##VIDEO ID:OjxPewKfNpc## J the open public media law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend meetings of public bodies which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acting upon in accordance to the provision of this act C board of education has not caused notice of this meeting to be posted on the administration office of Bolton board the official District website and channel btv2 and sent to the ASB Park Press to Brick times Star Ledger at mpal clerk's office Mike we need Mike we need a motion for executive session motion second need a motion in a second motion Fran whereas The Brick Township Bo of education has been formed pursuant to applicable New Jersey statutes and whereas the board is charged with responsibility of reforming all acts and doing all things consistent with the law and the rules of the state board of education necessary for the lawful and proper conduct equipment and maintenance of the public schools and public school property of the Brick Township School District and whereas section seven of the old Public's meeting act permits the exclusion of the public for a meeting on the of the board in certain circumstances and whereas the board has determined that circumstances exist for such an executive session and whereas the board has found the action described below to be necessary and proper now therefore be resolved by the board on January 21st 2025 that the public shall be excluded from the discussion of an action on the exe executive session here and set forth the session will be approximately one hour and the general nature of the subject matter to be discussed is harassment in and intimidation bullying appeal and harassment intimidation bullying reports it is anticipated at this time that the above stated subject matter will be made public if and when it is deemed to be in the public interest to do so and the need for confidentiality is no longer required by the board M Pala yes Mr Benedict yes Mr Henry yes Mr Mesmer yes e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e Fran second alley on the motion to return Miss Kennedy yes yes Miss Sten adictas yes Mr Henry yes Mr mjeri Mr Mesmer yes Miss room yes please stand for the salute to the flag e Miss mam please introduce the student Representatives thank you Mrs ayon this evening we have have student representatives from brick memorial and Brick Township High School we're going to start with Isabella Marinelli yes Isabella Marinelli is here uh from Brick Township High School she is the vice president of the student government Association welcome thank you good evening I'm Isabella Marinelli the vice president of the bths student government I'm excited to share this month's bths Dragon update with you I would like to begin this evening's report by sharing that Brick Township high school has earned the college board AP Computer Science female diversity award for achieving High female representation in AP Computer Science schools honored with an AP Computer Science female diversity award have expanded access to AP Computer Science courses for female students bths is one is only one of 230 schools Nationwide recognized with this award thank you miss agretto our AP Computer Science teacher and our school counseling department for working to achieve this honor speaking of recog ning we would like to take a moment to globally globally recognize our senior students who participated in the recently administered seal of by literacy test this test measures Prof student profic Proficiency in two or more languages awarding students with an opportunity for distinction thank you to all the seniors who chose to sit for the test and push yourself towards distinction the bths school-based program hosted its Second Challenge day last week challenge day is a full day workshop designed to help students build connections with each other by breaking down barriers and promoting a culture of acceptance love and respect through interactive activities discussions and exercises that encourage self-expression and empathy often focusing on combating bullying isolation and negative peer pressure it aims to create a more positive and supportive School Community for students of all backgrounds on January 8th student students in the work-based learning program traveled to lifetown shops a simulated City where students practice master and reinforce School curriculums in lifelike shops and sidewalks all in all in a supportive and encouraging environment both student and staff participants reported a fun and engaging experience the national National Honor Society member of the month is Caitlyn Chandler she is nhs's secretary which requires attention to detail and the ab ability to keep up with the happenings of the chapter Caitlyn is diligent responsible and always has a positive attitude when asked to do something she's consistently reliable and she also contributes ideas and support to the group regardless of what we are doing congratulations congratulations to Caitlyn on this recognition the Key Club is currently running a children's book drive the drive is part of their service trip in March where they while they were where they will join forces with a local children's book author and Warren Wolf Elementary School to support literacy as part of read Across America week they have a goal of 400 books the bths drama club under the direction of Cheryl best performed the student staff play the aliis staff and student actors were lauded for their excellent performances the peer leadership team held the the last freshman Outreach of the semester the Outreach included valuable lessons taught to freshmen and and ended off with a fun competitive Jeopardy game at the end of December SGA in conjunction with Mrs Robinson's teaching to to teach class visited the students of Warren Wolf element Elementary School to read The Polar Express and lead a variety of activities and crafts this month's sports report consists of girls basketball holding a winning record of seven and five Riley nosas broke the 10,000 Point milestone for her career last Monday great work Riley the boys basketball team has had some great wins this week against Jackson Liberty and Henry Hudson they have a record of six and seven boys bowling is staying competitive within the short conference but has an overall record of two and 9 to one keep working hard boys our girls bowling team is doing great holding a strong record of 10 and five or 10 and two sorry five individuals qualified for the shore conference our hockey team is currently holding a record of five and six this past Friday they hosted the teacher appreciation night at their game the wrestling team is doing well this year with a seven and4 record congratulations live AA for breaking the the record for the most girls wins in the school the boys swim team has a record of one and four congratulations Aiden and and Alejandro for qualifying for the shore conference meet lastly the girls swim team has an outstanding record of 4 in one they have also qualified to make it to states to the states meet congratulations Ava aguano Izzy Bron storf and Sophia Watts for qualifying for the shore con conference meet looking ahead into the future sga's Battle of the classes will take place on February 27th in Brick Township High School's East gym this is an event where all all all four classes compete against each other in various events and challenges after school all four classes are preparing their class banners and Team dances be sure to stay connected to bths events and inside information by accessing our school website sgaa Instagram at bths sgaa and our Twitter bths dragons you can always see all of our happenings monthly through Dr cajun's Dragon review thank you for this opportunity and of course from brick memorial high school we have Miss mcade thank you um tonight I'll begin with the monthly report from venor Memorial Middle School congratulations to our Patriot pen winners Kayla Francis Porsche and bro and Vincent Doo thank you to our PE department for running a school wides speeed ball tournament on 1221 and having it live stream for the entire school to view winners were eighth grade team lump of coal seventh grade team candy cane crew and sixth grade team grin gang green and gold Club is off to a great start there are approximately 50 students signed up for our program we begin meeting on with students on January 7th will continue into May students attend on Tuesday and or Thursday to receive small group instruction in math and language arts we focus on sle as we strive to improve achievement additionally we hosted a title one information session for parents on January 15th where we highlighted and reviewed our Title One clubs that are available to students winter sports girls basketball just picked up their first win over a previously undefeated seagar team in the first round of the St Peters tournament the team has six games remaining in the season the girls are learning how to play team basketball and have gotten better as the season progressed the B team is currently 5-0 in the season the team consists of all seventh and sixth seventh and sixth graders the girls have been learning the basics of the game at practice and we have seen it translating to wins on the court the boys basketball team is working hard and improving with each game this season after graduating a talented eighth grade class they've embraced their new rules and have competed in every game we had a huge Victory against cross town rival Lake Riviera wrestling the wrestling team is currently six-1 with two matches and the end of the season tournament still to go Colton Stalin Jimmy talty Tomas o'keef Christian Mullen and Chris SE are undefeated to this point in the season yourbook ads are available until February 13th you can visit our web page for the link to purchase our PTA world's finest chocolate fundraiser is happening January 14th through the 5th okay now on to bmhs this past December our amazing bmhs drama club competed a successful winter production performance on the of the holiday classic It's a Wonderful Life as always our Mustang players were fantastic on stage and behind the scenes we already looking forward to our winter musical Beetle Juice Jr which will be on the stage February 6th 7th and 8th also this past December our Mustang cor and band brilliantly performed in their annual winter concerts it's a great tradition to see our alumni singers come back and sing with our current Mustangs and of course the night was capped off with our awesome jazz band Brook Memorial High School and our bmhs wrestling program is proud to announce that our two-time state champion senior wrestler Harvey lington has signed a commitment for a full scholarship to National Powerhouse Iowa University to continue his education and wrestling career this past month we offered the Seal of by literacy testing to 50 of our bmhs students in six different languages and we are proud to report that the preliminary results are back that 31 students earned a passing score this number marks 10% of our senior class that is now considered proficient in four domains that were tested speaking Reading Writing and listening of a foreign language on the evening of January 8th we welcomed 36 new students into our brick memorial National Honor Society it was a beautiful ceremony in which our students were honored for their hard work and and determination along with the ceremony the inductees honored their teacher Inspirations from high school to middle school and even Elementary schools last week thanks goes out to miss West for helping to organize the very powerful challenge day that we hosted in our gym nearly 100 students and 20 staff members took part in the emotional mental health awareness activities throughout the day our brick Air Force Jor RTC took a trip to Joint based Maguire dick Lake curse mouthful and were given a tour around the Army Air Assault and air rition facility located on the base we want to thank Staff Sergeant Sherwood master sergeant futural and Cadet Mitchell for the CL close communication and ensuring the shmp went well for everyone and in hopes that Cadets learn something new last Friday we were so excited to report that our brick memorial unified team took another amazing step when we traveled to Central Regional to take part in our first ever unified unified basketball game our athletes had a great time competing and it is so great to see our program continue to expand and provide inclusive opportunities to our Mustang students thank you to coaches Panucci jablonsky and Lup for your time and efforts in creating a positive experience and memories also last Friday we were excited to host our monthly students and staff of the month breakfast we celebrated our November and December Award winners with a breakfast with our Administration those held in Mr sh Luca's office congratulations to seniors Brianna Werner Gavin Martin Lis kich and Kaitlin Williams Juniors lilana lefrance Gomez Sanchez Samantha kurick and Paul D Roa sophomores Parker Murphy Knox Burke kashon Randolph and Cameron DeMarco and freshman Clark Patterson Marcos coinz Ella Ferguson and Colin Colin tubbin also congrats to Karen bro Cody alvario Jamie swanhart and Daniel MOA on Monday January 20th the VFW command post 8867 awarded three academic speech scholarships to three students in Miss Sansbury de public speaking class students had to write a record three to five minute speech using the prompt is America what our founding fathers would have envisioned congratulations to the following students who are not only District winners but will now compete in the county championships first place Jude Smith second place Cali Thompson and third place William Burns finally it is with a heavy heart that we share the sad news of the passing of our friend and lifelong Mustang Legend Dennis Deandrea Mr D was a bmhs teacher and Hall of Fame wrestling coach through much of the first three decades of our existence he was a warm-hearted soul who had a unique way of mentoring and helping all of his students and student athletes even nobody was watching his life lessons me his life lesson messages and fame storytelling will be missed but certainly never forgotten now on our sports report boys basketball the boys basketball team have been playing tough basketball and have started off the season with an impressive SE 7even to five record they hope to qualify for both the shore Conference tournament and state tournament team leaders are Joe Witter Sean Collins and Jason lahara winter strength and conditioning is in full swing as our athletes are currently progressing through phase one of the program students are working tirelessly as they increase their strength and explosiveness to help them in their respective Sports lastly they continue to display discipline for their commitment to the process and also show resolve for battling through the me mentally and physically challenging aspects of the program girls bowling has an incredible record of 20 29 to one they have place in the top three and in all tournaments we've bowled so far all the varsity Bowlers are ranked in the top top 100 girls in the state and are place and are on Pace to make both Shore conference and state individuals the the brick memorial wrestling team is currently seven and two on the season B fifth in the shore and 20 New Jersey with Harvey lington signing to Iowa for wrestling all eyes have been been on the Mustangs and they look to make a push for another sectional title and group Championship as always please remember to follow us on X at Brook memoral High School and on Instagram BM stanks and always remember to subscribe to our podcast on any music platform straight from the Mustang's mouth have a great day thank you I'm going to need a motion and a second for approval of minut minutes December 12th 2024 executive session December 12 2024 regular meeting and January 2nd 2025 reorg meeting motion FR second alley roll call Mary please miss picala yes Miss Kennedy yes Miss Ste Benedictus yes Mr Henry yes Mr maleri yes Mr Mesmer yes missan room yes Dr frell superintendent comments please thank you Miss aano January is School Board recognition month so I'd like to thank our volunteers who are working to improve brick schools our Board of Education thank you to our board members for contributing to public education thank you for devoting countless hours hard work and dedication that directly impacts our classroom and help support our students here in bricks so thank you January continues to shine bright with performances by our Elementary School courses and bands uh Lane's Mill Veterans Memorial Elementary and midstreams all performed concerts at brick memorial uh this month and again congratulations to our newest inductor of the brick memorial High School National Honor Society most of my comments are going to Center on public comments regarding the state school funding Reform Act sephra as it's called and public comments at Mr Edwards uh uh was gracious enough to go to Trenton and uh eloquently uh put out there uh each year they ask for these public comments um last Tuesday Mr Edward shared our district comments in public um in our comments we spoke to the fact that many of the school districts are facing ongoing fiscal challenges due to the current funding formula which has some inadequacies as we have spoken in nauseum about over the years here in brick um and I really believe Mr Edwards and our administrative team has done a great job and job at doing that and I really want to thank Mr Edwards uh for laying it out I'm going to summarize some of his comments which are a little more detailed especially financially here but there are four major areas of the sephra or school funding Reform Act which was created years ago I want to say 2009 S2 was an amendment set of Bill two to the sephra um but sephra is not kept up with the times and they are they are funding sephra as the governor will tell you lately 100% but I think we lay out four areas that really aren't getting that 100% has it changed dramatically or exponentially compared to that so there's special education our elll population support which is in the um Financial lingo in the seph it's called Le linguish language English what's the P for proficiency I think it is it's in the actual Aid uh calculation transportation is the third and health benefits the first area is specializ Education costs uh special education Aid and extraordinary Aid are not currently funded at the proportionate share of most districts budgets multiple problems are very evident when reviewing each of the calculations that we receive special education categorical Aid utilizes a census-based student enrollment currently 15.9% for every District in the state regardless of their actual special education population ours is about 22% the calculated amount is included in the adequacy budget calculation again reduced by the geographical cost adjustment and then reduce again in determination of the district's local fair share contribution so for a district such as brick that does not receive Equalization Aid as determined through the adequacy budget calculations the district is absorbing locally far more than their fair share uh per the educational law Center if you ever get a chance go online the educational law Center I think it's part of seatan Hall law school they have a report that they update every year and one report a road map for improving New Jersey school funding formula the impact of census-based funding for special education Brick Township Schools needed to divert 5.5 million from general education programs in the 2223 school year alone extraordinary Aid is in place to assist districts with the cost in excess of certain established amounts our recommendation and Mr Edwards eloquently said at the state last Tuesday is to fund districts at their actual special education enrollment costs with no reduction for geographic location and to further fund the extraordinary Aid at 100% because even though the governor will tell you we fund the formula at 100% when the pot's done the extraordinary Aid comes out to 45% of the difference uh per child or 50 50% or 60% and and that ends up affecting our funding on special education costs the second area as I've spoke about over the last few years is our elll population limited English proficiency LEP or elll English language Learners or ml now multilanguage Learners um the funding is calculated as part of the adequacy budget calculation which ultimately flows again into Equalization Aid to a district which we don't receive the projected enrollment of these students is reduced by approximately 50% prior to performing that calculation which then is reduced by a geographical cost adjustment and then reduced in determination of the district's local fair share contribution as pointed out prior in a district such as brick that does not receive Equalization a as determined through our adequacy budget calculations the district is absorbing locally 100% of the costs associated with educating these students just utiliz in the calculations from the adequacy budget determination brick has needed to divert in this population category 1.77 million from general education programs over the past five years our recommendation is similar to that in special education Aid a separate new Catal categorical Aid category for LEP um or elll Learners should be established to assist districts with the impacts that costs associated with this with Ed educating LP students I've said again again and I'm using LEP because that's what we get in our budget it is the same as elll the cost to educate an elll student now our elll population in Brick has gone up from about 90 to about 690 over the last five years the cost to educate that child and give support services it's about four times as great as our average cost per pupil um we received some what's called title three federal aid for the Immigrant status but I want to say the total amount is around 177,000 it's it's minuscule the numbers come in on October 15th as we report in our ASA and I want to share this with you because it has a same with special ed so we have a student on the ASA report in October 15th that's designated either classified student or special education on the elll side we received many of our students in January February because that's the southern hemisphere summer so they don't count on our funding report and in the um wisdom of our state doe they all have to take that may test and in English uh those students classified students may move into a district from another district and the funding doesn't travel with them so let's say on October 15th Tom's River has a number of classified students that they it's their October 15th report of this year they will get funding for that student for next year and then those students move to Brick let's say in the summer uh we will not receive funding actually Tom drier would say get extra funding or and we would have less funding so they never travel with the student those who actually appropriate the subsidy or the categorical Aid as per the actual enrollment would go tremendously um I'd like to see the ASA snapshot be later in time also but that's something else that that may take time the third area is transportation the transportation Aid formula is not reflective of current Transportation cost in Brick Transportation Aid is only increased by 6 72% over the last five years while the cost to transport ouru students has risen 17.52% during the same time period the dollar amount assigned to students eligible for transportation should be reviewed for revisions to reflect the actual number and actual circumstances each district has faced an individual last area is health benefits health benefit costs have been pretty much taken out of the control of local Boards of Education out of our prover proverbial hands with the introduction of the Educators Health Plan the plan dictates the level of coverages to be provided and has tied the contribution levels to the employees salary rather than the actual cost of the benefit even for self-insured school districts like ours who have tried to reduce costs in this area efficiently this has had negative impacts on local districts yet no Aid or spending growth limitations the sgla has been considered in order to alleviate the financial burden placed on them one way to assist districts with would be through an expanded sgla for medical benefits where the contribution difference created by the implementation of chapter 44 versus what existed prior in Prior legislation in chapter 78 would allow us to offset those costs rather than divert again funds from another area of our budget I share this because these are the four main areas that not are specific to Brick alone but we are seeing that impact greater because we don't get the equalization Aid part of this and the remediations and suggestions by Mr Edwards and other Bas and myself uh really give the doe an area to work on and much of this is not legislative as I found out from Mr Edwards and some other superintendant many of this is not much of this is not by Statute or legislative change but really doe guidance that could be adjusted within the formula the sepher itself at the end ultimately the goal is to create a more predictable Fair and responsive responsive funding system that supports the educal needs of all New Jersey students I urge all of us to collaborate to ensure that our schools are funded in a way that allows them to thrive and prepare all students for Success you know the state said we'd have funding numbers earlier this year we thought we'd actually have them by now um we do not and uh after my County meeting last Friday uh we're looking at probably another month and we're starting our budget cycle now not even in knowing uh some areas I am told that special ed areas we're hearing uh will increase but the formula itself will most likely not be changing so I wanted to share all that great news anyway in close I want to add in addition to inauguration day yesterday also was federal holiday the observance of Dr Martin Luther King Jr which is designated as a national day of service to encourage all Americans to volunteer and improve their communities I'd like to thank again our Board of Education members who are volunteers uh thank you for contributing to public education thank you I always said it's a thankless job being a board member we here on the right side most of us separ students we actually get paid and it is our vocation our calling and our job uh for many of the board members here that put all the hours and hard work in uh they don't get a dime U and it's a it's a frustrating position but please know that all the time and for all you put in uh really affects this district and I am grateful uh for that as we embark on the new year I extend my deepest gratitude for all your unwavering support to our schools the dedication hard work exhibited by everybody our students staff and families truly inspiring in a place like brick uh I'll be starting my sixth year very shortly in like a month and uh I'm confident that all of our ambitious goals albe it um do take some support uh with some Revenue sources we're going to accomplish and we're going to embrace that Spirit of perseverance and we're going to achieve these great things together thank you committee reports Mr Edwards finance and Facilities please thank you missan um um start with facilities committee facilities committee met on January 14th at 4 o'cl Miss Kennedy Mr Mesmer Dr Farrell miss m myself Mr proro Mr shatone from fvhd Architects Miss gallardi from spel Architects Mr seagull from spel Architects Olivia Miss Cashman from spel Architects and Miss yor from Neta Architects uh first project that was discussed was the lak Rival Middle School air conditioning Mr you reported that we experienced the delays of um closure to lake lake Rivier middle school project due to challenges with steel inspections uh that is an ongoing work of uh effort veterans moral Middle School boiler replacement air conditioning Mr you reported that the switch gear installation at veterans moral middle school is delayed until summer of 2025 due to the extended shutdown time that's required the new switch gear equipment has already been received it just can't install it yet Emma Havens air conditioning and Veterans moror Elementary School air conditioning Mr yor informed the committee that Emma Havens and Veterans moror Elementary School projects are complete and are in the closeout document phase Drum Point Elementary School boiler replacement air conditioning Mr yor informed the committee that the Drum Point project is fully complete and closed out the team is just waiting on the final payment application so they can submit it to the district which as a side note we received today uh Lanes Mill Elementary School air conditioning Miss garle already informed the committee that they received the approval um approved balancing report oci is scheduled to come out and do their final punch list walk through the date has not yet been scheduled midstreams air conditioning and osbornville air conditioning Miss Cashman informed the committee that the mees and OES air conditioning projects have been receiving and reviewing submittals currently reviewing the abatement submittal with rjb and we're hoping that to be signed off so that it should be carried out in the spring break and keep the project on track for the start work start of work in the summer waren H wolf and Herbertsville air conditioning Mr y informing the committee that the proposed timeline for bidding these projects is to advertise bid on January 27th receive bids on March 11th anticipate award at the March 18th board meeting uh the committee discussed the presence of the asbest at Herbertsville Elementary School on the project including the asbest and the floor tiles and the pipe elbows Mr Y and Mr Pico agreed that the ASB bestus abatement work should be included in the construction bid with the district handling the independent air quality testing o kitchen Edition Miss Cashman informed the committee that they're working on going through the no cost change order submitted by shorelands to ensure the full effect of the expediate timeline is realized I informed the committee about the possible acceleration of the OES kitchen renovation project originally the project was to be completed over two summers but the contractor believes they can expediate the work to be done by the end of the summer by starting the project in January and ures minimal disruption I informed the committee that they met on site and discussed the logistics including concerns about dust and noise impacts during the school year the contractor believes they can complete the disrupt disruptive outdoor work before the spring testing period I informed the committee that no additional funding for the uh project is available for an accelerated schedule so we need to be in no course no cost change order uh we did hear back from the contractor and that change order is on this evening's agenda for approval uh Miss MCM uh requested updates on the project which Miss mmar after this evening hopefully you'll know that the project is starting next week Mees kitchen uh Mr yor informed the committee that we uh did receive the Board of Health permit the brick building department wouldn't issue the construction P permit without the health permit so they have that issue now but they're still waiting on issuance of that permit the contractor is in the holding pattern until they receive their permit so they can break ground um and then they will update the project schedule accordingly the contractor is confident that they will have that kitchen completed on time in mid August and the next meeting is February 11th at 4:30 then finance committee finance committee met on January 14th at 4:30 Mr Mesmer Miss Ayan Ron Miss D benus Dr Farrell and myself first we discuss the community solar and building performance I informed the committee that dcoo energy has presented a draft RFP for review for the community solar I indicated I'm reviewing the RFP and will likely be issued by the end of the month I also noted that dco has noted the Energy savings to date has exceeded their esip projections Esa being the Energy savings Improvement project the facilities Brick Township facilities I informed the committee that we have received no responses on any of the property owners the township appraiser completed appraisals for uh he and Dr Farrell reviewed with the committee the temporary office based moves that will be made over the summer to accommodate the sixth classroom expansion of preschool program at the eec electric School Bus Grant Dr farell and myself reviewed with the committee information in regards to the EV School Bus proposal the committee requested uh more information on a break even Point utilizing the njd njde Grant and what the cost would be to purchase 30 EVS rather than 25 the committee determined that it should reconvene on January 17th to review the information uh the committee did reconvene on January 17th at 10:30 uh same participants the committee uh reviewed the analysis that I provided after some discussion the committee determined to hold on the decision on the EV proposal until the February board meeting so that the information provided could be reviewed in more depth 2324 audit um I informed the committeed that the audit is complete and there are no audit recommendations I know that the audit information would be sent to the board members and be placed on tonight's agenda for acceptance 2526 budget um I noted that the program managers are completing their budget submissions um and that actually starting tomorrow no yes tomorrow we begin our budget reviews uh I think first up this week is Two Gentlemen sitting in the audience look how happy they look uh health benefits I provided the committee an update on the health benefits spend the date and noted that the broker of health insurance would present information at the next committee meeting advertising I informed the committee that Kane university has purchased a three-year ad football Banner at both high schools and the Omni contract I informed the committee that Omni requested an increase to their fee for third party Administration servic to $3.25 per employee from $3 per employee I noted they haven't had a request in fee increase since 2011 and that the fee has no cost to the board as it is uh paid to omony by the 403b 457b providers in which the employees contribute their funds to for retirement I indicated the contractor would be on this evening's agenda for consideration and the next committee meeting is February 11th at 5:00 pm Miss mcamera for policy and planning thank you Mrs Z Ron the policy and planning committee met on January 15th at 4 o'clock in attendance were Mrs de Benedictus myself and Dr Farrell U Mr mjeri and Mrs pakala were Then followed up with um after the meeting Miss mcnam reviewed the process followed when additions deletions and or revisions to policy and regulation take place and listed all of the steps uh including that those types of revisions are then placed on a board agenda for first read and then after that first read uh brought back to the next agenda for a second read and adoption also was discussed the 2526 school calendar uh which is on this evening's agenda we have yet to set a date for the next meeting as we are looking at some revisions that have come through uh for policy and Regulation and we'll be putting those together for the committee and then setting a date thank you so be our first public comment session agenda items only um this this will be the first opportunity for the public comment and will be for agenda items only the board invites thoughts and reactions on agenda items each participant is asked to give his or her name prior to making the statement all statements shall be directed to the presiding officer comments shall be limited to five minutes the board will not during the public portion of this meeting discuss matters involving employment appointment termination employment negotiations terms and conditions of employment evaluations of the performance of promotion or disciplinary of any specific or perspective or current employee ENT student anyone like to get up Mr Finelli Mr Finelli I tried to it wasn't I only have one thing on the agenda but before that can can I ask a question about Mr Edward's comments or do I have to wait till the end of the meeting okay um operations number 17 it's about M moesc two questions what exactly are those people doing and what is it costing and one of the problems I have when you read it it says the fee schedule is attached but it's never attached anytime you get information about what something costs that's on a separate sheet we and the public don't get to see that sheet so first of all what do they do and what's it costing and can we make a commitment that those things that says are included in the schedule ual will actually be included in what the public sees I said I only had one that's an I I'm actually on the board of directors for Mammoth ocean Educational Services Commission it is a public entity of Maman Ocean County uh primarily for special education services and resources they provide everything from an alternative school um oh what's the name of the school right there my ask and I was going to get to the fee schedules right on the website but we will get that on there so they are a they made up our local school districts it's really a Consortium to help mostly for the smaller school districts so when I was at Shore Regional o Sport and West it was more economies of scale so if we needed a substitute nurse or a bcba or uh uh an alternative school placement uh for certain students we able to go to this commission it's public it's from part of the doe and the fee schedule is on their website so I don't know that should answer most of it um I guess we could attach it in the agreement I don't know if it always goes with the agreement does it in the mo we usually have annual agreements with them because when we can't find something a one-on-one a a nurse something like that we usually go now we're big enough where we pretty much do a lot of it in house best we can but there are times where we have to go to Moes to get a one to one Aid uh nurse we're also Moes also does our 191 192 for the non-public the pass through they do that paperwork it's not something you do on a regular basis yes it is well we get agreement with them on a regular basis and we use them as needed it's not something that they're here all the time no I don't know if we use them all the time except for nonpublic sure so so it is our um it's who we use to provide services for St Dominic's our non uh public uh dollars from the state pass through the district and they use those funds in chapter 192 193 allocations every so often you'll see acceptance of 192 193 funds and that's for St Dominics we're just a pass through this specific contract is for child study team related services so as we aren't maybe not not filling a positions or maybe could be behind and support services for them we would use this organization but it's not it's not one school district supplying people to the other school district no it's they they're not a district so I don't know how to say mamit ocean educ it's a Consortium they use outside contractors yes that's correct so you don't know what you're getting when you ask for somebody other than they got to meet the qualification of what it is you yeah they hire them though Direct ly themselves Moes hires those outside contractors they have to meet the same criteria as us because they're part of the doe as well do you have a do you have money in the budget for this we we always budget for the related Services whether we use them ourselves in salaries and then if they're not here and we offset that amount that we used in salaries to pay for someone else to provide those Services that's usually how it works okay thank you all right I think we'll work on the fee schedule if not it's right on their website as well T Ste yeah so uh just for clarification there there is no attachment the fee schedule reference I think Mr malgeri said already the fee schedule reference is the m moac fee schedule which is the same fee schedule they use for every District in MTH Ocean County it's on their website so it's not referencing a fee schedule as an attachment it's saying that whatever the fee schedule is is so I'm not sure if that was just some confusion it says child study team and related Services as listed on the 2425 MC fee schedule so it's not an attachment to the contract I go on the agenda it says approve an educational service agreement with MC as attached and then when you click on the link it brings you to the agreement and then the agreement says the district request the services of child study team and related Services as listed on the 2425 M Mo Fe schedule so there's no attachment anyone else good evening and thank you for volunteering you should be paid you have to talk to the school boards associations they're supposed to be working for you ask them that question because you pay about $26,000 in dues to that organization and you should get some answers okay uh okay my question is on first of all I have a few areas to cover I hope I get it all in is on the preschool how many students are in the preschool classes now also how many students were left out because of the lottery how much does it cost for the preschool as we currently fund it and about how much would it be for all students to be in preschool because everybody here knows how important the preschool is the question is where do you find the money right okay so that's the second part of my questions so when I go through the treasurers report and I look at what you had at the year end the end of June and I know I know you have these reports whether or not you read them or not is another story because even though we have a lawyer here and spend a lot of money on him to make sure that you don't have any legal problems neither the school board's Association or the school board provides for you to be educated on what's in this reports in these reports if I'm wrong you can tell me but you know I was on the school board from June of 2011 to uh December of 201 4 and I and the reason I bring that up is because when I joined the school board it was half day kindergarten no preschool half day kindergarten and there was half day kindergarten uh in Tom's river and I said everybody should have full day kindergarten they said well we can't afford it well guess what when we went through the budget mainly may I found monies in there because there money to be found and we put in full day uh kindergarten the next year and we still met our budgets capped at 2% we also wanted to add computers because I came from the district up north where all the students had computers so guess what we went through the budget we found money for the computers so I know it's difficult because there's 800 accounts that Mr Edwards has to track but this is something that the Board needs help on because who's looking for all this money okay where's all this money so as I look at the treasurer's report for the end of the year last year when you know we were begging for $4 million for the budget and you got it you got it from the taxpayers um June 30th 20 24 the general fund had $18.5 million in it and total of all funds that the bottom of the page of that report was $26 million so there was no money there that we could use for full day uh preschool I don't know you tell me when I look at the report of the treasurer of school monies Richard Larson as of the end of November which which is the current one that's on the agenda we have a general fund showing $25 million and total of all funds is $36 million that's a lot of money that's not just for uh capital projects okay so there's a lot of money and it's the school's money unless I'm mistaken it says School money's Brick Township and then when I further look at uh the report from Mr lson and I go into the accounts that they have the bank accounts that's where the money is shows the general uh operating count of $6.2 million however at the bottom of the accounts is an investment account with $24.7 million in it I don't go go down to the sense because it's hard enough to get people to realize what millions are so when you're talking about $24 million in an account why couldn't we use some of that money for this full day preschool I I guess I've got to wait for my answers but this is every taxpayer in Brick should be asking these questions when you have 2 $4 million in these accounts an investment account um Mr Dr Finelli Dr Finelli Dr Ferell is gonna answer your question thank you you know we do have full day pre so let let me talk about pre for day but not for everybody no but let me let me talk about I've been talking about this for years we've done a great job uh gosh about I think want want to say a year before I got here or two years before I got so prior to me uh where we went to prek now we right now every year we are the Exemplar not only in the county but in the state for our pre programs where people are asking us to look because we've expanded it every year the best dollar we utilize and I've been saying this at nauseum again is 83 cents on the dollar we get in the state for P Grant to run preet every year we need to expand it I think we maxed out now in Herbertsville um we maxed out this year so next year we are expanding six classrooms right here in this area we had about a 100 on a waiting list maybe a little more is that correct over on the waiting list we're g to pretty much get almost all them off the waiting list we're hitting a percentage of what they call the preschool Universe three and four year olds in our town the actual demographic at a higher rate than anybody else the answer to the prek I got to tell you is not the funding because 3 cents on the dollar comes from the state the problem has been space and the requirements for the approvals of it for example we were lucky and we still haven't had final approval here on this space but we were grandfather in it used to be a pre I know my colleagues like in Berkeley and some other areas are fighting to utilize existing space whether may be a side of an elementary room but it doesn't configure by the new square footage requirements for prek the bathroom rooms all these access on we're lucky enough that we're going to be approved uh to expand right here our goal is to expand even larger right here and we're having plans each year to do that uh pre is not a revenue problem Mr Reed never been here 83% of prek comes through the P Grant um and we fund the rest automatically through um what has been our problem to get to the entire percentage of the waiting list uh for our pre has been physical space and expanding in that physical space and retrofitting like we'll have to retrofit some of this but it's going to be a lot easier since it used to be a prek but the square footage areas is not exactly what they're asking for as well now we will now pick up offices our offices here somewhere else retrofit those spaces um as far as I know you talked a little bit about the budget I'm going to let Mr Edwards talk more specifically to the treasurers report I've said every year and you've even said it here it's not about finding the money in our budget when we talk millions of dollars it's we're underfunded obviously uh by the state um and I will say that to the to the day um to the last day I'm here because 80% of our budget maybe even more salary and benefits when you think about it right and they go out up a certain amount every year we have a shortfall just hitting that without making cuts and that has nothing it's not like you know I I think it's not like we have one fund or another um to fund those areas we are onetoone with computers I think we are tops in the state with prek um now I know Mr Edwards could get into the specific accounting U mechanisms but I know some like the investment funds and some of the other funds remember in public accounting when you talk about public fund accounting right everything has a silo and it's rare that we're able ble to transfer certain things from certain areas once the budget's approved and if something's ear marked whether it's through state federal aid and our investment account like we ear mark this much for Capital expenditures we're not able to move some of that the investment account I Mr Edwards I want you to there's a 24 million talking investment account and I don't know the snapshot on the treasurers of course some funding is also the encumbered for salaries as you know for the remaining months of the school okay the investment account Mr adward would you talk to the 24 million investment account please yeah we established that investment account I'm going to say about a year ago with Ocean First Bank it's an account that they we sweep all our money into that they pay a higher interest rate on so it's just a account that we do a cash forecast uh every month determine what our cash needs are for that month and any monies that aren't needed that we can put into that account so um it does sound like a lot but we are you question before I think may have been last month about how we receive our money from the tax from the township via taxes I have that print out and so we get that money from the township uh it's based upon our you know our annual amount divided by the 12 months and we get that money in and then when we don't need it in that given month we're putting into the investment account to earn a higher interest rate so um but I don't want anyone get the impression that that money is just all excess sitting there with no purpose it's well tied to things okay so my other question question would be who's allowed to move the money between the investment accounts and the operating account uh that's myself and my assistant business administrator Maria Roberts okay so you move money back and forth can it be moved into next year's budget we you're talking apples and oranges bank accounts and budgets are not the same thing okay but it's the board's money belongs to Brick Township and the taxpayers contributed this money I'm not sure where we're going with that yes it's the board of education's money so so when are they going to use it it's all designated for purposes already no no that's not true I think if you refer to the audit you'll see in our audit that at the end of June June 30th 2024 we had a $300,000 Surplus okay that's not what the treasurer showed the that's bank accounts you're you're comparing apples and orang when the money is in the bank as an example I'm just give I'm going to give you one examp balance sheet Mr no you're not looking at the balance sheet you're looking at a bank reconciliation I'm going to give you your answer just give me a second I'll promise I'll give you your answer if you go to the audit I'm going to get refer you to One account it's called other liabilities okay why don't you give us copies of that it's on the agenda the audit yes every page every well that's on our website every page the what's on the on the agenda is the okay I don't want to get in an argument I'm not trying to argue with you at all I'm trying to give you an explanation first of all there's a lot of money in the the $22 million doesn't disappear at the end of the year it was in the report at the end of the year it's probably in the report every month that's pretty much our ongoing balance yes and I'm trying to give you an answer in regards to why it's an ongoing balance we've got a $9.3 million incurred but not reported workman's comp balance okay I disagree with that okay that's another question I have act shows it as a report I mean you and I can disagree with it but it's an actuar determined report so that the Auditors use to certify audit that's another topic I would like to have time to ask on is workers comp let me just I'm sorry just to jump in so if you remember last year Mr Reed we took a waiver to reduce Surplus even more it's not like we had all we take whatever's left in Surplus at the end of a year and put into next year's budget us Tom River Jackson got a waiver to reduce Surplus unlike the Town Council you know municipality we have a required Surplus we took more at a surplus at the end of the year to put into this year's budget matter of fact this year's Surplus is at our lowest we've been which concerns me that should be lapsing into Surplus so I I'll let you like could just quickly go through a couple of balances I think it will help the board before you get to I think it's important for the board to understand that we don't have 24 million is lying I want to get to I just want wanted to finish up your prek so you have numbers I just got 612 in prek some classes are 15 if they're um inclus inclusion classes some selfcontained I think are eight 12 in those classes so we have 612 total which is phenomenal right now and that we'll increase that by almost 100 next year how much 90 we'll increase that by 90 so the average class is when I want around 12 to 15 and 612 was a total enrollment I'm sorry so just for the board's knowledge when you're looking at the treasury report Andor the board secretary's report it's a snapshot in time it's one day in time it's not fluid right so it's as of June 30th in what regard to Mr what Mr Reed's referring to or it's as of in this case November 30th is which is the treasur report and board secretary's report that you're currently approving this evening so you have to look at that cash balance at that snapshot in time and then go to the liabilities and see what the liability were in that snapshot in time so as of June 30th we had $2.4 million of accounts payable that's things that we received the goods or services as of June 30th but had not paid the bill so there is $2.4 million that is part of your cash balance but money that you have to pay out so you can't allocate it something else we had 9 million $9.3 million in incurred but not reported liabilities that is your medical prescription and workman's comp that we have to have a certified actuary determine what those amounts are that you need to hold in reserve for future claim payments again not money that you can move somewhere else it's monies that are obligated by the board to hold an account for future expenditures and then we had $8.7 million in capital reserve that on July we moved $8.6 million into the HC projects that were building the worm wolf Herbertsville osbornville midstreams HVAC projects I I we didn't have there's there's three again I'm going back to the and you can read the order the orderers comment is that we are at a dangerously low number of $300,000 in Surplus as of June 30th where District our size under the 2% recommendation from the New Jersey Department of Education should have 2.8 million in Surplus we don't have it so if you want to look at the cash balance and say we've got $24 million in cash you got to understand that cash and liabilities need to be looked at together not IND independently and you shouldn't ever think of them as tsunamis where you can then add things to the budget because you have the money by doing so you'd be putting yourself into a position the other school district districts I'd say at this point now in this County have done and are now in deficit situations my job for you is to keep you out of out of a deficit situation not allow us to go into one Mr re I'd be happy to go over anything else you would like to discuss because okay workman's comp I love I love the I love the discussion it's really good I'm I'm an accountant by Nature so Debs and credits are I know what you do I know what you do I love it I know what you do passionate I know what you do okay so on workman's comp we're self-insured correct yes correct okay sorry I thought so when a claim comes in is it paid out of current funds no I'm Sor I'm sorry Mr Reed I have to ask someone else if they have any other agenda it okay is there anybody else that would like to question on agenda items Mr Finelli oh did you say yes yes no no no agenda no we're still on agenda yes we're still on agenda okay okay workers comp so being self-insured my understanding is when a bill comes in for a claim it has to be paid at a current funds where did the funds come from that's why you have incurred but not reported so let me give you an example and I and I'm I feel like this is deja vu because I feel like we've had this discussion already in this meeting we have incurred but not reported claims that go all the way back at this point to 2014 so an employee hurt thems in 2014 the ACT determines what the value of that claim is and the expense for that claim gets reported in that year the monies however get held in what's called recurred but not reported that's part of the the $7.9 million that we're holding and those monies are there for future claim expenses that that employee is going to incur today so when that bill comes in for that employee that hurt themselves in 2014 we pay it out of the funds that were reserved in the claim year 2014 and every year we have a claim year that we have funds reserved for all the claims that the actu determined that happened in that year are going to have future expenditures on it's a actual science that they have to perform that's why it's called it's why actuaries get their certification and perform those reports so each year at the end of the year the last two years there's about 900,000 left over unencumbered in that account right and we then if it's if it's Surplus then the money goes back into the Surplus general fund that's not the case though because those years are typically more than then what was budgeted for in health benefits I'm I'm sorry not workman's comp workman's comp has been the reverse we've had well no not last year or last year I have to look it up I think last year we were upside down last year was the first year I think we were wer hold on one second I I I'm gonna say this has to end right now because we have the rest of okay so the whole workman's comp so you're still getting bills in for those years back there is that true oh yeah correct okay I think the board should form a group to look at those bills because if you're getting workman's comp bills in from 10 years ago something's wrong no there's nothing wrong with that at all they're not bu they're they're claims employee and this is really I'll refer this to this is really a legal question when an employee hurts themselves at work the employer is responsible for that claim as long as that claim lives okay so right Mr moneger I mean that claim doesn't go away it could be 15 years old it doesn't go away so you got to look into who's making those claims that are so big for 10 years Mr employe Edwards we have to end it now we have to go on to Dr Anderson for curriculum and instruction please so because you don't have any current claims coming in like that you don't have a million dollars a year I will be happy to sit down and show you the claims we do have those I'm sure Mr Reed you can come visit with Mr Edward and myself I give you all the reports we we do have those claims thank you m under curriculum instruction the superintendent recommends the board approve the following items 1 through five mot I need a motion in a second please motion Victoria second Fran mayor Mary rol please miss picala yes Miss Kennedy yes Miss D Benedictus yes Mr Henry yes Mr melery yes Mr Mesmer yes missar room yes Mr Edwards will introduce operations please yes I'd like to the superintendent would like to recommend items 1 through 19 I need a motion in a second please excuse me uh meline isn't this where we ask for board comment on you want to make this a comment on the first section on operations okay okay go ahead we just voted on correct inst didn't we yes we did we we need a we need a motion on second first we needed a motion a second motion second then board comment oh okay thank you did you can I have board comments please we didn't hear sorry let's start we can start fresh we need a motion in a second I we didn't hear it we're up to operation no we're on operations down do we have a motion we need a motion in a second for operations motion George procedurally we do the motion the second then then she'll say Bo comment understood We're not gonna go back but you you have a comment can I no no I need motion Mike second Fran wonderful board comments yes I'd like to make a remark on operations number 19 on our audit um every aspect of dispersements Revenue and expenditures are um dissected during this audit um I read the full report for the ninth year in a row and I was surprised that the scope of the audit goes from everywhere from administrative practices insurance bonds to classification of expenditures um the board secretary and treasurers report Essa reporting federal and state product projects Food Service Student Activities Transportation facilities and so on I would just like to point out the um Fidelity that our business department has to this board and this administration because this is theth year in a row that I can remember that we have no recommendations except for the year when they told us to spend more in food services so I think that's an exceptional accomplishment of our business office um the ba and um Mrs Roberts um who is a great uh support and arm and leader of that business department you too Jim so that's my board comment for operations I um I think that's exceptional and if you haven't had a chance to read that audit I think all board members sh should take uh 10 minutes and do that thank you all right I'm sorry for the confusion I was just not understanding it's past my bedtime um I just wanted to say thank you to Mr Bara from Brick Township High School and Miss oh boy Morag liada Miss Wagner and Mr Trac from vets middle school for volunteering for the Dungeons and Dragons Club at bths and the volleyball club at vmms um so thank you for volunteering your time you guys are awesome that's all and I'm sorry for the confusion uh a roll call Mary please miss picala yes Miss Kennedy yes Miss Benedict Mr Henry yes Mr meleri yes Mr Mesmer yes Miss abstain on 2145 24517 2144 83 214 4 59 24510 24487 24513 21 4514 24576 and the rest yes Mr ker please introduce human resources thank you Miss aanon tonight under Human Resources the superintendent recommends to the board items one through 31 for approval I need a motion in a second motion Ali second BR any board comments yes I'd like to point out two things um in number one we're approving retirements for long dedicated teachers I just wanted to shout out to um Mrs Robin Morello who's worked over 30 years in Lake um in Lane's Mill um she sent a very sweet um resignation notice and reflection on her time serving the students of brick to all the board members um she went above and beyond when she did that and she really made me feel good about the experience some of our teachers are having so I wanted to comment on that and then my question was about number 15 I see we are approving a change in perdum rate for a sub administrator is she currently uh working in the district and where yes she's been here more than a month has been the case she's at leans Mill Lans Mill okay thank you anyone else roll call Mary Miss picala yes Miss Kennedy yes Miss Sten adictas yes Mr Henry yes Mr mjeri yes Mr Mesmer yes missan yes Miss mamire will introduce policy and planning before we introduce policy and planning I think we have one of our new hires in the Welcome to The Brick Community Brenda am I correct knowa Brenda zanda who will be um at Herbertsville early childhood development center as a speech there welcome aboard thank you moving on to policy and planning the superintendent recommends the board approve the following items one I need a motion in a second please MO Toria second John any board comments I just want to say I'm so glad that we're out by June 20th yet again yay no snow roll coleberry please miss picala yes Miss Kennedy yes Miss D Benedictus yes Mr yes Mr meler yes Mr Mesmer yes Miss room yes second public comment Clos this is the second opportunity for the public comment each participant is asked to give his or her name prior to making a statement all statements shall be directed to the presiding officer comment shall be limited to five minutes the board will not during the public portion of this meeting discuss matters involving employment appointment termination of employment negotiations terms and conditions of employment evaluation of the performance of promotion or disciplinary of any specific or prospective or current employee or student anyone want to get up and speak no no letter John SL 950 silia Court uh busing not only are we short on bus drivers we're super short on buses too the mechanics are putting I I would hate to say that putting buses together but they are they're getting pieces that are not working and getting them to work um so they're doing a good job they're very knowledgeable they seem know what they're doing just don't have a lot of them I guess for the amount of work these buses now have um we can't keep waiting on wet busing for the kids we can't go waiting two months three months four months and then decide and have to wait a year to get the buses we have to get them done we just can't keep waiting and waiting and waiting um the buses with whech have access and stuff is needed yesterday not a year from now yesterday uh we can't keep Del laying it doesn't do anyone any good uh in particular the children children are not getting the services they deserve by getting on these buses uh I don't care if it's electric buses diesel buses uh unlet gasoline buses buses that somebody else willing to push I don't really care uh the need is now not six months from now not a year from now not keep delaying and delaying and delaying we have to make a decision uh us programs are hurting I we're getting people to the sports programs later than we should you know after hours at 15 minutes late other teams are waiting other squads are waiting field trips they're delayed they're slow trying to get that done every school child child suffers because there in insufficient roing routing uh the overcrowd are busing themselves um the cold and the hot depending on what season you're in and they continue to break down because we just can't keep up with it we have to get people uh get those buses in um the time of of the essence we can't keep waiting thank you anyone else Mr Finelli I'm a little more curious about the bus issue um last full meeting we had Dr Farrell and Mr Edwards put together what I thought was a pretty good presentation on the school bus issue and the funding and the money I found out how much information that was on electric school buses by going online and Googling electric school buses you could read for a week on what's in there I also spoke to people in Jackson that have electric school buses as to what their impression of and the reason I'm bringing that up is because everybody here heard something about something about something from somebody but when you ask them where' you hear that from nobody ever heard it from people that had buses so I went to the people that had the buses and said you have any issues with them no they only have six of them they only had them for a couple years so my question is if I understood Mr Edward's presentation or his comments before the school board wants more information so my question is what more information are you looking for what what more do you want um there's a lot more in play here than I think you realize and and talk about the money talk about the environment talk about whatever you want talk about pissing off the people in Trenton right they're looking for somebody to get the school School Bus thing going and my prediction would be if you put a big order in for the school buses then they're going to start building them quicker because they don't make any money if they don't sell buses so what what is it exactly you people are looking for that you don't have right now that's going to delay us another month that's my question right then then I have you can hold the question to the end I just have something else this a new year this is a new school board new offices new everything we'll cut you some slack but you got to go over a couple of things number one this is a public meeting anything that said in this meeting is a matter of public record if you lean over and say something to Dr Farrell I have the right to interrupt the meeting and say what' you say I don't want to do that so just be careful of that uh number two we've had a lot of discussion about you know people coming up here more than once your policy says we can come up more than once and I'll read you what the policy also says the leeway that the school board president has wave these rules when necessary for the protection of privacy or to maintain an orderly operation of the board meeting doesn't give you a waiver to ignore your own policies right it's this is an exception thing and all the exceptions are listed there you cannot ignore your own policies all right nobody on the board has that power you want to change the policy you have to bring it to a public meeting and change it your policy right now says people can come up more than once they can come up more than once if you try to enforce a policy other than what it says we're going to have a serious problem last but not least people give interviews for the newspaper and I read them when I can this is from the local newspaper the brick times I'll just read a couple of comments serving on the board means always putting our students first okay I can agree with that in Brick we have an impressive set of Administrators principles teachers and parents who always put students first unfortunately you're left out the people that are paying for this that's the taxpayers that's me right we have so much to share with you and appreciate your perspective and thoughts remember the word perspective and thoughts we are a very transparent district and welcome your thoughts and comments remember again thoughts and comments nowhere in there do you ever use the word questions and you ignore that at one time I was told in this meeting that you're not allowed to ask questions it's only a comment section I am looking for transparency and I'm going to bring up whenever I think you're not transparent and I'll give you a big one at the end of the meeting I will also super stol District again you leave out the taxpayers we are the people that pay for this we have a right to say all right so new year let's see if we can get it better let's see if we can get a dialogue when I talk about transparency I'll give you an example of the biggest lack of transparency we ever had here in the school district as far as I'm concerned a year ago I asked when are you going to present the school performance report everybody said we already did that in October no you didn't yeah we did no school performance report we did that in October we did that in October we did that in October well you lied to me because you didn't do it in October and I proved to you you didn't do it in October and when I proved to you you didn't do it in October the response I got from the school board president not you we didn't present it because we don't have to right that was the answer I got and if you don't believe me go back and look now you didn't present it because you don't have to the performance report I can only imagine you're trying to hide something and you're not going to hide it from me so transparency is going to be a big thing everybody thinks we're transparent it says right here we have so much to share with you and appreciate your perspective and thoughts we are a very transparent district and welcome your thoughts and comments throughout all your policies it uses the word questions we're allowed to ask questions we want transparency we want to work with you we all want to be on the same page so one question what what what more do you want about school buses you want to answer the question Mr F we've been saying this for you the second public comment I am going to address all of them at the end which I have information for okay because it's not on agenda it I will let everybody comes up at the second public comment I will address whatever I can in questions right away tonight or each of you starting with Mr I have one question and it's not for you though no I I know but I'll address what I can and then you could you know if the board wants to address question I'm going to kick it back to the chair right after I'm done just let me clarify my understanding Mr Edward said that the school board wanted more information I'm asking the school I'm I got all that I got everything for you you're not School Board no no no no I'm going to explain what happened to committee that's and then they can add to it I you got it you got hi good evening Anita O'Neil I live on tall Oak's Drive um I'm here representing kind of myself as a mom um but also the lill PTA and I have a request and I don't know who to address the request to so that's why I actually came tonight we would really as a PTA like to be able to have some access to to the district facility calendar even if it is a view we don't need to have the ability to book our own um facilities but it is nice when we are in the summer and we're trying to book assemblies which the PTA pay for because there's no money in the districts or authors or events for an elementary school that has to be hosted at the high school um I'm in a contract negotiation and if I don't have literally somebody because we're co-hosting an event with the High School running downstairs to check a calendar and it was wrong so now I have to change a contract again it's really very frustrating for us and we as parents um teachers that are on our boards the administrators it it's a lot to keep going back and forth I get tons of reminders about when my insurance is due but when our facility is double booked and we've been on the book supposedly like we don't have an ability to view that and across the board if we could at least get give the PT access to that um that would be incredibly helpful that's all I got thank you any other comments questions out of my wheelhouse but referring to what was said earlier in the budget they're saying if they had sir sir can we have your name please 26 million or 36 million in November and you're saying you hold a lot back for liability sir we need your name please oh West grusome and I was just curious that if you got 36 million in there and there's only 900,000 left in the budget is that going someplace else like I say I'm this is the first time I'm not an accountant I don't understand a lot of it but I'm just curious that there is that much in there there's that much liability out to be spent on whatever you're talking about on you and that's pretty much re you like I say it's not really my wheelhouse but I'm looking at 36 million and you're talking about a lot of liability that you hold out that I guess is in there part of that funding and I'm just trying to understand that there's close to that much life liability that's out there that yet to be spent that's all thank you any other anyone else okay so since last January just were all the second public comment because it's not on agenda items and quite honestly um you know this I I was always taught it's not a Q&A for me specifically um but I will address anything I can right now if I can't I'll get you the answer aners I even told our new board president she said maybe I can even report back next month if I have to go find the answers so in the second public comment session because it's not on agenda items I'm may not be prepared I will try to answer everything I can or have one of our administrators or or the board president as a chair directed to someone to answer uh Mr sluka um first of all I I know you're also in our transportation department now so I hope a you brought those concerns to Dr okone but our problem right now quite honestly is huge driver shortage not only Subs but regular driver and huge mechanic shortage we still have one more opening I think for mechanic we just got someone I think approved tonight that and um you know the market is bearing a little more than what we have honestly on the mechanic side and we've been looking for that like crazy and when we send them out like to wolvington and that we have buses spare parts and Spares we have a rotation um but I would suggest you bring those you know right away uh to Dr okome but we've been doing the best we can with Transportation uh with limited resources but we're very aware of that um and how it's working and we're it's not again specific to Brick you know Jackson Toms River with large fleets are also going through something um uh similar um Mr Finelli so EV buses I'm just going to tell you from the administrator perspective and I'll kick it to the board president for a little bit so um Finance committee and we had a new committee start finance committee asked Mr Edwards and myself to kind of go back and look at a break even analysis for a myriad of buses under 25 up to 30 as he said um to get that analysis back to us and let's go through it a little more diligently at the February uh finance committee where he was explaining what we think the break even as as administrators as we've talked about uh for months and um you know as the superintendent coming out of committee I I said okay we'll put it on uh for February for that and I didn't know if the finance chair or our board president wanted to add to that that's the reasoning uh behind it for February yeah so to add to that um basically what we wanted to do is understand based on how many buses we order where's our break even point where are we as a district making money where are we losing money because uh when we first learned about this we just have a number of 25 some people on the bo board might not be comfortable with our district purchasing 25 buses which is 40% of our full-size bus fleet so I wanted to understand as a chair where would a break even be would it be 15 buses would it be 10 buses would it be 20 buses where does it financially make sense to the district and we didn't have that information so we requested that Mr Edwards provided a phenomenal summary um to the finance committee we now went back we're looking at it we also uh recently change committees so we have two two new members of the committee who were not on it last year so this is new information these are new committee me members and this is a huge decision for the district so we decided as a committee and as a board that we were going to table this into the February meeting when we have all the information we felt comfortable correct yeah we are but we're not it with the new Grant we could do less than 25 Mr Finelli and that's to Mr Edwards came backward and we're trying to show that a certain number very close 25 is what the most profitable is listen it is our expectation and our hope to have something for this board something solid that the whole board can uh have a consensus on in February really is so and and I and I believe it is the right thing as I showed and we'll keep updating that website on that and uh I think it is going in the right direction I think everybody's doing their due diligence um as you say to tip your toe in the water a little bit um Dr farell okay all right let's the first first go around was not good the second go around with Mr um Edwards found is much better we're getting air conditioned buses we're getting different types of things for the money if we decide to do it we haven't decided whether we were doing it or not because as a taxpayer that you are so am I I want to make sure it's good for the taxpayers like you said and that's what we're looking at we do need buses but we want to make sure that we can also run this board to get the children what they need the teachers what they need and not put a burden on the taxpayers and also didn't I wasn't involved with the first one Mr Finelli honestly Mr Mr finel you asked the question we gave the answer another answer that I'm going to give you on the getting up two times if you would have listened you would have heard that I didn't say that I omitted that from our comments so that you could get up if you had a different discussion a second time to speak no because we just I just discussed it with uh Dr so the new I was going to leave that the last the new president has asked to talk to the policy actually says it is up to the presiding chair it ends up with that so exception basis no well okay we I know listen we went through this Mr Finelli I can't answer questions and go back I'm not doing a press conference here every month I'm not doing it let me just answer the questions please and I'm not going to go back and forth the policy does end with the discretion up to the presiding chair the presiding chair just said to you that she has talked about this is something that's important to her we've never not allowed people to come up or go over longer than the time we're just trying to have an expedient and efficient meeting which has proper demeanor and decorum that's really what we try now I'm gonna I'm going to talk as a superintendent here and not for the board nowhere now first of all you're right with stakeholders taxpayers is a huge stakeholder and I try to address them all the time but nowhere in public comment whether it's under School boards or under statute of accountability does it talk about a Q&A my colleagues think and I'm the only superintendent and around that sits here and does a Q&A on agenda items back and forth this isn't a Town Council and I'm not a politician or an elected official you can ask all the questions you want during a comment session at all it does not mean that I have to sit here and go back and forth and answer to questions I am trying on agenda items as I said here the first district I was at where it's been a Q&A I said I I like that let's do a Q&A and agenda items before they vote let's try to get them all the information they can on the second public comment session I don't have to say anything I could sit here I'm trying to provide information in a timely fashion without anybody trying up to give surprises because some information I may not have readily available at that time but it's not accum you can ask all the questions wrong because you have five minutes or more than five minutes you come up more than one time and you can ask anything you want but there are going to be times in the second public comment that I may not answer a question or I may say I'm going to have to get back to you or I may just choose not to address it that's not the role of a superintendent in the second public comment session not at all and Mr Finelli we ask the superintendent if he doesn't have an answer to the question to please put it on the the next month's agenda so that it is answered in public so all the answers are in public so we're trying to be transparent we're trying to do what what everyone is asking and and to be perfectly honest with you the reason why they didn't want the second one up was because people were going to drag it out and all I felt it was important for people to come come up with a different question at a meeting this has been a big thorn in a couple of people's side and I agree with you so we're doing the best we could do you have to give us a chance we're just starting new I didn't answer your question I try to answer your questions yeah okay is that it Mr you never give us a job but we also have the right or I have the right to not answer a question well you know what Mr Finelli if the public doesn't think M Mr Finelli this is why this is why going back and forth is not a good way because it's not because if the majority of the public feels that me Dr Farrell is not transparent in my five years here that then maybe it's time for them to look for a new superintendent too because I am not going to sit up here and get baited and go back and forth I'm not going to do it I'm not I'm going to finish the answers of the questions by the way this is the reason spot on for the second public comment as long as I'm superintendent we will listen to all the second public comment sessions I will address what it was and I as a superintendent will get the last word and try to put the narrative the the correct narrative thank you for okay I want to talk about the student performance report which I spoke about last thing last uh spring which I think there was a little Mis communication or misunderstanding what there is in October we give a report called on the report card no so our district students report performance reports on standardized testing has to by Statute by school boards be reported on by October I believe we report out every October we put them we post them to the website in the spring the Press takes the report that the doe gives them called the school report card and they publish them again no other District I've ever been at did we ever report out on the report C from the doe that comes out in the spring I was confusing when you said this a year or two years ago whenever we said I was confusing what you said as the report card of student performance that came out in the spring with what we report out in October because that is what we are required to do you can always come up like you always have and said hey I saw this in the Press our attendance is this and we try to answer those questions but we don't give another presentation once the Asbury Park Press comes out with a finalized doe report C we present that information that they put out we present in October now they put out more information that we present out they put out a bunch more and it could beg some questions from the public that either Dr Anderson or myself uh could address but I I want to be clear with that what we're required to do what we tried to do and how we try to answer and by the way this this and I'm going to kick it back to the president end this is not about board members to me this this is Tom Farrell now going into his almost sixth year uh hav been a superintendent I encourage every one of you in the public not only to come to a board meeting here go to a board meeting elsewhere try just go look because I've come from other places this is going to be my 13th 14th year you know I've adapted as well like I said I've never sat and done a Q&A just on agenda and I thought it was a pretty good thing and we're going to continue to do that because I think that information needs to be answered but at the second public comment session you know I'll give you what answers I have after everybody talks I'll try to direct you sometimes we've had Parents ask specifically about a school um or a teacher or a specific issue and I say hey I'm going to have Miss mcare or Dr Anderson come see you now get your number and make sure you get in the right thre or I'll say you know shoot me an email on that I'll get you that answer and if we think it's something that's really worthwhile for everybody else I promised our new president that we would get that out at the next meeting um I want to move on the last comment because we had we had two last comments the lanville PTA so we have an internal facility request form and it sounds like there's a miscommunication from the building to that so so I'm going to have Miss mamar who oversees that with with Mr Edwards she's going to talk to you about that where there are some public sites you could see what's already booked and approved by the board and on there and how the communication is working with your specific group and that building person Miss MC I'll see you right afterwards for that that's an easy fix um I know the uh the gentleman came up again talked about the 36 million and the 9 million so just it was 36 million again at the end of every year we've been depleting our everything lapses into Surplus that we don't use or is Mr re say is not encumbered for the re remaining of the year to June 30th everything lapses into Surplus we take usually that lap Surplus and apply it to next year's budget to balance a budget usually that's what usually happens it's not 36 million in non- encumbered money sitting there because if there was 36 million there right now I would tell you we're going to have a great time being able to balance the budget uh for next year and replenish Surplus that's not the case I did know that Mr Edwards told you I don't know what the amount was but there is a liability that's been rolled over of that 36 million every year for workman's comp and some other issues which by law we have to keep in that place in case whether it's a judgment or something comes up so the one thing I've learned and I've come from the private uh sector as an MBA and a CPA and I could tell you that the statute and the rules for public fund accounting that's what it's called here in the in the public school district is very very different you can almost look at it as silos of accounts that we really once the budget is Struck from the board it's very very hard to manipulate to how you utilize that at the end of that budget year money lapses into Surplus and we unfortunately the princip well fortunately the principles are gone but they'll tell you come February March we start looking at the new PR U new budgets and if they didn't spend what they said they were going to spend by June 30th or it's not encumbered by we take it back Mr Edwards takes it back we put it into Surplus and we utilize much of that amount and this is important for the board to know much of that amount to roll forward so um you know if you told me right now we have 36 million in Surplus or money that we can utilize differently I'd love it but that is definitely um not the case and again I encourage anybody on the accounting side uh you know I've worked with Mr Edwards now five years um he has looked at from the county and the state he's been doing this a long time not that he's old but he's he's looked at it from the county and the state with this I know if you drop him an email or if you even wanted to I think he enjoys some of the accounting uh conversations but you know you drop him an email or you want to talk to him about that he'd be glad to sit I would be glad to sit with anybody and discuss the budget our budget is so simple it's almost scary because we don't have much leeway it's so sad that we don't have the leeway to do things with us um with that and that comes from no because there's a legal there's a legal requirement as Mr Edwards said before um that that stays on the books and not only our accountants and the Auditors will tell you matter of fact we didn't have any findings with the audit I'm not sad to say this but one of the recommendations was our Sur plus I don't I think Mr Edwards might have told our Surplus is low which tells you we don't have it's like saying to you if you're running your household account your your savings account is really really low our Surplus is really really low and um you know we we've really done a good job balancing Capital expenditures and some funds I don't want to call out any other local districts but there's two big local districts that are in a way different shape than us and again we're looked at from the state with that but I encourage all to to email me ask those questions um we'll get you the answers for that and if and if it finds US money Mr Reed or somewhere I said I'm all for it I'm all for it because we're going into that to that budget cite I just want to kick it over to um our president our new president who did a fantastic job for the first regular meeting tonight so I do want to um because it's hard to kind of manage uh all the voices and all of us right at one time but I do want to kick it over if there's anything you wanted to add on that before you go to the board comments not really I think Mike answered the bus issue because we're trying to work on it and just do the best for the taxpayers and see where you know we are at it and there are a few of us that haven't been on it and haven't ever been on the board um and as far as um trying to make us transparent that's what I'm working on I want to make sure that we do it might not be perfect right now but I'm working on it and I'm I'm as you can see a couple of little mistakes tonight because first time doing it but I'm happy to be here and hopefully serve you all well any board comments John um uh I just had one quick question did the cni uh committee meet in January no we pre uh previewed the agenda and we're looking about uh for each board member's availability to set a a date prior to the February meeting will you email via email yeah okay will you um uh follow uh what um Mr Edwards does as far as sending the agenda out to the full board and the minutes out to the full board because I I print them all out and read them I I do that every packet after a meeting Victoria so if you know it's harder to download them from the packet than it is from personal email just for me CU I I don't know how to use I send out in the packet the minutes for every meeting that happens that week and again you can contact the chair and the board president as well as me um the cni committee did not meet they just went via email we're it's our hope to rotate obviously policy and planning because they usually don't have to meet each month and I know cni is meeting next month as Dr Anderson alluded as they get a time frame set but that following Friday will all be in the packet all right thank you I just wanted to remind everybody in this room um that in December Dr F sent a notice to all school board members in the future I would like to request that you also send it to the district PTA presidents and that notice said that for the first time the New Jersey Department of Education was reaching out to uh members of the public school board superintendents administrators and parents for a listening session regarding the student um funding Reform Act and I want to thank um Jim and George and our our VMS um PTA president Kristen sturs and also our PTA member Nicole and and dtz who submitted her statements online I went to um Camden I I can't attest to what anybody else did but I can tell you what happened in Camden Camden Camden was a bigger venue than they use in Trenton um uh the first person up to speak was Dr Tim Pernell the New Jersey School Board Association executive director we heard from New Jersey asbo um is he the director Matthew Clark the assistant director we heard from 15 superintendents each and I know took a lot of effort and coordination and commitment but each one of them had their School Board president there school board members and parents it was really impressive they we all basically agreed on the inequitable distribution of Aid and we also all agreed that public education is a right not a privilege um there were many things discussed a lot of the points that Mr Edwards made when he went to Trenton about the uh including increased cost in transportation that our funding should from the state should be more predictable um we need stability so that no district has a swing of state aid higher than 2% each year we talked about the cost of health benefits the 2% tax levy the increase in populations in limited English proficiency and special education uh the cap on the reduction of Aid uh the pilots should be included in Fair Share class size multiple Year New Jersey Aid budgets so we wouldn't have to wait until after our budget process to find out what our state aid is going to be I don't know if everybody knows that happens but that happens um uh they talked about addressing growing costs and a five-year rolling enrollment estimate rather than that October number that we get stuck on every year um I was glad to meet a guy from the Department of Education Named Dave Corso Dave Corso told me that he's listening and hearing all the comments that the superintendent and board members are making he also told me that as far as S2 is concerned that our super intendant Dr Thomas farell did it right he prepared our district and and took care of the cuts that we needed to make always with the students first and um being in a meeting on a cold night in Camden it was nice to hear somebody at the department of Ed had heard of our superintendent and knew what his um Strife was I also was able to submit Dr Farrell's white paper on school funding that he discussed at um a spring 2023 was that a senate committee hearing was that a senate committee hearing where the white paper was I know it's old but as I held it up over my head and said this is the earliest best analysis of inequity in school uh funding state school funding people asked me if they could Google you if they could Google the paper I told them look on our website but this was news to people and one of the things that shocked me the most was there was a district superintendent who said and it was a small District he said said if two special needs students move into his district and require outside placements at perhaps $90,000 a a piece it blows their budget for the year they have to keep reallocating funds it's too hard they can't do it they're taking away from Jed uh activities Sports and everything else I think we're blessed to uh be in the control that we are we are in i i credit uh Jim and Tom for that and I also think uh one of the things that each superintendent and board president talked about was their desire for funding any funding anything that'll help the district anything that'll help the kids and I agree with Mr Finelli how do you like that I agree with Mr Finelli we are dragging our feet on this um we received the EV um federal aid in April and it's been discussed in committee it's been discussed at meetings um I don't know what's taken so long but I do know that this is a gift horse that we should not look in the in the mouth especially when we still don't know what's going to happen with the School Finance Reform Act is that it SCH reform right Esra so um that's that I I I travel it took me 90 minutes to get to Camden and more to get back um I really wish that somebody else had traveled with me I put it out there um and I I'm always open to um anybody hopping in with me doesn't cost any gas money because I have an EV and um I really hope that as one of the um Tom's River board officer said that it's time to end the whining and do the work and get our voices out there and um I'm dedicated to do that and I hope um we can get to a more reasonable and Equitable place in state funding thank you anybody else just want to thank everybody for coming out tonight and your comments um we appreciate it I appreciate it on a a particularly very cold night I also want to give a shout out to the Bricktown um High School um the play that they put on last week and I had the uh pleasure of attending called the aliis where I thought was really interesting because the the staff members and the students put on the play it was awesome and my colleague George was also there and I'm I'm sure you enjoyed it and I hope you did I did so just a big shout out to uh Cheryl um best who is the Drama teacher and adviser to the drama club I thought they did an excellent job and I enjoyed it very thoroughly so thank you anyone else comments sure yes please thank you uh thank you Mrs anone um good evening every I hope that you're all doing well thank you all very much for coming out on Mr Henry you alluded to this uh it's very noticeable uh for all of us we could see it outside uh I realize it's dark outside but we feel it freezing cold so obviously you really cared enough to about uh whatever issue you had or issues to address comments whatever the case may be recommendations to come out tonight um and listen to what we have to say we frankly have a responsibility to listen to what you have to say as well uh and we thank you very much for the opportunity uh frankly I'm very new here uh so this is in large part a learning process for me but in a way it's a bit familiar uh there are members of central Administration uh who are actually my administrators uh when I was in school here uh I graduated in 2017 Mr kler our director of Human Resources was my principal Dr Anderson was my principal at ler middle school and she came in right when I was starting and Miss mamera was uh on her way uh finishing with about 11 years there and um I will also say you mentioned um actually my Drama teacher when I was in high school who started right as I started in drama club Cheryl best I think did a wonderful job uh with her uh production of students and staff members together uh last Thursday uh at the high school uh it was a wonderful experience and I hope to be seeing more of those uh at that school and throughout the district uh as well as what is to come uh throughout the remainder of this school year and uh throughout frankly the f given that we're not only here for the children but by extension we're here for parents residents and taxpayers and hope to work to their benefit in relation to curriculum and instruction policy and planning Human Resources uh electric vehicle potential uh for uh any changes that take place in transportation department um to your benefit uh for all of us collectively and thank you very much for the opportunity thank you for coming George you you spoke a treaton though uh the afternoon you did make the trip as well like Mr I'm sorry I was trying to think of different things to say thank you very much for that Dr F yes I actually as soon as I got there Dr Edwards was speaking as soon as I opened the Mr Ed speaking as soon as I opened the door our business administrator uh who gave a uh very detailed um very thoughtful speech on um what Brick Township has been experiencing our district over the last number of years uh under the effects of uh Senate Bill 2 uh over the last seven years I would say and this is the last year of this particular formula as uh presented over the last number of years and how we could hopefully and God willing get something better to promote a more thorough and efficient education not only in this District but in neighboring districts um throughout uh the state I actually met uh quite a few people there uh presidents of teachers unions uh administrative and supervisory unions uh presidents of boards of Education in different districts superintendents business administrators um board members concerned parents so on and so forth and um it was really eye opening to hear about how you could think of a district that like brick or Tom's River for example where average per pupil spending would be let's say 14 15 or 16,000 and then you go 20 minutes north where I met a very nice lady who was a former board member recently in Asbury Park where average people spending is 32 to $33,000 and frankly they get worse results than we do in terms of testing and so on and so forth and their explanation it was quite eye opening because I always wondered why that would be the case is um even though the state may grant them more f funding 60% of state aid for pay to 12 education goes to 5% of districts including districts like Asbury Park uh historically socioeconomically distressed districts they can't necessarily decide What's Done in each and every single dollar and in what are commonly low-income or urban districts compared to middle- inome Suburban districts such as brick you have to assess the children on a case-by Case basis and frankly uh as much as we would like to do as a board of education as administrators as teachers we can only do so much uh once the children are with us uh this is a community lead effort uh and it's a parental lead effort uh that has to be taken into consideration come budget time uh and in our classrooms as well and we hope to make an effective positive change uh for our children and for our taxpayers chartering in a positive direction so thank you very much Mrs Kennedy I'll be super quick um so in the last month I was able to attend the It's a Wonderful Life production at brick memorial the band show the quy show brick Memorial's naal National Honor Society and luckily um a lot of those events coincided with some wrestling matches at brick memorial um wrestling is got to be the most intense sport I've ever watched in my entire life I am a like I do enjoy watching sports thank God my kids don't play they don't wrestle but um my daughter's boyfriend wrestles and it is so stressful but I'm going to say something um that Harvey lington who is our state champ and a full Iowa commit he is something out it is amazing to watch but don't blink because you miss the entire thing he gets on that mat he pins his opponent one two three and it's over and the rest of those guys that get out there they are really super incredible and I I know a few names but I don't want to shout them all out but everybody knows Harvey's name um so congratulations to everybody at brick memorial um um It's a Wonderful Life you guys that group had a really um High bar to meet for me because that is my most favorite Christmas movie and you guys nailed it um so that's it really thanks Mrs de Benedictus that's a mouthful um uh welcome back everybody I hope you all are having a great new year um it's really neat to be on these new committees a lot of us as we have said are on new committee so it's kind of a learning curve so bear with us and um in regards to the EV bosses something that is you don't really understand until you're sitting here is that your name is on anything and everything that has passed and unfortunately sometimes you're darned if you do and you're darned if you don't so we're just really trying to do our due diligence so that we are right by all of you and we can understand and look in the mirror and know why we voted the way that we did um and that being said there's also a new exciting um thing that I'm on and thank you to Victoria picala for kind of passing the Baton um last year I was able to sub in for Miss picala as um our delegate and I am so excited to now be the delegate full-time for our board ofed and I love seeing why things are the way they are and how they work and I kind of nerd out on um knowing the ins and outs and now I will be able to understand why it's going to be a lot of reading um but I am ready for it and looking for it forward to it um and and there's also something that I don't think everybody knows about and that is um there is a PTO PTA liaison as well so if anybody's got issues that's me um I am your liaison please reach out um buy an email and I will sus out what needs to be done and if I don't know somebody else will um and hope everybody has a great rest of the month and we'll see you in February Mr Mesmer you have something to say should I talk about the bosses how about the new baby no it's okay um I did yes my wife did have our second child hopefully he can hear this and he's sleeping um no I did want to say one thing on the buses I'm sorry everyone but um this is a very complicated decision and I understand that it's been going on for months and I it might have been a year it might have been going on before before I even started on the board but things have changed over the last two months we got a different Grant the grant we got before that was a negative Grant this is a completely different Grant with different Grant terms we're trying to understand every aspect of the decision short-term impact and long-term this is a 12year commitment this is almost half of our full uh fullsize buses uh we also need to place one order for 25 buses if we agree to this can these companies who've never supplied that amount of buses to a district in New Jersey handle that there's a lot of pieces to this besides the financial piece that we are considering and before before I commit a vote to this I want to make sure I'm factoring in everything because I have personal connections to this district with two kids that'll be going through the school system for over the next 12 years so this is a big decision if it was 25 buses fully funded we would have made that decision months ago months ago so I just want the public to understand the complexities of this and how much time and effort that the board each one of us is spending on this decision so that's all have a good night um I pretty much gave all my comments I want to thank everybody for again understanding that we're doing our best we can do doing our due diligence on every committee that we're on and uh trying to run the board meeting the proper way and make everybody feel comfortable and our major concern is as I am myself a taxpayer and everybody on this board we have to care about that we have to care about the students the taxpayers and the children and the teachers and that's what we're doing so I'm going to give you the board calendar January 29th and 30th 2025 five early dismissal high school students only January 31st 2025 early dismissal students only February 14th and 17th 2025 president day break District closed February 20th 2025 regular meeting 7 PM B bpdc and I'd like a motion to adjourn the meeting motion bran second alley Miss picala yes Miss Kennedy yes Miss D Benedictus yes Mr Henry yes Mr Mel yes Mr Mesmer yes Miss yes car