how test test test test e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e roll call M kiga here M car here Dr Epson Hayden here Mr gunderman here M clay m Moro here Mr Walsh here have a please join me in the flag iedge Al to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible withy 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 PL 1975 chapter 231 in that an actual notice was made 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 closed 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 the opportunity to be heard before the meeting is adjourned good evening everyone um and welcome tonight's agenda promises to have a little bit of something for everyone um as we begin I want to address the many rankings released this time of year each ranking we use each ranking will use different criteria to determine a school's place I caution people to look past the number and examine the evaluation metrics US World News recently ranked New Providence High School number 41 out of 406 high schools in New Jersey this ranking has some this ranking system significantly emphasizes AP classes and AP testing as the way to determine college readiness not every student at New Providence High School is on a path to take to taking an AP class and not every student who takes an AP class will sit for the test but this makes up 40% of the score in this ranking in 2022 the year used by US World News 58% of 12th grade students at New Providence High School took at least one AP exam and 54% passed at least one AP exam the 2022 grad graduating class graduated 142 students 135 of them pursued a secondary education to quote US News and World Report a great High School educates all of its students from different social and economic backgrounds exposing them to challenging coursework on the path to graduation this board and the Administration use the rankings and the test scores that make up the rankings to drive instruction in the classroom for math language arts and science as this as the end of the school year is fast approaching the weather has finally broken spring sports are in full swing and we are beginning to celebrate our students successes this week we had the honor of congratulating members of the junior class who were inducted into the World Language Honor Society and the National Honor Society these achievements are a testament to our students hard work and dedication and we couldn't be prouder additionally we look forward to celebrating the class of 2024 the weeks leading up to graduation with the annual senior breakfast senior Awards prom high high honors recognition breakfast and graduation at the end of this school year we will also see the retirement of Dr melli after 18 years of service as the educ educational leader of our district we have some time left before he leaves but I would like to take the opportunity to thank him on behalf of the board and the community for devoting almost two decades to the education of students in New Providence for those who may not know what we as a board do the board of education is responsible for adopting policies under which the school district operates we oversee the budget approve the curriculum represent the public during contract negotiations serve as Communications links between the community and the school system and hire and evaluate the superintendent the superintendent is the only position the board is solely responsible for hiring in the district I commend this board for their professional ISM and desire to seat the best candidate possible as our next superintendent in September of 2023 the board contracted with New Jersey school boards to assist with the search to replace Dr melli by early October the position was officially posted and the board got to work holding listening sessions with staff administrators and parents from these sessions and the online survey survey the board formulated interview questions specific to our district for prospective candidates the search generated 28 applicants including internal candidates external candidates current superintendant assistant superintendents principals directors and business administrators more than half of these applicants had earned their doctorate one applicant stood out from the rest in a very competitive candidate pool the board is unanimous in its decision to hire Dr Lauren zery as the next superintendent of schools for New Providence affected July 1 2024 Dr zley received her of Arts in English from Kane University then her Ms in educational leadership management and policy from seen Hall University before earning her Doctorate in Education K12 Administration also from seatan Hall Dr zery started her career in education with the Elizabeth Board of Education as a teacher of American and British literature and has worked her way through various administrative positions since 2005 including the dean of students at Franklin Township High School and the the assistant principal at Northern Highlands Regional High School before landing here in New Providence in 2011 Dr zerle has served in different capacities in our district including the assistant principal and principal of New Providence High School and assistant superintendent of educational services for the past four years through the interview process Dr zley displayed her passion for student centered education and her desire to move this District forward while keeping the Traditions that have become part of our District's culture in place congratulations the board is confident that you are the right person to lead us forward with your strong sense of passion and commitment to our community the board will share meet and greet opportunities with the public in the coming weeks congratulations Lauren [Applause] well thank you so much um Miss kakaro and thank you so much to the entire board um I certainly am extremely excited about starting my new role as superintendent of schools working with each one of you getting to know you better in the capacity of my role and I really do thank you for your professionalism throughout I'm trying to figure out where Katie wants me okay oh okay I'm sorry um and I truly appreciate your professionalism through the entire process of interviewing um and again thank you so much for this opportunity um very very excited um I'd also like to um just speak to the teachers as well as the secretaries the custodians the support staff and how much I've enjoyed over the past 13 years really working with each of you and getting to know you um you truly are an amazing amazing group of Educators that care deeply about the students of New Providence and no matter how hard a decision is we always make the best decision in the best interest of our students so I truly do look forward to working with each of you in my new leadership role um I'd like to also just thank the entire administrative team um I definitely have special relationships with each of you um whether we came in together you are my assistant principal we worked side by side as principles and I've really valued that as a leadership team we've always come together we we've always made the hard decisions and we've always LED this District to True Excellence so I truly look forward to continue working with each of you um I'd like to thank my family who's here um because I couldn't do this uh role all of these roles that I've had a new Providence for the past 13 years having two young children one who's getting a bit older um without the support of my entire family so I thank you guys very much for being here tonight and all of your support always um Dr melli you are definitely going to be very large shoes uh to fill um I really really appreciate all of these years of you challenging me at times me questioning why you were challenging me so hard um but tonight I realized why and I'm really thankful to your mentorship to your collegiality and to your friendship so I hope that when you look back I do make you proud thank you and um last but most certainly not least Mr Testa who is our business administrator who I have been able the past four years to work even closer with than I did when I was the high school principal and I just want to say that I really admire your work ethic and I think that many times folks don't realize how much you do to make this an amazing School District because in your role you're definitely behind the scenes um I could not be happier to get my superintendency here and for you to be my partner and to be the business administrator that I'll be working with so thank you so much and I look forward to our partnership and um once again just thank you I'm I'm just I'm thrilled I'm so happy so thank you to everybody and I look forward to this journey um and I'll be around you know talking to everybody meeting folks in this new role and thank you [Applause] again e e okay Dr melik we have the report of the superintendent sure and we'll start with our student rep AJ all right thank you as always it's a pleasure so looking back on this past month we've had a lot going on at mphs starting with the New Providence High School PTSA tricky Trey prom fashion show which was hosted on March 23rd and ended up being a huge success so thanks to everybody involved in making that happened after that our winter sports awards were hosted on March 26th so again congratul ations to all of our athletes from this past season we're really look excited and looking forward to another great season this spring things are already Motion in motion as mentioned with track notably running a boys 4X 100 at the pen relays tomorrow at the after the girls successfully represented us today moving on we saw a successful completion of the SAT school day test on March 27th and a great District Coral day on March 28th marking period for also began on Monday April 8th so we're finally in the home stretch of the year I know a lot of you are very excited for that at this point and as we've locked in for this last part of the year we've also been beginning to host some more class Clash activities during the lunch and professional periods including a trivia Challenge and a Mario Kart challenge ahead of the big competitions we're hosting in June schoolwide moreover as mentioned we also saw our Juniors inducted into the national Society yesterday and into the World Language Honor Society this past month Monday so congratulations to everyone on the successful ceremonies also this week the ACT school day was held on Tuesday the 23rd and take your child to work day um was today so a number of Staff like Mr Henry brought in their children to experience true Pioneer spirit I was dragged by my mom back into the elementary school so it was a nice experience all right so moving on congratulations to miss fince and all of our students who competed as a part of the team's competition through the stem Club four of the eight teams who participated at NGIT in this competition which are the tests of engineering aptitude mathematics and science have qualified for the National Conference which will be held in Orlando at the end of June these students students include Eden Kim Brandon Mani Rohan karney Anna Fanning Maria arm menu Karina Pang was Sayad Sebastian Marcado Brandon Lee Elizabeth Bingham Matteo agastra Hazel Chen Ariana Bradford Sean Krueger Tron agad and Leela McNamara so again congratulations to everyone beyond that I also want to give another round of congratulations to the entire arts department as several of our students received awards for the regional Northern NJ Scholastic art and writing Awards notably um elizab Isabella Duca Harper gold and Ava ding were all gold key winners moreover sh Mo Eva kamsky Veronica saburova Emma Barry Maggie Lou Ria Malia Audrey and Audrey Kai were winners of the silver key award beyond that we also had three honorable mentions for their work including Veronica sabova Emma Barry and Maggie Lou again looking forward um with the PTSA senior breakfast coming next Friday on May 3rd our class is happy to have had a great number of exciting college acceptances and decisions I personally am pleased to announce my commitment to studying computer science at the University of Pennsylvania and must thank everyone at this district for their support especially Mr AR Arnold Mr she Mr Henry Miss fince Mrs pwit Mrs Brennan and Mrs R bety um I could be here all night listing names so thank you for everyone for honestly these past 12 [Applause] years I appreciate it so much all of and one last thing so circling back I'm also excited to say that the stem Club will be competing at the njsa state competition at the College of New Jersey this Saturday so um as part of the state officer team I was involved in running a pie in the face fundraiser for the American Cancer Society and after around two months of raising money and a total of $616 coming in on pleased to say that the new New Providence High School was the chapter that raised the most money and one of our members will be ping me live in front of 1700 attendees on Saturday so we got a lot to look forward and yeah I'll be sure to make sure that the video makes its way around the district bit less exciting but AP exams are also coming up May 6th through 17th no it's not the same level of excitement and that's about it um again I wanted to give my own congratulations to Dr zeroy and again thank you to everyone um and congratulations on a great year so far so yeah AJ we're very proud you congratulations on your acceptance to pen and we'll see a couple more meetings right of course all right great great Dr Zer enrollment well first thank you AJ I truly appreciate that and I do want to wish you the mo most success at the University of Pennsylvania you should be very very proud of yourself okay so for enrollment um awr is 676 students saltbrook 611 students New Providence middle School 398 students New Providence High School 661 students for a total of 2346 students we currently have 39 out of District placements giving us a grand total of 2,385 students great thank you Dr zerle I'd like to uh welcome the members of the New Providence Ed Foundation who are here with us tonight for some exciting news come on up that's that's uh hi everyone my name is Chris nton and I am the President of the New Providence Education Foundation and giv the size of this audience Sue and I thought it would be a nice idea to give just a quick background as to what we do um the New Providence Education Foundation was formed in 2004 with the simple goal of establishing a partnership between our community here in New Providence and our school district here in New Providence and we do that through basically a two-step process the first step is we do our best to raise as much money as we can and we do that in two ways I'm sorry three ways first way is individual donation sure a lot of folks in this room have given us a few dollars over the years and probably a few dollars more that's a great week appreciate that second way we raise our money is through um through sponsorship with many organizations here in town like prey like Prestige diner for example or Joe Everly who have been T tremendous sponsors for us in past years and the Third Way is we run events you I'm sure many teachers in this room are aware of our Harlem Wizards games we do events that untied in the fall we run uh we run events at the Packa Club this year we did a bourbon and wine tasting and it was a huge success so I would encourage everyone in this room to at least find a way to attend those events because they are a lot of fun and the money raised goes back to our students the second way the second step in our process after we raise the money is we have to give this back and we do that one of two ways and these are these are our two favorite parts of being a part of this organization the first way is attending this meeting tonight we are we are uh suzan's going to present a check back um to the school to fund teacher initiated grants here in our school district and these are done to either Foster or facilitate an existing program or perhaps give a teacher an opportunity to try something new in the classroom and then hopefully over time we can continue to fund or perhaps it can make its way into the school's budget um the other way we the other way we give the money back is through scholarship night so we will be back here in a few weeks as donate as donors uh to two deserving seniors here in our school district definitely two of my favorite parts of being a part of this board um my other favorite part is making great friends as a result of this board I've had the opportunity to work with Dr melli for a number of years I've been on the board since 2017 he's been a tremendous partner and thank you I look forward to working with Dr Zera thank you congratulations and uh thank you for your help as well but additionally we have a tremendous board we currently have 15 members um all of whom do not are nothing but volunteers we go to meetings we raise money we give a back it's a lot of fun in my mind the best volunteer opportunity here in New Providence but it's also given me an opportunity to make many great friends and one here is sitting NE uh standing next to me Suzanne and I were actually friends before I joined the Ed Foundation because both of our boys love football um but because of the Ed Foundation we've become stronger friends and Suzanne has been a tremendous asset in our board particularly as we facilitate this gram process so before I turn it over to Susanne I also wanted to recognize that this will be her last um her last board meeting giving these Grand funds back as she will be stepping down as well huge shoes to fill but we've nominated Kelly zet on our board to take over for that and look forward to working with Kelly but first I'd like to thank Suzanne for all of your help and with that I'll turn it over to S great thank you Chris I appreciate that and first I want to say congratulations Dr zery um you know we've had a long-standing relationship all these years and you are definitely um I'm passing the Baton to some wonderful friends and colleagues so you are in good hands um Dr melli you know lot of uh long years and a lot of conversations that we've had so I appreciate your support and your friendship and I wish you all the best um you know it's it's been really a pleasure working with you all of these years so um you know with that being said thank you Chris for all the the kind words and um I think last time I presented we had a large group too so um it's a little overwhelming um but thank you because I know you all did not come here to see me on my last um Board of Education meeting so um but I want to thank um all the teachers because as you know you do get a lot of emails you get um a lot of correspondence from your building principles to um you know submit some requests you know some teacher initiated um grants because we do want to help support you throughout the year and um we want to thank the teachers that really took the time and the effort to submit um it is a long process um and we know sometimes you're pulled in so many different directions so we really do appreciate that and um myself along with our committee we really do look at many different factors in order to approve and award you know as much money as we possibly can and unfortunately we can't award every single grant that comes our way but we really do try as much as we possibly can so please keep submitting those grants um if you're unsure ask us um we will do the best that we possibly can so with that being said um I think this year we were submitted well over $100,000 maybe close to 150 is that correct right so with that being said um if you all remember back in February we were able to um submit our first check Chris if you can hold that one for me um the first check was for $4,500 where we um supported the dog therapy Grant okay so that was the first grant that was back in um February and then most recently to complete our cycle we were able to award another $ 62,939 16 so making the total $67,900 so it's not the largest one that we have done in my history um I've been involved for the last 10 years um eight years on the grant committee but um it's a large amount so um happy to be said happy to say that in my 10 years or eight years on the grant committee I've um been happy to help administer well over a half a million so it's been great and um both of my children have gone through the district my son is graduating this year and both of them have been able to take advantage of many many of the grants that have come through the school district from Roberts middle school and the high school so thank you teachers thank you for trusting in us thank you building principles for helping us facilitate all this and let's keep it going e e e okay right now I declare a public hearing on the proposed 2425 school budget this works hi uh my name is Amanda Morano and I'm sure this is why you're here everybody loves a good budget presentation so thank you uh I have Joe Walsh here uh also one of my committee members former chair of this committee and I've learned a lot in my life that I'm going to let a CPA sit here and keep me honest with a lot of the numbers so uh just want to say before we go into the brief overview I want to thank uh Mr Testa first and foremost as Dr zerle mentioned he is literally the brains behind everything in the district running from a financial standpoint and as well as Dr melli Dr zerle all of the administrators um we know how much time and effort and hours have gone into all of this um and keeping everything you know within cap and keeping our students and our teachers at the Forefront of everything that you do um so just to give a brief overview our budget goals for the board don't change and that's good it keeps us consistent and it keeps us working towards the same thing so just to briefly review we're always looking to maintain the educational programs and goals that support student achievement and we're always reviewing and analyzing staffing needs while maintaining and on maximizing on operational efficiencies uh continuing to enhance our security facilities and equipment and always keeping the taxpayers in mind as well as what is going to maintain the culture of the district so the way that we're bring breaking down all of the budget highlights is in four areas um education new course offerings technology items and Staffing um for Education if you remember last year it was the first year that we implemented F day kindergarten this year and we were implementing a brand new K through 12 K through six Math uh curriculum as well as new high school course offerings middle school mod offerings first two my family is personally going through very successfully so um for this year what we're looking to do is this is year two of full day kindergarten something to keep in mind that we've always looked ahead years down the road so this was kept in mind within the budget offering um new uh continuing all educational programs offered from 2023 to 24 we didn't see any cuts which is good meaning that we're taking a look at how many students we have their needs teaching and so on um and we're going to continue to update and write curricula to address the new njsla in math and language arts um within the new course offerings um within the high school we're going to be offering honors physics cyber security and digital circuits uh the Middle School pltw Robotics and for elementary schools ESL and slife and for the technology items we're always keeping an eye and looking forward as to what we're utilizing what's working what's not we're going to continue to fund software and apps that enhance the student achievement best addressing student needs as well as purchasing iPads and cases for the class of 2028 and continuing to replace the projectors and interactive boards in different classrooms as well as different network switches and for Staffing we are not increasing any staff for this year um because we've just been taining everything as I just mentioned before so I'm going to have uh Mr Walsh here walk us through the different do I are you okay so budget highlights taking a look here these are the capital items for the facilities um so for saltbrook um and middle school high school Alan Roberts uh just taking a look here for saltbrook we're install uh the installation of the bottle filling station in the gymnasium replacement of two aeds and purchase of percussion cabinet and workstation uh for awr we're installing a drain system in the north playground area as well as purchasing of a floor scrubber and for the high school and middle school very exciting uh we're we're replacing 3 HVAC units which you might have heard of uh cleaning and recharging the acid neutralization tanks and replacing the bathroom partitions as well as uh carpeting for the chorus room as well as they're also receiving a floor scrubber and for the capital items and Facilities uh just purchasing of a stainless steel truck Salter I'm talk yeah so um I think this slide uh this kind of what does all that mean right what Amanda just went through so if you look here we have this slide every year and it's a nice breakdown between the um all the different classifications I guess a couple things to point out one is and kind of aligned with the budget goals the if you add up the classroom instructions employee benefits and instructural support that all goes to the classroom and to the students that's where we try to direct all of the as much funds as we can um and that's been um I'll say kind of a principle goal the budget process throughout I think that what I do every year too whenever I go through this I go back and compare it to last year to figure out where were we on a year-over-year basis and pretty much every percentage you see there going down the leand side 42.5 21.2 they are um within 0.5% of what we were last year the two that are not are um employee benefits which is just due to uh increasing premiums like and then the capital went down from 1.1% to 4% to what Amanda just said uh couple items to I I covered kind of a couple of the items on here but the uh two points to make here you'll see the um allocation less Surplus so the Surplus um that we had in Prior years during covid we were able to keep more than 2% of surplus which means if we aren't using everything that's budgeted we're able to keep that we're able we were able to keep more than 2% last year the state came back and from a state mandate perspective we had to use that Surplus so we had to use that last year so in this year's budget you'll see um the the budget is increase in spending is only going up 0 227% you can see here versus uh prior years with the uh with the Surplus being used this slide uh again one of uh uh one of the ones we look at each year and I go back and compare it to Prior years um it continues to show we're an efficent very efficient District which is to the administration's uh Credit in relation to how we are in our per student cost um again comparing it to to last year each district went up anywhere from 500 to ,000 doll year-over-year um and this can be due fluctuations in this number can be due to um enrollment changes and things of that nature um typically it seems seems just looking back multiple years mad Madison chadam and New Providence are typically all very close to each other um and well below the state average uh I'm gonna flip to the next one because this one just kind of States what the proposed tax levy is this shows how we get there so you'll see the uh 23 24 or fiscal year 24 tax levy was $42 million the with a 2% increase of $843,000 which is what's Allowed by law plus um Healthcare adjustments and then the bank cap available which is what we had available from from what we had left over from last year of $285,000 gets to our allowable tax levy for this year of $43 million um so for the fiscal year 2425 for those that do not know what uh cap banking is um it is uh where if we spend less than the 2% which historically we spend what what we need from a budget perspective we don't just go to the 2% um this year we actually are going to the 2% because that's what we need um but anything under that we're able to save that and keep that going forward into subsequent budgets um to my earlier Point around the uh around the Surplus from prior year and what's able to be used this year we only have $17 going from 20 to 25 to 26 in the uh in the bank cap uh and then the the state Aid um you'll see the state aid here for 2425 is $3.2 million that's an increase of um $339,000 um which was all part of our uh of our budgeting process and um a little less than we expected but um we we did have something close to that as part of our planning and um and is included in all the numbers I've been going through total ratables continue to go due to a lot of the construction in town and continued um and continued growth um which then gets to the tax impact so looking at this slide I think it's key to look at this in two different in two buckets the first bucket would be the 202 the the first two bullets so you see the 2024 average home market value that's up from $700,000 last year so up $440,000 um and then that results in a tax increase without The Debt Service of $219 or 2 53% so that's the operating budget the second bu bucket The Debt Service tax increase is $282 which gets to the total tax increase of 500 $51 that's related to the bond that the community voted on what was it last November I guess my years are running together here um I almost said two years ago uh so that that's separate distinct from our operating budget um and that will uh a year from now will be the last time that will be paid uh or I'm sorry not last time that will be paid last time um where then that will go off because we will have one Bond come off the books as a district and then that number will go down historically that's been a little bit lower but with the uh added Bond the cost goes up for the next uh two years and then that'll come off in uh in the following fiscal year and The Debt Service will go back down to what we've historically had I think that's it so anything else okay thank you [Applause] thanks let me just close [Music] the follow the comment right uh now is the time for public comments on the proposed budget only I declare the public hearing on the proposed 2425 school budget closed uh Dr melli is going to walk us through the Dem demographic study uh from Dr grip thank you Mrs guaro okay so with respect to the demographic study um as many of you know we hired Dr grip over the winter uh to once again take a look at our enrollment data the housing data in the community and the nuances that are occurring within town and what we are um pleased with is the fact that the major questions that we continue to um inquire are are are settling and resolved so the first big question was will our enrollment continue to go up and essentially we are seeing a decline in enrollment um which is a good thing and that will continue to be and I'll get into those specifics in a second the second question was with respect to um what was happening with our um enrollment and live births within the town and would there be a significant change and a need to necessitate the line movement in town from Livingston to South Street because we were starting to see an inequity uh between the two elementary schools so the board hired uh Richard again to to do this work and essentially he completed demographic study and an update for us um to project grade byg grade enrollments from 25 or 2425 to 2829 and then to all also analyzed community population Trends and age structure demographic characteristics birth counts and fertility rates uh he examined historical enrollment Trends districtwide by grade configuration and by school he researched some of the new housing starts and analyzed their impact on the school district and he compared building capacities to current and projected enrollments some of the interesting things in this report is 6 Pages uh we'll be posting it on the website tomorrow so that everybody can review it what I'm going to try to do tonight is just to kind of go over some highlevel things that address the questions at hand um and some interesting uh data points too just to take a look at our community so I'm going to um start here with a couple of these paragraphs um while whites are the largest race of New Providence their population is declining in this uh 20 census New Providence was 69.1% white as compared to 81.1 % in 2010 and we know this we we've been watching our community um be become more culturally diverse and we have been trying to address that within our programming as well um so the that percentage has dropped by 12 points uh Asians were the second largest race at 15.9% in 2020 while Hispanics were the third largest race at 9.2 some other interesting data here um Richard did reach out to the municipality to get updated housing information uh and so I just wanted you to take a look at this paragraph here an estimate was made in the number of public school children that could potentially come from the proposed housing developments estimates were only computed for 111 Spring Street and so this is the property that we've been talking about now for quite some time it's the old Bard property that that construction has begun there are a number of other properties that I'll share with you later that are proposed but there is no specificity yet to what that will look like so this is something that's actually happening and will have potentially some bearing on us so he's estimating uh approximately 74 students may come from that development as you could see there K to6 47 7 to 8 12 students and 9 through 125 um it it also could be lower depending upon some of the other variable in terms of the transit oriented development opportunity next to the train station again there's a lot of information here I'm not going to go through all of it tonight I'm just try to do some high level stuff uh the next chart that I want to show you which I just think is interesting is our historical and projected population for New Providence since 1940 as you can see in 1940 there was 2374 uh citizens as of the 20 census there's 13,650 we've seen an increase of 12.2% since 2010 and by 20150 there's an increase of potentially another 6.4% or 14529 so we've really seen a pretty large increase if you look there historically over the past 10 years this bar chart just kind of shows you those numbers as well um in terms of uh some other demographic data I think this chart kind of starts to tell a little bit of the story as well um and it's it's very positive and it continues to demonstrate that we have a a very robust community and we continue to grow and evolve um if you take a look at uh the number of Bachelor degrees back in 2010 among our citizens it was uh 60.6% that's gone up to 69.6 a graduate professional degrees also have gone up from 27.7 to 34.2 the median household income has gone up from 12454 to 167 188 and you can see there the median value of an owner occupied unit went up from 594 to 7,7 and again that was last year's uh Mr Walsh just indicated it's now up to $740,000 with respect to the budget and here you can see the number of unit types too so again it's a really interesting report and I would encourage you know our staff uh and all of our community members to take a look at this because it really does tell the story of what's Happening Here in New Providence move on to there's a number of charts great demographic data here that you can kind of take a look at where the populations are within the community uh he did a really outstanding job with that for the sake of time I'm not going to go through that tonight um but certainly take a look at it uh here is our uh historical enrollment Trends going back 10 years you can see that we we slowly made progress from 1415 up through the 201920 school year at 2400 uh and that we been slowly declining since that time this chart is also interesting too it kind of gives you uh the breakdown our k6 population our Middle School population our high school population so you can see again that the Elementary population is trending down uh the middle school has stayed pretty stable uh the high school is um starting to move up as we had anticipated because most of those larger grades from the elementary schools as that is declining they're obviously coming up now to the middle school and high school so we're seeing a larger population there this next chart will show you the live birth rates uh this is a real critical Factor um that Richard uses to determine what our projected enrollments will look like um our former board member Mr Krauss used to use these same numbers and we had been very consistent with our enrollment projections for a very long period of time uh this is really good reliable data and and just to give everyone some certainty Mr Krauss did take a look at these numbers and this report and he concurs he he's still very active with us St in North Carolina so Ira I know you're watching okay here is the um going to shoot over to some of the proposed projects in the community um just so you can kind of get a sense when everyone's saying oh we have a lot of construction we have a lot of construction but where's the construction here's the construction these are all the proposed projects throughout the community the 11 or 111 Spring Street is the bar property that we had discussed earlier that is active and should be completed within the next 12 to 18 months we have the specificity in terms of the number of bedrooms and as he uh has used his variables to determine the number of students we're at approximately 74 districtwide that we're anticipating coming out of that building or those those units these are all the other proposed but there isn't specificity nor is there contracts and construction happening currently just want to show you this next chart because I think it also tells the story if you can see here all the proposed projects they're on what side of the Town Roberts right and so there's the the nuances are here the proposed projects are on the Roberts side of town and most of the live birs the babies in town are mostly on the robertt side of town and so this is why two years ago we made the decision to outline a proposed change move the line so that we can create equity between both elementary schools um have equal class sizes between both elementary schools and in all the grades so again this projected line is the current Livingston line and we are looking to move it to South Street and we anticipate that with that move we should see greater Equity at both elementary schools okay let's get into the numbers here so here are the projected districtwide numbers for next year out to 2829 so you can see here the Baseline numbers okay and then you see the numbers underneath that that he frames as adjusted for housing growth so these numbers the adjusted for housing growth are the numbers with respect to the barred property not all of the others because again we don't know and we don't have the specificity of what that will look like nor are they under construction but this is what the enrollment will look like over the next five years and as you can see we're down with in the absence of the adjust adjustment for housing it's down to 2200 students uh even with the adjustment we're at 2263 and just a couple years ago we were at 2400 now let's take a look at it by school here is alen W Roberts here's the the past 10 years worth of data the enrollment as you can see you can the projected enrollment at 2829 in the absence of the housing growth at 634 which is significantly less than where we were and then even with the projected it's at 666 by the 28 29 school year saltbrook as you can see in the absence of the projected housing and not having as many of the babies they're going to be down to 557 students so again 666 557 so we're talking about 100 students at least the middle school here are their projected numbers and then their numbers adjusted for the housing growth and then the high school stays pretty consistent um in terms of the the various projections in that 600 range at the end of all this data what what does it really mean in terms of Capacity Analysis this chart tells the story in terms of number of seats so if you take a look here for 2324 this current school year we got 674 at Allen W Roberts 592 at saltbrook 416 and 629 and then the difference by the time we get to 2829 as you can see the 666 or plus 23 students on that end in terms of the projection and then the 132 I'm sorry 23 seats are available at Roberts by the time we get to 2829 and then at saltbrook there's 132 seats available and at the high school and middle school combined there are 174 seats available so the story that this is telling is that a we don't need to do more construction which is a good thing and B we're going to have an inequity between Al W Roberts and saltbrook and so therefore we should continue with our plan in September to move that line and begin having our kindergarten students who are within those zones in 24 and then subsequently in 26 move to saltbrook school so that no students are impacted again in terms of their current placement but those students who are entering start in a new school and we start to balance out the projection at both elementary schools in terms of the enrollment so that's essentially our story and it's a good story our projections were correct our our plan is correct and so we don't need to make any changes and from a board perspective we don't need to move forward with any construction at this time that being said if those other projects start to come online we really have to monitor that because not only could there be potentially a lot more kids if um the bedrooms are such but the location is more important because they're on the Robert side of town and the current babies are on the Robert side of town any questions nope okay well Mrs mangle will definitely uh post this on the website tomorrow um and if there are any other questions I'm happy to answer those questions from members of the community too I know if you want to open that up now burn or yeah okay any any questions on Dr michelli's presentation on the and the demog study I just want to say you know that I think it's really great that you did it and then had him do it again I think that was really you know great that you were watching out for all that um with that said now that you're leaving and you're coming will he stick around in case of those other Dr yeah like absolutely yeah no he's absolutely um will be a partner with us uh and uh he he certainly uh I will I will give his phone number to M or to Dr zerle yeah now is an opportunity for the public to be heard on any specific agenda item agenda items I declare the P public portion of the meeting closed I need approval of minutes for the business meeting and the Clos session meeting on March 14th 202 4 motion roll call Miss Mrs Karo hi Dr emson Hayden hi Mrs gunderman hi M gay hi M Moreno hi Mr Walsh hi I also need a motion for minutes for the business meeting and closed session on March 21st 2024 roll call migler hi M Caro hi Dr abson Hayden hi M gunderman hi Miss clay hi M Morano hi Mrs Walsh hi Mrs Morano Finance I'd like to approve items 1 through 10 listed uh below yeah uh just a few bills and uh the budget uh need approval to be sent to the county roll call Migo hi M Caro hi Dr es Hayden hi Mrs gunderman hi M Kay hi M Morano hi Mr Walsh hi Miss Morano facilities I'd like to move items one and two no just a outdated textbooks roll call Miga hi M Garo hi Dr Epson Hayden hi M gunderman hi M clay m Mirana hi Mr Walsh Mrs gunderman education uh I'd like uh to uh move items one to two as listed below and then uh I'll read into record uh though I hope you'll pass on to the teachers who left um the following um teacher a recognition um resolution whereas the week of May 5th through May 11th has been declared teacher recognition week throughout the state of New Jersey and whereas The Faculty of the New Providence School District continue to provide excellent instruction tutoring encouragement counseling and understanding to the students who pass through their classrooms and whereas in addition to the regular educational programs many of the staff provide advice Direction coaching and sponsorship to extracurricular activities now therefore be it resolved that the Board of Education acknowledges with pride and sincere appreciation the efforts of all of the teachers and its staff and be it further resolved that the members of the board extend to these teachers their best wishes for the future firm in the belief that they will always perform in the same fine fashion approved this 25th day of April 2024 and signed by the order of the New Providence Board of Education thank you roll call M hi M Carol hi Dr abson Hayden hi Mrs gunderman i m Kay hi M morand hi Mr Walsh Mrs Coniglio Personnel I like to approve item one is listed below it's um do you want me to read the whole thing yeah okay um we need a second real we need a second man thank you um adopt the following resolution where as the board of education has conducted an extensive search for a candidate to fill the position of superintendent of schools and where as a as a result of said search the board reviewed the applications and conducted interviews of several candidates for the position and whereas after careful review the board determined that there was one outstanding applicant for the position the applicant and whereas the applicant has accepted the offer of the board to serve as superintendent of schools and whereas such applicant and the Board of Education have entered into negotiations concerning the terms and conditions of employment for said Service as superintendent of schools and whereas the interim executive Union County Superintendent has approved the negotiated contract between the board and the applicant a copy of which is in the hands of all the board members now therefore be resolved that the president of the board of education is hereby authorized to enter into the contract of employment with the applicant named therein as a AG to by the parties a copy of which is in the hands of each board member approved this 25th day of April 2024 and signed by the order of new Provence Board of Education that's your mom thank you mler m Garo hi Dr Hayden hi M gunderman hi M Kay hi Mr Morano hi Mr Walsh hi yeah thank you okay um also when to approve items 2 through eight as listed below roll call Miss Kula hi car hi Dr EP Hayden hi Mrs gunderman hi M Kay hi M Morano hi Mr Walsh hi there's no turning back now uh committee reports curriculum instruction technology um uh we've had a meeting and uh we want to thank uh the Dei committee um we've uh started to review all of their findings and what they're diving into and and what the role out is we have another meeting uh scheduled as a committee and then the full Public Presentation of the the Dei report and uh finding and eventual outcomes will be at the May 29th board meeting so we look forward to seeing you all then and um having Dr zilly and Mr Keeny lead us in that thank you uh Finance facilities safety anything more than the budget just that's all we got that's it uh personnel management and communication uh we did just meet right okay yeah there um and uh I'm assuming we're going to talk more about that the next meeting do you want to say anything about that now or okay yeah okay okay now's an opportunity for the public to be heard oh go ahead sorry just uh two quick items under old business sorry uh the first one is that I just want to let the let the board be aware that we receiv received the emergent Grant um that we applied for a while back uh the total amount was 56375 uh we received this grant in a prior year that we used all the money to start replacing the exhaust fanss districtwide if you remember uh so we did receive the grant we received the funds and I just want to let you know that um at each of the schools uh we will be continuing to replace the exhaust fanss uh we will complete that project at Roberts and saltbrook and get a majority of them done at the high school middle school also we will be um at the high school replacing one set of fire doors and uh replacing uh hot water Loops at the high school and at Roberts we will be replacing or installing fencing and replacing the pavement in the South Court which is um and Grant was a security um upgrade um so we're in the process of getting all the quotes for that and we'll move forward this year so it's good news that we get some projects done that we need to get done uh the second thing is under Finance you did approve the rod Grant um I just want to make everyone aware that we did receive the Grant and it's basically a matching Grant at 6040 So within the capital um uh uh budget that we approved in 2425 monies were allocated for replacement of HVAC units at the high school uh we're in year two of three to replace 18 units that weren't part of the bond they're existing units that have air conditioning already uh they passed their useful life we're trying to get ahead of the game so now instead of only replacing three will'll be able to replace six so it's good news all around Jim what was the total amount on the first grant excuse me the total amount on the first grant uh 56 I thought you meant the one from last year it was around it was around the same amount the last time we received it um so okay anything else yeah uh I think we owe you a debt of gratitude for the uh superintendent search I think we all did a lot of work but you did a ton of work so on behalf of everybody thank you very much for everything you did you did a fantastic job thank you [Applause] okay now is an opportunity for the public to be heard on any topic seeing none I need a motion to recess to close session for student matters related to hiped