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Video-1: youtube.com/watch?v=KAk8eSk3RqE

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All right. Good evening. >> This a public meeting of the board of education Clark Public Schools. Adequate notice of this meeting has been given in accordance with PL1975, chapter 231, and that a special notice was made in conformance with section 13 of the act.

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>> And can I get a motion to return to public? Miss Aonus, Mr. Smorl, a roll call or all in favor. >> Thank you. >> Okay. And if we can just rise for the pledge

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to the flag of the United States of America to the republic for it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, liy and justice for all. All right. So, at this time, can we get a roll call, please? >> Miss Akalone

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>> here. >> Mr. Ben Svinga >> here. >> Mr. Breedy, Miss Harrison, Miss Hickman >> here, >> Mr. May >> present, >> Miss McCarrick >> here, >> Miss Melnik >> here, >> Mr. Smurl >> here, >> and Mr. Duncan

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>> here. >> Having eight board members who have a quorum. >> At this time, can get a approval of last month's minutes. Miss Milnik followed by Mr. May. Can I get a roll call on that, please? >> Miss Akalonus.

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>> Yes. >> Mr. Bena, >> yes. >> Miss Hakeman, >> excuse me. >> Abstain. >> Abstain. Thank you. Um, Mr. May, >> yes. >> Mr. McCarrick, >> yes. >> Mr. Melnik, >> yes. >> Mr. Smurl, >> yes.

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>> And Mr. Duncan, >> yes. >> Motion carried. So at this time we will do um public hearing on the district policy. >> Okay. So we'll do a a public hearing on the district policy. So if anybody has any questions on policy 2361 which is

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the acceptable use of computer network computers and resources now would be the time. Okay. So not seeing any questions on the district policy. We'll move to opening the floor to the public for agenda items only. So if you have any questions or comments about any of the

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agenda items, now would be the time. Anybody? So seeing none, we'll move on to the next portion of the meeting and move to personnel. I need item I need a motion on items one through I'm sorry

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through through 21. I see Mr. Small followed by Mrs. Melnik. Any questions or comments on those? Seeing none, roll call, please. Mr. Akalonus. >> Yes. >> Mr. Bessingo. >> Yes. >> Miss Aman. >> Yes. >> Mr. May. >> Yes. >> M. McCarrick.

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>> Abstain from items 1 through 6 and 12 through 18. Yes. To all others. >> I'm sorry. Repeat that. 1 through six. >> 1 through 6 and 12 through 18. >> Thank you, >> Miss Melnik. >> Yes. >> Mr. Smurl. >> Yes. >> And Mr. Duncan.

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>> Yes. Motion carried. >> Thank you. And now we're going to move on to curriculum item number 22. A motion Hickman followed by Mr. Benga. Any questions on that one? Roll call, please. >> Malones, >> yes. >> Mr. Benoa,

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>> yes. >> Mr. Sikman, >> yes. >> Mr. May, >> yes. >> Mr. McCarrick, >> Mr. Melnik, >> yes. >> Mr. Smurl, >> yes. >> And Mr. Dunkers, >> yes. >> Motion carried. >> Thank you. On policy, we have items 23 and 24. A motion by Miss Aonus followed

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by Mr. May. Any questions or comments on those? Roll call, please. >> Makalonis? >> Yes. >> Mr. Beninga? >> Yes. >> Mr. Hickman? >> Yes. >> Mr. May? >> Yes. >> Mr. McCarrick? >> Yes. >> Mr. Melnik? >> Yes. >> Mr. Smurl? >> Yes. >> And Mr. Dunkerloot? >> Yes.

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>> Carried. >> And now we have board governance items 25 and 20 six. A motion. Mr. Benga by Mr. May. Any questions or comments on those? Roll call, please. >> Yes. >> Mr. Bena,

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>> yes. >> Mr. Hickman, >> yes. >> Mr. May, >> yes. >> M. McCarrick, >> yes. >> Mr. Melnik, >> yes. >> Mr. Smurl, >> yes. >> And Mr. Douglas, >> yes. >> Motion carried. >> All right. And then finally, we have finance 27 to 51. Motion by Mr. Smorl,

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followed by Can I get a second? Miss Melnik. Any questions or comments on those? >> Roll call, please. >> Mr. Alonz, >> abstain on 28 and 29. Yes. on the wrist. >> Spencer Winger. >> Yes.

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>> Mr. Hickman. >> Yes. >> Mr. May, >> abstain on number 41. Yes. On all of the rest. >> Thank you, M. McCarrick. >> Abstain on items 30 through 32, 41, and

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46. Yes. To all others. >> Thank you, M. Bellnick. >> Yes. >> Mr. Smurl. >> Yes. >> And Mr. Dunkeroot. >> Yes. >> Motion carried. >> Thank you. And at this time, we'll hand it over to Dr. Grande for the report of superintendent. >> Good evening and thank you, Mr.

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Dunkeroot. I'd like to begin with the biggest news of the night that we're also very excited about. Mr. Marson, on your appointment as our new elementary assistant principal, the full board this evening when we were

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discussing you such energy from your fellow administrators, um, in particular, Mrs. Bergen and Miss Applebomb, the staff, the excitement they already feel, and just the community as a whole. It's going to be such an exciting turn for our elementary

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schools, and we know you're going to hit it out of the park. And a little something for you for your office. We also have an number of additional new hires for our teaching staff on this evening's agenda. Along the lines of an update, our ESY,

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our extended school year program for our special needs program, for our special needs students, excuse me, is off to a successful start thanks to Dr. Austin and her team. We're also busy with curriculum writing, school counseling, and child study team work, and our referendum, and more

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traditional summer building projects. On this evening's agenda, I'd like to draw attention to the fact that we are purchasing additional air conditioning units, window units, so that every classroom in the district will have window air conditioning.

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And working, you know, with Mr. Vizuzo, Mr. Pinger, um the building and grounds committee, the finance committee. This was a way to provide some relief in those extreme weather days while still being mindful of the burden on

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taxpayers. And I'd like to thank those two committees, our full board and again Mr. Bizuzo and Mr. Pinger for making this possible. Thank you and have a great evening. >> Thank you. Uh at this time, we'll do the report of the committees. So seeing

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none, we'll do unfinished and new business. Anything? So seeing none, uh, at this time then we'll open it up to the public. If there's anything like you that you'd like to state, please come up, state your name, your address for the record, and you have three minutes.

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Good evening, Christopher Barson. I just want to publicly thank the board of education, Dr. Grandandy, the administrative team for having the confidence in me to serve as the assistant principal at the elementary schools. Uh I've I've been in this

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district for 23 years as a teacher, a coach, an adviser, and most recently a K through2 supervisor. So I know who we are as a school community, and I look forward to continuing to build on our strengths, but also identifying some areas that we can always improve upon as

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well. Uh, I can't do it without our teachers and staff at Valley and Henley. So, I'm excited to work with them and to support a new generation of students and their families, too. So, uh, speaking of family, my family's here tonight. As you can see, the little one running around.

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So, uh, I want to thank them for supporting me. Uh, I love you all. And, uh, thank you once again. Enjoy the rest of your summer. See you in the fall. Thank you, Mr. Marson. And we're uh happy you're staying with us and excited

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in this new role. Thank you. Uh anybody else 47 Post Road, Clark, New Jersey. Uh, as usual, I'm talking against the requirement by uh, former Governor Murphy and now Mickey Cheryl to teach

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abortion to the kids and LGBTQ stuff to the children, trans trans stuff to the children. Um, I I mentioned this before. There was a decision by the Supreme Court against Maryland, I mean in favor of Maryland's

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parents. Maryland had very similar laws to Jersey on that. And uh it it it was against uh teaching any trans stuff to the kids like story. It

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was just sto a simple story book thing that mentioned a dad uh a person had two dads and that was the basis of the whole thing and it went to the Supreme Court and they said you can't teach that unless uh the parents uh allow it

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because against a free exercise clause of the first amendment which brings in religion and just about every Christian and Muslim and Jew would be against uh it's in the Bible against teaching trans stuff to the kids. But Governor Murphy

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as well as Cheryl because she could have reversed it, but she didn't. So, it's on her shoulders now, too. Abortion is against most uh Christians, Muslims, and uh and Jewish people. Well, I don't know

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about the Jewish people for sure, but uh so uh it's against their religion. So they can't do it without the parents permission because of the free exercise clause of the first amendment. So therefore, Governor Murphy's laws and therefore New Jerseyy's laws right now

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because they're still in effect are unconstitutional. The Supreme Court in a 63 decision, the United States Supreme Court said it's unconstitutional. You have to give the the parents an option to opt out. Now they also said in order to opt out

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they have to know what the classes are like. Now uh it was sort of assumed that these were done just in health classes but it could be easily even be done in a math class by talking about a a a father with uh uh with with two dads and he had

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he had just bringing up a math problem and it's probably done like that. So therefore I think you have to tell uh the the write up a letter not on the internet. Some people don't have the internet that uh what classes are going

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to it'd be better to say what classes have it and no other class have this transgender and abortion stuff so the parents will know that their children can opt out of it because they are allowed to by the constitution according to United States Supreme Court.

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Uh, or you could tell every every single class what's exactly in it, but that would be almost impossible. >> Mr. JG, your time has expired. >> Thank you. >> Yep. Anybody else? State your name, your address. Three minutes per topic.

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>> Hello, John Gre from Clark. Um, I got here a little late. I did have a question about something on the agenda. There was two things. One was there was a scanning um fee. You guys were getting some documents scanned for like $50,000. Seemed like a lot of money for scanning.

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Um so I wanted to understand like how many docu I imagine it's a lot. But one of the other things that I wanted to also know is if that is going to include um optical character recognition so that when it actually gets scanned in it's something that can be like searched

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because you know like if it's an image you can't like search by words and stuff and that makes a really big difference in you know the quality of the data and the ability to utilize the data. So I wanted to find out about that. Um I also saw that you guys are um purchasing some

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air conditioners. >> Yes. Um, I'm glad that we're getting some air conditioning for some of the students, but it also seems like you're just getting some window air conditioners. Um, and in the long run, that's not always the most efficient thing, right?

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It for like the cost per BTU is a little bit higher than the central thing. So, I guess where you guys find the balance between not because I was you guys seem to make it seem like getting the central air conditioning wasn't a priority. Um, but

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we're getting the window air conditioners. So, at what point do we say that maybe the central air makes more sense? And then I guess is there a we talked about it a little bit the um like the costbenefit analysis of that.

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Um, is there anything that we can look at that that has that information on it? Um, and then finally, last time we were here, we were talking about pilots and you were saying that the number of students that were coming in was spread out and it wasn't

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necessarily creating a problem for the schools. I from what I can tell it seems like we're going to see a lot more pilots. Has there been like a analysis of at what point will it become a problem?

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Like is there a number or you know is there something to know because before we get there we should sort of have that figured out. So those are the things I'd like to bring up and find some answers for. Thank you. Let's start with your three questions. So I'm going to defer to Mr. Vizuzu or Mr. Grande about the

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scanning and what it includes and if it includes OCR so you're able to search it versus just scanning a flat file. So one of the initiatives we've been working on for several years now is to try to go as digital as possible and not

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have no longer have hard copy files. Um >> I'm all for that. >> We did that some years ago when we moved our evaluations to the my learning plan system. Um one of the things Mr. Tempen in his role um did this year for us was move us to frontline central um through

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which all of our paper contracts our onboarding paper work is all digital now. So the next step was to convert our hard copy personnel files into digital files so that they can be accessed by

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anyone with the given access rights at home. Let's say if someone's working from home, it's also a lot safer um if god forbid there's ever a fire or a flood. And that cost that you see on the agenda is a maximum cost. Um even when the um gentleman came out and gave us

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the quote, he did our special services files this past summer and when he came out to give us our quote this summer, um again, that's a maximum amount from measuring the file. >> How many files was it roughly? Um you figure for each um person working in the

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district plus um adjuncts you're talking about um 300 to 500 files. >> 300 just 300 >> 300 to 500 I said >> thousand or just

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>> no 300 to 500 pure number 300 to 500 files >> Dr. And I think we're going to go with this is pages. So approximately how many file how many pages do you think is >> that I if you email me I can get you we can look at the quote and get you that. Yep. >> I hope it's foreign 300. >> Yeah. No 300. I thought you just said

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files 300 to 500. >> Okay. I I assume >> if you email me I can get you the page number. >> Yeah. I just I was just roughly figure out. >> And then just to answer your other question Dr. Grande had already addressed the air conditioners. It was to to to supplement the classrooms that did not have room air conditioners. Um,

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we've heard the public. We've trying to mitigate the unbearable days in the district as much as possible. This cost of $11,000 is a lot better than $11 million at this time. So, as we go through the district and we do long-term planning,

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we'll we'll continue to look at the central air cost, but as of right now, the $11,000 is more manageable for the town as a whole as well. Otherwise, we'd have to put another bond out and whatnot and put it out to vote. Is there is there like a like we were talking about,

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is there like an estimate of the actual cost somewhere that we could look at? >> Uh, I want I'm I'm off the cuff. The last time we looked at this, I think it was >> it was it just the just the common areas, not classroom areas, just the common areas was around 9 to 10 million.

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And there's more than just putting a rooftop unit and blowing cold air, right? There's there's management, there's power infrastructure and whatnot. So, And also, if I may add, if you go central earlier, then the electrical panels will have to be replaced,

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upgraded, and that's hundreds of thousands as well, too. So, this huge cost to go central. >> Okay. I mean, I I understand. Um I eventually some of these things are going to have to happen. You know, the school is very old and there's going to have to be updates. So, um

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>> Mr. Gre, I'm going to tell you right now, we've talked about air conditioning for years. From our perspective, this board would be negligent to spend that amount of money on air conditioning for the amount of days that we would be using it. It is

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not something this board is considering right now. It is not something this board is considering in the future. So, you can talk about it all you want. We would be negligent to spend that kind of money for the amount of days that it would be used. So, we can agree to

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disagree, but that's where our heads are at. >> Okay, I hear what you're saying. >> And then remind me on your third question was ACU air conditioner and what was the other one? >> The pilot. >> The pilot. >> So, yeah. So, I I I just like to ask you a couple questions because I know you've come to us with this a number of times,

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>> right? >> Do you have do you have any answers? Do you have any idea how many kids have moved in that have come into the district as a result of the new construction? that took place. Do you have a do you have a number? >> So, I mean, do you

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>> Yes, we do. >> What is it? >> We believe it's somewhere between 30 to 50. >> Okay. Okay. >> About right spread out. >> 28 was the number I got from that one apartment building. >> Yeah. There might So, let's say let's round it out to 30. >> Sure. >> Of of the 30 of the cost, do you have a

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sense of what the cost is per student? >> It's about $17,000 per student. >> It is not $17,000 >> per pupil cost in your budget. >> I'm going to tell you why. Is that the per pupil cost in the budget? >> That's from a budget standpoint. Yes. But let me answer the question. >> The $17,000

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is is what we have. >> Of the of the $17,000, 95% of that money is fixed cost. It's buildings, it's teachers, it's electricity, it's heat, it's all those

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things. the 30 students that have come on just now, okay, have not impacted that cost at all. We're paying that money. We're paying 95% or more of that money whether those 30 students come or

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they don't come. Okay? So, at the end of the day, we've estimated that the variable cost that you're looking at, you want to count books, you want to count, I don't know, some other ancillary type of we're going to we're going to we're going to round it out and

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say it's about $1,000. So, right now, right now, we're looking at about $30,000. We'll make it simple and we'll ramp it up and say we're looking at $50,000 for $50,000 based on the arrangement we have with the town today and the services we get.

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It's not doesn't even merit a discussion right now. Which is why we've been trying to tell you that's the reason we're not in discussions about this. It has not impacted us because that $17,000 number that you're talking at about 95 to 97% of it is a fixed cost that

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doesn't change whether those kids come or they don't come. So what you're saying is is that the 5% that's remaining is the amount, right? So when you think about So I was actually applying it to the 100% of the budget, but now what you're saying is is that that extra cost

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should only be applied to the >> budget that's variable. What we're saying is we don't need money right now because we've already budgeted what we budgeted and the fact that these 30 additional students have come are not

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costing us any more than maybe 30 to $50,000. So I that's an interesting statement saying that you don't need money considering the last three years in a row have been highest increases the highest increases in school tax levy

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>> each year has been highest. >> We're not going to go back and forth on this Mr. >> I'm going to say for less time we don't need money. You guys are foregoing about $700,000 a year as a result of the the pilots. >> You want to look at it that way and you are increasing explain it to you.

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>> You had a $1.2 $.2 million increase and then a 1.4 >> nothing to do with the 30 students. >> Okay. But it's has to do with the fact that there's not a tax base that's paying into the school. So that $1.2 million increase could have been a $600,000 increase if we were getting a

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normal taxation. And that's we can do it in terms of individual students. We can do it in terms of the budget. But the main point is >> Mr. Greavves, we we I I totally understand your point. I understand where you're coming from. You're hoping that the town offsets the students that have come in. At this time, Mr. Small,

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who is the head of finance, has gone through this with Mr. Vizuzu and the finance committee. And at this time, we we don't need additional funding from the town of what they gave us already on top of what they gave us. >> But you're getting you do need additional funding. You're taking it from the taxpayer.

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>> Mr. Yes, Mr. Gre, I'm we're going to >> We are not I'm going to say >> the question I had was at what point will it be a problem? when we have to when when it impacts us in terms of we those those additional students are not

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burdening are not burdening us with any additional expense right now as the if the numbers grow and now we have to add classrooms and we have to add teachers and we have to do those types of things we're going to be sitting down with the town to say hey we need to we need to

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address this but right now for $30 to $50,000 And this is what we've said to you over and over and over again. We don't need to address it. Now, you may not agree with our excuse me, you may not agree with that approach. >> It's not It's not me that disagrees with

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it. It's the tax levy that you keep increasing. >> Has nothing that has nothing to do with the 30 students. >> You really think that the >> Mr. Gre We're gonna we're we're going to end this conversation here. >> Okay. >> We welcome the conversation. We welcome

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the input. I don't know how many time we don't need that right now from the town. As Mr. Smurl said, as I said last as as I said last month, if we need additional teachers, we need additional classrooms, we will have those conversations with the town with the B with our both of our

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BAS and work that out. As Mr. Small said, the 30 kids, if those 30 kids did not come in, we'd still have, I'm quoting your number, a $1.2 million tax levy. We would still have it. >> Well, it's actually 7 this year. That was that was two years ago. M >> Mr. Greavves, like I said, I was I was

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just stating your number. I don't have the numbers in front of me. I was going based off what you said. At this time, the apartments are not creating a burden where we need additional funding from the town. We've already we we know what our threshold is. We know how many classrooms we have. We know how many teachers we have. Once those once those

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thresholds are threatened or go over, we know what we need to do with the town. >> We would suggest that you figure it out before it goes over. I I'm Mr. Greavves. We have >> We monitor it all the time. >> We have We have a full-time BA who

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manages our finances. And I'm not sure how new you are to the town, but if you were here 8 to 10 years ago, you'd have some very valid points. Mr. Vizuzo has made us solid. He has made us whole. We are We are financially stable. Mr. Small, under his lead of the finance committing.

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>> Yeah. >> All right. All right. >> Mr. Greavves, >> cut them all. >> Mr. Greavves. Okay, Mr. Benzang, Mr. Greavves, >> like we've told you in the past, right now the apartments are not creating a burden. We're going to end the conversation here respectfully. And if

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you have more pointed questions, you can reach out to the superintendent, the the business administrator, or myself directly. But at this time, we're not going to go back and forth and talking about a levy, a tax levy at this point. >> Mr. Doner, I I appreciate your uh professionalism and um you know, being

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being polite in the way you handle this. Not so much for everyone else, but I appreciate it. So, Mr. Yeah, Miss Well, thank you, Mr. Griefs. Thank you. So, all right. So, at this time, at this Thank you. At this time, is there any

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other comments from the public? All right. So, seeing none, we're going to close this portion of the meeting. And can I get a motion to adjurnn? Mr. Small, Miss Akalonus, all in favor? I >> thank you.