I'd like to call this meeting to order. Would the secretary please call the role? Anna Braun here. Timothy Cummings here. Jamie Falco here. Lewis Figureroa here. Lorie Herrick here. Lee Wuhong here. Lori Lax, Wilbur Pan, and Heather
Gu. Here we have a porum. Please rise for the pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all. Great. And good evening. All right. The New Jersey open pe the New Jersey open public meetings 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, sorry, be published at having the date, time, and place thereof posted
at the board of education offices. Written notice was also provided to the Sentinel, the Newark Star Ledger, the Home News Tribune, the Alternative Press of East Brunswick, and the Municipal Clerk of East Brunswick. 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 meetings should be aware of these videotaping rules. All right. and we have a need for
a closed session. Uh 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 exception to the open public meeting act and are permitted to be discussed in close session pursuant to
NJSA 104-12B and whereas the board of education intends to discuss matters as follows all items listed on the agenda. Whereas the length of the closed session is estimated to be one hour after which the public meeting of the board shall
reconvene and action will be taken. Can I have a motion? So moved. And a second. Tim. All in favor? I opposed abstensions. All right. We're enclosed. We will be back in one
hour. All right. And we are back. And that is leading us directly into the superintendent's report. Thank you, President. Thank you, President. Good evening, everyone. It is with great sadness that I share the news of the
passing of retired teacher Dr. Alan Broadman. Alan began his career in 1992 at Churchill Junior High School and later joined the high school faculty and retired in 2020. And even after his retirement, he remained a dedicated contributor to our
school community, continuing to support the IPL program with passion and purpose. In recognition of his remarkable impact on students and colleagues alike, Allan was inducted into the district's wall of honor in
2023, and his plaque is among those in the very back of this room. memorial service will be held to honor his life and legacy on Friday, that's this Friday, May 9th, at 11:30 a.m. at the East Brunswick Jewish
Center. The artwork on display in the boardroom this evening was created by students from Irwin Elementary School. The art teacher of these talented students is Brook Ser and Joanne Chimowitz is the principal.
The butterfly effect kindness initiative celebrated its fourth recognition gayla with 350 community members in attendance on Thursday, May 1st at Churchill Junior High School, honoring students who have sparked positive change through acts of
kindness in their schools, community, and even globally. The event featured an inspiring interactive kindness gallery where Churchill Junior High School and East Brunswick High School students proudly showcased their passion projects.
Attendees explored a variety of heartfelt displays, spoke with student leaders, and listened to powerful stories of how small acts of kindness make a big difference. Throughout the evening, students reflected on how their projects impacted those they helped and their
personal growth. From uplifting messages to communitydriven initiatives, the ripple effect effects of their compassion were evident in every story shared. In a in a touching finale, students were honored for their
leadership and compassion with a sparkling crystal butterfly award, a symbol of hope and transformation of their good deeds. The gayla concluded on a sweet note with
a dessert reception celebrating the students efforts and the bright future their kindness is helping to shape. Thank you to all the sponsors as well as the Megan Schulman Foundation EVEF and the Evea Pride
Committee. During spring recess, new serving lines were installed at Hammershold Upper Elementary School, providing students with a modern dining experience and a wider variety of meal options. It's important for the community to know
this project was entirely funded by the child nutrition enterprise fund and according to state and federal guidelines, retained earnings from this fund are specifically designated to support the operation and enhancement of the school nutrition
program. That is a squeaky door. Last month, during a busy lunch period at the high school, a student began choking on food and was seeking help. School security officer Maurice, also known as Mo Finny, quickly responded and
successfully administered the Heimlick maneuver, partially reopening the student's airway before additional care was provided by our school nurse. [Applause] Thanks to SSO Finn's initial swift and decisive actions, the student made a
full recovery. Unfortunately, SSO Mo could not be here with us tonight, but we extend our deepest gratitude to him for his heroic actions. In sports, Bella Staglaniano recorded her 200th career strikeout
versus Seville. And that is one goodlook softball field. Jaden He and Rammit Shaw are the GMC tournament first doubles champions. So congratulations to
[Applause] them. And Timmer Savin and Aza Geria are the GMC tournament second doubles champions. So congratulations to them as well. Congratulations to our April High School athletes of the month. Students were
selected for this honor by the coaching staff based on performance, demonstration of leadership, effort, and practice, and as always for modeling exceptional character. The arts department will be hosting their fifth annual outdoor art walk. The art installation will run from
May 16th through June 16th at the municipal complex on Civic Center Drive. Student music compositions can also be accessed through QR codes found on the grounds to accompany the art viewing experience. And we are thrilled once again to present this collaboration
between the visual art and music departments. Please consider joining us for the opening ceremony on Friday, May 16th from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Student music compositions will be played through speakers on the ground only for this one
hour for you to enjoy while viewing the artwork. And additionally, Church Hill Junior High School students will be selling ceramic works to benefit the Empty Bowls Charity Fund. And just a reminder, if we do not use
our remaining one emergency closing day by Friday, May 23rd, then Tuesday, May 27th, will be a non-school day for students and 10-month staff. District offices will be open. And we'll have to
send a reminder out to people again, I'm sure, just to let them know so they don't mysteriously show up. Finally, tonight I'm announcing that I will retire my position as superintendent effective February 1st,
2026 to pursue a new opportunity. Serving as superintendent of East Brunswick public schools has been the honor of my professional life, and I'm immensely proud of the work that we have accomplished together in support of our students, staff, and families.
And I want to thank all the boards I've worked for and the trust they have all placed in me over the years. I'm grateful for the collaborative spirit and shared dedication that define our district. Thank you.
All right. Thank you, Dr. Uh we have some resolutions of appreciation and recognition. Are you having people up for this? We will have people join us. We'll have people join us. Am I reading up there or
am I reading back here? Whichever you would like. We can do them one at a time. Up there. We are doing them one at a time up there. All right. We have a resolution of appreciation, faculty and staff. Whereas every member of the East Brunswick
public school faculty and staff is a vital partner in our students education and whereas their collective dedication fosters a welcoming and secure learning environment enabling students to achieve their full potential. And whereas the dedication and commitment of all the
members of the faculty and staff are directly related to the outstanding accomplishments of our students. And whereas the lasting legacy of a sound education is built upon their contributions. And whereas faculty staff appreciation was May 5th through May 9th,
2025. And now therefore, be it resolved that the East Brunswick Board of Education expresses its profound gratitude and commends all faculty and staff for their unwavering dedication to our students success. I need a motion for this.
Motion second. And Lori, any discussion? Dr. Ziki and team, would you mind coming up? All in favor. Thank you. Congratulations. Thank you all so much. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you. [Applause] This time we will vote before we call and I will pause. I will not say pause. I will not say anything. We will vote yes. I will not say much. All right. We have a resolution of appreciation for administrative professionals day.
Whereas administration administrative professionals are indispensable partners in the East Brunswick public school's mission to educate our students. And whereas they foster a productive learning environment, provide invaluable support to all stakeholders, and ensure the smooth operation of our schools. And
whereas administrative professionals provide valuable services to our students, faculty, staff, parents, and other members of the community. And whereas they are vital to effective communication and contribute significantly to the district's excellent reputation. And whereas
administrative professional day was April 23rd, 2025. And now therefore, be it resolved that the East Brunswick Board of Education expresses its sincerest gratitude to our administrative professionals for their unwavering commitment to our students and schools.
And I have a motion. Move. All right. Jamie and Anna discussion. Who who moved on that? I'm sorry. Jamie then. Thank you. You're welcome. Discussion. All in favor? I oppose.
Extensions carries and do we have Dr. Zimb again. Thank you. Thank you. [Applause] All right, we got the order right that
time. Here we go. Resolution of appreciation. Lunch hero day. Whereas nutritious school meals are vital to student well-being and academic success. And whereas our dedicated child nutrition staff provide these essential meals with commitment and care. And
whereas the individuals who prepare and serve school meals help nurture our children through their daily interaction and support. And whereas the day of Friday, May 2nd, is school lunch hero day. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the East Brunswick public schools express their deep appreciation to those
valuable employees and commend their good works on behalf of the children. Can I have a motion, please? Jamie and then Anna. Discussion. All in favor? Opposed? Abstension. Motion carries. We
have someone. We do. Thank you [Applause] all. Thanks. Sure. I was going to stand next to That's okay. Thank you. Thanks. [Applause]
I'm going to go off just a moment before reish you can tell me how I'm violating all kinds of procedure. But I did want to say it is very hard to make a comment while standing in the front there. Um, but I just want to say personally I am deeply appreciative of this of the
teachers and the support staff and the administrative professionals and our lunch heroes. Um, I know all of us come to these meetings because we have children or stake in the schools and you only have to have a child in the schools for a very little bit of time before you
hear about our teachers, our support staff and the people in the lunchrooms. They're very very important um especially if your people are tiny and they need help and I do not think that we would run without our administrative professionals as well. So I am deeply
grateful and appreciative and now please tell me that senior assassin is almost over almost with the student representatives report. Perfect. Good evening ladies and gentlemen. It's been a very long time since I've been able to last share my
high school experience with you, but many exciting things have occurred since then. Students wrapped up marking period 3, enjoyed their spring b break, participated in statewide testing, and had a short break before facing the unfortunate task of AP exams this week. AP exams began on Monday with classes
such as AP Biology and AP Government kicking off their morning and afternoon sessions. Students will continue testing throughout the week this week and next, hoping to earn perfect scores and put their year-long learning to the test. Many teachers have created creative approaches to helping students prepare.
And my AP literature class, for example, recreated recreated scenes from the books we read throughout the year to better retain knowledge and specific literary details. I personally think my Hamilton impersonation was great, but my class classmates didn't seem to agree. At the end of March, 92 students were
inducted into the National Honor Society at East Brunswick. Our current NHS board and adviserss worked hard to organize the special event and make it an unforgettable day for our inductees. Students lined up in the auditorium to receive their NHS diplomas and participate in the candle lighting ceremony where they pledged to uphold
their responsibilities as diligent student leaders. Senior and vice president of NHS Hannah Smokco remarked, "It was an amazing experience watching so many hardworking and passionate students receive recognition for their year-long participation in the National Honor Society. I'm beyond confident that as seniors, we are leaving this
organization in capable hands. On April 23rd, athletes took center stage at the high school's annual spring signing day. 14 student athletes were honored for committing to play to play a collegiate sport, showcasing their e their excellence both on the field and in the classroom. The media
center was decorated with various college colors, banners, and mascots. It was truly a spectacle to see the wide array of colleges and sports represented. This was the largest signing day in East Brunswick history. a testament to not only the dedication of our student athletes, but also the
incredible support from staff, coaches, and ad administrations who help students thrive. I was proud to be one of the 14 athletes who were honored to participate in such a momentous event. Having my parents and friends there to celebrate with me made it a truly special event, and I want to thank Mr. Malta for
putting it together. Last week, two East Brunswick alumni returned to the high school to be inducted into the East Brunswick Hall of F Hall of Fame. The first inductee was Michael Cybel, an accomplished entrepreneur known for founding ventures such as Twitch TV and Y Combinator. The second was Zach
Morrison, a writer for comedy shows including The Tonight Show, The Late Show, and Saturday Night Saturday Night Live. Each alumnist hosted a two-hour master class, giving students the opportunity to hear about their journey beyond the classroom and gain insight into their lives. I had the chance to attend Michael Cyel's session where he
spoke in depth about the pros and cons of college managing wealth and assets and what he looks for in future entrepreneurs. Two things that stood out to me was the first that even successful rich entrepreneurs procrastinate assignments in high school until the day before and East Brunswick was essential
to his success as an entrepreneur and helped him mature and develop the skills that he needed for the future. Um May 1st marked National College Commitment Day for seniors across the country and almost all East Brunswick students have now finalized their decision for the next four years.
Students selected colleges that align with their future career paths while also offering opportunities for growth and enriching experience. This year's commitments have been especially diverse with students heading to prestigious universities across the country, not just local to EB. Many of these commitments are featured on the high
school's college college commitments page on social media, which has been working hard to showcase each student's exciting next step. The high school's official decision day is on June 10th, where students will wear their college gear and celebrate their post-graduate plans. As a senior, is definitely bittersweet to watch the days until
graduation tick away. But these meetings have been a great way for me to share my me my memorable senior year. Thank you. Thank you, Rishi. I also I wanted to add that for students taking APs, we're about halfway through, right? Like a quarter of the way through. Quarter of
the way through. As somebody who teaches students that are taking APs, I will tell you it feels like we're threequarters of the way through. It feels like we've been doing this for weeks. But I just want to congratulate any parents of students that are taking APs or students that are taking APs because I know it feels like the accomplishment hasn't happened yet at
this point. You know, the test is looming large. But truthfully, to choose a course with so much rigor and to show the colleges and to take that higher college level course is an accomplishment in itself. The test is just icing on the cake. So,
congratulations and congratulations on your signing day and congratulations on not being gotten by my very own child during senior assassin. This was such a problem. We canled or removed one of our meetings. Yes. During during the time in
which perhaps my own senior was trying to find you. So, maybe that's why we moved the meeting. I I was I was heavily questioned as to why that had to be because we were well I was not someone was trying to get you
with the water balloon pretty hard. All right, moving from senior assassin to weightier topics. Uh we have a public hearing on the fiscal year 2026 school district budget. Now you take one and pass it down. Take one and pass it, please. Thank you.
Thank you. Just want to make sure. Good evening. This is the public hearing for the East Project Public Schools budget for the 2025 2026 fiscal year. Tonight, we will walk through the key aspects of our budget, explain the
process, and provide context for the financial decisions made. First, let's look at some important facts about the district. East Brunswick public schools is the 23rd largest school district in
New Jersey as of the fall 2024 New Jersey Department of Education report. We are also the largest employer in East Brunswick with approximately 1,600 employees. Our district serves a significant population of students which
rivals the size of entire nearby towns as a whole. Our operations involve a major transit system managing 588 routes covering 3.6 6 million miles through the
course of the year and transporting 2.55 million passengers annually. Now certainly we don't have that many students but when you count the board the students boarding and the students deboarding every single day to school and from school it amounts to 2.55
million passengers. This is based on the October 2024 data reported to the Department of Education. We're also a major food service provider serving over 1 million total meals annually including over 626,000 lunches,
200 over 283,000 allequart items and over 94,000 breakfasts. This all during the 2023 2024 school year. Our scale in food service rivals or exceeds the average
for top 100 independent restaurants. Looking at our physical footprint, the district's buildings encompass nearly 1.5 million square feet, which is larger than the Brunswick Square Mall and rivals the nearby Free
Freehold Raceway Mall. And our land area covers 274 acres. The district is committed to controlling costs and participates in various shared services. We have an energy program, engage in cooperative purchasing with
other districts both within New Jersey and nationally, and utilize in-house transportation services along with multi-tered busing. We also participate in a dental consortium. Specific cost control examples include
health benefits programs, comparisons to the state employee health benefits program. Now, we recognize that the increase in health benefits budget is substantial. The district's program nonetheless is $3.8 million less than
participating in the state employee health benefit program. Savings are also seen in areas like printing and copying services, which account for an average of $41,000 per year. Over the terms of
these contracts, the savings have exceeded $6 million. Additionally, the district's participation in the educational data cooperative has saved $322,000 in fiscal year 2025 to date and
a total savings of over 1.6 6 million over the last 5 years. Regarding administrative costs and staffing for the 23 24 year, our budgeted per pupil amount for total administration was
$1,930 per pupil, which is lower than the state average of $2,95 per pupil. Similarly, our administration salaries and benefits were budgeted at $628 per pupil compared to the state average of
$1640 per pupil. We also have a higher ratio of students to administrative personnel and faculty to administrative personnel compared to the state averages. The district is also a revenue producer. The community programs
enterprise operates programs such as the early morning program, afterchool kids, and early learning academy. The facility use enterprise manages facilities rentals, the largest of which is the performing arts center. These programs
have consistently transferred budgeted funds to the to the general fund and generated a net income. For instance, the community programs enterprise The budgeted transfer to the general
fund increased from four over $43,000 in fiscal year 2022 to $954,000 in the current fiscal year 2025 and is budgeted at over $1.2
million for the fiscal 2026 year budget. The net income from these programs has also grown significantly, reaching 974,000 as of March 31, 2025 for the
current fiscal year. For the facilities use enterprise, transfers to the general fund and net income have varied. The budgeted transfer was $351,830 in fiscal year 2022, increasing to
$694,713 for both fiscal 25 and fiscal 2026. The net income for facilities use reached $672,246 as of March 31st of this year. And the district prioritizes financial transparency. This is achieved through
accessible information like board meeting agendas which include monthly financial reports, bill lists, contract awards and grants. We also undergo an annual comprehensive financial report which is the audit. It's an independent
audit which includes a public presentation by the auditor, is posted on the district website, and is submitted for New Jersey Department of Education review. We are proud to report that our audits have consistently resulted in no findings or
recommendations. None of this is new and the information has been available for many years without having to ask for anyone that is interested. This commitment to financial management has earned the certificate of excellence in financial reporting from ASBO
International for fiscal year 2023, marking our 11th consecutive year receiving this recognition. Additionally, the district has earned the certificate of achievement for excellence in financial reporting from the Government Finance Officers Association for fiscal year
2023, marking our ninth out of 10 consecutive years receiving this recognition. And beyond finance, the district always strives for excellence, recognized through numerous student, school, and staff accomplishments.
East Brunswick High School specifically was noted by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools accreditation for growth validation team in 2023 as one of the finest schools in the nation with a strong academic program supported by ample financial
resources and excellent leadership. Understanding our budget requires understanding the context of state aid. In July 2018, Governor Phil Murphy signed landmark legislation, which is known as S2, to
modernize and equitably distribute school funding in New Jersey. This legislation aimed to address what Governor Murphy described as eight years of neglect and underfunding of public schools by $9
billion. S2 modified the existing school funding law, eliminating adjustment aid and state aid growth caps and allowing adjustments to tax growth limitations for certain districts. The goal was a more equitable funding
distribution through the school funding reform act or ESRA formula. The legislation mandated a multi-year transition period starting in fiscal year 2020 and concluding by fiscal year
2025 during which aid would be reduced for overfunded districts and increased for underfunded districts to reach their appropriate SFR levels. Under S2, any district losing
aid and under spending was required to increase their prior year school tax levy by 2% until fiscal 2025. Abbott districts losing aid but with high tax rates were held harmless from aid losses through fiscal
2025. County vocational school districts were protected from state aid decreases. Underfunded districts such as East Brunswick would see aid increases funded by aid reductions from other districts and
additional state appropriations with the goal of fully funding by fiscal 2025. The bill also permitted Abbott districts to exceed the 2% tax cap without voter
approval to reach their expected local levy until fiscal 2025. NonAbot districts like East Brunswick remain subject to the 2% tax cap. So let's look at state aid trends
over the recent fiscal years from fiscal 2020 through fiscal 2022. uncapped state aid. Now, this data is directly from the reports provided by the uh New Jersey Department of
Education. From fiscal 2020 through fiscal 2022, uncapped state aid increased from 26.9 million to $34.9 million. Now, that uncapped state aid is not what we received. The aid
differential, which is the additional state aid that should have been received by the district, increased by 8.1 million to 14.3 million. Now, that's what additional aid we should have
received in those years. Meanwhile, the state aid adjustment, which is the additional state aid actually received, increased from 1.1 million in fiscal 2020 to 5.3 million in fiscal
2022. The district was on the path of receiving the funding to which it was entitled. Kicking off from fiscal 22 and looking through to fiscal 2024, uncapped state aid continued to rise, reaching 41.9
million. The state aid differential, again, that's the additional state aid that should have been received by the district ranged by from 14.3 million to 13.5 million and then to 8.6 million.
Meanwhile, the state aid adjustment, again, that is the additional aid actually received, ranged from 5.3 million to 7.4 million to $6.5 million. While there remained a gap
between the state aid differential and the state aid adjustment, the district still was on the path toward increased funding. However, the trend changed for fiscal 2025 and 2026. As we all know, uncapped
state aid decreased from 41.9 million in fiscal 24 to 38.5 million in fiscal 2025 and further down to 33.3 million in fiscal year 2026. The state aid differential shifted from
an amount that should have been received by the district to one of reduced aid. East Brunswick was not an S2 district and the trend data showed that East Brunswick state aid was to continue
increasing. Then the rules changed without notice. So, I want to walk you through a key aspect of our dis of how our district manages the finances, specifically regarding reserves. First, it's important to understand that the district is not
permitted to have a traditional savings account in the way many of us might think of a personal or business savings account. Instead, our financial structure requires specific types of fund reserves. These reserves serve distinct
purposes and are governed by strict laws and regulations. So, let's start with the mandatory reserve, the undesated general fund balance. A district board of education must maintain this balance.
The required amount is 2% of the budgeted general fund budget for the pre-budget year or $250,000, whichever is greater. For East Brunswick, that is the 2% of the prior year's
budget. The fund is intended for emergency use only and requires the approval of the Commissioner of Education for use. Beyond emergencies, the balance provides a measure that is used to rate districts
for bonding purposes. Speaking of bonding, our district recently received a rating from Moody's. Moody's is the rating agency. In March 2025, Moody's rated the district
AA2. An AA2 rating signifies high credit quality for bonds. It indicates a strong capacity to meet financial obligations and presents relatively low risk of default. The sources also noted and
that's Moody's noted that this rating would be improved if the state permitted a larger undesated general fund balance which it does not. So this highlights the importance of reserves in demonstrating financial health to rating
agencies. In addition to the mandatory reserve, districts also have options for establishing other reserves. So I want to review two primary examples. One optional reserve is the capital reserve account. The law requires that a district board of
education shall be prohibited from using the funds in the capital reserve account for current expenses. Current expenses are the daily operating expenses of the school district, salaries, benefits, supplies, utilities, and so
forth. These funds shall be used only to implement capital projects and augment a capital project. This account is strictly for long-term investments in our infrastructure and facilities. Another optional reserve is
the current expense emergency reserve account. This account shall be used to finance reasonably unanticipated fund current expense costs required for a thorough and efficient education as
defined by law. It can also be used to finance school security improvements. There's a limit on the size of this account. It shall not exceed $250,000 or 1% of the district's general
fund operating budget up to a maximum of $1 million, whichever is greater. This provides a cushion for unexpected operating costs or security needs within defined limits. Here's the
catch. Financial resources must be available to fund these reserves. Let's move on to the fiscal 2025 2026 budget facts. The budget development process is comprehensive starting in September 2024
with initial planning and budgeting proposals submitted by November 1 of 2024. Formal budget meetings and compilation and analysis took place from November of 24 through April of 25. And the community saw a change in process
this year through the board's committee of the whole process. That process brought a lot of pain to aspects of the community where the community got to see some of the difficult conversations that
the board might have otherwise had in a finance committee setting that might not have ultimately made it out here as a final decision process. But the good and the bad all comes out with committee of the
whole. Key state level events included the governor's funding formula announcement on February 25th and the release of state aid on February 27th and the tenative budget was adopted on March 19th. I've reviewed this chart in the
past. Uh it depicts the state aid trend through the reductions uh that have occurred in 2025 2026. I'll leave this up here for a moment for you to see what had happened over the period of time as the district moved toward uh receiving
the full state aid it was entitled to and then had unexpected cuts occur. Next, charter schools. There are folks that are tired of hearing me talk about charter schools, but I'm going to talk about it anyway. The chart depicts
the everinccreasing charter school trend, drawing financial resources from the district budget. The charter school increase for going into next year was $668,000. That money comes out of the
budget. It's not funded in any way, shape, or form other than by the budget. And then this chart depicts the fiscal 25 and fiscal 26 state aid and charter school obligations. And it provides a
comparison of the two and what changed in the state aid realm and the variances in charter schools. Due to the financial context, including state aid reductions, increased charter
schools costs, the tenative budget included several proposed reductions. These were discussed and agreed upon by consensus of the board. Take a few moments now to look at these slides. All of these items were discussed in detail
at prior board meetings. Note some of these reductions and they're noted with an asterisk like late bus service at Churchill and Hammershold graduation transportation the Churchill and Hammershold band and orchestra
co-eing and the Hammershold school schedule revisions were restored and were reflected as restored in the final budget. [Music] Where are you? To help bud balance the tenative budget, revenue increases were also approved by
the board's consensus. These include increasing fees for clubs, activities, and athletics and increasing fees for community programs like ELA, ASK, and EMP. After the tenative budget was
adopted, further revisions were made by consensus of the board. These include significant restorations, reinstating one fine arts teaching position, reinstating transportation for high school graduation, and this was offset by
eliminating employee mileage reimbursements, restoring late bus service at Churchill and Hammershell to one day per week while reducing high school late bus service to one day per week. and we reviewed the data behind
that so that it was something that is workable for the future. We reviewed that in a public setting. Other revisions included restoring full-time bus driver schedules, abolishing two teaching positions due to decreased enrollment,
and two full-time bus driver positions. One part-time bus driver position was established and budgeted transportation costs were reduced due to contractor agreements. Further reductions were made to contractual professional
memberships, contracted interpreter services, document translation services, and postage allocation. Due to efficiencies, the cost for educ was reduced based on an updated vendor quote and the ESL summer academy celebration
was eliminated because the summer program was cut. Health benefit costs were adjusted to reflect position restorations and reductions. The acquisition of the Grape Seed PreK program was deferred. The unemployment
reserve payment was also reduced. Critical restorations involving teaching positions required seeking state approval and applying for the tax levy incentive aid program. This program
allows a district to request approval for additional expenditures where 5% of the cost receives additional state aid and 95% increases the tax levy. Applications were submitted to
restore 2.5 positions for the Churchill and band orchestra co-eing and two Hammersold band orchestra co-eing positions. The application also included restoration of temp 10 10 hammershield
teaching positions associated with maintaining the current school scheduling format. The department of education responded to these requests. The department approved the request for the 10 Hammershold classroom teachers,
stating that it was consistent with satisfying thoroughess and efficiency standards under the law. However, the Department of Education did not approve the requested expenditures for band and orchestra co-eing positions
at Hammershield and Churchill, stating they were quote not considered necessary to satisfy the thoroughess and efficiency standards. Nevertheless, the final budget includes the restoration of this
component. This was achieved through the health benefit cost adjustment related to the restoration of all the teaching positions submitted to the department of education for consideration. So what that did was by restoring those positions and their related health
benefits, it increased the adjustment that we were permitted to take for health benefits and was able to fund that adjustment was able to fund those positions for the
band and orchestra. The final budget included an increase in revenue and the amount of the tax levy incentive aid approved by the department of education. So based on the final budget and staffing, the projected class size
averages for K to4 are kindergarten at 18, grade 1 at 17, grade 2 19, grade three 19, and grade four 20. The final general fund budget for fiscal
2026 is 199,229,812. The budgeted tax levy includes increases in both the general fund and debt service fund. Debt service fund, as a reminder, as we've discussed in the past, is where we pay our
mortgage. The general fund tax levy increase of 5,56,637 is a 3.49% increase. This increase includes the mandatory use of banked cap, an
adjustment for the increase in healthcare costs and the department of education's approved application for additional expenditures related to the hammersh. The debt service fund tax levy increase is $411868
$411,868 for an 8.79% increase. So combined combined the uh com I'm sorry the composite increase sorry composite increase is not properly reflected there. One error I made on the spreadsheets,
but $5.4 million almost $5.5 million, but coming to 3.65% overall on the uh increase between uh the debt service and the general fund. So to illustrate the impact on
property taxes, let's look at an example based on a property tax bill of $10,000. The school tax portion of that bill is approximately 65% or $6,500 per year. Under the tenative budget, the
estimated cost increase for the general fund and debt service fund was approximately $184 per year on that $6,500. After the net budget restorations and adjustments in the final budget, the estimated cost
increase for the general fund and debt service fund is 3.65% or comes to approximately $237 on that $6,500 school tax. looking for the towards the
future. Now, we anticipate further reductions in state aid. For context, a 3% reduction in fiscal 2026 funding would equal $1.12 million. Now, we're using 3% because the
state capped the reduction this year to 3%. And on one of the prior slides, it showed the amount that would have been reduced, which was in excess of $5
million. So, if the state continues on this path, that's ultimately where we are headed in terms of reductions in state aid. But we don't have a crystal ball and there's no way to know what ultimately the state will do in terms of changes to how they're going to apply
the funding formula. We also face tax levy limitations, notably the 2% cap on the fiscal 2026 general fund levy, which currently limits the increase to $3 million plus
any statutory adjustments. Now, that's key because when you look at the potential of there being a $3 million cap growth with no other adjustments and a loss in state aid for
next year, there is no way that that will cover salaries and benefits. It's not going to happen. the exact amount of the statutory
adjustments such as those for health benefit costs and our allowable growth towards the local fair share under the state formula remain unknown. And if you remember going back to the dates for when information is
provided to the school district, we literally had only I think it was three weeks from the date that the that the state provided the data with which to work and an adoption of a tenative budget.
Navigating these challenges may unfortunately necessitate further reductions in programs and services in the future. So, we've aimed to be transparent about the budget development process, the financial realities we
face, including state aid reductions and charter school increases, and the efforts made to control costs while striving to maintain quality education. But this is a difficult task and will continue to be a difficult task for the
near term. Miss Guinea, now I'll turn this back to you. All right. So, this is where we take questions on this um board discussion if you'd like to have that and then you can open it up for public comment. All right. So, at this point, I'm going to take board discussion or
questions. I'm actually going to start. I just wanted a little bit of clarity. Um, so the state approved the tax levy to reinstate the Hugh schedule the way it was. Correct. But the state said that
our music program was beyond Yes. what a public school for Hammershold and Churchill was not a requirement under the thorough and efficiency standards under the law. All right. Well, we knew it was beyond excellent, but we wish the state would have let us have the levy
for that. My question is, so we were able to we were able to fund it for this year, right? The music program. Yes. But moving forward, that will remain to be seen based on the totality of what our
revenues are and what our expenses are. I think what's really important to note is that, you know, the opportunities for revenue enhancement are very limited. There aren't really any kind of grants out there. I know folks have said, you
know, apply for grants. There aren't a lot of grants out there, if any, that would bridge any kind of a gap that we have had to deal with. Usually, they're targeted to specific purposes. You've seen regarding our enterprises that we're doing a lot with
enterprises. We have grown those programs and we might be able to grow the community programs a bit more, but we've got to do some study on that, but it's not going to come out to be the kind of money that is already budgeted
for the current uh for the upcoming fiscal 2026 year. We've got over $1.2 $2 million anticipated into the budget coming from community programs. I don't see us being able to double that. No. And certainly, even if
we were able to double that, it's not going to come close to the kind of funding that we will need to keep things as they are. The money, I just don't see it there. and we don't know what the state will enable us
to do in terms of tax levy. Um, you know, we we don't like the situation that we found ourselves in. We didn't like it last year. It was horrible. It's horrible again this year.
Um, this is no um no comfort. But we're not alone. There are hundreds of school districts throughout the state experiencing trials like
this. And worse, Oldbridge, I just heard this yesterday or today. Oldbridge is looking at an increase in taxes of I think it was 20
$22 million about that. $22 million. And if it's not approved, high school will go to half-day sessions. They asked for a loan from the state and the state said no. No, the state's not going to give loans. Right. Right. You know though, we've got school
districts in the state that are closing multiple schools because they can't maintain them and collapsing staff. East Brunswick, we're I I hate to say it, but we're not in the worst situation. We
feel like we are because we want to retain what we have, but we are not the only ones. It doesn't help to know that we're the only we're not the only ones, but this is a statewide problem. A statewide problem. There have
been districts that have received enormous amounts of additional state aid, and they don't know what to do with it, looking for ways to spend it. Mhm. And you can't put it in the savings account. So, I don't know what the
answer is going forward, but we've been watching this. We've been trying to plan for things. It's there aren't a lot of options. There just aren't a lot of options. One of the things I wanted to say is early on in this process, we we
and if you are here and listen to the meetings, we talked about our facilities. We talked about B Monroe. This wasn't a baited switch. We've had this conversation about bound for a number of years, but you are seeing across the state districts who are
selling properties. They are closing schools and selling them. That is a one-time fix. And we have to figure out something that can be a recurring revenue source. And that's why we talked about if bound became an alternate enterprise revenue source for the
district, can we maintain and grow that as an additional resource for the district that would help to supplement the general fund. So those conversations continue to to be ongoing and I I think we need to explore that vigorously as we
approach the next school year because those kinds of things seem to be the only things that we have in our our toolkit right now that we can tap into to generate this additional revenue. And but as Mr. Juliana said, "We've been very good about providing services to
the community that they desire and they're willing to pay for. the utilization of the JM Pack has been tremendous, you know, and and if the at some point in the future, if this district ever ever got to a point where they would approve a referendum for
maybe not even a high school, but maybe a performing arts center attached to the high school, those are the kind of facilities that are in constant demand and generate revenue. And that, you know, that that's an investment though and that's that's an investment for the
future. And I know something a lot of people don't want to think about right now because of the enormous cost associated with it. And here we are in this situation with the cost of materials. We have no idea what the next year will look like in terms of what would constructing a facility look like
compared to what it would have been, you know, even six or eight months ago. So those are the kinds of things that that we will continue to look at as we plan and prepare for next year already. Uh if if I may, I'd like to add something to that also because as we you know it as
you've listened to what's come from the state and and the governor and uh in terms of um preschool programs and you know pushing to institute preschool programs in schools in school districts that's essentially our early
early learning academy. It's a revenue producer. If by some chance the state pushes and succeeds with that, the revenue that goes to offset the budget is
gone. And the amount of state aid that will come from those students won't even come close to being able to make up that difference. So that is a concern for me as I think about the kinds of things
that may happen down the road. Well, there there are concerns among uh superintendents in Middle Sex about those kinds of programs where state aid is allocated and then it's essentially pulled back year after year and and that burden is shifted to the local taxpayers
and now becomes the Brunswick problem, not a state problem. All right. So, what I'm going to do is I did have one more comment and I'm just going to start from one side and work around for the board before I go to public comment. But I did want to thank
um Mr. Juliana and his team and the entire administrative team for this budget cycle. Um I know that having the committee of the whole and doing the budget in public is arduous and and awkward. I also appreciate the public
putting up with not being able to see all the papers and yet being here through it. Um but it was a different process for us. I'm hoping it gave some more transparency or at least some clarity about how difficult the process is. I also wanted to thank the team for going back when the board said we had
consensus that we wanted to go in a different direction. Um my only other thought is that people have commented to me quite a bit that we should start planning sooner for the next year. Um which I understand is everybody's gut response. I'm a mom and we tell people, you know, when things don't go well, you
should have started planning sooner. I say that a lot. But we we started right now, but we also know we have this much money and we know pretty much what the expenses will be without rises in costs and planning ahead for something that we know we won't be able to afford is still
difficult especially when we can't save. So I appreciate your efforts in this and I feel we've already started on next year which is exhausting. Yes, we have. We have. All right, we're going to start this way and work around. Dr. Bron, there's Her Tim. Quick question. Um, the
projected class size averages for K through 4, uh, which those numbers I I think are probably pretty consistent with what we've seen over the past 5 to 10 years, I hope. Um, what about beyond that? Uh, you know, when the grades that aren't listed on this sheet, do we have
any concerns about the size of classes as kids kind of age through our district? class sizes um are going to increase in the upper grades, right? Um that is um a discussion that we've had through the
budget process. Some of the reductions uh that were reflected in the tenative budget also uh go in that direction. Um so they're not going to be class sizes like we're seeing in the K4 realm. That's just it. It's impossible.
um what that will mean for the future. Um I I don't have that crystal ball. I don't know. I think a lot of that's going to be driven by um state aid. You can't hold your breath on that. You know, we already know based on what
they've said this year that we can look for another reduction of 3%. So that's what we have to plan for. $3 million in tax levy if we have adjustments that's still not going to make up. So there's a lot to be looked
at. Um I don't know if I'm answering your question quite direct, but I I you know there's no crystal ball for this. We're going to have to monitor as we're going along and see what what are our options, how can we try to manage
looking at the schedules. you know, we've um enlisted um each of the principles to really closely look at schedules and manage them and they've been uh also reviewed uh centrally to help work at um you know what might
those look like for the next year. So, um there's just a lot of work to be done on that to try and and manage and and control what those sizes would be. One of the one of the things that Mr. Cummings is that um we we centralize
registration here in this building. So we get to see daily what that looks like as people come into the district to register their their families or children. And on any given day there
there can be a day when Janet and Karen and the registration team are literally running all day long because people are just coming in. uh they have just moved here. They have just this is this is what what they're doing right away to
get their children in school. And those those blips and anomalies then translate into real people in classrooms in in a building. So we we we see these little shifts, you know, that go throughout the year. And of course, there are people
that migrate out as well. So there, you know, I'm not gonna I'm not trying to paint a picture of everybody's just coming in, but that those things do translate into dynamic changes in classrooms throughout the school year and and even late into the year. Um it's
it's amazing to watch because we get to see it firsthand. Uh but we are trying really hard and it's been the board's priority to maintain lower class sizes and especially K to three. Um but you
know that as Mr. Juliana said that that won't be sustainable because you have to have more staff to spread those students out and so if that is if you're constraining the amount of staff that you're hiring or you know having to collapse that at some point in time
that's going to have an impact. Thank you. Yeah, I mean I I totally get that this the long-term projection here is is grim. Um, I just wanted to make sure that for the upcoming academic year, the, you know, the fiscal year that we're embarking in right now, it that we feel comfortable with all
projected class sizes, uh, you know, from 5 through 12 as well. So, at this moment in time, I feel comfortable with that. Um, but we will continue to analyze that as we finish up this school year and especially through the summer. Um, because that that tends to be a very
dynamic time for people to register as well. Got you. Thank you. Mr. H. So thank you uh Mr. Juliani for this a lot of information but this package has 44 slides so I hope really hope next time please give this package
to us earlier so we have time to digest it a lot of information and it was just giving us a few minutes how it's too much at least for me I don't know how much for you guys so would you please go
to the slide number 44 the last one Mr. strong. Could I could I explain something really in in defense of Mr. Truliana? Sure. So, we you know this there's a lot of information here and not not everything is is easily explainable and we were spending Mr.
Juliana spent a lot of time putting this together and we went through and kind of quality controlled it to make sure that we could present a picture to the public that was understandable tonight in this presentation. So I apologize for that but that did take a lot of time to prepare this and get this ready real
quick. I I understand this is very big job to get organized so much information but my concern is as board member we need a little bit more time to start to digest the information that will help us
to prepare the meeting well but I I I know you guys are working hard. I understand this is very big project but this is my comment. sir. Okay, for the last uh slides. So, uh I anticipate next year
will be a lot worse than you anticipate. So, for a few reasons. Number one, almost everyone agreed that we will face another 3% reduction which equals to 1.12 million. Yes. But this year, charter school got
11% increase. I anticipate next year they will got similar or even more uh increase which means the money for us to spend will be more less than 1.12 maybe close to two or three
million. So please get ready. Sure. When you when you take out the the charter school component which we don't know what that will be but I agree we just saw 600 uh over $650,000 increase. So yes, that will be an impact for next year as well. And
second, I I I anticipate the inflation will of run 2%. Which will increase the cost for everything. So that will make the gap even bigger. But uh so you mentioned that we
reduction program and service. So I really hope you guys you know after we have this budget for next year you guys should work on number one we need really need to think about the race district. Yes we really should do it. We have been
if my memory is accurate we talk about this more than 10 years. We need do it to improve the transportation efficiency to improve efficiency of facility and teaching. And
second if if we have to cut please retain our teachers. They are the the backbone of this school district. They are the future of our school district. This is our children's this is our children's future
without pe most people move to this school district is full school. If we don't have good teachers, I I don't know, you know, by chance I reviewed last year previous year's testing result, I realized that
our testing score, our ranking is drivening down. So I'm really worried. So for the we have the excellence in academic. We need keep it, we need building, we need improve it. By that by
doing that we'll keep our property tax keep our property more valuable we attracting more people to our town and we provide our children more bright future so that is the thing that I want to keep in mind and for additionally
technology can improve the efficiency to improve the administrator's efficiency we need try our best to utilize more technology ology to help us to improve the efficiency and it's for the
community. I please keep lobbying. I I understand it's very difficult for the state to change the funding formula but the more lobbying job we do the the bigger chance we will get better treatment. That's I urge you guys take
any opportunity talk to the legislators because current funding formula is 15 years so it's kind out of date and it's it's a lot of problem with that. We we need to try to improve it. How we when I
need your help so everyone in this community please try your best to do it. But again I want to thank you Miss Juliani and and Dr. Velasi for this this job. It take you a lot of effort. Thank you.
Mr. Juliana, did could you give a brief update of where we are in the redistricting process because the board approved that? Yes. So, uh the demographer was here last last week. Mhm. Uh was here
for two days. Um he wanted to uh visit the uh eight elementary schools. Also visited Hammershold um and um Churchill. Um wanted to actually get
eyes on what those facilities were like, how they were running. Um he has um in fact we have a meeting scheduled for him to give us an update. Um I think it's May 21st. Mhm. We have a meeting with
him to get an update on his status. He's requested additional information uh looking at the registrations, the early registrations for kindergarten so that he can include those in projections. So, uh I know they've been working. They're going to give us an
update on the 21st and we will see what their uh time frames are for um getting us the u ultimately making a report uh to the board. Thank you,
James. Well, Leeu stole everything I had to say, so I'm just going to say ditto. I believe that uh cutting expenses that do not include personnel. We have to absolutely prioritize our educators so that our children have their best experience. Uh looking forward to the
future. um making sure that we have consolidation in our services and facilities to reduce costs if we can't increase our revenue is really the only way to fight back. And I will be in Trenton next week. There is a budget
meeting uh with the Senate I believe on the 13th and um I hope that those of you who can come out join us. Uh they're also available on Zoom. You can find this information online uh at the Department of Education and the uh
state's websites and um I think that those resources are fairly public, but if not, I would love to work with the board to figure out a way to empower you guys to have this better information so we can work collaboratively to make our voices heard in Trenton. Thank you.
Thank you. Would you like us to come back to you in a moment? Okay, Lou. Thank you, President Goss. Um, I want to start out by saying, uh, Mr. Juliana, thank you uh, for your presentation. I also want to echo the words of uh,
President Goss before um, and thank Mr. Giuliana, his team, Dr. Veleski, the entire administration, including school administrators. I know everybody took a lot of time to put this together. Um, I'm very satisfied especially that you were able to find the money for the band
and orchestra which was not uh something that uh was was going to be funded by the state. Uh so thank you thank you for the time and effort there. Um I do think that for the future if it's possible that maybe we reconsider the um
committee of the whole for the budgeting just because we can maybe uh get into the you know certain things a little bit better and then present it to the public in a different manner. It was I'm sure it was painful for the public to hear the process because they really couldn't tell what we were talking about. So um
that's just a consideration and maybe we can discuss at some other date if there's a better way of doing that. Um, so that's something to consider. Um, I just want, if I could, if someone could just give me an idea. It says here
under restruct uh, restructure therapeutic mental health services. Can someone just give me a little more detail in what that really means? I know we talked about this before several meetings ago. I just want to make sure the public understands what that is.
Yeah, thank you Dr. Figuro. So that that is we were using an outside vendor um and we were now we're converting to actually utilizing our own staff to be able to provide a greater width of service based on the utilization of our
own staff members. So essentially it's building out um our own system of support with our own staff. So it includes uh new positions. Yes. Specifically for this purpose. So I believe it's three uh student assistance
specialists uh that will do just this provide therapeutic um mental health services. So and and the net was a savings to the budget. So would it be fair to say that in the past we used an outside organization or that we may not
have had as much control over um in terms of students saw that they can see and that now there's a little bit better having it inhouse with our administration overseeing it and our own people working with our kids on a regular daily basis. I think it's so you
so what I'm I'm hearing is that not only did we save money but we might have improved the program. Thank you. Thank you very much. Job well done. All right. I only want to add to that in that the trying the committee of the whole was very directly a response to
the public's concern that the original or the primary stages of the budget was done behind closed doors and that is very difficult for the public. I heard repeatedly throughout the community and in our meetings as well that people
didn't understand. There were just things happening in meetings that they did not see or hear. And then out came this budget that they didn't know where it came from. There were parts in this process that I missed from where it was in a committee. You know, we used to have more contact with each department head as they came through and went
through each stage of the budget. But I I hope that this was at least an attempt to be responsive to what people were asking for to see what this process is every step of the way. It was ungainainely this year. I'm not entirely sure how to make it smoother to keep it
in the public as a committee of the whole, but we were trying to be responsive. Um, may I comment on that? Sure. I just want to say I do appreciate that and I think the public appreciate it as well, I'm sure. Um, I just think that the process itself, as you say, was
somewhat ungainainely at times. And when they had to sit through us going through line items that they had no idea was, I I'm just hoping there's a better way. Not exactly sure what that is, but I think it might be something for discussion in the future. Absolutely. Thank you again, President. We're always
looking to improve it and this was the first time, but we were trying to put more of it out here. I will tell you that even when it's in the back, it really is I mean, you know, but it really is that just ungainainely, one line at a time. Um, I did want to say to I'm just giving you a little time there,
Mr. Grant or Dr. P. I did want to say to Leew that um I was thinking while we were going through the slides, it was a lot of slides, but then I started looking and I'd say in the first I don't know easily 30ome slides, it was I think
a very nice consolidated recap for the public like bringing it all together like this is where we're at because there were pages I don't remember these being in other presentations at this point but pages of things that were eliminated and then able to be brought back and and every step along the way.
So, I appreciated that information being in here. Um, all right, Dr. Pam, do you have any comments at this time? So, uh, first of all, apologies u for being late. Um, orchestra concert.
Um, I'm going to sort of mentally fill in the gaps in terms of how the disc discussion has been going, but I just really wanted to make two points. Um, and I'm hoping I'm not repeating things that were already uh said. Um, but number one, uh, something that has
always been super important to me, uh, is communication in terms of what the, um, school district is doing and what the board of education is doing. I remember going all the way back to January um, when we first found out um,
the uh, impact that uh, that this year's budget was going to was going to look like. Um, one of the very first comments that we made was when are we telling people because I remember the process last year. Um, and I and maybe I got the
details wrong, but my recollection is that the uh announcement of the budget shortfall last year came much later on in the calendar uh year compared to what happened this year. And um uh you I I don't really like to make a big deal of
my uh day job, but one of the things that I have picked up over the years uh being a pediatric oncologist is um I've learned how to give bad news to people. And people need time to process the bad news. And this was bad news this year.
It was bad news last year. No one was going to be happy with the news. I knew that. Um, but what I thought we could do is give people time to process and help work out um the best possible solution. Um, and I'm glad that we did that. And
in terms of the committee of the whole, I actually am in favor of that for what it's uh for what it's worth. I mean, you know, it it is a bit unwieldy working these things out in public. Um but I also think that um this broadens the
conversation and it provides um a mechanism for input that would be more difficult if we went back to a finance committee system um where the finance committee meets and then um and then uh you know there's a report made out to
the entire board and then there and what really happens is that there's two levels of uh of discussion there. um which is not probably the most efficient use of time especially since my prediction is next year we will be exactly in the same position as we are
this year another seven and a half million the whole um why do I think this I'm not that great at predicting things otherwise I'd be you know I would have bought a lot ticket before I came over here tonight um but the reason I can predict this is that we can look around the state to similar school districts um
in terms of what's going on with financing there and if anyone Someone wants to know what our future is. I think it's South Brunswick. South Brunswick is in in their fifth or sixth year of multi-million dollar budget shortfalls, many of which have been as
large as ours. Um, and uh, you know, I've been eyeballing the uh, South Brunswick Board of Ed meetings just because I wanted to see how things are uh, done there because they've been facing the same situation and this is kind of their mindset at this point. Um
Scott Federer um the superintendent of South Brunswick made the comment of oh at least our short shortfall is only about a million this year. That was good news to them. That's what they've been dealing uh with for the last half decade. That's our future. So again the
you know lots of ideas come in but I think effort needs to be made to find out what's the root cause of this issue. I have thoughts. Um I I know I've spoken about that before. Um I have no illusion that I've solved everything. Um but I
think it's uh but I what I have been able to do over the past few months is pressure test my ideas with a lot of different people. And I've yet to run across anyone that's told me that I was wrong about where I'm at. Um I could be. I'm not saying that proves anything. Um,
but what I do think uh this needs is the efforts of everyone in town to fix this problem because this is our problem. And if we're not going to help fix our problem, then we're just sort of like passing that off to someone else. And that's not something I've ever been, you
know, uh, in in in favor of. Um, we can talk more about this later. um because this is a conversation that needs to keep going and as far as I'm concerned, the next time we should discuss this is at our next board of ed uh meeting because it's going to take time and
planning to try to manage this situation. The second thing I just want to mention is that um from looking at the um you know the results of the budget, I actually do think it reflects the values that the our community has. um despite um an often stated opinion,
we do get and read every single email that comes in. Um at least I can say that's true for myself. I'm sure it's true for everybody up here. Um so if anyone's saying, well, I sent an email and they and it it doesn't um you know, get read, that's absolutely unt untrue
and and I'm happy to talk about this with anybody that thinks that um the truth the truth is otherwise. But um looking at all the input that has come in, I actually again do think that um where we landed was um a good reflection
of our town's values. Um which I'm very happy to see that our town values excellence in education. Um because that's an important thing for us because that's why East Brunswick is East Brunswick. You know, that's why we moved to town. How long ago? 21 years ago. Um,
I've also learned that it doesn't matter how long I've lived in East Brunswick. Everybody else has lived here longer than me. Um, but but that's why people move here. That's why people continue to move here even to this day. Talk to real estate agents around town. They'll tell you exactly the same thing. Um, and
that's what makes our town our town. And I think uh where we landed with the budget this year um reflects that. And I think that's a success in terms of the way that we as a group approach this issue. um this year and I'm going to make the statement I think the
transparency was there and the communication was there. It's a difficult situation. It's going to be more difficult next year. Um the one good thing I suppose about watching how South Brunswick has managed this um about 3 years into their year after year
after year budget shortfall, there are about five people in the audience. But that's because the school district there um uh established trust that they could handle the situation. Um and as far as I'm concerned, that's one of my goals
this year and next year. So, thanks. Hope I didn't repeat anything. No, I think we're in agreement on many things that that's all of our goals. Um, I do want to add though that South Brunswick is very different from us because they have a declining enrollment and we have
an increasing enrollment. So, we are a different situation from them in some ways that are going to be tricky. All right. At this point, I'm going to open it up for public comment on the budget hearing and the budget hearing only at this time. Is there a time limit to
this? All right. It's still still same rules. Uh, it's three minutes. if you could state your name and address unless you're a student and then it's just your name and school. The board secretary will keep the time and again this is only about the budget hearing
then. Okay. So just to clarify after this we'll have an opportunity later to speak there is still the good of the cause for the public. Okay. Okay. Um good evening Domani 6 Fairfield Road. Um, so you talked about
revenue opportunities. I I think it's it's uh I I kind of think it's mind-blowing how we haven't done sponsorship yet on like football field, basketball, whatever. And a lot of people have said
like it they feel East Brunswick may be too good for that. Well, that's a that's money. That's that's free money that companies will give you to just hang uh a banner up at the at the football field.
Um so, you know, I'm not saying that's that's going to get millions or whatever, but that's that's revenue. Um I would also like to uh expand on what um M um Mr. Hong said,
"Retain teachers and retain programs if possible. Try to try to um do do the thing that will impact students the least. Um because that that's that's what school is. School is
for the kids. It's not for the administrators. It's not it's not about that. It's for the kids, you know, to have experiences and all that stuff." So, that's just my my thing. get those sponsorships for all the sports. You can
even um I'm not a fan of it, but put sponsorships on jerseys for the teams, you know. But thank you. Thanks, Tom. Anyone else? Good evening. Jeff Winston, 44 Fresh Pounds Road East Brunswick. Uh Miss
Julian, you did a great job. Again, I appreciate the information. Uh, having chaired this committee once before, I do know the difficulty in bringing it. I want to add a piece that again is missing uh and has been missing in every single budget delivery that I've been had the the privilege to watch. It's
already been mentioned and while you don't have a crystal ball I agree with, what you do have is a history book. And in that history book, there's been opportunities now that raises question. I'll start with the first. I've listened to you use the excuse of the charter schools year after year after year after
year. I could best guess about 318 students go there that are from East Brunswick. We estimate the cost of education here. Last I looked, if I'm off by a little bit, that's fine, of 22,500. That would be 7.155 million. I think we're giving them a little less
than that. So, in my world, that's a bargain. If we were to bring the 318 students back in, there would be no talk of bound being closed down because you're going to need the space. So, you're actually saving money by that charter school and I'd like you to stop using that as an excuse. Next, when you
talk about revenue and revenue driving, I understand that and I know revenues have been tough since co and we're trying to get those money that money back. What does concern me is the size loans that you're taking on in the debt service. You mentioned roughly half a million dollars this time. You just
recently got approval after some type of clandestine meeting that took place between Dr. Valleski and a couple of council members about 11.5 million coming in. You're going to be adding to debt service. It looks like I know there's some retiring
regardless. Debt services is going to be a big thing if your revenues, as you just said, we can't double your revenue. So, how you going to pay for your loans? Uh next, uh when it comes to that 11.5 million, you uh there was a question. We don't know what we can do to save money.
Well, here's one. Don't spend $28,000 to remove a backs stop with machinery. Don't start replacing scoreboards right now. And don't start replacing turf fields or PA systems. And and again, if you're going to be spending money uh in in in all of these things, it's it's a
little difficult to to square up everything you just said. Lastly, Dr. I wish you well in your future endeavors, but we're going to have to clean up a big mess that you left behind, and they're called trailers at Churchill. There will be no high school. We spent a fortune on those trailers. And I'd like
to see a cost analysis done by this board to unwind the disaster of Hughes since there will be no high school. Get the kids back in the proper grades where they were before. There is no evolution of a high school. It was a brainchild that never took off and is over seven
years old that I'm aware of. So until I start hearing about cost savings, it's very very difficult to hear any board say this is what happened to us and we don't know what we're going to do. If you can't creatively come up ways to start working now to c cut your costs,
you have to really wonder what you are doing in these seats. It is your job to make sure the district runs well and we'll have a new superintendent so you can see that it does just that. Thank you very much. Hi. Hi. Dan Moran. I'm a supervisor of social studies for East Brunswick schools. Uh, hi everybody. Um, I've
worked in East Brunswick for 32 years as a teacher, department chair, and supervisor. And the single biggest thing I learned at East Brunswick is that great districts don't just happen. Like, they get made. Um, and even the current crisis you're all trying to figure out is an example of that. Like, none of you are just hoping that it just works
itself out. like you're all trying to to make this thing work out for us so it doesn't just happen. And like the students, teachers, and principles, part of what makes East Brunswick happen um is its team of supervisors. People have a pretty good idea of what teachers and principles do, but their knowledge of
supervisors might be a little fuzzy. They kind of think like, well, they they supervise. Um but what does that really mean? So, I just wanted to talk about that for a second. Supervisors are the go-to people for hundreds of teachers all day, every day. And yes, we write a lot of formal evaluations. We do
summaries and things like that, but supervisors do a lot behind the scenes that's not recorded on paper. And that directly affects the quality of instruction that the kids receive here. East Brunswick supervisors don't stay in their offices. We work with our teachers every day. We are routinely walking into
classrooms to see how our students are doing. And all of these formal and informal classroom visits help maintain a series of conversations that leads to the excellence of this district. Now, when I was a teacher here, I just took that level of excellence for granted. I just thought that's that's how it is.
But I didn't realize until I I started working in administration that that there's a lot that goes on behind the scenes to make that happen as you all know. So, supervisors work on assessments. They work on aligning grading practices. They provide quality professional development. Uh we help teachers when they're having a rough
patch in their practices or their lives. Um, our supervisors are former teachers and content specialists whose guidance moves that we move whole departments forward and we help to move schools forward in the right direction as well because none of us want this to become an education factory. Like we want to do
the right thing all the time and East Brunswick is a large district and removing supervisors will not remove the demands of those jobs. And I know that just to conclude all of you are making really hard decisions. I do not envy any of you for this at all. And I know that uh everyone on the board, I know that
Dr. Veleski, I know that the central office team, you're all working as hard as you can to kind of make this thing happen, to make it work out. And I just wanted to put back in everyone's radar what supervisors do in case this comes up again next year like we're hearing about um if we have to make these kind
of cuts again. So, thank you and good luck. Thanks. Thank you. Tatiana Jordan, 27 North Drive. Name again, please. Tatiana Jordan, 27 North Drive. I'm glad to hear you feel comfortable with the current class sizes, but as a parent, I have concerns.
While you share the average numbers, you don't provide a breakdown by school, which leaves out important context. The average of 18 students in kindergarten, for example, includes smaller schools like Bon Row and Irwin, but doesn't reflect the reality at larger schools like Lawrenbrook, where class sizes have significantly and consistently exceeded
the average. Last year, there were 24 students in a kindergarten class, and this year's first grade classes all have 20 students each, only after parents advocated, myself included, for additional section to be opened. You stated at a previous meeting that a section of first grade at Lawrenburg will be cut next year, pushing four
sections of kindergarten into three sections starting at 21 students, which also doesn't account for any potential new moveins. So, I hope you'll understand why I'm skeptical of the numbers being presented and the way they're selectively framed for public reassurance. Thank you.
Thank you, M. Short. [Applause] Good evening. Good evening. Anthony Googlata. I am the K6 math supervisor and the president of the EBPSA. I would like to ask the board to once again reconsider the proposed cuts
to the four academic supervisors for the upcoming school year. In an organization the size of our district, each group has a role and a part to play in the day-to-day and year-to-year operations of our 11 buildings. Some are clearly understood. For example, students learn and teachers teach, but other roles such
as district supervisors are less clear. Simply put, supervisors help support the teachers or programs throughout the district. By removing vital support for our teachers and students through the elimination of these four supervisory positions, this would surely have adverse effects on the district's ability to meet the curricular goals and
successes that we have all become accustomed to in East Brunswick. I came to the district in 2006 as the 812 math department chair and worked alongside Dr. Moren who had the same role in ILA. We both work with the K12 curriculum supervisors in each of our areas and there were similar models in social
studies and science. During my time in the district, I have learned to appreciate having a colleague for program coordination and how important this was to supporting staff across all 11 buildings. And although this model has changed since 2006, the theme of having eight supervisors support the K12
academic teachers and programs has remained in place. This has served us well with tasks such as performing classroom observations, setting up student tutoring, and running teacher workshops that focus on grade level appropriate curriculum and pedigogy. And this brings us to our main concern. Cutting four academic supervisors is
going to affect how often and how well we can support staff across the district. And please keep in mind the varied academic needs across our programs. The Ksix curriculum focuses on focuses on foundational skills that are vital for success as students enter and move through elementary school. While
the 712 curriculum focuses on skills that will carry students first into high school and then to their post high school experience and under underpinning both programs is educational technologies such as AI whereas previously mentioned East Brunswick has emerged as a leader among schools in New
Jersey. This great potential offered here will also be adversely affected by the proposed supervisor cuts and will move East Brunswick out of its role as a trailblazer and early pioneer in this area. So with all this in mind, which grade levels and teachers deserve more attention and support? Is math more important than science? What about ILA
and social studies? Do we focus more on the ACUPPLACE or on AP scores? Simply put, cutting academic supervisors for these programs will force us to make difficult decisions about where we providing teacher support at the qu K12 level because we will have the same number of teacher and academic program
needs with half the support. Please take this under consideration. Thank you. Thank you. Is there anyone else wishing to address the board? Apologies for the baby. He went to bed. Uh Heather James Zuckermanman, 527 Old
Bridge turnpike. Uh so thank you for all your work on this difficult budget. Um, I know how hard it truly was and to do it all in public for the first time was not easy. Knowing now after two years of experience what's in the state
funding formula and the factors that really deeply impact the formula, there should be much more predictability for next year and we can and should use that to our advantage. Obviously, state funding levels can change depending on revenue, etc. Um, but I hope that you
can all walk into the back room this summer and say, "Okay, here's our estimate based on our calculation of the formula, and let's think about where we can trim." I know you have the skill set, Mr. Juliana. I've seen it, and you have the awards to prove it. Um, so I think the next fiscal year cannot be
business as usual. I think part of what drives the lack of public trust here is the cycle that we've been stuck in for the last two years. it is business as usual and then all of a sudden in February it's panic time right so Dr. Japan, you mentioned that what was saved
reflects the desires of the community and I would agree. However, with all due respect, if one of the goals is to reflect the will of the community, why were the music programs and Hughes so disproportionately impacted in the initial budget proposal, there was an
uproar last budget cycle because of the potential cuts to the music program. We literally took what happened a year ago and duplicated it. And so I hope that we can think more holistically throughout the whole fiscal year how we can avoid that sort of look over here now we're in
a crisis we'll save two programs and you know now we have to think of new solutions for next year. I'm very glad though that the redistricting study is moving along. Uh the parent who said she's worried about class sizes at Lawrence Brook deeply reflects the longawwaited need to redistrict and
hopefully that will help us with some of the fiscal uh problems as well. But I I would encourage you um not to just think everything's fine until we get to uh the start of 2026. Thank you. Thank you.
[Applause] All right. Then I'm going to close the public hearing on the budget which moves us on to the public hearing on the student safety data system. Yes. Sorry, President Boss.
Yes. Wait just a second here. [Music] Sorry. We're just going to gear up here just so we can have the presentation on the screen. Let's go. Next. There we go. So this is our presentation
for the school safety data system. The data reported for September of 24 to December of 24. Uh so obviously it's look back and if we can go to the this is a summary of incidents um related to
the elementary schools including Hammershold Upper Elementary. Uh but let me give you uh as we're looking at these screens an explanation of what you're looking at. So if you're looking at the incident total column, that is the total
of violence, vandalism, substances, weapons, and confirmed HIVs. Now, there could be multiple incidents or multiple offenses within the incident. So sometimes numbers may not jive, but in most cases they will.
Under the violence column, those are mandatory reports of assault, fights, kidnapping, robbery or extortion, sexual assault, sexual
contact, simple threats, and criminal threats. under the vandalism column that includes arson, computer trespass, damage to property, false public alarm, and that
in could include, you know, uh intentionally dialing 911, theft, and trespass. And then the HIV alleged uh those are HIVs that are opened up that are unfounded.
So the one I would the column I would like to draw the the audience's attention to other incidents leading to removal. So I'm just going to give you the description. This is any incident that does not meet the SSDs incident
type definitions that they've established for violence, vandalism, harassment, intimidation, or bullying, weapons, offenses, substance abuses that result in a disciplinary removal for at least one half of day. So, if we've
taken a student out of school for at least one half a day, we have to report it. And those discip disc disciplinary removals are defined as any instance in which child is removed from his or her educational setting for any disciplinary purpose including in school suspension,
out of school suspension, expulsion or removal to another educational setting. So as we move on, if we could move to the uh this is now the secondary schools, another recap, but I think the most
telling for this report will be the comparison yeartoyear. We are very happy to report that we have seen a decrease in the total incidents moving from 63 to 47
uh yeartoyear. We have been relatively consistent uh in our violence category. We had an uptick in vandalism and we are continuing to see vandalism in our schools. And in fact,
we had a recent rash of vandalism at Hammershaw uh that we are addressing. Uh we have seen a decrease in reported substance abuse on school property. That is moving that needle has
been very hard to do and we're very happy with the work that's been done there. Um I do want to bring your attention to weapons and we this year or at least in this reporting period we had two weapons. These are both uh knives
that were manufactured on 3D printers. So they are while they are scientifically made of a plastic material, they are exact replicas of knives and they are extremely dangerous
as well and we treat them as weapons. Um but the the accessibility of uh the template and the um the actual uh ability to print these is available online throughout
throughout the internet. Um we have in terms of HIV confirmed we have seen a reduction there but what we are looking at is the other incidents leading to removal and this is this is a concern uh
because we have seen an uptick in this category. Uh we are seeing students with repeated uh instances of insubordination being um at levels of disrespect to staff that we have not we
have not seen before. Um blatant disrespect, use of profanity. Um so those things and we're looking at the data uh in terms of the actual subsets of students that are in these categories to try to bring resources to
those students and look at interventions to correct and mitigate those kinds of circumstances. Um overall um in terms of the next slide this is just comparison of our
HIVs those alleged that are unfounded and of course on the right the ones that are confirmed. We take every HIV seriously. We investigate them fully uh and we make sure that we provide appropriate remediations after the
conclusion of that investigation. Um we have had difficult conversations with parents about the outcomes of HIV. Some do not meet the criteria but are certainly uh codes of conduct and we're trying to be very very clear with
parents about the distinguishing characteristics between an HIV and a code of conduct situation. And then finally on the last slide uh certainly this is not new to to the community of East Brunswick. Um
there we've brought you know and it wasn't me but the staff has brought sources of strength peer and adult mentoring programs probably our biggest program that has a direct impact on students and you heard tonight in my superintendence report about the butterfly effect and about bringing
students together to talk about positive experiences and how that small impact has a greater impact over time. So, we're looking at things like that. And of course, we continue to have uh you know, things that violence awareness and and respect week activities to bring
awareness to all of these these situations. Uh we continue to have a dynamic population of students who are encountering uh social experiences outside of school. We continue to get a number of handled with care from the
police department. We are notified uh throughout the night on the weekends uh if the police encounter a student that we have to uh be aware that there's some kind of situation outside of school that could impact their learning or their experience at school. Those those come
throughout every night and every weekend. They are they are consistent this year. Uh so I am really proud of the staff that that works very hard to make all of this happen. I have to recognize Karen Keegan who is sitting I
think right back there. Raise your hand. Hi Karen. Um she Karen put the report together. She manages everything. She makes sure she's the gatekeeper back there and I've come to understand that she doesn't have a
problem saying no to anybody. Um Daniel Bllelock of course Vanessa Amaterio Amatero and the Yes. And the entire and the entire student assistance and counseling staff. They're a phenomenal group of people who work very hard and
care very much about every student they encounter. Uh so kudos to them. We are moving the needle in the right direction there. There is a lot of work to do. Um and we continue to hope to have each successive report shows improvement. So
that concludes the uh report question. Oh, do we do comment on this? Yeah, we can do questions. Yeah. Oh, okay. Um, just a quick question. Um, uh, with the categories, violence, vandalism, etc. Um, how are these categories chosen? Is
this like a state mandate that these are the categories that shall be used? Okay. Yeah. Um so is uh and and given the uh uh comments that you made about the other incidents um is there room for us to look at say in subordination specifically and call it out given that
this is a trend that we've identified at our level or is that something that the state mandate is uh hamstringing us on? Uh Dr. Pan, no they well the state category is defined by the state but we are running reports behind the scenes that the principles keep uh in terms of
like Google forms and Google sheets to keep track the um the demographics of all those kinds of reports as well. Okay. So so we have we have the detail behind the scenes to support these numbers which are reported at a state level using the state category that they
they have set. So we have a more refined look at the students behind behind this right here. Got it. Okay. Um maybe next time uh if there's something that you wanted to call out such as the insubordination thing. We can do that. We can we can show that as as part of
that would be helpful I think. Thanks Dr. Figo. Yes. Thank you for the report Dr. Um with the confirmed HIVs. Is there any trends that you see in there or that we've we've identified? For instance, are more on the bus? Are they in the lunchroom or in the hallways? And if so,
is there anything that we can do about it? Have we tried to uh to to uh you know make any change in those? We have. So we we do have through a program we use called Hipster, we have the ability to actually identify where the incident
occurs and draw trends and do reports on those. We have seen pretty much across the board uh studentto student interaction uh in hallways in passing. Uh we have had um some cases on buses.
Uh so those those tend to be cafeteria, hallways, buses where there's common uh gathering of students or common mixing of students. Uh so we we are fortunate that we have cameras on all of our
buses. Uh so that is a forensic uh opportunity for us. Um hallways are monitored as well in cafeterias. We our security system without revealing all the details is really comprehensive and
it gives us a lot of ability to investigate and kind of really drill down into who the the targets are and who the aggressors are in these HIV cases. Um but you know from your work Dr. Figuro when you when you were
handling this is that it is the it is the I guess the big lift is providing the resources to students to get them to change a behavior and that's the biggest biggest challenge in many cases what we've seen in some of the less
aggressive HIVs but they're still HIVs the students really don't understand or comprehend what they have done to a classmate or to a peer they didn't think it is bullying but it is and and so having the understanding is a learning
experience for them for the next year the next grade level and that's our challenge. Thank you Dr. Velesque I appreciate that. Thank you again for the report. Anyone else? Thank you for the report and for everybody in administration who works on
this. Um two questions. one, do you see any of this um affected by cell phone use throughout the day? Like videotaping of students or anything related to that cell phone use?
We have um obviously students use their digital devices in inappropriate ways during the day. Um we have policies and and part of our code of conduct is that not to use a
phone to record an incident. Uh we have in fact you know I would say many times we're able to recover uh the video from a phone. But the problem is Mr. Ter is that as you know that that the ability of a student to record an event and to
upload that event real time to social media is and I I've watched video of a student who did it and I was actually amazed that they're able to take their phone onehanded take a video upload the photographs or the video and it's
literally in seconds. Yeah. you know, and so but it's a behavior that and the consequences are real. So the principles have been consistent in administering those those consequences in those code of conduct. So we might have a we might
have a situation where it's an HIV incident involving students or groups of students, but we have a student who recorded it and of course now they're in the code of conduct arena, right? uh and then having to but I think sometimes the students are beginning to understand
that that's real. You know, I I don't want to be sent out of school because I just had this desire to record a fight. But other times there's an intentionality about it. It's like there's it's planned. They want to record it. They want to get it uploaded and that's we working hard to try to
change that behavior. But that that is the world that we are fighting against is that this immediate everybody's going to pull out their phone and take that video. Yeah. Thank you. And then just my other question, um, looking at some of the categories here, we know that some
of this can be caused or affected by mental health or mental health challenges. And, um, so we've heard recently from the federal government that there is expected to be cuts in mental health services provided to schools. And do you have any thoughts or aspects on how that might look here for
us? Um, how much funding we or this or the state as a whole gets from that? I know that the state has kind of said um that they are willing and will p go after uh like legally pursue money but
that there's a lot of things being cut that the state doesn't have the money for. Right. So how do you think that might play into this? I think I I think you're absolutely right. I think we have not seen yet what the impact is going to be um about the changes at the federal
level in terms of money coming down to the state. Um you know at at this moment we are we are not making any assumptions until we see real impacts or cuts. But um as as was discussed earlier in the budget presentation, bringing uh mental
health support back in house with students and providing a greater capacity of our staff to service more students uh with the consistency of our own staff. And and one of the things we saw with the vendor relationship is if
we didn't have a staff member that was um who was normally assigned to us that may have been out for some reason, finding a another person that was a fit for our district was sometimes just difficult to do um because students are
building relationships with people and having that person shift out and having a substitute come in. I think that consistency, the availability, the trust between the the counselor and the student and also family supports and having those those conversations with
with the family unit, not just the student where you're explaining that, you know, the impacts because sometimes we're dealing with families who are coming from different sets of values, different cultures, and trying to trying to acclimate into our system as a school
district. And I think that's that's one of the bigger challenges. But I think the shift to bringing things inhouse will be a greater support for students. Anyone else? One quick question. Um, sorry, Leu. Um, the I've seen a lot over
the past couple years a lot of the great initiatives that are community focused and driven. Um, you know, bags for Elijah's Promise and and things of that nature. at the high school level. Do we have I'm looking particularly at the last page here and and you know the different uh clubs and and programs that
are in place to help just support goodness and wellness and and community mindfulness. Do we have a um a community service club uh at the high school um that is specifically targeted at, you know, volunteer opportunities and
engagement uh within the larger community, not just East Brunswick, but beyond? I uh Mr. Cummings, we have a number of our clubs and activities and student associations have a volunteer component to them. So, um just one example is National Honor Society. You
know, one of the one of the commitments of the National Honor Society is you provide some volunteerism. So, I think there's there's a little component of that in in how we form our clubs and in public service. Um, I would have to pull the club activity list, what the current ones are, and I could report back out to
the board at a later time about what we have that's specifically targeted to volunteerism. The butterfly effect spread to the high school. Right. Can I can I add to that for a moment? Sure. Um, I just want to say it's I don't think it's as formalized as some other
things, but it is a tribute to our staff that many of the athletic teams um volunteer with the younger athletic teams, which creates a very strong community-mindedness. They expect the varsity athletes to come out and work with the little kids and you bring the community together and parents get
together that way. Um, the other thing I wanted to say is that I don't know I don't know if your kids have had the experience yet, but Youth Council in town, which is not through the district, is a phenomenal resource of getting the kids out there for volunteerism. They actually, and if you've had a kid, I mean, I'm sure people here know, but if
you've ever had a kid try to sign up for the Matrix for events in the school to volunteer, it's like it goes live and then everybody hops on the ice cream socials really fast and they start picking. They all want to volunteer. So, you're absolutely right. It's amazing and we could always grow more but we
have quite a bit already. It's great. Anyone else? Yeah. So, uh you mentioned about the families function dealing with our children's behavioral issues. Mhm. Education children is not just family, not just
school. We are partners. The entire community need to work together to educate our children. So, so I know we have a parenting university activities. We invite all
kind of expert to give lectures. So uh so in your plan or in your aspect so how can you use the PTAs and how to use parents university to teach our parents
so they can regulate they can be their children's model and then they eventually will improve students behavior in school. Mr. So one of the as everyone in this room knows time is valuable. If you have children and you have a job you are
running you know from morning to night. Um and we saw at Par University getting people to commit to comm to physically come out to an event at school that is that in in some people's mind is informational but yet not necessarily required. Maybe it's just they they want
to hear what we have to say. We've tried live streaming. We have tried the the digital format and I think we have a greater audience that way. The problem we have in those kinds of events is we no longer have the ability to kind of
doublech check with our recipient. We're delivering the message, but how are they receiving it? Are they understanding what we're saying? Um so there's definitely delivery and there's there's people logging in. Uh but I I think we've got to find a more creative way to
um to bring people out. Uh because I think if we bring people out and physically see things and they hear things and they interact with a social circle of people at the event and as we've seen with many if you look at adults the one thing that drives adults and will bring adults to a meeting is
food. And so if you if you do have abilities and we've worked with uh EVA and and the grants that they've had where they've funded different food activities for uh parents, which is a great partnership and resource for us. But if you can come out, you don't have
to worry about feeding your family. The kids get a piece of pizza or something to eat. The parents get to hear something. I think that's that's a focus we're going to look at for for the next uh round of interventions with families. Thank you. And babysitters. I don't know
about babysitters. I know. But when we provide babysitters out and our schools, our elementary schools on uh back to school nights and and have done that have had services for parents and that's been a great resource where
they they can drop their children off and then they they go see their teacher. Absolutely. Yeah. Uh, sorry. I just had a really quick follow-up question on uh Lori Herrick's comment. Um, uh, in terms of cell phones, um, we know that the
governor has, uh, said he's in favor of, uh, uh, not having, uh, student access to cell phones during school. Where, uh, would do you have any comment on where we're at in terms of implementing such a thing? So we have been working this school year with the uh secondary
principles especially the uh Hammershel uh cell phones are restricted during the day. Uh but Church Hill and the high school we have been and we've been involving uh Hammershel administration uh to look at a more consistent application of um actually restricting
cell phone usage uh at the high school and Churchill. Um there are a lot of districts who are reporting that there are better outcomes when students don't have their phones out. Um we do have pouches
um in the um classrooms where teachers can house the cell phones. Uh and you may have seen these um the magnetic lockable uh yeah the devices that you can buy the key to unlock it from Amazon. So, it's
not very effective. Uh, so you buy a $40 pouch, you think it's locked up, students can go on to Amazon, buy the key. Um, so we don't think that's that's the wise investment. It's more about a change in behavior and the utilization of the phone. And you know, we hear a
lot from parents that they need to contact their child, they need to check in with them, or what if my child needs to reach me for some reason. Um, and we al we understand that's a legitimate a legitimate
concern, but we do have an office staff that can get to a student. Um, so getting that phone in the backpack and keeping it there is really our objective. you know, not necessarily taking away from them, but putting it away, turning it off, putting it away and not having easily accessible uh
during the day, I think will be a greater outcome in terms of supporting the health of our students and in terms of uh feeling of safety and security for our staff, the policy and policy committee. Yes. So, we are we are actively moving that to a policy
discussion. We have that meeting draft we have a draft policy. uh we need to wrap that up internally and then we'll be scheduling a policy committee meeting, but that'll that'll be planned before the end of the school year. Yes. Yes. Yeah. Great. Thank you. Anyone
else? All right. Not at the request of the public, but at the request of the board, trying to be responsive to the board and remembering that not everybody has a job that forces them to go hours and hours without going to the bathroom. I'm just kind of used to Oh,
I'm sorry. the public I am so sorry. Uh so it's a public hearing on the student and safety data system. Is there anyone from the public who would like to comment? All right. It's the same as before. State your name and address. Board secretary will keep the time. It's
three minutes. Thank you. Um Dom Sculfani, six uh Fair Fairfield Road. Um a few things. Um, I actually in 10th grade, one of my teachers, it was like a requirement to like put the cell phone in the cell phone thing. So, I'm not
sure if that's Oh, sorry. I'm not sure if that's something you're looking at. Um, I also with with this um, from my experience, it's always been like the quote unquote good kids would
participate in this and the quote unquote bad kids wouldn't. So, is this really helping? I want I want to know like is this decreasing bullying and stuff like that? Um, you know, even even when I was in
Sources of Strength, there were there were kids who probably shouldn't have been in that. Um, yeah. So, I just I just want to know if if this is working. um if uh you know
maybe I don't know Dr. Figuro, you're an expert in this. Maybe you can have your two cents on it. But that's that's that's my questions and I hope after you close this, it can be answered. Thank you. Thank you. Is there anyone else?
Yes. Thank you, Rachel Botnik 262 Brmley Place. I'm watching this and listening to this and um all of the things that you're talking about volunteerism and all of that, you're targeting the wrong students. Those students will always volunteer for those things. The children that are
being insubordinate in the classrooms are the ones that you need to help. So, I really think that you guys need to go back to the drawing board and maybe talk about a little more differentiated instruction in the classroom because it's not happening. and maybe your SEAL programs are not working very well, but the children that you're targeting with
all of these things are not the ones that need the help. So, I just want to say that. Thank you. Is there anyone else? All right, then I'm going to close the public portion of the public hearing on student safety
data. And now I'm going to ask for do I have to get a motion on this or Okay, I'm just going to call for a very very strict fiveminute recess so that the board can perhaps stand up, use the bathroom, and hurry right back. All right, we will be back in five minutes.
Thank you. All right, thank you. We appreciate the patience. All right. Now we come to for the good of the cause for the public. The board of education recognizes the value of public comment on educational issues and the importance of allowing members of the public to express themselves on school
matters of community interest. To protect the privacy of all students and staff, concerns regarding individual students and staff members should generally be addressed by first meeting with the appropriate administrative staff. 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. Each person is permitted to speak for up to three minutes. The board secretary will keep the time. Um when you step up, if you could please state your name, address unless you are a student, and then your name in school. Is there anyone wishing to address the board
tonight? Long time no see. Hi Dom. Uh good evening, Domani, 6 Fairfield Road. Um first just want to say Dr. Velesi, congrats on retirement. Um like
10 years, wow, you were you were my superintendent. Um I'm I'm I me and my my parents and my family still laugh at the snow day messages. Um I think I think there was one about a dog. Um Yeah, Bentley. Yeah, Bent. Yep.
The dog. Yep. Um, next, uh, I do want to give my thoughts and prayers to, uh, Mr. Broadman, who sadly passed away. Um, I personally didn't have him, but my, uh, siblings and friends did. I heard
nothing but nice things. Um, it it's crazy like the la I did I spoke to him on occasion and it's crazy to think uh, spoke to him like four years ago and yeah, so may he rest in peace.
Um but yeah um uh and thank you for that conversation we just had. Um yeah, thank you. Let's go Mets. They won today. Thanks, Tom. Is there anyone
else up? Kimberly Shama, 11 Ellison Avenue. Um, I went to a wrestling meet at the high school in the winter and I noticed that the sports banners are not updated for more than five years. So, I'd like to
see, you know, those updated for the students to recognize their athletic achievements. Thank you. Thank you. Is there anyone else? Hi, Michelle Bethy, five watch road. I'm here tonight as a parent and advocate
for children with dyslexia. Um, dyslexia is a learning disability that affects reading, spelling, writing, and even math. It's not a vision problem or a lack of effort. It's the most common learning disability affecting one in five children. That means in every
classroom there are likely several students with dyslexia, many of whom remain unidentified and unsupported. Our district is failing these students. We still do not have a universal dyslexia screener in place. And without it, students slip through the cracks,
labeled incorrectly, blamed for behaviors rooted in frustration, and left behind academically. Even when screenings do happen because it is required by law, I wonder about what comes next. Who is
certified to provide the intervention? 30 hours of IMSSE training is not enough. Dyslexia intervention requires highly trained professionals who can deliver individualized, explicit, and systematic instruction, something our district is not currently equipped to
provide. Furthermore, the use of IMSE scope and sequence takes too long to reach critical concepts. While we move slowly through the program, these students fall further and further behind, which affects their confidence and their motivation. I also want to be very
clear, structured literacy and balanced literacy cannot coexist. Balanced literacy promotes guessing strategies, level text, and incidental phonics. These approaches are not only ineffective for students with dyslexia, they are harmful. Structured literacy is grounded
in decades of science. It's direct, cumulative, diagnostic, and essential for students with reading disabilities. I also want to remind you, it isn't just phonics instruction that's needed. We need to be targeting fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension as well.
The district must stop ignoring dyslexia. I know of several parents who have been told that it doesn't matter whether their child is tested for dyslexia, that a label won't change the instruction. But that's simply not true. Identifying dyslexia does matter because
it opens the door to the kind of targeted evidence-based instruction these students need to succeed. Our children deserve to be identified early and given the right support, not delayed, not dismissed, not denied. Anything less is educational negligence.
Thank you. Thank you, Michelle. Is there anyone else? Chad Seer, 11 Apache Court. Uh, I just want to say as a former board member, the time you people put in is people have to understand what you do. Uh, back when I was on the board on
Wednesday night, you would get a packet about 6 o'clock. I'd read that packet till 12:30, 1:00 in the morning, get up to go to work on Thursday, come here for a meeting, sit in the back room till about midnight, and get home Friday and go to work. So, thank you very much for
the time you guys put in. It's it's it's underappreciated what you guys do. Dr. Veleski, congratulations on retirement. I consider you a friend and I'll definitely miss you. Uh, Dr. Thank you for coming here. And uh just you know that seat was open. I texted
Lou. That was my seat for years next to Lou. I thought it was open for me this evening. I was going to jump into it, but my wife would kill me. So no. Um and uh thank you for saying that. You do read the emails that come through. Um other than that, I just want to say thank you for your time you put in
there. Congratulations, Dr. Veleski, and read my missive. You don't need middle school football. Thanks. Thanks, Chad. All right, I'm going to close the public portion. I I do want to say just as a general point of interest, we get
the packets much earlier now. We get it the week before. Oh, all right. I am going to I don't need a motion to combine it. All right. I'm going to combine the entire agenda. That does not change our ability for
discussion of anything. Um, but I would like a motion for the full agenda. Um, I I need a motion for the full agenda before discussion. If there's something on, you can that that's what I
want to cite what that item is. Okay. Okay. Fine. It'll be a roll call, so it be simple. Can I get a motion? No. All right, Tim and Lori. Thank you. All right. All in favor? Oh, sorry. Oh gosh, I'm tired. Discussion.
Um, we'll start it then and we'll just across. Uh, I'm sorry. Is this covering the human resources section? Everything. Okay. Uh, just uh two quick questions for items one and three under human resources with the teaching agreement with, uh, TCJ and Montlair. Uh, I just
wanted some context. How long have we been working with those two institutions? I I I've reviewed these agreements for a number of years and it's replacing student teachers. Right. Right. We do we do it with uh Monontlair TCJ
um Kane University. It's a new one. Yes. Yeah. That's a new one. I remember that from a previous meeting. So that this is a very standard thing so that we could place student teachers uh and and increase you know the teaching. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Thanks. I just wanted some context. Um the the the
thing specifically for item one the TCJ one. My son attends TCJ. He intends to I can still vote. Okay. Great. Even though he's planning on being a high school teacher. I don't think his student teaching would be here though. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Comes here later maybe.
Lou. Did you have anything for this one? Okay. Jamie Leu. Okay. Over here. Anyone? All right. This is a roll call vote and abroad. Okay. Um yes on everything except human
resources. Item four. I need to abstain. Um on employee 26279 noted. Thank you. Timothy Cummings. Yes. Jamie Falco. Yes. Lewis Figueroa. Yes. Lorie Herrick. Yes. Lee Wu Hong. Yes.
Wilbur Pan. Yes. Heather Gloss. Yes. All right. Motion carries. We have no need for a second. Closed. Ray. We do not. All right. Can I have a motion to adjurnn, please? So move. Um, go to the cause. Huh? Oh, I'm so sorry.
Go to the cause for the board. Thank you. I did not turn to the end. Go to the cause for the board. Would you like to start? Go for it. I I have I have to pull out my notes, so go right ahead. Yeah. Okay. I'm on deck. Um so, um I I think I neglected to mention this uh
before, but in case I didn't, um you know, thanks to the community for all of their help in the budget process. I I know we all re really appreciate it. Um you know, again, despite what some people u may may be thinking, we really do appreciate all the input. And I do,
you know, personally think that this made this a much better process than it did last year. Second thing, um May is Asian-American, uh Pacific Islander Heritage Month. Um this goes on for the month of May. This has been going on since the 1990s. Um we used to get a
week um since the 19 uh70s, but we got bumped out a month uh in in in in the '90s. And it's actually especially apppropo here in uh in the part of New Jersey that we live in. Um because as it turns out, Middle Sex County is the one
county is the county in New Jersey that has the highest percentage of Asian-Americans um in it with 25%. And here in East Brunswick, now we're actually a little bit above that. Um this is, you know, estimated census data because of how they do do that in uh off census years.
But uh uh but East Brunswick um we have about 28% Asian-Americans. So uh that that's great. Even more appropo in New Jersey, we're one of um two states to my knowledge that has um incorporated
Asian-American uh history into the uh curriculum. Um which I think is a fantastic thing. We came in behind my home state of Illinois, which was the first state to implement that. And then a little aside, personal aside, my sister, who's a high school teacher in the in the uh northern suburbs of
Chicago, uh actually did some work to make sure that that went through. So, I'm now mad at her that she beat us to this um thing. And then finally, at the library, there is a table right by where you come in with all kinds of information um on uh that's pertinent to um
Asian-American Pacific Islander uh heritage month uh including uh information on voting um and um and AAPI of East Brunswick uh has been instrumental in putting this together and you know conflict of interest. My wife mans the table pretty frequently,
but uh one of the things that um API of East Brunswick um can do for our school district is provide resources for uh teachers that are looking to um incorporate uh uh to um uh figure out how to incorporate this part of the
curriculum uh into their uh lesson uh plans. There's a lot of resources that are out there. Um and uh from talking with the folks at AAPI of East Brunswick, it seems the feedback that they've gotten from teachers is not that no one's interested in is just that they
don't know where to start. And that's a great resource, you know, for teachers. Um u many of the stuff is free and we all like free especially in this in in this current economic environment. Uh one of which Oh, that was your problem. I wonder what
that is a is is a poster called roots roots and roots of New Jersey and lots of um you know important things um that have happened in New Jersey regarding the Asian-American community. My understanding is uh you um you go to a
website which I don't have so my bad um and uh and you can just get one of these for your classroom or wherever you want to stick this thing up. Um, this one has to go back to the library, so I can't give this one away. Um, but it's there for anyone to to take. I'll send you the website. I ordered one. Oh, great. Thank
you. I did. Terrific. And that's all I got. Thanks. Thank you. Go right ahead. Um, just a couple announcements. Um, I, as you guys know, may or may not know, I'm fortunate to serve on the human relations council. Uh
we celebrated seek uh culture and appreciation recently at the uh library where there were beautiful demonstrations of um martial arts and artistry. The food was lovely. It was a really wonderful experience. Um I really
I love the diversity of our town. Um, upcoming at the uh next council meeting on May 12th at 7 PM, the mayor will be announcing the AAPI Heritage Month proclamation for those of you who'd like to come out and support our, uh,
Asian-American community. Um, that would be lovely. And lastly, on Monday, May 19th at 6:30, uh, at the municipal pond is the 9th annual Unity Walk. We would love to see you there. Um, we have a featured speaker, Nick Cabrera, a local
veteran and business owner. And, um, we're really, uh, pleased to have everyone in the community come out to celebrate each other. Thank you. All right. Um, I have a few things. Um, I wanted to thank the library for
hosting the seek awareness. It was an amazing event and it took up a large portion of the library, but it was wonderful to see the diversity of our students getting to show their culture to other children. Um the same because I'm on the RPAB committee. I got to go
to the opening of the Cricut pitch. Um my neighbor down the street is so excited. She's about six and she's been promising to show me how to play cricket for about couple months now. But we have, I believe, the only cricket pitch in the county with lights, which gives
our our kids a unique opportunity to play. Um, I was able to attend Arbor Day, the Arbor Day celebration, which was held at Memorial. Um, and thank you to the women's club for providing providing the tree for that. It's an amazing thing to
be able to talk to that many small children. And it's amazing that that many small children could pay attention because there were many dandelions all around them outside and they were great. Um, but mostly I wanted to talk about the celebration of the night school students. Um, the GED, ESL and
citizenship students. That's a program that's run here through community programs. Amry Gilbert, if you haven't had the opportunity, you are missing out on one of the most dynamic resources and hidden gems of East Brunswick. But it was amazing. Uh my only thought through
most of it was that I was so sad I hadn't gone previously. Um we offer night school classes in English uh for students, adult students to earn their GEDs. Uh people had their appointments. They're just waiting for their interviews to get their citizenship. And
I think the most beautiful thing that came out of the evening was um the was the ESL class the student who passed? It is. Yeah. The ESL class lost an adult student in a tragic incident and her adult children were there to
speak and they said of her she believed in the power of words even if words did not come easily which I was very touched by because I think all of education is like that instilling children the power of words even if they don't come easily but it was a beautiful event I will never miss it again it was amazing and
the food there was also very good that's all from me it was plentiful as well there was so much food. Yes, it was great. Go ahead. I will also say last year when I chaired community programs, I did also attend that and um it was amazing. They just want to share their food and their culture with you and tell
you how excited and appreciative they are of the programs that we offer here in East Brunswick and how um they're just so happy to be a part of and attend and um their families as well. Um I just want to say that um May
16th the library is holding a teen stress less night where um the library will close to all regular patrons at 5. Um the event will start at 5:30. We're hoping that um kids in grades 8 through 12 will go. It's um right as exams are
ending. We're gonna have some really great um stuff going on, interactive activities, and just the the chance to de-stress and relax. Um on May 21st, there's also going to be um a presentation by Jonathan Breey. He's going to speak about the book, The
Anxious Generation, that's going to be at the Community Arts Center at 6:30. It's going to be followed by a student and expert panel some um from our own district here and we will talk um more about anxiety, stress, teens, cell phones. Um so it's going to be a great
event 6:30 May 21st at the community arts center. Um on April 14th, I did email the board um that although budget hearings in person had concluded, um written testimony was still going to be
accepted. So, I'm hoping that everybody sent an email or two. Um, also today I had the opportunity to stop by the Department of Education. They had their public hearing. I did speak as a parent during public comments. I spoke about um
the time frame that we have as was discussed today um to make decisions. I talked about special education funding and um how those, you know, I had those concerns as a parent and so I'm hoping that we can all continue to do the same.
Um I'll make a suggestion although I know that we'll have many more discussions after this. Um but I do suggest that as a board maybe one of our first steps after this process be that we write a letter um either you know together as a board or administration
and kind of look at it to um the department of education. Um they did say today during their um public portion that um they will accept letters in writing snail mail emails um from anybody who is interested in reaching
out to them on any topic. Um and I think that we just outline our losses or how um the funding formula or anything else has affected us in the past um year or two. Um, again, I don't know if it'll have an impact, right? I mean, when I
was there today, there were people from Oldbridge and Lacy Township who were, uh, talking about the cuts that they're experiencing as well. So, um, I just think it's a good first step and so it's just a suggestion. Okay. Can't hurt. Tim, I just want to
piggyback on that and I want to give you Lori and I know Lee who's been involved and Jamie, I hear you're getting involved as well. you you're putting a tremendous amount of effort into this and I I have a lot of respect for that and I think it's really impressive. Um I myself have failed miserably. No, truthfully I I have I mean as it relates
to um you know fighting that fight. With that being said, I think that we as a community uh and I think it starts with this board and we've heard this from community members as well. I think we need to be more strategic um in our effort and um you know united in our
effort and I think that that will ultimately be more effective. Uh this year is going to be a very interesting year you know as it relates to the governor's race and and the changes that we're going to start to see. But I really would encourage us to, you know, I want to just take it a step be beyond that too and really think about, you
know, forming a committee that is going to create and implement a strategy that in includes members of the community uh to to work on sort of a united front towards this and perhaps even members of other communities as well. So um I would be more than happy to be a part of that
and uh uh I think we really need to focus on that like tomorrow. Great. Anyone else? And I almost forgot. Uh many of us attended the EBEF dinner part partners in excellence. It was an amazing event.
Uh very grateful for all they do for our schools. Um also a shout out I believe it's school nurses day as well today. I I am a huge fan especially of the one that puts up with my littlest one who likes to visit her every day. Miss Samuels is amazing. And I also
wanted to thank Mr. Malta for organizing a beautiful signing day. They just get more and more perfectly organized. And it is really nice that I don't if you haven't had the opportunity to go to the high school for one, they let the students that are signing have the rest of their team and their friends come out
of class to see it. And it's it's one thing to be proud and have your family there. It's another thing to have all of your friends, even briefly. So, that was phenomenal. Um, also thank you to the ladies in the back for keeping the district's website or sorry, Facebook
page so active. That has been fantastic. People have been commenting to me about what they see up there. So, we really appreciate it. I I can attest that Karen has a mandate. She posts every single day, every day. And she's out there trying to gather
information from people like, "Give me stuff to put up." So, yeah, there's a lot of stuff to report. Well, she's not only helping us as a district get the great news out, but she might also be helping people that are, I don't know, teachers and other districts that didn't know that it was school nurses day until
Karen posted it and was able to go say thank you. So, thanks. Um, but no, we're getting a ton I know I'm getting a ton of positive feedback about the amount of information about what's going on in the district. So, we really appreciate that. All right. Now can I ask can I have a
motion to adjurnn Anna and Wilbur? All in favor? I opposed abstensions. We are an eye. We are adjourned. Thank you everyone. Yes, everyone was enthused for that.