##VIDEO ID:27RCfN_XSuk## like to call this meeting to order would the secretary please call the role Anna Braun here Timothy Cummings here Jamie Falco here Lis Figaroa here Lorie herck here Lee wuhong here Lorie LAX here W bur pan here hea gu here please rise for the pledge I pledge aliance 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 all good evening and welcome uh first we're going to go directly to oh sorry the New Jersey open public meeting law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed and acted upon in accordance with the provisions of this act the East Brunswick board of education has caused notice of this meeting to be published by having the date time and place there are posted at the Board of Education offices written notice was also provided to The Sentinel the Newark Star Ledger and the home news and Tribune the alternative press of East brunic and the municipal clerk of East brunic all Board of Education meetings with the exception of executive session discussions are videotaped for later broadcast it is the policy of the Board of Education that videotaped meetings are not edited for any purpose individuals who speak at the board's public meeting should be aware of these videotaping rules we have a need for a closed session whereas the Board of Education must discuss matters which are not appropriate for the discussion in a public meeting and whereas these subjects are within the exceptions to the open public meeting act and are permitted to be discussed in closed session pursuant 10 JS 104-112 B and whereas the Board of Education intends to discuss matters uh items listed on tonight's agenda whereas the length of the closed session is estimated to be 1 hour after which the public meeting of the board shall reconvene and action will be taken can I have a motion uh Wilbur and second by Lori all in favor I opposed extensions we are enclosed we will be back in one hour there we go welcome back again um we apologize for the extra few moments it took us um sometimes we just can't move faster when we need to all right we would like to begin and it is so nice to see you all here this is my favorite part of these meetings uh we'd like to begin with the superintendent report Dr Bess thank you president gu good evening everyone it's great to see you here and I promise I'm going to be as quick as I can possibly be because you guys have some very important things to do so good evening the artwork on display in the boardroom this evening was created by students from bound Monroe Elementary School the art teacher of these talented students is toera naichi and Christen Chistina is the principal we are thrilled to announce that ebhs senior Alison Lee has been named one of the 40 finalist in the 84th regeneron science Talent search the nation's oldest and most prestigious pre-collegiate science competition she was selected from nearly 2,500 applicants Nationwide Allison's achievement is a testament to her dedication scientific rigor and potential of groundbreaking research as a finalist Allison will travel to Washington DC to compete for the top prize of and you're going to be amazed $250,000 she will present her original research to the public and connect with leading scientists and innovators and we are incredibly proud of Allison to represent our district and we certainly wish her the best of luck congratulations once again to our high school We the People team their outstanding performance at the rucks competition has earned them the coveted spot at the national We the People competition in Washington DC they'll be representing the state of New Jersey and we are incredibly proud of them on Friday January 24th the high school International Club hosted its vibrant annual Bollywood night students enjoyed an evening filled with energetic dancing intricate hna tattoos creating culture celebrating culture and just having fun in a festive atmosphere the winter Color Guard kicked off their competition season with a strong performance showcasing their hard work and talent congratulations to the students on a wonderful start to the season hamers shold upper elementary school has joined thousands of schools to participate in the great kindness challenge the great kindness challenge is a week-long program from Monday January 27th through tomorrow Friday January 31st and is dedicated to creating a culture of kindness and compassion in communities worldwide and so far they've hosted Spirit Week dress days daily kindness quotes that were read in the morning announcements by members of the student council and students had the opportunity during their lunch to create cards for someone as well as write down something kind they have done for someone else in addition Hugh student council put together a lunch period challenge to recognize students engaged in random acts of kindness in sports girls swimming are the red and GMC Champions and this is their third year in a row winning both congratulations to them boys wrestling won the Brunswick brawl versus north south in New Brunswick for the third year in a row so congratulations to to them and in boys basketball Matt makoka scored his 1,000th point on Thursday January 9th against zville congratulations to Matt our newly formed dance team made history by performing in their first dance competition on Sunday January 26 at Hillsboro High School and we have a small clip of their performance to share with everyone next in the varsity Jazz division East Brunswick High School 5 6 78 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 1 2 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 1 2 1 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 where we 1 2 1 2 1 1 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 1 2 1 1 2 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 1 2 2 3 1 2 2 1 2 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 congratulations to our December and January high school athletes of the month students were selected for this Honor by their coaching staff based on performance demonstration of leadership effort and practice and of course for model in exceptional character and I'll pause for a moment because we have December and January on January 13th I along with a few board members attended the special education parent advisory group meeting attorneys Hinkle prior and Fischer presented a webinar on navigating New Jersey children's system of care also known as perform care perform care officers offer services not covered by health insurance for children with emotional behavioral intellectual or developmental disabilities the next cpag meeting will feature East Brunswick adaptive Recreation presented by Caitlyn kohi and um or kho I'm sorry Caitlyn kho on Wednesday February 12th at 7M the meeting will be virtual and the link will be posted on our website ebnet.org CAG sep East Brunswick residents with children who will be 5 years of age honor before October 31st 2025 are eligible for the East Brunswick Public School full day kindergarten program for the 2025 2026 school year we are accepting registration in two ways either in person or drop and go and I don't mean drop your kids and go in-person registrations will take place on Wednesday February 5th from 7:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and Friday February 7th from 7:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. right here at the East brunic Public Schools administration building in-person registrations do not require an appointment and students do not need to attend for the drop and go all paperwork can be dropped off right here at the administration building again and you'll receive an email confirmation when your registration has been processed incoming kindergarten students must be registered by Tuesday May 20th that's this May 20th in order to participate in the June kindergarten classroom visit and screening please visit our website at ebnet.org for more information and we are looking forward to welcoming believe it or not the class of 2038 thank you if that doesn't make you humble no I would appreciate wasn't your class the first class that had full day kindergarten would you even remember that I believe you were um I would like to take a moment before we move on to our very happy occasions uh to address take a moment for January 27th which was Holocaust Memorial Day marking the 80th anniversary of the liberation of aitz and burkan now um it's a solemn anniversary to many of us in this community uh it is a solemn anniversary in my family as my grandparents were survivors and my grandmother is still with us at 101 from midic I think taking a moment to reflect is important because we live in such a beautifully diverse community and this Memorial is not just important for families of survivors or families of victims as I was looking at the Holocaust Memorial Website it discussed things that these atrocities have in common and they said that all of them begin with discrimination hate and creating a sense of other Ness it referred to these dangers and I think as a parent and an educator and a Community member we need to take the 27th forward into the rest of the year in our community and look for opportunities to bridge these gaps to fight away the opportunities for otherness to fight away this discrimination and to stand up for the beauty that is our diversity and thank you uh now we are moving on to the Church Hill Junior High School honors chamber course all right I would like to invite the board members if we could move around so that we could see them we usually don't get to see from the front so this is awesome and our director of Arts Michelle introduce please introduce good evening my name is Michelle DEA I haven't met you I'm the very very proud supervisor of the Arts education department here in East Brunswick I thought it would be nice um tonight to give you a little peek into some of the Excellence in our music program that is going on around the district um we just came off of three weeks of chorus concerts and the Churchill chorus this year has 260 students enrolled in just grades seven8 and nine who we have here this evening are members of the Church Hill honors chamber choir and what that means is that these students auditioned to be in this group so at Churchill we have three AUD auditioned honors groups one for band one for orchestra and one for chorus and what makes that so special is that you don't see that in a lot of districts starting in seventh grade having a group where students audition and sing they're basically singing High School level music and their director Mrs D Sienna Mrs Jamie D Sienna is is the reason why we have have 260 students along with her colleagues other Coral colleagues in the district um and why they love singing so much so they're going to sing two pieces for you this evening that they sang at their Winter concert so as Mrs gu said if now you would go to the back of the room so they can sing to you and not all your mics are turned off and chorus students you can come on up and you can face that way we all right you can see I can see you to the to the to the to the to to t t t t to true to to t t t t t son to the son to to to to to to so that was tababa and it was um an African piece in Zulu and this next one is um a traditional spiritual yist y Yonder Come Yonder Come Day sun is in in my soul y y ising in my soul Y come Y come Y come sun is rising in my soul y is a breaking is rising in my soul y day day is a breaking y y ising ising in my soul is rising in my soul oh it's a brand new day ising brand new day day is a break day day it's a brand new day and the Sun is arising in my soul the is AR in my y day day is a breaking Y come day oh my soul isaking ising in my is breaking oh my soul is a breaking is rising in my soul Isis in my soul it's a brand new day sun is arising new day is break it's a new day and the sun is in my soul oh the sun ising in my soul Yonder Come Day and the day is a breaking Y come day and the day is a breaking sun is rising in my soul is arising in my soul y Y come day day is a breaking day is a break Y come day Y come day sing Oh My Soul Sing My Soul day day it's a brand new day and the sun is in day day is breaking sun is rising in my soul day day isaking sun is arising my soul great job for that was amazing absolutely that was absolutely amazing and I would have thought had I not been here for the introduction that I was listening to a high school or older it so good just really so talented and I said to I said to your teacher while we were standing off to the side that is beautiful from an Educator's point of view to watch students just lean in like physically leaning in to connect while they're singing is just great all right we're on to the student Representatives report you have to follow that re I don't know how you're doing this tonight but I bet you can yeah it's going to be very hard to follow that that was amazing I I didn't want it to end I wish it just kept going on but um hello everyone it's been uh not too long since we last met but a lot has happened Sports competitions Club events PTSA meetings and unfortunately midterms um let's get the less exciting news out of the way um today marked the first day of midterms with the first and fourth block taking place tomorrow will be the 5th and 8th followed by the second and third and concluding with the sixth and seventh block classes uh my fellow seniors and I have been buried in our books over the last few weeks balancing College admissions studying in the final stretch of our high school Journey but it is encouraging to see the Finish Line in sight with perhaps perhaps the last hurdle being midterms um to support students in their academic Endeavors um teachers have been offering drop and tutoring sessions helping students clarify questions and ease concerns as the semester comes to a close and uh many students are looking forward to the new semester with new classes new faces and uh new teachers uh now on to some more exciting news uh this past week the high school's AP Institute for political and legal education traveled to new Ruckers New bronck for the annual We the People competition um students in this course spend the entire year researching writing and studying in preparation for the event which will test their ability to interpret the Constitution the government the Supreme Court rulings and other legal Frameworks competitors must translate their knowledge into well-crafted speeches that effectively convey their knowledge personally as a student in this course my group was tasked with exploring Free Speech rights in schools and universities we were able to reference Frameworks right here in East Brunswick at our school such as the role iold as Board of Education representative and bring that on the day of the competition all six groups delivered compelling speeches and demonstrated strong performances with our teacher Mr MRE noting that this year's class was one of the strongest he seen in the past few years in the closing ceremony it was announced that East brunic had won the state competition and we would represent New Jersey at the New Jersey at the national competition in April winter sports are now in full spring with swimming basketball dance and many other teams deep into their competitive Seasons the girls swim team secured their third consecutive GMC Championship winning by a dominant margin of over 100 points ahead of their closest competitor Junior and 100 meter freestyle freestyle specialist Helen IU stated this team is super strong this year in an impeccable form we can't wait to see what we accomplish at the state competition in February the boys swim team also performed impress performed impressively finishing in second place meanwhile the boys basketball team faces North Brunswick tonight and what is expected to be the toughest matchup of the season however they entered the game with great players and strong momentum just two weeks ago Junior guard Matt makoka reached the Thousand Point milestone in his East Brunswick High School career the girls dance team began their inaugural season competing for the first time last weekend as you saw in the video that's great to watch and we wish them the best of luck as they continue their season and their big competition this weekend the international Club recently hosted its annual bwood night an evening filled with music dancing and various cultural festivities the night kicked off with the mango lessy drinking competition where students raced back and forth between tables to see who could finish five cups first I have never seen a group of students run so fast in the high school in my entire career but the night was packed with engaging activities including a hen Station Pizza and non-stop music not only did students grain gain a greater appreciation for South Asian culture but they also created Unforgettable memories um as 25 as 2025 Begins the new year also brings new beginnings for many seniors throughout January many College admission decisions have been released and students are beginning to finalize their plans for the future the class of 2025 commits social media page which you can follow on Instagram has been flooded with announcements from students committing to their top choice schools showcasing not only their hard work but the unwavering support of the counselors and staff at East burnswick High School um senior and fellow classmate Arian Rihanna shared his own high school Journey Journey noting that my counselor at the high school informed me about a competitive and notable political science and economics program at the University of Richmond which he had no clue about before um he applied in October got accepted this past week and is likely to attend in the fall um more students will hear back from colleges in February March and April and decisions will continue to unfold throughout the year I'd like to wish parents students and teachers the best of luck with the remainder of M terms as well as you guys um good luck tomorrow and I look forward to speaking with all of you at the next meeting thank thank youc also I have to applaud your class because the class of 2025 commits has the most adorable baby pictures instead of the regular senior pictures for all of their colleges it's really great to watch all right we are up to for the good of the cause do you want to let these young people go home and study or just let them go home we're going to have a very brief recess none of us move to let you guys go home and study possibly all right thank you so much for being here and good luck on your midterms thank you all right we will assume that everyone here does not need to study for midterms and is feeling more relaxed all right we are now on to for the good of the cause for the public the Board of Education recognizes the value of public comment on education issues and of the importance of allowing members of the public to express themselves on school matters of community interest in order to permit the fair and orderly expression of such comment the board shall provide a period for public comment at every meeting of the board residents are welcome to speak up to 3 minutes the timing will be kept by the board secretary I would just like to request when you step up to the podium you state your name and address unless you are a student and then we just need your name is there anyone this evening wishing to speak to the board hello my name is Kelly Trigo um prore Street with the new administration's executive order orders titled ending radical wasteful government Dei programs and preferencing term I find both offensive and inaccurate I'm concerned about how this might impact our schools moving forward the doe is already taken steps to eliminate di programs such as diversity training and inclusive classroom materials and and I'm curious to understand what that could mean for us especially given that Dei programs can be interpreted in many different ways additionally I'd really appreciate some insight into how the potential reduction or change in allocations of the title one funding could impact our students moving forward including the potential effect of our special education department staying informed and coming together at this time is very vital as a community so I'd like to know how we'd be updated about these impacts and how we can organize and organize as a community to ensure our students continue to receive the necessary support and resources thank you thank you Kelly did you want to say anything you want to wait till the end end okay is there anyone else wishing to speak to the board tonight alra Sidler 12 South Woodland Avenue um it is telling that some members some here would choose to spend their time attempting to discredit a community member who came to to them hoping for a resolution rather than doing the job board members are elected to do you don't need to personally agree with my Approach however the Antics displayed in this room on January 16th illustrate why it is the one that I have chosen plenty of parents have had these conversations over the phone and behind closed doors and what good has come of it none of us are looking for special treatment for solely our children we want better for all so yes I do want everything on the record not a cas ual conversation subject only to your misrepresentation to further correct that record I did speak with Dr veski in this room on December 5th and I never declined a meeting I said I want the answers in writing and then would be happy to meet and that is in writing there is no policy against that there are policies that require communication to be reduced to writing such policies are even in place to handle complaints regarding curriculum as is the case with District policy 9130 part of the the task you are elected to complete is overseeing the superintendent and enforcing these policies you are not elected to oversee me or any other Community member you have allowed the better part of five school years to pass without the implementation of gifted and talented services for K through 4 there's a district policy for that as well and there is now public documentation of significant numbers of parents being told such a program did not exist you cannot possibly make up for the missed opportunities those who would have qualified have been denied accountability requires acknowledgement of mistakes and a clear plan to guarantee something like this never occurs again accountability is not making unpublicized updates to a web page it is not sending an email about a portion of these changes months after they began being made and it is not referring to the initiation of services as enhancements accountability is not scrambling to get help only for the students whose parents have spoken at these meetings parents who have been having informal conversations for years if you wanted to give a nod to transparency you would start by enforcing already established policies by disclosing the cost of the revised units of study Curriculum by asking the questions we have asked before voting yes to approve these purchases by publicly setting goals and the plans to meet them by publicly and meaningfully involving parents and teachers in these decisions not just eight or so handpicked to Pilot one unit of one program in each school we know East Brunswick is a nationally recognized blue Ribbon School District but we also know that academic Excellence is a journey and not a destination these are our children these are public funds and you represent us 10 seconds our mistake has been deferring to The Experts assuming all of this was taken care of and now we know it's not thank you thank you Miss eer is there anyone else wishing to address the board good evening Jennifer Figaroa 101 Rus Lane I attended a very informative meeting the other night the P at the PTSA meeting at the high school um presented by two East Brunswick Police Officers um and the topic was driver safety and safety awareness in general uh during that meeting I was made aware that there is a program that they have offered in the past called share the keys that is offered to the provisional driver's license students um for some reason this year it was not being shared Unfortunately they wanted to share it on Tuesday night but um they said because of the length of of the meeting that they couldn't share it so I'm coming to you tonight to ask why it's not being offered to the the drivers for this year and I'm asking that you could please bring this program back as driver safety is should be an extreme topic um for our high school students thank you thank you Jennifer may I say something sure I just wanted to add um the program at the high school was excellent I was there in person and it was really valuable I actually have notes later to thank the police department and the PTSA for arranging it was there anything you would like to respond to president gu if I could just clarify a couple things um on the Dei we have not received any direct communication from the Department of Education as of today about any changes to funding that would impact any program we already have in place um what if we do we will communicate that as soon as we as soon as we get it um but I I assure you right now we don't have any direct communication from doe on that um Dr boy was unable to be at this meeting tonight but for the February 13th meeting I've I've asked her to present our gifted and talented program so there clarification about what we've been doing over the last five years and that includes two years of covid so I want to bring clarification to that and I'm not disagreeing with some of the concerns that the community is bringing but I I also believe there's clarification needs to be done from our side um and share the keys I completely agree I I do not know why it wasn't done but we're going to look into it it is a great program Dr bsh was talking to the officers at the end he was there he was there as well I find what's going on but I yeah in the back Tuesday night yeah I'm sorry I'm not supposed to do this we can talk later all right and I need I'm sorry I need to close the public portion I sometimes for oh I do I'm so sorry Danielle Vio 23 Bradford Road I just want to reiterate some of the concerns with um the current administration's plans and I know that while um maybe nothing has been said yet I just hope that you guys are proactively thinking about what might be to come and gearing up for that so I just I'm sure I speak for a lot of people in the town thank you is there anyone else Michelle Bethy five watchong Road um I'm just upset that there's this attention for the gifted and talented program that was not in place and there's no mention of anything about the language arts curriculum there's no clarification on that um you know we've received an email that there's now Universal screening for gifted and talented where is that same communication for our students who are struggling with reading that's what I would like to know thank you Michelle hello good evening my name is Maggie georgees uh 34 Garfield Avenue um there's a lot of rumors about Bal Monroe um about it closing and I just want to know if the board can clarify those rumors I understand this has been discussion for 20 years now um but it seems like there's more and I I hope that just like you would be transparent about anything that you would hear about the Dei programs they would also be transparent about anything that's happening with Balman row so thank you very much thank you Magie okay is there anyone else all right that's it now I'm closing the public portion all right we are moving on to the agenda um I would like to move the entire agenda I would like to just restate for the newer board members that that does not preclude any discussion on any items we're just going to move all the items at once and then open for discussion all right so can I get a motion to move tonight's entire agenda so moved Miss logs miss her all right is there any discussion yes president gu I have um some concerns about some of the language in the board member code of conduct and best practices uh I would like to share that with the board secretary for distribution to board members for their perusal he's passing window down that okay take care of that all right I also actually wanted to say on that that um I would like to see added on the after section and I will send it also to the board secretary board members will always maintain confidentiality of privileged information and executive session discussions on the last section anyone else I have one other piece that I'd like to add to that as well um I feel very strongly about uh incorporating more language this is again regarding to the board member code of conduct uh around the district's support for staff uh all staff across the district I understand wholly that we are driven here and and motivated to you know see the the kids within our district grow and succeed and develop their skills but the only way that happens is if our team is operating at full capacity and feels fully supported and uh that we're fostering a community of Wellness for our staff so I'll submit those to the board secretary as well I feel very strongly about uh incorporating that language into this document thank you anything else for discussion on these items all right so just a reminder if there's anything that anyone um needs to abstain on just identify what that item is please uh so I can make the notation for the record we'll begin with a roll call vote on the agenda Anna Brun yes Timothy Cummings yes with the exception for an exstension on bylaws or policies and uh first reading Jamie Falco uh yes with abstention on uh number one the bylaws and policies L figara yes exstension bylaw number 01427 Lori harrick uh yes obstain one under Board of Education bylaws and policies first Le Wong yes but of continue from the number one bylaws and the policies Lor LAX yes Wilbert pan uh yes abstaining on the bylaws and Heather gu yes okay so uh just as a notation with regard to um the uh first reading on the bylaws uh with all the extensions uh that we have uh that is not moving as a first reading it'll come back at the next meeting as a first reading with um revisions thank you Bo app right thank you all right this takes us do you go to the finance committee all right so now we are moving on to the finance committee of the whole and the 20 26 budget discussion so we are going to begin um the uh finance committee the whole uh discussion on budget um and we'll start with just some background uh the Administration has been working on the budget for several months um we have um information to share and uh certainly uh we'll need to have conversations uh regarding uh the way forward but let me start out with uh some key budget dates to begin with so at this time uh the governor is slated to deliver his budget message on February 25th uh that is subject to change uh but at this time that's the date that we've been told two days later the department of education is required to release state aid information to school districts again that is tied to the B uh the budget message delivered by the governor so that will also be subject to change but those are the dates with which uh we are working right now um March 3rd will be a special board meeting originally we had a board meeting set for March uh 5th I believe and that has been cancelled to move it forward to March 3rd the reason being that with such a having such a large lapse from the release of state A until the board meeting it was just too significant we want to be able to get out in front and talk about what the impacts are regarding state aid uh as quickly as we can the next date is March 20th that's the date that was scheduled for the budget adoption um that was a date pursuant to law you see parenthetically it's noted as March 19th the Department of Education released its schedule and uh they've indicated that they've revised the date from March 20th as the final date to March 19th so we may need to then have a revised board meeting date as a result to meet that timeline moving along our public hearing is currently scheduled for April 24th so public hearing on the budget uh must be held between April 24th and May 7th during that public hearing it's a final uh opportunity to make revisions to the tenative budget no changes can occur after that public hearing and then subsequently a final budget would be ad adopted that's currently scheduled for May 8th uh the last date to legally adopt the budget is May 14th so let's get into the bottom line and then we'll talk about some of the other issues so we've got two scenarios presented here one is on the budget with uh state aid remaining exactly where it is for from the current year and that would include what the state aid level was as provided to us uh last February plus there was a 500 uh almost $600,000 additional state aid adjustment that came after the fact under the next column reduced state aid it is the scenario where we are anticipating or we would say that uh the state aid would be further reduced in an amount equal to the fiscal 2025 budget plus the non-renewal of the additional Aid the total of those two amounts is approximately $1.9 million so where are we today with Appropriations now this is not a final number this is a work in progress but this is pretty close to a final number at this point Appropriations are at $25 million now I note that this reflects about a $6.8 million increase from the current Year's base budget or 3.43% now let's look at the revenues estimated Revenue at this time with flat state aid is $199 million if there's a state aid reduction it would be 197 million that's what we're it's more or less a guesstimate at this point we have no data and the important aspect on this was what I was talking about in terms of the dates that we're dealing with with so I want to go back just for a moment on those dates if state aid information is not being released until late February and then the district must adopt a budget by March 19th it's a matter of weeks within which very significant decisions must be made it's untenable to have to make decisions within that period of time so we've been working on trying to make decisions not DEC but at least putting information together for consideration what does this bottom line look like the shortfall on a flat state aid scenario is almost $5.9 million and with a reduced state aid scenario it's $7.8 million neither one of these is acceptable but that is the reality of what we have at this point in time so what are the selected budget impacts what is driving the budget well salaries for one salaries make up $4.89 million increase that's 4.6% over the current year in salaries this number reflects literally a few positions in addition are related to mandated uh requirements so there's nothing extra in here it's basically rolling forward and addressing some some additional requirements uh to keep us compliant health benefits an increase of over 2 million that's 8% that includes the additional health benefits that would be required for those uh additional positions that were budgeted I will share also that that is a not a hard number right now uh after we initially did our projections with the health benefits we were informed by our insurance broker that based on claims experience now let me say this we currently on just the rate have budgeted a 7% increase it's not going to tie into that 8% because of those additional factors but our insurance broker has advised that preliminarily we should be factoring a 10% increase now that's just untenable as well um we are going to be looking at this very long and hard as we move forward um we'll be speaking with our broker to look at the claims experience and hopefully that will improve that number as I said is very soft right now because there is not a lot of claims experience on which the carrier can base its increase so they're going to take a very conservative position out of District tuition $640,000 uh increase that's 14.4% up from the current year and that is not the result of any growth in out of District placements it is the result of rising tuitions for out of District placements Mr Juliana if I could this is actually a reduction in the number of students we have in out of District placements but an increase in cost so we we do have since last year a reduction in that number and yet the numbers are are higher significantly more right and electric costs uh $310,000 increase 17.2% now these are just selected impacts but these are very significant if you look at you know we are p a people business you know our our primary expenditures are in salaries and benefits and when you combine those amounts you're looking at almost a $7 million increase just based on salary and benefits what are some of the other factors well employee health benefit deduction so I want to talk about this for a moment so excuse me so employees contribute toward their health benefits based on uh what the state has uh set forth as requirements um several years ago the state implemented a new program uh for uh ed school districts now we are we run our own program but we have to mirror what the state law required there are two programs one is the New Jersey Educators Health Plan and the other is the Garden State Health Plan these two programs were supposed to result in savings to school districts supposed to the reality is that they do not the reality is and and we did some recalculations to look at what the employee contributions are based on that program versus what it would be had those programs not been required for the current year that cost The District in excess of $750,000 and for next year it will cost The District in excess of $1 million so those two that that item on its own has a substantial impact on the bottom line and there's nothing we can do about that that was a result of legislation that was signed by the governor several years back and we're stuck with it but that's a reality something that was supposed to save money is costing us money Property and Casualty and Workers Compensation Insurance rates these are estimated in the budget these comprise a a good chunk of dollars within the budget but um we're not going to have that data probably until later February if we're lucky to have it by then and the reality is that property Casualty Insurance in particular is rising at significant rates this is a national problem insurance companies uh are raising their rates across the board and we are certainly not an exception school districts in general are not an exception so this is yet uh more more to be uh more to be coming Charter Schools impact we won't know the charter schools impact until state aid data is released in late February so the Charter School gets a portion of our state aid let's presume and I'm going to give you a hypothetical but if even if state aid were to remain flat but the charter school enrollments increased that would result in more of the state aid that we would receive being diverted to the charter school so that would have an adverse effect on the bottom line tax levy this budget is currently based on maximizing the tax levy raising the tax levy up to the full 2% and there was a $1 million banked cap carried from the prior year that is also included so that's a $3.9 million amount in tax levy equating to 2.72% increase that $3.9 million amount doesn't even cover the salary and benefit portion so if there's no increase in state aid and even a reduction and we maximize the amount of tax levy that we are able to uh increase we still have a significant Gap to bridge budget Alternatives Revenue there aren't many options in Revenue increasing club and athletic fees we're in the process of completing an analysis to look at what that to see what that might look like and what that would generate but that is not going to fill a gap such as the one that uh I presented just a short while ago it's not going to come up with five plus to 7 plus million dollars shift credit card fees to card holders currently the District covers the cost for credit card fees for any fees that are paid uh via credit card so that would be club and athletic fees um any kind of participation fees um registrations in community programs and so forth shifting that over to the card holders that equates to about $120,000 still nowhere near what would be needed expense reductions there is not one of the expense reductions on this list list that is palatable not one but when we're looking at the kind of shortfall that is on this at this time it is not going to be done by cutting reams of paper out of the budget and supplies and materials in general that's not going to happen increases in class sizes I will tell tell you right now that the budget reflects at least that um well across the board but in K4 uh class sizes are being maintained very reasonably um that is there's no reflection of increased class sizes in the K4 level at this time reducing course offerings that's another serious option reducing athletic offerings perhaps Middle School sports in spe in particular but everything's got to be on the table there is absolutely no no question that position reductions are unavoidable position reductions are unavoidable these will be distasteful decisions that will have to be made and remember the public asked about this while ago that's ridiculous ridiculous excuse me ma'am closing bound Monroe is an option that may not be an option for this year because there's a lot that has to go into that there is a redistricting analysis that is being done uh to look at uh adjusting the boundaries for elementary schools both with and without bound Monroe but bound Monroe on its own may not be be able to be sustained that may not happen this year but it will certainly be on the list for the following year unless the revenue situation improves and right now the message we've gotten from the state has been and Dr veski correct me if I'm wrong you were the one that heard this from your county meeting that we are to expect and this is school districts in general to expect pain for the next three to five years that's correct yes and we wanted to be completely transparent with the community even though we're talking tonight about this we're we're this was actually discussed with staff at Balman Road tonight before the board meeting but it is an option out there it's it is a potential option um I also wanted to clarify uh two two of the bullets that Mr Juliana referenced in uh increase class size reduce course offerings we're also talking about at our secondary level when we have situations we have have extraordinarily low class sizes and we have courses that may not have a lot of interest so we're looking at making sure that we're maximizing our student experience but also economizing on uh the staff that we need to run those courses so we have um we have uh been in meetings with uh our entire administrative organization um solicited input from the administrators to go back and look at their areas to see what might be done um we uh closed the U uh the first round of uh that information gathering just yesterday and we'll be analyzing that information and presenting that information to the board so that the board can have uh some intelligent discussions I reiterate none of this will be tasteful it is not a good situation and the fact that we won't know anything about stated until February the end of February leaves us basically on tender hooks for the next month waiting for information that we just cannot have now um there's no way to project what the state aid formula will do because while there is a formula and we've replicated the formula there are aspects of the state aid formula that are simple plug factors what the state does is it is it determines how much can the state afford to set aside for funding for school districts and then it backs into the number through the formula there's no way to tell what that's going to be so that concludes this initial presentation um this I I recognize the emotion that this brings absolutely do um and uh this will be some hard work to be done moving forward and and Mr Juliana just to clarify so the public knows our our intent here is to be transparent to show every meeting when we present this again we're going to show the work that we're doing along the way to close that Gap uh at each successive meeting correct yes okay see if there's discussion from the board discussion Mr yeah um uh to put it bluntly this is not a great great situation having said that um I know parents in town residents in town are going to be very concerned about how our school district comes out of this and there's not a whole lot of time what can the the residents of our town do in the meantime that will help with our s have any suggestions uh Mr pan I I suggest they reach out to our legislative bodies and and and talk to our elected officials uh president gu and I had a conversation with uh sulyman Stanley uh yesterday uh so we have not heard from the Department of Education anything at all about what the formula is going to look like this year um and I'll restate what I said I had a conversation with um uh commissioner deer last June had it face Toof face with him asked if they were going to look at the school funding formula he told me that at that point in time the formula was working for most of the state they were looking at most to smooth out the formula to give us more predictability but no hope that we were going to get additional funding this year or any subsequent year um we've made the case to legislators that the impact that we suffered last year we we can't go through that again and looking forward to next year how do we do that if we and we will solve this problem this year but looking forward to next year it just becomes a Cascade and then where do you then have substantial modifications to your program that you can't maintain what you what you took decades to build Dr veski is it possible to get the public uh some of these names of legislators that they can reach out to absolutely because I I I think it's important and what you're saying is is at least the Grassroots start of of change you know we have to let our legislators know that this is not acceptable it's just not acceptable and I think it does start with our letters and our comments and our voting and then we can go from there but uh if we can do that I think that might be helpful to to our our people in town well work on that and we'll we'll actually create a section on the website where the public can go and get that information thank you Mr yes so next Thursday uh midle sa County School Bar Association invited uh Senator F kapo he's the senator uh chairperson for Senator education committee so I invite all board members to be there ask him the question because he the person makes the big decision so next Thursday uh they will be virtual and I will send out the link to you guys so I invite every board member to be there and ask tough questions I personally spoke with him last year three times so and I can anticipate his answer to you guys but the more voice the louder voice and the bigger impact we will have so next Thursday I will circulate the uh uh zo meeting but I'm sorry is limit to both members not for public but excuse me but Mr Hong after that meeting we can come back and we can talk about it to the public to kind of give them an idea of what we heard right well I I I don't know what kind of answer he's going to tell us and I believe you know his talk will be very generous based on my own experience dealing with him and just very gen very generous he's not give any promise okay for his position but we invited him we tried very hard he finally he promised he will show up next Thursday well I think it'd be important for us to be able to give the public some indication of where that meeting might have went on in the next few meetings possible whether it's hopeful or not I think it's important for them yeah well you can give the during the uh committee report you know that section yeah can anyone else M so um a few weeks ago at our board meeting I had talked about how there were um the POS the um opportunity to testify uh for school um funding reform and um from people that I know that had gone um to some of the other ones cuz there was four and there was also the opportunity to present um your concerns in writing I think they closed that period so I don't think that's possible anymore but I just wanted to say that um there were many districts and many people there from other districts that are suffering um the same uh there was a lot of concerns about the timeline the budget how quickly we then have to turn over um and have a public hearing and then try to revision it within the timeline and um different conversations about what has been cut in their school districts and I tell you if it was an absolutely emotional experience to hear how districts have cut out busing they've cut out extracurricular activities um they've increased their funds um some schools said they didn't have JV Sports anymore it was varsity and that was it um they were telling parents that basically their young children would have to cross uh four-lane highways because they could no longer courtesy bus them so the situation uh across the state is dire and I I also say reach out to elected people talk to other people that you know um encourage them to get involved and to ask um our legislators or the Department of Education um to meet or take more uh funding information testimony but also say that when that was closed we're now looking at not even a month before we're going to get the budget numbers so how much work were can we expect them to do in that time probably not a lot so I don't think that we'll see changes and I don't know if anything different was communicated to of you about actual changes this year um but I would think that would be more longterm than shortterm Mr Humes thank you thanks everybody um this is painful on every level um it feels like uh Deja Vu right uh the tenor the content of of your um presentation is is almost the exact same as last year we're we're up against it again and uh I I don't know what to say I mean it's it's just awful um and we feel your pain no you don't all right sorry fair enough fair enough man excuse me all right we'll we'll talk to you I'll can talk after I'm sorry I'm sorry so I I don't know what to say other than um you know I don't know what to say I mean I mean something it might I'm scared out of my mind for being in this same position again next year so at this time if I I'm sorry it's okay I'm just I'm almost done I I'm just I I don't know what you do in moments of this nature other than be bold um Based on data overc communicate be transparent and try to pull through it together as a community I was just curious and was doing some just pulling some numbers uh earlier right uh and these are these are rough numbers that I pulled off of a just a quick search but if we're currently a $198 million operating budget roughly again nothing perfect 8,300 students roughly in this District so we we the the average cost per student in this District you know just dividing the numbers is around $2 23,8 per student to come all in right that's the average cost of a student in this District $3,855 what about our neighbors so North Brunswick again Google search all of this 5,822 students $167 million operating budget their average cost per student is$ 28,6 184 almost $5,000 more than us Edison $16,800 students $367 million budget their average cost is $2,836 per student that's $2,000 less than us South Brunswick 7,950 students $175 million operating budget their average cost is $222,000 per student I mean we're we're we're sort of right in that area right which is is compelling um I I don't know what to say I'm I'm I'm like everybody else here and I'm not trying to speak for everybody that's that's not my goal but it it's awful we need to to move swiftly we need to be bold uh because if we don't then the pain is just going to continue to trickle through the community and I hope that we can get to a better place by making some very difficult decisions Tim I think that's a great point you made in terms of what our operating costs really look like compared to the surrounding neighborhoods I also just want to mention that that South Brunswick number assuming you pulled a recent one South Brunswick has gone through this process for about 5 years now if I remember correctly so their previous operating budget was probably higher than than what we're looking at right right today something to consider Barnie so absolutely I completely agree with what you what you have been saying what everyone has been saying um I think one of the things that we've talked about and we've said this even at other uh presentations over the last sever years regarding the state formula you know there's an aspect of the formula that's called adequacy where the state is measuring District to District in terms of what they call adequacy and I've always felt that for a district like East Brunswick being I I'm going to call it being punished for having a school a a a very good school district having state aid reductions um and pushing the district into adequacy because we are above adequacy um adequacy to me feels like it's mediocrity and the formula is not addressing what needs to be done it is just putting a square peg in a round hole so that's a change that has to happen at the state level there's nothing that we can do about it here alone other than trying and get the people in Trenton to really listen and make changes so we do have some things working on between now and the next meeting that we intend to be able to present that that picture again and show progress towards closing that Gap um but I'm only reminded as Mr Juliana spoke of back in 2010 during the Christie Administration when school funding was was slashed uh throughout the state and you know in the years the decade that has been since you know East brunwick has been able to restore some of that funding but never completely all of the funding that was lost under that that initiative uh so we kind of enter in deficit position before we started with this implementation the full implementation of the school funding formula uh which complicates the problem a little bit more it just progresses year after year um so we're going to continue to work on it anyone else all right I did want to add my own thought which was that last year a lot of the initial hard discussions these lists were done in very painful meetings um that weren't shared with the public public as early on in an effort to not create such upset such feelings of fear about what would happen or what would happen in our neighborhood schools or to people that we treasure um and this year with an effort to just have more transparency right from the beginning about where we are and what it looks like and what the possibilities are we're trying to share with the public right from the beginning you know this this is what we're looking at right now and as things change the ad ad ministrative team will let us all know how it changes and I you know we hope it changes for the better but we need to prepare for it to change for the worse yes I just wanted to thank all the parents who come week after week to speak um I know how terrifying it can be for public speaking and so just to let you know how much I appreciate hearing from each and every one of you because I I don't know how else I would know these things you know unless you come up and you tell us um and I also want to thank those of you who send emails because we get copied on emails and I I don't think I'm we're not allowed to um answer like me Anna can't just reply back to you and go hey thanks for your email it doesn't work like that it has to come from you know the administration but I just want to let the parents and the PE the people of the community know I mean I read each one of those emails and I wish I could do more than just read all I can do is like follow up and say hey what are we going to do about this but I just want to let you know how much I genuinely appreciate all of you um and I know it's going to be very difficult um in the weeks to come and we want to hear from you because you're the ones that are closest to what's going on and so we do want to hear from you okay thank you anyone else all right moving on to board member reports on committees Andor information items um I just wanted to start with a few things I feel like I was all over the place in the past two weeks um I was at the memorial cake decorating and I have to thank the PTA for an exciting event my little one was thrilled and she was very happy to represent for school spirit uh did attend the high school PTSA meeting with the police officers uh about driver safety and safety awareness I do believe the PTSA recorded the zoom element and was planning on sharing it so look for that and I wanted to congratulate our ice hockey team on their senior night it was a pleasure to be there it was an absolute nailbiter uh they beat a very enthusiastic South Brunswick it was a great great win and I was both happy and sad to be there because I was watching some of our inaugural members be in their senior night and getting ready to graduate is there anyone else go ahead so um I don't want to speak for Dr Falco but uh Jamie and I were uh spent the last weekend at the uh uh New Jersey School Board Association orientation um for new school board members it was a uh terrific um event um learned a lot about uh the role um more importantly got to talk to a lot of uh new school board members from all over the state um and it was an invaluable experience so yeah excellent excuse me I had the pleasure of attending my first human relations council meeting I'm very grateful for the opportunity to serve our diverse community and uh be a part of all the wonderful opportun ities this upcoming Saturday will be a Muslim cultural event at the high I'm sorry not at the high school at the library 11: to4 so if anyone's able to swing by it'll be great thank you strong so uh next week there will be a parent University uh in hamers so you know education children you know both board of education is partnering with all parents parents play very important roles in education in educating our children so I strongly urge all Parents try your best to attend every parents University meeting so last month there was one is uh supporting literature development at home the program I was there the program was very good on unfortunately less than 10 parents showed up I believe the faculty at the Hami building they prepared very good they put a lot of effort there they prepare beautiful handouts but very unfortunate not too many parents showed up for me I sit in there I listen the lectures the presentations is very very helpful for me and for my wife so I urge parents take advantage of this parents University the school district is trying everything to help our children but we need your help parents so please show up and uh last weekend uh is fr celebrated Chinese New Year as a Chinese New Year uh Chinese Community member I'm proud of this diversity uh Community everyone we're like a big family you know where one is browni and one family we respect and accept each other so I'm proud of it I think the the township organized the celebration and I believe so many people showing up there were very happy enjoy the food and the program so thank you the township happy year this anyone else one more I'm sorry goad so I want to thank M Juliana Juliana for his effort he provided the board member training to help board members to understand the finance the school Finance there are so many things happening when uh for this uh inside the financial department hundreds maybe account of accounts need to be managed so he training help board members to understand the school fness so I want to thank you very much yeah I I I I I I tried to attend that meeting but uh yeah I I I didn't have the opportunity but I think the board members you you guys attend they will help you understand and the finance report and then they will help you ask good questions and they will help uh Miss Juliana to uh communicate with us thank you anyone else okay Excuse me while I turn all the way back all right we have a need for a second closed session whereas the Board of Education must discuss matters which are not appropriate for discussion in a public meeting and whereas these subjects are within the exceptions to the open public meetings act and are permitted to be discussed in closed session pursuant to njsa 104-1 12b and whereas the Board of Education intends to discuss matters as follows the items listed on the agenda whereas this length is estimated to be 1 hour estimated to be one hour after which action will be taken uh yes yes okay and also if I may make a note um any items that were not uh completed during the last closed session will also be uh discussed thank you can I have a motion Hong all in favor opposed abstentions all right we we are inclosed thank you okay we are yep okay I need a motion that the Board of Education affirms the districts determination regarding Hib case these are the same yeah okay uh c2425 um. Z2 and H 24252 so moved har second second Mr Cummings right discussion no disc go right to the vote is a roll call uh we can do a roll call okay okay um Anna braw I am recusing myself from voting Timothy Cummings yes Jamie Falco I recuse myself from this vote L Figaroa I recuse myself from this vote Lorie Herrick yes Lee wuhong Yes Wilbert pan yes Heather gloss yes motion carries all right and we need a motion to adjourn second second welcome all in favor opposed extensions excellent we are adjourned