All right. Okay. Good evening everybody and welcome to a regularly scheduled uh board meeting of the East Windsor Regional School DI District. Excuse me, I'm a little tongue tied. Written advanced notice of this meeting was provided at least 48 hours ago. Such
notice provided the time, date, and location of this meeting and included the agenda to the extent it was known at the time. Notice of this meeting has been given in accordance with law. Minutes of this meeting are being kept by the board secretary and will be made available promptly to any member of the
public requesting them from the board secretary at 25A Lean Lane, Heightstown, New Jersey. Minutes will be provided at cost and in accordance with board policy. Are there any board members present who believe this meeting to be in violation of the Open Public Meeting Act?
There are being none, we may proceed. In compliance with the fire code of the state of New Jersey, I make I call your attention to the emergency exits for this room which are located behind the audience and to our left and right. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance hiding today. 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. Item C. >> Having read the materials received, I move the agenda be approved as
submitted. >> Second. Please pull the board. Mr. Falco. >> Yes. >> Miss Drake. >> Yes. >> Mr. Lyd. >> Yes. >> Miss Patel. >> Yes. >> Mr. Weeks.
>> Yes. Miss Lans. >> Yes. Item D. be resolved that the East Windsor Regional School District may hold two closed sessions at this meeting. These closed sessions concern personnel, HIV report of March 23rd, 2026,
administrative introduction, and settlement agreement. Minutes of these closed sessions will be made available to the public when the need for confidentiality no longer exists. >> Second, please pull the board. >> Mr. Falco, >> yes. >> Miss Drake,
>> yes. Mr. Labry, >> yes. >> Miss Patel, >> yes. >> Mr. Weeks, >> yes. >> Miss Lance, >> yes. >> We now move on to item two, our student representative report. >> Hello everyone. Starting off today's report, we'll be talking about the
recent robotics and FBA competitions. Um, starting off with robotics, the team delivered a strong overall performance at the Hatboro competition recently, earning a recognition as a top four alliance in the tri-state area during the event held on March 8th and March
9th. Additionally, the team was awarded the Innovation and Control Award for another consecutive year, highlighting their continued excellence in their design and programming skills. Next, moving on to the Future Business Leaders of America. They had their state
leadership conference which took place from March 9th to March 11th. This year, we had a record-breaking 16 Heightstown groups advanced to the finalist round. And nine of those groups placed at the top four in their uh top four groups in
the state for their respective events, earning qualification for the National Leadership Conference, which is in San Antonio, Texas later this year. In addition, several of our officers and commun community service initiatives from our chapter specifically were
recognized at the state conference. Um, this amazing performance reflects the uh hard work and many hours that students put in over the last couple of months as well as the growth of our FBA club which went from less than 10 state competitors uh around four years ago to
having around 89 state competitors this year. Uh, thank you to the many chaprons as well as Miss Nim, our adviser, who made the trip possible in the first place. >> A few days ago, West Windsor South High School held the Mercer County School Board Association unsung hero award
ceremony where Serena Roof was our district's recipient. The award highlights students who make outstanding contributions to the to their school and community. Congratulations, Serena. Next, the spring musical Bring It On ran
from March 12th through the 15th, and it was also a huge success. It was great to see all the hard work from the cast and crew come together in such an amazing performance. Congratulations to Terren Williams and Asia Asia Somers for being named
February's athletes of the month. Both Terrence and Asia had amazing winter track seasons and both competed at the indoor track nationals this past weekend. Congratulations to both and good luck with your spring season. With the spring season starting their regular
uh season this week, most of our teams have their first games later this week. Good luck to all the teams. >> We're also very excited to share that the Heightstown School Store, now called the Ramshack, is officially open today with a ribbon cutting ceremony. Um the
store was run by students from Mrs. Goully and Mr. Cox's classes and will serve as a valuable resource for developing important skills including communication, responsibility, and work experience. With spring break beginning at the end of this week, we hope everyone enjoys
the break. Thank you. >> Great. Thank you very much. And congratulations to all of our competitors and all of our students. Um, we now move on to item three, our preliminary 2026 2027 district budget.
I'll turn it over to Mr. Daniels. Okay. Well, good evening everyone. Uh, it is that time of the year. I'm really the introduction for the opening act here for our business administrator. But um you know as districts are engaging in across the state right now we are
sharing our preliminary budget for the uh 2627 school year. Um and I'm going to talk a little bit about process tonight and then I'll pass the baton to Paul Todd who will kind of get into the numbers and um we'll take some
questions. So in terms of where we are as it relates to a budget each year we do kind of begin with this just to kind of frame where we are as it relates to what a budget reflects. So uh ultimately you know the budget is a planning tool. So from a planning standpoint
um you know this is this year for us uh we engaged in the planning process I think a little earlier than than typical years and mainly because we anticipated or tried to plan for um uh less state aid than we've received in prior years.
So uh the process is such that each department, each school is kind of reflecting on the prior year's budget, identifying some need areas and then kind of engaging with uh central administration to determine what that means for the upcoming school year. I'll
say that to rewind the clock a little bit. Um this is my seventh year in the school district. I think uh probably for the first five years uh of my time here, we were fortunate uh to have some uh increased state aid primarily because in
the prior years the district was underfunded. So when it happens in real time, it feels like a win to some degree. So we we were fortunate to have uh some additional state aid that played into uh kind of our planning and
supporting the resources within the school district. Obviously the the budget reflects our values uh the things that we prioritize. I think it's important to remember that we are an educational institution. So we want to make sure that uh everything we do the
decisions we make are kind of leading back to supporting the educational needs of of our students. Uh when we talk about considering contingencies, I might be stealing some of Mr. a Todd stunner here, but I'll say that it's no secret that this year uh in terms of the
the state aid, uh we were reduced about a million dollars compared to last year. Last year, we uh had reduced state aid about 750,000 compared to the year prior. The year before that, we were anticipating um what we thought was kind of our
concluding year in terms of additional state aid uh based on S2. But that year, we received about $1.2 $2 million less than we anticipated. So, the cumulative effect of that has been just interesting. I feel like the gains that
we made, I feel like have slowly kind of faded away uh from a state aid standpoint. So, I will say that um I'll take this as an opportunity really just to commend the team um in having some prudent practices to ensure that we were
in a a position to adjust and adapt without sacrificing uh our educational program. I'll say that up front and I'll commend Paul Todd and our our central administrative team, but all of our administrative team within the district who plays a role uh
in determining uh what we're recommending for the current uh the upcoming school year. So, obviously, we need to be responsible and we need to make sure that we have uh some some buffer, some safeguards uh within our planning. So, I just use this as an opportunity to
remind ourselves, you know, can I steal your your microphone? I think I'm Okay, testing. It's a little bit better. So, I'll just say for us when we talk about uh our our our planning and what the budget reflects, I think we just need to remind ourselves uh there's a
few things here, right? mission is core in terms of why we're here and what you know obviously we need resources to ensure uh that our program is such that it can serve the needs of our students uh from the time they enter whether it's prek uh through their graduation as 12th
grade students. Uh a couple of years ago the district engaged in a strategic planning process uh providing a a a goal update um during one of next month's board of education meetings. But just to highlight some of the areas that we're focused on uh that
kind of serves as the the underpinninging of of our program. Um the district adopted five goal areas uh connected to that strategic plan for 2025 through 2029. So our goal area number one and one could argue some could say that's our most important goal
and that's student centered learning. So I'll say that um I'm not going to read that out there but but obviously there are some objectives connected to that goal area. is that focus around STEM opportunities for students. Obviously, student achievement as it relates to our
our standardized assessments. Uh also talking about ensuring that our teachers um have the necessary tools and training as it relates to supporting our students with disabilities, but also making sure that our students graduate, got two outstanding uh soon to be graduates here
tonight, that they graduate with the tools necessary to be productive global citizens. And we also want to make sure that we keep a keen lens on ensuring that our students uh are in that learning to read um phase from an early childhood standpoint to make sure that
they transition to third grade as functional readers. and also keeping a keen eye on the achievement gap and ensuring that um we're putting things in place to proactively support the continued growth of students with a with a keen lens on our students who are
underperforming uh or students who we believe are current or former multilingual learners as well as those students who may be eligible uh for special education services. So, you know, it's a pretty uh robust goal area, but obviously we believe that that
serves as the nucleus of what we believe our organization reflects. So, goal areas two and three, uh obviously, um staffing is, you know, kind of our most valuable resource within the district and one could argue our most
expensive resource within the district. So, um you know, we're in a continual process to recruit to support um our staff members and to ensure that they reflect uh the students that they're serving here in the district. I'll say that
um I'll talk a little bit about that as we as we move forward in terms of what it means for staffing because ultimately when we talk budget, I think personnel clearly is is an area of focus. Uh goal area three, community engagement. So, we were talking about um intentionally
engaging in a process of fostering uh strong relationships within the school district and ensuring that we value and capture and leverage um I think one of the treasures in our district. And that's kind of the the the varied experiences that that individuals, both
students, families, and staff uh bring to our our school district and looking to see how we can uh strengthen some of those areas. Some of that for us was connected to um when we look at the objectives under that goal area we had talked about
uh one um preschool was an area for us and it's funny that preschool kind of fell under this umbrella but it was kind of you know looking at at how we can leverage community resources to kind of move us in that direction. Uh obviously we were looking at strengthening some of our supper summer opportunities for
students. Uh we also wanted to make sure that we were trying to tap into uh some potential interests that students may have especially at the 612 level just to kind of broaden um those co- and extracurricular opportunities. And um we
also wanted to make sure that we could kind of uh further I think strengthen um those district-wide community engagement opportunities just to ensure that we're not only kind of sharing things but really embracing that sense of
connection uh with the community. So goal areas four and five facilities and finance. Obviously tonight, uh, we're highlighting the finance aspect of that, but we definitely want to make sure that we were continuing to engage in some upgrades as it relates to our school
facilities, create some efficiencies uh, within our environments. We were also looking at kind of um, during this 5-year window of the strategic plan, determining how we can expand our footprint to enable us to be poised to uh, expand um, and create
those preschool opportunities. Uh we're not going to get into a lot of detail about that tonight, but but ultimately it's part of what we're seeking and we're continuing to explore what that means for us. And um you know technology is something that we are
looking to uh invest in really just to create some efficiencies and to support um I think in this environment right now uh connectivity but also you know from a cyber security standpoint just ensuring that we are protecting information
especially student information uh in in this modern era. Fifth goal, culture, climate. Uh we just want to make sure that we are continuing to uh I think nurture a sense of respectful environment for all stakeholders. So we
want to make sure that we are uh for our students who are connected to school communities really strengthening that sense of belonging. Um we put an emphasis on a kind of a collaborative shared sense of a a code of student conduct. um but really kind of focused on more of
a proactive lens on that where we're kind of creating stronger sense of community and relationships. We um we've been participating in the New Jersey school climate survey for the past couple of years. We'll be administering uh another session of that this spring just to get feedback from our students,
staff, and families regarding some of their perceptions of their experiences with the school. And we'll continue to kind of leverage that feedback. Not that's not the only data point that we'll seek, but we definitely want to leverage that to identify areas where we believe we are strong in terms of
building a sense of community, but also those areas where we need to uh delve a little deeper and look for some improvements. And um you know we also want to make sure that we are integrating and uh leveraging um the development of our students
social and emotional skills to really enhance their not only academic but um their lifelong success. So when we think about budget as it relates to where we are as a district, these areas are kind of serving as the foundation
and then we're looking at resources that live within those areas and sometimes beyond those areas to ensure that we we believe we have a strong educational program. So just a couple of highlights in terms of you know typically when we think budget the two main areas that you
we kind of think about from a dollars and cents standpoint uh are kind of facility upgrades uh but also personnel. So just to kind of rewind the clock, these are some areas that we identified to invest in
for the uh 2425 budget. But the actual work typically when we do facilities projects at at a grand scale, that work occurs at the summer of that that last year. So the summer 2025, which is not that long ago, this past summer, these are some of the the projects we engaged
in as a school district. And as I said before, since my time here, we've probably um invested in about what $60 million in terms of facilities upgrades. And we did that without needing to go with a bomb referendum to the community.
We used our existing funds, our maintenance reserve to try to leverage and capital reserve to kind of enhance our our facilities. Um and and we we were fortunate to to be able to invest in our buildings to enhance those experiences and and create more welcoming but efficient facilities for
our staff and students. So last year um these are some of the areas that we focused on and some of those things will continue as we move forward. But uh we we en enhanced the HVAC system in the high school auditorium. We had a high school scoreboard replacement. We had a number of transformers that needed to be
replaced. Uh we did uh enhance or replace the blacktop playground area at the MK and uh we installed a prek playground at G&R and then we also had to identify a new uh location for our central registration
and builds and grounds department uh leadership. So we did identify a piece of property. They were um using the White House which is a very uh old building, old house one could argue. So, we we've definitely were investing in
trying to upgrade that, but but it didn't seem like the the investment was really kind of um I'll say it was an investment that would be difficult to sustain. So, we we needed to identify a different place um
for those those individuals and we did that. So, we're in the process of identifying how we're going to kind of repurpose uh the White House as we move forward. Personnel for the 2425 school year. These were some uh decisions we made to enhance our personnel. So, we did
support our our counseling team at the K2 level. We we also engaged in uh some special education teachers at the elementary level. We did add a couple of guidance counselors to our uh middle school team um just to kind of create some balance. We have a grade level
structure there, a core team. And we thought that uh supporting students developmentally at the middle school level was critical uh from a proactive standpoint in terms of where they are developmentally. So we didn't invest in additional uh counselors there. Um we also had a need for language arts
teacher and we had some educational assistant needs uh throughout the district. We also added a a transport have transportation dispatcher on here and that was one of those things where we are fortunate to have uh a fleet our own fleet here in the district. So it's
uh unique to have that in our county. So um having that level of support from a transportation standpoint in addition to a few years ago we were trying to pick up some out of district runs as well roots uh from a from a cost savings standpoint. We we we thought the need
was there to invest in additional support uh in the at the department level. Uh so fast forwarding to the current budgetary year 2526. So this these projects here are slated
to begin this summer and we're we're getting some of those things prepped now. So uh the first thing is the partial renovation at GNR. Really that should should really say the concluding uh renovation at GNR. We began to invest
in G&R. Very old building 100 years old. Just had the 100th birthday. today. I think it was last year. So, used to be a high school. It's now serving as a grades 3 through five building. And uh we've invested in that building uh for the past 5 years to really kind of bring
it up to to date. Um and I'm proud of the work that we've done there. We've enhanced lighting, flooring, case work within classrooms. Uh what's remaining currently is some work that we need to do in hallways and I believe uh some work in the auditorium.
Um WCB. So another another um seasoned building I'd say. So we a couple years ago we engaged in kind of beginning to renovate Walter C. Black School and the process that we've been engaging in was
kind of a twofold. It was an aesthetic upgrade to schools in addition to enhancing the infrastructure primarily HVAC. So um we started that work at at WCB couple of years ago. um almost made Heather Glacowski retire.
A little stressful getting that concluded at the end of the summer. We were then slated actually last year to engage in a I guess it would technically be phase three, but we did not. So right now we're poised to enhance I say a
hallway and that'll include like I said HVAC upgrading as well as uh some aesthetics within classrooms. And then over at the Elman night school, um we are going to resurface and expand uh parking uh at that facility. That'll
take place this summer. And also the athletic fields. Um we will we need to upgrade our our practice fields here at the high school on our natural grass, some of those areas as a some just enhance the safety of of of that surface
there. And then the big the big ticket item I guess you could say a few years ago uh we did get a rod grant uh through the New Jersey Department of Education u and we had to kind of match some of those funds but but I think we qualify for I think $6 million in grant work to
enhance the HVAC system here at the high school. So uh this summer the high school will be uh kind of uh kneedeep in in uh renovation work primarily for HVAC. Um, so we're excited about about that work happening.
Also, just some highlights of some personnel decisions we made last year in terms of what we allocated additional funds for, bilingual teacher, special education. We some educational assistance. We were looking at some extracurricular needs. We did not um we
did allocate funds for to launch lacrosse at the middle school. Um, and we're still poised to do that. We did not we didn't make it happen this year based on the fact that we didn't have the student interest but that doesn't mean that we will not pursue that moving forward.
Um and we had some additional support for our winter track program here and also intramural soccer which I think is a point of pride. We did kind of formalize that this year where we had a a heightened interest of students with
soccer and we were able to kind of create a an intramural program where we had students playing against each other with some you know some some quasi competition and that's something that we would like to continue to move forward with uh in the years to come. uh so as we look ahead
uh for 2627 what I'll say is the this is a year where we have I feel confident to say that we're proud that we are sustaining program um we're we're not curtailing program we're not curtailing uh resources we're not curtaining
equipment we're not uh reducing personnel now I don't have a lengthy list of facilities projects for the upcoming school year we're going to have a have a slightly slower here. Um but but as I shared before, we've been on a pretty decent run. And I'll say now, you
know, as we move forward, if we're going to engage in um you know, a heavier lift of facility upgrades, there'll be a future conversation that we that we'll need to engage in. Paul and I have been having some preliminary discussions with this
and and when we met with our architects just regarding options for moving forward. when we talk about, you know, I mentioned that we did about $60 million worth of work in the past five or six years without a bond referendum. I think that's something that we're going to have to have some conversation with down the road to because we have some aging
buildings that we still need to to upgrade. In terms of personnel, what I'll say is there's no um anticipated reductions. You know, we've had some folks that were retired and so forth. So we we believe through through some attrition we can uh comfortably maintain
um our personnel based on the the numbers there in terms of average class size that we're using just to gauge our staffing about 21. And we typically don't really hit that number. 21 at the kindergarten through uh grade three.
Approximately 23 for grades four and five. And and we kind of like to use 24 as kind of our our average number for grades 6 through 12. I'm not including in here our special education environments, our bilingual and so forth, but typically from a from a budgetary standpoint, that's what we're
using as our as our gauge uh for class sizes. So, I use that as a an introduction um just to kind of set the stage. And uh with that, I'll I'll turn things over to Paul and we'll talk a little bit more about the the the nuts and bolts of the numbers.
Thank you, Mark. So, as Mark talked about, when we started this process back in October, we had a uh a good conversation administrative team about some of the fiscal realities that we're going to be facing coming into this year. And I think that definitely was reflected in
the the budgets that everyone presented. I think everyone's respectful of the those fiscal realities and and definitely helped out with putting this budget together. Uh so obviously two big areas where the budgets come from is
from the schools and from the departments and the largest part as we all know we're a labor intensive industry. So uh we have a pretty detailed position control which we get from the personnel department which really lays out all the staffing in the district. So everyone is accounted for
as we go through this. So just to talk about our state aid a little bit. These are the various categories. Extraordinary aid is uh some additional money that we get at the end of the year and it has to do with some of our higher cost special ed students. So that's a a general number that we put
in the budget and then we get funded. We'll get a notice in May at the end of the year. And then the next four categories are what they call categorical aid and that's usually based on how much money the governor puts in for different reasons and also really based on enrollment and other factors.
You can really see between the first three special ed aid, security and transportation aid, not a huge difference when you consider $130 million budget. However, what's kind of been our Achilles heel over now the third year in a row is our equalization aid uh took a little dip. And as we've
talked about in previous budgets, that's really because of two reasons. Number one, because of the district wealth factor and also property values. Uh equalization aid, as the name might imply, equalizes the the ability to pay
for a community for its for its public schools. And that's pretty much what the state comes in and what they're telling us because of those two main factors, district income and also property values that they're expecting uh the district to pay a little more than we have in
previous years. Uh just for example, just in the property values alone and we're going to be talking about equalized property values. Uh that went up about 15% in one year. So, you know, when you start talking about state aid and equalization aid, it's we don't like
to see that number going down, but when it's tied to the, you know, the the wealth of the community or the income of the community, I should say, and property values, for that number to go up would kind of indicate that something bad has happened. So, it's kind of like a catch 22 for us here. So, that's
what's really driving that. So, overall, we lost about $900,000 in state aid year-over-year. So before we get into the tax levy which obviously is another big part we really the revenues it's levy and state aid and
anytime we see on the news or people talk all they talk about is 2%. And that is a piece of it but there are many factors that go into how much you can increase a levy and these are the those three factors. So obviously there's a base adjustment whatever the levy was
last year just take 2% of that and then you get to add a few things into that. Uh one of the most common one I think everyone every time we open the newspaper these days it's healthare healthcare healthcare. Uh this is not just affecting East Windsor it's affecting all the public schools. It's
affecting municipalities the state federal governments private industry uh so we get a full adjustment. Whatever our healthcare go goes up, we can adjust our tax levy for health care costs. The next three are kind of rare. I've been doing this for about 25 years and never
personally seen these three, but technically they're part of the formula. So, you get an adjustment if there's a large pension contribution adjustment responsibility assumed by districts and if something, you know, shifts from one district to another. They're they're
pretty rare. You don't see that too often. And then the other aspect which we have had in the past few years is bank cap. If you don't use all your money, the government lets you hold on to that for three years and you get to accumulate that. So pretty much when we're talking about the increase, it's
really going to be your base adjustment at 2%. Health care costs and really use of bank cap. So how we look this year tax levy is going to be about 76.7 as part of this proposed budget. Last year was 73.4% so
an increase of about 3.3 or 4.5% which is a little uh larger than we've seen really in the past six or seven years of that increase our 2% accounts for 1.4 million of that and you can see the health benefit adjustment was $1.8 $8
million. Uh we could have taken up to $3 million if if you know the expenses were in such a way, but uh that difference we get to hold on and use for bank cap for future budgets. So that's still going to hang around. I have to apologize and you know as being the bean counter we always
double check, triple check and it's amazing how you still miss something that that percent of 1.7 which I was very proud of is not correct. it's 2.5 but e even though 2.5 is still pretty low when you consider everyone. So over
the past five years our average levy increase is 2.5% which I think is something that we all can be very proud of because I don't know many districts that can say that. So how do we look in the county? We're kind of right in the middle there. So we're at 4 and a.5%.
We're only about a quarter percent away from the lowest in the county at Lawrence at 4.3 and a full percent ahead of our colleagues next door in Robinsville. Uh on top of that, if you've read the paper, Robinsville had a very large $5 million, I'll call it a tax referendum,
which was defeated pretty soundly. So they were looking at an increase of somewhere around 10%. But even after that, they're at 5.57. And this is where everyone stands with health benefit increases. So you can see it's there really isn't a lot of good
news anywhere in the county. Everyone's trending almost, let's call it what it is, 20% increases year-over-year. Um it's really affecting everyone pretty pretty seriously. So this is just an overall breakdown of our expenses. We're looking at $130.3
million budget proposal. Last year was 131.3 and we're just down slightly a little less than 1% year-over-year. So, as Mr. Daniels talked about, we have stable staffing levels. So, over the past two years, we we have not added or
decreased any of our FTE. So that's something to be proud of in a day of of shrinking state aid. We had incre overall increase in health benefits of $3 million. We haven't seen that in quite a while with our self-insured health benefits has been very favorable
for us over the past five years, but even this past year it's kind of really taken off really led by GLP1s. The good news is we get to continue commitment on our technology. So, we still have technology refreshment and
expansion. We're going to be installing uh new phones. We're going to have new um the emergency notification system like we have here at the at the high school. If you look behind on the back wall, that's the big digital clock up there as part of that system. So, we get to expand that. Maybe not at the
original pace. We originally had two schools, but because of the state aid, we had to cut back. So, we're only going to do one school. But the good news is we still get to move that forward. as uh Mark talked about, no new capital projects. So, there is still a few dollars left of that ROD grant that will
creep into the next year and a little lease purchase money, but really outside of that, there really we do not have the funds to continue at the rate we've been going. As a matter of fact, we won't be able to continue at all without some sort of referendum or outside funding.
All right. So, let's talk a little bit how taxes are shared. So, right now taxes are split on equalized valuation. So, a lot of times you hear about a net valuation, which is really what your house is assessed at. What what the what
the state does is they take a market survey of sales in your zip code and they compare sale prices to what they're assessed at on the tax books when you actually pay your tax bill and then they come up with an equalized valuation and then based on that evaluation and
what the valuation of East Windsor versus Heightstown and that's how those taxes are split in a regional school district. So as you can see over the past four years that number's been pretty steady. It hasn't really fluctuated too much. for within 1% over the past four years.
So, we're going to talk about tax impact now. So, we switch from equalized to net to net value. So, this is what's on your tax bill. So, please do me a favor. When you see the tax rate here, do not run home. I say this every year. Do not run
home. pull up Zillow and then take that tax rate and apply that to your property because you're going to get a little surprise. That's not the way it works. So, it's almost like you need your tax bill from your municipality. Divide that value by $100 and multiply that and you'll find out exactly how
much you'll pay. So, right now we're looking at a tax rate next year for East Windsor of $2.32, $246 for Heightstown. And then you can see the average assessed homes are up slightly. East Winds are at 260,000 and
Heightstown at 216,000. So, finally, the taxes. This is based on the average. Once again, next year, the average home in East Windsor will pay roughly $6,000 in school taxes. Heightstown at $5,331
with those applicable increases of $200 per house and $143 really I should say per home um for that next steps. So after tonight if we approve our budget that'll be submitted to the county which will be reviewed
SANS any changes upon their review we're going to come back and please everyone mark down we need to have a special hearing on April 27 that's not part of our regular schedule we had to move that because of the new governor and when the
new governor comes in the whole budget process gets pushed back a few weeks so because of that our public hearing had to be rescheduled. Now, in that period between now and April 27th, we're going to continue to look at the numbers. We're going to continue looking at spending trends.
This doesn't need to be our last conversation on this. So, should you have any questions between now and the 27th, please reach out to Mark or myself and we continue reviewing our budget. And with that,
open up to questions from the board. Does anyone have any questions or do you need more time to formulate? >> We'll we'll get to public comments. No. Yeah. Public com during public comments. You can ask Okay, if there's no questions at this
time, u we'll move on to our next item, our superintendence report. >> Okay, thank you. Uh good evening again. So, I'd like to begin tonight um just by highlighting the uh
Heisttown High School principal recommendation. On tonight's personnel agenda, I'm pleased to share the recommendation of Dr. Jonathan Dober to serve as the next principal of Heisttown High School. So, Dr. Dober is an
experienced and accomplished educational leader who currently serves as the principal of Grover Middle School, excuse me, in the West of Plainsboro School District. He's also served as the principal of High School North in West Benson Plainsboro and has also served as
uh the principal of Lawrence High School. Uh so with a March appointment, it puts us in a a place where there's a I think a favorable runway. Um and it provides Dr. Darra with the opportunity to seamlessly transition uh to the
Eastman Regional School District, also Heightstown High School community uh before be officially beginning his journey as principal on July 1st. So uh definitely pleased to have uh Dr. Dolbert join our team. Um the as usual,
I'm going to transition moving forward. our our student representatives um did a great job tonight and they took my content as as and they did and they delivered it in such a an eloquent way. But I feel compelled still just to highlight and be slightly redundant and
echo some of what they shared. So and just a couple things I do want to highlight. Um the unsung hero award we we we talked about that that was sponsored annually by the Mercer County School Boards Association. So, I did have the opportunity along with uh assistant principal
um Jenrigi last week um to recognize high school senior Serena Ruff who was honored as the recipient uh for our district. And uh I think what makes and we're there with the other districts within the county and just kind of listening to the stories. I think it's pretty powerful and and the you know the
purpose of that award is to kind of highlight students who who make outstanding contributions to their school and community and often behind the scenes and um the students are celebrated for their quiet strength and at times overcoming some some challenges but but still modeling exemplary
citizenship. So it was a proud moment to to see Serena receive that recognition. Uh, I will highlight the positive feedback regarding our future business leaders of America. I won't I won't be too redundant, but obviously they they performed really well at the state
leadership conference in Atlantic City. Um, I'll take a moment just to talk about the High School Musical. So, uh, for for folks who had the opportunity to attend, uh, I think it was a, um, a unique production. I'll say that mainly
because and I and I and I shared this with the directors, you know, it kind of highlighted um many positive aspects of the Hightown High School community. Uh in particular, I I think the level of student participation was um noticeable. We have
we have a lot of students uh on the stage, around the stage, back and forth. Uh so I think the level of um participation was was was really really impressive and uh it was also a very inclusive cast. Um, and I I have to say this, the part that makes it unique,
which I would imagine a number of high schools probably would shy away from Bring It On is the fact that we had this combination of traditional choreography um you know blended with cheer stunts um and placing that on the stage which is
pretty challenging and I think um you know in addition to that you got the timing of the dialogue, the quality of the vocals, the music so so really outstanding performance. So definitely want to you know uh extend my congratulations to the directors, cast and crew for for really an outstanding
uh performance. I'll conclude this evening just by reminding um everyone that uh on Friday, March 27th this week, we will have an early dismissal as we prepare for our spring recess uh which will take place the following week,
March 30th through April 3rd. students will return to school on Monday, April 6th. I will also remind everyone that this will serve as our final uh homework free holiday uh for this school year. So, just as a reminder, we just try to
ensure that um really just highlighting and acknowledging the sense of balance that we think we need in time spent with family and other obligations that our students may have during during these breaks. So, students should not be receiving homework or assignments to be completed during spring recess. In
addition to that, they should not be um taking tests or quizzes uh on that first day that they return on Monday, April 6. With that said, I wish everyone a very safe and enjoyable and hopefully a warm uh spring break. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mark. Does anyone have any
questions? >> Any board members have any questions? Sorry, Jessica. Not a question, but I wanted to say that I had the pleasure of attending the uh the musical last weekend on on Saturday night and it was great. I loved
it. Um brought back a lot of memories for myself. Um as I when I was in high school, I did all the plays and musicals and all that. So, a little nostalgia for me. Um and for me, the the inclusivity and seeing that on stage was was
beautiful. So, that's all. I just I have to I I have to pile on because not only um like everybody said just the the sheer massive outpouring of student activity. Um a full pit orchestra for live music through the
entire thing. And it was just uh every single discipline that our district has from cheer squad to dance music, you know, all the just the the hybrid was just amazing to watch. So, it's a testament to the hard work of of all the
the students and their and their teachers and all the volunteers that helped put on that show. >> I actually snuck in as well. Um I had a personal issue that I didn't think I was going to be able to make it, but was drugged there by my son. Said, "You have
to go, mom. Let's fit it in." So, I did get to see it after all. and I was very pleased and proud of all of them. I'm sad for all of our seniors who are on the stage and also behind the scenes and in the pit that we're losing next year, but they have paved the way for the
students to come behind them and I look forward to all our future productions um is really great and it was wonderful to see our cheer squad on the stage too. It was great. Any other questions or comments? >> Yeah, I also like to piggyback on that. Um I want to firstly congratulate our
robotic team and FDLA for their achievements. Uh my uh few of the freshman also made it to the top 10. I am so proud of our district for having our teachers supporting uh this uh organization as well as our art
department which I did get a chance to see the bring it on. They are just so amazing and they're Broadway style actor actress and I'm very lucky to be in this district to have such an amazing program. Uh lastly uh we are having our
third science symposium on April 11th. Uh please drop by and see our amazing little scientists uh presenting their projects. This is April 11th, Saturday after 9:00 a.m. you can just drop by and see their presentation. Thank you so
much. >> It is really worth coming out for. Uh I've been to everyone and I'm so amazed and impressed with the experiments that these students are doing. Last year my favorite was the teeth decaying across different mediums of like what you're
eating. So a real life scenario of what you're eating versus what's doing to your teeth. Um and then our little makeup um scientists who were growing bacteria. So replenish your makeup folks in a timely fashion. But there was a lot
of takeaways that were great there. So any other comments from the board? Okay, we will now move on to our first opportunity for public comment. So any members of the public who wish to speak, please approach the podium. Um you if
you can sign in with your name and address on the clipboard that's to the left. um and the name of your organization if there is one. And everyone has three minutes to speak. And in order to do so, you could press the little button on the bottom right of the
microphone unit. >> That one. Good evening everybody. Um, I would like for this board >> I'm sorry. Also, if you could state your name and address, too. >> My name is James Avon. I lived at uh 15 Edward Drive.
Um, I'd like for this board to adopt a parental rights policy for opting out of districtmandated onetoone devices um for the 2022 2026 2027 school year. Um, I know a lot of people have read
information, right? um like the anxious generation by social psychologist Jonathan height and in his bestseller he's advocating for a return to playbased childhood and away from phone-based childhood. Um in his book he
talks about a phone-based p uh childhood being a broad term that includes all internet connected personal devices. uh this district mandated iPads and Chromebooks onetoone for every single student K through 12 is creating just as
much harm to kids during the school day as smartphones do after the bell rings. Um I was told uh by a district uh representative that my third grader will spend on average an hour on a device
every day in school next year in third grade when he's handed his Chromebook. Um that's that's an unhealthy amount of time to spend leaned over a screen uh especially for a child as young as third grade. Um not only is that an unhealthy
amount of time uh but you know it is budget time and we're talking about money. Um, and at the last meeting, you know, it was discussed that we're replenishing our Chromebooks, you know, at the at the price tag of $460 a unit and that each kid K through 12 gets four
different machines in their time in the school district. You know, when we start adding that up and I know, you know, iPads are more expensive and we're probably not going to get that same price, you know, four years from now, you know, but we're looking at investing in onetoone devices, you know, with a
price tag of almost $10 million. Um there's other factors to consider when you look at the damage being done by onetoone Chromebooks uh and devices for students. The legal issues right and
the litigation against um companies like Seesaw and Renaissance right for the uh improper data collection that's going on right by >> 30 seconds please. Um, oh, okay. Uh,
I'll skip to the bottom. Um, I think that if you want the kids in this school district to have the education you had, if you want them to have a better experience, uh, with a proven track record, then we'll return to some of our, you know, older pen and paper type
of educational processes rather than investing in these harmful devices. So, a opt out for parents, I think, uh, is going to be an important process moving forward. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. Are there any other
members of the public who wish to speak? Again, please approach the podium. Name, address, and group on the paper. And if you can state your name and address, let us know. >> I'm Don Mueller. I'm a physics professor. Been here this now my second
time. I actually was working with a student who uh and I do this at my own expense. So you don't have to put that in the budget. Uh working with several students. In fact, there's one of the students, she just uh learned about my work. She said, "Professor, I'm working
at the shop. I attend Heightstown High School and I wanted to know if you can do some demonstrations at the school." She said, "Uh, are you really a physics professor?" And I said, "No, actually I'm more of an entertainer nowadays." But yes, I was a physics professor for a
long time, worked for two Nobel Prize winners. So, physics of sports is what I do. And I would like to share this with not only the athletic people at the school, but the science people. And I would like to ask if there are any science people here today. Perhaps I
could uh meet with you later after the meeting is over. So, that's all I have to say at this time. Thank you. Thank you. Are there any other members of the public who wish to make a comment? Okay, there being none, we are going to
move into our first to our executive session of the evening. Our only one actually um will be about 30 35 minutes. Thank you. Okay, everybody, we're back. Um, we will now move on to old business. Uh, we have committee meetings that have taken place
and we have upcoming committee meetings. Um, uh, we had a curriculum committee meeting last week. um we met online um for a literacy update. There was a lot of details. So, first I'll say I will
send the presentation that Sandy sent to us. >> I shared it. >> You shared it to the whole board. Okay. Thank you. Very good. Um okay. So, basically it included a review of the state mandate data for K3 and data for ABA. Um couple of there again there's a
lot of information so I'll point out some highlights. Um, basically the state mandate is that we report out to parents and this was also for I'm sorry, yeah, K through three. Um, report out to parents twice a year in the fall and winter. Um,
so that's the beginning and midyear, but as a district, we've also chosen to re to report out um our our our late spring data as well. Um this is so to show growth and to actually use that data to
properly place the following year. Um and then we're looking at data across all all the grade levels. Um with this data shown, we need to keep in mind that at minimum 40% of our students
um is beyond um gened and it's inclusive of the rest of is inclusive of special ed multilanguage learners and and dual uh specialed multilanguage learners. Um, so like we have about 50% or sometimes
more less than No, I think it was about 50%. I'm sorry I don't have the numbers right in front of me, but there was definitely a large percentage that was beyond beyond general education. So we're looking at the the data points that's also reflected in those numbers.
Um, again, we're looking at data from fall to spring. We're looking at students how they progressed through urgent intervention and intervention and watching at grade level and above grade level. Um for kindergarten and we're starting at alphabetic principles,
phonmic awareness, phonics and decoding and sentence level comprehension. Um, and that's in grades one, I'm sorry, in kindergarten and grades one. At one point, we move up and we add in
oral reading frequent uh fluency. Apparently, I did not take very good notes. I apologize. Um, there are some good takeaways though at the bottom of each slide on each page on the spreadsheet. Um and so but the overall
the overall sense of what we saw um was that at least by spring and I I at least by winter and certainly by spring we had a significant number of students that moved out of the urgent intervention and
intervention pieces um areas and then in moved over into not really needing much help or either at grade level or a lot of them even went to above grade level. So if we look at those numbers closer, we can come back next meeting and probably the
meeting after and ask more in-depth questions about the specific data sets we're looking at because there is there's a lot of data in there. There's a lot of things to consider. Um couple other things I wanted to point out. when we um we added a Heaggerty the Heerty
fmic awareness program um we were imple implemented that last year um and most ste most students were moving out of the intervention needed jumping one to two levels into at or above level based on you know what we've seen in that phmic
awareness area. Um we also revisited as a district foundations. We've been using that for about 15 years. So we just wanted to be sure we were implementing that with fidelity. Um so we again if you look at the numbers we've seen increases in the right direction um
across those grade levels. So that's it for now. Let's come back when we all have a chance to look at that presentation and ask some more questions. And then we also I believe we had a policy committee meeting today. Is anyone reporting out on that? Thank you.
>> So, we had uh three new policies and one regulation on the alert to begin reviewing. Uh we had policy 0142.1 for uh regarding nepotism. And we reviewed uh very minor language
changes for that uh policy 1220 employment of chief school administrator. Um again just uh some uh kind of not significant language changes u but uh regulation uh and policy 1552
sexual harassment um has a uh it's a complete rewrite uh primarily relating to um aligning the the policy to um include uh title seven
and title n regulations. as far as um the process for addressing um sexual harassment uh for staff.
>> So those are under review. We have a meeting scheduled for April 9th for feedback and discussion for policy committee as well. >> Thank you. feedback. Okay. Um then our next next policy come next I'm sorry next
committee meeting will be on April 13th and the finance meeting is scheduled to meet. Um any questions? Um okay we now have our second opportunity for board member comments. Any members of the board wish to speak?
Okay. There being none we have our second opportunity for public comments. Any members of the public wish to speak? Okay, there being none, we'll move on to item nine. Motion to Motion to approve routine items by exception. Having read the
materials received, I move that the board approve the routine agenda items as submitted. Item A, staffing for March 23rd, 2026. Item B, HIV report from March 9th, 2026. Item C, approve travel and related expenses. Item D, approve
new field trip sites for upcoming trips. Item E, professional services for students. Item D, out of district placement. Item G, approval of the tenative 2026 to 2027 budget, um, which includes,
uh, the general fund of 130,372,188. uh uh special revenue of $2,145,000 debt service of $2,200,592 for a total of 134717,780. less anticipated revenue um 53596
292 under general fund special revenue of 2,145,000 uh no additional debt service for a total of 55,741,292. Uh total taxes to be raised under the
general fund 76,775,896 um for a total of a debt service of 2,250 $200,592 for a total of 78,976,488. And then uh
>> does anybody else have any Excel charts they want me to read out loud? Um uh item H, settlement agreement. Item I lease purchase agreement. Item J, board meeting minutes approval. Item K, transportation. Item L, transportation
jointure. Item M, bill list of March 23rd, 2026. >> Second. Any questions? Okay, pull the board, please. >> Mr. Falco, >> yes. >> Miss Drake, >> yes. >> Mr. Lavy,
>> yes. >> Miss Patel, >> yes. >> Mr. Weeks, >> yes. >> Miss Lans, >> yes. U, we have no need for a second exe executive session this evening. So, that concludes our board board of ed meeting tonight. Be safe everyone and have a
great night.