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 this is to advise the general public that in complies with the open public meeting act the par Board of Education meeting was advertised in the aary Park Press the Atlantic City Press and posted at the office of the Board of Education located at 307 froon Road Little Lake Harbor New Jersey and posted at the office of the municipal clerk of little Lake Harbor can I please have a roll call Mr phich here miss Martin here Mr bar here M irvan here Miss Lawrence here Dr Snider here you have oh I'm sorry Mr Les okay sorry last but not forgot um okay can we all please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance the United States of America one [Music] na recommend a motion to approve the agenda I have a motion motion can I have a second are there any questions um I have correction [Music] sorry I do have um two Corrections on the um staff list on page seven um the salary for Megan Gunston should be um removed and it should be to be determined pending negotiations and that is one of the positions that was moving in into the leh tea and similar similarly um I believe two pages later um the salary for Erica napalitano family partner the same thing is true that should be eliminated and it should not to be negotiated with [Music] the page 11 right yes okay so we on page seven the salary of Meg Gunston so we are approving the re employment but we are pending negotiations on the final disposition of the salary what was the other name and the other one is napalitano it is at the top of page 11 and again we are approving the individuals just the salaries are pending the negotiated um guide so I motion to amend the agenda as recommended by superintendent we have a [Music] second all in favor I any exensions or objections [Music] motion car motion carried all right thank um okay Rec a motion to the following minutes we have a lot of them I can I have a motion I have a second are there any questions seeing as there are none all in favor I see there's no extensions motion carries motion do all right umov M on to the first public comment these public comment is for agenda items only the Board of Education now welcomes the public to comment on items which are on our agenda tonight community members should first try to resolve their concerns by speaking directly to school administrators before bringing those concerns to the board it may not always be possible or appropriate for the board to directly answer questions during the public comment period each speaker is allotted a maximum 3 minutes to make their statement No one may speak more than once on the same topic you are required to give your name and address before speaking please keep your comments respectful and non-discriminatory and maintain the level of per appropriate for public meeting where miners may be in the audience would anyone like to [Music] speak [Music] yes my name is Joe glus I'm a sixth grade teacher in class support here at fron Elementary forgive me for just burying myself into this I'm speaking tonight on behalf of the staff of little o Harvard School District however these are my own words thoughts and feelings I feel the end of teacher appreciation we was handle poorly a number of Staff members were called into meetings to inform them they will not have a job next year they were sent directly back to class with no time to collect themselves I understand that we have an issue getting enough subs for coverage but was it really the best choice to send a teacher back to class immediately after telling them they're being let go with all due respect in the past it was said we want and are going to do what's best for the students is it truly in the best interest of the students to cut over 20 Educators and keep all the administration I do not understand increasing class sizes or how increasing class sizes increasing the workload of Educators is what's best for the students I do not understand why there is not a single cut or adjustments positions that hold salaries worth multiple Educators I do not understand why staff not in administrative position have to absorb the responsibilities of having a lack of Staff but others don't we need to remain invested in Educators and staff who are ready and willing to invest themselves in this district and most importantly make the Lo Carver School District their long-term home these are people rifted I don't understand how we chose to keep certain staff when we cut staff that work to promote a positive for the L haror School District beyond the walls of the schools I don't understand why we cut staff that build and maintain strong positive relationships with students and parents I do not understand why we cut staff that sacrificed all their extra time to supporting students and staff through mentorships side projects and more I don't understand why we are not a little Harbor School District team we are divided it is clear we are not on the same team I believe it is clear we are not making choices best for the students I understand a lot of tough choices need to be made I struggle to see how the end result of these decisions will result in what's best for the education and growth of students that come through little Carver School District I hope standing here tonight in these words don't jeopardize my relationships with Administration and other staff but I cannot stand idly by and watch an injustice that impacts so many I cannot stand by and ask my students to be upstanders if I myself and I will do the same I think we can all agree we have cut some great staff hopefully Governor Murphy will sign the bill soon the bill a 4161 will restore 45% of our district law state I would like to ask our Board of Education Administration to publicly commit to rehiring as many of the dedicated Educators who would let go with any and all funds that we receive this bill also allows the board to raise taxes in order to maintain a high quality of education for the students of little Carter the students in this community deserve better than overc classrooms with 30 students please do the right thing for the students you represent thank you for your [Applause] time thank you would anyone else like to speak [Music] my name is Kim slick some of you might know me better as NY some of you may not know me at all but I've been teaching in this district for 20 years and will be retiring at the end of next school year I would like to think that I have a good reputation in the district and have not been one to make I think this just might cause some rles my concerns are regarding the riffs of 23 certificated staff members in the district my question Tonight Tonight does not lie in the reasoning of why these Cuts were made I am aware of our situation and how difficult is to cut staff as I sat on a board of education myself my question lies in how these decisions were made I was told that many of these staff members were called into meetings when they were called into meetings they were told not to take it personally while as I stay earlier I've been in this district for a long time and I consider many of the administrators my friends and I will preference this next part with saying please don't take this personally month after month we sit here and we say that all decisions that are made for the good are made for the good of the students here lies my question how is cutting 23 teachers while leaving Administration untouched a good decision for our students next school year we are already learning a new Ela curriculum a curri ulum whose piloting teachers have now been moved to other grade levels we are also continuing to familiarize ourselves with the new math program being introduced to a new data platform as well as a new special education model and will be working under a new superintendent now because of these staff cuts and the movement of these other Educators we will be doing all of this with class sizes of 25 or more and considerably less interventionists I ask again how this benefits our students I also think it's important that the community has a better idea of exactly whose contracts were non renewed as they are all great losses to our district including nine special education teachers one steam teacher three speech teachers one kindergarten one first grade one second grade one third grade one fifth grade a music teacher a physical education teacher a counselor and two Preschool teachers these along with several tenure teachers being moved to positions in which they have no experience while some non-tenured or newly tenur teachers have secured their positions can't possibly have been a decision that was made for the students none of this seems to make any sense these Rifts are not bad teachers they are amazing amazing Educators just a few examples from my own knowledge finally we found an amazing music teacher at George J Mitchell she greeted students at the door with her drum or her ukulele and sang them into their spots on the carpet a second grade teacher that is a valued member of the community volunteering countless events taught the after school program as well as the esy and summer spash a steam teacher with several certifications who also dedicated hours of her time to students sorry sorry time out [Music] I'm jacn finigan L Lake haror uh Association president special education teachers that taught in some of our most demanding programs a number of these teachers would have received tenure in the fall I also think it's important to say after these teachers were told they would no longer have a job they didn't go home it was Teacher Appreciation Week Mother's Day weekend and the week leading up to State Testing it would have been easy to break down but they did not they went back to their students and created Mother's Day projects or sat on a stage and got signed for kids heart Challenge and taught amazing lessons as they always do in closing we would like the board to reconsider these cuts and possibly look to see if something can be changed further up the ladder to possibly save a few of our maging executors thank you [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] I don't know how many of you good evening I don't know how many of you know [Music] probably [Music] a ask I knew to this in case you could but my daughter is autistic she has childhood prac speech like many of your students in this District 65% or more autistic students also have Aid diagnosis and child Carey of speech and there's two things that I like this one is that your typical approach to speech therapy is ineffective for students there is very there are very few evidence-based methods that will work for a cacy of of speech group sessions are not effective not at this stage and for many of your students um and the other thing that I think it's important to State here um is that these individual s sessions and lengthier sessions with lots of repetition are crucial because this is a planning difficulty it is not a speech to not to say that those students don't also speech you are cutting one of the the most phenomenal speech therapists that my daughter has ever had the privilege to work with and one of the others will be on maternity leave next year so I would like to know how she is going to be guaranteed in others like her a free and equal access to education if you are cutting the very methodology and type of therapy that is going to be effective for her and allow her to access that a and many of the other autistic students who are also have a pracy of speech I just I don't understand how without these therapists they are going to be able to communicate their needs um and their desires and their thoughts if they are not being given the types of therapy that they need 15 minutes is insufficient um to repeat all of the sounds and Border planning that they need to do in order for it to be effective and those grp not allow it will be the of not receiving more oress so I will I will keep that many others to speak thank you for but hope [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] hello my name is Tomy guski on Friday May 10th 20124 I was heartbroken to find I was one of the 23 teachers who lost their job due to cuts and C funding this is my third year as a special education teacher at Bron Elementary School I have worked hard to earn the respect of my colleagues administrators parents and students I have gone beyond just teaching the approved curriculum I have developed positive relationships with all of my students and supported them both inside and outside of the classroom I have gone to sports games to cheer them on and volunteered at school functions my students have come to me with their own personal hard ship and many have confided in me as a trusted adult I unequivocally care about each and every one of them not only as their educator but also as an advocate for their prosperity life skills physical and mental health next to being a wife and mother teaching is my priority and calling one that I hold with high regard I am invested in my career and love what I do these Aid Cuts have not only caused undue stress onto me but my students many other teachers and parents as well I ask that if our school gets funding return to us that you use this money to bring our teachers back I believe we can continue to be valuable assets to the Little Egg Harbor School District thank you for your time [Applause] [Music] good evening my name is Jus margan and I'm the speech therapist for the little a harbor School District we stand here tonight to advocate for the students of little a harbor and our special education department when I started working in The District 5 years ago it truly was I brought the fresh air I had incredible bosses who appreciated me respected me valued my opinion and supported all of us wholeheartedly in addition to a supportive Administration my fellow CST members related service providers and teachers within the building were all so welcoming and supportive it truly wisely joining a family as a family we have been third off from Co Administration changes Staffing changes and most significantly all of the changes that have taken place over the last 2 years in previous years no matter how hard things were you were always able to get through and rise to the occasion with a positive attitude and mindset this is no longer the case the job in place that I started 5 years ago is no longer the same morale is completely different the environment is completely different the support is completely different and it is that we understand that you are faced with a very difficult decision when it came to these budget guts we also truly would like to believe that you feel that you are doing what is in the best interest for our staff and our students within all of your decisions however we strongly encourage you to take it deeper look and how your choices impact the day-to-day operations directly one thing has always been true our speech team has always risen to the occasion and we work with some incredible women who go above and beyond to serve our students unfortunately effective last Friday two members of our direct speech team were not rehired for next year and we also lost our ECC per speech therapist this saddens us on so many levels as a team we collectively put together data that was presented to you by our former director did demonstrate the need for these two positions in which you approved and had directly hired we are now coming to you today with the question as to where was the data that was used to make a decision to cut these positions if they were hired Based on data how are they not being rehired as the numbers have not changed in fact they have increased by cutting these two positions this is going to drastically impact our department moving forward and speech services within the district especially with us already being down a member next year as she will be on mat journe leave unfortunately it has been stated that the speech department is over staffed this is disheartening as no one can came to us to ask what we do what our case load numbers are what our workload looks like how many sessions we have within a day or week or what our day-to-day operations truly do look like so we are here tonight to help explain that a little bit more good evening my name is Nikki datino I've been a speech therapist here for 11 years um I've been through many changes working here for that long uh but one thing that has remained constant is that our child study team has always made decisions based on the needs of the students and what is in their best interest with that being said I'm going to continue where Jeff's has let off we serve as a very large population of students in the district with whom we see group sessions individual sessions consultative sessions pushin sessions and in addition we are also case managers for many of our speech only students in which we are responsible for holding meetings creating IEPs sending paperwork home and ensuring that they are getting everything that they need throughout their academic day we also serve as members of the child study team where we attend many many meetings input information for annual reviews complete reevaluations and indivisual evaluations which take about 2 to three hours from start to finish for each child we are also part of the inrs team where at times we offer interventions or strategies to perform speech and language screeners we also help help the 504 process for some of our students or help facilitate a smooth transition for our speech students who need a 504 we work closely with our classroom teachers Administration and fellow related service providers and child study team members we also build for services for the district we also took on a daunting role this year of completing AAC evaluations and managing the devices for all of our non-verbal students this was also a cost savings for the district by cutting these spee therapists it is going to make next year almost impossible for us to be able to service our students the best that we can and effectively do our jobs on a day-to-day basis as it is just like any other teacher we too take work home as it stands right now with the services written and schedule constraints within times we can pull students we are very concerned with how we are going to make schedules work based on what the students actually need we are very nervous that we are going to be make decisions that we do not agree with the data that we are presenting we have presented data to the administration in the past however we were not asked again this year to present data with these Cuts being made our case load continues to grow especially with changes to the CDC guidelines and Milestones and services that are now more so delayed in early intervention this delay in services at an early age is causing more and more of our students to be referred at the kindergarten level unfortunately taking away our pers therapist is going to actually cause us more of an influx of referrals where we will have to evaluate these students which ultimately will add more to our case load with the start of the 2425 year with less speech therapists it is a very great concern of ours we come to you tonight and hopes of sharing this information and working with you not against you we hope that you truly take the time to look at our jobs and what we do on a daily basis and look at the progress that all of our students are making we are not overstaffed at all actually actually we are like I have two sentences left we are speech language Specialists we talk a lot speech language talk a lot we are speech language Specialists um that work very very hard over the years to prove what we need for our district and for our students who are finally making progress thank you very time [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] hi my name is Marissa tra and I just wanted to say what a phenomenal amazing experience my kids have had up until this point because all basically the whole reason that they've had such amazing experience most of those teachers are the ones meet intered they are phenomenal it's Jennifer isalis I've never even met a teacher like her Miss Sarah Z amazing Kowski Miller Willie like there's so many amazing teachers and I just don't see how this is going to help our students in any way shape or form also my son has an IEP how is his how how is are we going to do speech with him with an IEP going forward if we're cutting all these C certificated staff I'm just curious as to how he's going to thrive next year and same thing with my daughter who's had such an amazing experience I just really think you need to a look at some of these like I can't even imagine school without them and it's just it's pretty sad thank you [Applause] [Music] hello hi um my name is Kaitlyn Smith um I stand before you tonight with a purpose that weighs heavy on my heart and on my son's heart I'm here to advocate for the invaluable presence of a teacher who has become more than just an educator to my family myself and son sorry uh Mrs gusi who is greatly known as Mrs G has been a key part of our lives for three amazing years in that time her impact on my son Mikey and countless others has been nothing short found she's not just a teacher she's a source inspiration and a driving force for growth and an advocate for every child in her classroom Mrs G has remarkable ability to unlock the potential within each student with her guidance Mikey has greatly progressed in his writing Journey finding his voice and expressing in himself with new new found confidence her dedication to his academic development extends beyond the confines of the classroom as she endlessly nurtures his love for reading moving him towards greater literary Heights but Mrs G's influence surpasses academics she's the essence of compassion and empathy as she treats every child who walks through her door as if they were her own in a world where kindness can sometimes feel rare rare through many talks with Mikey her commitment to the wellbeing of her student students academically and emotionally is this hopeful light for all of her students I am aware of the challenges facing our educational system and I understand the necessity of difficult decisions in times of budget constraints however I ask you all to recognize the immeasurable value that Mrs J and honestly all of these teachers bring not only to Frog Pond but to all of the lives of each student and their families to lose such a remarkable educator would be a disservice not only to our school but to the very essence of what education stands for nurturing Minds fostering growth and shaping our our children's Futures therefore I urge you to consider the profound impact in Mrs G's presence and allow her to continue gr valuable work in the rals of thank [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] you T I've been in this Township for over 20 years uh I noticed there was one thing not mentioned a lot of these kids that are in the school today and I beg you please remember these are Co children this was 2 years ago these children were disengaged for the world they were sheltered they didn't go out and play with their friends had a much different lifestyle growing up people behind you are directly responsible for my child talking and sentences not one one other word here and there she actually talks because a speech therapist that I heard just got cut Heather she had a she had a session with her today she did great that woman is intrical to my daughter talking okay one word talking and these people are responsible for it and they are dealing with Co children not children like us in the ' 80s and 99s when were up not children like any other children Co children sheltered disengaged they need to catch up and how do they do that these people if you fire them they can't do that please remember that thank you [Applause] [Music] hello everyone I hope everyone's doing well tonight um I know this is a lot of information that's being said to us but please know that I'm coming here as um a member of the school community and as a parent oh I'm sorry I'm Amber Cole I was standing there but thank you I'm Amber Cole I have been a employee of this district for 12 years um I have walked the same Halls that my dear friends and I grew up in many years ago I have been blessed to have worked in the district alongside with many staff members that I had as teachers when I was a student I feel very blessed that I get to impact this community in the position that I hold um I have been out on leave because because I had a baby earlier this year however iured to a position that feels unrecognizable our district has been through copious amounts of change during my career but nothing compares to the level of change that we have felt this school year imagine yourself in a role you've loved and lived for many years seemingly so excuse me imagine yourself in a role that you've loved and lived for many years being seemingly so vastly different in responsibility when you journey I could go on and on about how the change has affected the department I service but truly there is simply not enough time although there are many things that could and frankly should be mentioned I'm standing here to speak about about some teachers that were let go in this financial cut please understand that I know difficult decisions had to be made in this and that we lost a lot of funding however we I cannot let it go um to not mention two of the many staff members that are like jacine Willie is my is one of my the teachers being my go she is my daughter's kindergarten teacher imagine how excited you would feel bringing your child to the school that you work in trusting them with a teacher that you know has such great Poise and knows how to educate and is amazing I did that this year I brought my daughter here to be with me and to be with amazing staff within a phenomenal kindergarten team I couldn't go wrong I truly couldn't but jacn Willie St she amazing have you ever stepped into her classroom do you know who she was it almost feels as if names were employee numbers were thrown into a hat and pulled out and that's how they were chosen to be like oh I almost pray that that is what happened because I cannot imagine the choices that were made and how they were made I cannot imagine um earlier this year let me just paint a little picture of how she was impacting for us earlier this year my son broke his leg I was 36 weeks pregnant um um he broke his light and he could not walk for 5 weeks I had a baby 3 weeks later my daughter is super emotionally in tune she took all of that emotion brought it right into school had a really hard transition thank you I didn't finish my speech the at the end correct only one person speak on the same time [Music] Samantha ainson I live at 43 um my B jacine loved and supported my girl through a very diff difficult transition her classroom is alive and her students are engaged and happy she supports her children to learn and Achieve daily she's an advate for the success of all of her students Elanor loves school and loves Mrs phly jacine gave her exactly what we needed and more I'm forever I for I'm I'm a parent in the district SP so I forever grateful and sad in that after her 3 years in this District over a decade as a teacher she has one of the children stand to be released you are choosing to let one of the very best go on this list teachers being let go all include Mrs Nicole Miller a woman who Martin Martin um a woman who restarted her career path and put everything into her classroom to learn and grow she has held three vastly different roles in the district and that is simply a testament to her flexibility and adaptability as a genuinely amazing teacher she has learned countless different programs to help meet the needs of her students from year to year she hasn't been able to start the next year teaching the way she did in the previous year she made a difference in her in the classroom and you CH you chose to let him go these women are just two of 20 something certified staff members with countless other impactful staff members being let go I would like to leave you with this we were asked to embrace change at the start of the school year assuming that we haven't already been through enough change in the Years leading up to it unfortunately tomrs right a song presently that life changes with the underlying message being for the better certainly does not res here today thank [Applause] [Music] you hello my name is Alison f I'm a resident and a parent and an employee at the district as a resident and taxpayer in this Township the cuts to the 23 teach positions with no cuts to administrators is shameful each year our district sorry each year our taxes increase with a huge portion of that coming to the school district last year to be exact taxpayers paid 32,990 449 and yet the district the board still can't seem to allocate money in a way that benefits the students as a parent of the student in this District that cuts to the 23 teacher positions with no cuts to administrators is shap I have a daughter excuse me I have a daughter who is currently involved in ECC and although we've been fortunate to have two wonderful preschool teachers over the last two years we've made the decision to pull our daughter from this district and home school due to several significant concerns how am I expected to have my 5-year-old child transition from a class of 14 with two teachers to a class of 25 or more with one teacher how can I impact what how can I predict what these impacts sorry speech teacher can't talk how can I predict what impact these cuts and future Cuts will have on your education as an employee of this District the cuts of the 23 teacher positions with no cuts to administrators is shameful unfortunately or perhaps this is my good fortune I was one of the teachers who didn't make the cut for next school year a speech therapist one of three was within our district whose position was deemed unnecessary by this board a position that covers a case of nearly 50 students with mandated IEP services and a position that will now have to be absolved by the two remaining therapists in the building with an Ever extending need for services the lack of this board's presence in our buildings and total lack of awareness of what our population entails has become painfully obvious as these Cuts have been finalized I think it's also important to note that there was a substantial miscommunication at the 30th budget meeting when the promise of no changes to special education was made that is simply not true we as a speech Department service nearly all of the students who receive special education services within our district we are a special education service and all students services will be impacted by these Cuts there seem to be concerned about what related service providers do beond their stated IEP dates and I'm happy to share but I also encourage any of you to please come and join any one of us during the last sa days of school and watch just what we do if you were really curious and not just being factious all you ever had to do is ask the people who are actually doing the job as a glimpse our over staff department as we were so kindly referred to provides makeup sessions that were missed throughout the year due to our Mand mandated mandated attendance and meetings we continue to attend I meetings up until the last day of school we prepare prepare for the following school year to ensure we have every student with an AP appropriately accounted for we prepare for esy we meet with both the George day and piland teams to discuss our transfer students and believe it or not we do sorry have El fin [Music] Poss wait a minute [Music] [Music] celebrating the end of the school year by attending class parties my [Music] name participating field day and generally uh taking in school sphere opportunities as we should and this year as a bonus we as case managers are holding second annual review meetings in June for the bul of our casals to align with our new IE system that was abruptly implemented mid year and with all of that I say thank you little aart little a board of education thank you for allowing me the opportunity to take this position and to see just how flaw Dison dishonest and truly heartbreaking our education education system is best of love and ie you we do pay a lot of tax money in our taxes for the school for kids this is a school that educated kids what's most important is a lot of these young kids are forming right now and what you're cutting off is speech that's communication how did you like it when you had a Mas on and you communic did you like it these kids need to learn to talk they need to communicate they need to show feelings and what you're cutting off is you're hurting the kids I don't have a kid in school I have a granddaughter that's starting the school you're making me think twice I went to Catholic school all my life and Catholic School you learn you buckle down you learn they didn't have a lot of money the public schools had a lot of money cic schools St and you need to tell me with the money that you get you can't figure out how to keep these teachers you can't cut back on something else do you really need some of the stuff that that's hanging on these walls do you need this stuff do you need material stuff when it comes to education this is your job this is what you do you teach the kids you let them grow and if you can't do that then I don't know why you in the school system I don't even know why you're in the it's these kids are important to the community to to the families we raising the future the future I look at some of these kids I go a store kids can't even ey this is what you're reason you're cut that anybody [Applause] [Music] [Applause] next um hello my name sah fron through6 I just have a question um for you just due to the budget constraints the Nom of the position for music at GE Mitchell um I just want if you be a special at GE Mitchell next year if you have any insight on that plan yet moving forward um Justice music is offered as a ke2 special thank you [Music] [Applause] [Music] what anyone else like [Music] to good evening M off this I'm a reporter I lot of transparency I know Mr Herber and our board president went into PS and said restore the live feed I did it three months before you I'd love transparency and that's what I'm asking for tonight I spread none of the rumors on Facebook or any other social media about the hiring of Dr Lisa is it a Tunis or tun I don't know the lady I know nothing about it other than the fact that it was more than one press report that said there was a scandal in her previous well I'm not sure was immediately previous day when she was in okay I'm not blaming you on anything I don't know the story but I do know this that you're planning on hiring somebody it came from a scous situation maybe the investigation will have no arrests or whatever I don't know the whole s but I know that that it was a scandalous situation and I hope you drilled her well about it nothing against her but it's a serious situation you've got enough troubles in this District right now so I hope you've seriously looked into it and I hope that later in this meeting you will seriously tell the public about the situation and how you dealt with it thank you [Applause] [Music] hi I'm Heather arel I'm a speech therapist here and I'm a position that was just cut right now I'm coming up here as a parent and not employee I know next year there's a big push for inclusion in the preschool setting I'm a huge advocate for inclusion however it needs to be executed appropriately with skill and expertise and the rooms have to be staffed accordingly I know rooms were not staffed accordingly this school year and that was with a full budget with that being said I am very concerned that the inclusive M model while great in theory is going to be harmful to our special education students and our general education students due to the lack of support training and able-bodied studi these budget cuts I know Frog Pond received a grant but ECC did not and there is simply not enough funding and support in place it seems to me that you were fitting a square peg into a round hole I am very concerned about my children's preschool experience as it sets the bar for their future education ages 3 to five are very crucial years of development when it comes to learning and langine development this I know because I'm speech language biologist if the classrooms are not properly stacked the kids are not going to get the appropriate amount of language they need to set them up for academic success in the future my daughter is already in an inclusion room this year which has not been properly staffed and her social emotional ability has been sacrificed and now I'm trying to undo the behaviors that she has learned in that classroom not a happy parent now I'm speaking as a speech language mythologist that has just been cut I'm not a math wizard that is why I'm a speech language theologist I am new to this District but I am not new to school districts in fact I came from a very large District prior to this one we also had a large budget cut but we also did something called board reports where every month we filled out a report that had how many kids were on our case load how many sessions we had that week how many evaluations we did how many re-evaluations we did how many meetings we went to how many parents came in that we taught them skills to do in a in the home our schedules were scrutinized they were looked at and no stone was left unturned here nobody came to us to ask us about our schedules what our day looks like on a day-to-day basis when I started here I even said to myself there are a lot of speech therapist here there are but then I got to know the kids they're unique and they need it they really need it so I crunched on numbers with the speech therapists that have been cut it is 190 sessions per week that means that the remaining therapists have to have 38 open sessions in their schedules they do not have 38 open sessions in their schedules thank you [Applause] [Music] m hello hi my name's Chrisman and I've been in this school district with my daughter for three years it's out of New York to come into a smaller School District with smaller classes and now I just feel like we're going back New York every year says that they have budget cuts and they let people go class size is up over there in New York City are at 32 in a classroom and as of 4:51 tonight the bill was was passed by legislature for the $ 44.7 million and you know my daughter's losing teachers like Miss Miller and Miss Kowalski who have had such an amazing impact on not only all their students but all of her friends and their co-workers I volunteer at the PTO Friday which should have been an amazing end of the week for our teachers for staff appreciation was met with tears and sadness throughout all the halls of frog pond George J EC because our teachers are being let go you guys are failing our kids and now that the bill was just approved I would like to see how many teachers Reet their jobs in PR SE thank you [Applause] [Music] my name is Alicia dakis um I a former student here a mother and employee at Georgia mitell I did not plan to speak tonight but couldn't watch my children's speech therapist continue to go up here and talk without giving my support I moved back from Virginia to Lily car eight years ago so that my children could go to this District that I love my son who is six has a pracy of speech and goes to speech three times a week in our school district with Miss TI and I also pay privately outside of the school for him to go twice a week because this is not enough alone um with his speech disorder Ryan has had the pleasure of having Miss Heather as his very first spe therapist when he was 18 months old when he was in early intervention he then went on to ECC and started with Miss Nikki then miss Brook and then back to Miss T with all these changes from therapist to therapist he has loved each and every one of them two years ago he finally said his name for the first time in 2022 cryan because of all the work that these therapists continue to do with him each week and all every summer too I do not understand how next year will work and I have even thought about switching School District so my child can possibly get the help he deserves the class sizes this year I saw in kindergarten I thought were big enough in my opinion and I am truly concerned about next year with the uh bigger class sizes I watch these speech therapists walk past me all day long meeting to meeting child to child caring their stuff and they do an amazing job and the job that few can do I really hope something can be done because I worry about our children next School District next school year thank you for all our speech therapist and happy right [Applause] [Music] I'm Alana Lupo uh Harvest way this is prepared by Amy eurn um but she's sick so she can't be here so she asked me to read it for her I Amy eastburn apologize for my absence as I am homesick but I would like to have the speech I prepared shared with you esteemed members of the Board of Education and respected superintendent today I stand before you with a heavy heart compelled to address a matter of utmost importance and the recent non-renewal of three of our cherished special Area Teachers the loss of these Educators strikes at the very core of our educational Mission and threatens to undermine the well-being and success of our students and the Integrity of our school district the imp of losing these three special Area Teachers cannot be overstated their absence would disrupt schedules create imbalances within our educational teams and deprive our students of invaluable opportunities for growth and enrichment just like a well oiled machine our educational system relies on every Cog working in harmony to ensure the smooth functioning of the hole removing even one Cog from this system throws everything off balance jeopardizing the quality of Education we strive to provide moreover the special Area Teachers who face non-renewal play integral roles with their teams both during school hours and within the broader Community they are not just instructors they are mentors guides and role models who Inspire our students to reach their fullest potential for some students who may struggle academically their special area classes provide a sanctuary and a place where they can disc their strengths build confidence and find their sense of purpose the Arts physical education music and other specialized areas offer unique avenues for self-expression creativity and personal growth these classes are not just extracurricular activities they are essential components of a well-rounded education that nurtures the whole child they provide students with opportunities to develop skills in collaboration leaders leadership critical thinking and resilience all skills that are fundamental to success in both academic and real world settings if the funding does come through I implore you to reconsider the decision for to renew these valued members of our educational Community they are not just teachers they are a part of the heart and soul of our special teams helping to guide our students through their struggles celebrating their successes and helping them navigate the complexity ities of academic and social emotional growth let us not lose sight of our fundamental commitment to providing every student with a chance to shine to find their place in the world and to realize their full potential together let us work to reinstate these special Area Teachers and ensure that our educational system remains a beacon of excellence and opportunity for all thank you [Applause] would anyone else like to speak okay going to move on moving on to um following uh correspondents we have any informational items from Mr Cole M Mari um some other information moving on to um board work session um Justus to give some updates um first um with regards to negotiations we've been with um negotiations my's last week it was a very short meeting though um wasn't um um so we are working we made quite a bit of progress um and so we're we're working towards um hopefully will be our goal to um when the contract before the contract ends this school year the team itself has worked we worked very very hard um and just with regards I'm just trying to take a general um think with regards to the budget I know um Miss Martin or Miss Kelly is that her main name that's last week um yes I believe she's also a Highland board member correct yes um just some of the things we can't look into the future um our former attorney our attorney Andrew would say I I don't can't look into a crystal ball we couldn't have foreing what was about to happen but I'm going to say you so you we didn't do this lightly whatsoever we looked at every possible aspect um and I'm going to Laura we had so many special meetings I believe Laura after the birth of her grandchild came to sit to discuss this literally um with us so that we could have an idea of what we were doing and what the impact would be and we know that everyone is wonderful and I'm going to share a personal story of mine that many of board members probably don't even know as to how I got into the career that I been I was a grand funded position I was in a research in a graduate school lab and I was a re research funded physician I had just not long come back from my maternity leave and that Grant funded position was removed and I lost my job so trust me when I say I know exactly what it feels like and I know the pain that is involved and it's very personal for me and I and I know there's there's no taking away that pain from you right now or anyone that's feeling it that's close to them all I can say is that I can feel it and then hopefully someday it'll be a part of your story but not the end of your story and that's the best thing that I can hopefully say and um again we do um do that but again back to the thing from last time we couldn't have known there's no way we could possibly uh went to bank cap last year when it was not needed um and there was a lot of other different factors the pension system if you listen to the governor's address he fully funded his pension system the pension system this year that was an an expectation for us to fund that position um healthare benefits and those other things those are parts that when you consider a teacher salary a lot of individuals might forget that that component of it and it's pretty costly and then the last thing I just would like to say before I give anyone else a chance I just want to say that this is um mental health awareness month and I want to also remember everyone about that and I want to remember the veterans that have the amount of veterans that have taken their lives each month and at their own hands and just give recognition to them as well and I'm actually going to say one last thing and only because of plug um in some ways we've talked a lot about speech and um I know Miss hardigan was one of my daughter's speech teachers there are speech um it's it's a very intrical component but I'm going to stop there and any other meetings that we've had this week that anyone else like to add all right would you to yes thank you um May is traditionally a very special month for many reasons but the difficult cuts that have been made um in the past few have made the past few weeks incredibly difficult for everyone um and and I personally wish that it were different our budget situation um was is Multiplied not just by the 1.5 million additional monies that were un known to us and shocked to us when we had that cut made but we also had a um near $3 million shortfall that was largely caused in part by the $5 million that we had received over the past three years and then of course the increases as I outlined in previous board meetings that were um accounted for by the first contribution having gone up the healthcare going up and transportation so it just made a very difficult situation even that more difficult um we did have some Esser funds left and we were able to try to take some of the cuts that were made unfortunately those funds don't support the teaching positions moving forward because as of August those funds are gone um but again it was mentioned about the these being co children and that's how the Esser funds came about and they were wonderful while we had them but um if you've watched World News Tonight and some of our local news stations you've seen that this is not a problem that is just here in Little Lake Harbor districts throughout the state are really suffering because of that Aid and it has made it difficult for school boards and superintendent and administrators and teachers throughout the dist uh throughout the state um as I mentioned May is normally a special month a happy belated Mother's Day to all the mothers in the audience um and I note that what should have been a wonderful teachers appreciation week and certainly there's some wonderful things happened because of State Statute demanding that we inform people by May 15th and the the fact that our board meeting is May 14th made Friday of Mother's Day weekend before Mother's Day weekend particularly diff difficult and a very sad end I concur to Teachers Appreciation we and trust me when I tell you if we could have avoided that we would have um but it wouldn't have made the flow any better um but this month we did celebrate principal's Day on May 1st on May 3rd we celebrated lunch hero day our our amazing cafeteria workers who do so much as well for our children and during the way week of May 6th through 10th of course we had Teachers Appreciation week and we celebrated our teachers on the 7th and our School nurses on May 8th all of whom contribute so much on behalf of all of the little L Harbor School District employees I want to make take the opportunity to big thank you to the little L corporate PTO who did so many special things um to celebrate our staff not only during teacher appreciation week but throughout the year I have to tell you I've been in several districts this is amazing they provide supports for our students our staffs and our schools in more ways than I can count I urge everyone to support their many fundraising activities and when the time comes around again to to join the PTO um when they reopen their membership everything they do benefits our schools and our students and we really owe them a very big thank you um I want you all to know that um 4161 is mentioned by um I believe it was spering maybe um and also by Mr glaus 4161 um did pass the assembly and it's my understanding the governor did just sign it unfortunately it only provides for 45% of relief of what was um given in state aid to a return of only 45% um for us that's about $700,000 um we are committed um to use whatever we have as we balance our budget um to rehire teachers and we are still looking look for money within the budget that we developed um it is our hope to rehire um many of our teachers but specifically um some we are we know we have a a big job ahead of of us but I do want to tell you that our class sizes are currently below 25 except for one grade our kindergarten and first grade are even lower um we did the very best we could not to increase class sizes by more than two to three students and I know two to three students can make a difference um and I also want to assure people that despite the cuts in speech um services that have to be provided and students IDs have to be provided and they will be um in the coming weeks we'll be sending home information regarding school start times for the 2425 school year in order to address our current busing situation we will be making revisions to our school start and end times similarly the current parent pickup and drop off times will be adjusted in order to improve our students instructional time we are planning to do two morning practice runs in June and as soon as those detail details are finalized more information will be shared the community the board will also be revising the 2425 school calendar to minimize busing conflicts and to address the conern concerns that have been presented by many members of our school Community parents and staff the revised calendar will be approved at the regular Board of Ed meeting on June 11th and next weekend we celebrate Memorial Day of federal holiday honoring US military person as Dr Snider mentioned who died while serving in the United States armed forces and school will be closed on Monday May 27th in observance of Memorial Day um again May should be a happy month and unfortunately we're facing some very difficult things in a month that normally is bright and sunshiny maybe that rain that has been filling our days is a was important or sign of what was to come my hope is that beginning today once we find out how much money we actually will receive um we can start to look towards something brighter and that concludes my [Music] superintendent 13A um School business administrator um board secretary action iems recommend a motion appr Finance items a through F can I have a motion can I have a second second are there any [Music] questions if not can I have a roll call vote Mr vello yes M Martin yes Mr Barry yes M zes yes M Herber yes M Lawrence yes Dr Snider yes motion carries recommend a motion to approve facilities items A and B can I have a motion can I have a second second are there any questions yeah I have a question um uh B and thank you for getting back to me Patty um regarding this so just to clarify your answer here this is this is a it's Grant funded correct and then the rest of the money to pay for this these HBS are through the district capital reserve right is that yes just from U Mr Green okay I just wrote the email thank you for that because I know I had a lot of questions right before so it's okay I KN ask question okay can I have call Mr phello yes Miss Martin yes Mr Barry yes mesn yes M Berber yes M Lawrence yes Dr Snider yes motion carries recommend a motion to approve School business administrators non-personnel items a through F can I have a motion motion can I have a second second are there any [Music] questions I think I I have a question it might not be in the right spot but I just want to make sure do do these the Food Service workers I know I saw it at one point are they paid through food service or through our budget uh it's a mix of both um we have four employees that work for directly for the board of Lake har school district and the remaining employees work for the Food Service manag okay so the ones that we listed are our employees correct okay anyone else I have a roll call vote Mr phello yes Miss Martin yes Mr Barry yes m alesna Miss Berber yes M Lawrence yes Dr Snider yes motion carries recommend a motion to approve personal items a through G can I have a [Music] motion motion can I have a second second are there any questions [Music] yeah I'm sorry I'm confused not salary changes the noted salary changes or um weed [Music] it sorry what did you say H or G yes [Music] are there any [Music] questions [Music] yes com comment [Music] okay did it get first second yes we did yeah I too uh have concerns about uh why no administrative cuts for me um you know this is not personal I don't uh if we were given all the money back uh that we would cut I would want to see every single person be brought back it's not personal um however we're asking our educational staff to do extra we're asking our taxpayers to pay extra we're asking our students to have slightly but at least the beginning of the year slightly who knows what it will end up being in and uh bigger classes and we're asking our parents to put up with that um I my concerns and I also think that some cut should have been made to the administration so I will be uh uh making my based on that and nothing [Music] [Applause] personal anyone else um I just want to clarify again so we are posting for the nursing position right like just to clarify yes it has been post the nursing position was posted we currently have um one applicant and um we have one or two little Hoops to jump through but we believe that we will have that approved um before the possibly for the June agenda if not for the summer certified school so I could that certific yes yes thank you can we have a call Mr phello yes M Mo yes Mr Barrett uh yes with the exception of numeral six and seven n thank you Mr Bar M aleso yes M Berber yes with the exception of b71 thank you m Miss Lawrence make a absolutely I've been back and forth on this a lot I 100% um want to do the right thing here and again like Mr Barry said it's nothing personal but for six and seven right six and seven I'd be a no yes on the remaining yes sorry thank you Dr Snider yes all motions car recommend a motion to approve superintendent of school nonp Personnel items A and B can have a motion have a second [Music] are there any questions so everybody is aware that um that we be getting the uh implementation of no that was I thought that was good for your [Music] evaluation any questions [Music] all right if not have a vote Mr phello yes M Martin yes Mr Barry yes m zesa m Berber yes with the exception of 2 [Music] a thank you m Lawrence yes Dr Snider yes all motion all motions carry okay okay for new [Music] business yes okay yes so we will resume in 3 minutes [Music] ribits is that a bathroom break yes sorry [Music] [Music] leared [Music] what to happen [Music] really [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] yes [Music] [Music] give [Music] we'll go with that that's my story I think SE this okay moving on to new business um so um like take this opportunity to um introduce and welcome our future new superintendent um Dr Lisa Antunez and I want to take a moment just to say what the process that we went through and we really did try to involve all stakeholders as much as possible if you recall we started in December November and we had we really got a chance to know all of our board members well um we had many interviews I believe we had over 44 candidates initially we broke that down to is it 12 15 15 then we brought that down to eight um then to two oh that's crazy and um we also invited uh members of administration teachers the union all to meet with these candidates we really tried to be inclusive um transparent um we did site visits I was not part of the site visits but some of did the site visits I mean when when we said we really I mean if you were going for a job and probably were asked to do some of the things that we asked you to do um you you might think are are they serious um they're going to come to my job and walk around and um I think we then had them come back for another one final meeting um and we selected um Dr an Tunis and Chris do you want to read or do you want to let her introduce yourself she's here this evening um do you want to do it now or the board no now new business okay well during the meeting we had um her bio short introduction of her here but I will read it just for the folks at home the little Lake Harbor School District we would like to welcome Dr Lisa and tunes as our next superintendent with almost 30 years of experience in education Dr Lisa and Tunis began her career in the classroom in 1994 serving at first as a special education teacher in a self-contained classroom she continued her career as supervisor of Special Projects director for planning research and evaluation assistant superintendent of schools assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction Acting Superintendent of Schools and finally as the superintendent of schools with a BS in special education and Early Education Childhood Education a master's degree in special education and reading and education doctorate in administration supervision and policy Dr antunes has been involved in every aspect of running a school district from curriculum implementation evaluation Personnel Facilities Management strategic planning board management Community engagement public relations budget development and much more as the superintendent of the Hillsboro Township School District Dr an Tunis was responsible for over 7,300 students 1,100 staff and a $140 million budget she oversaw nine school buildings in her pre kindergarten through 12th grade school district and prior to that she was the assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction for 16 years some of her additional certifications include New Jersey school administrator standard certificate New Jersey principal certificate New Jersey teacher of the handicap in elementary education certificate New York special education and early childhood education certificate recognized special educator by the council for exceptional children a member of Kappa Delta Pi Community emergency response team training certificate from the Emergency Management Institute which is part of the US Department of Homeland Security introduction to incident command system for school single resources and initial accident incident and multi-hazard emergency planning for school certificate under feale Dr anun is also an Adjunct professor for elementary and secondary education and the clinical intern supervisor at New Jersey University New Jersey City University Dr antunes is a Visionary Innovative Forward Thinking and child Center leader who believes all children and all students can learn Dr anun said all students can learn and they each deserve the opportunity to do so in a safe supportive environment I both humbled and thrilled to join the leh's family I'm so excited to meet everyone students staffs parents community members and invite you to come say hi when you see me out and about and please do not ever hesitate to speak with me Dr ANZ would you like to come forward [Applause] [Music] thank you so much it definitely was a a journey to get here and I am so happy to be here I really am truly humbled and and just so proud to be here and really looking forward to expanding on all the great work that's already taking place even during these difficult and challenging times that everybody across the state seems to be experiencing so I look forward to meeting everybody I really me it when I said don't hesitate to come talk to me when I'm out and about I plan on being out and B plan on being in the classrooms and meeting everybody and students staff families alike and I'm really looking forward to getting started so thank you so much for this opportunity and for uh allowing me to be here with you all thank [Music] [Music] you thank you very much uh moving on to public comment the floor is now open to members of the public Board of Education recognizes the value public comment on educational issues the board requests at each statement made by a participant is limited to 3 minutes to sign in policy number 0167 there is a sign ma sheet located on the podium please sign in before [Music] Rick M up the s a definition of transparency the quality of being open to public scrutiny for example the majority of the funds disappeared without any transparency regarding the recipients timely timely example this I asked what sort of Investigation you had made into the situation with Hillsboro that wasn't mentioned at all before the vote do you want me to spell transparency thank you [Music] good evening um my name is Crystal Martin m a r t i n just for the next time um the board president decides to call me on a meeting I would apprciate if you could get my name correct the first time also you don't have to call me out as a member of the Pand Board of Education I'm here as a parent of a student and a supporter of ever teachers um and and so I would like to say that now I've learned and not only is my son losing his teacher Mrs Jennifer GES but also his speech therapist um those two women have been so instrumental in my son's education this past year he's an instrumental in my personal development as a parent because they're not just teachers or children but they are parts of our community who help us learn how to deal with three-year-olds I don't know how to be a mom I still don't know how to be a mom but thank God for these teachers who every day help and I would just be remiss if I didn't come up here and just day once again this GIS is the best teacher I've ever seen and I'm sorely disappointed in her being gone thank [Applause] you anyone else have to speak seeing us not that's the end of uh public comment [Music] right would anyone uh like to word for sorry the word for well I got a couple things to say um first of all I want you everyone here to know that we up here we members are hurting too when you live in a small town and you're as involved and invested in the community as we are you can't help but feel the pain of others whether it's layoffs family me Members getting sick or anything anything else we definitely feel your pain because we have children in the school district as well that are affected by these Cuts we're losing really good teachers and staff it's so unfortunate and all of us are here hurting about this and I want to say I want to commend all the teachers that came to the microphone Joey Mrs slck Jessica hardigan Nikki everyone that came to the microphone and respectfully and professionally advocated on behalf of your colleagues I want to thank all the parents who came and spoke as advocates on behalf of their children I too was a parent am a parent and before I was a board member came and spoke on behalf of my child and we hear what you're saying and it's just a very difficult night to tonight for all of us and we're sorry that the way things went down this is just not a good night in education I want to also recognize uh Alicia she came to the podium earlier her son Ryan I coached him in soccer I saw Ryan grow into a confident little boy who still plays soccer today and I had no idea what he was dealing with until Alicia came to me halfway in the season and she said that he absolutely loves soccer and to hear that he was he said his name finally was a huge blessing and just to know that our speech therapists played a part in that and now you know what the circumstances are it's just terrible but I do want to recognize that today is a praia awareness day and I know a lot of people wore blue for that and it's just every day there are people that we can celebrate in our district and you know we we got to do our best to make sure that we continue to look at the positive uh people that are making a difference every day in our district and um you you know it's just it's just really tough and uh Rick I just wanted to um address what you had mentioned earlier thank you for bringing up to that point you know there's a lot of things going on on Facebook and on the internet and that's never going to end oh of course you mentioned that but it is something that's on people's minds when they see uh Dr an tun AG they immediately who is she let's Google her and you see all kinds of Articles as Dr Snider had said we received over 40 resumés for superintendent over 40 people contended for this position we took a weekend and we called back 15 interviews in person we asked them all the same questions and we graded them all the same way uh according to what how we thought they answered and we used that to call back eight potential candidates and ironically we didn't know it at the time but Dr an Tunis was basically on all of our lists and when we got down to the final two was between her and somebody else and that's when we really went into overdrive with our due diligence um we included representatives from the union we wanted everybody's opportunity to evaluate and see what we were seeing to ask questions that we may not have thought of and to really interact with the candidates to see if they would be a good fit here in Little Lake Harbor some of us were tasked with speaking with references I spoke to one of her references uh former board president and that board president the thing that stck out to me the most was how hard Dr antun's worked on behalf of her District that she gave everything to that District she would stay late she would get there early one of the quotes was I don't know how she ate because she was always focused on the district and that is what something I think us as board members want to see in our next superintendent Patty you you filled that bill but you're you know you're here for one year we love you wish you could stay longer but for our next superintendent we were looking for the qualities that would fit with our district that somebody would come here and really ingratiate themselves into our district and learn about everything and I'm glad she's here tonight because I think she's seeing our pain and all the terrible decisions we had to make um we visited their locations between the two candidates and those who went on the site visits asked questions not of the references but of people who worked and interacted with these candidates and we tried to get as real with them as possible and so in the candidates interview she actually addressed that head on Rick and she's here tonight so please go speak to her she has nothing to hide and she'll she'll tell you that she was The Whistleblower in this particular situation and she was the the one that kicked off the investigation that led to somebody uh being charged pleading guilty for stealing $134,000 and is now facing 10 years in jail she was The Whistleblower she initiated the investigation so when we saw that kind of integrity and that kind of Courage because it cost her a lot professionally and personally it cost her a lot there was people who did not agree with her decision which led ultimately to her having to not work in that environment anymore and when she came to us she was ready to take her almost 30 years of experience in education 30 years and give whatever she had left to this District because we saw the Integrity that she had Under Fire and that the decision she made to kick off that investigation so she tackled that head on we uh truly believe that she is the right fit for this district and I know you as a fair and honest reporter you will ask the tough questions I hope you do and we are excited about having Lisa here because she has already shown that she's willing to make tough decisions and the most important thing to her was it was the right thing to do she didn't have to blow a whistle but she did and and it cost her a lot but as her parents told her that when you do the right thing in the end it will work out and she's here tonight and we approved her to be our next our next superintendent and we look forward to having her come down with your over 30 years of experience and as you can see we are a hurting District right now we're losing a lot of good teachers and staff for circumstances beyond our control but you know the kids are going to show up to school tomorrow and we all got to do our best to give them the best education possible and uh I just want to thank you guys thank the teachers and the ones that aren't coming back thank you for your service it is appreciated and I took so many notes tonight of just all the different individual circumstances and the difference that teachers speech therapists um staff have made in the lives of the kids is just it's a it's a tough thing to deal with tonight but you know we we have to be there for the kids tomorrow so I just wanted to say thank you no I'm not supposed to talk but Chris thank you for your okay um so I I have a couple things to to say and address um first of all I second Chris in thanking uh all of you that spoke um it takes a lot of courage to get up and speak and we all really appreciate it and I listened to every single word and took down every single name um there were a lot of things that I tried not to take personal because I am present in these buildings and my kids go here and I'm not sitting on this board of education for my health this takes up a ton of time and we have put so much time into this not only the budget which I know that staff has cut and it's not fair but into the search of the superintendent and into supporting this school district it takes away time from our families time away from my kids because you know what for me it's not just about my three children it's about the kids they go to school with and the teachers who teach them because you are the most important people on the front line serving these children we did not make this decision and I said that last month this is the decision of the state the state is failing our kids in this state of New Jersey I tell my husband every single day I want out of here because of things like this I don't want to sit on this board and make these cuts and decide who's going and who's not that's not fair that's not what our kids need my um my son is a CO child I've got two actually and one didn't speak and he needed speech so I fully understand how important speech is fully and again I want what's best for the kids and so does every single person on this school board we are not here for any other reason I promise you that these decisions were so difficult and they kept me up at night and guess what not only do I have to deal with this on the school board but we just last lost 40% of our staff where I work and we take care of patients so I feel it I feel all of you I feel your heartache and I know that it's the kids who are going to suffer and that sucks and it's the state's fault I tried to drive this home last month it is the state's fault and I am so grateful that we hopefully have money coming back and I wholeheartedly believe that Robert and Patty will bring teachers back because it's the kids who are most important in regards to admin um I just want to say that uh board members are only as good as the information that they receive um we are volunteers as I mentioned and I uh truly appreciate Patty um because I feel as though she's been extremely transparent she walked into this as an inim and um she's so articulate and transparent and gives us all the answers to our questions and I um I just really appreciate Patty and doing her research in due diligence and getting us the information that we need to make these hard decisions but I will tell you that I believe admin should have been cut as well um and they were cut and four positions to be exact two positions in the last two years and two positions were repurposed for me I look at the big picture I look at the culture in the buildings and I look at the fact that Administration also has tenure so there are there are admin that have tenure that cannot be cut new new admin might be on the front lines as principles in the buildings those principles I find to be key in the culture in a building because they're supporting staff they're dealing with parents they're dealing with students and they're there in the buildings so I just wanted to comment on the administration pece and then the last thing I'll say is um Dr ANZ uh welcome I'm sorry the the environment is not great uh right now but we are very happy to have you um I will say that I went to visit Dr nunz at her school the some of the things that I liked about her was that um she's relatable um I got to speak to one of her AIDs that she worked with this past school year because she actually went back to the classroom after her whistleblowing um situation uh to kind of figure out why she got into this even which I loved about her um I spoke to one of her par pair of professionals who who just talked about how she gave her career advice um she was extremely intimidated by Dr inz because she's a superintendent coming back to the classroom um and I was just really humbled to hear how much she connected with Dr andz and and the parro professional just had uh wonderful things to say and I I think in this community it's important for a superintendent to be able to to relate to parents and teachers and the community and and be somebody that is humble and relatable and that's probably one of the strongest qualities that that I see and Dr Antunez and have realized over this 10mon process in her so welcome and and we're excited for you to start so thank you for being here and the last thing I'll say is um this was probably the hardest thing we've ever done as a board and I just I just appreciate all of your time away that you all take to be here and do this because it's it's volunteer and it's a sacrifice and it's a lot of time and work so thank you for all your due diligence and I appreciate [Music] that I'd just like to piggy back on a couple things that were said already uh first off with the CSA the superintendent I think this board um unanimously and confidently chose Dr antunes and um especially for the fact that Chris Appley spoke about that her Integrity shown through and that's one of the qualities we were really looking for was Integrity in a leader and I appreciate her honesty and integrity in doing what she had to do in that last District that she worked as a superintendent um I also appreciate Dr for her strong leadership skills um she comes from a very high performing District when she was superintendent and her continuity which she's very likable and in this District I think that means a lot because there's a lot of loving people on this district and we call them teachers and staff but they are people and they're they're really good people and as we heard tonight they go out to the community they spend time with families they go over and above and so that's why it's it it does sadden me that we had to let so many go and again this is not the board's decision per se we don't get to hire and fire that's the administration's job we just get to see what the final numbers are and as ABY and I presented in April on April 30th 97% of the cost of this district is not discretionary it's not flexible it's largely run by the uh salaries and benefits of the staff so we do not have flexibility there that is run by a contract that's it's described by the contract so that is where we are held um to spend the money there's 3% that we can say things can come and go 3% of this whole budget I just want to remind the audience and I know the teachers know that um and as we as we learned we're getting 45% of the monies back we in fact have to uh close a hole with the health benefits as well so just keep that in mind um these are very very difficult times and I if we had the money everybody would be here it's all about the money about people thank you um I'm just going to again what said you back on what Chris and Abby have already the last couple weeks I know the morale has been so sad and it's down and it's heartbreaking it's bir shattering I can't even say that I understand because I'm not in your position but just sitting here and having to go through this process and make these decisions is it's uncomfortable it's unnecessary it should not be happening and it's not okay and I my heart breaks for every single one of you we do hopefully get this 45% back and we have all committed to make sure that that goes back to Bringing staff back that's something that we've talked about at our meetings we have talked about in our committee meetings and that is a commitment that we will make um uh I just you know I hope that we are able to at least you know uh benefit from that and I know we're waiting on details on exactly what we're getting back when we're getting back I know there's probably going to be stipulations built into that but over the course of the next few weeks we hope to have more information to share on that but I just this has been heartbreaking um in regards to the superintendent process as Christine said this was a long process it was time away from our families it was time away spending with each other that we probably never expected to spend with each other weekends and hours um we read resumés we interviewed um we had many thoughtful conversations on every single candidate that we met we spent time calling references is we did site visits um we dived very deep into these people um and our goal the whole time was to do right by the students of little like Harbor and I hope that that is what we do um I think by bringing Lisa on she comes from such an extensive background um of being in the classroom Administration and special education um she has a I hate to say it's very quirky but she has a can do attitude and the one thing that I think resonated with every person that we spoke to is she is loyal to a fault um and we took that I think uh very heavy because it's important here um I think she just was put in a bad situation and as Chris said she was The Whistleblower she provided every detail to us um very upfront and honest we researched it and investigated it and it was unforeseen circumstances and she had to make the right decision for herself and her family I think at the time um and I think it gives her the opportunity now to jump back into where she is valued and where she can use her expertise um I have a friend who always tells me that you give Grace when Grace is do and I really think Grace is still here and I hope that everybody gives her the opportunity to help take the life to the next level um and I I'm excited to work with her and see what happens so thank you everybody okay U try to make this quick but you want to hear some fat old guy up here making this any longer but I um I Iz I feel for all of you I feel for administration I know you all hate me right now but I I can't help it I've always believed education happens in the classroom and that's where you have to a on the side of uh you know in education uh Ministry should be and I think in our district is there to help facilitate that uh and I have like I said is nothing personal uh but if it comes down to uh you got to make choices then I just think that well um and as far as U uh with Lisa our new superintendent um I just want to say when when she came in in for the first interview I don't know if some of you around here have been in the district for a while might remember um a teacher a track coach at kind Lance by the name of Bill Bruno that I don't remember aot you know I couldn't tell you the questions and answers and stuff like that when I'm looking at notes right but I do remember thinking that her personality was infectious like this was and that's what one of the things that made him in my op such a great teacher and a coach uh and I that's what that's what um uh I saw in her as far as transparency uh and uh openness um I hope I hope that is extended to her uh to get both sides of the story uh myself who was someone involved in what could have been considered I guess by su Scandal couple years ago um you know had my side of the story and the paper never came and got my side of the story so I just hope that they do that with her uh and I am looking forward to her being here and under the circumstances that she's going to start with such uh drastic Cuts like this with losing so many great people um I just hope and pray that she is that she will earn your respect and uh and admiration thank you I don't really have much more that I can add um that everybody has already said but I will welcome you Dr Anon very excited to see um the energy and uh the light that you're going to bring to this District um I remember when you did the first interview and I I swear to you guys I could just see her sitting on the ground on a mat in a classroom reading a book to a bunch of six-year-old um she was just that Dynamic that energetic and that just carried all the way through so I think uh uh it's going to be a great future here um I also want you to know I feel your pain I get it been there done that um where I work um where my nephew works I have lots of friends in education um but I know that things will get better they have to they have to maybe that's just the optimistic thing but amazing people will always come up and find amazing opportunities so my heart's with you um I'm with you um but yeah just the whole thing like I've said really stinks um but on word and voted yeah I guess I'm just going to tag along with everyone else um along with what Abby said we didn't make individual decisions we didn't select teachers names we didn't know any of the names and this was you know a very very difficult process for Patty and I know that she's lost asleep at night over this uh there's no questions in my mind knowing her and um you know we have we are a board that has asked to be in the buildings we have asked and we asked the same way that we have asked our former superintendent for information we asked it for Patty before making these these decisions and and she's provided it she's provided us with data regarding speech services and how that could still continue um she provided us data with regards to administrators while I along with Abby was conflicted on this as well and again it's it's just not been an easy decision to make and again um it's I never want to see anyone lose their job their livelihood never never um I grew up as a child whose father um was laid off as well at some point in our family lives and I know how difficult it can be and I know how hard it is sometimes to move on from something like that um and so I do have very much hoping that we can bring back as many staff as humanly possible and as we've said that is our goal any money that comes in here that is the goal for teachers to come back and staff that work with students to come back that is our number one goal um and that's what I can see there um as for um Dr Gunz we are very um much looking forward to your um start in July and one thing that uh Howard congrats mentioned was one of his big components that he was looking for is someone who had classroom experience and I think it's a very much a benefit that she's coming from that position now because it's very fresh in her mind um and so I do um look forward to that and as I said um to her in one of the interviews um that I felt that she was Brave and I very much believe that because it's very much it's much easier to ignore something than it is to say something just the way as it took courage for all of you to come here and speak and say something um and I also believe that life's about comebacks and coming back from struggles and so the same way that I hope this is her comeback story I hope that we see a lot of comeback stories from this district and we're labeled to bring back a lot of teachers and staff um moving forward and again it's and this board has been through some difficult times in the past year and now this has to be the hardest thing that we've ever done or been a part of um and I'm going to stop there and seeing as there nothing else can we have a motion to adjourn motion second all in favor no objections exensions our next meeting will be