okay great uh we are back from executive session uh just a reminder this a signin sheet for those who uh want to provide public comment so if you can please sign in that'd be great uh board correspondence see none all right o excellent favorite time of the year we move into the 2024 2025 budget presentation uh who is going to be leading the way on that both of us all right great all right well welcome to those of you in our audience you get to hear our enthralling budget presentation so uh thank you for being here um and Board of Education the first thing that I we always like to do is acknowledge you there's our most recent photo taken everyone smiling faces I know you're happy to be out there uh but really you know you uh spend the work that we do to develop the budget really spans the whole year uh you know as soon as we finish this one we already begin talking about uh the the following Year's budget um through all of the committee meetings and and all the work that we do so we certainly appreciate your support and work through all of this the budget timeline we are um at at the very beginning of that so tonight is when we will present the tentative budget um and vote uh on the tenative budget at the next meeting and then we submit it to the county office and we will also uh make that available on our website uh April is the last day for County Office approval of the budget then we have to have our official Board hearing our public hearing so that's actually what we are going to talk about um during board discussion because our April board me meeting is scheduled for Tuesday April 23rd so we need to uh reschedule that meeting to another date so that it's within that window from April 24th to May 7th so we'll just speak about that briefly tonight so that we can hopefully excuse me settle on that tonight uh obviously the Strategic plan uh forms the foundation of our budget and you know I speak to this every year where Tim you know is a part of was a part of the strategic planning process is a part of the implementation of the the Strategic plan and in all of the budget documents that go out and in all of our budget meetings he references the Strategic plan and requires all of our administrators to indicate the Strategic plan goal that is aligned to their budget request um so that is something that we keep at the Forefront of our planning every year and I did include up there our our newest graphic that was done by our art Honor Society for our portrait of a graduate our slide of District accomplishments you know I change this up each year in terms of what we highlight our district district accomplishments are really defined by our student accomplishments and this is just a selection of some of the uh accolades and recognition that our students have received with the support of our staff members um so you'll see a wide variety of accolades up there that span The Sciences Arts music um academic uh clubs our students you know year and and year out earn recognition uh for the work they that they do within and outside of the classroom and the budget is what supports that and what gets us there so I'm going to turn the next two slides over to Tim thanks Dr thanks Dr J members of the board members of the public um we spoke or I spoke about a month ago we were talking about some of the things that were challenges within this budget the top one the rising health care costs it is confirmed at 12% um so that is a true number so that that obviously is a big big number for us and it's a tough one to get past we are negotiating with the wha our largest Union uh that is a challenge for me because I don't know exactly what that number is going to be so we have to guess and that's always difficult accountants like exact things we don't like guessing um and the declining enrollment uh I put down which will change if you drive around Warren you will see some houses and things going up so uh we are close close to getting involved in a demographic study uh to take a look at that stuff but that certainly is a challenge as we're our enrollments declining but we also have to look ahead and see where we're going to be um and then the resources the tax levy we got our information we do have a a 2% tax levy you'll see we have some waivers one of those is a healthcare waiver to help us get past the rising health care costs uh state aid was a 5% increase and I'll go through that in one of the other slides uh tuition we have with our sen received District Greenbrook is still an open item we're still negotiating with them uh we'd like to get that done sooner rather than later but we're still working through that uh and then the expense side we have technology uh transportation and special ed those three areas are definitely getting hit with uh the impact of inflation over the past couple years it's uh the increases in all of those like Transportation alone has been 6% 6% the past two years um the technology the software has been brutal the renewals of some of the software that we use and we use a lot of it has been brutal um some in double digit categories and a lot of stuff we really need so that's been tough and um I hate to pick on my folks in Special Ed but the uh I've gotten so many letters from the the out of District placement schools the private schools uh asking for 10% increases more than I've ever seen in my entire career so that tells you what we're looking at and you'll see it in the numbers when I go through it and then finally uh We've from the covid era which is passed us gladly um we we had a lot of funding from something called Esser another Federal acronym but it it was basically covid money and we had a few things in there that we funded through the budget and we lost that money so now we have to find ways to to keep it in the budget and afford it um and we we kind creative in in doing that so you'll see those on the next couple of slides oops sorry hit the wrong button Pi that back up there sorry about that my kids always pick on my big thumbs so our enrollment like I mentioned it we're dropping about 50 kids is you know just shy of that um I don't know if it's going to go down much further than this looking at the elementary numbers that are coming our way I think it's going to start Flatline and then it's going to start you're going to see it go the other way warrant I know is increasing now and then I'm going to pass it back to Dr JT who's going to go through some of the new items that are in this budget thank you so the first item we have up here this is one of the items that we now have in our regular budget because our Esser funds have been eliminated so if you recall several years ago we added our Empower program um and it's something that we've been talking about for a number of years but we didn't have the funds to get it going so when we received the Esser funds it was a nice opportunity to Pilot this and we have had tremendous success with it with supporting students in class um to get them back on track to make sure that they pass the class kind of like that um as well as uh uh credit recovery and it has been tremendously successful with keeping students on track to graduate in four years uh and I have data I can share with the board on that in terms of exactly how many credits and how many students um have been assisted in that program with regard to our Athletics programs we had shared with our operations committee uh that we are looking at adding some additional female uh athletic programs so for uh girls adding flag so these are coaches for those programs flag football a coach for that program um we do have we actually had a female wrestler um wrestled down in Atlantic City this past weekend in the state tournament um and so we were looking to add a girls wrestling coach uh right now she is a volunteer and has been helping out all season um overseeing our our female wrestler uh we are also looking at um entering into a trid district Consortium to start a girls ice hockey program uh so that was something that we'd all share in the cost of so we have uh part of that in our budget and then girls our girls golf program has picked up as well and we have a head coach and an assistant coach um for the boys program but for the girls program we only have a head coach so we'd be looking to add a an assistant coach for that program as well because it has grown uh tremendously and then obviously um additionally uh a huge impact on Personnel is going to be the result of negotiations on with the wha on the contract and then with regard to academic co-curricular obviously some of these are aligned with Personnel the um the supplies and equipment for the teams that we are adding coaches for is obviously on this list adding some um equipment for our music program um press boxes that are in dire need of being replaced for our baseball and softball programs and then if uh we look up top uh we H We are continuing our furniture replacement in our classrooms um getting rid of the outdated furniture and adding Furniture that's more similar to what you see in here um obviously continuing our onetoone initiative of Chromebooks um replacing some desktops in some of our classrooms again the loss of our Esser funds uh is impacting another service that we've been providing we have our partnership with Ruckers Behavioral Health and we are looking to continue that so that is now in our regular operating budget and we also have our referendum projects underway so we are going to need some supplies and equipment for those new spaces um so if you recall we have the steam lab that will be done this summer and our photography lab uh as well as our nurse's uh Suite which is actually being worked on right now and they've made tremendous progress on that that's actually right next to our office and um Nicole hears banging all day long and rolls with it I didn't realize that till I was in her office the other day and said do you really hear this all day uh but they are they are really making tremendous progress on that that's going to be a really nice space uh in our trainers room as well so we have quite a bit uh of additions and again uh you know some of these are in there because with the money that we use the Esser funds for were successful and so we want to continue that and I do just want to remind everyone that the majority of our Esser funds we used for one-time purchases knowing that that money wouldn't be persistent over the years but when we wanted to add Rucker Behavioral Health as well as the Empower program we did have a discussion with the board at the time that this is something we would like to if successful get into the general operating budget so we had planned ahead for this and Tim had you know anticipated this for the past couple of years so now I'm going to turn it back over to Mr SI thanks Dr J and and um so in terms of capital this year as you know we're replacing the track and we did award that bid and that work is being planned as we speak uh for the summer for this budget we need a couple of HVAC units the two one of the two there's three leftovers two is one is still functional it's pretty good um that's over gym one two but there's two left over the central offices that are well past to useful life the heating is not as bad but the air conditioning is brutal uh and in the office it's been it's not good for our equipment certainly not good for our carpeting certainly not good for a lot of things in the office so um that's something we need to do uh that's over the business office and the superintendent office um and then we have security improvements I'm not going to go into detail on that one uh but just it is for lockdowns and then for uh the uh carpet replacement there's a couple items the pack is the one that is probably the more critical of the two the pack the pack which you'll see have to lean down I feel like I'm tall here it's not good is it me yeah so anyway um the the pack um that you don't have that's okay all right thank you all right yeah I was like leaning down I like whatever so the the pack um carpeting if you if you've been there there's parts of it that are ripped up which isn't great uh the problem is the pack when you're watching a show it's generally dark in in that space so you know if there are some rips there it's not great but you know newer like your newer auditoriums will have that LED lighting Tru back so if you have to get up and get out you can actually see where you're going so that's something we need to really need to do I think that's that's kind of critical and the main office the it it's there's a lot of traffic especially in the runway where the kids are uh the kids go and and the counselors and whatnot so that that area really needs to be replaced we've been putting it in every year and kicking it out but trying to keep it in and it's in there for the moment um and then the PA system for the North and South calf it's it's a little fuzzy you can't really hear that well so it really needs to be replaced and upgraded um and then in terms of our state aid there's the good news is that the formula uh that I I believe is around 10 or 15 I don't know how old it is anymore but it's it's been around for a bit it's finally fully funded so it that's the good news the bad news is it's fully funded and that's you get at a $52 million budget you're getting you know close to $3 million in general fund Aid um and that's mainly because this is a district that was back in the day was called an J but it's it's considered more of an affluent District so in those type of districts with this formula you don't get a lot of Aid um they base it on ability to pay and in their eyes at least looking at tax returns and home values uh the folks here have the ability to pay so you know the state aid is going to be limited um but the good news is it's fully funded and we got close to$ million we got an increase of 133,000 a slight decrease in debt service but that goes B based on payments and our payment dropped because if you remember we had we did a refunding so that's why it went down a little bit um but anyway that so that was good news and you could see the categorical AIDS it's based on students and formulas within each category um in terms of the operating revenue and and last year's budget the budget we're the school year we're in right now we have the referendum that was embedded in the budget remember so that's why I put that less RF less referendum is what I really meant there um so I took that out of the equation so you can look really you're really looking at Apples to Apples here uh and you can see we used more Surplus in 23 24 and we used it primarily for the track um and this year it's it's less we have less to use tuition is up and then your other categories you see state aid 5% and we are proposing a tax levy increase of 2.8% and overall our operating Revenue budget which you'll see on the other side is up 1.9% so less than 2% overall on the spending and on the spending side um we have salary and benefits and our salary uh is actually below below 2% um and that's we've had some retirements we have we we are looking at cutting that one position so with that being the case it kind of lowers the impact of the health benefit hit that we took but it's still over 4% and the 2% budget cap it gets a little tough uh and that's a big line right so supplies and uh operations are pretty much where you would expect them to be the operations that line is higher because of the transportation hit um that's close to 6% I mean and the capital outlay is actually dropped quite a bit and the track was in last year that was a million two so that that kind of rounds out um the one thing that I mentioned before and I I kind of groaned about special ed there you see a big increase in special ed 10.8% that hurts uh in terms I'm sorry about the numbers being small but I can actually see them so I can read some of them to you so so the way so this is our comparison it's a it's a year old so just so you know but generally speaking it it it's along the same path we tend to and watching Hills is second to the to the far right mean being lowest second lowest we tend to go back and forth with West moris and these are districts that I use that are very similar to us they're their Regional high schools with a similar def demographic and similar population totals so um I mean obviously the characteristic that's a little different is there's some that they're all over the state you see pasak Valley in there Hanover Park Ramapo Indian Hills Mars Hills hun Central so a couple from hunon County uh the thing that always surprises me that we're actually lower than the 200 in County schools and I had a friend in central for years and I drove him nuts that I he was a ba drove him nuts and I used to pick on him for it but but but you know the the bottom line is we we we compare well to the districts in terms of how we you know our per pupil cost um and then for the we did get our tax allocation numbers and I put this together let me explain it because it's hard to understand when you look at it so each year I I think of the tax levy with these three towns as a as a pie there's three pieces of pie and each year that pie piece is going to change every year for the towns based on two things the percentage of elementary students they have here versus high school students in that town and the valuations of the home and you can see in the middle column the change in the total valuation of the homes really wasn't much different between the three towns so that really wasn't a big factor in this year however on the left side the change in elementary enrollment for Warren for example went up 2% that means they have 2% more elementary students versus high school students so less high school students same thing for wat young the reverse for lill so that means lill has more high school students than elementary students by comparison so that being the case case how that impacts this this tax rate is it adds a bigger piece of the pie to lill and takes it away from warrn that's how that formula works so basically what this formula says is look if you have more high school students a higher percentage you're going to have more of the allocated tax levy um I know that doesn't always go over well when you look at the numbers but you'll see the tax impact and how when you look at the three towns you're going to notice and and you can go back to this and understand why that happened that's not that we don't like one town over the other we like them all so for the Warren Township the average home is $891,000 in both years assuming no increase in house value it's actually a tax it's a tax rate decrease so you'll see a decrease so you you'll see a a decrease of $29.58 per $100,000 if I take last year's uh average home which is about 820 and this year's average home compare it and calculate the taxes it's a $13 increase okay for Wang B the average home Val value is $856,000 almost 857 the dollar increase per 100,000 actually decrease I'm sorry is $27.56 if I compare last year's average home which is I think was about 810 and then this year's 856 it's a decrease it's a net decrease of $226 and then you get to lill and I showed you on the last slide how they got a higher percentage of our PI so to speak so the average home there is just under 600,000 the dollar increase per $ 100,000 is $25 per home and then the dollar increase from average to average and average I think last year was about 560 five maybe 550 now it's about less uh close to 600 the average increase for that home is $26.80 so you can see the disparity between the three the increase for each of those towns and it's based on that allocation um and I know that's tricky to follow but that's kind of the way this works it's it's a Regional High School and that that portion of our tax life is going to change literally every year based on those two factors and that's pretty much what we have so we'll entertain questions back there any question let me just make one question and then I'll open it up just to confirm Tim all these numbers that you're dick talking about are formula set by the state of New Jersey and you just plug numbers in and it spits out numbers there's nothing arbitrary about it is that correct that's correct the allocation formula is provided to us by the department of Ed okay great anyone have questions on the board so just to to clarify we showed that the um the tax increase of 2.8% yeah tax levy inre tax increase of 2.8% um and of that and like just as a reminder how much did our health care costs go up this year so our health health care costs went up percentage Yeah uh 12% so our health care is up 12% um but we have the benefit of a health care waiver that we're utilizing so that we can help mitigate the impact of the health care costs so the uh I think it's it's important to understand that part of the reason for uh us being at you know 2.8% is because of the healthare costs and we're utilizing a healthc care waiver uh that will assist us in ensuring um that we can move forward with the budget that way but I think given uh given all the challenges that we've uh seen in this budget from Transportation special education health care costs everything else that's going on um I think you've done a man's job at getting us to 2.8% anyone else a question or comment on the board I'll entertain the public if they have any questions with respect to the budget excuse me one second did you s okay great come up to the podium just announce who you are and where you're from and you can ask your questions Kim D Donado ch um two questions one why was uh green book is not up there how do they add to our budget that's part of the send Reed tuition that was on one of the slides okay am I ready for any other comments or is it just for the strictly budget related just budget okay now I have some other comments but not on the budget you'll have your opportunity okay great anyone else have a question okay uh Mr president if I if I may just for the purpose of the board so uh going back to the timeline so we're there are there are things that that we're going to have um some discussions this week with Greenbrook and then we will probably Carol I'm going to employ you for the operations committee to get uh we might have a meeting in between to discuss if there's any changes we have to make or anything like that there's also um you know just in case there as other information that comes from the state um not quite sure yet so uh just just so the board knows that you know the vote is scheduled for uh the 19th and if there are any changes there's anything things we have to do we will make sure we present that on the 19th as I think we did it last year we had like a we had a a budget presentation and then we had an update I think it was based on state a or something else that came out a little late right so so from that perspective you know we'll probably have some other type of presentation on the 19th great uh thank you Tim I just want to uh uh Echo the sentiments with regard to uh Mr Morrison with the yman job that was done this is uh we kind of chuckle every time we talk about budget and Tim has to speak uh but it's truly a Herculean effort on his part his staff's part and certainly other people within the building that help out with this cause um again you always hear the say when the people say it's not about the money it's really about the money because the money really makes the world go around certainly in our world if we had an unlimited source of money we could do so much more so the money really puts a cap on what we can do and it's I want to thank the board uh my fellow board members for their effort and certainly their focus and their commitment uh to the students and you know the town people and the teachers as well because they're certainly committed to reinvesting into the students trying to give them the best opportunities whether it's the equipment and Tim certainly went through a half a dozen items or so with respect to uh you know steam uh the track and we've done you know or other types of Capital Improvements that just need to be done to facilitate education and opportunities whether it's coming from uh co-curricular activities so we're certainly focused on that and trying to do the best we can and balance all the needs and it's certainly not an easy task so I certainly appreciate all the efforts and the board's commitment to doing all that okay we're going to move into uh committee reports um education uh thank you Mr President uh the education committee met on February 28th uh in the afternoon we had a full house uh with Miss Lee Miss obber Miss prasa Miss Potter Miss JWT Miss Caro miss failin Mr Lea and Mr Quia uh first topic we covered was summer reading uh Mr Quia gave an overview of how summer reading book options are selected for each grade level uh once the title selected for each grade by a teach or once the title is selected for each grade by the teachers the students will ultimately vote on three titles that will comprise the options for summer reading list for each grade level uh in addition schoolwide summer uh reading book uh is also being finalized um uh a member of the committee asked when the list would be available uh Mr Quia did not have a specific time frame but said we would have a list soon uh we then talked about seventh and eighth grade core text discussions uh and this is based on feedback from our n9th grade English teachers and students that they do not feel uh prepared for our n grade English courses and our English teachers are working with the seventh and eighth grade English teachers uh in our sending districts on selecting a core seventh and eighth grade English text uh across all four of the K8 districts toward that end Middle School English teachers have participated in meetings with the high school English teachers with Mr aquavia and Miss failen on December 7th January 17th and February 21st this gives us an opportunity to try to uh create some vertical articulation with our school districts or the sending districts so that uh as our students get here from the varying districts that we can uh help get them to a similar level um uh so they can be successful once they hit the high school for their um uh for their English courses uh we also discussed some upcoming events uh there's a career day that'll be scheduled for May the 29th for our 10th and 11th grade students um uh 10th and 11th grade students will rotate between a panel discussion that will be held in the pack of different careers as well as Showcase of Representatives of different careers that will be in gyms 7 and 8 and the South cafeteria uh other events include the steam Fair on March 13th hackathon hackathon on March 16th spring Musical on March 14th 15th and 16th of pipen so I would encourage everyone to get their tickets and the students are also conducting a fundraising ER for St baldrick's foundation on March the 16th as you can see I got a head start on that so um I would entertain any questions or any committee members have any comments first any questions from any board members good typically Personnel most of that's in the executive session is there anything that we can disclose in the public that's a no operations Carol thank you uh the operations committee met on February 27th at 8:30 A.M and attendance were Tim sty Elizabeth jitt Michael Burber Bob marrison Heather tror and myself Tim reported that the Warren business ad Warren Township business administrator has asked if WatchON Hills could be used as a polling place for the upcoming elections in June and November Tim Elizabeth and Tim agreed that it is feed feasable to use gyms one two as a polling location as those areas can be isolated Elizabeth noted that the warrant Township Police Department will be available to monitor the situation other shared concerns expressed by K K8 Warren schools regarding their ability to serve as voting locations she also noted that due to heavier voting turnout it is becoming increasingly difficult for some of the current voting locations to accommodate the use the balance of our meeting was devoted to a budget to the budget with a preliminary review of tonight's presentation so I not going to repeat all of that thank you that if there are any questions question earlier you didn't have the answer I don't know changing the date to of our April 23rd meeting or I have that under board discussion we can it's up to you Michael when you want to talk about it right now so Tuesday April 23rd is our current date April 24th is green Brooks meeting so I would like to not rescheduled for that out of courtesy to Janine although she might like not having to come to two board meetings in in a week um so we were looking at either Thursday April 25th or the following Tuesday April 30th so depending on what works best for everyone's schedule on so I don't know if third I mean Thursday April 25th if that's a I Know Dan said that was good with him and we were thinking right because we have two options either we have the meeting on the 23rd and we do a special Board hearing on a separate date but I feel like that's kind of silly if we can just move the meeting two days so April 25th is good with everyone might not be good exactly we'll reschedule that one from the 23rd to the 25th good okay so we'll take care of that thank you Susan that's all done checked one thing off of board discussion and is that good for both of you I know we I I'm pretty sure we had mentioned that already but I was gonna say I'm waiting for Tim to say no he can't be here so this is budget season Tim doesn't leave it's true sleeps in his office under his desk is there anything else for operations okay great uh Dan gall's not here with respect to negotiations I'll just give a quick update because I'm sure the Public's quite interested in where we stand last night we were supposed to have a uh negotiating session with the teachers with with staff uh they were not able to uh have a meeting last night so it got cancelled however uh our committee did meet for a couple sorry our meet excuse me our committee did meet for a couple hours and thoroughly went through some of the proposals um that the staff had presented to us and I believe our next meeting with them is March 14th so Pi Day Pi Day absolutely right so that's where that is okay any questions with regard to where we stand with negotiations okay great okay first opportunity for public comment the first public comment period will be limited to agenda items only for this meeting only the second public comment period will be open to any topic all comments are limited to five minutes and again if you have any comments I've mentioned uh we need you to sign in name and where you're from um any public comments with respect to agenda items only going once okay there are no public comments okay uh let's do the board discussion items want to go to board goals first f up to you let's discuss board goals first okay again uh at the last meeting we uh discuss briefly board goals and whether there is a need to change a need to address them how we should uh present them uh when I had spoken to uh Dr J the month before I thought it was important that we look at what those goals were and see what we had done with respect to those goals to make sure that you know progress was being made then the question was do we need to keep them as goals for example uh communication that seems to have been a goal that we always have or certainly have had for quite a bit of time and question is do we need to continue to do that or are there specific metrics or specific items that we're not hitting and that we have to address so with that said does anyone have any any comments with respect to again right now we have three goals and uh does anyone have any goals they want to add take away questions with regard to the board goals and what was done any comments at all just step in or I'll just keep talking so I just I I I'll I'll uh thanks I'll save you um save everyone really no so you know I think in in reviewing these a couple things have struck me obviously the first goal as it relates to uh coordinating related to shared services with the K8 districts and the feasibility study on regionalization um you know as we've heard with the articulation that we reported on tonight there that activity is going um and we expect that the U uh that we will hear shortly regarding the regionalization feasibility study so I think that that needs to remain you know as a as a board goal um in my personal opinion um Communications is is something that I think that we still need to continue to focus on uh from what we hear from our constituents um there's certainly a need to do better on goal three you know given given where we are with the approach to um uh the health and well-being and the and the programs that we've uh not only tested but we're now actually implementing inside of the district it seems that that goal can move off from being a board goal because it's now firmly entrenched as a district goal uh in my personal opinion so you know I would be open to seeing goal three be removed not that it's not a priority for the district but it doesn't I think that the board has done its job in piloting these programs investing in these programs to the point now where it's being implemented within the district so that would be my only suggestion would be potentially to consider removing goal three uh and that would then open up space if there was another goal other any other board member was interested in adding anyone else comment question I just no I actually appreciate that last comment because I never really understood why certain ones are board goals certain things are strategic planning goals and certain things are district goals and that actually it's almost like we are sort of like the um lead in to incubation to getting TOA so if that's what we are I agree that that that third one probably could come on anyone else have any comments maybe with that in mind we we could ponder over the next between the next now and the next meeting and there's no rule I believe that says we need three however there's nothing wrong with it could have more one thing to keep in mind that will be coming up for next year next year is the last year of our current strategic plan so I'm assuming that that will end up being a board goal for next year in terms of um you know planning for the next strategic plan whether it's getting a consultant going through the process so just something to keep in mind well I mean to that point though that process would actually start as part of this current board term MH so if we're starting in the fall that means this on this board term so then that that might be what we need to drop in there is you know the planning and preparation for the next strategic plan I think that's great so let's do that Susan I'm sorry no I was just thinking of the timing because I remember you know how we had the community um event that was like uh just before covid last year that was like I have to say the best decision the board made was to continue to move forward with the Strategic plan um and not wait for the pandemic to end because we you know we thought it was going to be a lot shorter than it was and I I really am I that I commend the board for forging ahead with that um anyway so does anyone else have any specific comments with respect to uh again the progress we've made or some other things that they might like to be seen okay let's I was gonna uh I'm thinking with we were talking about Communications it's always something we need to work on would it be beneficial to kind of subdivide that a little bit as to where we need to focus I think we've done made some good progress on certain areas but you're saying that maybe there's some other areas today so do we need to focus more on a specific area of communication the other thing you could do with that too is put it on committee agendas um just a thought to have each committee talk about communication around what's discussed in the committee um you know especially facilities with referendums that's always part of those conversations but um you know updates so that a budget communication about that um negotiations obviously communication about that educ so that might be something is to make it kind of a standing agenda item just throwing that out there yeah and we're certainly going to have a lot of communication around the regionalization feasibility study a lot so that could be part of it is almost you know assessing each meeting what if something needs a communication plan specifically and I'm I'm going to put this out to the public a little bit as well certainly with regard to the communications if there's something that you feel that we're not doing or you're not hearing from from us or that you feel we can present better to you so that you can get a better sense of what's going on inside the district please let myself know Dr J know or somebody know because you know we can act on that very quickly if we don't you know we see what we think are maybe issues and we try to address that and it's sometimes helpful someone else may have an idea you know they may have been in another district and they some this was done and ideas like that are great and you know we certainly welcome that and you know we we can make things happen and we can make things happen relatively quickly and we're certainly not adverse to that so uh Dr JW is there any um is there any data or information that's available from when we do the culture and climate survey and how we you know because that engages our students that engages our parents that engages our faculty is there any information that can be gleaned from that that we can incorporate into that interesting that you bring that up because uh we are actually going to present uh you know now that we're a couple of years into it where we have some um trends that we can look at tomorrow we are actually going to be sharing it at a faculty meeting and our plan I actually have it on my notes Here is to I think the next board meeting actually um do a a little mini presentation for the board um now that we have you know some meet to that so we can actually continue that discussion there but that I think we have it I just have to look at the calendar but I think um I was going to talk to you about potentially putting that on for the next board meeting so that the board can see um you know what um some of the the changes we've seen especially since the pandemic because I believe that's when we started actually administering the the climate survey great thank you okay budget hearing date we've done future action items comments on that sorry I just had a yes a question on that first field trip page three or uh yes three four and five so the on four and five were paying for the registration but on three were not and I just wondered why the event registration yes is this the one yes no well I mean the festival was something that was added on that's probably because the other are I believe the other two are recurring correct um yes so the the other two are recurring um trips that actually happened I know the the four is during the school day and I believe five is as well and three is something outside that you know was added on and isn't budgeted for so I I you know I I believe that's why I know this is a conversation that and we Susan you're bringing this we talk about this I mean we have our our meetings our weekly meetings where we go through all this stuff and we are always talking about this and we still struggle with that um you know for those of you a little bit newer to the board I it's might not have come up in a couple of years but we are always sitting down kind of reassessing how we figure out what the district pays for versus what students pay for with various trips because we do have a lot of different trips um so you know and that's why any we're open to any and all questions and comments and feedback on that because obviously it is a board decision um in terms of when you approve it so you know we bring that up but that's why with that particular trip so do some teachers submit these far enough in advance well some of them are recurring in part of like a club budget or a class budget and some of them you know they may have used all of their money that was budgeted for field trips throughout the year but they want to do something additional and so that's when then more of it falls on the student you're welcome anything else okay uh Mr President I'd like to move items A1 through A7 any comments or questions with respect to A1 through through A7 Mr sty Mr maio Miss Lee Mr Mayor yes Mr Morrison yes Mr Uber M CA M chour yes and Mr bber yes motions carry uh Mr President I'd like to move item C1 we have a second actually let me amend that please I'd like to move items C1 through c103 oh God it's a conspiracy do we have a second for that the amended motion any comments or questions on that got everyone playing into it okay roll call Mr maio M Lee Mr May yes Morrison yes M sober yes pra trur yes Mr Burber yes motions carry Mr President I'd like to move items D1 through D4 we have a second comments or questions roll call please Mr maio Miss Lee Mar yes Morrison yes over rasa trur yes and Mr Burber yes motion is carry okay great uh now is a second opportunity for public comment again this is a public comment on any item if anyone would like time to speak this is it just again state your name and where you're from Kim D Donado Wang um this is very loud I don't think I need to do this okay um so first and foremost I'm wrapping it up here I want to thank you guys it's been a great run you've done a great job for the most part this has been uh for my younger daughter she'll be leaving now so I commend you for all your volunteering you do okay on that note um I'd like to discuss what had gone on today in senior health um it was brought to my attention that there was a presenter um who presented as a woman and was a man and was discussed using with our children reproductive system of females as well as pregnancy this is very concerning and confusing for me and I'm sure for my kids I don't understand who decided or who approved to have this particular topic being discussed with someone who is not a female um I find it really concerning and I'm a little I'm I'm scared I'm I'm scared for the kids that my daughter's she's set she's got her head on straight and she understands what's what and we have our feelings at home and we discuss our personal and our bodies and all that but it comes from a woman who can have a child not from a person that cannot have a child to stand up there and discuss this I think it's distracting in a in a generation that's already distracted this has added another layer we rely on this institution to provide an academic foundation for our kids we are not here to discuss things that should be discussed at home um and I'd like to know who approves this and has the board did you have any idea who this person was what their credentials are and why were they up there presenting on such a serious and personal topic I actually attended it so I'm happy to speak on it please do um the presenter was outstanding uh they are from Zu fall Health it's somebody that we we get presenters from often the topic was consent and healthy relationships um so I'm not sure where the impression was that they were talking about reproductive systems it was a pregnancy sign that was right picture of it you know what I'll wait till you're done and then I don't mind addressing the group but I was there for the entire presentation I saw all of the slides um so I'm happy to speak to that but you know what I'll wait in case anyone else has any other comments on that but I can certainly speak to it because I was there for the full presentation okay I'll be happy to hear it okay thank you anyone else with a comment and just state your name or your if it if it is on the same topic I'm happy to clarify first because that might help but I just didn't want to have a a back and forth but it might help before more people get up so that yeah that's fine I just I just it people may hear misinformation but you know that's please go ahead okay um unisi um Johnston drive so I'm here on the similar uh question and uh thank you all for dedicating your time first of all because it's a rainy night and these are long meetings so I appreciate you invest in your time doing this uh with the Board of Ed um my concern is the same as my neighbors and uh my question is I guess in addition there I understand we're trying to maybe educate our kids to different Lifestyles and paths that uh conservative parents may not teach at home I I I think to teach the kids to love everyone no matter the differences is something that every conservative parent can be on board with we are to love each other no matter what our differences are um my concern is where do we draw the line are we going to um have a guest next promoting perhaps recreational drugs that could be healthy for you know alcohol which is fun I there there are many concern I'm sorry I I need to give accurate information because this is being live streamed if the board is okay with that I'm just I'm concerned about what's being said right now because this is what was delivered today was a very appropriate informative program that students were engaged in asking questions and I can speak firsthand to that because I was there it was about our senior health a large part of that is about consent and healthy relationships and that's what the presenter spoke about and I I was there I'm I'm not sure why people are saying it was a woman presenting as a man or a man presenting as a woman it was a person standing behind a Podium that was speaking about consent there was I don't know if you know look anytime an adult stands in front of the room I know high school students when I was a high school teacher they're looking at what you're wearing they're looking they would comment on my nails on my shoes but there was nothing distracting about the presenter the presenter was very professional and we have the topic of consent is something that's talked about throughout the the marking period of Health with our seniors because it's a very very important topic as they are going off to college and they get it from a lot of different perspectives and presenters and part of the reason we do that is we want the presenters we hopefully we're putting somebody up there that a student can relate to um so that's why we invite presenters from different organizations in but this is this person is from their presentation it said the the health organization's name on every single slide it wasn't something they came up with they did not speak about anything personal about thems they talked about the the only part that came up about reproduction they were talking about reproductive coercion and sexual coercion and pregnancy coercion and I have to tell you I actually learned today those terms that's not something that I had had been taught uh when I was school in school so that's what they were talking about they weren't speaking about pregnancy they weren't speaking about anything related to that they were talking about and I'll I'll give an example they were talking about reproductive coercion an example of that is when your a partner unbeknownst to you may poke holes in a condom that you're using so that you think you're using protection and it's not actually protecting against pregnancy that was the example that they gave so they were speaking to the high school students about all of the different types of coercion out there and the fact that consent and healthy relationships is extremely extremely important it was an excellent presentation and the period that I was there for the students asked questions at the end they were highly engaged and there was nothing you know that I was concerned about that I saw um so I you know I don't know if particular student had a you know a response to the presenter where they just didn't like the presenter I you know I can't that's why we offer them different we offer different presenters and and it's talked about throughout the the marking period but I just want to clarify that this is a vetted organization and the presenter was completely appropriate I I guess we saw a screenshot shot that showed this uh transgender person I I do want to ask you to the presenter introduced themsel by their name they did not speak about any of that so anyone who's saying that that's an assumption the presenter did have shoulder length hair was wearing pants and a blouse I'm not sure you know everyone I don't know where all the generalizations came from but those are assumptions I I do just want to clarify that all right so my my last question I guess would be um there are many conservative groups out there that believe in abstinence marrying J young having multiple kids and they have statistics to prove that this is a healthy lifestyle would you be open to bringing one of those groups here as well to promote a healthy lifestyle for these young students that may need to be educated on health sex safe sex or health that's what our health that's what our health curriculum does that is I I encourage you to go on our website and look at our health curriculum that's exactly what it speaks to uh so those are the the New Jersy standards that bring in one of these groups you can certainly email our our supervisor of fed I you know we have if it's somebody that's accredited and vetted oh yeah um and as aligned with the standards then they might be looking for more speakers because we bring in speakers from lots of organizations but I really encourage you to reach out to the teacher or the supervisor if you have questions did you reach out to the teacher or supervisor today with any of your concerns no I I that that would be the you know that would be my recommendation because they can give you much more specific information about what is talked about in the class and about the curriculum so as long as the speakers the guests here are in line with the healthy curriculum you would be open to inviting them I so again you would need to reach out to the teacher and the supervisor I don't micromanage the department and who they bring in and I don't know if they're looking for any additional people but certainly you can share with them any information that you have I will thank you Kim D Donado how do we find out who this person was and who they what their credentials are that were presented to our students so what I'm going to say because I just do I ask you or do I go to the teacher teer so I'll find out from the teacher okay thank you and the speaker did share their name and their credentials and everything at the beginning of the session any additional public comments going Once Sold do we have any additional business other business oh I'm sorry I'm closing public comment yes are there any additional uh any other business that we have not addressed that people want to address I will entertain a motion to adjourn so moved all those in favor I we are adjourned