can check out you can never leave I get so lucky next meeting move around gotta work your way back up so we'll go through as I administer the oath of office to Mr Francis uh I Scott Francis do solemnly swear or affirm I Scott Francis do solemnly swear or affirm that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey that I will support the Constitution of I'm sorry the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and to the governments established in the United States and this state and to the governments established in the United States and this state under the authority of the people so help me God under the authority of the people so help me God second part I Scott Francis do SW solemnly swear I Scott Francis do solemnly swear that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law for the office of a member of a board of education that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law for the office of member of a board of education and then I am not disqualified as a voter pursuant to rs19 4-1 that I am not disqualified as a voter pursuant to rs1 1941 nor disqualified due to conviction of a crime or offense listed in njs 182 e e one we disqualified due the conviction of a crime or offense listed in njs 1881 12-1 and that I will Faith faithfully and partially and justly perform that I will faithfully and partially and justly all of the duties of that office according to the best of my abilities all of the duties of that office according to the best of my ability board seats will be open um in the November election uh petitions for individuals who are interested in running for the board will be made available by the Sussex County clerk's office um later in the month of May and petitions for those positions are due in July if you have an interest or office where you can visit their website where all of the election related material is okay all right okay superintendence report so obviously a lot going on as um we start that home stretch to wrap up the school year um I do want to congratulate and we're going to go through and and talk a little bit about some of our acknowledgements and correspondents here in in item 10 but I want to congratulate our drama program um our our drama adviser Miss Bache Miss nardone uh Mr cerulo all of our parent volunteers uh wonderful performance last weekend um a tremendous amount of hard work that goes into both our our fall and our spring musical um very proud of all of their efforts and their accomplishments as well um for our Hib reports for this month we have no hibs from last month on second reading we do have uh two Hib reports filed this month one is a confirmed Hib and one is neither a Hib or a code of conduct violation um so in a moment I'll ask you U via motion and a roll call vote to approve those Hib findings for the month uh with that I'm going to put Lana on the hot seat here our student representative who's here this evening Lana anything you'd like to share with the public in the board uh yes I have actually a lot on my M I love it I'm going to start off with um testing at the high school so this week we started the enjoy SLA testing and then next week um AP tests are going to be coming out so good luck to whoever is taking those um also the high school is also proud to announce that our SAT School have steadily increased um over this year um and in terms of academics um with college Commitment Day coming student high school which I believe is May 1st a lot of our or some of our students have been accepted in colleges such as Boston University University of Oregon Boston College Ruckers and a lot more which is very I guess honoring for school um also Mr compia has received the D award for the state of New Jersey and in terms of Athletics our sports teams are doing good um one of our athletes ay Miller has had a great accomplishment with her 200th strikeout and Conor ding has been invited to play in the Robinson Allstar football classic um also known as the East West game from counties across New Jersey and Joel Johnson P Moy and ay Miller again were nominated as New Jersey Herald players of the week very exciting absolutely absolutely thank you Lana for that great report I appreciate it uh anything else here for superintendent Report with that I'll ask for a motion in a second please I'll move it second can pleas follow the roll Mr Falcone yes Mr dfan yes Dr Capello yes okay next we're going to move on to acknowledgement and correspondence absolutely so student of the month uh for hopong High School uh grade eight is anayia dunon watt honorable mention is Gianna Santana grade nine Luke Hayden kall you know who that is honorable mention is Camila Milan grade 10 tan Sherlock grade 11 Mia Scott and grade 12 is Kayla la uh honorable mention is Josan PES we have uh number of students chosen as High School uh scholar athlete of the month in golf it's Chase leig Chase is a sophomore boy tennis is Tomas galz perea Tomas can't be with us this evening also is one of our student Representatives uh congratulations to our Middle School honor rooll and high honor rooll award winners for the third marking period as well as our High School honor rooll and high honor rooll uh Award winners for the third marking period and then last month we had a chance to recognize some of our Governor's educator of the Year Award winners um not everyone could be here last month um so I called a couple of those victims back for this month so that we could take a couple of minutes to honor each of them so let me read off all of the names again just so the public has everyone um when I call your name I'm going to embarrass you and ask you to come up so that um I can make fun of you and get a nice photo together if that's okay with everyone so Gary andelina at the high school uh Emily Taylor at the high school Elsa Rulo at the middle school Anna vashan at the middle school Norm Sutton at Tulsa Shelby Ox at Tulsa Susan masteri at Durban and Lisa schuffenhauer at Durban if I could get you guys to come on up here so we could take a nice photo together [Applause] so besides our student awards this is one of the opportunities that I I hope the public gets a chance to see and recognize some of our amazing staff the work that you do in the classroom doesn't always go noticed by all of our public um but I think it's important that we take a minute and we single you out and we recognize the hard work that you as well of all of your colleagues do every single day for our student students in this community it is appreciated by this board I know it's appreciated by the public and it is certainly appreciated by me so let's smile and then we can shake some hands all right got a good one stuff I got a thank you congratulations congratulations now for each of you you are more than willing and and welcome to stay for the entire show however you are also excused at this time if you have other commitments that you need to attend to and no one will think differently of you please okay four kids at home okay go you sure you don't want to stay then this might be a break for you thank you foring than you all appreciate it have a great night thank you thank you is there any parent teacher organizations that would like to speak have anything got nothing I know I don't either this is the slow time of the year for me got a little L that's right all right this time we'll move to public comment um first on the list is Linda padulla I'm Linda poua High School um counselor I just want to congratulate Dominic sputs and Brennan Gary andelina on their retirement I've had the privilege of working with all of them and I will miss working with them welcome Mr um Robinson um luck when starting next year um so I I did see that both school counselor and the crisis counselor for Mary Ellen's um position were both posted and I know that they're in the middle of interviews I just want to emphasize again like I did last time the importance and the hope that we would not lose one of those positions in a in a time in our country as well as in our school when mental health is so important and our kids are struggling so much our school is not any different than everywhere else that is happening out there in the world and to lose a support to those students is would be really detrimental to our student population um I know that we're in the middle of testing right now and of course all hands- on deck for testing and the guidance Department today was crazy with the amount of students that needed support and we were all testing so if you're now going to take one more person out of that Circle of employees then it's going to be even less people that are there to support our kids so um I really just hope I know that we're still in the middle of the budget crunch like um most of our schools in our area are but um to lose a mental health support for our kids would be really really bad for um for our student population so thank you thank you thank you Miss Padula there is one individual you left off of the retirement list and I do want to acknowledge that individual Miss padulla will be retiring at the end of this school year um she's modest not to mention herself in that um Linda and I worked together at Durban Avenue for a number of years um she is another fantastic addition to our staff and you will be missed so congratulations on your retirement next is Miss St Stacy Yano hi Stacy Yano um 12 cting road but I also work in the guidance office as the secretary so I also wanted to acknowledge um some of the people who are retiring some were on last month some this month's um Mrs Pam Brennan Mrs Kula um marielen fed Dominic spes Gary andelina and Linda taen I also have had the honor of working with them I've been in the district 18 years and I've worked with all of them in various capacities um especially I I want to give a shout out to Mrs Brennan who were in the midst of our local scholarships and she actually worked really hard with our seniors we had probably almost double the amount of students submit at least one local scholarship application and that was really because she was is working with them on resumés and encouraging them so I wanted to give her a shout out she will definitely I mean everyone will be missed for different things that they do um I do have to point out I am going to miss Mrs padulla probably a little bit more and I don't want to get choked up but it's been hard the last six years with having cuts and taking on more responsibility and guidance um so I just have to Echo that we really cannot afford to lose a Miss feda position or Mrs padulla um position and today was a perfect example um you know we're working on scholarships we're working on all the testing we're working on other things that have to get done and of course the students are always our first priority and they will always be um but it it's really hard when they're struggling and you don't have the people right there and you have to have them wait um which we don't do often so I would really really really appreciate if both of those positions could be you know it's going to be hard to replace the people but we really do need that support for our students we have a population that is continuing to struggle in so many ways and we do everything that we can all of the staff and faculty but we really can't afford to lose another support for them so I would just implore you to please consider that um and I I would like to also welcome um you know our new assistant superintendent and I will look forward to working and supporting you as well thank you thank you Stacy um at this point in time item 13 let me go through and talk a little bit about our annual approvals and appointments um a little bit different um for the next couple of months in that I am fulfilling the role as both superintendent and business administrator and also assistant superintendent until Mr Robinson comes on board um which I'll speak a little bit about here momentarily these are annual appointments that need to be um outlined and approved by the board so you'll see in many cases um I have to serve as the purchasing agent the hipa compliance officer uh stoan of public records we will reappoint a number of these positions come July 1 when Mr Robinson comes on board um full-time um he will take on a number of those responsibilities uh just as Mr D benedetto and I shared those responsibilities previously um so it's important it's important that we we understand and and we kind of see how those things um apply and then the other thing to kind of look at under those appointments is all of the different professionals and legal responsibilities that exist whether it be a species management plans um whether it be appointment of our attorneys our school Physicians our our Architects approval of our newspapers where we publicly um post our vacancies and our legal notices um right down to the tax sheltered annuity companies that uh our staff members can take advantage of and then along with account signatures uh one of the things I think it's important to note and to highlight is that area of account signatures so in my current role and my my future role as both business administrator and superintendent I have to tackle both Financial components and components as a superintendent and that was one of the things that prior to even going down this road um we worked on with the uh State Department of Education through the county office with our Auditors um to set up um procedural safeguards that protect both the district but also quite honestly protect me so um simple things such as our payroll transfer sheets every month get approved by myself they get approved by the board president and they get approved by our outside treasurer of school monies um I have a conference reimbursement on this month's agenda for my State uh business administrator's conference that I need to be able to go to which Tails mileage reimbursement I don't approve any of my own reimbursements all of my reimbursements go to the board president and then they go to the treasurer of school Monies to to verify so that I'm not approving anything that I am directly involved in attending from a financial standpoint and all of the same regulations that approve uh that apply to purchasing um conflict of interest they apply to me regardless of of what position I'm in as a superintendent or as a business administrator um so I just want everybody to understand all of those procedural safeguards that we've put in place um to kind of help us get over part of our financial hump that we're in and continue to come out uh On the Sunny Side of everything okay with that uh I'll turn it back over to you oh actually me um before we make a move moment um I just I want to go through before and talk a little bit about the agenda I didn't in my superintendent report um on this evening's agenda is the approval of our budget for the 2024 2025 school year um in it you will see that the board of education is proposing to go to its 2% local tax cap um as well as to use 2% of its cap exceptions that are available to it the board has already banked 1.9% in cap exceptions from last year and it has we'll have another almost 2% this year that it is not using to its entirety it could have gone to a 6% tax increase this year but that would have left 2% the following year and as I've had conversations with the board and our committees it it's one thing to be fiscally responsible but to also recognize that this is not a Sprint this is a marathon so taking a 6% tax increase in one year but but only being able to support it with a 2% increase the next year would ultimately mean that you would be faced with cuts next year because you wouldn't have the revenue to support that extra increase in your budget so our approach has been and we'll continue to be so long as the board directs us to do so to take a measured approach to recognizing that um education is an Endeavor that comes with costs um that as a school district we are not immune to inflationary pressures that exist outside of our walls the Consumer Price Index uh increased by 5.81% this year we're looking at 4% as our tax increase and we lost $1.3 million in federal Esser money so with our financial moves with our staffing with some retirements um we have been able to maintain uh all but one position that we are going to lose through attrition um and come out on the other side so after multiple years of budget cuts and position cuts um I I am happy to say I'm disappointed for other school districts but I am happy to say that we are not laying anyone off we are not reducing in force any tenur staff members there are a number of districts around us that are are forced to cut positions and all I can say say to them is I know exactly where you're at I feel for you and your communities um and we're going to continue to do what we need to do to provide the best education to our students and our families in a fiscally responsible manner with the resources that we have available to us all right so that will be the budget that is before you to approve this evening um I also want to highlight uh some Personnel um miss padulla and miss Yanko so cleverly stole my thunder on um on our retirements but I think it's worth noting um and I've said this time and time again this is an incredibly passionate and dedicated teaching staff support staff um across all of our schools and all of our offices people who come to work in Hope haong stay and they commit to our community and and these individuals that are retiring this evening on our agenda and retiring at the end of the school year are a testament to that Mr spuches has served uh this school district for 17 years Mr andelina for 18 years Miss padulla for nine years Miss Brennan for 18 years um it's a testament to both who they are and the community where they work and the passion that they have um for our schools so I want to congratulate each of them and then I also want to take an opportunity to introduce you to um the candidate that I am recommending to take over as our new assistant superintendent of schools um he was part of multiple rounds of interviews both with administrators and a teaching committee he was their unanimous recommendation he is my unanimous recommendation he comes with a wealth of experience as a um building principal as a school leader and as a district leader with a wealth of curriculum experience um I am happy that we were able ble to steal him away from a local school district um I know that he is going to be welcomed with open arms and he fully understands who we are what we represent um the challenges we face and the task that is ahead of him as we work together um both from an administrative team a board and from a teaching staff member and I know he is excited to uh jump on board with us in July to get things started so with that I'd like to introduce to you Mr Matthew Robinson is there anything you'd like to say to the public or to the members of the Board of Ed absolutely I just want to thank you for your anticipated approval and um when I interviewed with Mr halenbeck I asked him what's your favorite thing about working in hopac and he right away said the people and I just that spoke volumes to me and then throughout the interview process I asked the committee what is your favorite thing about being in hop pacon cuz I try to like spin people on their heads a little bit because they're asking you a bunch of questions you try to give them something that makes nothing and they all said the people and and then we went around the table and talked about the longevity that everyone had 20 years 17 years 25 years so that just speaks volumes to me about the dedication that people here have I'm really super excited to get started I know that there's a lot of work to do I am capable and ready to do that work I hope to be present before July 1st just to be able to get into the schools and meet people and I'd like to thank you so much for your anticipated support thank you welcome congrats with that uh the rest of our agenda this evening is um pretty standard for our business uh functions approval of all of our um tenar staff members and contract renewals for the upcoming school year we have a couple of uh field trips um a couple of conference leave requests some staff tuition reimbursement requests uh that are on here um along with second reading of our policies that all of our committees have have uh approved as well as on first reading last month and um we have a one resolution on the agenda this evening under um 19B which is um the Board of Education and our architect submitting plans down to Trenton um for a potential second referendum question to go out to the public it is um something that we are looking to pair down our initial referendum question that was defeated last year with the recognition and the understanding that we need to take action on our assets to protect them for our students and for our community um that project is not being approved this evening but what is being approved is US submitting the drawings and everything down to Trenton for them to review and approve we will continue in our May and our June meetings um to talk more about the referendum to pin down potential costs and to lay out our path forward for that um in anticipation of a potential November referendum during the November general election so we'll have lots more to talk about that and so with that I'll turn it back over to you can I um make a motion to move the rest of the agenda 13 through 20 I think 20 20 yes 20 is there a second I'll second okay discussion on items 13 through 20 you got your answer right you're good okay hearing none all right Mr Falcone yes Mr dhano uh yes with the exception of 20 for 20 I vote present Dr Capello yes Mr citr yes Miss gulan yes Mr chaffy yes Miss paach Chana yes and Miss Falcone Schubert um Yes except I'm gonna abstain on 15 jkl which one 15 l or l no l I had to do my alphabet L okay thank you okay um if anyone like to make board comments and now will be the time we can start over um down with Mr CH thank you everyone for coming to those of you retiring congratulations I'm envious um got a long way before I'm there um me too um and Welcome to our new superintendent great to have you sorry assistant you're right assistant the guy motion already thank you um I want to also say thank you to everyone who came for our guidance department for always speaking so kindly and uh taking your stance um I want to say congratulations again to our educators of the year I feel very lucky that the Durban educators of the year have been very big parts of my son's life um and as he transitions to Tulsa we're going to miss both of those individuals a lot um and congratulations to Mr Robinson welcome um thank you for the individuals that are going to be retiring in the time that you guys have spent helping the students here because it does mean a lot and those are future Generations that will come back to the town hopefully that you know I hope for um thank you guys for attending the meetings and you know good luck in college you guys are both going to college right yeah so thank you you and congratulations on your uh assistant superintendent role I don't have anything extra thank you for coming and everybody else pretty much covered everything welcome right um congratulations Matt um you're gonna love it here uh one thing I wanted to ask or or mention to um to Stacy Stacy uh the uh rotarian Club is going to be approaching you or asking you for some scholarship suggestions so please attend that's it thank you all for coming uh thank you all for coming uh congratulations Mr Robinson look forward to working with you um congratulations to our retirees um good luck on this next chapter of your life enjoy it work hard for it I've been retired 10 years is it's wonderful Jo school boards yeah what join your I have to do penants it's my penants um yeah just to Echo everyone's say congratulations your retirement and thank you very much for speaking very passionately about a a a very important topic that's near and dear to me as well um I couldn't agree more with with with your your Viewpoint there and Mr Robinson welcome to a Pac on thank you sir you're going to have a blast there everybody keeps telling me they tell you how great the board members were was mention we also have longevity here um so I just want to say I love when you guys come and speak because like that's why we do this just to hear all the great things that are happening so thank you for sharing those those wonderful things um I don't get much from my high school or so to hear what's going on from you it's great uh congratulations to everybody retiring um welcome Mr Robinson um it seems like you have had many different experiences um all of which we need you know you to bring here so we're very excited and we are going to definitely put you to work right away um and I just want to say Happy Teacher Appreciation Week I think it starts next week to all of the staff um thank you for working so hard and we are in the home stretch someone told me it's like five or six more Mondays until um summer that's Luka he'll tell you yeah there you go okay with that said can I please have a motion to adjourn I'll move it second all in favor out of here thank you have a wonderful evening everyone Mr would um Thomas be to get his scholar athlete certificate his mom absolutely absolutely you had a match come on upate was I heard it was bad the old the old traffic excuse he's getting ready for the for the real world I'm good buddy congratulations come onom mom come on see