yep great thank you guys good evening everybody happy St Patrick's Day thank you for coming out we have a little crowd but so nice to see everybody Welcome to the calwell West calwell Board of educ ation public conference meeting happening today
Monday March 17th 2025 tonight the board met an executive session at 6:00 p.m. in the James calwell high school um room 105 265 Westville Avenue and West calwell New Jersey the purpose of that meeting was to discuss Personnel litigation miscellaneous and old
business matters that meeting has been advertised and is in compliance with the open public meeting act n njsa 10 4-6 also known as the Sunshine Law the matters discussed will be made public when confidentiality is no longer required and formal action pursuant to said discussion shall take place only at
a meeting to which the public has been invited tonight the public conference meeting is happening at 7:06 p.m forgive our tardiness here in the James cell High School cafeteria the Board of Education meeting is being streamed live but all Community questions and comments are welcomed here in person only the
cwell West calwell Board of Education public conference meeting is also in compliance with the open public meetings act n njsa 10 call 4-6 also known as the Sunshine Law notices have been sent to the progress in cell New Jersey The Star Ledger in Newark New Jersey and tap into West Essex notices have also been posted
at the Board of Education business office at the Harrison School building Grace Street West Caldwell and have been delivered to the clerks of the burrow of Caldwell and Township of West Caldwell for posting Brian will you take the role yes student representative Josiah zachi
here Miss D Martini here miss lindal Jefferson here Miss Mack here Mr dimola here M Gro here so we have five voting members present we have a quum great can everyone rise for the Pledge of Allegiance Josiah you can
do me started I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for
thanks Josiah thank you okay Brian are there any Communications for the board there were none okay we're going to move to the superintendent report um I'd like to invite uh two house leaders from the Middle School to the microphone Verity Linda blad from the
house of knowledge and Lena zalis from The House of Courage Verity did I get that right thank you hi and thank you to Dr Conlin and the board of education for inviting us to speak tonight I'm very Linda blad and
I'm representing the house of knowledge in March for St Patrick's Day gcms held a leprechaun hunt for a week there was a single clue every day hinting at where the clue was referring to students had to find a hidden place and post a picture with it to prove they found a spot after a week of Clues students had
to find who The Last clue was and then to be the first to report who the hidden leprechaun was this year Mr cido was the hidden leprechaun congratulations to Rose proven and I Jonah for being the winners my favorite aspect of being a house leader has been able to has been
able to encourage others and connect with people from every grade I enjoy being able to be to represent my house and make sure all House events are inclusive to everyone and as fun as possible I like hearing everyone's ideas and suggestions and future activities that they would like to see in the future I enjoy being a house leader
because I have the opportunity to be a voice for so many people and work with so many people as well being a house leader has been such a fun time I'm so grateful for the opportunity I have to be a house leader good evening I am Lena zis from The House of courage and on the topic of events happening in March
Frozen Jr is the upcoming spring Musical that is going to be presented by our school's drama club on May 16th through 18th at 7 p.m. on Friday and 1: p.m. on Saturday and Sunday this musical will take you on a wintry journey of Elsa and Anna along with all of your favorite
characters like Olaf Kristoff and Sven this show is full of heart drama and humor the GC M drama club has been working incredibly hard rehearsing their songs dancing and lines to put on a fabulous show for everyone to enjoy my favorite part of being a house leader so
far is having the opportunity to connect with students from each grade level I love hearing everyone list their ideas and opinions about what they would like to do on house day or what they would like to see and I'm very happy to have a voice or a stay um for my classmates and see us all collaborate and come together
um as a whole as a whole school um community on house days I also like the leadership aspect of being a house leader where I can represent my house and plan the best and most fun activities for others I am also very grateful for this opportunity to become house leader thank you again Dr Concklin
and the members of the board of education for your time do you have any questions no do you think you guys are going to be involved in student government next year in the high school maybe did you ever think about it yeah you'd be great thank you so much for coming this is great thank you
[Applause] okay oh girls do you want to get a quick picture with us I know we're not the coolest thing but it'll be that concludes my report okay um we don't have any committee reports tonight I have the president's
report so I'm going to speak off the cuff and then I'm going to make a statement about the referendum on behalf of the board um so off the cuff I want to remind everyone that this Saturday is the music marathon So for anybody watching um the tickets are $10 in
advance if you buy them now online $15 at the door 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. it's a really great day on Saturday to come watch it um there's like quartets there's singing um and then I believe at the end Frozen is going to do a little preview of that
so it should be a really fun day so I really encourage anyone to come on out um and really view it I will tell you that um I had the complete honor and I know uh most of the board members were there as well to see lucky stiff here at
James calwell high school uh last weekend right yeah not this past weekend the weekend before that I'm G to say that it was one of the best shows I have ever seen the talent of the cast the production itself the work that
went into it it really was so entertaining and cute I think the the most heartbreaking thing for me was I was blessed to go um to the 2 pm matina and then run over to the girls basketball game which I thought our girls didn't amazing job and congratulations to coach Keenan and the
girls for making that making it that far they really gave that team a run for their money and they played so well but what was really kind of sad was that gym had to have signs put up that said sold out and at that mat I think I was one of
maybe 13 people there and so I really really would hope that we can do better as a district to support our students in the Arts um I know that as a board we're discussing it now how to come up and help guide the music department with
some more creative ways to get kids and even our seniors who are right down the road like we bust them here to vote we got to bust them here to see the great things that our students are doing so um we have to do a better job but I do want to congratulate Mr bobbish and the entire casting crew of Lucky stiff it
was amazing very very entertaining and awesome so yes let's try to come out and support everybody on Saturday at music marathon it's going to be a great day and it's flexible you can come in and out it's it's a family $10 Advanced per family $15 at the door so it it it's
great okay so that being said I'm going to read a statement so on behalf of the cwell West coell Board of Education we are grateful and thankful to our community for your participation in the March 11th 2025 referendum um of the 22
municipalities that had referendums on Tuesday we were one of 14 that passed theirs and that is a victory for us because there were many that did not pass so we are very very grateful um question one was approved and that
allows us to move forward with critical Safety and Security infrastructure improvements as well as the addition of the steam Labs at all four elementary schools and the state-of-the-art steam Wing basically here at James Calwa High School um unfortunately everyone was so
busy being upset about the Fieldhouse and we really overlooked at how important question one was and that was really the the driving force behind the referendum and it passed and we are grateful for that um all of these improvements are essential to maintaining a safe secure and
Progressive learning environment for our students and staff so really thank you everybody um we also acknowledge that the community did not support question two which proposed the construction of the new Colonel John mq Athletic Complex promoting equity for our female athletes
and expanding space here at James calwell high school the community has spoken and we as a board are listening we respect and appreciate the opinion shared throughout this process and at the polls last week however we remain committed to addressing the needs of our students in a way that is both effective
and fiscally responsible to that end we plan on reconvening with stakeholders here at James Coldwell high school as well as with our architect to develop an alternative plan that meets our students needs while being more financially prudent this is not the end of a discussion but rather an opportunity to
refine our approach and bring forward a solution that better aligns with the community's expectations we thank you all from the bottom of our hearts for your continued support and dedication to our schools we look forward to taking the next steps together and putting the staff and students of the calwell West
Caldwell Community First so thank you and that will include my president's report it's not a voting meeting so um we're going to open public comment right now for anything um I think I'm going to do on and off the agenda we're a small
group we don't need to read the statement twice any anybody want to get up and speak that's fine public partic participation shall be governed by the following the participant must be recognized by the presiding officer and must preface comments by an announcement of their name and address statements are to be limited to three minutes duration
participant may speak no more than once on the same topic until all others who wish to speak on that topic have been heard all statement shall be directed to the presiding officer boards use the public comment period of the meeting as an opportunity to listen to Citizen concerns but not to debate issues or
enter into a question and answer session or a cross-examination between the public and individual members Please be aware that not all issues brought before the board will be resolved this evening boards May respond to public comment by seeking additional information or by delegating the authority to investigate the issue to the superintendent or his
designate the presiding officer May interrupt Warn and or terminate a participant's comments if they exceed the allotted time or are objectively obscene participants may be civil liable for any obscene defamatory or slanderous statements made during public comment that being said would anyone like to
come up on anything on or off the agenda this evening or just to talk to us in general maybe be nice to talk anybody good of what oh yeah but we're we're no no but
I'm not ending the meeting I'm just opening public comments no yeah I'm not yeah I'm we're g to do that yeah any Anybody Everybody okay okay if anyone changes their mind and wants to raise their hand I feel like we're in school I can reopen it at the end okay something
if the spirit moves us okay um so I'm going to close public comment we are going to vote tonight on the passage of the initial budget okay this is not the final budget Please be aware that changes can be made between now and may when the proposed budget will be adopted
for next year but we're on a deadline we have to approve it by Statute by March 19th okay um so Danielle I'm going to pass it over to you finance and Facilities okay upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools of the West cell call Board of Education adops the following resolution resolved that
the Calo West colell Board of Education in the county of Essex approves the submission of the tentative 2025 2026 School District budget for the Essex County Superintendent of Schools can I have a second I'll second okay Brian can
you take the role please yes Miss uh D Martini yes M lindie Jefferson yes Miss ma yes Mr dimola yes Miss Gro yes 5 motion carried great um anything else from the board
this evening everyone Liz okay let me just let me just reopen it can I have a motion to open public comment back up I'll make a motion and a second great okay let's go ahead hi Liz har 149 Ravine Avenue um so you just reminded me with that vote is
the can't remember what it's called but the preliminary budget is that going be posted on the website not yet not until they the county has to approve it okay answer yes please sorry uh County approves it and as soon as they approve it we can post it okay and then I actually have one
more question so listed on here is um under resolved is the contribution from the capital reserve towards the security veses excuse me vestibules so is that's part of the initial um comment to
contribute Capital funds for um the referendum question one correct or right Brian yes yep yes okay that's for that's for um Lincoln and Wilson right Dr Conlin my correct Lincoln and uh Wilson correct Lincoln and Wilson yes okay
perfect I just want to make sure it was the same funds or if it was different funds but it's the same no same one that's the capital reserve contribution okay great that was it thanks anybody else while it's open for business the podium is open for business
no meline do you have something I don't I just don't want to close it if you want to come up oh okay yeah yeah so that's really going to be may I mean any initial question mean please feel free this is you know the time
have cut real got it got it okay all right all right then can I have a motion to adjourn the meeting at approximately 7:21 p.m. and enter back into executive
session in room 105 I'll make the motion and a second second Brian the role please all favor I all against nay any extensions no motion Carri okay thank you so much everyone we'll see you next week I think we're Jeff Jefferson we're
Jefferson School next week Jefferson School for