I'd like to call this meeting to order this is a regular session of the boot Township Board of Education held for the purpose of transacting appropriate board visits the compliance with chapter 231 of 1975 not of this meeting is advertised of the agenda of this meeting
posted and made available to the public Mr here Mr BR here Chen here Mrs hery here Mr Johnson here Mrs mcry here Mr Mills here this also presid Mr fatini superintendent principal do not see our St
representative CH we have thank you please stand for the pledge allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with
liberty and justice for [Music] all okay the first item on our agenda is board business motions one and two I have any motion please is there a second second are there any questions comments or discussion if not the questions on the
adoption of board business motions one and two all those in favor say I I I any oppose say no any extensions and that brings us to administrative reports starting with the business administrator board secretary's report Mr muray okay just a couple of
items um as you recall the last meeting we talked about one of the first pipes in the classroom um the contractors came in they took a look uh heating coil which burst is on water probably will be another week or so luckily it's been
okay in that room um we also had the electrician in as a result of the water spill for the water leaking the floor Outlets shorted down so he's he inspected he's going to give me a price on that so hopefully we'll back up and running uh within the next couple of weeks uh snow removal the township and
our custodians continue to on top of s removal with the recent storms and I brought the custodians in on this past Sunday to clear out so we there's no chance that we have a delay on Monday so they did a nice job there reminder again the financial disclosure statements just
go in if you don't have a log information I'll get it to you should take five minutes or so to do um I have a number in I did return a couple to uh to folks um and then what I'll do now that's just a reminder there is the deadline of uh in April but it's nice to
get it all done so I can certify that everybody is compliant you don't want to get the nasty R from the ethics commission okay so you recall last time I I did budget so this is just keeps in
line this keeps in line with making making presentations having discussions for the public so the board you know can understand a little more and the public can see that we're certainly open about uh making making our presentations and making the
budget known so I'll just run through a lot of the slides are uh are similar in the past I made a couple of changes all Ty of those again some dates important dates really are when of the state when is the state aid released and generally it's after two days after the governor's
message which usually is the end of February so there's no set time right now that I know of for that message um I'll keep you posted as soon as I know you know what state a figures are I'll share that with the board March 12th is the tentative approval of the the budget
for submission to the county um and that deadline is March 19th county office has until the 21st to review everything and return it back to us so that we can set up our have it ready for a public hearing again we follow when we build the budget we follow our district go
goals budgetary goals I'm not going to read through those we have our goals on the agenda in the meeting so everybody can see those some considerations again in budget development we look at the goals we look at enrollment our resources we have very limited resources here we have tax levy which is which is
our 2% at the 2% cap um which is what our projection at this point is going to be State a roughly about 5% of the budget and tuition um for prea program we have is see later the number of students that come in uh the tuition
amount for the coming year is $88,000 per student so it's a little bit of Revenue coming but that's really all we have so if we sustain a a state aid cut there's not a lot of Revenue source that we could reach out to to bring in those sources so it means that really cutting
in the budget you look at the capital needs and so forth of uh the Mountain Lakes send receive um so tuition for added District placements in Mountain Lakes is really a good good part the the budget and again some budget assumptions uh we're projecting 190 students U at
Mountain Lakes for next year currently in the budget we had 198 students I think we're probably in you know a few students below that so the target number that we hit is going to be pretty close um Cost
Containment measures that's a newer slide on page six but I have included every year just to show you that you know we're doing our part in consolidating things uh sharing Services trying to get the best betting for the buck that we can um we're in a number of
joints here we buy off of co-ops and so for and attempt to save money and we do save money uh the enrollment projection for next year or in the 412 range you can see where the sections are um current year versus projecting
year uh this slide you've seen before here's the projections for the for the RBS for Mountain Lakes a little bit of the placement for the preschools I said Revenue coming in and special adage
placements are quite costly Staffing at this point we're not anticipating any retirements and we also not anticipating ping staff the roof project um we talked about that in finance as well we'll talk to facilities
but the funding that we're to use is from our rainy day fund or capital reserve account so when that gets infused in the budget you'll see that when the budget is up for approval there's no impact on the taxpayers because it's our money that we already have now again this project is only a portion of what was in the referendum
referendum was P the balance of the roots you can see what's in there so this is all locally funded there no State funding for it that went the tax Lev GL you always hear at the 2%
cap so the 2% cap for us means that we can't raise it above this $297,000 So currently we're at 148 projections if we keep it at the 2% is an influx of new money from the township 297,000 so all of our expenses
for salaries all of our expenses for benefits everything that's increased we have to balance our budget with $ 297,000 again if state aid is status quo you know we're not losing a revenue Source there we're gaining a little bit maybe
intuitions but that's pretty much it so uh we will you know and I will be coming back with a different scenario if we have a state a so come back with recommendations I always like to do a state aid history you see many years ago where this was right after the clip we
we the funding before that if I went out 15 18 years much higher it dropped and now it's slowly coming back hopefully we're at status quo a little bit better next year but from what we're hearing from the buzz is in the districts is
they're not anticipating number one in increases but hoping to keep status quo and the bracing for possible cuts um we had discussion in finance earlier about how they come up with the calculations my State Association has been in the
governor's office they've been talking with Finance they never really can give them a straight give us a straight answer on how they come up with State um so I guess it's just you know we'll find out when in March when we get the numbers and you know the reason I like
to SL show Slide 13 is that and we have been budgeting conservatively over the past you know number of years it's not like we there's a lot of fat in the budget so if we were to sustain a cut you're really digging into the me budget that again the largest portion of your
budget is besides Mountain lak tuition and out District places or Personnel in that's about 7 % of the budget so when it comes down to you know state aid loss as I mentioned before I
can go through and cut out every bit of of supply line item that we have in teaching supplies you probably wouldn't be able to get enough for you know decent size cut from State and what would that do to our prop so that's you know I'll try to do whatever I can if
we're faced with that to to look at ways not to have that impact and not to have St that's always the and then that's it question on 13 sure you have the Asis on U we got the capital so that's why you see a bump in there because the budget was higher because we were pulling money in the
budget but it didn't impact taxes at all yeah no no I'm good with that I on the 2425 does that include a capital withdrawal because we've got the roof project no because that's going to be in the 2526 oh okay I got you you'll see that I'm thinking 25 that's why okay so
when I get old numbers we plug it in and we have 25 26 numbers I'll drop the 15 16 off my next slide will show 25 26 okay thanks I have thank you all right thank you very much that brings us to our superintend report Mr PTI thank you very
much first and foremost I'd like to acknowledge M Miss laruso for achieving tenure she's going to get the certificate present to her tomorrow um February is black history month and each day of the month along with other uh in-class activities and readings across all grade
levels and classes historical fact and contributions from those of African Heritage are announced uh we have author Troy Cummings um he's presenting on February 28th and we're moving in the direction of having our authors directly
interact with students as opposed to a uh pres just a presentation format or lecture format and Implement a workshop model instead of that traditional lecture model so for example he'll do a presentation for for the primary grades
and then um meet with grade four twice once as a lecture and once as a workshop so uh they can have some one-on-one conversations and direct instruction from that on Wednesday February 5th the 5th through e8th grade band members
participated in the Bal District Band event this event showcases the booa township out musicians from the beginning of our programs to the top performance Ensemble at the high school um there's also a performance coming up at the spring concert Arts
Festival on April 15th at 7M from 6th through 8th grades for the third through fifth grade spring coner on April 11th we also have an update on our Tech podcast um our first guest is going to be Dr Brad Seagull Mountain Lake
superintendent tonight we we may be doing a joint podcast uh tonight we had our Valentine's paint uh paint night through K through 4 from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. a lot of students were in the in the upper gym actually lower gym
painting with some of their parents and friends and some of the teachers and looking forward to having bowling night uh or bowling afternoon rather on February 23rd from 12 to 2 and that my report great thank you very much and you've also had a chance
to look at the nurses report St attend report and the staff attendance report question maybe Mr this is for you but the attendance in January really spiked students most of which was excuse I'm
just yes a lot a lot of students uh came down with two different things so the flu one time and then the stomach bug on another time and uh and I believe that if if this is you know something that I experienced with my friends and family
and some of the things here generally speaking people were out for longer periods of time than they typically would be so these attendance rates really went up thank you you're welcome any other questions and if not that brings us to
combinations Mr ptin much congratulations to me G roia nominated by Mrs Bartell and selected as outstanding vocalist by the Mayo Performing Art Center she was she was acknowledged at a performance on January 31st at the male Performing Art Center
congratulations to everyone who participated in this year's talent show there's no doubt RBS has talent and thanks to the HSA for organizing the performances and pulling the whole show together let's talk about Spotlight on student work for January and let's give congratulations to our kindergarten
Victoria de Martini Rosa Giuliano Max maximilan Lea niiko Maria and Arthur Q in first grade Alice Janelle Jack Galloway Kaye sh sh shavi
liol Wyatt and in third grade Cameron goosman Elizabeth Kennedy and Adeline newb Spotlight on student work is Exemplar work by students in preschool through third grade displayed in the lobby on a monthly basis Flying high in fourth grade for January congratulations
go to Brena Bersy Scott Tracy Maria Victoria Perez Boston MA miles Loren Ezra Havens and jacine Jacqueline odris this certificate is awarded each month to recognize students who display variety of outstanding character and her
achievements within the classroom and finally the Falcons of the month Falcons of the month are students that exhibit dedication to learning leadership skills great attitude and strong character traits who promote a positive School climate congratulations to in fifth grade Lucas Brown sixth grade Braden
zaleski seventh grade Barry shark and eth grade hyper H and that conclud my commendations great thank you and BR us to correspondence one and two which you've also had the chance to read and next we have open session
number one the first public comment period will be limited to agenda items only the second public comment period will be open to any topic please be mindful that public comment period are available to enable the public to give comments and feedback to the board personal matters and day-to-day operations are not appropriate subjects for board meetings these can always be
most effectively resolved with the appropriate staff members or administrators according to the chain of command concept questions may be directed to the appropriate School Personnel or board through email please station your address for the record and all comments are limited to 5 minutes would anyone wish to address the board on agenda items
only there are being no one that brings us to our Lees on reports starting with the mountain LS Board of Education sure so we met on February 3rd um the first topic they went through was the audit uh the auditor came in to go
through their financial audit and have to report they provide an opinion of no modified opinion there's a few minor things but nothing major than the are um so they were happy with their highest evaluation guess that they could get um the middle school and high school are
looking into or they're looking into an AI camp in the middle school and high school they kind of settled on one that will be from July 7th to July 12th it's open to Mountain Lakes and Township students um there's some information i' provided to mrtin um to take a look at
as well um Dr seagull gave a board update on their goals so one of the four were strong evaluation security RVs articulation and stem exploration so on the strong evaluation they looked at more tandem observations new hiring and
interview procedures um on security they're hiring two sleo officers and building security updates RVs articulation they finish thec c monthly meetings with um Mr patini um and increase student and parent joint sessions they still have more work to do
in this area I can mention uh stem exploration um there's a stem task force Vision setting um expansion development of high school stem programs um he said this one is the highest health climb as far as their goals go he still has a lot of work to do they
acknowledge um and then Dr seagull discussed his superintendent entry plan with um you know staff and student focus groups Board of bed committee structures and management that they've been taking a look at in restructuring regular meetings with Faro the Education Association in Mountain Lakes uh
parenting Community groups and they have regular progress monitoring and evaluation um January 27th they had a professional development day they went through curriculum instruction assessment and they looked at technology specifically they discuss uh virtual
reality in classroom generative AI social media Google workspace and Google certification um and then they a big there was a big review uh from Mrs cesi on the mountain laks high school program of studies 2526 and so they look at uh
specifically new courses that they think or increased focus in areas that students want to attend so they looked at forensic science engineering and design Advanced Foods AP Psychology and honors forensics just curious is there a
threshold of how many people show interest to land on that list they didn't they may have said I don't remember but they do pull everybody and they take a look at it and I think they even said they looked at I don't know if they at eighth graders from here if they reached out I thought they said they reached out to the eighth graders as
well and basically incoming freshman see um I should ask my kids but um I think they they said they reached out to eighth graders High School current and I don't know if they parent involvement as well but that's where they came up with these classes so some of them were like ADV one of them was like a relabeling
repackaging like the advaned foods others were certain new courses or they're expanding that's great thank you that brings us to New Jersey school boards Association and Morris County School boards Association Morris County School
boards was last Wednesday February 5th it was the virtual winter meeting see um but it was a great meeting um couple updates there are four items in our shared Google Drive um from that meeting
there's the agenda there is these are all PDFs there's a file of breakouts um which one was about how governance can help you Schoolboard member and how committee structure contributes to Bo culture so that might
be helpful um there was uh um Charlene did a new board self- evaluation overview so that presentation is in there as well as another document for onboarding of new board members which
might be helpful for governments um so those items are all out there now um after Charlene spoke there was an update from Harrison Silver who's the legislative advocate for New Jersey school boards um he had a couple
of interesting things uh just reminders first off school board notes um come out every Wednesday mornings the newsletter there's going to be a new um newsletter which is quarterly Capital watch newsletter and they're slating that one um for March or early April um also this
is going to be of interest to everyone sitting here Governor Murphy signed into law last week um a law that UPS the number of signatures required for potential board members um who are going to to um you know the petition that we
all have to sign that petition uh required at least 10 signatures and that's been in place since 1939 if you can believe that and now there will be a requirement for 25 so it it UPS that requirement but
it's not just this level it's a part of a much broader bill for all elections in state that's obviously the one that access okay um so those two things I want to remind you of a couple of dates um mrtin I'm sure you're all over
the unsung heroes um they keep pitching that to us um or at least reminding us about it nominations du by March 5th K district is entitled 218 grade students nominated um that U meeting is going to
be held on Wednesday April 2nd it's at Morris nolles High School in Rockway they promis it's a much larger a much larger space than last year where we were all kind of cramped into um County College uh so that's the
actual award ceremony and there is a reply there's a link if you need it let me know um they're asking for people to reply by Wednesday March 26 we're lucky we're early in the alphabet it' be nice I know Chris and I uh went last year
nice if um some of the board shows up and then I'm not going to do what I did last year and wait to the endle this was like a 3H hour event um um but you know we're lucky in fact that we're to way they go through
all each and every school high school through you're only at K through survey teachers based on their experiences and the activities and initiatives students that are involved good so where you have
boil down to you're narrowing it that's awesome last year was the first year we one and I mean it's a relatively new award anyway but it'd be nice I think last year was the first year that every um School in the district every count
you know every school district um had a Representatives so it was really really cool um so that's April 2nd and then on um Wednesday May 7th it's the last meeting of the year it's a hybrid meeting it'll be the third annual Nancy
hellborg recognition ceremony and celebrations and that'll be held at Mount PA of high school planers um see else yes there's a couple of upcoming conferences on March 21st there's the second annual women's leadership
conference that's going to be at merer County College Community College there's the school public forum relations Forum on Friday April 4th that'll be a Tron the first um Equity Expo Friday April 11th at merer County Community College
again and then there's a virtual spring education symposium keeping the promise of Education in New Jersey and that's Friday May 20th virtual and that is my thank you very much and that brings us to the Educational Services Commission of Mars
County they met just before this meeting I attended their meeting and they just conducted routine business and next is Bo Township special education parent advisory group on Friday February 7th CAC Representatives met with Administration to discussed several import toets
related to supporting students and families within the or Community a key focus of the discussion were the upcoming presentations and the importance of sharing them within M to ensure greater Outreach and accessibility additional strategies to
engage the SE community and parents were actively um discussed during the I'm sorry and engaging their parents more actively during RVs school events were also for recognizing vital role that they play in the fostering of a strong
support network additionally CAC and RVs Administration discuss potential future presentation topics that could address the evolving needs of students and families throughout throughout the conversation areas of opportunity for growth were identified particularly in
intensive engagement communication and partnership three priorities the Administration has highlighted are essential for strengthening the special education last night the CAC uh presentation was held at Mountain Lake's Library covering
all aspects of the transition to high school for special education students the discussion provided valuable insights or guidance for families navigating this in Milestone looking ahead on February 25th at 7:30 p.m. Mr
Norma Fran present advocating for the dlex child at the M High School this event is open to anyone interested in learning more about supporting children thank you and next is BR Township Education
Foundation uh Mr the 23 thank you and next is rway Valley Home and School Association so we met on February 4th uh there's a valentine CLE thing on Valentine's Day look at
that heart sheet the talent show as he echoed was really successful and I also wanted to thank the students that help with all the a equipment and it was pretty intensive I learned how to do it too but let's let the kids do it um they
just had a Chick-fil-A fundraiser yesterday there's also another one March 6 just for 8th grade the 8th grade mixer with Fountain Lakes is on March 7th we're having an ice skaing event at men with DJ from 5:45 to 7:45 p.m. on March
14th and then the book fair comes up the week of March 17th and then they're futuristically planning for the Harlem you know Harlem Wizards on April 30th and the fund run is May 7th
that's the biggest fundraiser of the year and that's it great thank you and next is tantum mtin cab is not here but she Finly passed along her reports uh starting with the Tanto committee announced its plan to upgrade the dittles landing playground at RBA fields
in 2026 the playground vendor is working on some preliminary Concepts before we before they host a meeting seeking Community input which is planned for this spring stay tuned for this exciting project registrations for girls uh lacrosse for grades 3 through is open see Township newsletter for details the
township wide barage sale will be on May 10th persons interested in participating should register soon details are at wwwb township.com mark your calendars for upcoming events the PBA wine tasting event April 5th Easter EG con April 12th
a shredding event April 19th the Rockway River cleanup April 26th Historical Society benefit on May 22nd and details for all these events are on the in the township newsletter at ww W Boot township.com and next is the boot and Township GRE
team um so there's not much up last time we're still working on um the sustainable lections and the water story um which we have that the first draft to be presented to the public for feedback at the green Fair which is June
4th and actually if any Community member is interested in working on the Garden or taking a garden CL or getting involved in any any way You' be interested in having thank you great thank you very much and that
brings us to facilities Transportation I don't think the Comm met but it will be meeting soon and next is finance with the committee just met prior to this meeting we reviewed the budget that Mr Murray presented budget pres tentative budget presentation that Mr Murray presented
this evening and with that we have a motion for finance motions 1 through six there second and any questions comments or discussion and if not the questions on the adoption of Finance motions one through six all those in favor say I I
anyone oppose say no any extensions that brings us to Personnel I committee met recently we met on February 4th right no a week ago yeah sorry last week so last week on
the agenda was which is on the agenda this evening is a maternity leave um that will be posted as well as a tenure and that's it report great and with that I have a motion for personnel motions one through
three is there a second second any questions comments or discussion if not the questions on the adoption of personnel motions 1 through three this is a roll call that Mo Mr B yes Mr Brandon yes Mr Chen yes
Mr Herman yes Mr Johnson yes Mrs McBride yes Mr Mill yes motion carry thank you that bring us to program I can do it doesn't matter um I can do okay great uh the met on uh yesterday morning 11 we
covered um training I believe allary fees will beer or certified or will be certified very shortly um talked about a new program to develon plans
technology um another teaching materials materials continue talking about the math program and grades any ways change [Music] itel good
perfect great thank you and with that have a motion for program motion number one is there a second second any questions comments or discussion and if not the questions on the adoption of program motion one all those in favor say I I I anyone oppos
say no any extensions and that brings us to policy uh the policy committee is continuing to work on I guess developing a a sports the sports concussion policy no that's actually we're discussing a
different policy that we're looking up at the next next time so with that may have a mo motion for policy motion number one question sure so what is different it was for other reasons for the both of these were con
District record I was just wondering in general like what I'm try remember Christine reported laste firstt inion C that people have to follow as far as
protocols after they thank you any other questions or comments I forgot last me if not the questions on the adoption of policy motion number one Hold Us in paper say I to be motion we have to go backwards have a
motion please is there a second and any other questions comments are discussion and if not questions on the adoption of motion number one all those in favor say I I anyone oppos say no any exensions I throw off by the discussion
per with that we get to open session number two the second public comment period will be open to any topic please be mindful that public comment periods are avilable to enable the public to give comments and feedback to the board personal matters of day-to-day operations are not appropriate subjects for board meetings these can always be most effectively resolve with the appropriate staff members or administers
according to the chain of P concept questions may be directed to the appropriate School personel board through email please state your name and address for the record all comments are to the 5 minutes would anyone from the public wish to address the board on any matter yes um so Michelle ston sorry 16
Lakewood Drive in Deno and a four3 teacher here but I just wanted to say really quickly that as a staff member and this is just for me this is nobody else but um just how happy it's been having Mr f um here and that he really has gone out of his way or I feel to
have asked staff feedback and input things like um the you know who's somebody in eighth grade that's been the and some hero just everything it's been really good so to than the board to I feel like you guys really listen to the
things we were looking for as STA and again not just me personally just thank you very very much is there anyone else from the public that wish to address the board yeah not thank you I really appreciate
that with that do we have any old business to come before the board I don't know if it's old business I depends if you think it's older it has to do has to governance committee okay I I don't know if there's ever going to be a motion so like I don't know if how
does that work like if there was if we met and there was stuff that I don't know if we want to update the board about what was discussed like oh we have to put on the agenda agenda as a section or how should we handle that it should be you're right could it could be old because if
you're you're actually discussing something that the board already talked about in the past yeah well I mean like it's old in the sense we've established the government but there's no on the you are correct I was ready to give a committee report even though there's no place on it so let's so one is just your
G Comm rep but then two like do do we need to you know Lis slot something in here just to have even if we don't have yeah we have to find a home on the agenda somewhere so that could be another topic for the governance committee but for now thank you for picking that up so um I can go over the
governance commit that on February 7th um we have sort of a template of things to discuss and we sort of go over things that need to be know to discuss and skape over other things so we focused on uh the super intense evaluation um it's basically just the mechanical steps of
completing it for the board and um in the past we always end up doing it in June so we're going to Target the May meeting to get the first round of information back from everyone so that means the superintendent will have input the information into the online system and you all will have put in your your
feedback and then at the that may meeting is when that would be discussed perfect timing mror yes yes your check is exactly wait you know about our meeting I don't know
anyway and also we are also discussed doing a board self evaluation and we of course pondered that the last meeting should be calendar year because our board terms are calendar year although the board goals are school year it makes more sense to do school year so we're going to do that we figured that a best
place to be in June for that can I just add something that I to report on earlier they reduced the board standards from 9 to six for the board self evaluation so consolid B categor it's getting getting easier okay
that's good thank you uh let's see we didn't really discuss that um did we I think we discussed a little bit about the ports professional development P you know past and future I want to get into you know too many details of you know for update
we looked at the there's an annual Board calendar on New Jersey school board's website so what we've been doing is checking that calendar and looking what's you know behind us and what's forward and making sure that we're things are on the board agenda that should be and um we always have you know I think it's automatically Mr Murray
does a great job in Mr you know keeping things on the agenda that need to be on that you know in that sequence so um we also review the board goals you know just to see how we're doing with all of those and I'll put an update you know in
the um shared folder for that and pretty much that was the focus of the meeting we had one suggestion maybe it's a new bus related part of the this was whole
new business we suggested on the agenda having a spot for the the the btaa um to if they would like to say something just this is they're always welcome to come and say anything they do that at the M it work well okay isn't it like in the
beginning it is in the beginning they'll they always have a rep that will sometimes they don't say anything sometimes they so what we can do is look at the you know agenda you know in addition to putting the governance Committee in we can also find the most appropriate location for such a
thing talk about that great thank you and with that it's all kind of the same thing think maybe guys if we need should have kind of more stand approach to having material kind
of posted on our sh some do it some don't I find it very helpful when it is posted because chance to think about before Library um if there's I think you know we can figure out a way to do it where
some [Music] to just seems better way to do it to have it sort of off the C uh here absolutely so be thought for next time yeah and it reinforces like there might be a few more notes in the the notes from the committee and then we're just
summarizing here absolutely so the chair people have to do that I know the notak are whever the not takers are I can think one of them to I can say I very much appreciate Morris County school board's information
thank you it's like all right there oh there's a lot of great information for government there meeting was really good for great thank you is there any other I guess old business that'll be new business old
yeah any other old business that come before the board is there any new business that come before the board and I don't anything for do we have anything for close session okay great and with that since there
is no close session that brings us to we have no other board action and that brings us to a motion to ajour a second all in favor say I and thank you very much be careful driving