okay welcome back thank you everybody uh so the first thing that we're going to do is have the presentation of the 2024 2025 School District budget uh that'll be presented by Dr jwi and Mr sty uh before they get started I just want to thank them as well as uh their staffs and uh everyone else that involved especially the board members who were great contributors set a process uh this is a what appears to be a year-long process and I'm sure that once we approve this and move forward tomorrow we'll be starting the new budget for next year it never seems to end but I greatly appreciate the hard work they put into it and um how it benefits the students how it benefits the uh uh our our towns our constituents um obviously everyone is aware that we have a great deal of financial pressure upon us uh we are capped at 2% with regard to tax increases there's certain waivers that we can get with respect to health insurance that Tim has gone over two or three times already uh but there's a great deal of pressure um financially and uh I think we they and we have done a great job to try to maximize the student experience and the student opportunities and we talked about opportunities in the past because that's what it's about it's certainly about the students and I think we uh afford them a great education a great opportunities with regard to extracurricular activities and uh we're certainly mindful of that because without the students and without promoting the students what are we really doing so with that said I'll turn it over guess to Dr J first thank you uh I I want to Echo Mr bernberg sentiment in addition to the administration and and all the staff that has worked on this the board has spent a great amount of time um discussing the budget and you always in all of my time here the board has really strived to provide exceptional opportunities to our students in the most fiscally responsible manner possible um and that is what Tim and I communicated to all uh to our uh constituent districts can you hear me good okay uh we visited uh the lill township uh committee the Watchung burough count and the Warren Township committee over the past two weeks just to share some highlights of the budget we do that every year even though there's no longer a public budget vote it's really nice to get to engage with our local leaders and they are so tremendously supportive of the school district and they were very appreciative of the very fiscally responsible budget that uh the board and we have prepared for them this year so it was it was nice to to circulate and visit all of them uh and I also want to thank Mr sty uh he's a tremendous business administrator to work with and he really understands the balance between making sure that we are able to provide the exceptional programs that make wung Hills the uh outstanding learning community that we are um but finding doing that in a fiscally responsible Manner and also finding any additional sources of funding that we are able to including the grant uh The Debt Service Aid we have for our current referendum as well as other grant funding that we've been able to take advantage of so I really appreciate his uh years on the job and I'm not calling him old I'm just saying he's experienced uh but he really does do a great job with with uh very um responsibly and creatively overseeing the district's finances so some of this will be a repeat of when we presented the uh the preliminary budget uh so we have our timeline and the last item on this timeline is where we are today this is the public hearing on the budget where we will vote on the budget to uh the final budget to be submitted and just as a reminder obviously the Strategic plan serves as the found ation for determining our budget priorities and Mr sty is very diligent diligent about making sure that uh all of our administrators who submit budgets tie any budget requests to the goals outlined in our strategic plan this is just kind of a a sampling of the many accomplishments that our budget supports our students achieving these uh this is a kind of a mixture of many of the recognition and accomplishments of our students in in our co-curricular activities uh and now I'm going to turn it over to Mr sty who is going to talk about some of the just little challenges in developing our budget thank you Dr JT thank you bour that was very nice of you to say I am old so no kidding I am old it's it is what it is you can't beat H um so when we put together the budget this year and we've talked about it and this is actually for the public more of the public hearing so they understand it as well uh the thing that we saw that right off the bat was the health care cost and I think a lot of people are seeing that a lot of boards a lot of businesses um you know your small businesses especially get hit hard with that so that Health Care has risen pretty much Countrywide and that again it's a piece of inflation but it's also a piece of uh experience ratings that that are are particularly for us that have gone up so our rates which have been well controlled by us being in the school health insurance fund are still going up at 12% which is hard to do when you have a 2% cap and that's a that's a large line in the budget uh another challenge is our negotiations it's a challenge because we don't quite know what the answer is at this point we're negotiating with the Union it's our largest Union so it's always difficult um in terms of budget and how to handle that going forward we do have a declining enrollment but there is housing going up uh so that's something that we're kind of taking a look at and we will Mr Morrison will address it later uh we are going to have a demographic study done relatively soon um and then the resources piece uh tax levy state aid and tuition are our big three uh up until about I don't know about two or three weeks ago uh we were negotiating with Greenbrook but we did we did move forward and we're going to at least with the tuition for this year and we're looking to have a three or four year agreement at least um and then the other items that are are big sources of of um actually very important to our students in our program but there're always ones that I have to pay attention to technology um technology is Con stantly growing and it's something that it's we have to constantly keep up on and there's a cost and those costs are definitely going up um transportation you've heard me complained for the last two or three years those costs are through the roof and unfortunately I saw the gas and diesel prices going up again yay and then special Edge costs are are always a concern um and they happen to be rising as well and one peculiar thing is in the last three years we had Esser funds federal funds for Co and those funds which we have programs uh not many but a couple that were part of that and we were losing that Aid so that's something that um was definitely a concern in terms of enrollment I mentioned it we're going down slightly we do believe that we're we're almost near the bottom and and we do believe at some point the demographic study will tell us more but we do believe at some point that's going to start go any other way and I think I'm going to pass it on to Dr jitt to talk about the new items so I'm excited about some of these items that our budget includes uh so the Empower program we've talked about over the past few years and we were very careful with using our Esser funds for one-time uh expenditures knowing that that money would eventually go away but we did talk to the board about allocating some of that money to Pilot our Empower program with the understanding if it was successful we would be adding that to our general operating budget and that program has been very successful we actually will probably bring some students to speak during the May 21st uh presentation about it um we've had a number of students regain credit uh through that program as well as stay on track with credit that they were in danger of losing uh the the teacher in that program Mr scanland does a tremendous job we also have believe it's Mr kofer um I know I'm leaving some teachers out who specifically go into work with them on certain subjects um and they do do a really great job um making sure that those students stay on track to graduate in four years so we are putting that in our general operating budget with regard to our Athletics programs this is exciting so due to increased interest uh on on some of our more traditionally male Sports by our female athletes uh we are going to be adding a flag football coach for a girls flag football program a we are going to be adding a girls wrestling coach we had a coach volunteer this year to coach some of our female wrestlers one of whom made it down to Atlantic City uh to the tournament down there and we are also going to round out our girls golfing program we added a girls golf coach a number of years ago and now we will be adding a JV girls golf coach so we parallel our boys program because that program has grown as well um so I'm really excited that the board is supporting putting those items in the budget we if you recall I think we had talked when we initially um presented the budget about a girls hockey program but it looks like that's going to be put off a little bit the cost of that is obviously more than some of the other programs and we were planning on um combining with some other schools to do that but it looks like we're going to be um holding off on that for right now as are the other districts and then we're also obviously working on negotiating a new contract with the whre um with regard to uh academic and co-curricular we've been replacing the furniture in our classrooms to upgrade that from the furniture that's looked the same since the 1970s uh I think our students uh Sophie and Juliana you can speak to that the rooms with the newer Furniture it's definitely I think a little more conducive to more engaging learning um we're continuing our onetoone Chromebook Initiative for our incoming nth graders next year and uh Our IT staff is very diligent about making sure they're um going through the various technology in the different classrooms so that we're not replacing it all at once so we're replacing some desktops in some of our classrooms um we also are going to be maintaining the mental health services some of which uh we used Esser fun for so that will be in our budget as well uh and then some of the supplies for our uh new and upgraded spaces as a result of the referendum construction that's going on which is also very exciting uh and then co-curricular additions i' already talked about uh some of the athletic teams so we need uniforms for those um some uh supplies for our band room and then uh very much needed new press boxes for baseball and softball uh Varsity fields and uh now I'm going to turn it back over uh to Tim you get talk about F yes uh in terms of capital we have a a large referendum Dr JT mentioned I don't really want to I I'm G to address that later in my comments and tell you where we are with that construction project um but as a result we we don't have as many items in our capital in terms of this budget uh one of the things is our central office one of the few HVAC units that we did not replace with the EIP which which was a couple years ago was over our offices actually the central offices and those are at a date and they need to be replaced U so it's about $140,000 we have some security improvements which we do every year um I don't get into details of that and then some minor repair this looks like minor but the interior doors I wish I could do more each year because um we still have a lot to do but it's something that that's on our we do it a piece at a time and same thing with the plumbing there pieces of Plumbing that we got to do and that's very intense because some of it is below ground which is real it's it's a pain to get to so it's not not easy but we try to do a piece of the building each year in terms of our state aid analysis and I went when I went through the towns one thing I told the townships is um there's good news and bad news the good news is in terms of state aid with our categorical state aid which is the the first three items on that list were fully funded the formula is actually fully funded um first time in a long time in fact first time I think they actually they had this formula they fully funded it um so we're you know with those three numbers it's about 2.5 million there's other categories there as well um the bad news is we're fully funded and that's that's $2.5 million on a $50 million budget so you know it the state's formula is based on ability to pay U and they look at you know the township the wealth uh in terms of the housing and in terms of income and that's part of that formula so that's why a district like ours is not going to get a large sum of money but in reality um it's better than what we were getting we were getting half of that at one point so now we're at uh all told when you when you put put in the um Debt Service Aid we're at a little over $3 million which is good that's helpful and an improvement uh in terms of our this is our budget in terms of the operating budget um we are we're using less Surplus this year it's something we used more of because if you guys remember we had the track project and we put some Surplus to do to do that track um which by the way starts the day after graduation so we're going to have to hustle everybody off the field and get them out there that's right so move quick enjoy it but move quick um so so that's that's why that number is significantly lower um our tuition is up 12% and that's a part of the the negotiation we had with Greenbrook um miscellaneous Revenue was about flat U we actually we actually considered it going down a little bit in terms of interest uh now at the time we were hearing uh interest rates are going to drop I'm not so sure the interest rates are going to drop now as a matter of fact I I wouldn't be surprised if they go the other way um but if that's the case then we'll just have some a little bit more Surplus but I again this was two or three months ago when we were putting this together and that's what we were hearing so it you we kept it almost flat but you could see that dropped a little bit and there's our state aid number that I mentioned and our tax levy is going up at 2.8% we used a um a waiver for health benefits and that's something you saw earlier in the presentation in terms of our expenses salary benefits is up just a little under 4% and that's pretty good considering the the benefits were up at 12 um Dr jitt and HR and uh and administration do a very nice job when we're dropping in enrollment we do uh drop our staff numbers we have through attrition mainly but if you looked about I don't know about if you go back five or six years we're probably down about 9 to 10 people which is pretty you know again when you're dropping enrollment like that that's really the responsible thing to do uh and kudos to the administration for for looking at that and making sure the class sizes are proper and that makes my life easier which I like uh and then in terms of our supplies it's almost flat I mentioned special at tuition that was one of the things that is a challenge obviously it's a challenge for us this year um as we have some students coming in uh that we have to send out and that you know those numbers are tough and I think Mr bernberg says it I've heard him say it more than once one thing that terrifies a a business administrator is another student with special needs coming into the district that has to go out because some of those costs are well over $100,000 a year so that's that's why it gets a little bit now that that's what is challenging about that um not that the services aren't needed the services that we give to those students that are they in need are much you know very important part of what we do but they're expensive uh in terms of capital I mentioned that we're down and that's you can see the track number in there which is about a million two and overall the budget is up uh the spending plan is up a little more than 1% uh in terms of our and I'm sorry the numbers are small but in terms of our per pupil comparison we are we are one of the lower ones in our grouping this grouping I found about five or six years ago and I compared it with regional districts of our size close to our size and close to our demographic so um you could see that we're we're generally pretty low on this list now some of them are Regional in terms of where they're located you you expect up north Jersey they're going to spend more per pupil than we are I don't know why that is that's such a weird thing to me that's New Jersey yet North Jersey is more expensive than living here but it is but that's part of it in terms of tax allocation this is something that the it's difficult to explain every year each year our uh our tax levy is shifts from town to Town based on two factors Elementary enrollment percentage of Elementary enrollment versus High School enrollment and also the change in uh valuation of each of the towns you can see that the in this the middle column the change in valuation didn't change much between the three towns they all went up about a little over 4% and that's this is a two-year comparison by the way that's how that because the municipalities work at calendar year we are school year so you can see there is not much of a change there however in the enrollment the elementary enrollment thing you could see the difference in terms of where Warren went Watchung and Long Hill um and the numbers that really kind of you could see them all the way to the right where they CH the big change was is Warren's numbers uh went the high school numbers versus the elementary numbers went down so their percentage of our tax levy went down by 1.6% and Long Hills went up conversely 1.6% because the opposite thing happened there um and it's you know it is what it is I if you're a numbers person the formula makes sense it actually it absolutely makes sense they're basing it on students and they're basing on valuation of your properties so that's just a pain to explain when I go to one town saying well you get you get a tax break this year and the other Town well you're going to have a $200 increase it you know it's kind of a tough one to explain but it this is a state formula and it it it kind of is consistent with what they do they base it on ability to pay and number of kids so that leads to this this is our tax impact so for Warren Township if you compare last year's average home to this year's average home it's an increase of $13 um if you take it by $100,000 the tax rate went down so it's actually a decreased so if your house value didn't change you get a tax decrease increase if your house value went up in the same percentage as the average home you'd get about a $13 increase in Wang burrow which there was quite a percentage drop last year and it actually carries over to part this year their average home value is $856,000 and they actually have um per the average home average home versus the average home $25 decrease and per that $100,000 number that I talked about if didn't the value didn't change it'd be 20 almost $28 tax decrease so we were popular in watch home and then Long Hill uh the average home is a little under 600,000 and you can see the effect of that that shift into the allocation uh dollar increase per $100,000 is $25 and on the average home versus last year's average home $216 increase and that's always a difficult one difficult one to explain but that's you can see why the change in allocation really kind of you know if it was equalized you probably see those numbers somewhere in the 50s 6 you know maybe 50 60 which you know considering the budget and size of it that's actually a very reasonable number um if it was 50s and 60s so anyway so that's uh that's our budget um and again I thank the board I I also thank our superintendent who's very modest and she doesn't like to talk about it but our process in terms of how we do the budget it's her myself we have our principal we have our director of curriculum and our HR director and we all sit around and we I don't want to say Grill because I think that sounds negative but we have conversations with our administrative team who submit budget to us um and then sometimes depending on where we are with the budget we'll go back to them and have more conversations more questions um but that's the process and everything we do is tied to that strategic plan that's and I I you know I want to emphasize this to the board and to the public it's very critical to have that plan and to have something that guides the board the district and everybody buys in and that that's what makes it it easy for me it's when there's a Buy in like that and there's a direction because some you know I've been a been doing budgets for a while and we're sometimes we we get caught up as as special interest things like that but when you have a specific plan that's student orientated and it works like that it just makes the budget process so much easier so my compliments to the board to superintendent and um to actually to our public too who's also part of that strategic plan but with that okay thank you uh anyone on the board have any comments or questions for Liz yeah go ahead L thank you for that the reminder and for the presentation in very simple terms for my non-mathematical brain just again the healthc care waiver so the state allows certain waivers that allows you to go over the 2% cap um one of them is one of those is a health care waiver and how the state determines it is they take a they take what the um allowable increase is in the State Health Plan uh less 2% and and I think it comes up to I think this year was about six or s% maybe a little bit higher um if you are above that number then you can you can take as much as you can in terms of that waiver uh and add it to your 2% base so that's kind it adds to the um tax levy it's essentially what it is and one of the other waivers is enrollment so our enrollment increase I think it happened at Warren K8 last year their enrollment increased so that that is another wave that allows you to go beyond that 2% anyone else yeah go ahead cther what are you on d well I'm saying D2 but tuition reserves to general fund what does that mean so a tuition Reserve to it's something that you can set up to um handle a bump in tuition now it was set up last year so that automatically comes into this year's budget and that's it's like a two-year look at when you look back and see you know it's just it's just an estimate at that point um it doesn't necessarily have to be used for offset tuition there's really no regulation that requires it but it's a it's a safety net is really what it is Catherine okay great uh now it's an opportunity for the public to comment on the 2024 2025 School District budget if you haven't already done so or if you intend to provide other public comments for the two other periods if you can just sign the uh sign in sheet your name and where you're from that'd be great and when you do stand up at the podium also state your name and where you're from with that said is there anyone who has any comment strictly relating to the school budget okay seeing none we'll move on Mr President I'd like to move items D1 through D3 second roll call please Mr magio Miss Lee um no for D1 and D2 and yes for D3 sorry write that down okay Mr May yes Mr Morrison yes Miss over yes Miss Potter yes Miss pra yes Mr chour yes and Mr Burber okay motions carry okay thank you uh do we have any board correspondents can I just ask I just need clarification for the public because some public gets on am I not not good yeah closer um some I had to keep uh emphasizing to some members of the public that on D3 we are approving we just approved right now the tentative budget so now I had to explain to them this is not just it there's more steps that occur like at the county level no this is that're good that okay thank you thank you uh you said there's no board corresponding correct all right uh Dr J you have any comments You' like to make so the only comments I'm going to share the students have some nice uh student uh accomplishments to speak about um so the only thing I'm going to highlight is last night we had our eighth grade orientation and we had a wonderful turnout and our PTO actually hosted something for the eighth grade parents and we had a really really great turnout for that I saw um there we had taken some pictures of uh the the crowd that was in here of the parents so it was it was a really really nice event um and we're glad that it's so well attended so just wanted to highlight that the administration uh did a great job putting that together uh and creating a really nice night for all of our eighth grade students from all four of our constituent incend District to come to the high school so that's all I have okay again U I'm going to limit my comments just again to reiterate and thank uh Dr JW and Mr sty and all those involved with regard to the budget I believe that passed this evening um I'll uh have some comments when we go through some of the other items but for now U I'll just turn it over to Mr sty thank you Mr President I got two things that I want to just to positive stories which I never give to I'm able to give positive stories so I give you that so uh in April we as the board knows we had a an agreement with our association um for two years the past two years and uh in April we started the them the teachers on the on the guide on the new guide um and we're working toward finishing up the uh uh the Retro pays coming forward so that's that that's good for the board it's good for them good for the teachers good for all of us um good for me because I get to plan even too so but it's that's a positive and the second thing is the construction project that we briefly talked about um is going not going would when I say but going very well so far the nurses room is I would say about 85 90% done um there's a couple of pieces of casework that we still have to get there's Furniture actually it's on the agenda tonight um but a lot of the walls the ceilings the thing the floors that it's in it it um it looks really good um it looks like a doctor's office it looks terrific um not that I want a lot of kids to go there I'm hoping that it's empty but um I know that reality is it's not going to be uh it's a it looks like a good place for uh students to get better and I think that's a good thing um the nurse um sorry not the nurses the trainers room and the locker room is well underway they they have um been doing a lot of piping work which I I and it's not exciting but um the less amount of plumbers that I see is a good thing uh so I mean I just was watching him do the work um very impressed so far uh it the space itself is amaz it's almost amazing to look at and like that and knowing what it's going to be uh so that's that's got a pretty good Head Start I heard I haven't heard too many noise complaints so that's a good thing and then um uh May 5th which is about a week from Monday I think we start the steam lab and the Ceramics room um the photo lab starts later that's in the summer we're excited about that we're trying to figure out how to move all the stuff into storage right now which is fun um but it it's it's going as planned uh and then uh as I mentioned briefly the track uh we've talked with the contractors excited about that project uh that actually starts when we walk off the field as I said and we will get going on that we'll have try to get that done as best we can the weather's got to cooperate so I hope all the rain gets out of the way it looks like a lot of it did last month so maybe uh maybe we'll have a dry summer that will help us but um the idea is to get that done prior to September um if we can and that's again weather's got to help us out so we're excited about that Pro so so far again knocking out wood so far everything that we're seeing we are liking okay I'm sorry yes so Mr sty given the fact that the track work is starting 5 minutes after graduation we're going to be rolling it up as you guys walk off and and given the challenges that we had last year with the the lights um you know obviously there's concern about the track not being done in time and we find ourselves in a similar situation so I'm I'm wondering you know a what kind of communication has gone out so that people are very much aware that this may exist and B what type of alternative options are are we considering in in case we do have an issue is with the track not being completed and the field is not usable um well I do know that we've talked to the athletic director the football coach I I think the first couple games are scheduled away if I remember right that's what he was saying um so I I think at least that part's handled just um I just hope there's no delays that bring it beyond that that's all if all goes well what is the timeline is it expect it should be done at the end of August and we have we have a we have reputable company which I I think that's the first thing that helps um and I think we have a nice plan so I to me I'm I'm feeling confident but weather is always a factor when it's an outside thing so I would just like to request that um we as a district and our athletic director and our coaches uh overcommunication about what is going on so that if there is any thing that any delay that may occur that people aren't shocked I think I think it's really important that we overc communicate in this particular situation I agree and I also think with respect to the board it's also important because we have two less meetings because we only go to one meeting a month those two months so I think it's very important that you know we're a prize so we can certainly let our constituents know if need be any other questions or comments with respect to Mr sty okay great so again tonight uh as we've had for the last several months we have two student Representatives we have Sophie lamb at the end of the table and right next to her is Juliana Santos and I want to thank the two of you for being part of this process uh not often do we get students at our meeting so we certainly appreciate that and I certainly know personally that as student we as a board certainly and the administration are just an entity that's out there and no one really sees us or knows what we really do but again you've been able to see this and see what we go through and how important the students are certainly speaking for myself uh we're proud of the students the accomplishments I know you're going to be talking about those and you talk about them regularly and we certainly hear about everything that's done and it's important that the message gets out to the students your fellow students the opportunities and the the amount of resources that we really focus with respect to the students um again it's not just the academics it's the extracurricular activities which I know again you'll report about and one of the things that you know my focus is moving the needle is trying to make even more things happen so again we appreciate the to you but we appreciate the 1700 students as well and I just want them to know that in fact we are there for them uh so with that I'm not sure who's going first but you can take it away thank you this month's student achievements are as followed we're thrilled to share the fantastic news that our beloved Watchung Hills math team has multiplied their success by clinching first place in the region for Somerset County congratulations coach flannelly and our outstanding math Wizards on yet another remarkable season filled with hard work dedication and un unwavering ing Spirit of Excellence we are honored to announce that Wong Hills had 19 winners this year in the Cyber America competition cyberart America was created by the national cyber Scholarship Foundation and the Sans Institute to help identify students with the potential to help meet our nation's critical need for cyber Security Professionals students learn about cyber security as they compete complete progressively harder challenges in a game as Scholars with honors our top two winners Andrew Wang and mateline Chang have each been offered a training scholarship to cover their choice between two high level stands courses including G certification attempts worth over $99,000 we are delighted to announce the exceptional achievements of our students at the recent future Business Leaders of America FBLA State leadership conference congratulations to T tus Ron gajon for securing seventh place in accounting one and Amanda Cashman for claiming sixth place in accounting two these remarkable accomplishments are a testament to the dedication and hard work of our students as well as the guidance provided by adviser Diane crutz as per competition regulations students within the top four are eligible for the national competition should higher Place students opt out the next in line will be notified for the opportunity to advance congratulations to tagis Amanda and all participants for their outstanding performance Zoya Pasha a volunteer at the L Hill Library has earned the president's volunteer service award gold medal she volunteered over 120 hours in one calendar year at the library Long Hill Township issued a proclamation honoring her at their meeting on March 13th Miss Ashbrook the library director states that they are proud of this smart kind reliable civic-minded girl on Saturday April 13th four of our students participated in the New Jersey cultural studies foundation and Asian studies program through seen Hall University the topic of this year's Chinese Cultural project was was how does AI impact the learning of Chinese language and culture our students took second place they are Darren Jang mateline Chang Angela sun and Emily Wang continuing on with our student achievements at girl State and boy State each student as they register becomes a citizen of an assigned City the citizens set up City governments and C elect City officials each student is a assigned to one of two parties federals or Nationals so they may see how political parties function they develop their own party platforms and discuss issues they choose all of the elections are carried out according to the existing laws of New Jersey candidates will be selected based on academic achievement leadership patriotism Community involvement extracurricular activities and will be interviewed this year's delegates for girl states are Maya deola Nora Kuran and Gia con day go this year's delegates for boy states are Mones man and Marcus San Juan now moving on to our Athletics update we are proud to announce our girls and boys basketball teams had the honor of being selected for the Thomas wat Feld sportsmanship award for the 2023 and 2024 season um the award is presented by the north Jersey basketball officials the award represents teams that show exemplary sportsmanship throughout the the season we are also proud to announce that the Warriors spring season is in full swing um following with that the boys gocross team hosted their senior night yesterday at 5:30 as they took on recers prep um the girls and boys track team also hosted their senior night yesterday at 4:30 at Greenbrook middle school as they competed against Bernards immaculada and Franklin and finally congratulations to softball senior Ella Stevenson for a 100th High School career hit at last Saturday's game against Ropo Ella went into the game with 96 hits and finished the game at an even 100 so a big congrats to Ella for that and that is all with our sooner announcements for this month thank you no thank you so we appreciate that um with that said what is in that water isn't that from a movie or something right with that said two of you are welcome to stay but you're more than welcome also to leave and we will not take it personally if you do and you have something better to do than to listen to us okay with that said first opportunity for public comment note the first public comment period will be limited to agenda items for this meeting only the second public comment period will be open to any topic all comments are limited to five minutes do we have any public comments with regard to agenda item this evening okay seeing none going to move on uh board discussion items uh there's one item I I just want to introduce and hopefully not steal the Thunder of Mr Morrison but uh we've been talking about the shared services and reg regionalization feasibility study for several years now I've been on the board three and a half years almost and uh it was a conversation that was ongoing even when I started um there have been a lot of stops and starts with respect to this the state has uh in effect not made it easy with regard to the application they've changed or moved the uh the goal line on a number of occasions but with respect to Mr Morrison he is dedicated to this and has put a great deal of effort and time into making sure that this would happen as well as the other board members but Bob certainly spearheaded the for and I personally want to thank him for doing that and uh again I think we've already announced it at a prior meeting that we finally got the approvals and uh we're certainly excited about moving forward we did have a meeting recently and I think that's what Bob is going to talk about so again I don't want to steal his Thunder and this is his opportunity so again thank you really appreciate all your efforts right thank you Mr President um it's appropriate that we having this conversation on this evening because of the fact that we've just approved the budget and again I want to commend the administration for their great work and the board for the support um we have a very you know a a highly functioning district and a very fiscally responsible district and I think that the collaboration between the board and the administration and striving to find ways to make sure that we are providing the highest quality education that we can while at the same time being cognizant of our our fiscal responsibility to our taxpayers um and I think that we've been able over the past uh several years to find the nice balance you know where we're we're tuned to both but always you know focusing on the the achievement of our students in the AT Quality of education for our students and that brings me to uh the discussion topic of the shared services regionalization feasibility study um uh process uh that has gotten underway we held our our first meeting of the um shared services regionalization uh study working group on Tuesday evening uh here at Watchung Hills uh and we had great representation uh from all of our sending districts and all of our communities uh one of the things that was pointed out um by one of the uh districts that was attending was they believed it was the first time that there was a meeting of board members from all of the sending districts uh um you know to talk about anything related to education so uh I think that that was that was an interesting uh comment but with the full funding from the state of New Jersey we have this highly experienced Ruckers University or Rowan University team uh led by for former Warren Township Board of Education member Kathleen helaa uh we will be conducting a shared services regionalization study covering the watchong Hills Regional the watchong burough Warren Township Long Hill Township and green GRE Greenbrook Township school districts uh the watchong Hills Regional and War watchong burrow school districts applied for $135,000 Grant under the state school regionalization efficiency program which funds the full cost of the studies with no cost to the district school districts or the property taxpayers the study will be conducted over the next year with input from an advisory committee that had just met this week that includes representatives from all four school boards watch Hills Regional wung Warren Township Long Hill and Greenbrook along with school administrators as well as Municipal representatives from each of our each of the four communities that have students here uh at the high school the study will analyze the educational programs for students from preschool through High School within the five school districts including curriculum coordination special education uh programming Transportation costs provide a demographic analysis for futural enrollment for the five districts forecast state aid based on those enrollment projections and evaluate future budget challenges based on this analysis the study will provide recommendations for educational enhancements potential cost savings through various options ranging from the expansion of shared services in specific areas things like Transportation or special education um all the way up through a full prek through 12 regionalization uh the Rowan School regionalization Institute team which is again includes Kathleen helaa who is a Warren resident and pre previously served as a senior manager of field services for the New Jersey school boards Association and was a member of the Warren Board of Education as well as former State education commissioner Lucille Davy uh Kennedy green who was a former president of the New Jersey School New Jersey Association of school administrators Mark magar who is the principal author of the 20 2022 School regionalization legislation and school Finance consultant Brian falowski will all be leading uh this work as our Consultants on this project and I can tell you uh they are an Allstar cast um it is clear that our focus is really on making sure that we do everything we can to uh see if there are ways that we can improve the quality of education for our our students um I've said it I've said it once I've said it a million times if we go through this process and there's not an improvement to the quality of education for our students then we shouldn't be doing this because that's what it's what it's all about um importantly there's going to be ongoing opportunities for our valuable Community involvement throughout the study process beginning with an informational Zoom session that we will be holding on Monday May 20th at 7 p.m want to repeat that that we will Begin by holding an informational Zoom session on Monday May 20th at 700 p.m. for the general public a meeting recording will be posted on the district website following the session and registration information will be forthcoming and I want to make it clear as I had before we don't know what the study is going to find and we don't have any predetermined outcomes in this process the only charge that we have is to uh like like in any good business or any good organization it's really important to strive to look for where are there opportunities where we can do better are there things that we can do better collectively together than we can individually are there other things that we can do that will improve the quality of Education while at the same time also be beneficial to the finances uh of our taxpayers uh and so I think that this is just a tremendous opportunity for us to go through this reflective process for all of our districts share this information transparently with all of our uh community members so they can see what we're learning along the way uh and then at the end of the process have a feasibility study report that we can present to the public that we can send to the state as part of our obligation uh under the the agreement that we have to conduct this study uh and then ultimately uh as a series of districts uh make determinations based on the recommendations from that study on ways that we can uh make a a highly functioning district and a highly functioning set of districts uh provide an even better quality of education for the citizens of our community that's great Mr Morrison really appreciate all your efforts dedication and all those who are uh on the committee as well any questions or comments for Mr Morrison actually I'd welcome any any of the we have four members here that were participating as well anyone wish to comment please do anybody yes Lisa I just have a question yeah can you what was the it's Rowan can you the whole title again sure it's the Rowan School regionalization Institute thank you you're welcome uh just a couple comments uh again just to play off what Bob had said we have no preconceived notion of where this is going but just as important we have not given the direction to row as to where it should go so it's basically you know study us figure out how we can do better and where we can benefit but we at no point have said this is where we want it to be figure it out so we're you know they'll do the research again again May 20th there's going to be a uh uh a zoom informational session uh hopefully we'll put that on our website hopefully the towns will do that as well and maybe we'll do a blast of some sort a few days beforehand so that everyone is aware of it and uh uh Bob certainly didn't mention the process but again those five individuals in their team again it's an All-Star team uh they're going to be reaching out to the community they're going to be reaching out to individuals uh you know they'll be dealing with our financial information all the different towns the Bas uh to figure out where we are and where we can be and again a key part which you alluded to is the demographic study to see where we are because as everyone knows there's a great deal of uh uh new homes going in and uh as Tim had alluded to in the budget uh increasing enrollment could have a major effect on where we're at so again Bob just thank you it's been three and a half plus years and uh and the goal is to have all this have some information within a year okay are there any other uh board discussion [Music] items okay uh discussion of addenda items anything okay let's move forward uh Mr President I'd like to move items uh A1 through A6 and A8 through a11 second roll call Mr St Mr magio Yes except abstain from A1 and A2 due to my absence M Lee yes Mr May no A3 yes and all the other hey Mr Morrison yes it's over yes Potter yes CA uh under A3 yes on 1140 and 8600 and no on 1523 1530 and 1550 and yes on everything else doing a lot of writing here don't get a hand CR it is yeah M Miss tror yes and Mr Burber yes okay those motions carry uh Mr President I'd like to move items A7 roll call okay Mr magio yes Miss Lee yes mayck yes M Morrison yes M sober M rasa trur yes and Mr Berber yes motion carries uh Mr President I'd like to move item [Music] B1 R call please Mr maio yes Miss Lee yes Mr Mayor yes Mr Morrison yes Miss over Potter Yesa yes Mr trur yes and Mr Burber yes Mr President I'd like to move items C1 through C12 second roll call sorry okay Mr maio yes Miss Lee yes may yes Morrison yes over Potter yes CA tror yes and Mr bber yes motion carry uh Mr President I'd like to move items D4 through D16 second the walk in roll call what's that it's not 17 yeah you said did you say 16 or 17 I said through 16 you did yes a whole I'm sorry start all right start again hang on hang on hang on yeah d11 all right what are the starred ones 12 13 14 15 and 16 okay that that's my fault my apologies I'd like to move items D4 through d11 and anything else and d17 second roll call please okay Mr deio yes M Miss Lee Yes mayor check yes Mr Morrison yes M sober M Potter yes M pra chour yes and Mr Burber yes carry Mr President I'd like to move items D12 through D16 roll call please Mr maio yes Miss Lee yes may yes Morrison yes sober pra shour yes and Mr Burber yes motions Carri great thank you uh a number 13 second opportunity for public comment again this can be public comment on anything is there anyone who' like to speak have a comment see seeing none uh let's go to other business does anyone have anything to say yes Janine yes um I'd like to address the comments made by Mr G Dan gallik at the last board meeting first of all I just would i' like to clarify some things um when wung Hills was built Greenbrook had its own high school when that high school closed we entered into a send receive agreement with WatchON Hills at no point since we entered this agreement has the topic of Greenbrook joining the constituent districts ever been broached to the district of Greenbrook this is an agreement that is mutually beneficial as much as Greenbrook needs Watchung Hills Watchung Hills needs the revenue and students it receives from the township of Greenbrook without this Revenue we W young Hills could not afford the luxury of our multifaceted educational approach curricular and co-curricular offerings and programs being able to remain fully staffed and the multiple upgrades to this building over the years including this beautiful Media Center where we're meeting right now Greenbrook will be paying over $8 million in Revenue to Watchung Hills and our students make up 22% of the student population more than wung or Long Hill on top of our per people cost we pay additionally for transportation costs and special special education costs for our power professionals related services and our aded district special Edge students these are costs which are integrated into the per pupil cost of the constituent districts so I would say the residents of Greenbrook are most certainly paying our fair share in addition to our Revenue watching HS also benefits from the students of Greenbrook having achieved a multitude of academic Musical and athletic accomplishments and accolades over the many years and finally to Mr gallik I'd like to remind him that just a few weeks ago the Wang Board of Ed Wang Hills Board of Ed voted on the new s Reed contract with Greenbrook and there was only one no vote which was not from him if this was something he felt that strongly about why didn't he bring it up at any point with Greenbrook during the negotiations process why not because it be has become increasingly evident that his rude and inappropriate comments at the last meeting in addition addition to some of his recent social media comments are all personally and politically motivated to provide misinformation and create ill will this is this forum is not the place for that certainly not at the expense of one of your board members and the students and residents of Greenbrook we deserve more respect than that thank you thank you anyone else have anything no okay guess there's not much else to do but motion to adjourn all those in favor we are adjourned thank you everybody for coming truly appreciate it