##VIDEO ID:knn_WfYHisk## call Mr balamo here Mr baglia here Mr danek Martin here Dr deia here M fraginals here Mr gazinski Mrs Quirk here Mr Scotty here Mr fro here any correspondents none thank you uh okay we're going to move on to our public a presentation um Gary Vincy is here with Lurch Vincy and Bliss um we're going to be presenting Gary's going to be presenting the annual order for the fiscal year ending June 30th 2024 oh is this on okay uh thank you Mr President good evening everybody uh tonight uh before the board is the um review of last year's School audit um we provided the board uh actually in in the audience also was Liz schik she's a partner in The Firm she works also on the audit uh so Liz and I will be answering any of the questions should the board have any uh but there are two reports um before the board one is the annual comprehensive financial report and the second one actually is the auditor management report I think to expedite the uh the discussion tonight we prepared a summary um for the board so it would be easier for you to follow as opposed to going through the various reports and looking at uh various exhibits and pages in both documents um just from a financial perspective uh obviously 2324 was a very unique year for the school district uh financially you did end the year just under $3.4 million in reserves and surplus um just keep in mind that Surplus for a school district is generated really only two ways when you have your budget uh adopted you balance your budget with revenues and Appropriations any money that you collect greater than what you anticipate as a revenue goes to Surplus and any expense or any balance I should say that's left in any expense accounts that difference goes to Surplus uh and I think that's very important to to understand because if I went back one year prior the district had $2.2 million of reserves and surplus now of that 2.2 just over $1.2 million was used to balance the 2324 budget so in theory you started with $1 million going into July 23 I think what happened uh during 23 24 the budget that was presented to the board by the former business administrator for your review and approval did not provide enough resources to meet your operating expenses uh and in addition overestimated revenues that did not real uh were not realized by the district for example the budget included miscellaneous revenues most of your Aid comes or most of your Revenue comes from the state or property taxes in addition to that there were uh estimates made of about $2.7 million for miscellaneous revenues the district only collected about 700,000 so that Revenue shortfall created a direct hit to Surplus um there were probably four major budget accounts that the original budget was just insufficient for your expenses for example your tuition that you pay for special education like a lot of districts in the state of New Jersey has escalated annually the budget provided uh only $6.6 million but you did spend 7.6 that is a systemic problem with a lot of districts a lot of tuition contracts escalated 10% or greater um and unfortunately that $1 million variants again affected your reserves the transportation was also impacted because of special education in addition to tuition you have to transport uh the students and the budget provided to you for your approval was only 2 $2 million but in reality you spent 2.7 health insurance was another item that the budget uh did not have enough resources the budget was estimated at 11.7 at year end you incurred 14.7 million uh of expenses the maintenance budget was about 700,00 too low and unfortunately I think as you review a budget you're basing it on information from the administrator and I don't I didn't see how some of the dollar amounts um were sufficient for your operating needs when you factor then in the expenses that exceeded the budget that was about 5.2 million the revenue shortfall of two million in theory the district had over $7 million of an operating deficit thus the need for the advanced state aid of $9 million and that is really what helped the district one for cash flow and two to provide some resources for uh future years for you to build off of um so the state loan or the state advance I should say as you are I think well aware is a 10-year Payback uh there's $900,000 that will be built into the next 10 years budget um and there there are more districts that are experiencing financial difficulties uh there are quite a few that were cut state aid and there's probably about 25 or 30 districts um in addition to those that had already received the state aid advance that are being impacted uh currently um any questions on any of the finances before I then go into the audit comments no Mr Vincy the only thing is um if you could just discuss um or or just go over the fact that these Revenue shortfalls resulted in uh the district um having to the the the expenses in were incurred and were were were satisfied once we had the state aid correct right so the infusion of the state aid eliminated the revenue shortfall and the budget ere expenditures so the revenue infusion of $9 million took care of the 7.2 7.5 million operating deficit that's why the Surplus and reserves went from 2.2 really to $3.4 million so you had extra money built in and that was also necessary for cash flow you needed more money than what the operating deficit was estimated to be some of the state aid if you remember comes in in the summertime you have to pay all your uh employees by June 30th so there was a need to ask for additional monies over and above the operating deficit thank you you're welcome um just for uh discussion regarding the findings I think that is in the um summary that we provided some of the findings cover um the fact that some documentation was just not provided doesn't mean it was not submitted but it's just the fact that uh we did not have documentation for example the first finding dealt with um it's a report that goes to the Department of Education regarding your health insurance plan plan um it's a fairly new document maybe about 3 four years old uh that document just was not available for us uh it's an annual submission uh and it is required to be submitted in the springtime I believe so there will be a new uh report that will be required uh early 2025 the payroll agency Ledger there are various ledgers that ledger summarizes all your payroll taxes it's obviously very important that The Ledger be reconciled with the rec uh the cash in the bank account um that's a finding that we have had in the you know last couple years reports account coding we touch on or we audit how some of the expenses are being posted and obviously with the state there is a chart of accounts that needs to be followed uh we did see situations where certain budget expenses were just not coded in compliance with the state manual um we notice some of the sub accounts that are in the state budget document when they are then for the original budget when they are entered into the internal budget accounting records some of the accounts were combined total budget was accurate it's just the fact that that with some sub accounts those sub accounts need to be isolated and be in agreement with the state budget document the next finding we touched on uh we talked about the deficit the revenue shortfalls um again that's something that will need to be monitored obviously uh on a monthly basis capital projects which is separate from your operating account the last few years the district has withdrawn money from your capital reserve uh and those monies were used for for example the oval project they were used for the high school media center as well as the antore uh security doors uh those those last two projects the media center and the security uh were overe expend um some of those costs have escalated from the time the original budget was established for those uh but there are some monies left in other projects that can be used to offset those overe expenditures uh with regarding to Debt Service the total debt service that was budgeted was sufficient to pay down your bonds and interest however the allocation of the budget between principal and interest did not agree with the debt amortization schedule so one account had a balance the other account had an overex exended and the reason behind that the district refinanced their bonds a couple years ago and I believe the incorrect amortization schedule was used um by the former administrator uh we had an employee that was reimbursed uh for mileage and other miscellaneous items uh again that documentation was just not attached to the voucher um for which the payment was made against with the local public contract LW um the procurement areas bidding uh State contracts Cooperative purchasing quotes um there are strict guidelines that need to be followed again what we ran into is that we were unable to um be provided that some documents as to how certain vendors were selected whether they were a state contract whether they were part of a co-op uh or whether you publicly bid it unfortunately um without the documentation we couldn't validate uh or confirm the terms of the contract with how those contracts were originally entered State contracts and Cooperative purchasing has become an issue with quite a few districts uh for example with State contracts the state will enter into an agreement with a vendor you can piggyback that contract that contract is on a State website for one year terms of which are on the State website if you do not print that documentation at the time you award the contract that document will not be available um beyond the one-year contract will not be able to be retrieved any other way Cooperative purchasing is very similar Cooperative purchasing you have a um Cooperative business that will bid for those Services you use use that contract the terms that that vendor bid is located with the Cooperative purchasing area the document that they provide or they need to provide each district not just nutly but every District that uses them the price list so that way when you're build for that service you have a document to compare the pricing too uh some of those documents were just not available the require IR ired political contribution disclosure form business registration forms um not all the documents were available uh National co-ops I think we have talked about this um in the past there are Again State guidelines that need to be followed um and it's very important because you're now dealing with a vendor outside of the state of New Jersey and you have to make sure that they follow what you need to follow in the state of New Jersey we had one recommendation with the extended day program there are costs being charged to the extended day program and a cost analysis is very important to do to just have as a document so that if you are allocating over overhead which you're perfectly allowed to do there is a rationale behind it uh we had one situation with a student um activity account there was a savings account that was within the district for several years the account was closed out uh the money was transferred to the general fund to offset the cost of improving the weight room at the high school um we just didn't have any approval documents to support that there is a an ual application for state school aid that needs to be filed it was just actually filed mid- October and we reviewed the October of 23 application uh and we noticed differences between what was on the application as compar to some of the internal documents that you have here that application's really not used for state aid but yet though that application still has to agree with your internal record Ing and the last item dealt with the capital asset Reporting System um our recommendation is that it be integrated with your budget accounting system that way you're tracking it on a current basis uh as opposed to utilizing an outside vendor um if you use an outside vendor you have to make sure their information and their report is accurate so again it's just something for consideration to integrate that with your accounting systems any thank you Mr viny um Mr D any any um anything on your end you'd like to add no okay um well we're going to open up to any questions that any board members may have and then we'll open it up to the public for questions so um we'll go around um any questions from any board members Mr President more of a comment uh that during a committee meeting an academic I could speak for um this was uh comprehensively reviewed and uh as a committee we did ask many questions and were answered uh so uh just personally speak speaking my silence is because I've had all these uh questions answered uh before which were more logistical U Miss makus did a wonderful job of walking us through Mr Dita presented the corrective action plan uh so I my silence is just an affirmation of uh that moving forward there are accountable measures in place so thank you Mr D um okay we'll open up any questions that the public may have with regard to the uh annual audit anybody has any questions they can come up okay seeing none um we're going to move on to thank you Mr Vincy thank you you're welcome do you have a question yes okay you can give them up and the question is um with regard to the audit and we have Gary here and Liz from our our auditing firm so they'll be able to hopefully answer your question hi Carla Cario 499 Center Street so and just listening to you know the audit report and I don't I'm not a finance person um so I guess my first question is you know hearing some of these things about um I guess missing papers and the one uh example a student account being transferred to a general account so what happens now between the Boe and the firm that did the audit what are the next steps and and how do we as a community the Board of Ed parents how do we put in some kind of process to to hopefully hope that these things don't happen again so tonight um and Mr Vincy um I'm not gonna I'm not gonna have you come up yet but Mr Dita if you want to talk about the corrective action plan but we are going to be approving a corrective action plan tonight oh that will address some of these you know most of these issues uh with regard to some procedures in place um but we also have you know with with us uh Janette makus uh who's there as well overseeing this process so make making sure that all of these processes are are in place but that's one of the um agenda items tonight is we're going to be approving a corrective action plan based on these findings from our auditing firm okay uh and Mr Dita you like to discuss more about that sure um yeah the corrective action plan is actually on our website um as one of the attachments um so it's basically a form from the state um that we have to put down what all of the findings are from the auditor that that he just red I think there was 13 of them uh so we we uh put them down um then we have to say what we're going to do to to to fix them um who who's going to be fixing them um and then um a time frame for when it's going to be completed um so I mean over the course of the the Year we're we're doing that um you know the Auditors um you know come in sometimes they'll they're most likely going to be doing a a review a projection for us in in January um you know so we're in constant cont with them um you know myself the state monitor we review the accounts um constantly um you and then at the end of the um school year again then then the ERS will come back again and and do another review um so then they'll we you know they'll they'll look at all the findings that we had um then make sure that those were all fixed and then they'll do their um General review of everything again and then just to see if there's any other areas that uh you know we need to improve upon okay and then um thank you I appreciate that and then just to kind of tag on to that so as far as some of the things that were found out during the audit and again I'm not a finance person so I kind of default to the people that know more about these things in my mind when I hear that a business administrator took and correct me if I'm phras paraphrasing it wrong like there was money in a student account I don't know what happened with that student but how how I guess what is the responsibility on the person that literally took that money from a student account moved it to a general account and and fixed the gym in the the high school like that just seems kind of that shouldn't be going on in my mind I mean I could be wrong but that just doesn't seem you know like on the up and up G go you like to comment on that oh yeah yeah sorry no no no it's okay yes so maybe I could just shed some light on that um so for years there was a um saving account at the high school and I think that account's been there for longer than 10 years uh basically earning interest I can't answer why the money was withdrawn um so if the account was there and it basically was a dormant account um I'm not sure if the high school principal signed off on it we just didn't have any document that said that that was a proper transfer to offset the costs for the weight room but it was not a uh active sport active club or activity um it was basically a dormant bank account that had 42,000 plus uh in the account thank you you're welcome um so I guess what would be the next steps obviously you're we're just hearing this but from all of your experiences because again I default to you guys I don't know the depths and the levels but what would happen like oh this account shows up $42,000 and boom the you know the weight room gets fixed like I mean look at just for me like I'm you know one parent one taxpayer like that sounds a little you know Shady in my opinion again I could be wrong but what happens at this point you know what do we do like is there going to be responsibility put somewhere or what happens if that person comes back and they're like oh where's my $42,000 you know so I think I think that again uh Mr Vincy discussed the fact that he didn't see see any documents um our understanding was that that was a donation for the rate room now I'm not you know 100% exact on all of the uh but the money was expended on the waight room not it's not like the money was taken and the the money disappeared okay I'm sorry I was just understanding that it was like a dormant account like it was a student account account then it was moved to a general funding account so does student oh go ahead I just want to make sure I understand it the right way because I may be misunderstanding it yeah like the the student accounts say we have you know say there's $200,000 in in like the high school student account um there's all like a sub accounts that make up that $200,000 so every class will have you know like the graduating class this year they'll have their money in there um you know any uh clubs you know Art Club drama club they'll have their money in there um a lot of times if you have like old graduating classes they might keep the money in there um so then as you go on here you know that that money is always reconciled every every month um to to match everything up to make sure we know where everything is um and then you there I wasn't here at the time so I can't speak of you know what what it kind of came from um but it was probably just one of the sub account accounts of something that's been in there for you know as the order said about you know at least 10 years so the money was just in there um and then it was um used for that so it wasn't like an active you know like the senior class didn't lose that money or you know the junior class it it was more in a a sub account that wasn't used uh for a long time okay so it's more like probably leftover money from other classes that maybe left and didn't want the money it's possible it could be possible like maybe they just said oh we're just going to like donate it but there's no real tracking of it like we don't 100% know technically like because there's no documentation correct I I am I correct in saying that well there's no documentation on the approval process because normally any time you know um a district purchases something or does a transfer that the board always has to approve that so it was never that was never brought forward to the board okay and then I guess is there anything else that so is aside from um all the changes that are going to be made any other findings like has there been anything found out as far as any potential um criminal activity because I mean that was a large concern in the beginning when everyone found out about this in town and every and look I don't you know I'm not saying you know that there was but it was on my mind and I I'm sure it's on a lot of other people's minds like was is there anything being found that may potentially lead to something like that at some point or can you not talk about it so I think I think Miss makus wanted to uh make a comment there are some things that we can't talk about very honestly um I've been in contact with the uh state of New Jersey uh about having a forensic audit done which would um sort out if anything uh occurred uh from our ability to to look into it um there were things that uh I don't know that I don't think they were criminal I think that um they just shouldn't have happened uh the state is waiting for this we weren't eligible based on last year's audit the state is waiting for our audit this year uh to see whether or not we qualify for the forensic audit if in fact we don't qualify for the state to come in and do the audit uh then it is uh going to be uh my recommendation uh that we then hire our own forensic audit uh to go in and so that we can satisfy you and the other uh people who who who live in Nutley and send their children to our schools that uh there were no no no such matters um I'll be honest I don't have the um in-depth knowledge that would be required for something like that I can look on the surface and say I'm not I I think we could have done this differently um but uh it is going to happen I'm hoping the state will pay for it to be perfectly honest with you that was my next question obviously like we can't even afford that if they don't and we have to do it ourselves then yes it will be a cause to the board but I think it would be a cost well spent okay thank you so much I really appreciate your time and answering my questions thank you very much okay thank [Music] you okay you know when I said if anybody had any questions before nobody got up so that's why sorry S I know sorry sorry uh she just popped a few question questions into my mind um Nicholas fry 66 North Spring Garden a um just looking through the corrective action plan um it's a lot more thorough than last year's I know last year's was kind of surface level of things that needed to be implemented this year we're implementing them so it's good to see that there's progress in uh the direction that we should go uh I know that M makus and Mr Dita your time here has been short so it looks like you have a direction of where of what things are going to look like from here on out but looking back uh there are things that uh I'm sorry uh Gary viny Mr uh viny uh has pointed out my question is for the Auditors were some of these things things that had been recurring in the past that have had not been brought up yes Mr Vincy uh yes this audit does have some repeat recommendations um and they are noted accordingly um in the management report that the board has and that will be on the the board's website so there are some repeats yes y uh and are some of these things things that that uh that have been brought up and not fixed or there things that you had noticed in Prior audits that may or may not have been mentioned that are now in this one because this one seem just looking through the last page of the Audits and the suggestions recommendations there seems to be a larger list than past prior years so some of the items that were in the last even if you went back two years some of the items are still um in this year's report is a recommendation there are new findings and that's very common with any audit I think when you look at some of the recommendations and findings um there were definitely more because of the lack of documents that we had to satisfy certain compliance issues um and that definitely dealt with uh purchasing and we definitely had recommendations in the past probably more this year uh only because of the lack of documents that we were able uh to have as part of the audit now whether that was because of the timing of when uh the former administrator left and where some of these documents were we just couldn't uh we didn't have any documents obviously uh to satisfy our requests and just sorry these are these are Gap compliance is that what you're or just compliance in general state state okay uh and then with the just looking through the past couple of years some of the revenue to expenses it seemed to have been snowballing um that where 2020 was a little bit and then so on and so forth and then we got to our nine million this is the most amount if I'm not mistaken the N9 million is the most amount where it was last year higher I don't quite last year was about six to seven um so I guess My overall question is if last year's was a $6 million differential in the red and now we're up to n million in the red I understand health insurance is a part of it I understand that uh special education is a part of it um but was there any there were there major cracks that you had seen in 22 23 to now 24 that may not have been brought up what's that sure sure sure yeah uh I'm just wondering if there were if there were cracks in that that may have slipped through due to lack of documentation due to whatever whatever those issues were is that a question for the board or for Mr vincey whoever whoever okay yeah well I mean Mr Vincy if you want to come up and answer it so if we went back to 2223 school year um just looking at maybe certain accounts the reserves of the board and surplus did go down um it went down from I believe 9 million down to 2.2 um and there were issues that we noticed as part of the 2223 audit um that caused that decline um what has happened here and I think what has happened in quite a few districts the way the the tax cap law is working with school districts that all districts have a cap as to how much they can increase their property taxes um you have a budget that's balanced by property taxes state aid or other resources that you collect locally what has happened if you went back four years ago there's a state aid that comes in that is not known at the time you adopt your budget uh that is extraordinary Aid and that's a reimbursement the state gives all the districts for individuals that have a very high I think they use $40,000 as a threshold for tuition placements so there is a uh mechanism that the doe will calculate the reimbursements to all districts throughout the state um probably in the spring so you probably find out maybe in May or June I don't think you know that prior to that point in time so a lot of districts what they did a few years ago they never anticipated that Revenue so whatever you collected theoretically went to Surplus what has happened the last couple years and I think it's probably the pressure to balance the budget to meet the tax cap certain revenues were estimated um extraordinary eight two years ago three years ago was not estimated to the point that in the 2324 budget $2.4 million was estimated and you collected 2.8 but by estimating the 2.4 you actually lose the ability to generate Surplus from that type of Aid that type of budgeting is happening in a lot of districts because they can't meet the 2% cap so if you have a 2% tax increase if you have expenses for example as I mentioned your tuition contracts as well as most districts are going up more than 10% per contract your health insurance we all know issue with health premiums whether you are self-insured or whether you are with the state they're going up double digits we know the fact that labor Agreements are greater than 2% so it is becoming more and more challenging for school districts to um meet the 2% unless you decide to go to the voters and ask for a separate ballot question to increase the funding that is needed for your operating needs miscellaneous revenues this year was budgeted at 2.7 million um that's never been estimated that High um two years ago 800,000 was estimated so it's obviously how the administrator budgeted in 2324 um I think created some of the financial uh problems that you're now now dealing with uh but there have been um budget accounts that have been estimated greater to realization or just overestimated and I think that's what caused the revenue shortfall definitely in 23 24 thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you Mr Frank okay um we going to um okay I'm going to move on um can I get a a motion for approval of the minutes all in favor anyone opposed okay um we're going to also now go to our reports our superintendent report Mr Mana thank you Mr President uh good evening members of the board faculty staff parents and community members as we are concluding the calendar year I am proud to highlight the recent achievements of our district and share updates on the exciting events we can look forward to in the coming year uh this December our schools have been alive with the joyful sounds of music and the creative talents of our students our Nutley High School uai concert showcased the incredible talents of our high school instrumentalists and vocalists with performances that capture the magic of the holiday season and the St Mary's benefit concert brought the nutly community together for a wonderful evening of music and giving supporting local charitable efforts and underscoring the power of music to inspire and unite and our holiday music Boutique supported by our m music boosters this past month with uh with a festive event offering unique handmade crafts and performances by students further highlighting the connection between a creativity and Community Spirit we are proud of our students teachers and their families for their commitment to the Arts which enriches our schools and the broader nutly Community our school counselors are celebrating early successes in the College admission process we are thrilled to report that Nutley students have already begun receiving acceptances from some of the most prestigious institutions in the country a special congratulation goes out to Josiah depaz who has been admitted to Brown University this is a tremendous accomplishment and we are incredibly proud of Josiah and all of our students who continue to work hard to achieve their dreams looking ahead to January our counseling office is several important planned events um parents of eighth grade students will be invited to an informal session informational session on sorry to discuss the transition Nutley High School this meeting will provide an overview of academic offerings extracurricular opportunities and support systems available for incoming freshmen counselors will meet with high school students to discuss course selections for next year insuring students are informed and prepared to make decisions that align with their academic goals and interests additionally Nutley high school was recently recognized by the College Board as a member of the AP honor role this Commendation acknowledges our commitment to expanding access to ad advaned placement courses enabling more students to be challenged to challenge themselves academically and prepare for colleges as we prepare for next year there are many exciting events and initiatives to anticipate the district will participate in the in the spelling be again January will feature our annual spelling be where students from across the district will demonstrate their linguistic skills and determination thank you to the nef for supporting this initiative again we also are looking forward to our High School Musical Mean Girls Junior nle High school will take a the stage this spring with their production of Mean Girls junr promising a dynamic and entertaining performance by our talented students uh this new year will bring opportunities for our community to collaborate on shaping the future ofly Public Schools through strategic planning and we will chart a path for our continued growth and success and our student athletes are gearing up for an exciting winter season as a basketball game tonight with basketball wrestling indoor track and more spring approaches we look forward to baseball softball track and field Sports continuing our tradition of Excellence uh it is with a heavy heart that we acknowledge the recent tragedy of Abundant Life Christian School in Madison Wisconsin where a teacher and a student have lost their lives our thoughts and prayers are with the victims their families and the Madison Community during this unimaginable time tragic events like this remind us of the importance of prioritizing safety in our schools the nutly public schools remain steadfast in our commitment to maintaining a secure and supportive learning environment we continue to review our safety protocols conduct drills and provide resources to support the well-being of our students and staff as December concludes we celebrate um I'm sorry it's also with deep sadness that we acknowledge the passing of Dr Bob topolski age 76 of barnegate New Jersey who passed suddenly on December 2nd Dr topolski was a dedicated educator who took great pride in his work with individuals and disabilities uh he was a he was a big part of Nutley High School and nutly special services for a long period of time um about 20 years and we extend our heartfelt condolences to his family friends and all touched by his dedication and kindness as December concludes we celebrate the distinguished career of Mrs darthy dispoto our special services secretary who is retiring after many years of exceptional service Dar dary's professionalism dedication and compassion have left an a mark in our district on behalf of the notle public schools extend our heartfelt gratitude and best wishes for her in retirement finally I would like to thank our students at Spring Garden school for their handwritten holiday cards to myself and the Board of Education we gave them tonight to them uh they are perfect and in speaking for the board we are thankful for our faculty staff and students families and Community not only from Spring Garden but from all of our schools for your continued dedication to the district your collaboration and support ensure that n remains a district of Excellence I wish everyone a Merry Christmas a happy Hanukkah a joyous Quant and a peaceful and prosperous New Year may this season bring happiness and warmth to all who celebrate thank you Mr President thank thank you Mr B uh Mr viny um you know you can you can leave if you have somewhere else to be thank you all right uh Mr DEA our business administrative report thank you Mr President I just wanted to go over a couple um items that are on um my report uh we'll be approving um amendments to the both the Ida and the esa grants uh this is because we received um approval of our final expenditure reports for the 2023 24 uh school year and we did have some carryover funds uh that um must be expended in the 2425 school year um so we we're just amending the grants and um U submitting them with with those new amounts then we're also approving the submission of a district Improvement plan this is needed because the district score with the QC monitoring visit uh that um we had last school year was below the 80% uh in the fiscal area uh so the Improvement plan covers the non-compliant indicators and the plan will now be submitted to the state for uh their review thank you thank you Mr Dita Miss makus thank you uh first of all um I want to thank uh the mayor and Commissioners uh of the township of Nutley um I attend monthly monitor meetings uh uh at the state level and I can tell you that the amount of coop cooperation that I've received uh in Nutley uh from uh uh your Township uh uh Commissioners and and the mayor does not exist uh in other districts who have state monitors um they have there has been open communication uh they have and uh entered into savings and improved Services through shared service agreements that have improved our services and uh saved us money uh and the cooperation between the township government and the Board of Education uh is truly uh more unusual than common and and what happens in other districts so I really wanted to share that with you because I think it is important as part of the one nutly that it's in place and that it is working and that uh as an outsider uh looking in um I am totally impressed uh every time there is an act interaction between the board uh and the Commissioners and the mayor um it is on a positive level uh and um it has certainly helped the district get through uh some of the things that have occurred um as a result of 2220 23 24 um in terms of where we are as a district um I know there were questions uh comments about uh what we are doing I can tell you that we have established many procedures that have been put in place that have checks and balances that preent prevent over expenditures um not only in fiscal year 2425 but in future years uh there's no such thing as overriding accounts forms are in place to request transfer of funds funds must be transferred prior to a purchase being approved as well as a review of the account's total report which uh is done on a weekly basis and sometimes sometimes during the year on a daily basis um the agenda uh there is now additional information on the agenda including account codes which ensures that the costs are charged the appropriate accounts uh particularly salary accounts uh when services and salaries are properly charged very honestly forecasting and budgeting become much more accurate and that's our goal is to create accuracy for this year as well as going forward that what's in place continues uh the monthly bills list contains explanations making it easier for you the public and the board uh to ascertain what the expend what expenditures were included on the invoice contracts such as out of District placements Transportation Etc are encumbered in full upon board approval um encumbered means that purchase orders are put in place to reserve the funds for the entire length of the contract this was not done last year uh monies were uh encumbered on a monthly basis which led to some of the recommendations that were included within the audit uh that is not happening this year um we are ensuring that as funds are required they are in fact encumbered home instruction This was um a problem last year I know Mr B uh has been working with the appropriate people to ensure that um the services that are required for students are approved at the board level uh monthly uh this gives a us a clear picture of anticipated costs uh and allows us to transfer funds if necessary during the course of the year and hopefully it will prevent surprises as occurred uh this past uh July and August when we were receiving invoices for services that had been performed in January and February um our goal is to ensure that what we expend today uh is in fact encumbered and paid um appropriately and that we don't end up with uh surprises that we don't know about at the of the Year purchasing the district is is getting quotes and or purchasing through approved cooperatives as required by law this as you heard was a major finding in the current audit uh and the result is that without proper either bidding using a Cooperative or a state contract you can't be sure that you're getting the best price possible for the services or or um that H that have to be provided um the resolutions now include all of the information required by law and if it's uh appropriate that the uh information is advertised in the paper because in some cases uh certain things need to be advertised uh that was another situation that we couldn't find happened uh last year board secret and treasury reports are submitted to the board in a timely manner as required by law and proper certifications are being made to with regard to the budget and account balances and sufficient funds payroll after every P after every payroll uh projections are done and transfers are made if necessary to ensure that the salary counts have sufficient funds between January and June we will be working on the account codes themselves as described in the audit to be sure that they match the state's chart of accounts which is very specific and that the salaries are budgeted in the appropriate accounts in fiscal year 2526 again that assists with future future budgeting health and property insurance the board did request for proposals uh for an insurance broker reviewed six or seven forms reduced it to three for a second round of interviews and approved iMac as the District's broker the board is getting comprehensive monthly reports that shows the status of our claims uh in network usage prescriptions and Trends this allows us to track the costs in relationship to our budget uh a meeting was held with the GIF which uh fund through which we fund our property and our workers comp claims we reviewed our ratings and we're going to work with them to ensure that we benefit from any available training and services that they can give us with regard to coming in and looking at our buildings and the way we operate budget fiscal year 2526 Mr bana Mr Dita have begun the budget process we have been advised by the state to plan for a cut in state aid um a cut in state aid is going to make budgeting for next year very difficult um and very tough decisions are going to uh probably have to be made uh but this is going to be a situation that doesn't only exist in Nutley uh this is going to be a uh difficult situation for the majority of districts in the state of New Jersey um my hope is that we're minimally flat so we don't lose any state aid um but that not the indication we're being given projections uh we have requested that the auditor come in in January to do projections for us through the end of the year um very honestly I want to confirm uh what I'm seeing that that we are going to end the uh 2425 school year with a balanced budget um uh everybody is truly working hard towards that goal um and um again it will give us the information we need to make any changes as quickly as possible to avoid what happened in 2324 and then finally um it would be remiss if I didn't thank Mr taglia who was uh on the finance committee um and um the advice and the history that he has his commitment to the uh Nutley school district and the education of your students um and the fact that um he was someone who would argue with me and um very honestly uh on occasion I did win the the argument I can't say that happened often uh and he would remind me that uh we needed a because my favorite term is we need to set up procedures because if you have procedures everybody knows what they're supposed to do uh see he would indicate to me very often that perhaps we needed a procedure to uh me to go um it has truly been a pleasure uh and I look forward to being able to uh contact him uh every so often when I feel that uh I need to argue with with someone uh but I Joe I thank you very much for uh the assistance you've given me in a very short period of time and I've learned a lot about Nutley uh and I appreciate that thank you Mr President thank you Mrs MERS um I don't see our student uh representative here tonight so we're going to move on to committee reports uh Miss danek Marton academic please yes Mr President um the academic committee met on December 10th at 5:30 pm in the Boe conference room Mr Devita discussed with the committee the findings from the 2324 audit and reviewed the correction action plan with us Mr dvita Miss makus answered questions that the committee had regarding the audit and business office related matters Miss Lo consolo shared with the committee a grant awarded to a music teacher at Spring Garden for instructional resources Miss L cons solo shared with the committee resources and planning around artificial intelligence professional development she also alerted the committee to the Nutley high school program of studies draft available for review Mr B Miss Lo cons solo discussed a few areas that were still under development for the 2526 school year Mr B discussed matters related to special services long range planning and legal matters and Miss L consolo reviewed field trip and professional development requests our next academic committee will be determined to uh following the reorganization of the board thank you thank you Mr anek Martin Mr kazinski Administration December 10th I'm sorry Mr D discussed the Comm the committee the findings from the 2324 audit which we heard tonight uh Mr Bay discussed property acquisition and long range facility planning Mr B Mr B discussed the request proposal proposal for strategic plan consult and provide the committee with a legal update on our next plan Administration committee will be after the reorganization meeting thank you Mr kazinski Mr fraginal our finance thank you Mr President uh Finance Comm met on December 13 uh the in attendance was Miss bagle myself miss makus Mr B and Mr Dita Finance resolutions were discussed including Grant amendments for the idea and the esa grants due to carryover balances remaining from the 2023 and 2024 year approving the audit and corrective action plan and the district Improvement plan that is needed because of the low fiscal score during the qac review last year corrective action plan was reviewed with other committees the cost with negotiations of the nutly administrator associations were discussed we discussed benefits and looked at participation rates and costs went over legal updates discuss the payback amounts of the state loan and discuss getting the budgeted amount spent on technology for the technology committee thank you Mr fraginal uh we now come to the portion of our meeting will we allow members of the public to address the board in this section we allow questions or comments on reports resolutions and all School related matters our board regulations number 0167 a lot 20 minutes for these communications each person shall be limited to three minutes and we ask you try to stay within this requirement speakers may speak more than once only after all others wishing to speak on a topic have been heard all statements will will be directed to me as the chairperson and no one may address board members individually please be reminded that if your statement is too lengthy abusive obscene irrelevant or redundant your participation may be terminated please remember to state your name and address each and every time you address the board does anyone have any [Music] questions hi Janine Delaney 55 stagger Street Nutley okay I'm a mom of four daughters I have a daughter in ninth grade there's been a lot of fights in town in in the classrooms actually um there was mention of protocols and safety I'm also a teacher I hear about these fights I hear that there's videos of these fights are there any measures that protect these teachers for examp like what happens in the middle of a classroom there's a fight does a teacher have to go in there because I think about myself and I think God am I gonna jump in these kids are big I'm like I'm a little girl yeah so like I can't imagine those older teachers or the the shorter teachers are they jumping in what happens if they get hurt what are we doing to address this yeah so I I can't I can't speak to many student matters but as you're aware we have seen an uptick in um incidents in our High School uh Administration is working through uh many different levels of um individual students to groups of students to proactive measures to deal with that um I will say we have Security in our high school we have two security um individuals and if needed we we can um use other District resources support the high school if needed if we see an uptick um I will say that we are reviewing um many things from our discipline regulations uh being you know consequences for actions like that to to proactive measures in our high school just today I sat with the principal for a good amount of time talking through what this looks like so we are aware of this uptick we are using many of the resources we have um at our disposal consequences uh mental health support is there like a protocol so like there's a fight breaking out you're the teacher what do they do do they know what they're supposed to do yeah we have a security manual that outlines what they should be doing in that are they aware of what they're supposed to do yes because I'm getting feedback from like my daughter's friends who were in classes and I asked them I'm like what are your teachers doing because I don't know what I would do and I'm hearing they're having panic attacks they're screaming they're running out to get help to me that's a little frightening right I have four daughters that are going to be going through I have one in ninth grade one coming up to the high school next year I'm a little afraid I don't want my daughters to come into a school and get her because maybe they're walking by to get to their class and these girl and children are fighting like physically fighting I went to school here this didn't happen in the 90s I don't know where where we're going but this is it's it's absolutely crazy I can't and they're videoing it that's another thing the phones are we getting them out of the classrooms what's the procedure and protocol for each class I'm hearing burner phones are used to put in the little thing yeah if you're an educator you understand this is a systemic problem in all schools and we're dealing with this through many measures But to answer your questions directly yes we have a security manual that goes through what teachers should do yes we have security place to deal with this yes our Administration are acutely aware of what's going on in our high school and working through various strategies to do that including the cell phone usage the kids have their phones during the day they're texting during class time the teachers are not following that protocol how is that protocol going to be followed you know the Snapchat and all the social media it's out of control how are we managing it what procedures are in place what are those procedures are they being followed who's follow like who's making sure they're being followed right you've asked me a lot of questions in a short let me try and answer I get nervous because this wasn't the town I grew up in when I hear these things I I I cry I would agree I went to school in well and it looks different now than it did in the 90s so I totally agree with you but I will say we've tried many strategies with cell phones including um checking them in doing different things I can't speak to every single one of them our high school team has tried throughout the time I know uh from the school boards Association to State um US Department of Education there's there's a movement to remove cell phones from schools I know some districts are moving to that um we'll bring that you know forward when it when we can to talk about that here in Nutley but as of as of right now uh our Administration is acutely aware of what's going on specifically in the last week at the high school we are dealing with this with every mechanism we have at our disposal I do appreciate your feedback and your comments it's also frightening to hear Miss Mak say that cuts are coming so I'm sure this is just going to get worse we need a strong support system for teachers and support staff it's not fair for these teachers to feel this way they're already under a lot of pressure with the budget cuts I would Age so it's just something to think about moving forward thank you for your feedback thank you thank you any other [Music] questions um can we just Ian can you make the speakers louder because it's very difficult for me especially to hear the questions hi I'm Cindy Schwarz 461 Center Street Nutley I have two questions how many armed guards are walking the floors thought I'm just going to chime in as a lawyer on this one um we really shouldn't divulge publicly security measures and things that there are armed guards but in terms of security plans and it compromises our security to identify exact numbers of things locations so I would say that the board can't answer that one okay question number two I have a [Music] daughter I don't like the way she dresses sometimes but you know we're in different ages what is the school doing because I know I don't get no phone calls and the friends moms don't get phone calls why are these children allowed to go inappropriately dressed to school without a parent being called to come pick their child up okay Mr B yeah we have a addressor code policy that our Administration follows and um I don't know the specific instance you're talking about but I do know that they do follow that and there are Discipline matters for students that do not dress appropriately in school it's for the high school I pick up drop off for for all of our schools yeah if well I'm talking just for the high school CU high schools are pretty welldeveloped than they were when we were in school wh why I'm seeing them coming and going in very inappropriate outfits I I would say there's something specific uh regarding a matter we can talk with the High School administration I'd be happy to be involved as well but specifically if there's a matter that you want to talk through we can do that following this meeting or another time no I just want to see everybody protected you know sometimes girls don't know they shouldn't show things and that's how things happen thank you you're welcome thank you any other [Music] questions hi my name is Kim vanwart 34 IV place um two different things in completely different categories one um when does the bid come out for Food Services like so we're able to read that to see what's going out to companies for the new year for next year yeah that that process will probably start around um around February March or so we we'll start that um and then somebody will be awarded for the following school year great and then the second thing along with with what Miss Minka said in regards to Cuts is there some sort of caliber being reached in regards to especially in elementary schools um the number of higher Hib reports and also just going off of the uh information from the high school but on the elementary school level of just how many more unfortunate accidents or activities are happening with um disciplinary measures um bullying um you know Hib is very specific so a kid can not see anything and punish somebody and then there's no punishment or very lack of suspension doesn't happen versus them using the protected words and then it's a whole other issue so being in a school that are uh you know things are taken away behaviorists weren't hired we are have a half person as our guidance counselor um not that she's not doing 19 jobs but just that we ourselves are there and things be put are put on hold our principal is doing H twice as much because of that so are those being looked at watched and those numbers being taken into consideration when we look at the budget for potential Cuts uh yes we're going to look use every data set uh we have at our disposal and that's the process we're in collecting data not only to the projections of salaries Health Care some of the things I'm sorry Mr President I just answered the question I'm supposed to ask for a permission for um but we are also looking at uh data from our curriculum instruction as well as bullying our bullying uh and our our discipline data gets assessed every six months by state last meeting I presented our bullying there's a lag time involved but we are monitoring in that report for example we identified one of our buildings had an uptick in that cycle we we' put some things in place internally uh to deal with what we're seeing those reports tell us not only that there's an uptick or a code of conduct uptick but also what areas the uptick is in for example are we having trouble um punching for example you know thing things of that nature so we are able to do some programming uh to those uh those issues uh we do use a program called hipster allows us to track um some of this data disaggregate at a pretty high level to to get that information but but to your point um you know we are very conscientious of our mental health and our counseling we know they're overstretched a lot of our staff and faculty overstretched including um you know K12 central office everyone's working very hard in District and uh I'd be remiss if I didn't appreciate them right now especially the counselors at the elementary level and our principles I think you mentioned yeah um but I do think we're going to look at that as we develop um you know this budget coming up great thank you thank you any other [Music] questions before you ask ask your question you can come up just wanted to um um I think it was last year Mr B or two years ago with that that the board updated its um code of conduct uh throughout the whole District um so could you just maybe just just explain it to that everybody a little bit to that sure in uh for our district goal number one um we wanted to look at things like dress code tardiness as well as our discipline and code of conduct uh last summer we up uh we upgraded or Revisited our regulations regarding that um the regulations uh were brought to the administrative team we look through a tiered system of discipline for certain infractions uh to the question before we are revising that regulation now to see if some of our consequences which may not have be having effect can be updated and brought to the board uh to do that you know requires um us understanding the information us making sure that while we have a we do have an acute um thing going on right now our high school we look longterm what's best for students so that work's being done and uh we will bring that to the board with recommendations as to how we could modify based on the behaviors we're seeing and just um just from going from from what I recall uh there was a something in there as far as there had to be an acknowledgement on on behalf of the student and the parents that there was uh that they received that code of conduct that it was uh uh a acknowledge that at least they received it and read it correct correct that that's uh typically done in the beginning of school uh when we give access to our student information system uh the power portal the student portal correct you okay I'm sorry okay Donna Ferrero 34 Roosevelt Street my question is I'm sorry I was late you know it is December and I did have plans and I missed the audit uh presentation came in at the end so I to understand that now the state is going to do an audit is this a continuous or is this the end what took place tonight so miss MERS the the um order report that we just went over tonight that is the order report that was done by our auditor that's what's required every year okay so miss makus will she discussed before the I guess would be be the forensic audit but miss m yes the auditor we're required to do it every year the auditor comes in and and um hopefully finds nothing but in this year of course uh there were quite a few a forensic audit will go into uh much more um detail in terms of uh they will look to see whether some of the pricing we got that we can't find paperwork for um was it was it done correctly even though we didn't find it were the prices that we got lower um did they looking at State contracts they would be able to see they have access to information that the auditor doesn't have possibly uh they will look into um services that were provided were they actually provided uh kind of things it it's a uh different kind of audit uh to actually try to determine whether things were done just because of lack of knowledge in experience or whether there may have been other factors involved and um as the state monitor I feel that that audit is necessary not because I know anything but just because of the fact that there were so many missing pieces as was explained by the auditor paperwork that couldn't be found um I need to be sure that without the paperwork being found that things were done in a reasonably legal way and um it's not because I have any knowledge it's because of the experience I have as a business administrator and having worked in districts and done budgets and gone through audits myself and that's what a forensic auditor will do and okay as I said I'm hoping the state will do it so we don't have to pay for it but I feel that um to give the uh Community peace of mind because I know it's still an issue out there um I want the the the the uh end result to be that mistakes were made uh and more importantly for me uh because I would ask the forensic auditor to also look at the procedures we've put in place to ensure that something like this does not happen again which is more important to me I I have told uh the people in the audience and I've said to the board um at some point you have to stop looking backwards and simply look at moving forward and if you begin to put those procedures in place and where people are accepting those procedures and we enforce the procedures um what you end up with is not more money but what you end up with is the secure knowledge that what is being spent is a very public um the public knows and can see and you can justify if I don't have the paperwork how do I justify it to you so it's establishing the files making sure that every piece of paper that every purchase order has all the information that's required uh and um so forensic audit would also look at our procedures that we're putting into place and saying yes or maybe this is a better way to do it okay and about how long is that going to take well uh our audit is done so the first thing we have to do we're required to submit the audit to the state um once the state gets there are certain requirements that are that you need to have for the state to actually do the the audit do the forensic audit so once we submit our audit um they will take a look at it and see if we qualify they will let me know yes you qualify no you don't as soon as it's no you don't then we'll go the with the board uh paying for the audit um I can only tell you that they have been very responsive they've given me information along the way um I soon as I know that our audit has been submitted I will be on the phone with the state to say um can you give me some indication of which direction you're going so that we can do what we have to do here okay thank you you're welcome anyone else have any questions good evening everyone uh Julie Mitchel 19 Evergreen Avenue I just have a question a comment and a question with regard to some points that were brought up tonight with regard to some of the policies and procedures we have in place so what I'm hearing and I do love that I'm hearing from miss m process and procedure I'm a big fan as a former teacher and administrator and now educational consultant all across the state I'm a big fan of process and procedure but not just having it on paper so parents brought up tonight some interesting points with regard to security manuals and fights my daughter also in the high school another one in the Middle School um yes kids have changed behaviors have changed therefore our policies must change but not just the policies of what's on paper security dress code phone policies these are issues that we're dealing with with our students now right at all ages and so what I'm noticing is that there is a big difference between what people should know right and do and what's actually followed with Fidel so my question I guess is if we know that these important points are being brought up tonight with regard to Safety and Security dress code phone policy which I believe directly impact instruction in the classroom how are we going to hold everyone in the district accountable how will that communication happen between what's on paper and what's actually occurring in our classrooms and will teachers be supported by Administration when situations occur whether it's a dress code violation whether it's a phone policy violation will teachers be supported by Administration in their buildings and thus supported by the board to ensure that our students are safe in all aspects of our classrooms yeah uh before you before you um you answer uh I just want to make it clear that this board obviously is very concerned and very supportive of you know anything that has to do with our student and staff um and that's one of the issues that we one of the reasons why last I think it was last year year and a half ago we made it a a point to look at those policies with code of conduct um because we wanted to make sure that there was the tools available to our staff to be able to do you know to be able to do some of the things that they need to do and and our staff can feel safe and secure that we as a board are 100% behind them yeah I I start off just pigb I've heard in committee meetings um the support for policies that Empower our staff to work with our students in a productive way to reduce some of the things you're talking about but to answer your question directly our Administration will support our staff and student and especially in these difficult challenging times where they have to break up a fight they have to remove cell phones they have to deal with someone who's not dressed appropriately uh we will continue to review our policies and regulations as we are now with our some of our discipline regulations and make necessary adjustments to um to uh deal with the situ situations that present ourselves we will listen to the feedback from the public and act accordingly I I have two daughters myself not in this District but I do understand exactly what you're talking about and how scary that is we do not want our teachers or our staff to feel in any danger uh throughout the day and I I'm well aware of some of the things that are out there with regarding to our most recent thing um and we're spending a lot of time working through what could have been done better in debriefing with that situation so um we do accept all feedback we will um go through our process of review and make sure that this is done in appropriate fashion your question was how do we hold staff members accountable to folling through I remember stemming from last summer we put I I put out a a video actually um to our staff me talking about the expectations for certain things following our policies and procedures and we'll do that again if necessary just to remind them that these are the expectations we have in districts so I think you bring up many great points Julie um and I I I do know it's a concern of many parents probably watching or in the audience tonight and I know Nutley will address these things moving forward I do appreciate that and I think it's such a collective effort that so many new challenges that we're seeing in our students and and it's not just on the teachers right because I'm I'm a huge supporter of our of our Educators so it's I believe it's it's a community effort it's the parents it's the teachers it's the administration and it's the board and it's everybody on board with what's on paper but also ensuring that they're aware of how this looks in the day-to-day when we're in the trenches with the kids so I appreciate that thank you thank you for your feedback thank you any other questions okay seeing none can I have a motion to move on to close the public comment portion all in favor Mr stck Martin would you move academic yes Mr President I'd like to move academic resolutions one through three is written second any discussion roll call Mr balamo yes Mr paga yes Mrs Dan Martin yes Dr deia yes Mr franel yes Mr kazinski yes Mrs Quirk Mr Scotty Mr Faro yes Mr kazinski Administration second discussion roll call Mr balamo yes Mr baglia yes Mrs danek Martin yes Dr DEA yes Mr franel yes Mr kazinski yes Mrs Quirk yes Mr Scotty Mr fro yes Mr fraginal Finance thank you Mr President i' like to move Finance resolutions 1 through 14 as written discussion roll call Mr basano um yes with the with abstaining for number three check number 29131 yes the rest of the way Mr bagia yes Mrs Dan Martin yes Dr Delia yes Mr fragels yes Mr kazinski yes Mrs Quirk yes Mr Scotty yes Mr Faro yes Mr Scotty policy discussion roll call Mr Bas yes Mr taglia yes M Dan Martin yes Dr Leah yes Mr frels yes Mr gazinski Mrs Quirk Mr Scotty Mr fro yes uh Mrs Quirk Personnel yes i' like discussion roll call Mr B yes Mr raglia yes Mr Dan Martin yes Dr Delia yes with exception uh item 1 A3 obain Mr fanel yes M kazinski Mrs Quirk Mr Scotty Mr Faro abstain any old business to come before the board okay new business um first I want to apologize to everybody out there I I'm being told that I think it's time for me to get hearing aids because the speakers are bothering me but nobody else so I apologize for that um that's what my wife tells me every day that I do need to get them um so tonight I want to take a moment to thank someone whose commitment to our school district has been nothing short of extraordinary and that person is Joseph baglier as I reflect on Joe's contributions over the past three years I also confront the reality that the recent election did not return him to this board and I want to be clear that this community owes Joe a tremendous debt of gratitude in his absence will certainly be felt serving as a trustee on a board of education requires many hours spent in meetings preparing for discussions and making decisions that impact the future of our schools these hours often come at the expense of personal and family time Joe you made these sacrifices willingly because you cared deeply about our students our staff and the future of this community you served not for recognition or Applause but because you truly believed in making a difference this past year when our district faced a serious financial crisis Joe was instrumental in helping to identify the problem navigate its complexities and find solutions that Ena the district to fulfill its obligations his steady leadership during such a challenging time was nothing short of remarkable and his contributions helped steer this District through a moment of great uncertainty at the same time Joe face personal and professional attacks attacks that were unwarranted and unfair these criticism were were designed to discredit him but instead what they revealed is his resilience and commitment despite these challenges Joe remained focused on doing what was best for our students and our schools he never wavered in his dedication choosing to rise above negativity and serve with Integrity on a personal note I want to express how proud I am to have served alongside Joe his determination passion and his steadfast values have Inspire not only me but everyone fortunate enough to have worked with him Joe always kept the needs of our students and our districts at the Forefront and his actions set an enduring example of leadership and service while the election results were not what I had hoped for they in no way lessen the significant impact Joe has had on this district and his absence from this board will certainly be felt Joe thank you for everything you have done for our schools our students and our community and above all thank you for your friendship it has been an honor to serve alongside you and I know I speak for many when I say you will always have our deepest gratitude thank you Joe Mr President uh yes I'm going to open that up to the rest of the board if they'd have anything they'd like to say thank you Mr President and apologize because I'm having a little problem speaking tonight but I'll try my best um I probably have more of an advantage of most of my board members because I was fortunate fortunate enough to serve with Joe's father and um s tager was one of my better friends in my life besides a good golf partner he was one one of the better board members I've met in my life I remember him and I served I think he served one term as president I was President and Vice President back and forth for three times and and Joe was big in his own way Sam was big in size but Joe again just most of you know I've served with a Ab Lincoln on his board but in many years I've been on I've served with cops other lot of teachers um lot of different professional people I had never had the P privilege of serving with a fiduciary and um thank God I'm not in the finance Comm I never did like it so I'll thank you but having jod deer was the best thing for nutly even though they didn't realize it and it's too bad Joe you were there at this unfortunate time that and you took the blame for what was happening financially and nutly not our fault certainly not your fault personally and I know you took it on and you wanted people to make sure you were knew what they what we were talking about and you did but they didn't listen to you Joe it's a terrible terrible shame it's a loss for the Board of Education financially in my opinion it's a loss for nutly but I enjoyed serving serving with you I had wish I had a lot more years with you Joe I love you your family your your mother God bless you thank you Charlie anyone else that would yeah Mr President um uh first off uh I have uh prepared words uh just as long perhaps longer than yourself uh I'm not going to go that long I do want to um I do want to say I agree with every word you said uh one word missing in there were the lies okay other than that I would have written word for word what you did um and what you spoke um the people that know me best uh they know that when I say something it's because either I know it or I believe it I don't speak to flatter but uh in I've known Joe as long as my son has been in school um but I didn't know Joe until we served together um working with Joe I could tell you you know as a 46 year old man he is probably if he's not the sharpest most intelligent person I've met as a professional uh he's at least up there with uh some of the smartest people I've ever met when my colleagues up here tell you about what a tremendous loss this is going to be for the district um the last 15 months or so whichever it was I've learned more about Finance I've learned more about accounting I've learned more and more and more and every time I pick up the phone I learned something else so uh Joe I want you to know uh serving with you has been great uh I think Charlie said it the best uh it's not the outcome any of us were hoping for or expecting um but I want you to know serving with you has been uh a pleasure anyone else Tom yeah it's funny is I uh my day job is also a district administrator and um when I say what I'm about to say about Joe I say it from as a colleague on the board but also Jo Joe's the kind of board member that any administrator would love to have on their board um Joe your exceptional leadership your Keen Insight unwavering commitment to Justice have left an indelible mark on our district um our time working together this is more the personal side of it uh this transcends civic duty uh the time that we spend the average person never sees uh we're volunteers we spend uh all of our extra time but after the family and and commitments and the shuttling and every day we spend late nights early mornings um on this so it it you you forge and I was fortunate to forge a friendship over that time uh on this board with you um your thoughtful guidance and dedication will be deeply missed on this board I sincerely hope uh that you're just taking a little break um I thank you for everything you've done and I do consider it a a travesty that you there is no plaque tonight to um memorialize uh and commemorate Joe's time uh Miss makus if it's possible I'd like to say can he take his name tag with him tonight if that's okay something to remember your time here your your your time on this board is going to be felt um by the members here in the administration uh and I just it's a travesty that you don't have something to take with you um physically to to hang on a wall or put on a desk so maybe we can give you that name tag tonight uh Joe I have nothing but um the the deepest appreciation for your your dedication your mind uh your even ke um and just quite honestly your uh friendship so thank [Music] you Mr fragil yeah only Joe could get Miss makeus to agree to taking something worth of value here that that that pretty much says it all uh so I'm not going to be repetitive a lot of great things um and and I I Echo the sentiment I just want to call out the hard work I mean you've you've always been there it's admirable um how much you know you really dedicated I look forward to arguing with Miss makus with half as much Gusto that you do and um I can only hope that we we find you in the trenches in October and uh we see you on the ballot so enjoy the rest and uh you deserve it okay anyone else um yes so Joe I want to express my deepest gratitude for the effort and dedication you've shown throughout your tenure on the board it's not easy especially when the road is difficult but you did it with Grace and you did it with heart the strength and spirit you demonstrated will continue to resonate thank you for your commitment for the countless hours you have spent advocating for our community district and most of all our students and for the positive change you have championed your efforts have laid a strong Foundation for our future progress as we move forward and work together we will build on the momentum you have helped create I'm honored to have served with you and thank you and I too hope to see you on a future ballot Joe where are you are you down there okay um you know I'm a special ed person and you are the finance guy and I know very little about Finance but I learned so much from you you truly are a great teacher and I I I thank you and I want you to also know I've been in your situation and right now you're not feeling all that good but you know what you have to regroup and think for the future because you are way too valuable to lose I mean it's you know you have been such a a great asset for us and we will absolutely miss you like everyone said it's been an honor working alongside you on the board the last three years your wisdom your leadership and your dedication to this District's Mission have truly been inspiring elevated our work and made me a better board member you leave behind a big Legacy of strong commitment and an impact that we'll all have to strive to carry forward uh thank you again for everything you've contributed [Music] thank you I think um Mr B as all the board members we did all the board M all board members wiing yeah I I I prepared something as well but I'd like to speak from my heart um just for a little bit here like everybody else uh Joe you know it kind of fell apart um you know a lot of things happened in in February and I have to say um you were right there with me the whole time some people run away from the Title Wave um you really learn a lot about people when they run next to you you ran next to me thank you um I think I've learned more about certain things from Joe then um any class any college course any experience um it'll make me a better person and definitely better superint tenant I appreciate you and I hope to see you back as well you take I I have to stop as this has probably been the most uncomfortable I've been in this seat since I got here um and and it's been a long meeting you've all been here since 5:30 uh so I'll be super quick I I want to make it clear I am just one person up on this stage there are nine trustees every one of which was in the trench I was not by myself there's the faculty Kent I know it was not a particularly easy time but I'm glad that you're still here the way you are you've come through um I cannot say enough uh make is is being incredibly humble I don't win any arguments um and uh but we are as a district and and I know I said this in April um when I sat up at the podium and gave a presentation that talked about the deficit um that the district would be better for this when it's all said and done we have a lot of work to do um I'm not going anywhere um I will be a member of the community I'll be a voice for the public and I'm sure at some point in time I'm might get Russell back on a ballot so thank you all for the kind words um and you know my father would be proud thank you is there any other new business to come before the board okay whereas the Board of Education will be discussing matters exempt from public discussion pursuant to njsa 10 col 4-12 now therefore be it resolved that the Board of Education recess to close executive at this time to discuss contracts and Personnel be it further resolved that the results of the discussions will be made public by inclusion on the agenda of the subsequent meeting with the Board of Education or when the reasons for discussing such matters in closed sessions no longer exist can I get a motion to adjourn into executive session okay thank you everyone uh Merry Christmas happy Hanukkah happy holidays uh be safe and um we will see everybody back in January thank you