good evening welcome to a meeting of the mountain side Board of Education in accordance with the state Sunshine Law and state regulations adequate notice of this meeting was provided by mailing a notice of the time date location and instructions for accessing the meeting to the Union County local source and the Westfield leader filing the same with the burough clerk posting no notice at the main access door of the Mountainside Board of Education building and on the Mountainside Board of Education website these meetings are reserved for P Board deliberation for review of items contained within the agenda the board reserves a right to vote on action items the board welcomes the participation of interested individuals we encourage questions about specific School practices incidences incidents and events to be brought directly to school administration public comment will be permitted at the beginning of the meeting for agenda items only each participant is asked to give his or her name and address prior to making a statement in addition time will be allotted at the end of the meeting for public comment on any items speakers shall limit their comments to three minutes roll call please Mr Bill Dylan here Mr Michael Goodwin here Dr Dana gu Petro here Mr Jordan Heyman here Mrs Vivian poopo here Mrs cesano here Mr Carmine Bennis here at this time I would like a motion to go into executive session it's 603 second uh all in favor oppos we will return in an hour and a half one hour and 30 minutes e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e turn the on never turned them off good evening uh we are returning from our executive meeting it is 7:37 um at this point we will continue with the rest of our public meeting um let's stand to salute thei the flag flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible liberty and justice for all okay at this time we're going to have our public hearing on the final 20242 budget give me one second sorry do I need to move I do right you yeah memorize pretty much the same as last time it is it is we're just gonna do a a quick we will do a quick uh run through of the budget presentation that we shared with with you as our preliminary as not many changes have been made but want to share that so that if anyone in the public would has questions um we can go through it on that respect so um oh I'm gonna do something enjoy looking at that Beachwood sign for the very last time tomorrow tomorrow the new one is getting installed and we hope about a week by the time the electric goes in and everything else we hope that it goes live in about a week and a half to two weeks nice awesome so exciting looking forward to to that change is that from the PT that was the PTO and Watts okay so they both went in and then we as a district um we did have to run electric to it sure because we didn't have electric there like we do here at Deerfield so that's a part that we covered ourselves you do with what are you gonna do with the old sign uh don't I can't give $10,000 [Music] um very quickly we are as we know as a district we are committed to our academic excellence and inequitable whole child education um as we look at our students from preschool through 8th grade to make sure that they're well provided and well cared for as they prepare for high school and life beyond um so so the budget um you know as we've discussed it's a living document we have identified some areas that we're going to make reductions um but we will still be making changes um possibly straight through until school starts um because things as things come up and and and we do have the ability to do that so really what you're approving is the tax levy um but then within the budget we can make changes at any time time starting July 1 and again it's this is a long process usually usually started in the fall um when we're Gathering enrollment information Staffing information um meeting with all of the administrators in the district about the needs um put together the first draft of the budget see where that takes us as opposed to the cap um as we talked about last time having make changes to the budget and reductions to the budget um in order to get to cap um and now we're at the final stage of this so the um budget that you approved in March was submitted to the county um County Superintendent approved that in early April it was advertised last week as we're required to do um noticed to the public that there's a meeting tonight and that you'll be adopting it and then tonight would be the final adoption and as we've talked about the majority of the revenues come from District taxes Local District taxes um we were lucky to get a additional state aid this year so we're not complaining about that but it's still only a small portion of the budget and then the other areas are very tiny pieces of the budget and special revenue is the part where the grants um that are given to the district for a specific purpose are accounted for in the special Revenue fund so those are only about $160,000 for next year um the expenditure side of the budget little different than other districts because you're a send Reed District where most other districts you'll see 80 over 80% is salaries and benefits um but because you send your pupils to your high school pupils to another school you have a big chunk of your budget that goes towards tuition um that is different obviously than than another District would be um no flexibility at all in that number really um we did make a change though I want to do talk talk about that as the last board meeting um I think Jordan had asked about the enrollment y um and I had gone back and forth with the ad the business administrator over there who was also new to the district um so we did actually overcount students so what we're doing final number was only six students which is like $109,000 so we are going to take it out of the Berkeley Heights tuition and put it into out of District tuition as a cushion because we didn't have much cushion in next year's budget for students that may move in or anything um also for transportation which we've talked about a lot um we don't really have a cushion there so that will give us at least a little bit of a cushion um in next year's budget so that change is going to be made in the budget tomorrow so basically I notify the county superintendent that a change was made and it's just moving it from one line to the other doesn't impact taxes at all did we um did we stipulate by grade where we think those numbers will be or we just did it as a across the four grades yeah no we we went grade by grade and had it yeah yeah we actually left I don't know if I just said that we left four students in there also to have a little bit of a cushion so that okay you know if they back to us great but if they don't we almost always one year get somebody from a vocational school who decides to come back right and be a part of our um you know go back to GL so we wanted to leave that bit of a cushion but not all of it there because we knew that there could be some other tuition locations got it where it could be helpful um Reserve accounts so we have few Reserve accounts um first is unassigned fund balance that we are limited to 2% of the operating budget that we can hold in the unassigned account and that's basically just four emergencies um and we do have the 2% there currently um tuition Reserve money that is put into tuition Reserve at the end of one school year must be used in the following school year for tax relief um so we have used what you put in last year we're using in next year's budget 86,000 um we do have $335,000 in capital reserve and we did take 85,000 of that out um this year in 2425 budget to do Network replace Network switches in fact we're awarding a contract tonight after we award the budget um for the network switches and we are Al also getting eate funding on that so about 40% of that cost will come back to us in eate funding and then in the maintenance Reserve account we have 162,000 we didn't tap into that account at all this year so not a lot of money for the you know two fairly decent sized buildings and property that goes with them you only have basically not even a million dollars in reserve accounts for all of that a lot of trees and a lot of trees we can spend all that on trees actually fewer this year than last year at this time yeah right better standing so just to highlight the areas you know two% of an increase of 2% which is all we're allowed in the tax levy is a small increase that gets eaten up very quickly by salaries health benefits Transportation um most of these items which are beyond your control um so when we put the budget together not surprisingly we were overcap um by $352,000 so we did have to make adjustments to the budget in order to make reductions to the budget um in order to get to the state mandated cap um we we also did were able to use $58,000 in a um waiver for health insurance increases so that did allow us to go a little bit above the 2% um but it's not enough to get us to where we needed to be um I know that there's talk from my association janets association are really pushing to get waivers to the cap in the future for things like special ed costs Transportation costs that are completely out of our control right um but right now the only way that's available to us is health insurance so how much are we sure that we need the referendum $352,000 yeah it was more though right we well we cut 352 I should say we're we're not asking for all of that back okay right I think that's the next slide yep so right so our shortfall that we had to make up for is 352,000 um from our two 2% so the way to make that 3 52,000 um is through a couple of different ways remember we spoke about we currently contract out mental health support with tri count Behavioral Health um that was covered under primarily under our ARP funding which is going to expire at the end of this school year and so we do feel that it is an important basis for our students but one that we cannot continue to fully fund within our budget so we had to cut it from two days a week down to at this point we're cutting it down to one day a week so that's $30,000 um and we'll come back to that when we talk about a second proposal in a little bit um there will be some staffing and benefit Cuts unfortunately because as you will hear from every District that is out there um and we are far from the only one who is in this boat right now um when such a percentage of your your budget is tied to salaries and benefits um as well as for us things that are intangible we can't control we cannot touch the amount that goes out to Governor Livingston we cannot touch the amount we cannot control the amount um for some of these other pieces unfortunately um while nobody likes to see it we will have to make some impact to our staffing and our benefits um as a result of this cut um and then we are making some reductions that we are hoping to see some strong benefits on by really exploring transportation and whether or not we have some ways to recoup some of those costs and are projecting out the ability to recoup some of that anything else on this one no okay so that's how we are looking to account for the shortfall but it will absolutely have an impact moving forward so in in order to address this shortfall we have discussed and we have put in place with the county the expectation as we discussed it last month a proposal of a separate proposal in November so what that is is we will be putting out to the public a um opportunity to vote and support our opportunity to reinstate those programs that we need to cut those teachers and those benefits bringing prr programs back but also an opportunity to enhance programs that we believe are crucial to the long-term health of Mountainside school district and the ways to help grow um for our students so what we are looking to do is have a separate proposal in November with a um a total amount of $396,000 that's where that comes from it will in portion reinstate a number of the teachers and benefits that will be impacted by this budget we are going to be asking the public to support um adding on a gifted and talented basic and partially basic skills teacher to support our students we do not as a district currently have a full-time gifted and talented teacher we have staff who helps to support it and we do a great job in the classroom but we do not have dedicated staff to gifted and talented so so that is something that we feel will have a long-term benefit to really supporting the education of our students we are also putting out an ask for a part-time districtwide curriculum coordinator the district does not have anybody who is dedicated to curriculum and that role really is is is key and crucial to Growing our professional development of our staff making sure that our curriculum is up toate with the everchanging standards from the state and supporting most importantly supporting our staff with that implementation we do have um some people who through Specialists do support specific areas and have helped that but we really need to support across the district our K to8 and also helping to bridge that Gap over to Governor Livingston a voice who can be that main conduit in making sure that our children arrive at the door with exactly those same skills and that same level of preparedness as those students who are coming out of Colombia we want to ensure that peace for them and make sure of that currently the curriculum responsibilities are spread across my principles and myself and so really on the day today this this opportunity to help support that and truly get into supporting the staff which therefore will benefit our students is important um you'll see with an Asis to reinstate that $30,000 that we spoke of in the other slide to bring back our support through Tri County Behavioral Health and support the mental health needs of our students this is a program that is long and hard and needed we have so many students who really have benefited from this level of individualized and group support and we feel that it will be again a strong benefit to the district and the other piece that is going to go onto this separate proposal is reinstating After School academic support programs we currently are running almost 10 different programs before and after school for our students from grades one through eight all of those programs are currently being funded through federal funds either Title One or ARP grants um we have received notice that we may not receive any Title One funding for the coming year because it's based off of the and the E socioeconomics of the district um and the ARP funds just like every other District those funds are gone as of next September and we do feel that for the academic support of our neediest students these programs have been extremely beneficial and have truly helped to raise their academic abilities so we will be looking as part of that um separate proposal for the community to support bringing those programs back and being able to provide that extra support to our students and so the tax impact the 2% increase which as I said is a little bit over 2% on the tax levy because of the uh waver for health insurance actually translates to $142 for an average homeowner um average meaning somebody who has a house assessed at $629,000 which is the average in town um if the separate proposal is approved in November that increase would be 272 per year for an average homeowner so by approving this budget this evening um as well as the separate proposal you allow the district to maintain and with a separate proposal reinstate some instructional programs and Staffing it allows us to expand our IND District special education programming um as we've shared before we are going to bring our learning our lldd self-contained program which currently is at Beachwood we are going to expand it to a secondary classroom next year for here at Deerfield we have already begun interviewing um and demo and conducting demonstration lessons so we are excited to bring this opportunity to keep students in District and ultimately hope to build that and reduce the need for outof district specialed programming it would allow us to enhance our gift and talented as well as basic skills programs so helping our students at both ends enrich our curriculum and professional development for staff reinstate the existing mental health supports as well as Afterschool programming and replace outdated Network switches that is already on us our radar and things as well as wireless access points maintaining our technology in working order is key as well as continuing to cover the costs of class two officers in both schools that is built in um and as the board may recall we have expanded that Safety and Security over the past couple of years taking on the costs of that by of that expansion um and maintaining that that dedication to the security of our students and the timeline I think I mentioned this earlier um for the formal budget approval um March 19 you guys approved the budget we submitted it the next day um and they did approve it in early April so we're on schedule tonight for final approval and then November 5th of course would be the vote any questions from the board I've got two um Danny you mentioned something about waivers or the or the process for waivers for special ed and other things what's that process like maybe it's a question for you on it or or or how does that work what's the timeline around that well it's not a pro it's really our my Association mostly um New Jersey Association of school business officials pushing the state to say allow other they're gonna have to go to the legislators on this to allow other waivers of the 2% cap okay um because right now the only waivers that are allowed are health insurance and enrollment okay and all these other things that are completely beyond your control like you're out of District tuition you're out of District transportation right even in District transportation for for a lot of districts you you there's no way you can contain those costs within 2% right um so the state should be giving allowing waivers so that I mean basically what they're doing is forcing every District to go to an April election or to have or to have a separate proposal approved in in November but November doesn't make any sense right for a separate proposal so what it basically does is Force everybody to go to an April election so is that the answer we're expecting like sorry can't help go to April or or like do we have a fighting I guess what what what happen we're not expecting um hoping would be the word I guess um it my Association had a committee that put together a recommendation and you know they're lobbying for that do I expect it no probably not okay I I think what they're the legislators are probably going to do is say let it be a local decision if you know go to a vote if the people approve it then then you can exceed 2% rather than them allowing it okay other question I had is just I mean you pointed out our reserves seem to me alarmingly low maybe that's not the right word but I mean that's not sustainable I think either I mean we're especially since we got lucky on the state funds this year so we're without without that to so what do we what do we do there Ian is that a what what what would you advise us to be thinking about or the budget is very tight we we need to start increasing the budget um this year is going to be very very tight um I don't even know that we're going to get through this year without taking more money out of surplus um I'm watching it very closely yeah I don't want to I don't want to do that if I don't have to but but I might have to um we'll see what happens um but I think we need to look at you know we're going to do the separate proposal that's going to give you a little bit of money think you need to think about probably next year switching to an April election and doing a separate proposal next year and start increasing your budget I mean there's nothing you can't we we're not GNA have any money to put in reserves this year right probably at all um you know it would be lucky if we can finish the year without di dipping in as I said so the only way you can do it there's nowhere to cut unless you're going to increase your class size basically right right so and the the April thing is a is a we would think about that in the fall what's the how does that happen so yeah she would have to think about that in the fall right um there's timelines that you have to follow I I up top of my head I don't remember exactly how much it is but I think you have to give the county clerk something like 80 days notice or something so that backs you up to like January so you would you would definitely have to do it in the fall y um plus you want to be able to I think you would want to talk about it for a few times at board meetings it is going to um so when I was in Westfield we did it in Westfield and it since then they have passed a law it's still not clear to me I I think board members terms get extended but um but I'm still not sure and everybody looks at bill um but I'm still not sure that's right theas but but it's something I think you would want to talk about at a board meeting and and present to the public as to exactly what the process is um because whoever's on who's whoever would be up would get extended and then get and then you starts going in April from there on right um but April just if you're G to do a separate proposal it makes much more sense tie it together right in and the implementation could be in September the things that we've put in the separate proposal here most of them we can hire right away because it's not like a classroom teacher or whatever um but if you're if you're cutting classroom teachers or trying to head the classroom teacher and they come in November that's and and I just to clarify that um and for those who may not know whatever we cut from the budget whatever has to be cut as we have already planned even if if even though we have it planned for this separate proposal in November we cannot start the year with those programs so those positions and those programs we start September without the only way to bring them back is with approval at the November election and then you look to to reinstate or to bring back programs so the cuts that needed to be made to uh um account for that 352,000 those are going to be in place for the beginning of the school year now the good news with also with what the state just passed um with the April election it used to be if you went out for the April election your base budget was also subject to a vote that's no longer the case so at least that protects your base budget um and then it's your separate proposal and whatever goes in a separate proposal can't be anything man like you couldn't put out of District transportation in a separate proposal because obviously that's mandated um if we let's say in November get the separate um proposal it gets approved hopefully public votes for it um will these programs though be sustainable for the following year or we're going to have to continue to do the separate propos well it does increase your base budget okay so it depending on how you you can actually do a separate proposal that doesn't increase your B's buz budget like if we were going to do the network switches with a separate proposal that would be a one-time cost right um this will increase our budget so yes it's sustainable to the extent that you're adding people who have salaries who probably are going up more than 2% the following year so it is sustain R starting over you know but because salaries and everything else are increasing more than 2% yeah it yeah kace I think what's important to remember though or the way I'm envisioning this is the recommendation to go to April is more of an indication that we will likely be exceeding the 2% year-over year corre that's the advantage right so whether or not it's sustainable it would be almost giving us the ability to ask for whatever we need to ask for yeah and make it a little bit more I yeah you're gonna pay for it right but it add a little bit more flexibility um but with that comes that need to go up to the public vote right so I think we'll we'll learn a lot um with the appetite of of the yeah Community right with with this question um and just doing some research there are some other you know other towns close to us that that are doing it um I think it' be interesting to see how this catches on I mean we're ultimately just you know coming up with a way to bypass the% C by doing it you need to get public participation right public vote um so just and and I think that you know to your point Bill too many others are doing it and everybody comes at it from a different perspective but I think it's very very important for everybody to note that we thought very very long and hard about what would go into a separate proposal we are a district that does not have fluff to begin with no and we did not look to add fluff we are looking to add important educational components that can support our students and good growth um but you know very honestly we thought okay for a curriculum coordinator most districts would have a full-time person we are not going out right away and asking for a full-time person we want to be very strategic about our ask to make sure that we are not overburdening the taxpayer but we're doing it in a way that will really support good quality education for students as we go maybe I'm just being optimistic but just in case some people are watching this video more than usual um a couple of just questions that I've been receiving since last time um things that you hear out in the public um specifically around the non-controllable and controllables right so especially with our relationship with Berkeley Heights right the contract the way it exists now um the general R tuition is something we can forecast right that's one of the benefits of the existing uh agreement with them right it's 2% year-over-year with a couple of check-ins like we we ran into a couple years ago where it um can increase by more than that to catch up with with the actuals right um the part that's less predictable is the number of students going there um that always fluctuates um so from a budget perspective whether or not they're going to vot Tech they're going to GL or they're going to private school that has a big impact on how much we're spending on tuition right because each one of those have a different impact uh the other part is the special leg request which I think was on that slide right where that's certainly less predictable right and there's uh I think it said I'll go back to SL I don't know so um there again you know I I think that's the part that's less more like the transportation right more of where we have a harder time controlling or knowing what that will be year out every year um so it just again I think this is the money slide right here where what what can we with that contract with the teachers we just redid right um the GL tuition the General Ed is got three years left there um versus the transportations the benefits and and the the resource room are some of the biggest variables that we've got at the moment and and also just just keep in mind Janet mentioned the ARP money several times the Federal money that is actually still helping us in next year's budget because we we're able to take some things that we can because that money does go till September so some of the instructional supplies and things like that that we're purchasing we're we're still able to do that for next year so that 25 26 that's going to come hitting us again I'm interest uh for the um we call votte right what what's the right term votch um what is the in in tuition for them year year they didn't they haven't increased in a while I don't think that they had much of an increase this this year so we're planning I don't think they've increased years lot yeah yeah and it's it honestly tuition cost is less to go to Union County vocational schools than it is to to Governor Livingston okay but that okay dramatically picking up budget though right because of the county and right this specific Board of budget right okay y any other questions from the board I think you answered my question was how quickly can we reinstate especially our mental health support that's the one that I focus more but you pretty much as soon as get those result as soon as we have the results and we able to absolutely absolutely we it is our intent to reinstate any and all positions you know the only other thing that may hold up anything else is the hiring process okay um but it's everywhere so I sorry because I was going through my notes when you were stating it um the difference between the original version of this budget and the new one um was six students to G right right so it's 109,000 yeah and you guys should have that um that breakdown I think you had asked by grade yeah I think oh I think um Kelly Kelly for you in your I forgot we did that um one my packets it's in your binder she but she sent it did she you okay um because we made copies of them so that the the appendix B that had the tuition numbers I changed those so what Jan's handing out now we'll show you by grade level for I didn't realize you would share though okay perfect thank you I forgot I forgot I forgot I do my apologies oh this font is getting smaller and smaller not the font what are you trying to think the lighting the lighting Jen are there things you you want us to be thinking about to help communicate the ballot vote as we get closer I mean maybe we shove that but um absolutely I mean it's going to be a discussion it's already started being this discussed when we talked at strategic planning yeah um which you'll talk to later on with our committee report we've started to talk about it we're we're upfront and we're honest about every piece that it is you know nobody ever wants to cut nobody wants to impact um because again we can't look at Mountainside and say oh you know you have an extra this we're just looking for this um let alone the extras so it will be part of a conversation I will be sharing it we'll have some public forums um as we get closer into the fall we'll have opportunities to discuss and share what our vision is with this with the public um and I fully expect that some of this is as I already saw some of the outcomes from our first strategic planning when we talked about the challenges for the district um I already foresee some of the pieces that are on our separate proposal were already coming up in those discussions so it wasn't even just coming from us um we had parents who were talking about the need for gifted and talented so and the need to support some of our B basic skills students so some of those pieces are already part of those General conversations um so those are really what it is and I think that one of the big pieces if if people are asking is exactly that what we're asking for are just those things of what we need we're not asking to pad a budget we're not asking you know you looked at our revenues you know I think that there's a misperception that we have money you know that people have these revenues and you have them or I'm sorry the um Surplus the Surplus the reserve accounts um and that you have that money just sitting there we can only use it for very specific reasons and we don't have a huge amount of surplus not when you look at some other districts and what they may have sitting at that point but thank you thanks yeah any other questions no one okay thank you thank you Dana thank you Janet at this point at this moment we're going to open up the floor if you have any questions on the bud please come up to the podium sayate your name and address all right seeing none um oh oh we have one sorry we have one sorry you went quick hi my name is Jessica Yello um I live on uh do you know my whole address 1587 Brookside um so I was just curious when you said you were gonna We a to cut the staff and benefits what does that number look like like how many staff or where are we where would that be cut so the specific Cuts have not been determined at this moment um but we are looking at a potential impact of about three staff members um and then when you were talking about um I guess exploring the transportation does that mean you're putting it out to bid um I'm not really sure what that was about to exploring it to save cost and putting out to bid to other so we do already put it out to bid um we are looking and we already do share with other districts um for out of District transportation so we're just looking to increase that or to see if there's other options that we can have that to reduce those costs those costs are really very high per child um so we're looking at every option available actually okay and sorry um and you said the um I guess the state aid will continue so and forgive me my first Board of Ed meeting ever welcome thank you my children in second grade trying to next one's in two weeks so bring friends enough come on by um how do so and does that get determined by the consensus uh I guess or the or um the census or the how do we how do you determine if that's going to continue or how much it's going to continue how much we get in our annual state aid yeah I guess yeah so the what what was determined by the census is is some federal aid which is what J mentioned the there's Aid called title one that is given so that's determined by the census okay um state aid is a very complicated formula that based on um income and property wealth per in each district but the formula is very very old so it and it's not really used 100% so we don't actually know from year to year what our state aid is going to be we always know we're going to get state aid um but it could be all over the place is the title one a little bit more fixed no title one is the federal that's based on the census okay so that is usually fixed normally on an annual basis pretty close um but I guess they're just getting around to 2020 census numbers now I don't know what they're I don't know what to do and it's not even the amount that we get for that Federal um that's under the esa Grant what used to be called No Child Left Behind um and that they even tell us for the other areas there's a couple of different titles that you tend to get and they do tell us each year to basically budget like 85% of your last sometimes it is sometimes it's more but you don't know and unfortunately with that those numbers don't come out until the summer which is after your budget has been approved and finalized and and worked off of from there um and traditionally for us those funds that we get we use towards professional development for staff or um sometimes for a V for a wide variety of other ways to support students depending upon what areas they give us the grant but it's it's not open money it's very specific as to what you're allowed to use each portion for okay um that was it I had another question but it Escapes Me Now I guess um just with this deficit that we have um and you know what we'll be voting on in November um was that foreseen at the end of last year going into this year I know we're talking about seems to make sense about having an April election too bad we couldn't do it now to avoid this going into the year but was that foreen or and I guess is that part of the strategic planning group that I couldn't attend yesterday but um is that you know looking to the future you know instead of just going year to year and how we're going to combat this I don't know that was like a two-parter well I wasn't here last year no and it's a fair question so certain things are you know certain things we can predict for we knew that the ARP funding was going to go away eventually so this District um as a whole and this board made a very concerted effort in the beginning not to put a lot of long-term projects into that money so we utilized a lot of the funding for pH physical pieces for the district um technology purchasing onetoone devices things that could be considered one-offs um um and so other districts have spent it in other ways for positions where where we did spend it on positions for example the mental health and for the before and after school those actually were parts of requirements of ARP so you had to use it for before and after school programming you had to use it for mental health supports so we brought in great programs the reality of that is they are really great programs and we know that they benefit the students but because it was covered under that we have to look to that separate proposal to continue those um so some of it while foreseen we really couldn't budget in advance for because that's where the funding had to come from um other parts of it for example the transportation um what's on the board agenda tonight all bus companies were given they're given What's called the CPI their Consumer Price Index increase they're allowed to raise it by 5.8% this year we don't know that amount in advance and that's a natural increase so even if you go out to bid you're probably going to pay more than that so when you're ated 2% again you you know that some of this is coming but you can't really save for it in that respect if that makes sense almost every District in the state of New Jersey is going to be in this situation they're all getting there different times but they're all going to get there because all of your costs are going up more than 2% so more like 7% right so it's impossible for districts the ones that had more fluff in the beginning or more not fluff but yeah one more fluff the ones that what the state didn't do when they put in this 2% cap there was no regard for maybe one District spent 20,000 per student and another District spent 15,000 per student the one that 20,000 per student had a lot of areas in the budget where they could make reductions that weren't going to be as painful as the lower spending districts there was no regard for that at all um so everybody's getting there at a different time um depending on you know what kind of budget you had and where you could make reductions and what your class sizes were and all that kind of stuff so I think everybody's had for can foresee that they're going to get there it's just hard to predict when you're going to get there and that and that 2% applies to all districts so they don't take into consideration I guess other factors to balance it no no depending on size of districts no no um and then you just brought up I did have a question the you had said the programs that were going to be cut and I was just curious what those were again we have not made the finalized decisions on those so that will because it impacts Staffing and that is not something that we um we have to to share with the public at this moment um but it is our goal for it to have the least amount of impact on students students um as one of our board members mentioned class size it is very important to us that we maintain manageable class sizes here in the district that is something that is very important to Mountainside um and so it is our goal to do maintain that maintain educational programming also with an eye to what can we bring back midy year with if this proposal is done and quickly put back into place to to recoup and re reinvest for our students so all of those pieces um and again we um we don't look forward to cutting anything because we feel that everything is valuable here in the district but we want to make sure that student education maintains as as best as it possibly can through everything I guess I'm not really not expecting an answer to just thinking about that is it um possible if any programs that had to be cut um and obviously looking to bring them back in November hopefully that happens too but is there any thought being given or thinking about maybe some of those programs and being able um to offer them and if people wanted to pay out of pocket to keep them going or something you know if that was important to their children or something and obviously not I'm not expecting an answer now just if that's I appreciate the thought that goes into that thank you okay all right well thank you for your time than you thank you any other comments questions okay we're moving on at this time can I please have a motion to approve our meeting from March 19th and April 8th second any questions or comments roll call please Dylan yes Michael Goodman yes Dana to CPO yes Jordan Heyman yes Vivian poopo yes Dand shano um I will abstain from March 19th um and I approve April 8th [Music] okay okay we're moving on we don't have correspondents at this time I would like to open the floor for public participation on any agenda items that we will be voting on tonight please come up to the podium state your name address seeing none we're moving on to the president's report um I just want to say thank you for you know our stakeholders the community that came out for a strategic planning April 8th was a great number and April 29th I have to say was even a larger number it was really nice to see different faces some did come back maybe few but others did come back so that was great to see um and a lot of great information was shared I don't know do you all feel that way it was great I thought we we um got a lot done and then we do have a third um like I said yesterday I hope we didn't scare anyone away it would be great to even see more um we don't know the the date correct right at this point still up in the air we are a little bit up in the air um our our chair to the um committee cannot make my recommended new date um and I do think that it is important that all members of the committee be available sorry so NOP it's it's all right it's okay I only threw out I threw out the potential of a change just because I know that it falls into that um the following day is primary elections and we are closed um but I think that you know it it's hard May and June are very very B they're booked they're booked and so I think that you know having the opportunity and if there was the only other potential was possibly uh and I don't know if our New Jersey school boards people can make it would be if we moved it to I think Jordan you had mentioned maybe Tuesday June 28th May May 20th sorry yeah not that late um I can do then but again I know there's a lot of lot of players in the game yeah so what I'll probably do is I'll just throw out one or two other dates with most likely leaving it at the third but I'll find out from school boards what they're available for I'll throw it out to the rest of the committee and everybody else will just double check availability um but I would agree that you know the ideas that have already started flowing have been very positive and also I want to thank all of you whether you attended one or both it was great thank you I appreciate um the support of everyone and last good luck on the njsla to all the grades um I know it's a very I guess stressful time of the year but I know that your teachers have done an outstanding job so good luck um and that's it for my report excellent J it yep um I'll piggy back and start with the njsla testing it is in full swing um it is testing month as Mrs jenss and Mrs goldbeck will share uh we started with seventh grade yesterday leading into seventh and eth grade today and we will work our way through the school um and this is something that involves everyone very few schools and districts have one building that is testing six grades in one month because we are a building that has from third through eth grade um and the number of students that need to be tested the number of small group accommodations every single staff member has been Tred trained as a testing administrator in this building and pretty much every single staff member is utilized um which means adjustments to schedules and adjustments to other things and really everybody already is doing an excellent job our technology has worked well Mrs goldbeck is our district test coordinator and she really has done a phenomenal job of just making sure all needs are met everybody is um assess is getting assessed properly and really overseeing all of it so kudos to her Mrs chrisa foi serves as our school test coordinator and so she is also supporting um and even you know as we all came in for the meeting tonight they were re repacking bins for tomorrow yeah so they were still here this afternoon um and having done that role many a time in my in my life I give them um a lot of wishes for good sleep when this is all over um but again very confident as we saw from our last Summit of rating through the state I am confident that our teachers and our staff have really helped to prepare the kids um for these tests and to just do their best that's all we ask is to show what they know um when they're nervous or worried it's just just do what you got we we are confident in what they'll be able to do um we also just again very pleased with the outcome of the numbers coming to our strategic planning so far are all information on those meetings is posted on the district website so in our um main page we have are starting to post all the outcomes so if somebody could only make one meeting they're able to get a review of Prior meetings and are welcome to our third so we have already gone through identifying the strengths and challenges of the district and really looking at those pieces not surprisingly the challenges that people were looking at were budgeting and looking at long-term sustainability for pieces looking at um enhancing one of the best parts that's come out of this is you know in many places they look at it being academic achievement the Crux of a lot of the conversations so far have been how do we expand education not looking at it from the beginning but noticing that we have strong education how do we expand that's where I think those conversations about gifted and talented and our conversations about basic skills support that's where those were coming out of how do we expand I heard some conversations about world languages and bringing them down to younger grade levels um and looking at again how do we expand with the community that was a big conversation last night building Community Support bringing in others from the community to help and support our students and building those relationships which is just really exciting when we look at the next five years for us at as how do we build versus how do we create and I think that those are are very nice ways to look at it um coming up we have trips Galore so our eighth grade is going to Washington DC next week for their annual trip um very excited there uh lots of students have been going our sixth grade went to Camp ber our seventh grade went to Broadway so if you remember the Strategic determination this year that we are kind of adjusting some of those trips to spread them across the middle school experience um so our sixth graders um really had a great time in beautiful weather when they went to Camp Bernie seventh grade went and saw Back to the Future and had an excellent time and all of our grades from kindergarten through we have a lot of trips going on a lot of activities coming up um this is also our time of year to celebrate so we had this past week our administrative support staff we celebrated them earlier in April was par professionals and media Specialists and coming up next week are is teacher appreciation week as well as school nurse day so lots of opportunities um the administrators and I celebrated everybody this uh just yesterday with um an ice cream truck visit so we had an ice cream truck came um if you've ever seen them before in case of Mercy I or ice cream emergency so it's ice r i saw yep big red truck um and it is like an ice cream store so everybody walked into the truck and were able to make have a choice of ice cream it was great and very comp to the scream truck I don't know trouble does the competitor to that scream truck um I haven't seen them around here before I think this group was mostly down towards more like middle sex and Somerset area um but they were willing to make the drive and just very happy to work with and everybody was very excited for the next budget info we'll get to turn up that orda's taco trucks um taco trucks so the administrators and I provided that for the for the staff and uh we all enjoyed um the other piece just to quickly touch on other than the fact that we are going to Blink and it's going to be June so please keep an eye on all of the upcoming dates because we're all going to be very involved in a lot of different things coming up um and our next board meeting is a very short two weeks away I did share out with the board um my my recommendation for adjusting our summer hours and looking at that for this coming summer um and so I feel that that is a looking at working on an extended four days and not having the buildings open on Fridays I think that that helps our custodial staff that helps some of our energy costs um because we can address for for that as well um and we don't have students in the buildings on those days and again as I think I shared with everybody our 12- month staff already is working well beyond their typical hours throughout the summer to get our projects done and it gives us better alignment with everybody so just wanted to to share that with everybody um and I think that's about everything I have thank you Mrs Walling any other thoughts or comments or questions from it and now we're moving on to our business administrator's report I don't have anything else I think you had enough and now drum roll Berkeley Heights y you got it uh I've got got a fact Checker back in the audience again so Gail keep me honest on anything here uh as updates go so we've had um on the Berkeley Heights front we've had uh four meetings since our last meeting here um I didn't make them all so so I did my best uh but uh April 10th uh just I'll just go high level April 10th um we uh interviewed three additional superintendent search firms um I think I noted in a prior update we had previously interviewed uh School boards uh as a as a fourth potential for superintendent search firms um so that was April 10th um there was a special meeting also on April 15th uh and among highlevel items we covered um uh discussion about potentially returning to zoom for uh Berkeley Heights meetings uh inclusive uh of of interactive Zoom so not just not just live stream um more on that later um we uh approved to open up an RFP for a new law firm uh and we also in that meeting um interviewed initial uh interim superintendent candidates separate from the search firm that I mentioned earlier uh our actual scheduled full meeting was April 18th uh just high level stuff there um final marking period uh at GL and in the district started April 8th uh we hit on NJ njsla testing um which is also also started and is starting obviously uh across across grades also AP exams which are coming up I know I've got a kid studying for some of those so she claims um what else um the um there was mention of the GL GL High School daffodil project that was featured in artbeat magazine um a lot of sports updates as always uh good starts for the baseball team softball team which actually played here last night um those who heard it or saw it um they won caught the last ending of that um we got updates on the track team uh there a couple couple local names were mentioned as athletes of the month including This Guy's daughter uh so that was nice actually there were two Mountainside kids mentioned as track of field athletes of the month Jack porowski and Natalie Dillan which was cool yep um and then we recognized all the winter sports uh winners so um GL hockey boys fencing girls swimming um the hockey team won the state sectional group uh C Group C Co-op uh and the boys uh fencing team foil Squad won NJ siaa District 5 uh girl swimming won uh um njsa Central Group C Champions uh and so all all three teams were represented at that meeting um and then a couple things just also on the Athletics front um uh we just we updated the full board uh and public on some things that were discussed in committee but I think are interesting uh including the ongoing review of uh Lower Columbia field proposal it's relevant for for this conversation conversation only because obviously it affects um field usage I think I probably mentioned in some of our updates before that as Sports goes up there um we don't GL no no longer has access Berkeley Heights no longer has access exclusively to the fields uh to to to Snider for night games so that came up for discussion and is ongoing same for the GL Press Box status um which is not good if you've been to games up there um lights were discussed uh at at GL as well again trying to find solutions for for night games uh girls locker room situation which I would say is not Equitable as it's been described to to uh to us um uh and then just in terms of participation I thought was interesting um there were 292 athletes who played fall Sports uh for 23 24 314 in the winter and 299 spring Sports athletes um and then um let's see so just the the the net net takeaway is that some of these items could potentially be covered uh under under uh Capital funds uh capital reserve funds others TBD uh we did get a great list which if anyone's interested um can certainly share that that that Rob Nixon and an clipton put together for us the sort of prioritize some of these so um it's a pretty long list uh a lot of things that do need to be fixed um we also at that meeting just noting we extended uh Rob Nixon as the Acting Superintendent uh through May 27th um we covered GL snow give back days which are May 24th and 28th um we uh just as I mentioned Zoom so we went further in depth there uh in terms of committee conversations as it relates to to uh instituting Zoom the the highle takeaway is that we're going to be doing some testing there uh and hope to to have like a pilot uh and then potentially Implement Zoom interactive Zoom for I would say a June or July meeting at this point uh we also talked about uh things like cameras and phones um that have have have high high cost and do need to be replaced across GL across the district um we also at that meeting packed agenda as they always are um we we did select school boards as the search form search firm for uh for superintendent search uh so that work will will begin um shortly um and then June 10th meeting will be uh educators of the year I did make the uh special meeting on April 24th um but that was primarily set to dig in on further public feedback on the budget which should be adopted at our next meeting which is next week um May 7th uh at GL and that's all I got happy to answer questions Caron if you want anything if not can probably tell you more than I can tell but uh there's a lot going on that's a lot there's a lot happening there can't thank you don't thank me you can yeah and his notes your notes are always this is like three% of what's actually happening you you should hear G's notes yeah there is a lot going on and it's um yeah it's it's it's good to have good to have good leadership that's that's keeping it pointing the right direction back with a lot of great information thank you sure quick question on that um I was watching some of the meetings and I and dragged my memory I think all six hours of the I skipped the ex forward but I guess I there was talk about reining gyms potentially doing boys volleyball so and so forth and then I started to think about there's been times in the past where we've been approached around volleyball I know we're starting with the girls right but I guess can we start an open dialogue potentially if there is Columbia Middle School boys volleyball or if there's something like with the wrestling where we can partner yeah potentially offer our students something there yeah uh maybe not by this year but in the future that those Partnerships work I think we got hockey with them at the middle school we've got wrestling um when I was watching I meant to bring it up track technically right or is that that's the hus think I think it's yeah soccer right but not at the middle school right midd mid scho we've been approached a couple of times I think you know for boys volleyball and I know we're starting the I think it's a co-ed program at the moment but we're thinking about putting a girls team next year right uh girls volleyball the volleyball right now has been has been girls and the girl and the team in the fall is going to be girls right and I do not believe at this point Colombia has a boy yeah so maybe if there was enough interest across the two right just something to bring up in the future yeah um I can tell you that that an has specifically said that that when the work is done I don't think it's if it's when um that those because it's it's yeah it's it's the lines um in the blue gym and it's ALS so um it's the Stans and sleeves that need to be done and both of those would allow for and she's it's on her radar high on her RAR creation of a boys team which might be depending on interest it could be JV first before they build enough to get there but that she is like she's heard that loud and clear at that level so yeah absolutely there's we should be looking to try to build something like that to funnel up yeah that's that was my point yeah so you know um yeah so I don't know how we'd bring that to light or if there's some but like again those middle school programs that we share when there's not enough for one or the other this may just be another opportunity have we had more interest at at hear about for a boy that has not come up at this time um but I think that you know along the lines of what you said with with the wrestling if there's an opportunity there's are things that we could potentially explore in the future yeah yeah totally um I I'll I'll ask an because I mean it it kind of goes hand inand with the the notion to start a high school level program and let's see what she's thinking sure any other questions once again thank you yeah all right let's move on can I please have a motion to approve under administration's items one through four so Mo second questions or comments roll call please Bill Dylan yes Michael Goodwin yes Dana p Jordan Hyman yes Vivian PUO yes candano yes Carmine Bennis yes I please have a motion to approve under budget and finance items one through 18 that's a lot some moved any questions or comments uh one comment um so specifically agenda item number 11 which is the fee for the uh subscription busing that did come through committee we did have a conversation and this is aligned with our recommendation of yeah my comment would be sustainability again I mean if we're up 15% what do you do next year year after that at some point I don't know it's a lot if you've got two or three kids even more but well we cap it though right like the busing if you have let's say five kids no this is for subscription busing so at least we're still offering subscription bus other districts are do away with subscription busing completely I know one District that did it completely yeah so this is a so we're still offering it of the coures are getting higher but at least we're still offering it to the community you pay for it and I will say like U at the committee level there was a lot of comparisons to districts around us right impact to the families um you know this is one that has been yeah bumping up um you know but again there are some revenues that we just were basically undercharging really right still not even close to covering but we saw there on the slide um so we just thought this was the right the right spot to land in um to minimize the impact I think it's better to raise the price and still offer it than just say to the community forget it we're not even having it what call please Bill Dylan yes Michael good one yes Dana gidi P Jordan Heyman yes Vivian poopo yes candano yes harine Bennis yes can I please have a motion to approve under Personnel items 1 through 15 so moved second questions or comments just one quick update item number five um and this is just because I was notified as we are sitting here um the date on item number five should be through is going to be changed to through May 15th okay I was just gonna say and then maybe it's a question for Janet for for um for Mr Tom um are we gonna do something yeah okay I mean I I think back to like the first day for for us like in this district with with the first kid going to the kindergarten that's one of the first faces I think we saw of course 27 years in the district that's incred yeah he's not one who really likes a lot of Fan Fair so I just have to make sure few do but yeah yeah maybe we can the ice cream thing we get them in actually you just want to go to that ice just wants ice cream offered it at a board meeting people with show an ice cream we've had good strategic planning maybe the third meeting is going to be at the next we just we just merge them together right snacks and that's it that's it pancake bread they know about the pancake bread was that really yeah pancake bread I didn't did I do ro ro I was like hold on I just got distracted with ice cream yeah exactly Bill Dylan yes Michael Goodwin yes Dana Jordan Heyman yes Vivian poopo yes candano yes harmine venis yes I please have a motion to approve under curriculum just item one so moved second questions or comments roll call please Bill Dylan yes Michael Goodwin yes Dan AG to see patro yes Jordan Hyman yes Vivian poopo yes candano yes Carmine Bennis yes can I please have a motion to approve under policy items one and two sove second questions or comments roll call please Bill Dylan yes Michael Goodwin yes Dana gu Petro yes Jordan Hyman yes Vivian poopo yes cesano yes Carmine Bennis yes moving on does anyone have any old business to discuss new committee reports well we've s we've covered strategic planning I I think but I I'll I'll quickly just add yeah I mean I I am I've been pleasantly surprised to to see the attendance uh and the participation and I feel like we've we've laid a nice Foundation here um with the sorts of ideas that um are rooted in what we're where our strengths and weaknesses maybe are now and what we what we could be in five years so I think the collab has been great and we and we seem to be on track for uh as we as we set out to be in in the at the GetGo uh to have something that we can maybe approve this fall um so we we're moving at a good clip and uh yeah I I mean it's it's been encouraging to just to see that I really do wish we could get some of that in the room I don't know how we do that outside of pancake bread but that's uh yeah so uh it's it's it's been great to be part of and to see and and and for those who are watching and want to want to be part of it yeah there'll be another one coming soon mayor Jun great U representation of our community right major stakeholders you know mayor council a lot of the uh organizations I saw you the library director was there um and then all the way down to you know we met a couple people that hey uh I've got a two-year-old and I just was looking at a way to get more involved and U this looked like a great opportunity so um you know kudos to you guys for sharing the uh the messaging and getting the invitations out um but it it was certainly encouraging and when the major theme is like how do we tap into this awesome commity that we got to see who's showing up it it's almost like just leading you right to the answers to where we can be utilizing you know how to make this place and I was thinking about it going from good to great or great to totally you know whatever exception exceptional right exceptional we work that into one of the one of the bullets I also had a participant in my team that had a two-year-old and he just was interested yeah for the daughter's future I thought that was great it's great excellent I think that's it and I'll I mean again from a committee perspective uh Finance buildings and ground we met on the 16th uh a majority of that was just butting up the budget um we did talk about subscription busing which I already spoke about um but then in addition to that um just continuing our collaborative relationship with the mspl organization um so they've got a uh a goal to go cashless for the most part at uh the snack Shacks now while The Snack Shack for the shopall field is not on our property um there are some things that they're looking to do in terms of installing Wi-Fi to make it the signals here are awful and we all know that right um but they've got some requests to come through and and I'll share more as it becomes uh finalized but they're going to do a small little pilot on trying to get a stronger Wi-Fi signal over to that softball Snack Shack um primarily to do um receive credit card payment over there um so it's always great we've got young kids working a that snag Shack and you know you know everywhere else is eliminating cash right so it only makes sense to do it there as well um so I'll keep you guys posted as um if and when we get any updates from that organization on how that Pilot's going and whether they want to any sort of make any uh permanent adjustments to Wi-Fi or anything that they need to make that work okay always easy to say no when you had no cash it's just like no sorry I can't get your pretzel I got nothing imagine imagine you're six-year-olds I'm going to watch a game can I have your credit card you're not a good thing you're not a good seveny old I know I was gonna say have they considered the young kids that go to the games that their parents aren't going to give them a credit card fully cash I thought it was cash or credit card I I think they're again their their goal is to eventually go as much cash as because I Envision my 10-year-old go and I'm not giving her my credit card she'll treat everyone it's on my mom so if I give her $5 and say you can go get a snack I think so you can imagine that you know there will be times think when they're going to be flexible but right now they don't have the option to really do much uh cash list so it's not just I think the cash should still be agree should be both water the bills we want to S yeah like Crum up here it's like my dollar think for they in the drve okay thank you at this time I would like to open the floor to public partici for public participation on any item or anything you would like to discuss please come up to the podium state your name address be careful good evening I'm Gail Bradford 34 M Drive Berkeley Heights I am part of the Berkeley Heights Board of ation and president for the last three months almost so I want to thank you for the invitation from your president and your superintended to come here tonight and I'm really looking forward to creating a more cohesive experience between Mountainside and Berkeley Heights and we have created a committee that will join our two uh communities even more um uh than it is and again looking forward again to enhance our communication and to enhance this special relationship that we have between each other and for the benefit of our students so thank you for the invitation I hope to see you more often I've got to know several of you at the njsba meeting and UC see yes and over at Union County with veto and and meeting with your superintendent and president so I look forward to getting to know all of you and of course Jordan thank you for everything that you do as you are the Lea on between us but continued again and thank you again for the time tonight thank you for com thank you Gail thank you for joining us okay any other participants okay seeing none we do have to go into H second executive uh session and after that I think we conclude can I no we're not com we're not coming back so don't wait for us um can I have a motion to go into second all in favor I anyone opposed all right kind of we will see you next month oh in two weeks two weeks we'll be back [Music]