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ready. I guess I guess we can go look at that one though. Good. 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. With that, can we get a motion to return to public? I see Mr. Small by Miss and then Miss Guerrero. Any do we need a
roll call? All in favor? Okay. At this time, if we can just raise for the pledge. Rise for the pledge. to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God,
indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Roll call. Miss present. Mr. Beninga here. Mr. Breedy. Mr. Breedy here. Miss Harrison here. Miss Guerrero here. Miss Hickman here. Mr. Lewis here. Mr. May
present Mr. SML here and Mr. Dunkerloop here having 10 board members we have a quorum thank you at this time Mr. Vzuza the budget [Music] All
right. Good evening and welcome to the 2526 budget presentation um for the school year next year. Start the board members are Mr. Steve Dunkers, president. Tom Lewis, vice president. Uh, Lorena Akalonus, Dino
Bessinga, Robert Breedy, Megan Harrison, Kristen Hickman, Thomas May, Robert Mora, and Garwood Representative Christine Guerrero. Presented tonight will be Mr. Grande and myself. Mr. around New York.
Throughout the budgeting process that begins each early fall, our district mission statement is a central guide to us. Clark Township Public Schools will in an active and responsible partnership with the community provide a quality education ensures all students achieve
the New Jersey student learning standards at all grade levels. Through nurturing of relevant learning environment, we will assist in the development of productive, respectful, and accountable citizens who are lifelong learners. From the educational aspects
of the budget, from our earliest learners, our kindergarteners will retain our full day program and all the way to our juniors and seniors at ALJ will continue to reimburse for AP exams and college courses for their future careers.
We will continue to aim for maximum class sizes of 20 to 25 and whenever possible even lower along with maintaining our strong commitment to professional development because our teachers and other professionals throughout the district are also students in a
sense. This professional development takes the form of weeklong summer institutes and bringing consultants into the district throughout the year to work with our staff. A number of curricular revisions have been budgeted for and the writers of those revisions were approved are going
to be approved this evening. We're thrilled that there are no staff reductions in this budget and in fact additional staff have been added. For example, a KTO 5 math coach. We're beginning the cycle of our onetoone student Chromebook
replenishment and replacement cycle along with purchasing instructional materials to complement this districtwide student Chromebook program. Such subscription learning sites as RAZ kids that specific example is an
internet-based K to5 learning site will be budgeted for along with such sites at the 6 to 12 level. Linkit will continue to be used as a benchmarking platform to give us data to see where our students need to
be remediated. And then to complement that platform is an additional platform for English language arts and mathematics for grades 3 to 12. So in a sense link it is the diagnos gives us the
diagnosis and provides the remediation and we need the infrastructure to be upgraded on an ongoing basis to support such technological initiatives.
Mr. Vizuza. Thank you, Mr. Grande. So, statute 68238 8-1 uh requires that the every board of education New Jersey adopt a balanced budget and and submit to the county
superintendent. That's important. It's a balanced budget. Some states allow their school district to have a floating budget. A floating budget means something that changes on on a monthly basis. Here in New Jersey, we have to have a balanced budget and we have to work within within our
budget. Uh components of school budget with every school district in New Jersey, you have funds. The general fund is 10, 11, 12, 13, 18. Special revenue fund is fund 20. Your capital projects uh fund 30. Any debt service fund uh
fund 40. So fund 30 fund 40 that's basically related to if you do pass a referendum that's where the uh the budget will go into and the debt service is what is what did the uh the tax allocation
uh the revenue for the operating budget uh in comparison this year's current budget 2425 versus next year uh our local taxes $ 37 million that went up about 3.1% % tuition which is Garwood
the receiving students we've received from Garwood is 2 $2.4 4 million increase of $477. A federal uh a state and federal aid is 3.5 million. Uh it went up 345,000 from this current school year.
Miscellaneous is uh 238,000. Uh fund balance 3.1. Uh the fund balance basically budget surplus. Um that's key. The fund balance is key because you take that away and uh
we would be down $3 million and the only way you can make that up is you increase the tax the local taxes which would be a virtually impossible because you you probably looking at $7 $800 increase per household. So it's important that we develop um the fund balance budget
surplus every single year. Total operating budget for next school year is 46 million. An increase of 2.7 million or about 6% increase from this current school year. A revenue breakdown with a chart.
Local taxes represent 80% of the revenue, tuition 5%, state aid 7%, a fund balance of seven, and miscellaneous 1%. Uh total revenue for next school year is 46 million for the general fund. Special
revenue is 4.5 million. Our debt service which is the current bond we have that will drop off in June of 26 is 1.8. So total revenue for 2526 is $52 million uh versus $49 million which you currently have this school year. That's an
increase about 7%. Um some key components in appropriations operating budget uh total instruction 16 million special ed is 4.8 out of district tuition is 2.9 million transportation is
3.2 student support is 11 million and capital is 143,000 for total general fund of 46 million550. Uh total total appropriations is um from general fund is 46 million special revenue 4.5 and
debt service 1.8 and you notice that the 52 million equals the revenue that we mentioned before. So we do have a balanced budget. Our fixed cost this is a very interesting slide. Salaries is 54% of
the budget. Employee benefits 17. So total salaries and benefits is 71% of the budget. Our out of district tuition special ed is 2.9 that represents 6% of our operating budget. Transportation 7
and plan operation security is eight. So total fixed cost uh is 92 uh 92%. Now a discretionary cost which is supplies purchase is about 8% 3.7 million but in essence you could
probably say a lot of it is you know fixed cost as well. We need supplies, you need your pencils, you need your books. So most of this is probably also fixed cost as well. So total general fund is 46,550. Again the pie chart salaries and
benefits 71%. Tuition is six, transportation is 7%, employ operation 8 and other is 8%. uh fixed cost the operating seat the majority of pie is the fixed cost of 92%
where other cost is coming in at [Music] 8%. pupils on roll uh for next school year our total enrollment is 2300 and you can see across the board last couple
years we've been pretty uh been pretty flat. There hasn't been too much spike either going up or down. Uh private school placements is 15. Uh sent to other district special ed is eight and receiving high school from
Garwood. We're projecting 140 students to for next school year. And here's a projected Garwood students by grade regular ed and also resource room. Uh 9th grade is 28, 10th
is 28, grade 11 is 33, grade 12 is 25. Share time. Share time means they spend a half a day here and the other half they go to vote. What do they do? AM or PM. Uh resource room uh a total of 24.
So total students we're anticipating for next school year is 140 students. some of the shared service that we have in the municipality and by the way the municipalities has been a big big uh influence on us as far as helping for
the past I've been here like 10 years and uh they've been tremendous with some of the help they've given us uh snowman room of leaf pickup groundskeeping uh they helped us with the field turf uh professional development we do that with the Morris Uni joint commission uh we
have purchasing co-op programs with uh 10 plus programs and the transportation routes. We do mostly with the Union County Air Service and some with the Marsh Unit Georgia Commission. At the projected school tax for next school year, based on average
home assessment 526, uh we're projecting $245 per household for the 2526 school year. Lastly, many thanks to everyone who to help us build this budget, the supervisor, the principles, uh many
thanks to Mr. Gru's support and also the board for their continued support, especially the finance committee uh for their many many support. Uh again, thank you. Uh anyone have any questions? The federal small like semi we get small
amounts mostly state aid. Yeah, it's mostly state out and I would say 95 to 98% is basically state aid. All right. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Vo. So, just Mr. Smoke.
Yeah, I just want to um thank Mr. Vuzu and his team for all the work, all the hard work that they um put into putting the budget together. So, thank you, Mr. Vuzu. I know it's not an easy task to find a balanced budget uh especially with the challenges that we're all
facing today financially. So, um, on behalf of the board and specifically on behalf of the finance committee, thank you. Thank you, Mr. Small. Uh, at this time, one last chance. Are there any questions about the annual budget before we close that part of the meeting? Okay. So,
seeing none, we'll move to the next portion. We'll get the um I guess you want me to get it passed, huh? Yep. We have to take a You want a motion? Vote on the budget. Yes. Can I get a motion on the budget? Mr. Small on Mr. Breedy. Any questions or comments?
Roll call. Zaconis. Yes. Mr. Beninga. Yes. Mr. uh Mr. Breedy. Yes. Miss Harrison. Yes. Mr. Guerrero. Yes. Miss Hickman. Yes. Mr. Lewis. Yes. Mr. May. Yes. Mr. Sorl. Yes. And Mr. Duncan? Yes. Motion carried. Thank you. So, we'll
move on to the approval of minutes for last month. Can I get a motion to Miss Akalonus and Miss Hickman? Any questions or comments? Roll call, please. Miss Akalonus. Yes. Mr. Benoa. Stain. Mr. Breedy. Yes. Miss Harrison. Yes. M.
Guerrero. Yes. Mr. Hakeman. Yes. Mr. Lewis. Yes. Mr. May. Yes. Mr. Surro. Yes. And Mr. Duncan. Uh, abstain. Motion carried. At this time, we will open floor to the public for agenda items only. So, if there's something on the
agenda you would like to discuss or ask questions, now would be the time. At the end of the meeting, there will be time for non-aggenda items. Anything on the agenda? Okay. So, seeing none, we'll move on to personnel. We have items 1 through 25. Can I get a motion? Miss Aalonus and Mr. Bena. Can I
get a roll call, please? Aonus. Yes. Mr. Bena. Yes. Mr. Breedy. Yes. Miss Harrison. Yes. Mr. Guerrero. Abstain on two, four, 6, 10, 11, 12, 13,
and 24. And yes on the rest. Thank you. Uh, Miss Sicken, yes. Mr. Lewis, yes. Mr. May, yes. Mr. Smurl, yes. And Mr. Duncan, yes. Motion carried. All right. And on curriculum, we have item number 26. Can I get a motion? Miss Akalonus, Miss Harrison. Any questions or
comments? Roll call, please. Miss Akalonus. Yes. Mr. Mr. Vingo, yes. Mr. Brey, yes. Miss Harrison, yes. Mr. Guerrero, yes. Mr. Hickman, yes. Mr. Lewis, yes. Mr. May, yes. Mr. SMO, yes.
And Mr. Duncan, yes. Motion carried. Board of governance. We have items 27 and 29. Can I get a motion? Mr. Breedy and Mr. Bena. Any questions or comments? Roll call. Zelonus. Yes. Mr. Bensona. Yes. Mr.
Breedy. Yes, Miss Harrison. Yes, M. Guerrero. On 29. Yes. On 278. Mr. Hickman. Yes. Mr. Lewis. Yes. Mr. May. Yes. Mr. Smurl. Yes. And Mr.
Duncan. Yes. Motion carried. And then finally, we have finance items 30 to 44. Can I motion? Mr. Smurl, followed by Mr. Brey. Any questions or comments on those? Seeing none, roll call, please. Tyonus. Yes. Mr. Vinga, yes. Mr. Breedy,
yes. Miss Harrison, yes. Mr. Guerrero, abstain on 30, 32, 33. Yes. On the rest, Mr. Eggman, yes. Mr. Lewis, yes. Mr. May, yes. Mrs. Sorl, yes. And Mr. Dunkers? Yes. Motion carried. Thank you.
At this time, we'll hand over to Mr. Grandandy for the report of the superintendent. Good evening and thank you, Mr. Donersloop. We have some excellent news to share this evening. based on the school performance reports from the New Jersey Department of Education that look at, for example,
student achievement, student growth, and student attendance. Each of our schools scored roughly in the top third or higher. Only high schools were given ranks, and ALJ placed 120 out of 358.
We are thrilled to be in the pack, so to speak, with some strong high schools and even in some cases to have surpassed them. And these are neighboring high schools. Information on these reports can be found on our district website.
nj.com also prepared a related article. Many thanks to our entire school community and congratulations to Mrs. Olivera and her team on this most recent ranking. Please know that we will use these reports to build on our
strengths and address our areas for growth. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Another another exciting announcement, a
bond referendum vote will be held on September 16th, 2025. This referendum will enable us to upgrade our district's facilities. We submitted our application to the New Jersey Department of Education and have received a response. The board of
education's referendum committee and the full board have met to review that response and are finalizing the project list. We are planning to be able to share that project list by the end of this month. We are committed to providing the
community with updates throughout the month of June and during the summer months. These efforts include sharing referendum information in an overview video, printed and mailed materials, social media posts, local news outlets, and a dedicated section of the
district's website. Thank you for your continued support of this most exciting initiative. In keeping with the theme of thanks, thank you Mr. Vizuzo for the budget pre preparation and this evening's presentation. A special thanks
to our finest committee led by Mr. Small with Mr. Brady and Mr. May as committee members, our full board and our administrators because a lot of work goes in and many months of planning to what you saw this evening and the presentation will be posted on the district
website. We're accepting the retirement of Mrs. Margaret Rosenmeer, an ALJ special education teacher with 17 years of good service in our district, serving in many different roles and in different buildings. Margot will definitely be
missed. But on the other end, we approved a number of new hires this evening and one of which is in our audience, Miss Rebecca Dria, who will be one of our new preschool teachers. Welcome, Rebecca. [Music]
[Applause] On this evening's agenda, the substitute pay rate for this September is being raised from $130 per day to $140 per day to address some of the concerns that we've been discussing with substitute availability. And thanks to the
personnel committee with Mr. Lewis's chair and Miss Alanis as a member, once again, the full board and our administrators for the head start on interviewing this season. Our reappointment lists are attachments to this evening's agenda and we are thankful to our faculty and staff for
all that they do for our students on a daily basis. And tomorrow will be teacher appreciation day and once again thank you to our superstar staff. As I mentioned in the budget presentation, curriculum writers are being approved this evening along with our summer
reading lists. And finally, our wellness policy annual school progress report. Our schools across the district are in compliance with the wellness policy nutrient st nutrient standards for meals and other foods number
8505 and they have made progress towards attaining the policy goals. There are no recommended changes or an action plan for next school year's implementation of the policy. Thank you and have a good evening. Thank you, Mr. Grandandy. Report to the committees, Mr. Lewis.
Yeah, I have uh three pieces. I think the first piece is I would like to congratulate Margot Rosener. I think uh she has been a fantastic employee. Uh her commitment,
dedication, passion for her students um is second to none. So, uh, for Margot, I want to congratulate her for her career in supporting our students at AOJ. Number
two, I want to um congratulate our administration, our staff, our support group for those fantastic results. I think that it's really an honor when four
schools all have had successes. Henley Valley and Comf and the High School. Uh it's proud moment to be in the top third. I congratulate the people working hard to make this thing happen. This is something that's not small, it's big.
Serving on the board, I know it gives the board great pleasure. So, I want to thank the staff and all involved. It would be remiss if I didn't congratulate you, Mr. Grande, for the work that you do, commitment,
dedication. That is our goal. We need to go in that direction and continue on. So, we're trying to build on something. So, I'm not going to move lightly off this. This is a big big big uh piece of success that we're going
to build on. The last piece, Aiden, I just want to tell you've been fantastic. I know it's the month of May. You've been nothing but fantastic. You're a pro. You've been a great addition. And I want on behalf of the board to make you aware and I'll certainly talk to Mrs.
Oliver. You're the first scholarship guy. We will definitely put you on our list. You're going to get a scholarship from the board of education. And when I really say that you represented ALJ with the great A. So, thank you, Aiden. Thank you.
All right, Mr. Lewis, you're done. Thank you, Mr. Lewis. I also think it's really important to acknowledge that this week is a very special week for our educators, teacher appreciation week, and we've had some such great news um about the direction in which our schools are going in. And that just is again to
speak to the the professionalism and the dedication and the passion that our educators, our administrators, our support staff have. And I just I couldn't be more thrilled to be connected to such a district that cares the way that we all do for our students.
Thank you, Miss Harrison. Mr. Smarl. Yeah. I um just uh want to add my congratulations to Miss Alivera on the great results as the principal of the school. um you get the flowers right now. Just want to you know the tough part is um now the bar gets raised and
so you keep you keep chasing it but congratulations and you know again when you look at that list and you see some of the schools that we're now ahead of that are that are ahead of our town socioeconomically. Um that's that's a very rewarding result for us. So we're
really we're excited about it. Again, thank you for all your efforts. I think you've brought a lot of passion and enthusiasm to the job which has kind of grown throughout the school. We recognize that. So congratulations and keep up the good work. All schools, all schools.
Thank you, Mr. Small. Any other report of the committees? All right. So, seeing none, we'll go to unfinished or new business. All right. So, seeing none on that, we will go to the hearing of the public. Oh, I'm sorry, Aiden. We almost missed you. So, listen, no pressure now, Mr. Lewis, you set the bar, right? So,
Aiden, over to you. All right, thank you. I once again want to say thank you, Mr. Lewis. I really appreciate it. It's been my pleasure to work with you guys this entire year. Uh, and it's sad that it's already May and it's coming to a close. So, I really appreciate the opportunity that you've all given me. It's been great. Um, and now I'll get
into the report. So, I'll begin my report with events at Arthur L. Johnson. On April 9th, uh, the AOJ's chapter of the Science National Honor Society honored their new 2025 inductees. These inductees have distinguished themselves through their excellent character and proficiency in their science classes.
The end of April was also busy with the both highly competitive senior whiffle ball tournament as well as um the NJSLA the science NJSLA, an important standardized test that students take throughout their years in school. Speaking of the
NJSLA, all students at Comf will be taking this standardized test this week concluding on May 9th. Alongside this, the National Junior Honor Society induction ceremony will be held on May 8th, honoring the impressive academic achievements of some truly outstanding
students. Looking towards Frank Henley, they made the most of the spring weather this April. On Earth Day, students walked and rode their bikes to school and later in the month, students planted flowers and made the school look so nice. Students also embraced their inner poet this month with the poetry
poetry in motion event where representatives from each class read their own original poetry. Valley Road School also had an outdoorsy spring with their students and faculty walking to school on Earth Day as well. Students at Valley Road School also showed off their hard work with
their performance of the Beauty and the Beast play which all students had a chance to attend. Valley Road School closed off the month with their reading picnic in which fifth grade students connected with their peers by reading books to kindergarten and second grade students at preschool. Tomorrow's
teachers program has been continuing to provide great learning opportunities for the many participants teaching them about behavior strategies among other key educational tools. And finally, I'd like to share some dates for some upcoming events in our arts and theater program. Uh, in terms of spring music
concert, uh, Franklin Henley will have a concert on Wednesday, May 21st. Uh, ALJ has theirs on Tuesday, May 27th. Valley Road School will be on Wednesday, May 28th. Uh, Carl Hump will be on Thursday, June 5th. And as for art shows, uh, the
Valley Road Art Show will be on Friday, May 16th. ALJ on Tuesday, May 27th, Frank Carl Conf on June 11th, and Frank K. Henley on June 11th as well. And finally, on May 27th, the Clark Public School District will be hosting an arts night. At this event, awards will be
given to students with outstanding artistic talent, both in the visual arts and music. On top of this, attendees can enjoy live performances of music and a section of the AOJ Spring Musical as well as a show during this event. Thank you.
Thank you, Aiden. All right. So, at this time, I'm going to open the floor to the public. If there's any comments for non-aggenda items, now would be your time. Come up, state your name, your address, your question, and you have three minutes. I think Yeah, I think the mic
works, Mr. J. I think. Hold on, Mr. Vuzo. Turn it around. Right. Uh, Bill Draggy, 47 Post Road, Clark, New Jersey. Um, I'd like to congratulate the school for I mean the uh the department of
education for the uh great success in uh in your uh being the top third having the top third of the states uh best students. It's great. Um, and I also like to state that uh,
President uh, President Trump has uh, many executive orders and several of them are dealing with [Music] um, uh, things in this school. President Trump said there's
only two sexes. So when I refer to anything now, I'm going to just say he or she. I don't have to say uh male with a uh uh with male a girl with male body parts or anything like that because it is an
executive order by President Trump which is federal law for everybody in the United States, everybody in New Jersey. Uh so when uh Governor Phil Murphy says there's are many sexes
uh it's directly contradictory to President Trump's federal law which says there's only two sexes. when federal when uh President Trump says that there are no
uh boys in girl sports and and and Governor Phil Murphy says there can be boys and girls sports. That's directly contradictory to the federal
law which which President Trump made. He has state it is state law in New Jersey that there's no uh girls can be in boys can be in girls sports but that's state law because he had an
executive order also uh Governor Murphy he's making state law but President Trump is making federal law. So federal law is outweighs state
law. And when federal when President Trump says nobody in the grammar school or or up to 18 in the high school can be uh given any
uh hormones to make the person more masculine or make make a girl more uh make a a girl more masculine or vice versa with a boy. He said, President Trump said that's not
allowed and that is federal law. Mr. J, your time is expired. Yeah. Thank you. Is there any other public comments for non-aggenda items? Okay. If you could just come up,
state your name, your address, and you'll have three minutes. Katie Nangho, 16 Cook Street. Uh my question is about the preschool and I get had a lot of questions about the preschool. Uh but going forward, how are
you determining which kids get in schools, which don't? And are you looking at expanding so that all the kids can be included? And we'll be putting that in the budget in addition to the
grant. Mr. Randy, so the preschool expansion aid is a five-year program, right? Which we're entering in September, year two. And by the end of year five, we're supposed to get the state aid. It's not a grant,
it's increase in state aid to be able to house any eligible three or four year old. And this past year we had this current year I should say seven classrooms. Um next year we're expanding
that to include five more. So the five plus to seven to give us a total of 12. And then like I said over the next three years the amount will increase so that we'll be able to house every three and four year old. So the goal is every then
kid. Yep. any child in town whose parents would like him or her to be in the program that there will be a seat for him or her. Okay. And in the meantime, it's going to continue to be a random selection. Oh, thank you. Thank you. Are there any other questions
or comments about the non-aggenda items? Yes, maybe. Okay. So, seeing none, we'll close that portion of the call. Motion to adjurnn. All in f Mr. Small, Mr. May. All in favor? I thank you. [Music]
[Music] Hey. Hey. Hey. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music]
Happy.
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