[Music] of the United States St of America and to the for it stands na indivisible [Music] andice Annette Barbara here Alan Tracy Ellen Stephanie here John here Doug here Al here Jonah here the New Jersey open public meeting law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon in accordance with this provision of this act the riverdell regional board of education has caused notice to for this regular meeting to be publicized by having the date time and place sent to the record and the Star Ledger newspapers the Bur clerks and burrow libraries as well as posting in the school district principal offices faculty rooms and the board office according to New Jersey public La 2001 chapter 226 the smoking or use of any tobacco product is strictly prohibited anywhere in the public school buildings or anywhere on school grounds including but not limited to parking lots grassy areas and athletic fields violators will be subject to a fine not to exceed 100 $ okay thank you TR uh I'm going to read the mission statement tonight because I didn't have a chance to ask anyone else um the mission of Riverdale Regional School District is to provide a safe student- centered environment in which each student is valued and respected to challenge each student to reach their potential to nurture every student's intellectual social physical and emotional growth to promote a healthy work ethic a passion for Learning and a respect for oneself and and other to develop responsible citizens for our diverse community and an everchanging world to continue to involve our community in an active partnership to provide all students the opportunity to achieve and exceed the New Jersey student learning standards uh we now come to the public comments on agenda items only uh there will be a segment at the end of the meeting to comment on anything else pertaining to the Riverdale Regional School District if anyone has anything to say about uh anything on the agenda please step up to the microphone we do have one somewhere I think okay okay uh we have a presentation tonight but uh before we get to the presentation we're going to let the student uh members present the report so that you can leave after your report uh Jonah or M seen all right um so over the past two weeks the high school has been as busy as ever so on November 2nd the senior class of 2024 hosted a class fundraiser at Joseph's Pizzeria located in River Edge thank you to all that supported congratulations to Christina Allen for winning the Bergen Record athlete of the week award for the week of November 2nd on November 8th Christina celebrated her commitment to run Trek and field for the University of Cincinnati on her signing day in the media center thank you to Dennis Nelson for organizing this event for our accomplished athlete additionally Christina finished in the top 20 in the state of New Jersey for her cross country state um meet of Champions on November 11th thank you Christina for all of her hard work and dedication in representing Riverdale through her an amazing High School career congratulations to Lucas Jung hean quen Christopher y Evelyn Beck Chris Kim Maya Shanghai Che um Cameron kaga and Alanta Yamaguchi for their successful auditions into the Bergen County Chorus they'll be a part of a 200 100 member chorus that will perform at the beginning of January rivel is proud of their talented students November was the official opening of the Hawks Art Gallery in the media center we look forward to highlighting student artwork each month on November 4th the Riverdale Leo Club protected newly planted trees in Memorial Park by installing deer guards and removing excess mulch at the base of the trees thank you to the club members for volunteering their time to make an environmental difference in our community congratulations to the riverdell stem club and robotic team for their competition performance over the weekend on November 4th and 5th congratulations to the Riverdale volleyball team on a bittersweet ending to their fantastic season ranked at the fourth seed the team won in a huge upset away against the first seeded Sparta team in the semi-finals round on November 7th the Hawks moved on to compete against an Fierce Demis team in the finals where they lost in a close two to1 match congratulations to the entire team for their hard work and efforts this season in honor of Veterans Day inter Club wrote letters and delivered them to the veterans home in pamis over 200 letters and cards were sent and the homes expressed lots of gratitude upon the receiving them thank you to all the students who participated in writing these letters to the veterans and teachers who gave this opportunity to their classes a special shout out to the National English Honor Society who contributed as well for upcoming events at the high school uh for November 16th to the 19th the drama club will present their seasonal performance of 12 Angry jurors best of luck to the cast crew and all the riveral students and staff involved in the successful show the start of winter sports is right around the corner starting on November 20th good luck to all the winter student athletes on their upcoming Seasons so now for the middle school report congratulations to students on the Middle School volleyball team for finishing undefeated and winning their league title November 3rd the girls defeated hocus in three sets to finish off their amazing season congrats to all the student athletes and coaches coach Liberto and Coach lauderbach the Spanish National Honor Society continue their efforts honoring different cultures around the globe by creating a wonderful display honoring Dia deos mertos The Day of the Dead celebrating celebrated in Mexico and other Spanish speaking countries between October 31st and November 6th a week later the organization created a display honoring de wall the Festival of Lights India's biggest and most important holiday of the year congratulations to seventh grade student Natalie vken for winning the rdms spelling be November 7th she will go on to comp compete at Regional scheduled for the spring of 20124 at Bergen Community College students from Miss OK Conor's nutritional living and wellness classes were visited Ed by food safety Agents from the US Department of Agriculture on Halloween they learned about food safety related topics such as food temperatures and length of freezing or refrigerating food this information will come in handy as Thanksgiving approaches Miss Art's English class met with published author Melissa Elder on November 3rd she led discussions on poetry finding inspiration to write and how the publishing process works it was a wonderful experience for AR rdms students involved thank you very much at this time if if you two would like to go home and start your homework uh you've seen this uh presentation a couple of times and uh we're going to allow you to leave if if you care to tonight you can stay if you want thank you uh we do have a presentation tonight uh Dr James Alro along with uh Frank MSO from Solutions architect will be presenting the uh proposed referendum stand can we dim these lights a little bit we can yeah you owe me for that one by the way you're welcome that better yep all right good evening everyone thank you for coming out tonight my name is Jim Alor I haven't met everyone here I've met probably about half of you I would say at this point um but thank you for coming out to learn more about our referendum we hope we can uh answer any questions you have uh it's about a half hour presentation uh we'll go through the need and and uh kind of how we got to where we are and uh talk a lot about the financing and of course the projects themselves so uh this is Frank MSO who's from Solutions architecture I'm going to take the beginning of the presentation uh to just to talk about some generalities about it and Frank we'll walk you through um most of the nuts and bolts of uh what's actually being proposed as renovation project projects as he is the architect of record for this project uh he can best explain that so here we go okay so what we're proposing uh is a referendum for Capital infrastructure and classroom Renovations am I okay where I'm standing right here am I in your way you're good okay um Capital infrastructure and classroom Renovations via a referendum vote on Tuesday December 12th 2023 why is it going to a referendum vote why is it a special election it's because um anytime you want to go outside of the 2% cap on school budgets it has to go to the voters anything that goes beyond the allowable limits in our in our um School Finance has to go to the voters so that's why it goes to a special election uh our motto is 21st century buildings for 21st century Learners so each year why now each year the school district the Board of Education the administrators looks at what we have as far as our facilities and what we need to do to continue to improve and maintain the facilities that we have that's a process that happens every year not just when we have a referendum but but every year in general uh and in spite of the 2% tax levy cap the board of education has successfully addressed a lot of different building needs over the years in a couple of slides I'll outline some of those capital projects for you uh the district has uh probably the third reason why we think this is the right time to do this is the district has a significant debt rolling off the books this year there was a referendum that was passed about 20 years ago some of you may have been around for that um and that that expires this year and that debt will be rolling off so the board kind of timed this out uh pretty logically to replace that debt with a lesser debt uh which would have a a negative or a lesser impact I should say not a negative impact a lesser impact on our debt service payments so One debt would be rolling off to be replaced with a different debt and again why now um all school buildings deal with this at some point you know we don't have all have the luxury of having brand new school buildings our school buildings are very well maintained but the average age is 50 50.3 years old between our middle school and our high school the oldest sections dating back to 1952 uh and over time infrastructure items uh Plumbing electrical and things like that can reach the end of their I guess projected life uh and as needs change in the district and infrastructure needs change in the district we have to make sure that our infrastructure is up to speed so that we can support all the different things that we want to do the different um technologies that you want to incorporate into our building whether it be in the classroom or just in infrastructure had to be we have to prepare for that beyond the 2% cap so you're going to see the slide again in a couple of minutes uh when when Frank talks to you but I'm going to address it here so one important item uh that I wanted to bring your attention to um I've had experience with referendums in my previous District 2 specifically um that we're not very much like this um and the reason that I'm very fond of this referendum piece is that we're getting the maximum we can get here in savings from the state of New Jersey and that's because these are all of our projects are tied to education and Renovations there's no we're not adding Fields we're not adding other items that would not qualify for a higher percentage of funding from the state we've maximized and the board has maximized through careful planning um what they can get uh as as much Bang for their bucket they can get from the state of New Jersey because these are all educational or renovation projects they qualify for the most funding from the state and Frank will explain that a little bit more for you but you see in the red column the 18.7 million represents the total amount that we'll be looking to raise for these projects 18.7 million is what we estimate these projects will cost because they qualify for the this high percentage of state aid $6.4 million of that 18.7 will be provided by the state in the form of Debt Service Aid to the district of Riverdale and finally the third column is the actual total after the state a is included so what the local taxpayer is responsible for is 12.3 million on an $18.7 million project so if the referendum passes and Frank will cover this more if the referendum passes we get that state aid it's already been promised to us we we know we get it if we pass the referendum um so there's no mystery about that that number change and it will be 6.4 m milon okay so I mentioned before that there are a number of projects that we have um incorporated into our Capital infrastructure over the last probably more than 10 years I would imagine and these are some of those for you because one of the questions that does come up is why don't you just take care of these projects out of your own capital budget that certainly is an option but it's not something that we can do over like a two or threee period because it would just simply cost too much money but these are projects that have been done over the years some of these projects would not qualify for for 34% funding from the state so the the board has very strategically planned these projects to come out at different times over the last 10 or so years um so that they could fund them properly and also they met the needs of our students uh and the people that are using these facilities but secure vesle upgrades in both the middle school and the high school some branding and Graphics um comprehensive facilities Health audits which are done periodically anyway uh but more specifically um in uh times of need I guess Co would be something that promoted a lot of District to look at the infrastructure of their buildings and the health infrastructure of their buildings the of course the very visible track and turfield replacement which would probably not qualify for much of any kind of state funding if any at all um was done out of our Capital expenditures a couple of years ago electrical up upgrades uh in both buildings to accommodate our HVAC to accommodate a lot of the different technologies that we have in the district um so that the electricity and the power grid I should say um can support all the changes that we want to bring into our schools so uh and of course Media Center upgrades over at the middle school and the lldd class classroom that was added there as well so every year there are capital projects and and Trudy angle our business administrator could probably explain that better to you um there are a number of capital projects that we kind of take on in our budget uh according to our long range facilities plan which is set up about a 5year period ahead of time but these are the projects that we know we want to complete over a period of time and we every year put money from our capital budget into those projects okay so the process in the beginning Solutions architecture was engaged to identify and prioritize what our needs are um what our building Improvement needs are so we the board I should say not we I wasn't here at the time but the board brought in Solutions architecture uh to look at ways to improve our infrastructure so that we can ensure safe environments for our students uh teachable environments for our staff uh and we were also challenged uh solutions to consider ways to improve our student experience you know that that's something that we talk about um I always talked about in in districts that I've worked in is that our students get more than an education when they come to school they get an experience and what they talk about is not their algebra class when they graduate high school they don't talk about their chemistry class they talk about their overall experience in high school um and in middle school and we wanted to make sure that we improved the student experiences while they're here in our district and for those students that we have currently and the ones that will be coming through our schools over the next 20 years and also work to provide recommendations to the Board of Education what are the options for us what what options does the board have uh to complete these projects over the next several years what kind what would a referendum look like to the board of education so on May of 2022 the district commission solutions to provide a district-wide facilities audit and they did that they look from poop To Nuts throughout our entire District all the infrastructure on the roofs in the basements on the exterior envelope of the building the ground everything they took everything into consideration and over the summer of 2022 it took all that information and evaluated against a number of criteria looking at uh qac for the state which is the state monitoring system the auditing system for the state um what were the minimum basic requirements for school buildings uh that were being built any any new construction what would be the minimum requirements uh as a standard uh and looking at health and safety um mechanical engineering and Plumbing that's P right thank you um and all what would have to be done and and um in any kind of building renovation project and that audit audit represented all that information so now about a year ago um that was completed the districtwide facilities audit was presented to the board of education and it came in at a um price tag at 25.6 million so 18.7 million is what we ended up settling on uh about $7 million difference between the two U so this was sup To Nuts 25.6 million all the possible things that Solutions said could be done in the district but the district the I should say the Board of Education was not satisfied with that um they thought that number would be too high and not something that would be palatable to the voters um and something that they could bring across to the voters as something that would be um a reasonable expenditure for the future so concept plans budget estimates were prepared for all the selected projects and essentially the board worked over a sever month period to pull out the projects that they felt were much more needed and not so much just wanted there's a lot of wants that you can find in projects but the board was very specific about finding uh projects that were um things that we needed in our school district to improve School experience and to improve the education of our students so this next slide just represents that these are district needs and not just specifically wants we want them too but they are specifically needs that we we feel we have in our district both now and projecting into the future very often the needs that you have just like in your own homes um the most expensive needs that you have are the ones that you don't necessarily see your ageback your plumbing your electricity um those are sometimes the things that cost you the most but you don't necessarily see it but you experience it every day in a variety of different ways and that certainly is the case here with our referendum projects uh so we've included projects that directly impact our students that was something that was also a driving um initiative from the board we one of things that directly impacted the student experience and the staff experience uh here and also something that our community can see and value you we're very proud of our schools our middle school and our high school our grounds are in my opinion the best in the county uh and I've seen many of them believe me um we want our interior of our buildings to be as flexible and as useful and as as uh eye-catching as our Outsiders so a couple of overarching themes which uh will you'll see in the later slides when Frank walks you through them uh these were if if we could encapsulate some of the uh themes that the board had they wanted enhanced learning environments for our students and for our staff to teach in they wanted student and staff safety to be addressed um in a variety of different ways we always we always address our student staff safety but they said any projects that move forward must consider this moving forward as well and finally keeping up to date with operations we know how fast things can become obsolete uh especially education and in schools and the and the board was very specific about making sure that the projects that we had would be flexible so that we as we grow as our curriculum grows the buildings would grow with them it wouldn't be something that would become outdated in 10 years it would be something that would live beyond the lifespan of this board I don't mean life span I mean the your tenure on the board or my tenure here I mean to say lifespan something that goes beyond them a footprint that could be left uh in the sand here at riverdell um for future people to see see and use and enjoy um based on the work that they did here so some of the projects that Frank will be walking you through um really do have a very exciting and high visual impact for us you know the Steam and stem Labs we've done some Renovations over the years especially in the Middle School to steam and stem Labs but there's more that we can do especially here at the high school um to to expand these uh expand our course offerings to give more flexible learning spaces to our students uh so we could do more more in those classrooms and bring more into the district uh both auditoriums the middle school and the high school um need some renovation they're they're pretty much original we've we've done some um fixture updates in there but most of them were designed both of them were designed for non-amplified sound they were designed for what I'm doing right now they speaking to you um and it doesn't really uh work the same way when you have um Amplified sound or electronically Amplified sound so there's a lot of acoustical work that we want to do in there and just some restructuring and refit fting of both auditoriums and and most specifically at the middle school adding hbac into that Auditorium currently does not have hbac as far as at least air conditioning it has heat but no air conditioning nutritional living and wellness classroom Renovations that's specifically to the uh Middle School um and Frank will walk you through that as well special education classroom Renovations we have uh an 18 to 21 year old program students who are classified as uh special need students who or students with disabilities um are whether you know this or not I don't know uh so I don't mean to insult you but we are responsible to educate them until they're 21 not just till they're 18 years old in many cases uh so an 18 to 21 program does exist we send our students currently outside of District to other programs some housed in public schools some in private schools uh depending on their specific need um or their specific disabilities or whether they have multiple disabilities um but we know we can do that here we can do that here we don't need to send them out where it cost us more money to send them out and paying tuition and transportation and AIDS and things like that if we had space here we could utilize that space and keep our students here our Riverdale kids in Riverdale where we believe they belong so that is a big part of the um renovation plan for the high school the 18 to 21 program and of course athletic locker room Renovations and uh Frank will walk you through at the gymnasium floors I think the middle school gymnasium floor is original to the building if I'm not mistaken um and what we do is we upkeep those floors over the years you sand them and you stain them you sand them and you stain them but you reach a point where you can't sand anymore because you're just down to the to the studs I guess so it's getting to that point now and it would be a good idea to move forward and and fix the dead spots and and replace that flooring uh where it exists and to change the whole structure of the athletic locker rooms uh because they're not really there's still locker rooms there were locker rooms 50 years ago when they were built but the purposes and the ways we use our locker rooms are a little bit different and the ways we supervise them are different now than they were before okay to walk you through the proposed projects I will give give you Frank miseno Frank all yours sir you're welcome so we're going to talk a little bit more about the details of the projects so that you know exactly what's included in the referendum um so we're going to start with capital projects the capital projects those are the infrastructure projects that you will see or you won't really see but it's all behind the scenes stuff that keep the building running and allows us to do what needs to be done uh as Dr Alro said districtwide security measures one of the things that we're going to to do the the district has already addressed secure vestibules and things like that we are going to address security film at all first floor doors and windows now that security film is a is an applied film and what it does is it creates um additional time it doesn't allow the window to be smashed and just shattered this film holds the window together and it buys time so that someone can't just smash the window and walk through the building it's not to be confused it's not bulletproof bullets will go through but it does do by time for First Responders to get here that will be on all first floor doors and windows various mechanical and HVAC upgrades unit ventilator Replacements ventilation upgrades AC controls upgrades during coid everybody looked real hard at ventilation and at the requirements for UVS and operation and things like that the other issue that comes up all the time is air conditioning are the classrooms air conditioning is it comfortable is it a comfortable learning environment so these are upgrades that will be addressed under the referendum um at various locations throughout the schools uh various electrical fire alarm upgrades plus emergency generators these are critical Services only we want to make sure that the generators that generators are in place to host in the uh uh critical services in the event of an emergency this allows the district also to act as a community support uh Place shelter things like that if they're able to have uh emergency generators uh gymnasium floor replacement we just talked about over time you continue to maintain and and sand those floors but they get to a point where they can't be done any longer so we'll be upgrading the gym floors new new flooring new graphics new um school spirit type things throughout the gymnasiums as best as tile flooring uh removal and replacement uh this only occurs in the high school maintenance Wing right now this district has done a very good job over the years of removing as best as tile flooring and while as bestus tile flooring say has the word as bestus it has lasted this long because it was good tile and it was um you know the adhesive that held it down was very good it's completely safe unless it's in a Frable or broken condition and the district has kept the tile in a great spot why are we removing it because there's no reason to keep it here if we can remove it and we have the ability to do so under the referendum now it won't be a future issue for us to be concerned with so we're going to remove that that area and that's one of the areas part of the renovation for our 18 to 21 year old program and then graphics and branding any of the designs you're going to see from us and that we do we always incorporate graphics and school spirit and branding because it's a lowcost high impact way of creating a vibrant uh exciting space for students and for the staff to learn in and to work in so you'll see graphics and branding throughout some of the things that we do so those are the capital projects that are in in are encompassed in both schools as part of the referendum now we're going to talk a little bit about the educational projects and we're going to start at the high school so the high school uh projects at the lower level of the high school consist of the creation of an 18 to 21 year old program classroom one of our charges was to look at the buildings and determine underutilized undervalued space within the buildings and one of the things that we found was there were some areas that were used as storage space and they were underutilized and we could reclaim that space and we found uh a way and we'll we'll show you in a little bit a way to reclaim it for the 18 to 21 year old program the other area at the lower level that requires Renovations are the locker rooms um as Dr Al brro said locker rooms back when I went to school were a lot different there was big shower rooms shower areas with you know masks that everybody showered at we don't shower that way anymore in most schools those shower rooms are used as storage and it's no different here and you'll see that so we want to replace and renovate these shower rooms reclaim underutilized space that's valuable square footage to the district so that's something that you'll see us doing so I'm going to jump into the 18 to 21 year old program talk specifics you're going to see a a general slide like you just saw and then we'll jump into the specifics so the 18 to 21 year old program is comprised of this lower level area that is the this underutilized maintenance storage workroom area and what we're going to do is take this underutilized space and we're going to create spaces for that life skills program for that 18 to 21 year old program spaces that will help with instruction workrooms cooking hygiene areas that the students will be able to you know learn valuable life skills so that they can move on outside of uh outside of their homes so but the space will be completely renovated that as best as tile flooring will be removed new flooring wall and ceiling finishes LED lighting Mechanical plumbing and electrical upgrades will be done bathroom spaces there will be a uh a bedroom space that will you know learn teach them how to make their bed uh be able to uh brush their teeth uh do various functions there will be V various group and individual areas for learning so we're taking a space that's right now full of storage racks and under utilized and we're going to create something that creates multi multiple areas within that space to create a vibrant and thriving 18 to 21 year old program the boys and girl athletic uh locker rooms again they're outdated the lockers are damaged the lockers are in a state of disrepair they're fixed all the time they're they're damaged all the time but the intent here would be to redesign these rooms what you can see here is kind of this rectangle rectangular space right now that's the big shower room that shower room is used for storage there's just stuff thrown in it because nobody showers anymore but in middle school and high school programs showers requiring especially for wrestlers Mera things like that they have to shower what we've found is if we design individual shower stalls compartments similar to toilet stalls kids will shower they'll use the lockers be they they'll do what they need to do so we're designing spaces for athletics and sports shower uh lockers toilets and shower areas we're renovating the locker space so that the lockers are lower and it creates greater supervision within the locker space uh new floor finishes new walls ceiling lighting mechanical electrical and and uh Plumbing upgrades so this is an example on the left of what the locker looks like now there's that big shower area used as storage here's an idea of what the space could look like open areas team room type spaces or Locker spaces um of what what that space could look like and the shower area would be converted into those compartmentalized showers which would make it easier and private for people to shower on the first floor plan we look at three separate projects the auditorium Renovations uh in Orange and the stage upgrades in Orange and then stem room Renovations and upgrades in the pinkish color purplish color so the auditorium Renovations this is both front of house and back of house so the part where the audience sits as well as the stage and Beyond and the intent here is to design accommodations for Acoustics lighting sound redo the stage create more area in the in the wings a new prenium finishes wall ceiling finishes as well as lighting Mechanical plumbing upgrades throughout that area so if you look on the image on the left this the it's existing Auditorium the lighting is dimm there are lighting issues acoustic issues while there's new seating the intent would be to redo the flooring redo the walls create graphic or or um acoustic panels throughout that will enhance the sound within the space absorb in some locations reflect in others and that'll all be designed uh as well as um create a a better performance space for the students and other other events that happen in the auditor atum the stem and steam classroom spaces uh again these are taking existing rooms and reorganizing them every classroom that we design today is flexible it's on movable Furnishings flexible each you know desk has wheels the room can be reconfigured in multiple spaces so the desks that you see here they can be put together as a conference area they can be individual as individual workstations there's uh various areas within the overall room for robotics or maker space Electronics group learning uh various work areas throughout to support a growing curriculum the teachers have more opportunity to expand the curriculum if the space can support it if the space is static and fixed it's very difficult to get an exciting and vibrant program uh there will be a kind of a prep office area for the the teachers in the center and then the rooms are divided on either side new floorings finishes the same goes throughout for all the renovation work this is an image of what that stem classroom looks like now it's a conglomeration of a various desks that are put together they're all fixed everything you know they can be dragged around but they're it's not flexible it's not easy when things are not easy people don't do it the room remains fixed in that condition the image on the on the right is an is an idea of what it could look like um you know it could be a wood shop robotics lab with a robotics table in the back and and and the ability to do a variety of stem and steam type uh projects now we'll jump to the middle school and a lot of the projects are identical they're the same it's the same scope so we'll kind of go through and show you what we're looking at but it's a lot of the same scope that I just described so Auditorium Renovations at the middle school including the second floor balcony art room Renovations stem and steam room Renovations and the nutritional living and wellness classroom upgrades so again Auditorium exact same front of house back of house lighting Acoustics that's the big uh push new flooring uh and this also includes the balcony on the second floor we'll get new finishes new new lighting and everything else so will the back of stage um uh new equipment new things for for lighting uh to be able to enhance that environment and improve production uh an image of the existing Auditorium again older poor lighting poor Acoustics uh this Auditorium is is one in particular That's Unique because it does have a full stair that comes up the stage or a built-in Riser so it it's something that we would keep and want to work with but to be able to renovate and create uh a more uh functional space the stem and steam classroom again very similar layout at the middle school as at the high school two two independent rooms rooms a centralized office prep space uh that can accommodate both flexible movable Furniture robotics they can do electronics maker spaces group learning this the rooms when they're done will be able to support whatever the teachers want to do in there an idea of what it looks like now you can see the you know wood exhaust you know uh extraction system for dust uh you can see the tables and the fixed tables and stools and you know something that it could look like everything on Wheels flexible rolling power drops from the ceiling to be able to create uh again a very flexible and dynamic environment the art classroom uh very original to the building original Cabinetry original space uh the idea here is again to be flexible to create a revised environment for the art room that supports what the teacher wants to do regardless of the program uh more storage Cabinetry it's always the the missing uh component in an art room today there's not enough places to display art there's no Gallery space there's nothing to there's no place to put this so we want to be able to create uh an environment that supports all of this new finishes lighting etc etc so the image on the left is the existing art room it's older dated I know a lot of people love the salmon colored cabinets that have been painted about 8,000 times but the intent is to redo the cabinet it's redo the Furnishings again everything that you'll see in these images is flexible and movable and the ability for us to create Gallery space where artworks can be displayed presented uh giving the students the ability to present their works is really really important nutritional living wellness classroom Renovations nutritional living when I went to school was called home economics um home economics then and home e economics now are two different things kids are learning to be chefs kids are looking at culinary arts nutrition learning all the values of what they put in their body and that's what this space is designed to do it's designed to improve the efficiency of the classroom that currently exists multiple kitchen stations a Dem demonstration area a classroom area to learn about nutrition and a functional area to learn about the actual ability to cook and prepare uh culinary Delights uh flexible Furnishing storage Cabinetry equipment that will support this growing curriculum uh and allow the teachers to expand and do what needs to be done these are two images of the existing home economics or Wellness classroom and while the teacher doing amazing job in the spaces that they have you can see the room is cluttered it's a mishmash at different Furnishings things are put together to to be able to do what they need to do it's not what the space should be today and the space should be more d Dynamic more flexible um stainless steel equipment stainless steel tables different kitchen areas learning areas prep areas the ability to move all those stainless steel tables together and create a banquet where they can actually have an event for the food they create teaching them you know potential life skills when they graduate and they want to become a chef they have the skills to do it because they were able to learn in this class room so let's talk about probably the most important question on everybody's mind and then that is what's it going to cost and how does that impact me so when we looked at the the cost of of each school and the work at each School the way it worked out I mean this is kind of uh just by happen stance because the needs were based on what we needed not necessarily the cost but when you look at capital projects in the left column there's about $3.6 million in capital projects at the high school at the middle school however that number goes up to $6.3 million in capital projects that's all the HVAC the the lighting the the uh infrastructure work that we talked about earlier totaling 9.9 million in Associated Capital Project work it's basically reversed at the high school we've got about 5.2 or uh for educational projects rather it's 5.2 million in educational projects at the high school about 3.6 million of educational projects at the middle school totaling about $8.7 million in educational projects for both schools the total being uh about $18.6 million in capital and educational projects at both schools there's that slide again and the reason that this slide is so important is to show you that the renovation work that the that the board approved to go into this referendum they were all eligible for state aid state aid is eligible at maximum value at 34% and the district has been approved we've received letters from the doe that certify those numbers They will receive 35% in debt service Aid against this project and what that means for us is that we have the ability to do $18.7 Million worth of work for $12.3 million it's a pretty good deal if we were to do this or had the ab let's say we had the ability to do all this out of the capital budget which there's no way we could do this much money out of the capital budget we would pay 100% any other work would be paid at 100% the only reason that debt service is available is because we are encumbering debt through a referendum and that it is tied to education and Renovations so it's a very important slide said in another way the total project cost of $18.6 million with The Debt Service Aid being received we're going to receive about 3 million in debt service aid for the high school projects we're going to receive about 3.3 million in debt service aid for the middle school projects uh for a total of about 6.3 million in debt service Aid so total cost final cost after uh Debt Service Aid at the high school is 5.8 and 6.5 at the middle school for a total of 12.3 million uh million dollars now to 34% according to the legislation and when you see the bond question it says that the district is eligible for 40% in debt service Aid the reason the difference between 40% and the 34% that we're telling you about is because since 2009 the state has only paid 85% of the 40% number that you're eligible which results in 34% so we don't want to tell you 40 and then you're only going to see 34 so we tell you right out of the gate it's 34% in debt service Aid Uh current debt service Aid calculations have been finalized and approved by Doe and all cost projections have been based on a presumed assumed 4% interest rate by The District's Financial people if the rates for whatever reason by the time the referendum happens go up then the numbers that you're going to see will slightly will go up slightly if the rates go down those numbers will go down slightly so let's talk about that debt that formula and how it impacts you as the taxpayer in 2004 uh the district went out for a referendum those bonds are maturing coming and being paid off in the current 2020 3 2024 school year the district currently has no other outstanding debt so putting forth the referendum will come up with a number for the debt now residents with an average assessed home of 567,000 interest rates and the cost will be about $142 72 so therefore residents in ell will see a reduction in their Debt Service of about $586 from what you're currently paying in River Edge the average assessed home at 395,000 is currently paying about $174 54 the new project will result in $123.4 Debt Service and therefore there will be a Debt Service reduction of about $508 said another way the referendum's $8.6 million we're receiving 6.4 in debt service aid for a 12.3 million net taxable impact to the to the taxpayers the impact for a taxpayer in ordell will be a $58 credit on what you're currently paying it will be a $508 credit credit or decrease per year for what you're currently paying in Riveredge now this decrease takes into consideration The Debt Service Aid roll out rolloff which I talked about the assumed interest rate is 4% for a 20-year term and this projected impact takes into consideration the referendum only the work that the school is doing from the referendum it doesn't take into consideration any other impact that might be the town might come up with for some something that the town is doing but for what the school is doing this is the impact we're going to show it to you one other way because we want to be transparent we want to be thorough so this is a third way to show it and it's pretty straightforward current tax impact blue is orell green is River Edge the average assessed home here the average assessed home here it's $21.32 currently it's 174 currently it's 142 the new impact if you vote Yes for the capital and educational projects is $142 per year for idell and $123.4 so $586 reduction $50 80 reduction if the referendum passes in short your taxes will not go up if the referendum passes but what does your vote mean and this is uh again another graphical representation of what you're going to get if you vote Yes for this referendum you get $8.7 Million worth of capital educational classroom Renovations as we've just discussed minus 6.4 million in debt service Aid you're going to get the Arts the learning the wellness the safety and the operations all of those things covered and you're going to get a reduction in debt service for $58.50 if you vote no and the referendum fails then the district will have to continue to do what it's currently doing and that is make operational and District changes out of the capital budget it limits the amount of work that can be completed on a given year they won't be able to do this wholesale renovation to both buildings and it will occur without any state aid because there is no state aid available for the type of work that we're doing other than through a referendum so we'll essentially lose 6.4 million in Deb service Aid that's been approved for ease of use we know that everyone doesn't have the average assessed home in either town right your house may be worth more may be worth Le worth worth less if you want to know exactly what the impact is to you and your home the district's website riverdell.org referendum you can go to the referendum page and there's a button to click estimate my tax impact when you click that on click on that button it will bring this web calculator up you enter the assessed value of your home in this box if you're in ell and this one if you're in riverdell and it will tell you what the referendum impact will be to you the credit in most cases if your value is higher than 567,000 the value will go it will go higher in credit you'll get more credit because you're paying more if it's less it'll be less but the calculator will tell you now the assessed value of your home is not the market value of your home you get the assessed value from the assessor's office what your currently your your home is currently assessed that so you want to make sure you're entering the assess value and not the market value you'll be really shocked at the number you get if you put in market value um if your home is reassessed in the future the additional tax related to the referendum doesn't change the tax impact is locked in after the bonds are sold if you are currently participating in the New Jersey senior freeze tax program your taxes will remain unaffected by the referendum so if you're eligible and you've been eligible for the senior freeze your taxes do not change at all some frequently asked asked questions and facts we said before we're carrying 4% for a 20-year term even with significant increases that we've experienced in construction industry due to material shortages supply chain issues we still need to work within the budget that was submitted to doe when we submitted back in February um we cannot spend the penny more than what is approved by the voters so we're going to have to manage the projects to get them to to come in on budget the designs that you saw the concepts that you saw what it could look like they're right now representations of what it could look like they're not the final design it could look different than what you saw but it's an intent to show you what's there New Jersey is one of the only states that you have to pass the referendum first before we do design work Connecticut New York it's different they do the design work for the whole building and then they go for referendum but the difference there is they pay for engineering and architecture if the referendum were to pass or fail rather you would have paid for all this engineering and architecture that you wouldn't need so in New Jersey they do it differently and that's why the designs are conceptual if and when the referendum passes then we sit down with the district the administration The Faculty of all the rooms and we go through the designs and find out their specific needs and wants can more money be spent I gave that away before no you cannot spend one penny more of the amount approved by the voters it includes a reasonable reasonable budget number and contingencies and allowance to uh account for unforeseen conditions and construction issues we can't increase the budget or spend more if we have you know uh supply chain issues or construction costs will my taxes go up if the referendum passes no the bond referendum passes your taxes will not go up in fact The Debt Service is projected to go down as we talked about earlier students and staff during construction it's always a big concern for us for you as parents um therefore construction and Renovations this project will take two to three years to complete because there's only so much time we can do in the summer when kids aren't in school there's only so many short little vacations that we can slide work in some work will be done during the school year any other work on the windows and things like that that need to be done the film that can be done during the school year certain rooms that are not being used that can be locked up like the auditorium or something like that we can do work during the school year we want to plan work when it's most advantageous advantageous for the district if we do work closer to the summer contractors are busy costs are higher if we try to put work out now or in October September when they're just finishing up their last projects prices are cheaper so we want to be flexible with the time that we can do the work and while some of the construction could begin as early as the first summer of 2024 other what projects that require more design they'll go into later in 2024 or 25 and 26 Summers uh to complete senior freeze we talked about that already taxes will remain the same project priorities um so in the event that costs escalate and the district for some reason can't finish all the projects because the bids came in over budget the district is committed to doing the infrastructure the infrastructure uh projects that we talked about safety security HVAC emergency generators all of those big projects they are legally required to finish all of the projects that you've approved in the question um it's unlikely that it won't happen but if in the event it does we want you to know what projects will take priority why wasn't this work done before it's a question that comes up all the time how come you didn't do all this work why is it here and often times in educ ation the education of students takes precedence over capital projects over the infrastructure ah you even do it at your own house we'll get another year out of the boiler we'll get another year out of the roof we'll put that off we'll do what we need to do to try to keep the educational process going we have to hire another teacher we can't do this so because of the 2% cap it's impossible to complete the amount of work that needs to be done the district has done so since the LA last referendum little bits little projects over the course of the last 20 years they've done work you've seen the list Dr Alro talked about the list uh so if we continue to do work through the capital we do it again without Debt Service Aid which is a huge help to everyone here how does State get Aid get paid into the projects is it a check is it uh get put in the district's bank account and the answer is no every year based on the bond being sold the district will have to make a Debt Service payment in this particular case the District's only going to make 66% of that payment the state will pick up the other 34% how are construction costs and supply chain issues factored into the markup so we prepared budget estimates for this project those budget estimates were submitted to the Department of Education and approved those budget es estimates include escalators and contingencies because these projects are not going to be done this year they're going to be done in three years so typically when we budget projects the first projects that are completed in the beginning tend to come in under budget because there's escalators on them those under budget projects tend to feed and supply the later projects which could come in over budget so they net each other out at the end of the day so those are the contingencies and multipliers that we've included what would the cost of these projects be without passing a referendum and again we've talked about this if the district does doesn't pass the referendum they will continue to do these projects over a long period of time and without the state aid of 34% would the construction at both schools happen at the same time depending upon the work the pricing and when we can do it we'd like to try to package projects to be larger we get a greater economy of scale now that doesn't mean that we won't bid them to multiple contractors if one guy's lower he may get the middle school if one guy's lower he may get the high school if the combined number is lower and it's a big enough company they could take both so depending upon how the bids work they could be uh to get economy a scale we could be doing work at both schools at the same time and where does this put work put riverdell in the ranks of other schools in our opinion and obviously the district believes the same that facilities support learning other districts in the nearby areas have passed referenda they've done re facilities Renovations they've done classroom Renovations the intent here is that in order for the district to advance the educational process the curriculum expand the programs offered to students the rooms need to be able to support it and right now fixed and static and small rooms don't cut it we need to be flexible we need to offer the ability for these teachers to do what they do best and that is create a a program that's going to teach these students now and into the future that's all I have to say questions yes sir uh in terms of the special ed program that you're building now or enhancing let's put it that way has there been a financial analysis done on the amount of money the district would save by not going out of district and then teaching within the new facility I'm I'm going to turn that question over to Judy yes we have looked into it and also the goal of the district is to keep the students in District as much as possible but there would be a savings ballpark savings I don't really have it in front of me I can get that too if you'd like yeah I just be curious I mean I we obviously know it's an important part of it and obviously as much as we can keep in um I've just curious thank you so one of the things to point out at at this end slide so the district's website has a referendum Landing page a referendum page if you go on that referendum page everything is there everything we talked about and uh the presentation's there the tax impact the calculator everything is on that page one of the other things that's on there is all those frequently asked questions that I've that I've answered for you or shown you the question you just asked will be converted into a frequently Asked question and will be posted on the website so any questions that you guys have they'll find their way to the website you have the ability to go back and look and see what the answers are yes reference to Ted's question how many students would you expect to be able to educate or take care of so overall my guess would be between eight and 10 students overall over time excuse me 8 to 10 8 to 10 over time at the beginning it won't be the beginning it'll be you'll start slowly you know depending on the needs of the students it's like beginning could be two or three and then it can grow to between 8 I think it's my assumption too that if say a year like my son year where they're not as many students that need it is there are in upcoming years I see that probably will be more um will you be able to then take students from other districts and they will pay for it so then get money coming in as well on those years those fewer students the answer is yes we would take students from out of District our goal will be first to educate our students our own students and then of course to bring other students in as well another quick question Who will oversee now you said you you you're going to need electrical all different components to put this together who picks the electrical company that will do it it's very good question so New Jersey has what's called uh the lowest responsible bidder New Jersey public bidding laws only require contractors who provide the lowest responsible bid and price and have all the required paperwork so when we bid these projects they'll all be bid individually we'll group some together some will be individually but it's up to the contractor if the contractors put in a bid price and their price is the lowest as long as we can corroborate that that price let's say it's far lower than our budget then we have to do an evaluation to determine whether he's included everything that's in the job that we expect once we conclude that well then we have to give him the job um as long as his paperwork is together and everything is straight those are the guys that get the job the lowest responsible bner you oversee it yes it's part of our contract if the referendum were to pass we would establish a contract for all of the work being done our contract includes construction Administration services throughout the life of the project so from start to finish for the three years that goes on and we're on site weekly bi-weekly whatever the each each individual project takes to make sure that our drawings are being supported in the way they're supposed to be that they're not cutting Corners they're not doing things they shouldn't be doing anyone else cover it all I that's all right it's why we're here the so 34% is your debt service that we will receiving correct how did they come to that number the state so we put together a budget estimate for all the all the projects that the district has included and obviously doing what we do we know which projects are eligible and which are would not be eligible because we've done this enough but all we do is take our number the budget number that we come up with as long as it's approved by Doe and we we multiply it by 34% we come up with an estimated Debt Service Aid and doe corroborated every one of those numbers so they approved the 34% of the budget cost 34% has nothing to do with Co or projects nope you're welcome thank thank you thank you for your attention getting past you tell me I think you guys have to tell us spread the word let everybody know about the website and do that extra uh uh what are you and also take lawn signs lawn signs yes one thing I would just say about the economics because orell just went through a tax increase and people are so robw to that I'm not saying that it can change but you need to drill home on the savings part of it and you guys have done a great job with that one slide I don't care about I mean John no disrespect those lawn signs are beautiful right however that economics is really what are going to get at least our side of I'm not saying that bivd has issues either or people in Rivage aren't for or against but the Savings in in that grid those three bars that you had um that's where people need to understand it's $18 million but you need to hit home if you're getting money from the state yeah that that one right there the 6.4 because people in their minds right now it's they're stuck at 18 so you need to articulate we're getting six from the state but the only way we can get this is obviously through the referendum so I mean it's obviously economics uh but people are really just raw right now in terms of tax increase please spread the word let them know about that slide exactly we'll get get well the most important part of this is by piggybacking done tomor on the backside of a more expensive referendum enables us to say we're not raising your taxes with this kind of referendum and that savings part as Ted mentioned that's the bonus right there yeah I mean the other thing thing just to realize is and it was said that if the referendum doesn't pass the work that's spelled out here we can spend the next 20 years chipping away if this through our capital budget and we will probably still not get to the end of it while other things will come up um there's just not there's not the budget um you know with the 2% cap to be able to do that on top of which adding having to pay for another additional $6.4 million as we're doing it so part of it is do you want the current generation of student who is coming through the school district to benefit you know from all we're trying to do versus you know doing one stem room you know one year and another stem room maybe the next year and another stem room the year after and probably the auditoriums never um because we don't have the budget to do it and one thing to add if we do it over a 20e period we're going to lose that 6.4 million right from the state and by the time you're done you're going to have to do it all over again right and that was one of the reasons why the board in going through the the scope of work chose not to do everything because we didn't we didn't want to max out um you know we certainly could have chosen to max out so that the net effect was zero on the taxpayer but we went through what was really important to both the school facility and to the students while still trying to give back to the the taxpayers in both um uh both um towns I I think you're you're perfectly correct in this whole room I think we're preaching to the choir here in most cases but you get out there with the masses of population in both town and you have a poor a large group of senior citizens who say what difference does it make not this year they have this they have that that's that's all I'm saying I'm for but it's it's going to be a bush I I think there's an an opportunity and I I think the board and and Dr have done an excellent job of trying to be transparent so we would ask for your help if anybody does have those questions I think they're more than ready and able to answer them and in addition I I think there's a great opportunity for seniors to come out I believe suay the date the end of the November 19th suay Sunday so November 19th on Sunday we we put in a variety of areas um that we're having um a coffee and and tickets to see the show at the high school so that's another opportunity for them to get their their very valid concerns answered um as well as I know we have another board meeting before the referendum so there's multitudes of opportunities for transparency see if if you know anyone as you said you're we're preaching to the choir but if there's people out there please encourage them to ask the questions and we and easily get them the answers um because this is such an important undertaking so with the board as you because I said before I recognize a lot of faces here the board and and myself we've been out at a number of different events in rivered and in Oradell over the last couple of months and from my perspective i' I've heard nothing but overwhelming support for this as I'm hearing from most of you in this room tonight um but the important piece is people have to go out and vote if that's the way they feel either way we we we think people need to go out and vote whether they feel yes or that they feel no on the referendum they need to go exercise their right to vote we want to make sure that they are informed on what this vote actually carries what it will do and what it will not do and how it will and will not impact them so the important thing is that people do go out and actually V never a done deal until it's done I I in my previous District I passed the referend lasted by four votes four votes so every vote does count especially in these local elections and these special elections thank you thank you very much thank you for coming you know there are extra brochures here if anybody want think it's out friends thank you by the way that was very comprehensive and thank you for [Music] coming [Music] good night everyone call good night thank you Frank I'll call him when I get home but he knows it's not the and uh you can shoot you want me to shoot Brian a text or I'll tell tomorrow okay but I think that's a that's a better idea okay are we ready to continue here I believe we are mhm okay we're going to uh start back up with my report president's report um I was here along with a few other board members uh last Friday I believe it was last Friday right was it last friday today no two Friday Friday it was two Friday I thought it was two Friday it was the third okay let's go with that right it was the third I'm staring at it it was the third it was the third uh we were here for the uh grand opening of the Hawks gallery and the transitioned uh program students I thought did a wonderful job you know with the the coffee shop they do everything from the design of the sign here on the column behind me to ordering the products to serving the coffee and cakes and uh uh there was an added twist this year you see a couple of uh photos on the wall here there's about five or six spread probably more than that seven spread and there's a little uh tag underneath showing the student and the year uh the class they're in uh from the photo club and there was also a presentation live me music uh I believe there were four or five students that uh sang played the piano and sang it was very nice I was here for an hour maybe it lasts a little bit longer but it's I believe it's every Friday morning 8:30 basically yes 8:30 Cafe the cafe and a potential performance right at least the ca at least the cafe will be will be open yeah it was H they did a really nice job and the art is rotating monthly I believe yes right that's correct right okay uh and then it was mentioned before um coffee with us the board uh next uh Sunday the 19th from 12:00 uh to 2 p.m this uh in uh invitation went out to the uh the interact Club I believe got it out to all seniors uh that were at least registered I know the seniors that uh attend the senior citizen prom were all sent the invitation to uh view probably a scal down version of the uh PowerPoint that we just saw and then able to sit in on the production the High School production of 12 Angry uh Angry jurors um that's all I have tonight so I'll pass it along to you okay good evening everyone uh just to reiterate I I know last meeting I mentioned that we were closing out marking period one but we are now officially in marking Period 2 which which began today um so counselors administrators teachers obviously will be uh reaching out to uh parents and students who need support um that's part of the process um and we invite any parent and and uh students to reach out to counselors to administrators and obviously to teachers uh if they feel they need support that's a big piece of data coming in with that first work Mark and period report card um that kind of tracks us for where we're going to be going for the rest of the year and those conversations are just more important than ever once you get that data in so that's just one piece to remind you uh secondly um and I don't have much to report on tonight because our our uh student Representatives always do such a fine job with that uh but our fall athletic programs are complete um for this year uh me I'm the newcomer so I'm the one coming in seeing this for the first time it's probably old news to most of the people here uh but I was most impressed with um not necessarily wins and losses but the spirit that we have uh and the way our our athletic events are attended um by parents by students by people just from the community um I was very uh happy to see that and I'm looking forward to the winter seasons as well I'm sure it'll be more of the same and finally as as uh mentioned by Mr grap we have the fall production taking place this week it's on Thursday Friday Saturday and Sunday you have to go online to get tickets I invite you all to do that I'll be going on a couple different nights um I I did see a production last year uh right shortly after I was appointed uh and I was impressed is not the word for for what we're doing here at riverdell so I'm very excited to see this performance and I forget what the term is my wife always reminds me you're not supposed to wish anybody luck in the theater right you're supposed to break a leg so break a leg and I found out that means break a leg means to Bow I didn't know that either so so break a leg one appointments and that's my report okay thank you very much uh let's get into committee reports excuse me I do not believe any of the Committees met except curriculum which met tonight um can you confirm that Doug budget okay facilities John okay um community relations Allen there was no meeting since the last and policy governance other than two policies being on the agenda for tonight for the first reading so Annette you can just report back what you went through tonight a very productive discussion we continue to evaluate uh the course offerings going forward as well as what we currently have on hand um that would best serve our students as well as we were informed of the applications of the uh new standards that were rolled out by the state for language Jord and math and we continue to um explore all avenues as our curriculum evolves to serve the [Music] students thank you that uh may I have a motion to move to consent agenda Mo somebody want to second that second okay Stephanie does anybody have any questions or concerns about the consent agenda and as always if I could uh just ask a question or two um under 12a um it is recommended by the superintendent the board approved the following staff for the 2324 Janet's law teams and I just wanted an explanation maybe you could let people know what the Janet law Janet's law came into existence a few years back uh requires school districts to have in each School building a number of uh staff members who are certified in CPR um and we put together what are called Janet's law teams of of our staff members that are certified in CPR and willing to serve on the janets law team I think it's five per building you're supposed to have we have uh well in excess of that at the high school and at the middle school it's not something that we previously board approved it's something I did in my my other District I'd just like to have the notation that this is our actual janets law team in each building um we we probably have more teachers and staff members in this that are certified in CPR but these are the ones that are on the chanis okay very good thanks um and Trudy did notify me that once the agenda is out we cannot change the the verbiage and and something uh but one of the board members uh brought up something on 13 Finance District operation on K the superintendent board secretary recommend that the board approve a transportation joint uh jointure agreement with Dumont public schools for transporting students to New Milford High School for the 2324 school year at a cost of 39319 we're going to add for educational purposes to that and that's on the consent agenda and Stephanie thank you for that um I believe that's all I had on the consent if anyone else has any other questions or concern on consent before we vote yeah can we U Pull 11a as a separate vote uh 11a that's on the curriculum that is the um field Tre right to Spain you would like to pull that for a separate vote Yes and I'll explain why I'm supposed to be in Spain right now my trip was can cancelled um by not only the company that I represent here in the US but also by Homeland Security um for the simple reason that I was advised that it's not safe right now to travel to Spain that could change by the time this trip comes up but I'd feel like a hypocrite say myself and God forbid something happens here so I just want to abstain from 11a and that's the reason pull it you don't have to pull you can do a okay then I'll just uh do a partial it's not that I don't agree that kids should travel and see it's that God forbid something happened and I voted yes I'd feel horrible about it can I ask a question related to that then I assume we would never send the kids In Harm's Way so I assume disapproval is conditional on state of things prior to that trip I know there was Insurance provision I think we discussed the ability to kind of cancel so just you know relating to what Allan is saying I also wouldn't want to approve something I would assume all trips are predicated at some point as it gets closer some sort of an assessment of you know safety and adequacy of chaperon and everything else is that the case that is something we would have to look at especially an international trip yes as it gets closer to it um and if there are concerns we'll bring them we'll bring them forward and and if that means that the trip doesn't happen the trip doesn't happen is there anything we could do to ensure that because there you know we were kind of we had some issues and I know there was a big turnout last time that uh proactively the board is uh consulted X days before the trip or something tell me how you'd like me to do just so it doesn't disappear maybe 90 days before the trip well there so the travel insurance is the travel insurance and it has its own parameters and and its own cancellations okay so any with any trip that the school has ever done okay that's how travel insurance is um and then there's also the element of parents deciding to um engage in that in in doing that or not engaging in doing that as well um I can say years ago when when my daughter did the Italy exchange there were uh one or two students that pulled out um prior to the trip the trip itself was not cancelled but there were one or two students that decided to pull out before that when my son went to Costa Rica people could have uh read the uh The Advisory from the state department in in any way that they wanted you know there's always advisories so our job is to say whether or not we approve the trip happening and then it's everyone else's responsibility and the travel insurance to decide to go forward or not go for is the travel insurance can it be used for one person to back out does that your travel insurance you buy independently and you're required to buy it by the district but you buy it independently and it has its and there are different levels of travel insurance so there's a minimum standard we set um but people choose to buy uh sometimes the more expensive to back out for any reason you know there are some that they they all have parameters um so that's something you know it it could turn out that given circumstance ances that the trip doesn't even go forward because there isn't the student interest given the um the current state of affairs right our job is to say whether or not we approve the possibility of the trip beyond that it's got to be up to the individual students unless unless the administration can come back to the board I'm not going to approve it tonight well unless there's a check-in at some point they it are we voting on it we're not voting like this if they're not coming back to the board at some point next days before the trip I'm going to vote now Alan do you want to pull it do you want to propose to pull it from the agenda or you just want to personally vote differently because you you off you asked to pull it from the the vote so we need to we need to determine that at this very moment go ahead so this is one trip that has been proposed there are other trips that have also been proposed so if we pull this one and say no to this one then it would be assumed that we're also saying those other trips given their parameters are not something we're willing to not not if they previously been approved no no nothing's been approved yet right nothing has other in the trips coming down the pipeline as I think it would depend also on where they're going to and what is happening in that area of the country there's a motion on the table is there a second for that motion are we pulling it what's happening with the vote I'm just trying to figure out what that what the proposed motion is right that's what I'm that's what I'm trying to get at right now we're going to keep it in the consent agenda and I'm just going to and I I thought the trip you know if you read the uh it's a wellth thought out trip I mean it's they're they're in the uh they're in the classroom four hours a day I mean it's it's not a vacation trip it's a it's an educational trip um I'm not saying no I understand what your concern is I'm just saying I should be in Spain right now and bus is and I'm G to have to get up three o00 in the morning and do it virtually because well they felt it wasn't safe for me to uh to be there right now as an American so and I went on a website and it's out of four levels it's a level two it was in July it could have changed but it was a level two to be just aware right it's not you know red flag it's not telling you to not go to Spain right so the state department like I I know from my son who's studying abroad right now we had to fill out forms with the state department and they send us like daily information um you know if your child's here this is what's going on here if their child's there this is what's going on there I would think our students and their families would do the same I would also think that our teachers would do the same a lot of what we're hearing a lot of what is being you know like told kids are still abroad still doing like fantastic like you know experiences and they're safe I mean you cannot be safe here you know it doesn't it doesn't matter where we are I totally agree with you Alan that you know it's kind of crappy that you got to do what you have to do now because of you know of course of what you've been told but you've been told I also think then it becomes a parental decision along with District decision so if the plan is how it always has been parents have a right to pull out and if the district feels that you know as it's coming too close to whatever there's like unforeseen things it could be weather related remember when we had the kids over and they couldn't come back like it could be anything yeah I know that is happening yeah enough warning came out yesterday yeah so like but that's what I'm saying like we have opportunities still ahead for us to protect our students I just would feel like it would be I I kind of feel like we're not if we say no right away we're not doing we're not doing Fair Justice to those students and an opportunity well that's why I said I'd just rather obain right and you know yeah no I get it I'm not trying to influence any just no no I get it I get it yeah do do we require I think you said Stephanie we require a minimum of insurance for everyone that goes on a trip Okay so Ins Insurance I'm sorry I'm I went through this with Dr Alber I just want to explain how the insurance Works in this particular we take C which is can for any reason insurance which under we've looked I've looked at 20 policies while I was at a conference to make sure that we get the best coverage possible every single policy covers up to 75% on cancel for any reason they can full percentage for other reasons but in going through the payment plan for this particular trip we do not have to pay the final amount of school we only pay 10% of the School portion up front the last amount together 90% of the School portion which is about, 1600 a School portion doesn't get paid until 20 days doesn't get paid until 20 days before the kids actually so in theory we are covered 100% on the insurance until 20 days before the trip I think at that point we would know if we're going to pull it out I'm on an airplane constantly I have a trip plan to Italy this December I'm not concerned about it because I know it's a long we're the threat here in this country so we're not safe here yeah it's I'm not going to take 20 kids with me somewhere I'm not going to put myself at risk if there is a real threat CER and I've done everything that I can to protect that 100% cancellation Insurance because of the way that we're paying the trip so the parents are protected with their money they won't come back to the board I think at that point 20 days before we're going to pull the suggar or not so I think we're safe as far as saying we can pull out at any point and still be protected financially people our go to the trip I would agree we've had a number of conversations Mr on this on that specific topic I did a lot of research putting this trip together I went to Spain last June I was invited by tour to go visit the schools I was there in person I met 12 schools I physically visited six of the schools I made my decision based on what I thought was the right thing for our students I've done three study board programs my family is from Spain um and I picked the school because they have three locations I can bring the kids to two distinctly different locations to give them a of what it is to be in Old Seville what it is to be in Beach town and as Dr Alber said you know the this is left trip it's not a tour I've done the tours I felt like I was on vacation with your kids um this is really an academic trip they are in direct instruction 4 hours a day 20 hours a week it's a two we trip and still an error on the dates it's the 22nd not the 27th um until the 6th of July we're going to lose a day and travel on both ends obviously but they're in direct instruction four hours a day after lunch the teachers from the school together with the chap myself and Mos I have is a second chap are with the kids in the language the entire day as they go SSE doing other things what's the dates you said these dates are wrong we the Saturday after school's over so that's in 22nd of June returning on July the 6th again it's a true I believe it's a truly immersive opportunity for the kids to stay in the target language and really build their confidence in that language I'm a language teacher I don't want to take out tour I do want aspect language outside theom thank you very much so as a point of order you you don't need to do a separate resolution you're on a consent agenda you can just say I'm I'm saying yes to everything and just what if you have a separate vote on a separate then you can do that okay anybody else have any other concerns on the consern okay try Okay Claudia yes Allan yes accept 11a I'm going to stay John Yes except 11 I'm also going to Abend Anette yes I recused myself though from 9A I was not present Tracy Allen yes Doug yes Barbara yes Stephanie yes I'm sorry she said yes I'm sorry yes Al yes and we move on to the first vote outside the consent that is under 12 miscellaneous uh letter B it is recommended by the superintendent that the board approve the first reading of the following policies 4,000 series 41 51.1 personal illness and injury health and hardship certified staff and then 42 51.1 personal illness and injury SL health and hardship non-certified staff under the 6000 series 61422 English as a second language bilingual programs may I have a motion please I I'll say Barbara and Allan and there will be a second reading at the next board meeting where the public can comment if they wish to do so um Trudy we're ready wait wait no goe I I have a question sorry that's okay um okay so I had posed this to Dr Alro and and not that he didn't answer me but I I need more clarity so how does this or basically asked how does this affect FMLA and you basically said it's sort of separate from FMLA so it doesn't run concurrent and that's a problem for us right because like mhm um right because then people could be taking extended leave and there aren't the same parameters put in from FMLA okay you're correct okay I'm just I I know it's just it's just sitting there I know I know I know um and then um I'm sorry I didn't ask it earlier on the policy there was just like a a strange wording on the on the English because it's like it says the board shall provide English language Learners and or bilingual programs of instruction for students who and then it and then it goes back to ESL so yes I had the same question so are we not using ESL or are we using I haven't gotten my answer yet so okay so maybe by the next time I'm hoping I'm hoping I have the same question right that was like so right it's like it wasn't consistent the change was why brought that up at the yeah that was brought up it are we being mandated to adopt 41 51 and 4251 yes this is this is reflecting the law that was passed over the summer by the and we have to adopt it yes with that same exact language we have no choice yes it's reflective of the code so then why are we adopting it if it's you have that policy in regulation for any law that you have anything that's on the books has to be in your policy we didn't have a policy then we'd still be subject to the law that's my point yeah but but all of our policies are based on the makes it more official yeah we do we have a personal illness and injury and health and hardship policy already we have to update it to reflect the law got you and which leads us to another discussion about substitute pay which we had that discussion we'll have to bring up at another time because we're going to need more substitutes because of this policy I think we will I don't know if you agree yeah I mean you know if if you've expanded the allowable uses for sick time uh for certificated and non-certificated staff then people are going to use it unless they're incentivized to not use it correct which is another discussion correct it remains to see to be seen where this is going to go and how this is going to impact districts who are already understaffed with subs and also with with uh just rank and file your normal staff you know you know who might be out on leave already um you know has not really dramatically impacted us yet but it that could change in a couple couple weeks one more question when does it go into effect it's already in effect it's in effect so this is just moralizing again what's what's in effect lovely I'm sorry to spread all the wonderful news to you it is what it is okay thank you anybody else question Trudy please CIA yes Allan yes John yes Annette yes Tracy Ellen yes Doug yes Barber yes Stephanie yeah Al yes okay the second and last vote outside of consent is under 12 also miscellaneous the letter H the superintendent at the request of the board secretary recommends that the board accept line item transfers and the adjustments as listed in a financial report for the month ending October 20123 may I have a motion please it's 13 right yes 13 13 yes I'll second oh I'm sorry it was 13 I stand corrected I'm sorry who made the motion I made the motion dou and second Floria yes Alan yes John yes Annette yes Tracy Allen yes Doug yes Barbara yes Stephanie yes Al yes that brings us to Old business new business I have business you have business um so the so we had um here what we call Janet La teams right when correct right yeah um when we were um in Atlantic City and and trolling the floor um of all the vendors um we came across this vendor that does this um mobile resue system unit now this is like the mac daddy of systems and I would never be saying this is what we do but they have little um kind of like um stop the bleed kind of pack systems that you can that you can um go to an app your cell phone and right and you can do an app on your cell phone and they can walk somebody through how they use the items in that pack to help somebody who's injured and if you don't have the item because you have the smaller pack as opposed to this big system then they'll tell you like what you could take to you could use from what you have um so it sounded like amazing to have as emergency systems um more widespread um within the school district so I'm for trips where you might not have a trainer Orba maybe you can research that try so not that big one that they're on the smaller systems try not she likes the idea not the product well no no the product was amazing but I'm not recommending I'm not suggesting that we did not ask how much that product cost right I don't think they would have told us anyway um but this they had smaller ones that I I really could see the value in especially because it was attached to an app um that you could then walk you through right that yeah you could show the trainer something like that and she can give us feedback as to whether or not it would be a useful tool for the buildings it's it's a great I use it with my job Z is great they're amazing I use it up stairs and in my ADC and my recovery program and it it does it walks you through any emergency I mean granted you know no matter what everybody's picking up the phone and call on the nurse anyway but but at the time there that time in between it's that time in between before I can get upstairs or something so it is it's a valuable company and I have the big pack and I really like the big pack but if anybody's everever you know um gone to a sporting event yes you know especially away you know when there isn't the an mobile to come especially away and and yes you know our um athletic staff have first aid kits but this is really a way for them to utilize and of course places that we go they tend to have train but like maybe their maybe their facilities are not set up in such a way that I a lot of a lot of times you have a train yeah at the same time if you wrestling tournament there you know there's not enough Trainers for the issues that occur um so it's just a I you know it'd be something worth looking into I a just piggybacking on the the um Janet law also training do beyond the group that we've designated do we currently have a requirement that the coaching staff for each of the sports have to be certified I believe we do I I don't remember I don't I don't know that we do we don't okay if we don't we should I want to say it's part of I want to say it's part of the it's part of the it's part of the NGS I I believe it was because I believe when Dennis was here we were asking him a that could very well that's why I don't I just don't remember just a pck back off of that look at us ton I wonder if the same protocol applies to the assistant coaches and our volunteer coaches I'm sure not our volunte I don't believe I don't believe so I but any anyone who's like a paid coach right should come under that njsi I will I will say though for for town for if you're involved in a town sport for any of the rep leagues you are required to be certified correct that's why I'm asking because it or not I was a cheer coach yes of all things I believe it and I had to be certified for that and it was not Aid yeah Alan um not I'm sure everybody heard about it but two weeks ago on a Sunday was on the front page of the Wall Street Journal um about AI the fake nudes of the teens that uh Shook Up Westfield High School um and the main thing in this article is that most schools there's really no policy yet on how to deal with something like this so you know I'll give this to Trudy she can scan it and send it to everybody but I think we should be looking at a policy here it's good idea before we you know get caught because AI is something fresh and new and U being brought up at board level it's being brought at the superintendent level as well to reach out to have been reaching out to policymaking companies we use New Jersey school boards number of districts use stra Esme looking for the same information you're looking for any infractions that would involve AI or anything would be covered in our code of conduct so we we have that but specifically Ai No there is no policy yeah I feel sorry for these girls because no matter what we all do yes it's going to be on there for the rest of their you know so just like everything else it's good in one aspect it's hard to stay ahead but you're right that particular thing though would probably come under our policies as related to whether or not it was an actual photograph or an AI photograph because it's the distribution that's really where you get into the you know the policy and not necessarily the creation um of an actual photograph or the AI and and and it crosses over into potential Hib violations as well and so we do have policies as as related to that but AI has so many different aspects that you know the the the policies around it are going to have to address the academic right correct okay anybody else have anything old new business okay you want to get into a board discussion on the referendum okay oh somebody Pia does anybody have the Genesis uh the sign of Genius Like available to them because I can't seem to get mine just want to know did I put myself down for Friday I just want to make sure I can check for you I think you did though I think I did Friday and Sunday right I think I think okay you signed up for everything I did not sign up for everything I'm not sure I went back in I was like this looks really good and I was like I'll go back I'm went back I was going to make the point to Dr just tell her she signed up for everything you can go back I was in Italy and I was I was drinking a lot of wine that night and I was like yeah I you and then I'm sitting on the plane and I'm like I don't know what starting tomorrow you have no life I don't know what I do we have for sign genius I'm going be here know suay know that four of us going to be there do we want have more than that you can you're not discussing business you're not making de so you will have at least four people there Sunday if anyone else just be on different sides of the room and you'll be fine left wing right wing we have about 30 students that are be we have believe me the students were very excited to do something with this I'll be meeting with them later in the week to go over what their role is going to be as well and I I think the public will be uh very happy to see the the video that you're planning to uh uh Dr Alro is planning a a video where the principles will bring them to the the rooms that uh we spoke about that need re Renovations so you can actually see these rooms and what they look like now uh and we can only give Rend uh Renditions as to what they're going to look like as as Frank the architech mentioned but uh it'll give you a good bird's eye view of of some of the the areas that we are proposing on the referendum uh I think that'll go a long way to help I would agree go ahead 11 I guess it should be you to contact the town of Bale to use the electronic sign at the bottom of orell Avenue to just advertise get out and vote on December 12th um It's very effective when you come down orell avue before the election could have one here in a hot minute R have one in front of the police station oh so it's what the way you said it it's shut down they're working on the building so I'm not sure the sign the building is shut down so the sign is shut down like you can't use the sign yeah Town yeah they're all they're they've all been scattered all over town places so yeah so the sign I went to go I went to find out where the building department was is now at the train station yeah interesting the that little used to be the shade how long is this for how long will they be this place for oh God it's got to be nine months it's a couple more years you think no coule more years okay all right back on top wait wait wait wait wait did you did you get the sign up Junior I yes can you check am I Friday please say yes no when somebody goes on you're Friday with me I am right yes and then I'm Sunday right uh I did this when I was drinking wine and it wasn't my brightest moment you are Sunday also okay thank you so I don't have to do that now thank you trying to take by the way Sign Up Genius usually reminds you I know but I can't I I don't remind me what is Friday um Friday is the pl oh okay oh my God it's I'm going Sunday it's 17 so I don't want to get spoiled okay okay I knew there was a reason and does anybody else have anything on a referendum okay um yeah public comments I see we do have some people in the public so if you'd like please uh stand up and go to the microphone state your name and town you live from and you have three minutes to you yeah you could you could face us it around whatever what both my kids are exhausted today yesterday was Diwali we had pierced the 330 in the night a wish my son in n9th grade literally said I'm going to sleep in my English class A came home at 3:30 after her band after school she's been sleeping throughout she doesn't have fever she's exhausted she said I'm skipping school tomorrow so either I could have made them skip school today for Diwali or they would skip school anyways tomorrow because they are totally exhausted it was Diwali night yesterday I'm prti dharwal I represent my friends akill and Jennifer and the American Indian Community in rivered and Orel towns we would like to request Diwali as a holiday in the riverdel school district calendar and no homework weekend in 20242 school year coming year Diwali will fall on Friday November 1 2024 a actually wanted to come to the she's part of student government and she said Mom I would come with you and speak two lines on how important Diwali is to me and how nice it would be to have a holiday on Diwali it would be a welcome change for for families whose kids were M absent from school to celebrate this year and those whose kids missed some of the celebrations to be part to be in this school it is so important to preserve the culture as an immigrant our kids and we as Citizens here and America is our home but we want our kids to feel a sense of Pride from where their Origins and their ancestors come from having Diwali as a school holiday would mean that we are truly an equal part of the community here it's an excused absence so why do we need it a day off it's an excused absence in the sense that everybody else is going to be there that day Mom kids I will miss school workor and it is very hard for me to cope up that's what she said she did not want to miss high school why do we need Diwali as a no homework weekend or could we just have that day instead instead of day off and having a no homework weekend will also help our kids celebrate the holiday enjoy the rituals and be with their families instead of worrying about homework it's a 5-day Festival we are only request in a day off to honor as a school holiday Diwali is one holiday that celebrates across faiths across India that all the faith celebrate it's about time the rivel school district has a day off the population is there we have a petition signed by almost 250 plus residents requesting this as a holiday and no homework weekend rivel Indian association represented by Akil and Jennifer and me was not only recognized by River Edge mayor but also by Senate and assembly recently when they came over for our Diwali event giving us a citation stating the achievement we've had in preserving the Indian culture and Heritage in Bergen County thank you thank happy the um also I want to point out that um the previous year this year the main day was on a Sunday but the the 2022 year there were 25 school districts across New Jersey that did have the holiday off and New York City as well um including the nearby towns in Bergen County of pamis fairon Glenrock Ridgewood and a single session day in Anglewood Cliffs River Edge is demographically similar to these nearby towns so I do think that the the trend is going this way and that's just something that uh you could consider hello I'm Susan Garcia from idell and I just wanted to thank the board for um allowing the Spain trip to go forward last month I spoke in uh advocating for all trips International and domestic um I think we all know the benefits of them um I just want to point out one of the board members said um this is every parent makes the cost benefit analysis there's always a risk there's a risk to sending our kids to school every day there's a risk to playing sports there's a risk to getting on a school bus pamis still has school buses still has class trips even with the accident that they had the tragedy a few years ago because they understand that the benefit is worth the risk um and I just want to distinguish it from um the gentleman who mentioned that his work suspended his trip in that case it is a employer um making taking a trip as an obligation of their employment um sending an employee and forcing them or requiring them to attend a meeting is very different than giving parents that choice of whether to send their kids or not so I just wanted to make that distinction But ultimately thank you um and I know the kids will be very happy anybody else in the public want to take the microphone I have a motion to adjourn please I'll make that motion second Stephanie second all in favor I 958