adquate notice of the meeting to be held by the Belmar Board of Education on Thursday March 13th 2025 at 700 p.m. has been provided in accordance with the requirements of chapter 231 public laws 1975 notice that the meeting was posted on the bulleon board of the principal's office of the belmare Elementary School
1101 Main Street New Jersey January 7th 2025 notice of the meeting was transmitted to the asur park press the coast store the municipal C of the burrow of felmore and the Lake comoo School District on January 7th 2025 flag salute to flag of the United States of America
to the okay roll call Sher Adams Omar here can we check comp here here Rebecca Harbert here Michelle here
je Nicholai Paul on here Michelle cart all right are there any comments from the public on agenda items superintendence report all right so we had a great team Patty's Day Parade uh boys basketball the cheer team and the band that were all represented
there it it was a cold start but it warmed up by the end and it was really great um the School Musical susal as you can see some pictures from earlier today uh they had two incredible school day performances which are just their dress performances for our school kids um and so we did one performance for a lot of
our students and then we also invited St Rose Elementary brel Avon and life skills MD to come join us so they really enjoyed the show as well um so you know we're going to have a show like best to share with the community and Community Schools and neighbors is great uh stem
night was also by Mr Odon which you'll see behind me as well just really great the kids had a blast um but we're looking forward to Spring and sports season which is going to start soon um you know in a little while it's not too soon but come in a few weeks um our
facilities are new cafeteria doors have arrived to our installers Warehouse so those front doors that go down the steps are going to get replaced during spring break which is really great so we had to get them custom ordered uh to fit our school so they're in we're just waiting on inst
options um and then new lock lockers are being ready uh for the spring season so we're hoping that sometime during the Spring season we'll have our new Lockers in our locker rooms and the kids can use um congrats to n Doyle for being a representative for the eighth grade MTH
County e8th grade dialogue which you'll see a picture of there bunch of eighth graders come together from all over the county and they get asked questions as a padle on stage in front of a bunch of adults so uh Nate did an outstanding job by representing Belmar as always and um questions about what
questions about school how they operate uh what what do they feel if they can be principal for the day what would they change about Middle School what advice do they have for kids that are coming into Middle School uh how do they create balance for themselves um as you know because a lot of the kids are high
cheaper so any advice they have they have their input on cell phones and there's policies and what they were B so kids brought you know a lot of them really said it was great not to have them in class but recognized like kids would want them um it was really nice um
and several of our students received acceptance from different schools we got accepted kids accepted the biotech high-tech rany CBA Alps Red Bank academies and obviously mquan where they got to do um they got to take to did the assembly on their course choice for next
year as well for many squ so that was nice that's it so in front I have a question in front of still going to be steps to go down it's just that the doors have are weathered and um they just need replacing like portions are starting to
rust out um so their integrity is kind of lost so and they'll look a little better too if if you see them during the day they're a little dull they're hidden under the stairs but if you look up close you can tell that and next is will
be the hopefully railings we redo the railings and the break on du time and the are being paid from the cafeteria funds which is good because it doesn't the operating Bud good so I was going to say ramps would be good and it would be not expensive if
we could do things the way I'd like to do things but since we had to put it out to bid the way we have to put it out to bid I'm not going to recommend it because I know they can go in around the other side but it would be really nice to not have steps there you
know it's like there's only steps there right yeah but the difference is though with a ramp and especially with Ada access it has to be on a certain degree and that slope would probably be way too steep out yeah so it would have to be a
very right gra yeah that's the tricky part with these buildings that were built over 100 years ago yeah and it it could never was packed gravel or anything like that it would have to be yeah so all these reasons why it gets more and ens all
right but the doors are going to look nice when we get cool all right so we approve the uh should we approve the superintendent report or we I think so sorry
okay all right so approval of the um Regular ex and executive minutes for last month's um meeting okay roll M yes Mr comp yes Mr Herbert yes Mr Rus Mr yes Miss cellia yes
yes okay personel item Personnel is not much there uh we don't have another need for quite a few weeks late April so superintendent on authority to hire staff members to fill recent unfilled positions prior next board meeting and that the unpaid medical accordance with
believe that was approved starting 2825 for employer for employees that's it okay anybody want to move personel items have any questions or
comments Mrs yes Mr conin yes M Herbert yes m l yes Mr yes M cellia yes M yes all right education and operations all right so the what you
things on here are the 2025 2026 High School assignment placements in accordance with policy 21 5120 and to approve the eighth grade Beach Day on June 13th 2025 nice to
Second how many kids were assed to each school it's 55.7% and then 44.3 yeah based on the policy it's based on the percentage so it's actually and then we send out letters and it's a simping
process that always stuck to it gotta all right each days June 13th that's usually Friday before um graduation graduation all righty roll
call yes Mr conf yes M Herbert yes M lus yes Mr yes m c yes M yes all right so Finance so Finance you have my monthly certification that the
Align item SP over uh spent and unath resolutions so we just have that I could authorize to pay the March 2025 bills to be and make any transfers and be reported at the next meeting since we only had a meeting two months ago um number two is the preschool education
Aid uh for the budget planning workbook to be approved that get sent along with the budget as part of the budget if that just needs a resolution to be sent in as well uh number three is the board secretary and treasury report for the month of February 2025 the transfer
reports for February 25 the budget transfer reports of February 25 and then again the one certification of the board secretaries and treasury okay want to move Finance questions comments
call M yes Mr comp yes M Mr Herbert yes Mr lus yes Mr yes m c yes yes all right now we have the review of the budget yeah so this is just the
discussion of the 10 budget this is where we are allowing me to send the budget to the uh the county office for their review and then at the April meeting which is April 29th um that we're going to have our public meeting to actually have the full
public meing for the budget um as you can see here the total expenses the 14 well actually total the entire uh is $16.6 million the taxes to be raised is the 10,751 940
um me flip over uh that is our certified tuition rates that we're going to be charging uh b or any other District that sensor students here based on the uh the rates that we populated by the budget software which was already sent to the county office and they already approved
them um the adjustment for enrollment what this is is this is because the state is saying that we're goinging to have an increase in in enrollment here at bmar it allows us to have an increase in uh the tax levy of the 44,000 uh the adjustment for healthare
cost is due to because of the fact that we're over and above the the state amount of our increase as around our advisers are saying that they're estimating a 14% increase in health insurance cost which the state is going
up a lot more than that so I'm very happy that we're not in the state health benefits just head up um and then the next resolution the travel related expense reimbursement is just our normal travel uh resolution that goes submitted
with the budget showing that how much that we all lot in the budget for travel and then how much that we spent was $6,000 for the year so far um just need a resolution and then I could discuss a little bit I ask a
question just need a resolution first and then you could ask the questions and I got also uh I got a little okay else this is why is it more for learning then multiple
disabl so it's all based on the amount of uh students that are in there and also the actual expenses allotted for each one of those different programs so multiple means multiple no the students are multiple
disable so they may have several disabilities so they could be physical disabilities and then like so we have more learning disa multiple dis yeah multiple disbled is usually uh the highest level of of care that you have
in any any those are students who U not always but often have one to one or one to three needs along with them the class their IEPs are you know their education is solely based on their I it's not
going to be a l per our curriculum it's their own curriculum which think that would be higher Lear right it depends on the on the numbers of students um and then you know when you start dividing the the different people and programs that are allocated
to those students what those cost out yeah plus those also too is you have age um the age and grade levels it can't be like it's not just one class for all the kids so it has to be like within the same age range and and in combination of
grade range so you might three or four classes of LL versus one class of MD and so that even though you have more kids in LL you still are dividing all those costs in between those kids versus maybe one class of MD
that's one teacher and a couple kids you know so so it's all just based on the actual en rollment so and those numbers really come from more like the state so it's it's numbers that get populated into the budget
software it spits it out that's that's basically it yeah it tells us what are for us and then the um the prek prek a that's actually from the state Grant so those are actually that's literally the
money that we get per child that comes over from Le okay so I did have talking points so I just did talk about the um so the tax levy the total tax levy increase is 3.69 it's
369,000 um with the state mandated 2% and health benefits and uh the health benefit and enrollment growth um we are still below adequacy which means that the state is saying based on their calculation that we're not taxing the
taxpayers enough but this is the most that we could go up the difference is right now I saw is $34,000 so we're that far off just so head off um one of our biggest factors is our
um they are declining enrollment from leomo if they really have like there's less kids coming here from leomo just because there's not as many kids there so that's one of our challenges right now is we're dealing with that as well right because like we're only charging
them based on what the state is telling us that we could charge for the tuition so that coming in is their revenue coming straight here so it's kind of making it a little bit harder for us to um so for every five kids more or less
that are between grades one through eight that are from likea losing $100,000 in Revenue because you know between 19 and $18,000 so the co has been shrinking it's hard to buy purchased properties there you know as you know prices went up everywhere so we're having a lot less
younger family moving in the Lomo which means we have a lot we have kids coming to Belmar really come up so yeah and then some of the other key uh points are is like I said that the 14% health health care cost increase U that they're estimating it's about
$260,000 so if you look at our tax levy increase to 369,000 and our Healthcare increased at 260 doesn't give us that much of a legal room and then we settled our negotiations at 3.6% which I thought
was a very um Fair uh in for teachers um you know so all these bouncing out is kind of like it's starting to get harder um there is something that just came out literally probably two hours ago from uh
MJ ASO saying that there is possibility of them signing something to allow uh school districts to increase the tax Lev you bed but only if you're under adequacy so even if we do have that opportunity 34
35,000 it still doesn't touch the health insurance Incan yeah just like everything else more specifics will be coming and how to put in action and rest did you said the um the enrollment is is predicted to go up even
though yeah so that's the well so they only enrollment increase that we get is based on the residential students here so students so it's kind of weird on how it works on the asssa report but that's the um application for state aid that's our enrollment that gets projected in
December so we'll have our on Roll number that's the number of the kids that are actually in here the kids that get sent here from other districts or parent paid gets minused out and then any kids that we send to like M rbr or something like that gets added in so
that's how that calculator work but it noted on the residential enrollment not on the lakea so that's why we're kind of having like and also an issue is because um with our tuition expense to m one
right so tuition is this discussing with michellea one um tuition keeps on increasing at Mass one it was like 21,000 so yeah so what what it's doing is because because their tuition is increasing it's because their overall enrollment is decreasing
the thing is valar's overall enrollment is not decreasing and so we're taking we're getting a bigger chunk of their proba of their cost to keep them going and bmar is really hitting it's it's hitting us so I think I give you the report of was like yeah because the
seags and gril and Heights all these places are all shrinking belmar's shrinking a little slower so then we have a larger piece of the five but then the school in general is shrinking so cost per pupil from that school as they
have staffed increases per kid you know and so what's happening is they're reducing enrollment U I'm obviously pushing for them to reduce you know their Staffing the way that we have uh it just hits
them later than it hits us uh because you know we still have large groups of kids are Juniors and seniors that big classes so once they kind of shift out it's going smaller that is going to B smaller they see these predictions and where these numbers are going uh and I
made it you know clear that I was kind of upset that I felt like I was getting hit from another anle when we were reducing size and they're evaluating their programs not contr so I have a quick question about
that so they're allowed to ra we know that they're allowed to raise their tuition and we are kind of not but you were saying that there there's actually a formula where there they're allowed to raise it if their enrollment is down from this their receiving districts so but if we it be the same piece but do we
not that I want to do this to Lake Como but we're not allowed to raise our tuition to Lake Como even though their enrollment is decline so just to understand the process know so it's it's all based on your total expend
expenditures divided by kids right so and it's overall so they we take our kids whatever are in this building right and our expenses for this building they're divided by every K and that that's basically how it works right M overall number is too low because of
that our overall number is not too low because belmar's right still belmar's numbers are still high so I mean if you take a look at this page that we have the kindergarten K15 if we took a 100 kids out let's say we took 30 kids out of the building those those 30 kids their cost
of the 19,000 18,000 has to get pushed back the other kids that are left and that just increased their cost so it's the same thing madisan just says hey this is what's happened it's reduced every kid costs more now right we just
haven't shrunk as fast as everybody else and so it like really we didn't jumping up not that I want to charge a higher tuition it's just that that you know all the towns pay the same seagar pays the same they all the same pay the same per
kid but when they had you know 40 kids and they're down to 25 and we had 100 and we're down to 90 we didn't lose as many so then we're just more kids paying more money and so it's just we're become a bigger piece of the pie and there's an
increase in tax you know in in the cost so we get hit twice it's like very frustrating for us the lake home students cost the same Asar students right cuz they're on the the overall calculation we pay each year
whatever it is per Belmar student we just multiply by how many students we have right right right right just that if there were more there would be a higher Revenue if there were fewer Belmar and more Lake we would have a higher that's yeah yeah I got confus
we decreased I got confused because Ban's reason was oh we have fewer if it was lower for for you guys you have to you were kids were
teachers right right right right it's just not the same as an element I get it yeah okay Mr yes MRT yes Mr R yes Mr yes yes I guess um does anybody know
anything about the mass report is we have someone absent that would give the mask report anybody know anything the boys and the girls basketball teams I know right that's coming up they both won they both won in the finals on Sunday at rers play 12 and
the boys play two and the boys played against Camden who remember last year call it was like on video they tried to repal it and they couldn't and it was basically stolen from them like they didn't get so they play the same team
the semal year and they won like a buzzer like in the last four seconds right it was last my kid screaming that's great that's great plan last students oh good started
spring Sports started BR news coached oh really nice and their play is tonight the ad I don't know else that's it they said in the
report yeah from so she gave us the report so she a little bit they have all these programs they want to make an individualized program for professional development for teachers each teacher would get their own professional development program It's called Go teach there's another program called project
Le away they want to promote um females in St the superintend that project um they also have a program called Unified sports program for high school students working with special needs students at the elementary school schools although I
didn't gather that was all the districts are only in man um they have a student decrease in enrollment so it's usually a certain amount increase per tuition per student
for the tuition but now that like instead of being about 2 and a half% now it's going to be a little bit but not to vote her on the numbers because she's not sure if she got that information right in terms of the but typical
increase increase per student because saying number of students is so all the sending districts have to now absorb that and that's why we're talking why we just we just we just take
it so they just make these great programs and it's a great school but it's at the cost of everybody else we don't get much of say is what you right and minus is right because it's not sure if our students are are getting the full benefits of
these programs that's my that's my next big push is if we're going to be a fairly large percentage of the school I want our kids to be represented in a fairly large percentage of their AP programs I program because our kids are more and
more prepared every year not prepared years ago every parent I talk to was like what happened like you know they went from like
straight A student here to B that way right what's that I'm assuming the man parents didn't feel that way I mean I think you hear from over towns that it's it's pretty much tough for all of them schol so so it's the high school experience or it's the sending District
experience I mean I've hear from like tons of teachers that it's not just only know one school from kind so you know I do believe that's got to be a shot socially UC right I'm not as concerned if the man
students are also having that shock yeah you I mean and the other districts um on that note um you guys should know that the sending districts make up more than 50% of that invol in
M numbers again we're not so sure about went really quick but um definitely more expect yeah well it's definitely more the numbers I have written down but again she didn't want like don't call me the numberb I don't want to number but
it's definitely over 50 Ian well just B and Belmar will actually have more kids there than actually Nan itself in the high school so just through 12th grade currently so if you go like's
around 200 minus one's 260 so then you had belmar's 133 like only 36 um but again don't put num R rough numbers rough numbers right
but I'm sure you can find that it's good that at least they have the rotating representatives from the other districts but it's not enough voting power so we should be going to those meetings I guess um talking to people from other towns if there's something really that
we're interest you know you know when when it's a budget meeting maybe well we Advocate we just had a meeting with them yesterday yest so you know we we did talk to them like I asked about their like what's their
your outlook on with the decline enrollment um Jimmy asked about other stuff that's going on there programs what not so we're we're all advocating it's not just me and J it's it's other sending districts it's saying the same
stuffable I definitely go there point and not not sugar c yeah it's not my my job is not to share well I'm saying that we should carry our end too we should be sitting there in the audience okay all righty any
Communications no oh I had one more thing oh I'm sorry no I just found it here um for the strategic planning meeting the first one was on March 5th at 6 o' this is for Mass one so it's going to be for the whole District but um
the Strategic plan outlin for goals and vision for different departments for the next like any three and five years um and then they always have like Community input so if you want to go and attend and they have like Round Table discussions yeah the first one was March
5th that is what like I think you recorded on and then so if you want to attend the next two are March 25th and April 10th sorry at 6 o'cl in the high school media center translation and babysitting services will also be
available full information all righty any old business that any oh what about is um tennis happening again tennis season is that still a club or did that no that was
funds yeah use the for that get the librar for fishing and orts um but there wasn't a lot of there wasn't a ton of interest in have a little run for a minut it last
okay any new business I have something that I just want to bring up I know I've mentioned before Tech how I'm just this is just a general thing that maybe we can talk about I'm just
I feel like there's a little too much screen time in general in the classroom every virtually every classroom or if not every classroom has the whiteboards um you know in the younger classes there
might be like a video of someone reading a story um you know in in a tech class they might be like learning canva um there's a lot of like okay
here's the lesson and then here's the worksheet that's really just like a page on your Chromebook that everything is like on screens and and for the little kids like there's only 15 minutes of recess I feel like we're getting I think
that it's so wonderful that we're we have the phones in the lockers all day and I think we can take it a little bit further I'm not sure you know because I'm not in the building I don't really know what's happening in every classroom how to actually achieve this but um I
just think that the the the excitement and banter that happened in School classrooms with chalkboards and seeing the math problem step by step saying like an alal problem and kids going to the board and doing it and helping each
other like actually seeing it and taking notes like when you're writing I know I've mentioned this before I still haven't given you the uh proof that this is true but but I know that when you write in cursive when you're taking notes you remember it better than even
when you type it and certainly better than when you're getting a screen like here's here's the summary of what we just learned your study guide for the test you know what I mean so I'm wondering if there's anything first of all does anybody share my concern and
secondly is there anything we can do to kind of see if there's any way to just kind of Tamp down level of screens uh in general maybe maybe this would mean a survey to ask parents how they feel about this
or um that kind of thing any thoughts they definitely are in front of screen too much not just school but outside of school screens have taken over their lives and I think that definitely the like listening and actively like seeing
something written out going participating and writing something out I want to believe that still goes on I hope so it does me correct me if I'm wrong I want to believe that still goes on it often is kids aren't normally on their Chromebooks you know when you're going to see them most on their
Chromebooks is when they're writing in laa class Lang was arts class they're typing up the reports um it's possible that in a small group rotation that they rotate to an app a math app but then 10 minutes later they're off and the
teachers in front of them small group attacking what that small group of kids needs and then they go to the next station where they're rolling dice or something when it comes to uh multiplication of rolling Dice and you know kind of working through those issues I don't in in our school we we
have a pretty good balance and this was something that we've been pushing before too we don't want our kids on the screen all the time but when we do want them when they are un screen we want to make sure that what they're doing is worth the time and worth doing right so our
kids do end up on screen um I can do a screen audit I don't know what that would look like I've never done one before I mean first we have to establish that they are how much are they on exactly I mean I know like personally the majority of Alice's who
is in uh fifth grade her homework is worksheets like she's working with it I can see it I can for it you know I think like last year maybe it was a little bit the other way like I noticed she was on her Chromebook more so yes I agree with you I like that she's getting these
worksheets and we can all see her working on it um but yeah I mean I think we would have to establish how actually on well that's I think they certainly are you're saying because it was not this way last year yeah and I like the idea that teachers have leeway with
their curriculum like they as long as the students learn X Y and Z by the end of that year how they learn it is up to the teacher and that's great I I'm a proponent of that yeah so it's so hard to even know you know I think we all we
don't want them on the screen as much as they are but I mean the only thing I when I went to back to school night I didn't know that they all rote on the board because they're like now you see this this is Lucas's Lucas did it wrong
like but so I know that you know in that particular math CL what Algebra I guess that they did do that but I'm a th% with you I don't want I I mean I can I can start out with a survey to the teacher is to kind of for them to give me a
roundabout number when they take a look at their plans um you know what percentage of the time you do you think your kids are on screen um we can take a look at some research regarding that too and I mean this is this is a really big holista could have I know it's so it's so broad I'm not next meeting I'm going
to have an no I that's yeah just like it's an that's why I'm throwing it out as an introductory yeah like I I'm thinking about like the younger grades and whiteboards you know like how much do they need to be looking at a
whiteboard a video of something Smartboard Smartboard smart Smartboard I'm sorry what I was thinking a white board see this is how a non techy I am I when I do my observations kids are rarely on device and I don't do
announce observations I know when they're on device you know they're middle school kids and they're working on when you say on device you mean like on a lapt that's not what I mean I I yes the little ones right but like are they looking at the Smartboard which is
showing them a video uh I would say you know for the majority of our teachers they are in front of the class teaching and moving around um that's typical are they going to take brain breaks and put like a dance on the
screen yes and the kids are dancing and you know if you're game for it you know you dance with six year olds and it's fun and you know but you know even a pre- program it's very very limited super limited they actually with tools you're really not going to be on screen
at all it's more tactical I mean tactile it's more K athetic it's going to be you know more interaction learning how to play doing of um you from the pictur I get from this clab every day they don't sit still
they're they constantly engaged in kind of some kind of toy and she's old school she's been doing this for a long time so she's doing and that's part of her philosophy program for our younger students yeah she does but yeah no that that's
definitely a prayor I think the older the kids get when they have longterm projects you might walk into a class the kids are working more their Department projects but I just and I get a little bit wey of like because we we utilize these tools that we have and we're
partnered with you know Google right whoever we we would be partnering with we have't partner with Google a lot of the products I just I just don't want their products to become our curriculum no like I don't want to fall into that
they're a vehicle they don't offer any um educational product necessarily the Google Classroom is more a communication to my seventh grad homework is paper it's computer it's definitely the math is definitely more
paper and he's still handwriting everything and the ELA is on the you know Chromebook but it's definitely split every day there's something different it's never just the Chromebook out it's usually paper Chrome book it's a little SP yeah yeah because I think just there's like with math too like
just like writing that step by step like writing it and seeing it rather than just seeing it on the screen like it works I think so okay just thought i' yeah because my kids graduated a while ago so I mean maybe I'd be willing to
pitch a back to the 90s no Tech day towards the end of year like teachers know get the like that you know no email don't check your email I'm not going to send you an email tonight and you know let's bring it back to the 9s old school we won't be able to
pull the boards off the wall and like get the chalkboards out behind them and then like get chalk pocket which I used to get as a teacher right you know um but I think that we can definitely do that I think that would be a really fun way to kind of disengage from technology
completely for an entire day and make it all about what was it like to be in school in the 90s 9s so cute yeah and and and still learn like we don't want to not have the ability to
it's just the teachers are going to have to think about okay how do what are the where did technology what place did it take in my classroom and how do I replace that and what do I replace it with yeah because most of the teachers here were either you know some of them
could have been teaching in the 90s or students in the '90s we all remember when it was kind of BL and so I think that there's still you know opportunity to kind of do a little throwback that's good be a challenge now let me ask a question asked this before
but know I'm thinking I don't I don't know if we know this the teachers are they do they have to put away their phones too oh yeah you're not supposed to have your phone out teach okay I just know one particular you know talking about watch your kid the whole
day I was going to ask that last we when I asked about kids and phones and I was about to say put go to the next thing and I didn't but that's that was going to be my next teachers know that that's that's should be how they oper and not only that you know like if there there can be exceptions obviously if you have
a family member in the hospital or something like that and you need access to them I will never tell anybody no make sure your phone's away that's not what I'm here for but you shouldn't be texting your best friend about like hey what we what are we doing this weekend or you shouldn't be texting with your
kids with their school or your at school or teach school um so um if your kids ever text you back but um but honestly no they shouldn't be I mean we have to model it you know we have to model what we want for kids you know it's like smoking a cigarette and
telling your kids not to smoke right you is it written down in like a proced is it written down yeah there are our expectations thank you just wanted to kind of get an idea there all right any comments from the
public dates to remember dates to remember susal is March 14th and 15th tomorrow in the next day right the book fair is March 17th through the 21st spring break is April
18th to 27th and our next board meeting is April 29th what time is the plan on Saturday 2 o' I'm coming tomorrow with my kid so yeah I heard it was great today
all right so there's a resolutions to Clos session okay so we're going to go into the closed session and we don't have any public