##VIDEO ID:L7cb7TSQoS8## stre e e e e e e e e you good roll call Miss K M here Dr Hayden here Mrs gunderman here M clay here M Morano here Mr Walsh is absent you have a quum join me in the flag salute the flag of the United States of America and for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all this is a public meeting of the Board of Education of the burough of New Providence adequate notice of this meeting has been given in accordance with pl1 1975 chapter 231 in that a notice was made in in conformance with Section 13 of the ACT whenever the business of the board requires it to convene to close session the session will begin no later than 9:30 p.m. at the conclusion of the need for close session the board will reconvene to the public portion of the meeting at that time the board will complete any other business that may be before it and the public will then be given an opportunity to be heard before the meeting is adjourned so good evening everyone uh Tonight is the last uh Board of Education meeting for 2024 which means we are also saying goodbye to two of our board members Rebecca and Jen as you step down from your roles on the board of education the board would like to take a moment to express our gratitude for your dedication and service Rebecca has served two terms on the board from 2019 to 2024 and Jen was originally appointed to the board in 2020 to fill an unexpired seat and was elected to to a full term from 21 to 24 your commitment to our community and the passion for your for Education have significantly impacted the lives of our students and families in our district on behalf of the board and the community I thank you both for your hard work insightful contributions and unwavering support your leadership has helped continue the expectation of excellence in our schools and your legacy will be felt for years to come thank you both [Music] [Applause] [Music] okay I would also like to take the opportunity to wish our faculty staff and students a very happy holiday season no matter what you may be celebrating I hope you all have the opportunity to spend the upcoming break with family and friends and rest before returning to school in January and that's all I have thank you Miss Kar Al turn not of Vince at this time thank you Dr am I good thank you uh it's a pleasure as always and uh let's Jump Right In November 15th and 16th was the day of the Fall play deadline uh it was a great success the cast and crew put on three amazing performances showcasing their amazing talents uh congratulations to Mr Duke Miss mangle and the entire cast Andrew on all of their successes in the fall play on November 20th and 21st the Harlem Wizards came to challenge our staff in some fun and exciting basketball games sponsored by the new provin Education Foundation it was once again a great event for our entire Community with tremendous ATT attendance EXC thank you to all involved um the following Wednesday we continued our tradition of taking the senior class photo on leader field with the entire senior class spelling out 25 and then um moving on to Athletics I'd like to congratulate all fall sports teams on great Seasons each team did a fantastic job representing our school and we are all proud of our fall athletes uh winter sports have begun with girls and boys basketball and wrestling starting their uh starting scrimmages and the hockey team has a few regular season games under the belt as well uh this past Tuesday on December 10th our high school music department did a great job as a part of the high school holiday and winter concert all groups including the concert band jazz band Orchestra swinging strings choir Jazz choir and select choir performed at a high level and provided incredible music for our entire school and Community we congratulate um all of our all our student performers groups and directors on an amazing concert winter spirit week is coming up next week December 16th and 20th uh the week ends with class Clash kickoff on Friday December 20th uh the students are very excited to take part in a number of competitive class Clash uh excuse me the students are very excited to take part in a number of competitive class Clash kick kickoff activities next Friday uh each class is continuing to earn points for their respective classes through many different activities events and competitions some of the competitions include decorated snowman gingerbread house decorating holiday trivia and many others we look forward to having some fun together on the 20th the stem Club had a bridge building competition today at Union College seven teams of six each brought a bridge that they've spent the last few weeks working on to compete against almost 30 teams to hold the most weight effici our strongest bridge was able to hold 90 pounds our teams did very well and had a great time watching the bridges break under the strain of immense weight uh just coming from basketball I have to give a shout out to Mr Barletta uh he's part of the stem Club so he asked for a shout out uh they also have a holiday fundraiser going on that has so far produced just under $10,000 with 15 days left to donate they've reached 83% of their goal of $12,000 um the boys basketball team is also doing a fundraiser with eight days remaining uh we're selling tumblers with the new Province Pioneers logo on it and uh that wraps up this report uh thank you as always and I hope everyone has a great holiday season thank you very much Vince I'll turn it over at this time to Mr yugul lauro for our enrollment thank you Dr zerle good evening everyone at Al Allen W Roberts we currently have 63 33 students at saltbrook we currently have 582 students at New Providence Middle School we currently have 391 students at New Providence High School we currently have 647 students that is a total of 2,253 students we also currently have 35 students in out of District placements for a grand total of 2,288 students thank you thank you um so it's a very special time of the year so I also would like to wish um our entire board our students staff and parents a wonderful holiday season I would also like to congratulate and thank our music departments at awr saltbrook school New Providence middle school and here at New Providence High School for showcasing all of our students wonderful talents this season through their concerts you can see how hard our students work which is shown through all of their performances congratulations to them all this evening in each of the board's packets is a revision to review for the 2025 2026 school calendar as well as the new 2026 2027 school calendar both of which will be on for board approval at our January 23rd meeting there is a minor revision on the 2025 2026 calendar which was an oversight we did accident ly place a fifth day of early dismissal professional development on this calendar which was originally put on for February 12th 2026 you will see this evening on your revised copy that we have taken that date off so Thursday February 12th 2026 will be a full day of school for both staff and students I'd like to review in detail the new 2026 2027 calendar teachers will report on Monday August 24th 2026 opening day will be followed by two professional development days the first day of school will open for students on Thursday August 27th and we will have a half day for students on Friday August 28th which we have traditionally done in the past in 2026 rashash Shana falls on the evening of Friday September 11th and is celebrated through Sunday September 13th therefore we will not miss any school days yam kapor will be celebrated on a Monday September 21st you will see that our first halfday PD for our staff in which students will have a half day of school begins on Friday October 9th the following three early dismissal PD days will fall on Friday January 15th Thursday March 25th and Friday June 4th all of 20 27 the district will celebrate Columbus Day on Monday October 12th this year dwali will be celebrated on Monday November 9th which is attached to the njaa convention which is November 5th and 6th therefore students and staff will have a very long five-day weekend we will have offer winter break beginning on December 24th through January 1st and students and staff will return to school on Monday January 4 2027 in 2027 Chinese Lunar New Year falls on February 6th which is on the weekend as well therefore we will not miss any school days students and staff will have offer pres Day weekend Friday February 12th and Monday February 15th spring break will begin on Friday March 26 through Friday April 2nd students and staff will have off on Monday May 31st for Memorial Day in the last day of school and graduation will be on Tuesday June 15 2027 within our calendar there are four emergency use days that are included as in the past in the event we exhaust all of our emergency use days and additional days are needed to comply with State rules and regulations prior to the February break Friday February 12th will be used as a makeup day any additional days will will be made up beginning with Friday April 2nd and we would go backwards does the board have any questions about the calendar on on the 2627 calendar you have the last day of school listed as uh June 13th was is Sunday on here M it's written in the middle oh okay yes we will correct that thank you burned that thank you so that should read in The Ledger uh for the board June 14th is Middle School promotion June 15th is last day of school early dismissal June 15th High School graduation so we'll update that for the January board meeting any other questions okay um I would ALS oh and just to confirm we have four emergency days for both right yes sorry any other questions I would also like to extend my heartfelt thanks and gratitude to both Rebecca Coniglio and Jennifer clay for their years of dedicated service to this board your hard work and vision have helped shape a bigger brighter future for our students it has truly been a pleasure working with both of you and I do truly thank you for all of your support over the years uh lastly tonight I would like to recognize and present Mrs Karo with a milestone award from the New Jersey school boards Association for her dedication of 10 years serving as a board member of this board of education her dedication and invaluable contributions over the past 10 years has served the students of the New Providence School District well thank you for your commitment bernardet it absolutely has been impactful thank you and that's all I have Miss kakaro okay right now now I would like to bring up Bobby badera of Donnie H geronda Doria and Tomkins to give us the audit report good evening everybody uh my name is Bobby vadera I'm the audit manager with Don hudon and Doria Tomkins uh I just like to thank the board for allowing us to continue serving as the Auditors um thank you to Dr zley Mr Testa I the entire central office staff uh it's always a pleasure to come here we spent a few weeks here in late summer um we're then waiting for the state to release some information and then Here We Are Tonight to present the audit um as in the past um nothing's really changed uh the face of the audit um there are two reports the bigger one the annual comprehensive financial report which goes over the financial condition of the district and the smaller auditor manager report this goes over all the procedures of the district uh the bigger one we'll start with first the annual comprehensive financial report has four sections the introductory section the financial section the statistical section and the single audit section which goes over all the federal and state aid grants that the district receives I'm just going to talk about a few parts of the of the bigger one first uh the C1 section if you turn to page 66 this is in the financial section this is the general fund which is the largest fund of the district um it summarizes the activity um and it does that schedule Compares final budgeted amount to actual results so you can see here on the top of page 66 you got all the revenues of your general fund tax levy all your state aid followed by four pages of all the expenditures of your general funds and if you go to the bottom of page 70 you could see basically the bottom line the bottom line is that the district ended the year with a fund balance of 6,1 12,44 so now what does the district do with the $6 million and below it you can see what the district does with this million the state allows districts to keep 2% of expenditures as unassigned and unrestricted which is about 1.2 million the rest of the money is restricted in one way or another 981 th000 is excess Surplus designated for subsequent years expenditures along with an additional 1 million for subsequent years expenditures which is in the current fiscal year 25 I'm sorry 2425 that we are in now 1.6 million is excess Surplus that will be used in the upcoming 2526 budget 367,000 is the cap is in the capital reserve and about $750,000 is incumbrances so that is uh basically this one in a nutshell this District's in a good Financial stable condition as it always is two other parts I just want to mention real fast if you go turn to page I'm sorry 78 this is the special Revenue fund this lists all the various grants and other items that belong in the special Revenue fund the one thing I wanted to point out here that the district spent about a million dollars in federal expenditures overall with 400,000 belonging to various covid related grants over the course of the last four fiscal years the district has received and spent about 1.6 million from various covid related grants all covid related grants are now over as of September the district or every District had to spend it all and they did and now they are basically going away so there is no more of that so I just wanted to we're pointing that out to all of our boards that all the co grants that have been around are now no longer around uh the last item it's it's in here but I don't have the page number it's just the capital fund balance uh that's where the bond proceeds went so overall since you guys received the bond money you have spent about $9.1 million of it and you have about 12.5 million encumbered for various future projects and again this is as of June 30th I know over the summer a lot of projects were spent so you don't have all that left but again the audit is as of June 30th uh that's all I have for the big one uh the smaller one is very simple it just uh reviews compliance and performance of The District uh we're happy to report that we have no findings and no recommendations um that doesn't always happen for all of our audits but it usually happens here and um it just goes to show how Mr Tesa and the entire central office staff they are very dedicated and really show great fiscal responsibility to the district it's a it's a pleasure for us coming here when we come here and can't say enough good things about this place um that's pretty much all I have if anybody has any questions I would just like to Echo uh what Bobby said about uh central office being exceptional in in keeping our books and keeping us fiscally sound so thank you Jim we know you do a great job and you hate that I mention you so I just want to go a little further and say it's not just central office it's actually the schools it's the secretaries it's it's the whole operation um as Bobby does we do get comments years some years when we do we put in um an implementation plan corrective action plan at Phil filters down to the schools and then they follow what we lead so I have to recognize the whole District as a whole uh we work as a team so it's everyone involved thank you thank you Bobby have a great holiday okay now's an opportunity for the public to be heard on specific agenda items seeing none I declare the public portion of the meeting closed uh approval of minutes for business meeting and the close meeting on no November 14 2024 roll call m g m Caro hi Dr abson Hayden M gunderman hi M Kay M Mor hi uh action item Miss Morano Finance I'd like to move uh forward for approval items 1 through 11 Daisy just a few call outs um we are paying some bills as always and then we do have a few um we are accepting the generous donation from the salt Brook Elementary uh PTA for $ 17,520 for the purchase of new Upper Playground um as well as the generous donation from M Chang to the New Providence High School class of 1960 scholarship fund uh we're approving The Joint Transportation agreement between Mor Union jointure commission and the new Provident school district for uh current uh year and then we are going to be approving uh the authorization disposal of surplus property all related to bond uh referendum issues I just one other yep uh number 11 uh just yeah just to point that um we're hiring that's a big one yeah um due to the fact that um the construction project still going on for the HVAC um I worked with Kevin to work out an agreement for him to extend his contract for another year which will go through September of next year um and by then uh the HVAC projects will be done um we do need is additional Services as we get rfis and different things that come up with the um with the H A HB BAC project related to um on-site issues that come up as well as uh looking at pay recks and and such so um we did negotiate this uh so um he submitted a first proposal and then him and I had a conversation and what you see is uh the end might a little less so um you have any questions with that there was something in the packet with regards to a memo that was sent to the finance committee I'm assuming the full board did get it so everyone okay roll call Miss kiga Miss Kara hi Dr hson Hayden M gunderman hi Miss Kay Miss Morano facilities Miss Morano I'd like to app uh move to approve item one cryst and this is uh to approve the submission for the local Recreation Improvement grant for $70,000 with a cash match fund uh for the uh saltbrook project to replace the upper playground equipment V call Miss kiga M Garo hi Dr abson Hayden hi Miss gunderman hi Miss Kay Miss Morano hi Mrs gunderman education uh I'd like to move to approve items one through six as listed person um on there are a couple of additional field trips as well as the uh adoption of a new textbook which additional information was in the board packets um anything else thank you roll call M kiga M car hi Dr Epson Hayden hi M gunderman hi Miss clay m Morana hi Mrs kigo Personnel I'd like to move items one through six okay um I believe that we have some new appointees here um I'd just like to welcome um a couple new appointees that we do have here um we have Rachel uh CIO who will be with us at alen w Roberts as a reading specialist she does come to us with many years experience from the mors school district I would also like to welcome gabriana Boomer who will be our Middle School vocal teacher um she does come to us with much experience um um professional experience in her church choirs as well as from kennworth as a teacher uh music teacher there as well and then finally I would like to welcome Susan Cerna who will be a high school teacher Aid um here with our LD population so welcome to all of you R call M kiga M hi DRS Hayden M gunderman hi M Kay M Mor congratulations welcome congratulations welcome okay committee reports curriculum instruction technology uh nothing to report but I do want to thank Rebecca for all of her service on this committee over the years you were my chair when I first stepped on and then you know uh were have been on you know since then so thank you finance nothing to report as well but I also want to extend my thank you and you know wish you well to Jen who served on this committee for four years now so thank you very much for all your service and Rebecca thank you you and I got to serve together on the education committee so thank you very much Personnel anything no no okay okay old business Jim uh is that you or oh yeah sure yeah um well just the first item is just a reminder uh Thursday January 2nd is our reorg meeting um where we will welcome our two new board members that are in the audience and uh we'll s them in and then um then we have a regular meeting after that in January for business uh the second one is that we did receive the official school board results um as remember last month I just reported on the on um The Unofficial so officially um the total number of registered voters was 10,585 there was total cast ballots of 7,550 which is a voter turnout of 71.3 three% so it's pretty high which is good um so for three members of the Board of Education um we have Laura calana with 2869 votes Stacy gunderman 325 and Donna Zayn with 7,000 276 imagine that if you had 7,000 you have the whole community and that is all I have thank you Mr Testa can I say something for old business because I'm old business now I just want to say thank you it's been such an honor to serve on the New Providence Board of Education and to get that firsthand experience of just watching the district operate each and every day and seeing how the guid in principal has always been to ensure the safety and success of each and every student and there wasn't one day that I doubted that so thank you and it was hard to step away but it made it easier knowing what excellent hands um everyone is with all of you especially under Dr Zero's leadership especially as a mom with two students in the district so thank you New Providence for the opportunity I was gonna stay quiet um ear last night I sent out a letter to um this is not gonna be good hold on um to uh some key people who have always been so supportive and and kind to me here and I just sort of went through how I got here and where I am now and I got back the most beautiful um kind responses and it means everything to me because I I gave this my all every time every day and I am honored like Jen said to have done this um but as a mom of a student who is leaving here what I can say is that the school district has prepared her from the day she walked into kindergarten to the day she'll graduate this June uh the teachers have been incredible the administrators are her Champion uh her guidance counselors are my guidance counselors um and you know we're we're headed right into the college decision tomorrow at 3:00 um it's an unbelievable emotional time for a mom of an only child and um so I'm leaving here with gratitude and sadness and but like Jen said confidence in you guys it's so great for us to know that you guys are going to be here and you guys are going to be here because if you don't we'll be over there and we'll actually know what we're talking about so anyway so um thank you to everyone but mostly just thank you to the school Community the parents the teachers the children um it is the warmest kindest place to raise a child and um and be a parent and be involved um and I can't leave without saying thank you to the unbelievable music department the concert the other night was gorgeous and um it's just so great to see not only the students shine but the staff shine it's just a it's just a family and I've been so honored to be a part of it and I I won a prize so that was super awesome that's it happy holidays to everyone thank you anyone have any new business La no opportunity for the public to be heard on any subject seeing none I need a motion to recess to close session four four student matters student matters related to Hib and litigation