##VIDEO ID:xxmkXNv2ZUw## here Mrs Gandhi here Mr hayatt here Mr Lansky here Mrs McCormack here Dr misit here Mr petruno here Mrs seart yeah and Mrs Mendes here I'd like to draw your attention to the Sunshine Law statement of videotaping of public portion of Board of Education meeting the public comment statement and the no smoking or vaping on school grounds can we please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance and Antonio we are excited that you will be leading the pledge with us thank you I Pledge Your Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all please be seated thank you Antonio thank you Antonio happy holidays to you too thank you so much okay we're going to move on to the staff respect certificates good evening as you may know um each month we recognize notable staff members for our staff respect certificates um I'd like to read an email that came in from Marboro middle school regarding three of our teachers my daughter is a new student this year in sixth grade she transferred from St Thomas in Oldbridge I just wanted to thank MMS for my daughter's positive experience during her first markting period all of her teachers and the students have been very welcoming she absolutely loves MMS I want to give special recognition to miss leisi my daughter's Home Room teacher Miss Curry her math teacher who I've been in touch with once or twice about my daughter's prior School experience and struggles and they have been very responsive and helpful I would also like to thank Miss cono as well she was her soccer coach this year and was delightful her confidence has risen so much so much since she started and we are so grateful for this thanks for making MMS such a wonderful place for her to be so um if those three teachers um Miss Curry Miss cono and Miss scalesi if we can give them a big hand and come up and get your respect certificate thank you so much okay student recognition and respect certificates okay this uh month's student recognition comes out of the David C Abbott Early Learning Center and Mr perno I see you back there do you want to come up and uh discuss uh your schools yes thank you everybody yes got it okay thank you everybody um so do you want me to talk about the presentation sure okay so um last year we rolled out a program called the nurtured heart approach NH and um we had staff training we started to kind of dip our toe in the water um and this year um Dr berer has really done a great great job of leading the way and tonight we're going to show you some of the sort of like where the rubber meets the road some of the activities we do on a daily basis that support that [Music] initiative you want to sh the video okay so we have a short video for you for some techical okay the David C Abbot Early Learning Center Turkey Trot challenge for the character pillar in November our students learned all about citizenship Google slides were shared out where they learned how to follow rules make good choices share and take turns try their best cooperate and they read read alouds that helped them learn how to become great school and Community citizens here's Mrs schaer's class doing their Daily Review with their anchor chart learning all about citizenship and we had a challenge for students to participate in as classroom citizens where they walked around with their turkey chot challenge game boards throughout the month of November collecting 14 signatures where they showed that they were great school [Music] citizens students were able to positively build a sense of self by contributing to their classroom's outcome they learned how to work together as members of their school and classroom Community to make a positive difference congratulations to the first classroom to complete the challenge Mrs udon's classroom how did they do it at the bedroom that one Zips he had amazing classroom Queen and [Music] classroom we made great choices and those classrooms that completed the Turkey Trot challenge earned a special Turkey Trot recess period the week before Thanksgiving here are our classes enjoying their turkey games at and fun we are so thankful for our kind respectful Del [Music] citizens we would now like to invite up Mrs udon's class who came here for our presentation today so if you are a student in Mrs udon's class you can come on up to the front we'll have all the students introduce themselves first and then we have four kindergarteners who are going to share a little bit about the special work they do in their classroom Gian Su suda Jordan Shia Arena Valentina Olivia Kylie all right Valentina are you ready okay can you tell us about last last month last month we Le we learned about how to be like a good citizens and had to be members of our school Community amazing Kylie can you tell us about this month Mrs udon always helps us and she's the best teacher ever I love it can you tell us what our character pillar is for this month positivity and we work to make the world a happier for all very good and who's up first sh hi everyone my name is sh in class we made positivity present to share our positivity with others and learn how to give a compliment thank you and now his twin brother no it's up what did we do this month for Mrs udon hi everyone my name is suas we we would like to present this positivity present to Mrs Jon we are positive that we have the best teacher thank you and we have a special positivity present all of the kindergarten classes made their own positivity presentence this month to take home and they learned how to give a compliment Jordan do you want to go give this to Mrs udon and your class made you a special positivity present with Mrs Bullock and art class this month [Applause] great job everyone thank you so much for coming all right and we're really excited um on the New Jersey dreams website as part of the nurtured heart approach uh the David C Abbott Early Learning Center is actually featured this month um for the work that Mr perno has done at his faculty meetings to lead the way so we're very excited to see that too thank you for having us okay all right take this off no no problem okay boys and girls when your name is called you're going to come up and get your certificate oh do you know who who this is this is Mr balone he's called the superintendent he's like the boss of all the schools okay Elena ASF come on up Elena good [Applause] job and David bayv come on [Applause] up Olivia Benedict up Olivia Sudan vat Anthony cardilla no he's not here either I was gonna say Valentina catello Ilana figliola Amelia Jang Eliza K katrian oh Kylie Mulligan there she go Gian Patel Jordan retsky good job Jordan Sharia thida here you go and suas the Via good job buddy all right that's it right I think we got everybody yeah okay [Applause] you boys and girls you did a great job awesome what a good job boys and girls you can come on over you come on you come back to moms and you do it's all for you it's your special respect certificate I just want to thank you for coming up here it's not easy to read in front of this audience that's the first thing second thing though you did a beautiful job and thank you so much for just exhibiting beautiful characteristics of our school environment what we want people to be so thank you so much for being here um okay thank you and Mrs udon thank you so much it look they love you and I just it's wonderful the Beautiful Things They said about you thank you for being here happy holiday yep okay student impact okay this month's student impact comes out of Asher Holmes Elementary School every year Asher Holmes students participate in what they call the steamy gym steam is an acronym that combines science technology engineering arts and Mathematics we have a short video for you to show you what the steamy gym looked like this year a [Music] special thanks to Mrs Allen Mr Gold Mr rone and the PTO who helped make this the steamy gym is success and is something that students look forward to every year so thank you artwork on display okay uh the first comes from Frank jut Dugan Elementary School the students of Dugan Elementary under the instruction of Mrs Colleen perie focused on the element of art value students explored through the use of oil pastels paint and and colored pencil highlights shadows and the process of shading using Color the video highlights fifth graders creating collage dogs and cats third graders creating realistic Dragon Eyes second graders creating realistic fall leaves falling down the page and first graders Paul seison inspired still lives we hope you enjoy a glimpse into Mrs pere's art room e [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] oh wo [Music] woo [Music] and artwork out of the YMCA during November the Y Kids program at Dugan Elementary School school was very active and engaged in many different crafts projects and games the students put their art skills to the test as they participated in a Team tablecraft Challenge which required them to work together to create a team portrait the students explained to everyone the concepts that they came up with and how they designed them the staff then acted as the judges and deliberated on all aspects of the artwork next the staff had students reflecting on their lives to find something to be thankful for students engaged in a conversation with the staff to help them realize the things in life that they may not realize they have to be thankful for students then took to a craft to express what they are thankful for finally the group did a gingerbread character craft to design their own gingerbread students were able to freely design with no limits or guidelines in place to create their version of the ultimate gingerbread students and staff can see their designs on display in the cafeteria at Dugan elementary school thank you thank you okay we're now going to move on to public comments I just wanted to tell anybody if people are watching and on their way here or however it's going to move so we have public comments first then we're going to go to Executive which I'll talk about that when we move into that but we will have another round of public comments later so if anybody's traveling here or coming later I just want you to know you will have another opportunity to speak just want to make sure everybody understood how it will flow so moving to public comments is anybody on the list I have no list um would anybody like to speak if so please come up just St your name your address okay seeing none all right motion to close public comments a second Ashley any discussion okay all in favor any opposed okay all right we are now moving to the executive session so be it resolved that in accordance with the provisions of the open public meetings Act the marbor Township Board of Education shall conduct a closed executive session pursuant to the exceptions prescribed by njsa 104-112 for the purpose of discussing matters of attorney client privilege and an Hib hearing it is anticipated the length of this time of this executive session will be 45 minutes and that action will not be taken in public after the executive session be it further resolved that the minutes of the executive session will be released when the need for confidentiality in accordance with njsa 104-112 no longer applies um sorry I lost my train of thought for a second uh could I have a second motion to I'm sorry motion to move to Executive session thank you second adidi any discussion okay all in favor any opposed sorry like not thinking today moving to Executive session [Music] e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e roll call please sure do I Mrs bomo here Mrs Gandhi yes Mr hayatt here Mr lonsky here Mrs McCormack here Dr misit here Mr petruno here Mrs seart here and Mrs Mendes here okay moving on to announcements yep so uh this is the bus driver abstracts all abstracts run and all have privileges in good standing thank you um superintendent report HIV report okay for the Hib report uh the period November 15 2024 through December 12th 2024 there were eight incidents reported thank you upcoming meeting dates Tuesday January 7th is the reorganization meeting um and then Tuesday January 21st is our regular meeting approval of minutes resolution Ashley May resolve that the minutes of the following meeting be approved as submitted November 19 2024 regular and executive I so move thank you can I have a second Michael any discussion roll call please Dr MTZ here oh yes voting yes yes yes Mr patruno what no Mr patruno yes thank Mrs seart yes Mrs bomo yes Mrs Gandhi yes Mr hayatt yes Mr alansky yes Mrs McCormack yes and Mrs Mendes yes um moving on to the Secretary of business administrator report yep so this is the secretary's report for the month ending in November 2024 and also the payroll certification for the month ending in November 2024 thank you um committee reports there's the policy committee um is the only one on the agenda for today so the policy committee met we have revisions which the community also has to a couple of policies there's crisis response you'll see those being voted on tonight for first read um plus two other polic IES so I just wanted to draw your attention to those um there's some redlined versions out there for you to review and that's what we have for now okay moving to the discussion so board self- evaluation back in July June or July I had emailed the board members that at some point in the future we would do a board self evaluation which means that the board takes a look at how they performed over the year I did speak to our representative because I really wanted to better understand when this actually occurred for our board and what I was told was that one hasn't been done in at least four years by the board itself so I thought that it would be a really good idea for us to evaluate our own performance and the next board and incoming president whoever that may be can kind of work together with the board to look at the things maybe some opportunities for growth how they could work collaboratively other things right how we can be an efficient board what are the the good things that we've accomplished and kind of look at the highlights that we've had and take all of that information so what it means for the community is that the board will evaluate ourselves as a board board members you have your directions printed you'll log into our njsba portal you'll answer a variety of questions about the board and then we can discuss it in public in the January meeting not obviously reorg the one that follows and kind of have a discussion and look at the board goals goals and how will we meet that while also looking at opportunities and strengths of the board so thought it would be a good idea for us to do that so I'll send you an email with kind of the purpose again and how to log in and it will the portal will be open to you to open so I just want to make sure that you knew that was coming um and evaluate ourselves for the year that we've had any thoughts or questions or anybody want to talk about it just want to give some brownie points to you as a leader um because I think that this is a healthy approach to maybe you're right an opportunity for growth and and a look back at what we could have done differently I think that um we can all agree that there's better ways to do things so um I just want to thank you Val especially for the entire year of your leadership than for all the work that you do and how you're always communicating with nsba and communicating with all of us and even wishing us a Happy Thanksgiving I just I just appreciate it especially since it's like Baff ing that this wasn't done maybe ever right like as far as we're concerned at least four years so um I'm on board is there a deadline yeah there'll be a deadline which I'll map out um for all of you you'll see it I'll send you all detailed email of how to get in what's the timeline what will it look like you don't have to do it but I think it would be healthy for all of us to look at our strengths and some opportunities we have as we grow um I just want to also say thank you Michael and Michael Michael balone and Michael alansy because we talked about it Michael lonsky you were absolutely in favor you loved the idea you you were like this is a really good idea Michael did it in the past oh he did his already he's he's an overachiever um but I know we were on the same page with it so thank you Mr Bon thank you I know you were with us too so we're going to use it hopefully everybody does it to collectively grow so anyway thank you all um okay and then the next piece is Mr blone the school year calendar for 2526 yes so uh all board members uh have received the proposed it's a draft uh in its current form the 2526 school year District calendar uh we typically present that in December and then we finalize it when the new board is seated um in January um this calendar reflects consultation with the administrative team here at mtps um as well as the Freehold Regional High School District draft calendar um which I understand they presented uh to to their board I believe it was last week generally speaking this calendar is aligned with Freehold Regional um I will just note some exceptions just that are mtps specific um few things one mtps is closed for students only on October 20th for Dali uh Freehold Regional is in session on November 4th mtps is closed for election day as we normally are Freehold Regional is in session um on November 11th which is Veterans Day Freehold Regional is closed and we are open on February 17th mtps is closed for Lunar New Year Freehold Regional is in session and on March 20th uh that's Eid mtps is closed for students only Freehold Regional is in session Freehold Regional spring recess is March 30 through April 6 with schools reopening on April 7 mtps is almost aligned we are uh off from March 30 through April 3 and we reopen on April 6th um on June 2nd that's the primary election day as as you know we've had a lot of discussions about that mtps will be closed for uh for students only and freeold Regional is in session June 19th Freehold Regional is closed mtps will be in session and Freehold regional's last day for students is June 24 and our last day for students is June 23rd finally uh similar to the this Academic Year and the year prior there there's been a in years past there has been discussion regarding emergency closure days which the general public call snow days um because that's generally what we use to close school um however technically they're deemed emergency closure days you can look at this issue in many different ways um I'm going to try to simplify it for you some school districts um quote unquote build days in build emergency closure days into their calendar effectively what they're doing is uh the New Jersey Department of Education requires 180 student days in school so if you quote unquote build days in which we don't do um you're e effectively adding to that 180 so I'll just use three days as as an example so what a school district District would do was they would um have their present their calendar with 183 student days knowing full well that they can use those three days that they built in and if they only use three snow days then those days often times get shap or th those days you work out to 180 days and there's nothing the school district needs to do if they don't use all of those snow days then they quote unquote give back days days um it's not really giving back days because they added days up front so it it's this perception of we're giving back days but you're really not giving back days you have 180 student days period so what we've done here is similarly we have contingency days is what I call them so I don't build in extra days I don't build in extra days for students um what I do is have a contingency plan plan for in the event that we have inclement weather or emergency closures and at the bottom or kind of at the it's on the flip side of the page but when it's online I think you just scroll down a little bit um there is a there is our contingency plan there for you um under that um that bold line so essentially this is the order in which we would take days should we need them schools will be open on February 17th 2026 would be our first day then Monday February 16th would be the next day that we would take should we need two days should we need three days it would be March 20th of 26 and then if needed Beyond those three days we have three additional days that we could take in June June 24 June 25 and June 26 so effectively it gives us six contingency emergency closure days without having to again I I use quotes give back days um because you're they're really not give back days and what I have found uh we've done it both ways here at mtps in the last two years we've done it this way and just from an operational standpoint from an HR perspective uh being that um I lead HR as well it's just it's much easier for our staff to U understand upfront what those contingency days look like rather than build more student days in and then potentially give them back and then it turns into am I allowed to take a personal day around that day what if you give a day back and I had flights it it becomes an HR issue um that we've always worked through um with the mtea they're sitting in the back there so thank you for always working through those issues but it's still it's still uh some gymnastics that we have to go through this format everyone knows what the days are you know what they look like if we don't use them the calendar stays if we use them then the calendar gets modified as I just explained it's a much EAS your process um staff know upfront parents know upfront everybody is in the know you know starting the day the calendar gets approved Mr balone can I ask a question yes um let's say we do use all six days and we go to the 26th of June when does esy start do we have that date Mary where is mar I remember it in special head committee but I can't remember um so Mary Elizabeth stepped away I will get you I will get you the days of esy okay because I know that staff and students enjoy that like week break so worst case we would only be possibly giving them two days opposed to a week but that's again if we go to six days so can we just I don't remember what I'll touch base with her she's she's here she's just not here at the moment it's in what thank you page 15 any are there other questions go ahead just is there um can you turn your mic on you have three one session days is is there is there any way to combine it so it's like not three one session days but maybe I don't know yeah actually can I build on that I have a question about one session days so just before we find that solution can I ask if we align with Freehold Regional with April 6th being off until the 7th since it's pass over and Easter Monday and maybe eliminate the half day for election week and parent teacher on a two like you know can we find another two half days to get a day off anywhere for that Eastern Monday I know we rotate I'm not saying anything about fairness that's not what this is anything's possible Regional is off that Monday anyway so yeah so um we generally don't have Easter Monday off um I think they do anything is possible it's just you know if when we when we start looking at our calendar we could certainly a half day problem like does that it just something has to give right so we have 180 student contact days here so yeah if we use um if we use Easter Monday then we have to we lose a day at you know let's say we would lose June 26th as a no no not if you make November 5th a full day like why do we have half why is it why is it at one session so half days and full days count as as a counts yeah a 4 hour day hour just 4our day counts as a day in in terms of the New Jersey Department of bed so any of those yellow days that you see those count as student contact days I mean I know it's draft nine so this is not this is a Rubik's Cube I I respect that I was just wondering if there was discussion around matching up with free Reginal for that one extra day of Spring Break um there was discussion about it I'm just not sure where to get it Mr blone I have a question if parents we have these days stipulated in the calendar if a parent takes and then all of a sudden we have to use it as a you know snow day you know that we have to make it up are the kids penalized um for their attendance so on those days so how about I use October 20th um or no October 20th is not a good day let's use another one um what was one of our contingencies if we use February 17th yeah February 17th is yeah February 17th um it depends on what the parent is calling the child out for right if it's a legitimate reason then it could be an excused absence they we would just apply our policy because what I what I was thinking you know if there's two days off you go you could go away technically for a short vacation but if it's all of a sudden now you have to have school you know they've already you know scheduled these you know with their with their other jobs you know with their jobs y so I was wondering if there's a way we can um not yeah have it excused you know if it's on that one of those dep you know I wouldn't want to make a blank blanket statement right here because it depends on the issue um if a parent would I work with a parent and the policy and if I could make it work make it excused yes um we would certainly do that but i' I'd have to know what the circumstance is and then look at our policy and then apply it okay because it's something I think we should think about because I I know a lot of parents here go away yeah and they plan it in advance they plan it well in advance you don't yeah they plan in advance and they don't go according to they try to go according to the school C cend and then if we switch it then it's it cost money yep so that's why we give the contingency upfront so parents are fully aware of their the possibility um and if if we don't have to use it that's that's a bonus and they can continue with their plans I have a question I I think maybe best for Michael and valtina um we had discussed last year getting the voting out of our schools um but it's again it's on the calendar and our kids have off can you give us an update where we stand on that yeah I know that at one point you had speaking with the spoke I'm sorry spoken with the mayor we were going to Lobby to um different local representatives and so forth I think in September or October um and I think that's where we are right now is to kind of move forward with I guess the Brigade of sending a variety of emails and so forth to do that if that's you know I I think that's where we all stood right so we had we had started that process where we bit of time have the emails been sent no not to the local Congress yet so that's the next step Michael can you say where about the locations when you spoke to the mayor no I spoke at the meeting the mayor had asked if we could find any locations he'd be happy that they would take the voting they'd be happy to look at it but he does not know of any other locations other than what they use now they've looked and the township does not see being any any other place but the schools so we had that meeting and then we said that we would send behalf of the board a letter to I guess the election yes County Board of count County Board of election so is that something that we can get the ball rolling on so we don't run out of time like we did yeah I know I sent a draft to the board and nobody really I think had any feedback on it so I could send that email tomorrow yeah we were in I I was in agreement with it um in terms of I know we had spoken about the cont it of learning that half day that's now there on the 5th really depletes any opportunity to utiliz that week for anything else um but if we were able to get the voting out of the schools or get one of these days back would the district be open to having Veterans Day off um I know that's something that has crossed a lot of parents Minds um and it is done in a lot of other districts and I think that that's something that you know if it could be looked into yep as I said anything is possible we can we can certainly do that uh if we can gain a day with either the elections actually that would gain us two days right because it would gain us November and June so anything is possible sure thank you one more question please um and you you spoke with the Teachers Association and the different associations I did and they we were all in agreement so far yeah so far we're in agreement right they've they we met today as well and they said uh they joked about the version number nine as well and I'm sure there will be another version because someone always finds something any other questions okay all right moving on to the mandatory hearing on District violence and vandalism report okay this is um as you know we we do this we're mandated to have two hearings per year so we essentially give a kind of a first half of the year and then a second half the year uh this information applies to the uh the first hearing there were 14 incidents of violence and vandalism for the first part of this school year 201425 uh from the time period September through December uh 13 incidents were classified as Hib one was classified as an assault and the um incidents of harassment intimidation and bullying occurred um at Asher we had two defino 2 marel 1oral 6 middle 2 thank you thank you very much okay moving on to the 20125 26 school year budget discussion number one just putting that out there [Music] Michael do you just mind does mine not be working if you could just change it when I ask you to change it thank you you so much all right good evening everybody this is I can't believe we're at the 25 26 school year so here we go I feel like I just did this but um so from now until March for tenative budget uh approval we will be you know going through the budget going through each department analyzing what we're putting forward for approval um so this will be budget discussion number one so just as we like to do at the start of the school year just to give a brief overview of where we have been um since I've been here we've been going through S2 funding formula which is just the version that the state has put forward which actually produced a lot of cuts for us so last year was the last year that S2 was going to be used as the funding formula so the 2425 school year was the last year that we would have to deal with that now the doe is starting to look into what they're going to do differently for funding formulas so they're actually regionalizing meetings so that the administration could attend they are having one in Trenton on January 14th which I will be attending and that there they're going to welcome feedback and go over everything about what they're going to be putting forward for the funding formula so marbo was deemed over adequacy um in the 2425 school year we are deemed over adequacy almost every year what that means is that the state looks at us as having an adequate adequate budget so we should rely Buy on the local fair share for most of the funding rather than the state share so once we we are deemed adequacy or over the state Conor Lake triggers a threshold basically saying you don't need any more funding from us you can get it from your your local fair share since the course of S2 is taken over you can see on this sheet we've lost about $3.6 million um so you can see state aid is comprised of four different categories Equalization Aid special education Aid Transportation Aid security Aid um you could see throughout the years Equalization Aid was the one that they steadily decreased and started to really limit us as far as what we can get from them um until last year when we were expecting a a standard incre decrease and we actually winded up not getting slammed as bad as we thought we were and you could see that they actually infused special education aid but still left everything the same so we are actually anticipating that the same thing is going to happen this year based on our enrollment numbers because I don't know if in year one they're really going to figure out exactly how to fix this funding formula or make it a little bit more Equitable um and our enrollment has stayed the same and has steadily stayed the stayed the same for the last couple years now but I do anticipate that changing you'll see at the bottom the chapter 44 that is something that the state rolled around in 2223 and that was basically recognizing the cost savings for the ehp plan so the last two years we were able we actually saw a decrease and but last year we actually had no decrease we're able to um basically appeal it to the point where it was netted out to zero so we didn't have to worry about decreasing that so just a big picture so how this budget how the budget process works in my office is so every department will build their budget they will send them to us my office will start to build the revenue projections we never like to overestimate our revenues we'll start building just basically that side of the pie building the revenues as the department budgets come in we'll start analyzing those budgets to see what they're putting in there you know we encourage everybody to do zerob based budgeting so you build your budget based on what you need not just rolling it over so when that budget is built and we see what we have for our revenues we have to we have to produce a balanced budget so what we'll do is we'll start going through each budget and how we'll accomplish you know producing a balanced budget to the board is we'll start reviewing programs we'll start reviewing staff uh we'll start reviewing uh building and grounds projects we'll start looking at summer work materials technology any other things that there may not be a need for that that year we'll start to look to phase out if we need to sometimes we don't we actually get lucky where we we can actually not cut as much as we need to or just really enhance the school district a little bit more with if we do get an increase in stateid or something like that um one of the things that we want to monitor this year is with the Registration Department just keeping an eye on how many many students are starting to register because as you know there's a lot of developments going up in Marrow so we just need to keep an eye on who how many kids are we getting from those developments where are they're going what do the class sizes look like because in reality there may be an influx in enrollment where you don't want to have sections in classrooms where they're like 20 29 30 students you want to keep it level level set so you might have to create additional sections I I just want to ask you this should we hold our questions till the end yeah okay unless you want to ask them now this way we're on we're on that topic so I don't that's fine but I want to do whatever is easiest for you just a question I know with when you were mentioning the new developments do we have some like projected planning does someone provide with the numbers of units and then we kind of take that number how do we plan so we get that from across the street they will give us some of them are pilot programs um so we get the number of units that are that are being built over there and then give or take we start to see how many kids will start to enroll you never want to do the max projection where if there's 200 units you're going to expect 200 children because they only are one bedroom or two-bedroom units some of them so in the projections are and we look at the survival rates for when like birth rates unfortunately not many kids are being born as the years go on so we're not anticipating that much where you would need I know years ago like trailers or a new school but just to keep it monitor to where class sizes don't get out of control I think that's the one thing that we always want to make sure that we keep control control over thank you so again we're going to go by Department the months going ahead so I'll break that down it's on actually on your budget calendar that was produced to you just going by what departments we're going to be going over at what certain meetings or certain months so just give you a level overview of highlights so as you know the one of the big projects in building and grounds is the HVAC so we are underway doing morl it hasn't started yet because of the supply chain with just actually getting the units in but that was the one that was funded through the reserves and the rod grant that we we were successful on getting last year there's two remaining schools after that that would be Asher and Robertsville again you never want to deplete your reserves you always want to try to build them up rather than just depleting them for the sake of just getting something so we have to be mindful on how we approach this and we do review different scenarios if we're able to put enough into our reserves to build them up maybe we can do one school but I know as we talk talked about with this board we kind of want to do both at the same time and that's really because of the mobilization cost they're right next to each other get the same vendor you don't want to make it a mess if you actually do that Capital project so one of the things we've actually been reviewing and we will actually look into the winter is um the mammoth County Improvement Authority offers bonds um so basically what they do is they offer special financing that you can secure funding for for projects and usually usually the state will it'll trigger 40% where they'll contribute 40% of the cost from Debt Service Aid to your project so that's almost like a rod Grant but at the same time it's coming from that service Aid and it's it's another way to offset the cost while trying to enhance the infrastructure of the district get what we want and and stay on track and we can include a lot of things in there that we've been looking at if we were going to submit something like that from a board level we would want to put a lot of things in there that we may consider long term or things that you know you may not think that you may need now but you may need down the road just to just really get it done if they're going to give us 40% towards any projects curriculum and Technology highlights some of these you'll see more in depth when we start presenting them and when you get your binders so curriculum we're proposing new math textbooks for grades two and five again same thing as we did last year instead of budgeting them fully we'll split them over the cost of you know anywhere from 3 to 6 years this way it kind of alleviates some of the budget constraints we may have and you can and you can budget appropriately elsewhere the resources to support the g&t program we want to make it more consistent with grades two to five so we're going to try to include more support services for grades K through one in the budget one program that's being replaced with another Reading Eggs program is to replace the smart ANS um and that's just because it it no longer exists we need to find a new program for that from your technology perspective um we go through e- rate for some of this stuff the first one replacing of the elementary of Ruba switches um $255,000 would be the district share that we would be looking to budget the rest would be coming from from rate which is your your federal funding for for technology use um since I've been here we've been doing wiring projects the technology department were actually we actually will do in-house and they will replace the cat 60 wiring around the building still on the agenda is memorial Transportation um and the admin building and then after that we would all be updated with brand new wiring in the district the renewal for the additional firewall again that's the big purchase that we're looking to have um this is basically just the support service renewal for the firewall that we have I believe at Memorial here um every year we do we do the Chromebooks so we do the refresh for the sixth grade Chromebooks we're looking to budget about 600 which we try to stay consistent with that is usually secured with a bid um and we've been pretty fa able with the pricing over the years doing that where it actually comes under what we budget but we would be doing that again and then the last one is the possible replacement of teacher devices um so last year we budgeted for Teacher devices but that was in the form of Chromebooks I know when we went out to the teachers to try to get basically a feel for what they thought and how the Chromebook was responding for like classroom level instruction and it really wasn't a great fit so we kind of have to Pivot of course we see unexpected increases whether it be out of District tuition or health benefit so we had to utilize some of that that fund those funds but we're looking to just stay on track and actually do that next year in the form of a different device maybe it be back to what they had originally which is a laptop um just a question for the technology piece I know in a couple of meetings we've had we talked about um AI tools and not saying that we're there yet there's a lot of work that has to be done but somewhere in the budget at some point we we should talk about licenses I know we met um about it as well as a policy committee so I'm just putting that out there I know we're not there just asking licenses for what for the different AI tools right if if the school is determined after obviously much consultation but there's a whole AI plan that could be put in place and if the school decid if the district the board and the community right if we decide to go with Gemini or if we do it by certain grade levels just there was a cost implication to that that's all I'm putting out there yeah and that and that's something when we uh you know meet within instructional technology department and the actual technology department we start to see what will benefit the whole District as a whole with for each classroom a by grade level but that's something we we we always look into and then whatever is recommended is is something that we would explore further or get a demo or or get pricing okay thank you so that's always down the horizon or on the pipeline but I don't know if it is right now so with it's something we can definitely explore thank you okay the um some of the other departments so special education one of the big proponents for next year's budget is going to be implementing a emotional regulation impairment program for the Middle School level for grades six through eight so this past year we implemented the program for the first time here at the elementary levels um it has been very successful because I believe it has limited us from having to send students out and we actually can keep them and and provide them services that they need here in District rather than sending out to an added District placement um transportation another big purchase lease we do is we constantly are on a cycle of replacing five buses and two Vans or Caravans again we do that through a purchase lease where we can stretch the money out over time rather than than buying them up front so a year or two ago we took off from getting the stabilization Aid of having to budget for buses but we have to start doing that again um your security piece upgrade of the existing lobbyguard system we found out that Lobby guard is no longer going to be supported because they were bought by a different provider uh that's Raptor technology so we have to actually look into upgrading the the service platform maybe not so much the machines because they simp be supported but it's really the service itself which actually would have a little bit more features than what we have now this one we definitely want to look to budget maybe in the form of offsetting with a grant this is something about we've been talking about and that's upgrading our our security camera server and we always continue to do a camera Replacements but for our security camera server we just are looking to upgrade it and I don't want to get into specifics but just a more enhanced version of what we have um that I think it'll be better suited long term for the district when it comes to you know the cameras and how they function all right so what what we know so far what I know so far so costs are always a big factor of what you can do from year to year it's no different than when you see in your home when your utilities go up or your car insurance goes up or your health insurance goes up we see the same challenges just on a larger scale sometimes um so costs continue to be a big factor we do have in the form of bank cap available to use in 2526 in the amount of 25,26 which we left over um another thing that's down the pipeline now it's only been a discussion at the Senate level but there is a bill that they're considering state aid funding reform and that's Bill S3 917 which would actually amend the 2% tax levy and allow districts to go up to 7% um and that's due to the driving cost and some districts may need it some districts may not but it all depends on what the state's going to do with the state aid and what district is going to get because the last two years there's been some districts that get slammed when they don't even realize it and they have to make millions of dollars of cuts and then they have to Scurry or go back to the state for you know additional additional help um some of the other parts of this bill is they're looking to fully fund the extraordinary Aid piece Vinnie I don't know if you know the answer to this question but the way it currently stands with the 2% tax levy cap if you if the board wants to use banked cap they have to go to the 2% have they have they um shared anything you know I I know that's just sort of on the table so it's not even out there yet but do have you heard anything if we want to use the bank cap do we have to go to 7% like what does that look like have you heard anything so the way the um the way the the the bill is written right now from my understanding it looks like that you need to go to the 2% cap to even trigger it's almost similar to bank caps so you're correct so in order to even think about going up to 7% you would need to use your what's alloted to you minimum and that's the 2% and then you can use the bank cap then you can use whatever you deem is necessary if if you're trying to build a balanced budget um but that's something that it's only a discussion last year what happened was it actually came out to us you know I stood here and I told everybody that we we can make this work with the budget we have we used the bank cap we we went over the 2% and then the state rolled out something in June um and basically said we can go up to 9.9% and we' elected not to do that because you know it was they needed it by I think the 11th hours by like the Fourth of July weekend they need needed a decision um so this is something that looks like they're trying to consistently do which is also with modification of the funding formula so this is one of the proponents of the bill the other proponent is lowering the threshold of what you need to trigger for Extraordinary a and actually funding it fully for five years um another piece of this bill is actually to establish reduction adjustment Aid um and that's really to prevent uh to prevent having you know High tax low performing districts have to Scurry for additional state aid so that's really more for that that piece and then another piece of this is they want to publish something like an educational adequacy report which will show you how they determine our funding formula there'll be a process to appeal there'll be a process for us to actually see what goes behind it and what goes in it um and then be able to actually go to the commissioner if we don't agree with it so a little bit more transparency when it comes to how they provide us our number but again it's just a discussion so figured bringing that to light because don't want to surprise anybody if we do start putting this budget together and we do start seeing some of our estimates or increases rise if that does become a thing that will be a discussion Point Heen just want to remind again everybody that the bank cap is not physical money that we have sitting in any bank it comes out of the pockets of the taxpayers by raising the percent right to that 20 so the bank cap is anything that you do not take um from year to year so so basically usually right now you get tax levy adjustments in the form of pension adjustments Healthcare adjustments um tuition enrollment adjustments so if you do not utilize those adjustments that are brought to you by the state or if you do not go to your full 2% that leftover money gets into the form of bank cap which then you have three budget years or three school years to to utilize if you do not then it goes away and you can never you can never utilize it so Bank cap is just another word of just leftover tax levy money Vinnie I think it's also important to note um and Mr hayatt you said it last year um when we didn't go for the 99.9% uh you know that one that supposed onetime ability I remember you saying it might come up again they might allow us to go more than 2% and here we are having discussions um that we may be able to go more than 2% and I think it's important for the board the board knows this but more so the public last year when Vinnie and I presented a budget to you prior to the state saying we could go to the 9.9 we presented a budget to you um that we believed could work and in my opinion if we had done then it was a week later when the state said oh you know we're kidding you can go more than 2% now you can use 9.9 in my opinion if we came back to you and said we need to go further now um I think your trust in us would be comp compromised right so um that's that's another reason we said look we presented a budget to you at 2% and we use some Bank cap I believe at the time right and used the waiver so um I still stand by that right and and to your point Mr H maybe we'll we'll be able to go to more than 2% this year and I think we need to consider that if if that's an you know something that is an option for us when when we get there down the road um you know especially that we didn't take that benefit last year right I think um we're in a we're in a good spot because we were not like every other District who took the 2% and then went up to 99.9% also um and you'll see from some of the increases like sometimes the 2% you have to be very creative with making sure that you can you can build a balanced budget Without Really touching let's let's be real like our budget has made 80% of staff and health benefits so if you want to make a real in cuts it is staff and health benefits if you really want to make a dent and and go below the 2% or be just right at the 2% because with all the other increases you have you have salaries that are anywhere between 3% and three and a half percent you have you know the BPU sets rates that I know they've been going up with utilities they're asking for approval to go up anywhere from like two to 5% all these things you see tuition fed District trans um the tuition fored District placements we get those that goes up anywhere from four to 5% and then you have transportation contracts the renewal last year with CPI was 5.8% we're only able to go up two so you have to keep that in mind that although it may be a small small percentage of the budget it does compound and then eventually your expenses are rising past the 2% you can you can take Vinnie I have a question two questions actually one's more of a statement um I also think it's important that we remind the community too that Freehold Regional was in much worse condition than us and they went to what 88.9% so luckily you guys didn't ask us to approve 9.9 while they went to 8.9 cuz that would have been I know but the surrounding k38 did go to 9.9 and then the actual question I have is with um 3917 with the proposed bill um what is what do they mean by this bill would also gradually increase the funding for special is that like contingent ongoing toap that's the um the extraordinary Aid so what they're proposing is right now our extraordinary Aid like last year I think we put in about $2 million worth of costs to get back from the state and because they have a certain formula where they prate prate that that amount which we which we submit we only got like 400,000 back so what they proposing is to actually fully fund what we submit so if I submit $2 million in costs I expect to get $2 million in returns not something to PR rate and then I don't know where the rest of that that funding goes so they're going to be more transparent perfect okay thank you but um yeah this just to bring to to the Forefront because I think the last thing we ever want to do is basically have to sacrifice certain programs or or change different departments or different schools in the way they look and the models that work for us um just to save some money because I think that's what makes our district what it is and that's the level of you know the level of experience and the quality of like service and teachers and administrators and everything that we can offer here um again what I wanted to also pinpoint is we're still in the school employe health benefit program we get our claims Experience run every year we cannot get out because of the prescription piece the no other company will bid on us so that's something we also have to take into account where we're budgeting anywhere from 12 to 15% of the medical side and 15 to 18% on the on the prescription and those are actual renewals that we actually get from our broker what to anticipate so right there alone just astronomical and we try to get out every single year or at least explore it I don't want to get my head chopped off we're not getting out of it right now um okay so the budget timeline so as you know like December we do our budget projections I give you the first um rundown of the highlights of what we're expecting um and then you'll see January February March March we continue our budget discussions with the Departments um hopefully state aid numbers are released by Valentine's Day in February where we'll actually start to put together the binders for the board again I encourage encourage encourage you to schedule meeting with me once you get those binders so we can go over anything individually um whether it's in groups of four groups of three by yourself it's fine but it is a good opportunity to just learn what's in the budget and actually what makes up this whole thing um and then we will give you updated forms when the numbers change the State numbers change revenues change anything like like that would change and I'll also send out memos to you march is the adoption of the tentative budget that's also when the chapter 44 rebuttal do if we have anything that we need to appeal and then April and May is when you we do our public hearing for the final adoption of the budget and if there's any changes we just have to have a formal hearing of what changed from March does anybody have any questions I have a question it might be um Mary Elizabeth question Miss Tyrone sorry I didn't mean to call you by your first name um are we seeing any supplemental increase of our budget allowance with ER what's the are you like happy with the progress thus far do you think it's a yeah the program is excellent yeah okay thanks any other questions thank you so much I always appreciate the very detailed um information that you share with us okay moving on financial and business operations matters Michael Financial business and operations matters the superintendent of school submissed the following resolutions for approval one transfers two list of bills three secretary monthly reconciliation reports four travel five harassment intimidation bullying hibit report six home instruction seven approval of addendum B between the Mt Boe and Es Northeast LLC eight approval agreement with Transportation Consulting Services LLC nine a water bid exterior door replacement at the Frank J Dugan Elementary School 10 Award of cop competitive contract agreement between Marboro Township Board of Education ACB Services Inc for the dist District's custodial Services 11 State contract uh purchases I move thank you can I have a second Ashley just wanted to draw your attention um to number five so board members we had a hearing so when you look at number five which is the Hib report then you'll see under that it says NJ smart numbers and then there's a number four and a case study okay I'm sorry it CES a case number that number is the result of the hearing we just had so when you vote and you vote Yes or no to this whole section you're you can call out number four however you see fit so if you don't agree with it you can say no to number four yes to the others or you could say yes to number four however you want but if you say yes to all of this I just want you to know that includes that number four which is the result of the hearing we had an executive I just want to make sure we all understood that okay all right all right any discussion go ahead I you know I just I just realized have the door replacement there was only one bid so typically we have one bid do we not go out again to try to get at least two bids or is there a reason we just had one bid um so seven people picked up the plans only one submitted a bid the bid was actually very favorable to what we budgeted it was actually under under budget okay thank you any other discussion okay roll call Dr MTZ yes Mr petruno yes to everything no to H just to be clear Hib number four Aldo or all of it if I could break it down yeah then number four if not then the whole okay so no to number okay Mrs seart yes Mrs bomo yes to all abstain from four on the Hib okay Mrs Gandhi yes Mr hayatt yes M McCormack yes to yes yes H it thank you Mr lonsky yes and Mrs Mendes yes okay moving on to curriculum matter Dr MTZ item number one the uh 2025 extended school year seeks to approve of s the ex summer 2025 extended school year program esy I so move thank you I have a second Annette any discussion okay roll call Mrs Bal yes Mrs Gandhi yes Mr hayatt yes Mr lonsky yes Mrs McCormack yes Dr MTZ yes Mr petruno Mrs seart yes and Mrs Mendes yes Personnel matters Danielle the superintend of school submits the following resolutions for approval one disability retirement two retirement three employment certificated staff four amended start date five amended salaries non-certificated staff six amended hours and salaries non-certificated staff seven amended extracurricular activity advisor eight assistant after school activities nine stien soundboard lighting technician 10 amended substitute rates teachers 11 substitute rate school nurse 12 amended substitute rates non-certificated positions 13 amended substitute rates bus attendance 14 substitute teachers 15 substitute bus driver 16 paid medical disability leaves 17 unpaid leaves of absence 18 amended resolution leave dates I still move thank you can I I have a second Michael any discussion okay roll call please Mrs McCormack yes Dr Miss quitz yes Mrs gandi yes Mr hayatt yes Mr petruno I abstain Mr lonsky yes Mrs seart yes Mrs bomo yes and Mrs Mendes yes retirement comments these are retirement comments for Mr Michael McDonald tonight we celebrate the retirement of Mike McDonald and show our appreciation for his 48 years of working tirelessly for the public schools and the entire Marboro Community you may not know him by name but if you had any opportunity to come to the middle school or almost any other location here in Marboro you probably have seen or spoken with Mike he is truly vested in the marbor community as a lifelong resident employee fireman volunteer parent and grandparent he began began his career as a part-time employee in 1974 when he was a sophomore in high school and has been here ever since he joined the full-time ranks in 1976 as a custodian at Asher Holmes Elementary School and added groundskeeper truck driver head custodian at Robertsville Elementary to his resume before coming to marbar Middle as head custodian back in 1986 his responsibilities have grown immensely over the years to support the proper and efficient functioning of the Middle School building in addition to these numerous tasks and responsibilities we rely on Mike's presence to ensure that all assemblies plays musicals and meetings run smoothly he has met the enormous challenge of managing the lighting sound microphone use security and cleanliness of the auditorium for our school events elementary school programs PTO events and outside groups who wish to use our school for their programs Mike is devoted to Marboro Township and recognized the importance of contributing to his community many years ago he's always the first person to attend an emergency and figure out what is needed to correct that situation his Service as a fireman led to him serve as the fire commissioner and chief of district one for two terms he continues to serve as a fireman to this day in short Mike has been an invaluable asset to our school and the Marboro Community for many years this quote seems to have been written with Mike in mind retirement is the reward for a lifetime of hard work dedication and unwavering commitment to Terry his wife Danielle Nicole and Caitlin his daughters and Hunter Fay Skyler and summer his grandchildren we know that you will enjoy traveling with Mike at the wheel and have valuable family time to Mike it is an honor to celebrate the hard work and commitment that you leave behind we hope you enjoy every minute of your retirement it is well deserved just want to add that I had the pleasure of seeing Mike in action for many many years my since my older Sons who now have my granddaughter in the same building Mike has been there Mike has been the heart and soul of that building from from day one that I saw him there and you will not find a more dedicated employee in this District so congratulations Mike in your retirement you'll be [Applause] missed I also oh sorry no I was just going to say Mr McDonald I'm just looking at the board members faces I'm just seeing the impact that you've had on all of us our interactions with you and our personal capacity as parents in the district I'm just looking at everybody's faces just thank you so much for your dedication I'm sorry yeah I just wanted to thank Mike Mike uh was the head custodian um when I first started here in the district as a student teacher um just as recently as this summer we had an issue down at transportation and uh where the the doors wouldn't shut and it was July 4th weekend and who else did I call but I called Mike and Mike fixed that problem within 5 minutes you know got back called it was again the holiday weekend no one was going to be around without him our transportation department would have been exposed for that entire weekend so one of many examples it says it in here that he you know he was dedicated to this town and and volunteering his time and thank you for that so congratulations on your retirement can I add as well um I met Mike McDonald about four years ago um running the lip sync for Robertsville and he's just an amazing staff member so much so that when I was appointed to the board in February the njsba emails all the time and one of their um emails was a spotlight email to Spotlight custodians and I took it upon myself to submit a you know a submission for him uh thousands of districts you thousands of submissions go through um so we we didn't get it but he's made that much of an impact on just me as a PTO member and as a mom so congratulations on your retirement Mike you deserve it thank you anything else Michael nothing okay thank you okay um policy development and community relations matters ADI policy development and Community relation matters um one first readings ISO move do I have a second anyone Michael okay um any discussion okay Mrs McCormack yes Dr MTZ yes Mr patruno yes Mrs seart yes yes Mrs bomo yes Mr hayatt yes Mr lonsky yes Mrs Gandhi yes and Mrs Mendes yes okay moving on to the leison reports so we'll start with freehill regional Chad sure I have a quick update uh they had their December meeting last night at col High School uh middle State middle States I apologize accreditation is done done uh they visit oh sorry it visit concluded on Thursday so they met all the standards for accreditation which is great uh they reached their two-year labor agreement with their bus drivers approved an architect for our Capital referendum work uh and after 17 years their ba is retiring business administrators retiring and that was his last meeting last night so congratulations to him um oh sorry one more thing they gave out their academic and athletic awards for The Fall season last night as well that's it thank you Chad um MEF Anette Mar thank you Maro Township Michael sure the annual hly lighting is tomorrow Wednesday December 18th at 6 pm. visits from Santa Mrs CL Winter Wonderland with photo ops the MH maror High School band and chorus and uh they also have a dessert Buffet afterwards the program is outside in front of town hall and we will then move inside for desserts music and photo ops there is a rain or shine event so dress for the weather if the weather is too they will move it all inside I have a flyer here as well so anybody would like to see it after the meeting I'll leave it on the desk here uh registration for programs for ages 60 plus begins on December 19th at 9:00 a.m. information was sent via email can be found on the town website and the pet licensing portal is now closed until January 3rd all dogs and cats must be registered every calendar year look for more in January thank you very much sorry Val excuse me I had an update from the MEF in November but I had missed the meeting so I'll read what Miss elachi had wrote me from November my apologies it sliit my mind um they have their Wizards event they'd like you to save the date April 2nd 2025 again this is a message from the MEF and they want to remind everyone that the grant process for a K through 8 will start in January and they can't wait to see all the wonderful Grant ideas thank you great thank you Mammoth County School Board Aldo uh nothing to report thank you njsba d nothing to report thank you Scope ADI nothing to update thank you cpag Dr mwts C cpag co-hosted a virtual webinar with the other New Jersey cags on December 10th related to progress reports this webinar was very well attended and provided very useful information to parents and caregivers the cpeg co-leaders wish the Marboro Community a happy holiday and we're looking forward to a wonderful new year here thank you moving on to the school updates Abbott Chad sure this comes from Mr perno who was here with some students earlier which was awesome I'll just read exactly what he sent me conferences were well attended and parents were very complimentary of the work teachers are doing December's positivity month and they are recognized this through students creating positivity presence that say something positive about someone giving the gift of positivity staff continue to be on the lookout for students EX exhibiting positivity when caught that's in quotation marks students can earn a ticket for a special prize finally when recognized we they recognized inclusive school week by participating in the district's daily themes everyone enjoyed and gained an appreciation for the uniqueness of each each of us bring to our community uh and then myself so that's Mr perno and along with several staff and students will be at the meeting to discuss oh you all saw that the Turkey Trot challenge was was excellent so that's it thank you um Asher Aldo let's see all right so from Miss s me at Asher it's been a busy and fun month since our last update the PTA celebrated Thanksgiving with a pie party for the staff and then jumped right into the prep for the holiday Boutique which started today we had a successful round of parent teacher conferences before the grade five chorus concert took place it was a wonderful display of our kids' talents in both vocal and band music with some very touching tributes to our music teacher Mrs Blake as she prepares for retirement in just a few days we had three very successful Community fundraisers in the last month the conclusion of the Thanksgiving food drive our annual Small Miracles collection and our pajama party which benefited chop the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia we are ending this week with lots of winter holiday parties as well as a fun cheesy Sherie bash for the teachers thanks to our generous PTA coming up in January look forward to a fun magic assembly on January 2nd a fifth grade talent show and a fourth and fifth grade spelling be as we head towards the end of the second marking period the entire Asher staff would like to wish our families a very restful and fun winter break happy holidays to all we can't wait to see you soon and pick the party back up in 2025 thank you defino adidi um defino just completed their defo gives back um they were collecting um gifts gift cards for um I'm just looking really quickly sorry Season sorry it was actually for um the community that are in need this holiday season so we they just completed that 13th um they have a defino holiday toy drive that's supporting the Robert Wood Johnson Bristol Myers quib Children's Hospital and they're accepting um any donations so unwrapped toys craft kit uh craft kits and puzzles by um sorry December 18th there is a um family go game show night that they're doing on um Tuesday January 20th 8 at 600 p.m. so if you want to um purchase tickets just go on to.pt board.com and there's also um an event happening in January so January 9th um meet us at the bar or at the bar they're doing two separate events one in the morning one at night um so it's it's um trying a new class um at Bar Method and then the other one is um meeting at um Rosalita's first some drinks and apps and meeting fellow defino parents and let me just sorry I have an update from Dr stratic as well here you go um they have their second grade winter showcase on Wednesday December 18th which is one of the highlights of the Year this is going to be led by defino music teacher Mrs um ciki we saw her in the defino class performed not too long ago here at the board meeting um that's this is going to be for the second grade students um and they always put on incredible show on Friday uh they defino and all of our schools they head into um winter break with one of our favorite defino Traditions our annual whole school holiday sing along um because there's no better way to spread holiday cheer than singing loud for all to hear and then when we return from winter break on January 16th we have um they have their fifth grade band and chorus Winter concert so can't wait to see um The Talented fifth graders perform and they just wished Dr Stradic wish everybody a safe and fun winter break thank you um Dugan Danielle thank you to Robin for preparing our leaon report um we finished off the month of November by Don uh by delivering hundreds of letters to our veterans um that we picked up with the Turkey Trot which was on November 27th it was a fun time by all the students had a lot of fun participating in all different activities including Dugan's own Balloon Parade it was a great way to start off Thanksgiving break we were also able to treat our staff to a treat table from delicious Orchard so thank you to everybody who donated um we were also able to collect gift cards and cash uh donations uh to be used to for community members uh who are in need the holiday Boutique took place last week the students enjoyed being able to shop for gifts for the special people in their lives as well as getting some things for themselves the Dugan mittry is currently taking donations to help keep our community warm this season donations of new and unused hats gloves scarves socks underwear coats boots sweats sweaters for men women or children are being accepted by Thursday December 19th um any student who brings a donation to The mittry is invited to wear their pajamas to school on Thursday December 19th uh we had our first annual light up Dugan event where we were were able to put a holiday display um along the front of Dugan we even were able to make it snow and give complimentary hot chocolate to all those attended so thank you for those who Brave the cold and came out to enjoy that special night with us um the winter class parties will take place this Friday December 20th the class parents should see the email sent on November 25th for the party times and additional party information the Dugan talent show will be back on Thursday January 30th for students to Showcase their bance please see the eblast sent this past Sunday with the registration link and important dates our yearbooks are currently for sale please see the eblast set this Sunday with information on how to order and also how to submit photos taken of your student during our Dugan events the Dugan PTO wishes everyone a very happy holiday and a wonderful New Year we're looking forward to seeing everyone in 2025 for more exciting events in the Dugan Community thank you Danielle maral Elementary Dr MTZ Marbell Elementary School is staying warm on these chilly days the children are excited to attend the holiday Boutique which will run from December 10th uh through the 12th they are also busily working on the chain link fundraiser which started in early fall each link can be purchased for $1 you are asked to write what you are thankful for on the link and then return it to the school the end goal is to have the world know how grateful the marbar commu morel Community is for being a part of the wonderful moror Township Public School Community as a special winter treat the morel PTO hosted today a yummy hot cocoa bar for the staff in one list note the PTO will have their first meeting of the new year on January 14th at uh 7 PM happy holidays to all thank you Robertsville Ashley okay we are just two weeks away from 2025 and so much is planned already just to recap it was a month of mustaches in support of movember the PTO provided every student and staff member with fake stashes to support the cause and promote the men in our community to grow theirs just at like our very own Mr J Thanksgiving pie sale was a huge success selling 0 pies provided by Mark's bake sale shop Mark's bake shop of Staten Island November D out with M was seamless um they were great to work with and we look forward to more collaborations in the future we thank everyone who donated to our Thanksgiving food drive we created 16 generous baskets for our community members to enjoy this holiday season and an extra thank you to Chick-fil-A for the turkey donations for each family our holiday Boutique was a huge success last week students shopped for families and loved ones all week long Winter Wonderland was cancelled due to an inclement weather on Monday but we'll be replacing it with a Valentine's Day hot chocolate social more details to follow um what else lastly our Jets fundraiser has come to an end um and the game is this Sunday 12:22 those who purchase tickets will enjoy a memorable onfield experience also she forgot too so I just want to add we do have our lips coming up as soon as we return from um winter winter break so look forward to that and we have our game show tickets on sale game show is on January 30th so on behalf of the Robertsville PTO we wish um everybody a happy and healthy holiday season thank you maral middle Michael from Principal in Milwaukee the Su is a busy month we have concerts the book fair lunchin and activities planned for students and staff December 18th is the annual senior lunch in tomorrow special thank you to the PTO who supplying the table centerpieces which are Holiday Point sets for the luncheon the choruses bands and Orchestra will perform for the seniors the PTO is providing ice cream sunday treats for everyone during student lunch period on December 19th we also have two additional concerts planned for January 8th and the 16th from Lauren and the PTO we wrapped up our Scholastic book fa last week thanks to all that chopped as well as our parent volunteers uh congratulations to all our poster and gift basket Raffle winners thank you to all attending the sixth and seventh grade events at Dave and Busters and top golf we had an amazing turnout the kids had a great time thank you to our parent chap room for helping make this event happen a Cris our Crispy Cream fundraiser just ended and we sold 77 dozen donuts all proceeds will go towards the eighth grade class the class of 2025 is off to a great fundraising start thank you everyone who attended the first 8ighth grade committee meeting last week our next meeting will be held virtually on January 28th at 7 p.m. 8th grade dance save the date and other important information will be sent home in January stay tuned ongoing fund ra include the birthday Locker Gams route n discount cards PTO memberships log on to PTO board for more information the PTO is also working on a sweet treat surprise for all students and staff this week finally want to wish everybody safe happy and joyous holiday season thank you um and maror Memorial the builders Club collected 1,148 items and $300 in gift cards to support 20 local families for Thanksgiving the builders Club also collected 338 Toys for Tots and collected $270 in gift cards that will be given to local families the 8ighth grade Winter concert was tonight the PTA photo booth and holiday popup shop was today and tomorrow the photo booth will also be there again during lunch um the kids can pay $5 when they sign when they attend the photo booth in person or they can purchase for $4 through PT board in advance uh the PTA has a doughnut hot chocolate sale this Friday Donuts are $3 and the hot chocolate is $2 they also have gluten-free and dairyfree options the wathon turned out to be a success due to the rain it ended up being held indoors so the kids were playing games during gym class they loved it the PTA was able to raise over $2,000 and with this event then we will also be hosting a planetarium assembly in January at the school a very generous family donated over 25 bike helmets during the fall clothing Drive the PTA then in turn donated them to maral Police Department who will use them for a program they're running to give children bicycles it was so nice working with the police department we thank you so much and the pictures were posted to social media okay thank you everybody for the updates all right moving on to Old business anybody have any old business I just wanted to say one thing for the year it's not really old or new it's just I guess business but throughout the year the board memb MERS are invited to a variety of events from the different schools or within the community so I just want to say as we're closing out the year thank you so much for including us we've gone to school plays we've attended um the dwali celebration was recent and some of us were there we had the Multicultural event um a couple weeks ago at the high school variety of things and so just thank you so much they're wonderful events and so we appreciate being included and thank you to the board members when you're able to attend and take some other time out of your day it's always nice to see you all there there go ahead can um I have something that I like to say about the marbor Middle School may I do that now or dring public well is it is it a old business it's not old business but it's I just want to is your mic on I can't tell okay it's my ears now it's not go ahead yeah of course yeah if it's about the update that Michael gave sure yeah yeah yeah thank you I attended marbor midd school's Winter concert once again I I was blown away by the musical quality of our maror students the musical groups only meet once a week after school and somehow our outstanding teachers are able to pull off an hour plus show I watched as the string Ensemble raised and lowered their bows all timed in exactly a synchronized movement it not only amazed me but it was beautiful to watch the Corral were able to blend their MO many voices into melodic celebration of the season and who could forget the wind in J jazzband I could hear the tapping of feet and people humming right next to me another outstanding moment was when the band and Corral performed together anyone who has taken an instrument know how hard it is to syn your music with that of a singer especially when you're in Middle School the students who soloed were Beyond outstanding Freehold Regional will be getting the best of the best from students in Marboro I'd like to congratulate the following staff on a job well done Juliana J the Corral instructor Jennifer Bingham the wind and jazz band instructor and Chelsea Duke Dukes for with the Austra and thank you for not only teaching our students but also for instilling in them a true love for music and the reason I wanted to mention it was because so many schools when the budgets start getting cut with you know with the state funding and so forth they limit music and art and Marboro keeps growing our programs and that the the teachers are outstanding the kids in Marboro quality students I'm so I'm so very impressed very impressed thank you and thank you for sharing that um any new business okay moving on to public comments is anybody on the list would anybody like to speak okay a motion to close public comments can I have a second Ashley any discussion all in favor any opposed okay public comments is closed all right we're going to now move to our recognition of outgoing board members um I just have a few words that I'd like to share so our outgoing board members are Ashley McCormack and Aldo petruno I'd like to to take a moment to thank our two outgoing board members Aldo and Ashley they have given their time and dedication to support not only the community but our schools thank you both for your commitment and contributions during your time on the board thank you for your dedication and we appreciate your service to the board so thank you very much so we have some plaques here that we'd like to give out I don't know if you want to come up and take some pictures or if you want to grab it and we can take pictures when we close but we want to make sure you have it so our first one is you Ashley so Ashley McCormack here is your [Applause] plaque thank you and Alo petruno we have your plaque here as well [Applause] thank you again okay our executive session resolution be it resolved that in accordance with the provisions of the open public meetings act the maror Township Board of Education shall conduct a closed executive session pursuant to the exceptions prescribed by njsa the length of this of time of this session will be 60 minutes and that action will not be taken in public after the executive session be it further resolved that the minutes of the executive session will be released when the need for confidentiality in accordance with njsa 10412 no longer applies I'd like to make a motion to go into executive session can I have a second Ashley any discussion all in favor any opposed okay and thank you and and happy and healthy New Year to everybody okay [Music]