1 Public Law 1975 entitled open public meetings act adequate notice of this meeting has been provided specified in the ACT proper notice of this open public meeting was provided in the notice of May 1st 2024 said notice was posted at the entrance of the Board of Education offices mailed to the Nutley Township Clerk sent to tap to Nutley advertised in his Star Ledger on May 3rd 2024 and posted on the district website can everybody please SL for the flag salute roll call Mr Balo Mr baglia Mrs danek Martin Dr deia Mr fragels here Mr kazinski here Mrs Quirk here Mr Scotty here Mr Ferraro here at our last board meeting on May 7th four finance items relating to the budget were tabled and a motion was made to adjourn the May 7th meeting was was made not to adjourn the May 7th meeting but to continue the meeting to this time and date tonight this motion was made in order to allow the state monitor more time to review the budget prior to our vote to send it to the executive County Superintendent as we are required to do by law this meeting is a continuation of the May 7th meeting and is limited to only those four finance items that were tabled at that time I will now let our board attorney speak to the public comment portion of tonight's meeting good evening folks since this is a continuation of the previous meeting the public comment is going to be limited to the four action items the four voting items that are on for tonight as it is a continuation all the other rules still apply you know in terms of we can't comment on Personnel we can't comment on students um you know and in terms of uh you know vulgarity things like that that aren't but you guys are never like that so anyway but um so just just so you're aware it's going to be limited to just the four action items thank you there will be there will be a public meeting on Monday so any public comment or or questions regarding all School related matters can be addressed at that time does anyone wishing to come up and comment on the four items please come up what are the four the the res the resolution four yeah there four resolution items Finance resolution items that were tabled so is there agenda that there I'll read them out okay Finance resolution number one adoption of the final budget as approved by the interim executive county superintendent so on May 7th uh our superintendent presented the budget for 2425 so we did not vote that night to approve that budget so that's what we're doing tonight is taking the vote on that budget along with that resolution number one there were three additional resolutions resolution number two was the use of Bank cap resolution number three adjustment for enrollment and resolution number four adjustment for health care costs those were the four resolutions that were tabled on the May 7th meeting so those are the four items that are going to be voted on [Music] tonight so if anyone has any comments they can come up Brian Canova 147 Beach Street good evening everyone um I was going to make a suggestion but uh actually it probably would apply to the uh what you were discussing one would be it's the nature of um um the way the meetings are presented to the public um anyone looking at social media realizes that the town's people aren't aware when Boe meetings will include public comments and I think tonight is a good example of that um I know it eventually shows up in the agenda um but you could promote this on the school district's homepage with a link saying tonight is open to public comment not linking to the agenda sometimes the agenda is posted shortly before the meeting is this uh something you would consider language that says tonight is open for public discussion tonight is not open for public discussion s ify my comment just from the legal perspective um all public meetings have to have some form of public comment if it's a public meeting um you know in this instance since it was continued there is public comment uh but it's only to the four action items because that those the only action that the board is taking but at every public meeting under law there has to be some type of public comment all right well if that could be mentioned on the homepage so I'm not spending two hours of my time drafting questions which you're not going to hear tonight one of them I think would fall under the adoption of the final budget which uh I believe involves Staffing superintendent B at the May 7th meeting you said all resources necessary for the security and preschool remain in all caps under changed it was met with Applause we're very happy to hear that that was for the 20 2024 2025 budget security preschool unchanged 7 Days Later you're presumably voting on the adoption of the final budget from May 7th we're down a security officer in Spring Garden as of I would imagine the end of June a retired nutly police officer of some distinction not some distinction of Distinction will there be Security in place to fill that void in Spring Garden and if so will they come from a different school from a position that will or will not be backfilled uh thank you for your question yes um in our restruct ing uh we have someone who runs Security in central office which is no longer needed so we are going to move uh that person into a building and then move people around to cover the Spring Garden uh resource yes so we're down we we're down a position in security overall we we had a position in central office that oversaw our whole security team they will do that but at a building to uh use resources efficiently all right I guess I'll see you on Monday for the rest of the show thank you does anyone else have any [Music] comments uh hi good good evening my name is Vincent Festa I live at 29 Newman Avenue um my statement I'll wait for Monday but my question was you guys had a PTO member at I I don't know if it was I don't know what school exactly stating how the media centers that we need more places like this throughout the school system but if that's what you're saying why are we letting media Specialists go so I think that that individual was referring to the space that we have two two media centers in in the district one being here at this school one being at the high school what about Lincoln School that's not a media center no well I think that's what the person was referring to was the two but if you want them throughout the school how are you getting rid of people when you can't fill the positions that you have you're already short to Media specialist yeah so thank you sir and and I was the one that made the comment when I was in the media library in the middle school and my statement was that we need to utilize the middle school media space and the high school media space more efficiently connecting those two rooms with incremental programs that are not being utilized today it was more of a statement around those spaces specifically not necessarily about the the the libraries and the elementaries but I think overall those are areas in the in the district where I prefer we see we grow not reduce but how are we growing by letting go of personnel that run those media spaces we are restructuring uh our Personnel to cover all the media spaces so does that mean that our students are going to be split between media Specialists no our students will have the same experience in library media that they've had this year [Music] okay any other comments hello uh I wanted to ask about uh related to the uh termination of Personnel in the high schools elementary schools uh what's the process for how or why they're being terminated yeah I'll comment just on the legal part first and then they can comment any Personnel decisions come from the chief School administrator the superintendent uh that's where those come from and are set byw law uh in in terms of the process of it but the superintendent as the chief School the the board members are not legally allowed to get into the the involvement of that so that's unfortunately um due to financial reasons we had to reduce our Workforce u in order to balance our budget uh we never want to um reduce in our teachers and our and our anything from top to bottom um but it's uh something we have to go through right now uh in order to balance our budget we have only so much revenue coming in and we can only we only have so many resources to spend in our schools um that process happens um through uh looking at um where the needs are for students and then reallocating resources most efficiently see I understand that the need to I guess fire some teachers but what is the what criteria when say if a teacher wouldn't be tenured what what things would what criteria would they not meet that leads them to be fired or terminated and again matters of personnel they can't legally talk to get the details of that kind of stuff how he makes his decisions and what's involved in that with individuals by law they they can't comment on and that's just that's just how it is yeah all right that's all thank you [Applause] Christian Sebastiano 443 Prospect Street so I'm going to ask his question a different way I'm not asking about individuals not asking how you decided Joe Versus Sally there's criteria you use in general we all have it in our jobs when you decide who you're going to keep who you're not going to keep in in different times when you have to do cuts so when you have somebody who's been here x amount of time or someone has had x amount of um people complain about them like how do you use those factors not asking about any individual circumstance I'm not asking about any specific person how do you go through that process because that you should be able to answer because that's not about anybody specifically yeah um so every year um we uh go through the process of evaluating staff members as per New Jersey Department of Ed code using uh framework our evaluator multiple evaluators look at people they have a performance and a practice assessment score at the end of each year uh the administrative team the evaluators um discussed Performance Based on what was observed and what language was used to describe that uh the administrators um meet and decide on performance non-renew and bring people back uh that process happened weeks ago and those decisions were made weeks ago what we went through um this week was a downsizing due to um based on needs of students where we can offer classes and different things based on certificate and other things of that nature it's very prescribed uh by code um with non- tenure teachers how that happens so if you're tenur you're protected though if and go ahead yeah and sir just you know that like kind of the distinction there's two types of like non-renewals or riff between there's a distinction between riff and non-renewals so you have your typ typical non-renewals due to whatever they have then you have your Rifts which go by non- tenur first um and then if there are tenur people by Statute than if there are it goes by seniority okay thanks [Applause] hi Jennifer vonroth 32 Colonial terrrace just want to make sure I understand this correctly the budget is being restructured because somebody either purposely or inadvertently made an egregious Financial error correct and the restructuring of the budget is now being placed the burden of it is being placed on innocent teachers who are now losing their jobs and the residents of the town because now you're inre increasing our education taxes is is that correct am I correct in that assessment the the deficit for the 23 24 school year um is being addressed by uh corrective action plan applying to the state for a loan and an advance of state aid uh which triggered um the state assigning a state monitor who is working through all Financial control as well as uh working through uh securing the loan amount from the treasury Department for this year uh next year's budget is based on revenues coming in um the available revenues um in this preliminary budget in the amount of about $81 million uh utilize um three waivers that are available to the district as directed by the county office at the time of the plinary budget to use Bank cap waivers uh Health uh waivers as well as enrollment increase waivers um that is the money set to uh build this budget uh the problem came when we had a budget last year um that with the normal increases in year- toe operations put that budget uh well over our revenues coming in so the cuts are due to matching the programs we have in District to the available revenues we have coming in the financial crisis this year um is in the amount of a loan coming from the state which is not paid next year's budget which is paid over 10 years interest free with the help of a state Monitor and where is that that money coming from to pay back the loan right so from from the firing of teachers again who had nothing to do with the egregious error that's been made and the rest of that money what coming from the residents of the Town who again had nothing to do with what created this whole issue to begin with so at the end of the day in the simplest terms right in the simplest terms of it it's coming from the teachers and it's coming from the people who live in this town and there's no accountability and there's no responsibility putting on the parties who have caused the error to begin with and now we're sending this message to these kids that people can have do whatever and have no accountability for it and it's affecting the kids my kids came home yesterday and the first thing that I was told was guess what my English teacher my history teacher they got fired they're not coming back what do you what kind of message are we sending to the kids I understand we all do all right but we're in difficult times right now and we have to get back to uh a baseline which is sustainable okay which is based on revenues that are reliable revenues that are coming in so we I don't know if you were at the at the presentation last week no I was not okay um but I would I would recommend that you go online uh you you watched the video uh that we we had a a full presentation on the budget for 24-25 uh went through all of the issues um the the the difference between the revenue and the program that exists today was a $13 million difference uh of which three million of that was made up by additional state aid that we received for next year and then we you take into that into account the tax levy increase that we're going to be you know looking at tonight uh in addition to that there were cuts that were made restructuring throughout the district so that's you know you have to create a balanced budget going into next year and unfortunately there's difficult decisions that are made in doing that well I think somebody needs to look outside the box a little bit and start taking the revenue from other resources other than the people who live in the town and the teachers that teach our children who live in the town don't you think I mean there's got to be other options than raising our taxes and firing teachers [Applause] no y unfortunately those revenues are made primarily from from the tax levy there's State there's state aid there's federal aid that we receive but majority of that is from the tax levy that's not something that's unique to Nutley that's something that occurs throughout the whole state that's the way the system is right but the Gap there is now again being imposed on people who have nothing to do with this I just think you guys need to figure out a better way because this solution is it's deplorable quite frankly and it's disheartening and it's disgusting to me to to even be involved in in any of this so I thank you for your [Applause] time Venus Hernandez 274 East Pake Avenue I want to address the tax oh I want to address the taxes the burden that it's going to put on the people in the district my mortgage already went up $600 a month as a single parent and by doing over 5% tax raise doubling what you would normally do I'm probably goingon to have to sell my house and move the burden it's going to be put on us in the district and I and I saw that like I think by doing that by next year the deficit will be at zero is that correct so the deficit that has occurred in this year's budget that's this year that's being addressed by a loan that is going to be given to the the district by the state but have you guys thought about maybe just doing the standard rate I understand you're trying to make up the difference from the M the mistake whatever it was that happened but seriously imagine the families here in town that now have to really figure out what they're going to do because of this how the tax is going to put the burden on them like my mortgage is already up $600 from the tax increase the last year a month no and we understand that and we are all taxpayers as well we understand that um but there's two things that are you just want to make sure we're clear the the deficit that occurred this year in the 23 24 budget is is being addressed by a loan that we're going to receive from the state yeah you're also raising the taxes that's the that the tax levy increase usually 2 point something percent you're doing double yes and those those were waivers that were directed To Us by the Department of Education through the county offices that were available to the district and because of this mistake because of the because of the the the difference between the tax revenue that's coming in the revenues that are coming in versus the expenses so the Department of Education raises it and now it's going to hurt us and put the burden on us in the district so the Department of Education doesn't raise it there there they're recommending those are the options that we have okay but there is an issue with the the the budget right now the revenues the reliable revenues that for the 2425 school year versus the expenditures is a $13 million difference that you have to close that Gap and there's only so many ways you can do that we received an addition additional 3 million in state aid there's restructuring that resulted in in somewhere around 7 million yeah no I understand all that but the fact is is that you guys are raising at the 5% and that's a big burden on a lot of the people in town myself like I said I'm a single parent I don't get child support like and you know yes I make good money but my mortgage already went up 600 I don't think I can afford another raise like that and we we understand and that's just me I can't even imagine everyone else I don't think you do understand but we we do but but also if if if if you don't increase the tax levy you're going to have to make that up through additional restructuring additional Cuts there's there's only so many ways of doing that and so and so we've we've we've had multiple meetings many meetings where we've had a lot of different yeah but now this is going to put a burden on where where you have people who have been in this town for many many many years and now we're gonna some people are going to probably have to sell their homes because they can't afford it I understand and and we've had meetings where we've had plenty many residents who came up and said that they didn't want to see this program touched or that program touched or or this group touched uh unfortunately there's only so many things you can do uh to to and and ta raising the tax levy that's one of the things that we can and that was one of the recommendations made is to is to go to this amount which is 5.27 uh there's nobody up here that's happy about that we are not we are not happy about that no I understand that that's fine but but I don't know no but but I'm just want I just don't agree that it should be 5.27 and I understand but if if we lower that number if we lower that number you have to make up the difference somewhere so find another way where it's not going to make people have to sell their homes possibly I the raise in the taxes but what H where where do you make those where do you make those those those adjust out 90% of your we're goingon to I understand so go to the go to the town go to the town ask them for help they have this one nutly thing like ask them for help yeah sell the CH have them sell the chicolini that's just literally an empty lot now because the building collapsed okay well those are those are two we're two separate entities so it doesn't but you can still go to them you you can still go to them and ask them and then if even if you get a million dollars that way you can then lower it just a little bit where the taxes don't get raised that much that's my biggest issue right now is the taxes my home yeah no I mean it's it's okay we understand and like I said we're not happy about this as well all right thank you thank you Brian Canova 147 Beach Street just to follow up on that revenue revenue streams um the lady in the third row talked about thinking outside the box um you mentioned $ 13 million having to fill the Gap State Aid restructuring tax levy um Mr farar you and the some of the other administrators you know said part of the reason why we're here is because of the inaccurate Revenue projections What was forecast was just off the charts and that money wasn't coming in correct there was a there was a revenue shortfall this year uh in somewhere in the area about 2.5 million yes a big shortfall so uh with that said are you getting back to the thinking outside the box are you exploring we have some business savvy people up there are you exploring new streams of Revenue so that perhaps going forward we're not limited to state aid restructuring tax levies reducing Workforce which I hate that term because there's human beings attached to it but are you I just want to make sure that we're not limited to the layoffs to what I just discussed is there anything being discussed uh as far as additional sources of revenue I I don't know where where else you would you would say that we would look for additional Revenue well we could look North at the un3 campus there are a lot of Corporations there and perhaps maybe some of them are interested in attacks right off maybe interested in donating lab equipment whatever it might be have we had communication with some of the companies in nutly to see if if that's a possibility thinking outside the box you want to talk about as far as what we do with them as as far as getting additional revenues um I've contacted everyone I could at the state level uh to appeal for more uh Aid uh more ex a uh yesterday um I was with the mayor at modern Meadows we were talking through some donations as well as ways we could partner together um up there on that's on the on3 campus um I know that uh getting money in the district is very important and I'm appealing to everyone I can for more of that to come in it's appreciated and just to follow up on the um apologies uh to follow up on the um security uh the loss of security Personnel um you know I should say that when you did present the budget it did come with the the caveat that all Staffing and operating cost decisions surround ing the budget are subject to review and approval from the New Jersey doe monitor so with that in mind was the presentation made was the change in in Personnel that we were discussing earlier was that made prior to the presentation or was it made at the request of the monitor who does have approval ultimate say presentation was made prior to arrival she arrived the the day uh the same day I believe was the first time we met um she is going through it we are working together um that was in reference to the security footprint and our resources that we have in District and and correct rightfully so I I should not talk about too much about our security footprint but we will have people at all the buildings as we did this year um and continue that for our students we're still down one person just that's clear we're still down one position in security we are we are yes we are but we are reshuffling our staff to uh provide the same footprint but the oversight that the the security is moving into another school the oversight I can't comment on security moves okay just another recommendation if we could just stop using the reshuffling reducing Workforce I mean these are human beings here today and had a very emotional conversation with one of they're decent people so just please keep that in mind they they are they are they're decent people Everyone is all of our staff is but unfortunately we cannot comment on security we cannot comment on Personnel it's not that we don't want to comment we cannot thank [Applause] you my name is s deao I'm a junior at Nelly High School you said that you are letting go positions based on what is needed for students what led to Letting Go a mental health specialist in the in the high school because to me that seems like a very important position and an Irreplaceable position yeah I apologize but I I can't comment on Staffing decisions that nature I didn't ask for a specific staff member I asked what led to cutting these positions you answered Tyler's question as as mentioned uh review performance of all of our staff every year um the evaluators discuss um different things uh resulting from that every year in every school district decisions are made based on Staffing um I I'd like you to know there's no mental health specialist in the high school there's just guidance counselors so if you have a serious issue they cannot help you you don't have a trained psychologist now you just have guidance counselors that are meant for just grades now that you've let her go thank you for listening hi I'm Anna green I'm a senior at Nelly High School I understand that there needs to be reconstruction with the teachers being terminated for the next year but I was just wondering if there has been any reconstruction anywhere else like the Board of Education [Applause] so the Board of Education are I mean we're volunteers right we get we we get elected uh and we're volunteers we do not get paid okay this is not a paid this is not a paid position we are here as volunteers you're not okay listen you you you you can come up and ask questions and you make comments um but you know we we are like I said we are volunteers we are not paid this is not a paid position that we hold okay thank you for your [Applause] time uh hi my name is Claire Morgan and I live at 22 DeVos Place I'm new uh to the township of Nutley um and I you know understand and uh that you are here at your own will and on your own time but this is you know more than an executive level because you're dealing with the community um if you're not the people that can talk to us about why our teachers are being cut or we can't discuss security or like the young lady spoke about mental health who do we talk to because we have right we live in America and I think it's only fair that if you can't help us there's someone from the state that's come in is a district attorney involved are there other people that can answer our questions that you guys cannot outside of us emailing an info at something for us to go off of because all of the problems are real and the solutions I don't know you're going to come up with them and it's a big big problem but we need additional help and by telling us the people that you can't discuss it and initially a few weeks ago sorry that you weren't going to cut but now people are getting cut you know there's a difference of of what you're saying and what we're seeing and it is our children it's our livelihood and we do pay we pay taxes and we're not even a Blue Ribbon School District and we care the PTO of all the schools everyone cares a tremendous amount to put all this effort in to the community to the township so I want to know who we can speak to outside of the board that could give us the information and who can this be escalated to because as we all have compliant if you can't do anything about it there are always you know that escalation so that the people can feel protected and we have our rights and things are done in a very lawful way so it's we it's not that we don't want to you know give you information I'm not saying you don't want to I'm just saying you can't and that's the bottom line you can't so we just need a solution right like if you can't that's not a problem I respect that I respect every single person's role in all of the time and the effort of you coming here and putting in your time but it doesn't change the fact that we need an answer and if you can't help us because things go wrong and they have gone wrong and we as the community we're we're trying to do something about it because it falls on us I guess it depends on your question right so what question is it that you're looking to have answered is the da involved we've answered that that that right now maybe I missed the meeting but but I'm saying we've we've we've had those questions asked and we've answered those questions are they okay they are not okay okay we have not our our investigation so far has not proven that has shown any any type of malfeasance or any of that but there as we as we ALS let me just finish answer I'm sorry okay but as we also mentioned at a prior meeting there's going to be a forensic order that's going to be done not by us by an independent outside firm have you hired an outside firm no we have at this point that's going to be part of the that's going to be part of our uh discussions with the Department of Education who's the one that makes the decisions on whether or not this is a DA case or not a DA case and whether or not you guys have with all due respect the level of ability and Specialty to handle something of this size at this scale so we're not this board is not doing their friends of AIT that's going to be done by an outside firm we're not but that hasn't been done yet you have not hired someone to do that yet that's going to be done in consultation with the Department of Education okay who is the one who determines whether or not this is a case for the da to investigate anytime if anything Rose to like a criminal level yeah obviously things would go through myself as well and in terms of giving the board guidance that oh yeah this Rises the level in consultation also with the state monitor um if anything were like that to to come about as a result of the audit or anything else um so they would consult with with our office and you know and we would so you guys need to hire an outside a agency to do an audit you've already been assigned a state person who needs to come in here and watch everyone do their job for 10 years on top of that your books and Records need to be audited for x amount of years and you don't find this to be at all something that should go to them so that they can investigate which then would maybe open up doors for us as a community to get certain funding and help so that our teachers and our security and our mental health folks will remain in their position so our children and our taxes could remain decent and people can keep their [Applause] jobs I work in tax and compliance I work with the IRS and I work with every agency in a state in the United States of America in the UK and in Turkey so there's compliance right this this is of a magnitude that I don't think you should have the right to say it's not for the da oh that that depends you need you need the evidence what what if I call the da you need the evidence and I say the da I am a homeowner I pay my taxes I have a six-year old in school in your Township there's children in middle school and high school in which there's mental illness suicides sicknesses that we don't have the proper care for that the Department of Education should be protecting and if they can't because the other people can't and the other people can't then it's time for the other people to come in in in and give us the assistance that we need because you guys don't have the resources or the capacity to do it in a way where it doesn't globally affect our Township and the health and the well-being and security of our [Applause] children I chose to live in Nutley I came from North Bergen and from New York City I chose to come here and invest my money in Nutley and I have a child here and I have a family like all these other wonderful people like you do too and I don't believe that that in the time that you found out about the mismanagement of the funds moving into a budget having such a huge deficit that anyone here with all due respect has the ability to manage at this point in the game and I think that the other people that should be involved who have the capacities and the resources at a higher either state or government level need to help otherwise you have a town that's thriving you have a community of people I drive by every day and we all take care of our homes we are a well-knit [Music] community so that's what I want to say is that in my opinion the da should be called in so that in the interm of you guys trying to figure it out you're no longer the professional team for this get the right people in here so we don't have to waste our time our children are not at risk and whoever needs the mental health will be able to have the resources to get [Applause] [Music] it can we expect that can you call the da in thank you we will we're going to we're working through the Department of Education no I'm not talking about the Department of Education that's a tier right so we have a b CDE E and F and I just want to know at what point that this catapult to another tier where there are other people with bigger eyes and other resources outside of what you have been able to contribute ma'am there's no evidence at this time if there is you needed to have a state representative come in for 10 years you're getting your books audited you cannot provide us with information as to where the money is how is that not criminal you have [Applause] provided so so ma'am if if I could interject a little bit and I thank you for your comments and and and quite frankly the emotion matters um and and and I know you've said these are people these are children we all have children here I'm I'm sharing a lot of the emotions you have um since we identified what was going on in March we've been under duress from a timeline perspective and a state statute perspective and what does that mean that means we were forced in less than one week to put a preliminary budget back to the state and then we were forced over the next call it eight weeks forced to put together a budget as we waited for support from the state for a monitor your questions have been asked many times particularly around un you know we'll call it an investigation okay if I may because I don't want to be the only one up here I know other people want to speak as far as I'm concerned how you managed whatever books and records were kept to be in a place where no one knows what's going on and you need an auditor and a state agent to come in here we're beyond that conversation I don't want to know and I don't care because again I wait wait one second please I work in compliance just like the IRS your taxes are due every year and regardless what your problem is you need to file them and you need to pay them bottom line no one cares about a story and we don't care about a story right now you presented us with an issue that was created by whomever was involved and responsible that is not our problem you guys need to sort that out with the people you need to answer to my only concern is what it is that you're doing now and the fact that up until now you were not able to and I don't mean you but whomever it was that's involved and you you are the committee that's representing the people who are in charge of all of this whatever you were doing you were doing now you provided us with information and we all have a big problem on our hands that we did not create and our livelihood is directly impacted I don't care if it's relatable to you I don't all I care about is that at this point this is been three weeks going four weeks going however long it was that you guys found out hey we have like you know a million plus of an issue going on and no one really has an answer for it that that in itself that in itself is Grand lony Beyond a degree I'd like to I'd like to provide you an answer let me say this I I I don't care to know okay that you can relate to us and I don't care to know about the measures you've taken thus far what I want to know is when you guys are going to be bringing in another panel of Specialists outside of an auditor and outside of who the state at this point made you take on because you're not able to handle it and you're not able to on top of that provide us the information that we need which is making us understand that we need to speak to other people and because you're telling us the only thing that you can do is cut our taxes take away our teachers and our mental health then you know what we have a big problem so we need to talk to the other people so I i' I'd like to answer your question it from a timeline because you're asking a question that everyone is asking the reason why I brought up the timeline is because one of the things we need to do is approve a budget and then the state will fund us with our loan once we're funded with our loan we will bring in an outside auditor we're not picking them once the outside auditor comes in and performs a forensic audit which will take between four and six months that information would be given back to the state and then all of the authorities that you would expect to see the forensic audit so the answer is are full expectation is we perform those tasks and get that in but until then we have to pass a budget for next year okay okay I I think that maybe this is why the we are in the problem that we're in because of the thought process here all you guys are wanting to think about is a budget and what we're trying to figure out is what's going to happen next so to me I find that the fact that the district attorney's office that was not brought in I think at this point you guys cannot handle the situation and I don't think that it's fair to the community to the people that are losing their jobs to the uncertainties that we have as homeowners and the safety of our children that we need to wait four months 6 months for your process because if the district attorney came in they would have a completely different process and I guess this is where I'm getting at I respect your process but I just don't think that we are at the level that your process works because it's all internal this is all internal and I feel outside of the state because the state can only do what the state can do that's what needs to happen because it seems from what you've said to the other guests here tonight you've maxed out of your resources because the only thing you're pulling from okay are taxes we don't know about employment there there are all these uncertainty uncertainties but they will for a fact come from us in either either a form of money or the loss of a member of our community who serves us each day or even worse the life of our child right so I would like to say to the committee because we're all free citizens to do as we choose I would like you to have your meeting and consider moving this forward into the hands of people that have better resources who can externally look at what everybody is doing and figure out a different way because there's absolutely no excuse to how or why on God's green earth the money and the Gap is the amount that it is it is incredible thank you [Applause] well thank you for your comments thank you hi Cheryl gasso Evergreen Avenue I'm also a staff member I'm sorry can you just speak into the mic it's hard to hear from can you hear me now now yes oh better thank you okay sorry I just have a couple of I had a couple other questions but I'll save those for Monday you mentioned Revenue other than taxes what other revenues does the Board of Education have uh state aid aside from state aid well there's there's some something where I'm I'm looking for something that's really not costing the taxpayers because state aid just on the other end gets us yeah we have some Revenue that comes in uh from rentals uh we have federal grants that we receive um we have some money uh that that generates from our food service account okay and just one thing with Staffing I know you can't talk about Staffing but as far as who is has been let go I understand non- tenure first year teachers that aren't renewed for uh performance but in other in general is it last hired first fired do you look at per even with older staff members like staff members aside from non-tenured or new do you look at performance do you look at attendance do you look at other factors other than just they were the last one that was hired because we have people that I obviously I work in the school so I see a lot of different people there's people that go above and beyond non-stop all day long there's also people that just do enough to skate by I'm just wondering if is that all taken into account when did deciding who's going who's staying where we could cut where we could move people is that taken into account or is it just strictly last hired we can do it in two parts Mr Bia uh when it comes to tenur staff yes it goes by seniority right um there there are no riffs of tenured staff here when it comes to non-tenured staff and again it's an administrative decision obviously non-tenured can be non-renewed u in terms of need how things are being structured um and then you have your other category of teachers that are non-renewed for performance reasons but in terms of the ones that are non-renewed for not performance reasons just because of the Riff um that really is an administrative decision to in terms of how he's going to allocate those teachers right it's based on available District resources and where the need is for students okay and then if you had um who's going to take over the responsibilities of the people that in other words if you had someone who was doing this now they're gone who's going to take that over it's just going to be distributed out to yeah that's the work through the administrative team we'll work through um finding ways to offer the same services to students with other resources right okay and I have one other question and I do not know Miss I think it's mackus do not know you at all but may I don't know if other people I'm sure have seen there's rumors there's things posted online about uh working relationship with Mr deiza prior with the county executive is can you address that to put people's minds at ease that there's no conflict [Music] here I'm sorry there is no conflict I don't have a relationship with Mr depa I was an executive County uh business official in Bergen County uh we were at the same meeting uh the Bergen County County uh officials uh uh business officials has a meeting once a month as the executive County Su County Business official I go to all those meetings to bring the information regarding budgets regarding dates regarding XY and Z so did I interact with Mr deiza at one of these meetings I'm sure I did do I have a relationship with Mr deiza the answer is unequivocally no thank you I appreciate that I know you know the rumors are flying and it's better to have read I don't read the Instagram and Facebook I know Pro but unfortunately a lot of people that's where they get most of their news well but the answer is unequivocally no okay thank you thank you so anyone else wishing to come and speak Jess Barber 51 Monclair Avenue um I've been in my home for about 13 months now and I have more and more regretted that choice since this news broke um that also came around the time where we got our tax bill where our taxes went up at least $600 a month um so now my husband and I are now listening to a 5.27 tax levy and are questioning how we are going to afford to be able to stay in our home which is what bought me down here because somebody else also brought that up and just the lack of accountability and transparency and just the lack of everything coming off of you right now where you have to sit here and stare at me and look me in the eye and tell me that I deserve to pay for your mistake because that is exactly what this is I work in a public school it is I work in a public school so I have an understanding of how budgeting does work and if you're going to say that there is this giant question mark as to how that this problem became a problem it is because someone wasn't doing their job and you were elected to do a job for this PE for these people and I didn't get to vote for you but I get to pay for the mistake that was done by this board of education that is disgusting also David depa was the talk of the tri-state area when he did this to Linhurst 2 years ago so to say that no one knew so to say that no one in public education in this area knew of his reputation would be a lie and aside from the fact that New Jersey does pass the trash on public employees you're telling me this was not in his personnel file anywhere I again all it took was a Google and again you are part of a public Board of Education it happened less than three miles away you can't tell me you didn't know so the fact that he was in charge of our finances or the oversight of our finances with an entire Board of Ed also in charge of overseeing our finances again I now get to pay for your failure as a board of ed that is what you are telling me because that is the only option a tax levy a tax levy is your only option another person said here figure it out and she is exactly right figure it out why should the residents of this town have to figure out either fig figuring out how to pay their taxes or how to sell their house in a town where they might not recruit their money because I will absolutely not make the money back on my home that I just bought if I try to sell it because all somebody is going to do that tries to buy into this town is going to Google the school system and this is going to be the first thing that pops up so now I am stuck in a house that I might not be able to afford and a town that is going to start sinking faster than the Titanic because this board of education is going to take it [Applause] down I have no question thank [Applause] you Mark Alan fre R Nutley the uh teachers are laying off how long have they been here average two years three years four years what not any non- tene teachers are here I'm asking you just average how many years have they taught nutly well I don't know what exactly with regard to all teachers if it was three years their performance was good three years ago all of a sudden it's not because you guys screwed up the money [Applause] yeah we yeah can't comment on how long know but but um don't confuse ones that were are being riffed not for performance it's not performance you're answer to every fire is performance no no not not everyone oh not everyone how many no that I don't know I can't answer the did any of the administration ever think of taking a pay cut [Music] [Applause] I know you're all not paid but a couple of you are yeah um yes the contract is negotiated with the board and that's discussion to have oh so you can voluntarily take a pay cut couldn't you yes are you going to do that I don't think I deserve an increment yeah are you going to what's the the Merit bonuses are coming out soon right I don't have any 225 we no there is and there are no merac CES with our superintendent so who did Merit goals go to are we allow there there's no merit bonus in his contract and somebody did so who did they go to he doesn't he doesn't get I'm not referring to him who gets the Merit bonuses obviously somebody does no no one's getting a mar there AR no no one's getting mar mar no mer bonuses at all okay that's it thank [Applause] you I'm just gonna say my name first hi my name is Caitlyn and I am a junior my name is uh Karina Rivera and I'm also a junior uh we just wanted to address the effects the budget issues have had from the perspectives of two students from nle high school who are potentially losing an educator and a coach um on March 2nd 2024 two female wrestlers including a senior and myself um from Nutley High School made history by becoming two of the three females to ever compete in the New Jersey state wrestling tournament at Boardwalk call in Atlantic City thank you thank you I've come to stand here today in recognition of our wrestling coach who is being affected currently by these circumstances who made go into States possible who should be able to dedicate himself to not just those he coaches on the mat but to also his students who sit in his classroom every day he was a wrestler at Nelly High School himself but his senior season was cut short due to an injury he had his hand raised one final time during his last dual meet of the Season which in my opinion did not indicate Victory it represented opport Unity the opportunity to work hard all season with his coaches and teammates the opportunity to represent a team that exemplified sportsmanship the opportunity to become a coach and assist athletes in achieving their goals at a high school and a town where successes were acknowledged both on and off the mat ladies and gentlemen I would like to acknowledge the opportunity I was given to have this coach by my side the entire SE season as a female wrestler in a sport that everyone in this room can confirm is not easy it is also not easy to be a coach or a teacher but he managed to do it all losing our coach due to these circumstances would not only be a major loss to athletic and history departments it would be a lost felt throughout the halls of Nelly high school for many years to [Applause] come building off of that myself I am also a wrestler however I don't have an amazing track record as her um but this teacher has brought me to this team and I will be forever grateful this year I've had a toal health healthare that wouldn't have been possible without me joining this team and that is all because of this one teacher some of the teachers are nle high school hord being currently affected by budget cuts because of the circumstances have happened during the board of education is this truly what is best for the students who you wish to represent I want to thank you for coming up and speaking um this is not what we want to do we don't want to cut teachers we have to get within a sustainable budget I I don't the answer to your question is no this is not the best we don't want to lose any of our wonderful staff they're truly wonderful and I understand your comments but still why must teachers such as the one I'm speaking of be affected by this type of cut when there are other teachers who are amazing and inspirational individuals why should they be cut and other teachers take over this burden of handling more classes when our teachers are really overworked it's it's a difficult situation we're in and unfortunately you know there are laws on on you know who's tenur non-tenured so it's it's very difficult it's not just a a simple you know situation where you could address uh there there it's very complicated and it's difficult and we understand all of our staff are great all of our students they amazing uh we have a great school system uh unfortunately we're just in a situation right now where we have this budget issue that is is very challenging and we need to make difficult decisions [Music] but how is that in the interest of all the other students at Nelly high school it's it's difficult and and it's and it's very challenging and uh unfortunately there's there's there's no there's not much wiggle room or way around it right you have only so much revenue that you have and you you you have to reduce your expenses in order to match that revenue and and those are that's where the challenge comes in is is where do you make those adjustments it's going to affect someone but we're trying to minimize the effect and that's where the challenges are unfortunately we can't go into the specifics of that because it does involve Personnel but that's that's the challenge you only have so much revenue and you have to make sure your expenses you know match [Music] that I understand that there's a lot of specifics so you guys can't go over but is there a little bit more that you can give us because we understand that these budget cuts are because of the financial situation that the board of pet has but is there anything else that can be done because is there anything else you can give us other than [Music] that I mean there it's very it's the revenue that we generate right is is so is is a fixed number and the expenses are you have to match that to the revenue and so there's there's it you have to make them equal right and right now the expenditures for this the coming year were a lot higher than the money that we have coming in so you have to balance that out with making adjustments finding efficiencies uh reducing certain certain areas uh there's really no other way of doing that and it's difficult and that's where the Administration has the difficult job of of of figuring this all out and trying to make it so that it's it's got the minimal impact on the school district and the students trying to keep a lot of the programs in place all you know that's this budget that we have that was presented last Monday night keeps our programs intact but firing teachers does affect the students incredible absolutely it does and we understand that all right thank you thank [Applause] you Steve Gober 30 65 Mapes have um I have a couple of questions can you just speak in the microphone thank sorry about that I have a couple of questions um the first would be in terms of the security officers I know that you don't want to speak individually about them uh I will ask a ret trading class three officers for class two officers in the schools are we downgrading the security uh no no and the gentleman that currently is being reassigned is he the backup for the security guards currently that would be absent should somebody not be there is he their backup can't speak to the security plan but he's he's in our system so I mean you don't have to speak to it he is that guy so we are losing somebody in terms of security right we won't have coverage should somebody be out that's the truth um also I have a question regarding uh I've seen a few things about health care we spent a lot of money on Healthcare um would it be possible to get a look at those bids prior to Monday's meeting the three bids and the accepted bid in comparison to the two I don't know what bid you're referring to well all so I'm referencing one part uh one particular company uh the iMac bids can I see can we see the bids that went against that company again I don't understand which bids you're referring to so iMac won a contract with the town right with the Board of Education iMac has a contract with the Board of Education okay was that was that a bided out contract uh we can certainly look back to see I believe we did renew their contract we can see when we renewed that contract and we can provide that to you does policy call for uh all contracts awarded to have bids for it they're subject to rfps which is a little bit different under the law than bidding but requests for proposals where professionals will make proposals we have uh and iMac was renewed probably because it's on an annual basis so it would have been at the mayor June meeting of last year and they get a year contract okay so do we have the three rfps that or the competing rfps that came well you keep referencing three so I don't understand where exactly that comes from even all right so let's say it's two do we have a competing bid for it we will look to see what we have from when when that occurred and we will provide that and all that's subject to Oprah too okay yeah I I think there was an Oprah request filed for it but it hasn't been answered yet okay we will look into that thank you that'd be great um and let's um let's try to keep our questions obviously specific to those four items that I thought Healthcare was on that I thought number four was healthare no that's that's a that's a healthcare waiver I thought I thought it was like No it's it's a healthcare waiver for for for the budget okay that's fair enough um that's all I guess uh we'll just go with that thank you oh no actually one followup there was a there was a girl that asked about restructuring at the Board of Education yeah okay so I do have a followup um not all board employees are volunteers correct there are paid people on the board's payroll Board of Education members no yeah no no not Board of Education members there's people that work for the Board of Education in the Board of Education offices correct oh yes have they been restructured because we're affecting the children so it would only make sense that your guys work uh your guys assistance would be affected as well right I so when you say our assistance it's they work for you they work for they work for the school district all right so if we're Mr Herber as we mentioned in Prior meetings okay there's a full there's a full review from top to bottom okay so that that is something that occurs and that's something so who reviews The Board of employees employees the board of education's employees the superintendent is the one who reviews all of the employees so if the people have lost faith in the superintendent and I'm just speaking for myself but if the people have lost faith in the superintendent and the superintendent is the only person that's making all of these decisions where are we left to go thank you Mr gber thank you no thank you doesn't thank you doesn't answer the question no the question was if we've lost confidence right as Citizens where can we go did this is a time for public comment all right every question does not have to be answered you can comment make commentate monitor is the state monitor here is this are you guys the state monitor's office all your questions need to be directed to the chair please direct them to me Mr gber okay Mr Ferrero is that the state the state monitor yes that's the state monitor okay can the state Mr Ferrero can the state monitor help us can they can we talk directly with the state monitor at any point throughout this process or are we are we left to mediate through the board that has let us stand well the state monitor is here on behalf of the state of New Jersey Mr ferero can she please help us I I am not here to I'm not here to ask her to speak or not speak but I can't okay I have to talk to you I can't address her so my question to you is can she please help she is here she is here to help that's why she's here okay so okay that's why she's we can't talk to her she's not here to help us okay okay and well they they're supposed to please direct please direct your comments to the chair not to the audience oh okay so they're supposed to Yes um thank you thank you Mr [Applause] Gerber hello I'm Russell vesil a sophomore of Nutley school and I just sort of wanted to add on to what Karina and Caitlyn were saying earlier and as I speak now I'm currently standing in front of both people from wrestling and baseball who all have come here in the name of Capa who has meant so much to all of [Applause] us I spoke to Capa today during lunch and when I was talking to him about what had transpired he said that coming forward there was no spot for him in nutly high and I just don't think that that's right at all I I just don't understand how you could sit up there and say you understand and you care about the uh woman who may not be able to afford her own home uh but you yourselves aren't losing your jobs and you're not potentially losing your homes and I just don't think it's really right to let somebody who stands out among other teachers like Mr cap go because he has meant so much to each and every one of [Applause] us thank you uh Sebastiano 443 Prospect so this school year I believe the budget was about 74 million and in order to have the same Services same Personnel same programs for next year would have costed 87 million so that's where that shortfall came came from is that correct about it's it's the program L this current year is is is 87 million okay next year when you look at the program if you took this year's program and just moved it into next year it would be there would be a $133 million difference got it so for that 13 million part of that is inflation right there's a big things just cost more so whether it's Insurance things cost more so we're getting state aid um and you're having some other aid but then a big portion I think from your presentation I might be wrong about six million is going to come from some sort of reduction in services so what is going to stop us from being here next year at this exact same time asking you these exact same questions where you're going to have to cut people again because everything's just going to cost more and there's going to be a deficit again how are you get what are you doing today in order to address the shortfall so that it's sustainable over time and it's not for this year because then next year you're gonna have to do it again and again and again well it I mean that's what that's the point of what we're trying to do for next year is create a baseline I think that's what uh we we discussed at the last meeting is creating a baseline to which then to build from um right now we have we have reliable Revenue that we're projecting for next year um which we will balance out with the expenditures which which resulted in a lot of the things that we talked about which was the additional state aid uh the tax levy increase and you know obviously the the the cuts and the the adjustments that are going to be made um but but that's that brings us to a new Baseline um next year's budget you know we're going to work to make sure that doesn't happen um our state monitors here with us and that's that's uh that's going to be a responsibility that that we're going to be working with her to make sure that that doesn't happen during the course of the year so a part of that is the is hopefully getting another Grant from the state getting more Federal money like which isn't promised right no we're gon to but but we advocate for ourselves every year for additional state aid uh there's a formula there that the state has there's school districts that have seen state aid that that that's been taken away from them we were one of those school districts a few years ago where we did have state aid taken away from us I remember so we're going to advocate for that you know we're making the adjustments on the expenditure side and and um and that's that's we're creating a budget that is sustainable that's the that's the goal so does that sustainability take us back to a 2% increase of our taxes or is that going to be that 5% every year in order to keep us obviously I can't I know I could speak for myself um I am one person uh who has in over the last many years has very rarely voted for budgets over 2% uh I think we need to create budgets that are sustainable within that but we're in a challenging situation now which is why we're we're at this 5.2% I can only speak for myself but that's that is something that uh will have to be addressed next year uh and my goal hopefully is to be within the 2% okay but these are CH you know you brought up you brought up a point before that you know the times are not just challenging for nutly I mean if you if you just Google other school districts these are the same challenges that are happening with many of the other school districts throughout the state um you know you have you have health care costs that are rising you have salaries that are rising um all all all the cost across the border are increasing and that's what's making a lot of this these issues more challenging for the school districts I get that I mean that's across all Industries so like I know that in my job that we have to continue continuously cut things over the past few years in order to make make our budget whether it's people or programs so I just don't I don't see how next year you're not going to have to cut more things or cut more people in order to meet meet the the budget the amount of money that you have to spend I just I get you don't know exactly what's going to happen next year but like we have to know people have to understand like we're be back here again it's maybe isn't going to be as drastic but there's no chance that this isn't going to happen again to sub gring thank [Applause] you hi sorry I forgot one question I was looking at the the check Journal just as for expenditures and I'm just wondering why it doesn't tell you what the check is for is for it tells you who it's payable to the amount of the check but it doesn't say what for in other I'll just give an example there's one here for educ educere LLC for $1,875 what's that for like what are we buying or what service are we getting all the checks here they don't say what they're for so I'm not exactly sure what that this is the this is from the minutes of the board meetings this is from the the bills yes but but there's none of that on tonight so I don't know specifically what well because it's all part of the budget this is all money we're spending I'm just asking why it doesn't say what is are we getting a service are we buying something just so for transparency so we can say oh I see that's what you're getting I mean there's $3,000 to shop right what are we buying at shopr $88,000 I'm no not that one 177,000 to mcquery equipment Capital like are we renting equipment ma'am I think we're g to get a little bit off track here because that deals with last year's budget that's last year's budget we're here to talk about this year's budget well this is what I'm just asking why the check register doesn't say what they're for what are we spending this money for it's all part of the budget what's edes just answer with edes here edes here is our homebound uh online that we pay for homebound instruction when kids have to go home instead of at school for instruction okay but in the future is it possible to your point is you want a description on the check right like what we're spending the money on you know so people know what it's for does I does that make sense it we could certainly look into that I mean obviously if it's something we can do we will uh sometimes there may be things we can't because it's it's it's person personel related or student matter or student related but I do have to say there is personel because there's a lot of checks written to Dave depa thank you doesn't say [Applause] for uh hi my name is Thea de Fabio and I'm a freshman at Nutley high school I know you said you didn't really want anything personal but it feels kind of personal because by you laying off all these teachers it's affecting the students more than anyone and just like Russell said one teacher saino CAPA he really changed like and helped a lot of us by being a coach for three different sports as you can see there's a lot of kids here and he's coached and been a teacher to a lot of them and it's just like he's a really good teacher and it feels unfair that one person's mistakes that's took all this money he has to live with it now after he dedicated his time to being a teacher and to his students by coaching three extra Sports outside of his school time and his job I just like I I want to understand like I know that there were a lot of teachers fired and I know this is personal but I feel like it's really wrong and we all feel like it's really wrong that this one specific teacher is fired because he's done I feel so much more extra than other teachers and it just doesn't feel right yeah we understand we understand that and when we say personal we're not saying it's personal it's it's Personnel so when it's a Personnel matter we're not we cannot discuss the person personnels that matter with with regard to anyone in the district um I also understand you volunteered for these jobs but central office across the street has not and they get paid very well off my parents tax dollars uh will that office be reconstructed going into the school year because this is obviously their mistake there's been efficiencies in restructuring from top down is there anything else you have to say for affecting the rest of my high school career with your layoffs I just [Applause] like it's this is you know as I said before this is very difficult these are challenging times I and I understand that that the students and the way that you're you're you're you're there supporting someone that you feel very strongly about and we appreciate that and that is something that's very commendable that that you do that you're doing that and all of the students are doing that um this is not something that is you know is making the residents happy obviously it's not making the board happy but but there are difficult decisions that have to be made and these are some of the recommendations that are coming down to the Board of Education from our our superintendent and and so these are the these are just difficult times and and but we understand and appreciate what you're saying and and all of the uh the support that you have for for someone who's very special and and dear for you uh Jacob harlo sophomore I understand you guys have volunteered for all these positions yes we are so how could you still consider yourself volunteers as the money from the budget is obviously going to somebody so the money from the budget is going to our school district I'm talking about the stolen or lost money so I think that's something that we've discussed before uh there there is no evidence that money's been stolen the lost money how could you consider yourself volunteers as somebody is getting the lost money who's getting the lost money I don't know you tell me okay well there's there's no evidence that money was stolen okay I didn't say that talking about the loss money is obviously going to someone so how are you considering yourself a volunteer still so we at a prior meeting we we discussed the issue and how we got here and that there was an overstatement in revenue and an and an understatement in in in multiple budget uh expenditure line items that resulted in the situation where we are currently with the 23 24 year that means that doesn't mean that money's missing that money is is there are still programs there are still salaries there's there's there's things that are that are occurring between now and the end of the year that are going to be paid for they just that there was a deficit to cover that because of those overstated revenues and understated expenditures but there has been no evidence so far that money was was stolen and we as Board of Ed members are volunteers we do not get paid [Music] thank [Applause] you um Nick Palumbo 50 kenzel um so your mission statement as a as our school is to challenge Inspire and Empower students so obviously one teacher in particular Mr gapa has inspired uh many students as they showed up here half of us didn't even know there was board meetings like this and we showed up because of him and other teachers that were uh wrongfully being fired and I just want to say how embarrassing it is as a town that it's coming to this for a teacher that won teacher of the year and last month so you guys said he was the best teacher in our school and then also coached several Sports obviously impacted many students that are also here and you guys are firing him for no reason as he was also not the least experienced teacher in his Department which you guys said was the reason you were firing teachers [Applause] and the reason and the reason this is happening is because you guys mismanaged money which we all know wasn't mismanaged it was you guys all have a play in it because you guys are in charge of keeping the money and where' the money go you guys are saying it's not because of that we all know we all know you guys have a hand in it and you guys are impacting teachers that are working hard and following what you want every single day for the students and following your motto and mission statements and now you're firing them because of that it's embarrassing as a town it's embarrassing as a board thank [Applause] you uh Santino rues Junior nutly High I just don't understand how you can fire a teacher not even two weeks after he wins teacher of the month how is that like make sense to you guys as a board how how does that go through your heads yeah let's hear it and I know it's frustrating and I know how much a teacher and a coach mean to I used to be a coach too I was a wrestling coach and a football coach for a high school so how how would you feel in that position then I I wouldn't feel very well at all um to be honest with you but and and not to shut you down and not to avoid things but like Personnel decisions like and what goes into those decisions they they legally can't discuss I know it's frustrating but you know as the lawyer I have to you know caution them that they they can't get into the details of what why the decision was made on a personto person basis but as you saw all of these kids in this room they were all touched by a Capa in some way shape or form he all he has a place in all their hearts and you just throw him out like that like how like doesn't make sense to us see somebody y horrible makes no sense to anybody in this to anybody in this goddamn room [Applause] Okay so we've um we usually allocate 20 minutes for these public discussion portion um we're already at an hour and a half so we're going to we're going to give it another five minutes but then we're going to we're going to close down the public comment portion um because we do have uh the four agenda items that we have to address thank [Music] you sorry um throughout this this uh you know discussion here there's been a big emphasis on this theme of sustainability right notably economic stain sustainability and that's where the budget cuts cuts are coming from which you know on paper it makes sense we don't have the money so we need to budget but that doesn't take into account the you sustainability of the quality of our education that is to come right by laying off teachers class sizes are going to be increased there's going to be 30 you know 30 or more kids in every single class it's some teachers can't handle it and and you know that's not any fault to them and it it you know it does a disservice to a lot of students who who can't learn an environment that might be more hectic right it'll affect uh extracurriculars right and I'm aware that uh one of the band teachers is being cut that could affect the the marching ban that's a huge costly investment that also not to mention is you know one of the greatest programs in this district and yet you know it's being harmed by this and you know say what you want about this economic sustainability we might you know survive financially which even then we might not given tax increases for you know all the people in the audience uh you know and uh teachers a lot of which live in nutly who are being laid off um sorry sorry um not only are is it it's still going to harm us economically but it's going to the quality of our education there's less people working there's too many students and programs are going to be hurt drastically by it whether it be coaches teachers clubs and other extracurriculars so we we we addressed the class size at our at our presentation last week and a lot of these uh restructuring is is going to have minimal impact on the class size you know in the middle school you're going to see an increase of somewhere between 20 21 that we are currently to about 24 kids per class and that's well below still the state you know recommended numbers um so we we look that's something the administration looks at those are that's those are factors that that come into their decision making to make sure that whatever the the changes are are going to have minimal impact on our students and our programs and and that's what this budget does for next year has minimal impact on that on those um we're keeping a lot of those programs in place that you just referenced uh unfortunately when it comes to Personnel that's where the the difficult decisions are are made and it's not it's not always easy and it's it's definitely not popular uh and and and we we but we appreciate and we value what you're you and a lot of your friends are are up here supporting someone that you feel that strong about and sometimes those those are the decisions that uh are beyond our control and so and and a lot of that is is you're the one yeah you're making the decisions but as as our lawyer mentioned though some some of those decisions are not our under our control as to then who control who controls it under no it's it's based on Le it's based on legal I I'll let our attorney discuss that again and and try to explain it okay well so I from well when you answered Mr sebastiano's Question very early on about you know following mine about the uh process for which you terminate uh you know teachers in this sort of situation that it starts with seniority right and whether or not they're tenured and then it boils down to observations by state employees am I correct in that well it depends there's two categories one category is is observations and non-renewals based upon performance then there's the categories that are just being non-renewed due to the Riff because there's a reduction in force so there's two different categories there but I just want to remind everyone you're at like four minutes right now um I know the president had extended it for five minutes I I think there's a couple other people that are back there yeah so we're going to you know we're already going above the hour and a half here we had only allocated 20 minutes for these discussions so we have we have the four agenda items we still have to have to address I yeah that can happen I mean I think the people who are here are willing to stay are they not are are you not willing to stay and no we are willing to stay but we need to also move on with the meeting and we've we've addressed a lot of the the questions a lot of the concerns we've answered those and and so I understand there's a lot of emotion here and I understand it's emotional for you because of you know you you you and your and your friends you value this individual and and we we understand that but but like we said these are difficult decisions that have to be made and and and they're they're based on not just looking at one area based on looking the entire District even then as I was going to say before the the process for since you know we're all out in the open here right now the process by which Sabino Kola was terminated is is your logic is flawed in that you're saying that it starts with you know that seniority plays a a role in it when there's other teachers who have less seniority than him who have not been terminated and you make perfect sense in terms of logic but it's according to law and we have to follow what the laws are especially when it comes to seniority and well is the law not that seniority affects it that's what you said tenure of tenur Staff yes so then the subjective observations should be what what dictates whether or not teachers are terminated and the subjective observations you know I get that these aren't state employees but I feel like the the impact that this specific teacher has had on on all these students and on myself and even on the parents by extension is is is undeniable and and you know should not be just swept under cuz the state employee doesn't agree you're over the five minutes now oh thank you we I don't know what else to how else to explain it and and I just want to just say thank you for because you're you know you've shown that obviously you feel very dear for this individual as everyone else has well not exactly over the I'd say figure it out because you're not getting the same reaction for you know another teacher and and I guess I get that these decisions have been made but you know you guys have the power just like cons yeah reconsider it try to figure it out think outside the box thank you that's that's all thank you thank you okay we're going to we're going to take a you know one more question and then I'm going to ask for a motion [Music] okay so I'm going to build off of what Nick and Tyler both said so when you Googled the Mutley Board of Ed um according to the Mutley schools website says the Nutley board of education is Guided by the mission of the Nutley public schools which is to challenge Inspire and Empower students to become creative confident passionate self-directed citizens who actively and purposefully contribute in our Global Society so my question to the board is how your solution to make up for lost money is in the best decision of your students by taking away their favorite teachers by their Sports their electives their Mental Health Care Professionals every reason that gives these students the motivation to go to school in the first place how is this the best solution for the students I have spent the last four years of my high school career being my class vice president completely volunteer time just like you said you all do volun voluntarily and as my time I have tried to enhance the community at the Nutley High School by building a student body that is so very little the school spirit in this town so very little because of maybe it's our Administration maybe it's the students as the problem but we lack the resources in our school to begin with to have this happy environment so by taking away the little happy things we have to create completely changes the entire Dynamic of our building how is the Reconstruction in the better of us as the students and why are we directly facing the repercussions of your [Applause] mistakes so thank you for that and obviously what what's clear tonight is that with all of our students that came out and spoke you what there something right's happening right it's in the sense that you felt the need to come out um and and that's and that's something that at least shows that we do have a good school district because obviously if you didn't care you wouldn't come out you wouldn't be here tonight as all the other students right and we and we understand that so obviously you know that that's something that I want to just point out and thank all of you for for doing that and and and it's very challenging obviously I keep saying that but these are these are not decisions that are easy to make and unfortunately we have to intro we have to submit a balanced budget and so that balanced budget uh is something that has to be submitted to the state and so with that we're we're very difficult decisions I you keep saying the difficult decisions throughout this entire meeting tonight but the diff difficult decisions you are making are directly impacting all of us have you taken the time to ask us how it is going to impact us how your DEC are impacting us so so during the course of the last month and a half we've heard from many many people in the community have you spoken to students have you asked students how they feel that you were taking away their favorite teachers their favorite coaches their Sports their favorite electives their courses I I don't believe and our superintendent can can can discuss the this but let me just let me just so in in this budget process there are many many areas I understand yes or no question it's either yes you did speak to us or no you didn't so I'll turn it over to our superintendent I let me just let me just give you just one okay all right so we'll turn it over to our superintendent go ahead in in this process we looked at um the needs of keeping our our programs going and and how we could best do that for our students so decisions were made uh based on um the riffing procedures um to match the budget that we have based on keeping our programs going that was our biggest goal uh hearing from everyone keeping our music program our special education our AP courses all of those things so that's how the decisions were made but did you ask the students did you ask the band students how they would feel about their band teacher being cut did you ask the students with mental health issues how they would feel next year when their teacher who supports them wasn't there when the kids who played baseball last year flag football wrestling and tackle football did you ask them how they would feel when their coach would be cut I I I I think the answer is no student would want any teacher cut and we're doing our best to keep the programs going in the school district but again so no students the Board of Ed is to serve the students to serve the education in our town and yet no students can have any involvement in any decisions that have been made throughout this entire process thank you thank you okay um I think we're going to end up the public comment portion this is the last one this is the last question okay this is going to be the last question and then we're going to end the comma portion of of this meeting uh Brent vonroth uh 32 Colonial terrs Brent Von raw 32 Colonial terrorist one I want to thank all the the children have come out just to make their statements I understand that this wasn't part on it but they did come out because they have emotions so thank you for coming out but the question I have and I know now the states here and I'm not going to direct it right to the state but I'm one that works for a state agency and our fiscal year 24 is coming to a close and we have a budget we have to meet in emergency management and then we have to present our fisol year 25 now working Emergency Management there's a lot of vendors we deal with multiple a lot of equipment we order multiple a lot of answers to our commissioner that we have to answer and it has to be done before July and we already had it in place in May why because our director has to approve it before it sends it up to the board so with the state here again it's not going to them but I hope based on the investigation that's going to be made by whoever it is looks at every vendor and I hope they look and Mr ay whatever check was cut whoever's responsible I think those vendors should be vetted because if we don't find that 9 million 7 million 11 million we're going to be doing this to the next teacher next year and if we don't get it and if he's not criminally charged are we going to then create a civil case against him because I don't think you're getting the money from the state because I don't think they have it because they're working on other projects and you're the federal but do we have a plan in place is a question to our board our volunteers or whoever represent the people that came out here today do you have a plan to either potentially go civil action towards Mr ay to get the money from him or insurance or something to make up the void because I don't think we're going to close the gap I don't but if you can answer that at least if that's a plan outside the box what I what I can answer is that our state monitor is here and that's an indication that we are going to get funding from the state but again you get the funding from the but if we don't get the 9 million back because we're not gonna we're I don't think we're going to close that deficit so when we don't close that deficit two years three years you've already had towns people come in that never been here wanted to invest in Nutley and ready to leave I don't know her name but I don't she's still here that's on Monclair but you know what those are people that build this town and I think all of you know that we've been in this town for many years some of you on that board and I'm going to tell you if you don't figure this out or answer those questions where we're g get the nine million back not from the state there's a lot of funding that they give to others we need to find a way to get it from Mr impy or someone where we could have civil action against them Andor know the vendors because I hope that whatever whoever's the investigators I hope you share with everyone so we could see the vendors that get vetted and checks cut because it seems to me n million if it wasn't taken directly it was given to someone else so that's it I just hope that we have a plan for that than you thank you okay can I have a motion to close the public portion second all in favor okay thank you okay mrag can you move Finance resolutions one through four uh Mr President I'd like to move Finance resolutions 124 is written discussion Mr President any discussion yes Mr President yes uh we were put on um hold for all this um I understand there was a finance committee I personally have not received any information from Beyond last week and today uh we had put this all on hold so the state monitor could review it uh the budget when I say it um have there been any material changes to the budget that was presented to us last no no based on the uh the budget now that it's balanced at the 5.25% and the massive disgusting Cuts we've had to take out of the Personnel does this budget allow us to say that we no longer have to cut anyone Beyond this budget passing today yes the preliminary budget uh the cuts Associated the preliminary budget are completed might want to repeat that the cuts associated with the preliminary budget have been completed thank you thank you any further discussion roll call Mr balamo Mr baglia yes Mrs Dan Martin yes Dr deia yes Mr rals no Mr kazinski yes Mrs Quirk yes Mr Scotty yes Mr ferara [Music] yes can I get a motion to join the meeting I'm sorry no that was last that was these were the only four items tonight so motion to adjourn Mr kazinski okay I get a second second all in favor I okay thank you everyone