heat Heat Hey hey hey Where are you hey hey hey Happy X Hey Hey Hey in the courier post following written notice with the municipal clerk of East Township Mr Yates can we have a roll
call please roll call Mr Brown will be remote He's not with us at the moment right nobody has him on phone Okay Miss Bramoitz here Mr Dearcy here Miss Fox here Mrs Null is absent
Mr Thompson here Mr Peeleman here Mr Bach here and Mr Compton here We have a quarum Thank you Mr Yates will now enter an motion to enter executive session Whereas an NJSA 104-12 will ask for a public body to go into close session
during a public meeting And whereas the board of education of Esham Township deemed it necessary to go into close session to discuss certain matters which are exempted from the public And whereas the regular meeting of the board of education will reconvene following the end of close session at approximately 6:30 p.m Now therefore be it resolved
that the board of education will go into close session for the following reasons as outlined in NJSA 104-12 matters involving personnel and attorney client privilege Do we have a motion to enter executive session motion by Miss Bramoit seconded by Mr Thompson Mr Yates roll
call please On executive session Miss Bucher Mowitz yes Mr Dearcy yes Miss Fox yes Mr Thompson yes Mr Peeleman yes Mr Bach yes Mr
Conton yes That motion carries Thank you We'll see you back at approximately 6:30 p.m EST Test test test Test test One two 3 Test test test Heat Heat Hey hey hey hey hey
Hey hey hey Hey hey Hey hey hey Hey hey hey Heat Hey Heat Hey hey hey Thank
you Hey hey hey Hey hey hey Hey hey hey Hallelujah Heat Heat Hey hey hey Heat Heat All right Hey hey
hey Heat Heat down Heat Heat around Hey Hey hey hey Heat Heat Hey hey hey Hey hey hey Heat Heat
Hey hey hey All right Would all those who are able please rise for the pledge i pledge allegiance to Godice Thank
you Our mission statement tonight will be read by Mr Dearcy The mission of the Esham Township School District is to promote excellence in an environment that engages students in meaningful learning experiences in partnership with students dedicated staff families and community The
district provides a strong educational foundation that will empower our students to achieve their unique potential embrace self-directed lifelong learning develop the skills necessary for appropriate risk-taking and responsible decision-making respect them respect themselves and others problem
solve individually and collaboratively and become contributing members of a diverse global society Thank you Mr Dearcy A note about how tonight's agenda is going to run Dr Smith is going to give a presentation about the additional tax levy After that the board is going to deliberate in public about that
presentation After that we will open the floor to public comment you will all have your opportunity to speak and then we will vote after we hear your comments Please during today's meeting let us deliberate Please keep us noise to a minimum while we deliberate and we will do the same during your public comments
and then we'll vote at the very end So we will hear everyone before we vote Dr Smith the floor is yours Good evening to the board and everyone in attendance either here in person or attending remotely This is our fourth budget
meeting within about the last two months Uh what makes this one tonight different from the other ones is that tonight is about the chance to build the chance to add the chance to improve the ways that we're able to support
students and moving our district forward That is the first time we've been able to talk about that in at least five years About a week ago the state provided an opportunity
for districts who are below adequacy So unfortunately we are very firmly in that group of districts We are 15 million below adequacy And what the state is saying is that a district that is below
adequacy can raise additional local tax levy up to that full amount by which they are below Eligible districts must have a special board meeting by April 14th That's our meeting tonight to approve a board resolution to submit an
application to the state for that additional amount of tax levy sought along with its intended uses And granted this this opportunity brings with it many many factors that require
consideration It is a an opportunity absolutely unique in its magnitude for us We have the opportunity to raise about $14.2 million to which the state as part of this opportunity says they will
contribute 5% of that total amount which would be about $710,000 to a total of 14 million 922,643 That's the amount I am recommending that we take as a district
That amount right there just brings us to adequacy And we have talked many times through our own calculations about a number very close to that which is 16 million which based on the state's data taxpayer guide to education spending
Knowing our per pupil cost compared to the per pupil cost statewide for K8s we calculated we were about 16 short of having a budget that's average for our size How can I How can
anyone stand here in front of this opportunity and say that we are going to take less than adequate less than average for our kids The state is not going to save our
district The state is giving us this chance to save ourselves We recently testified in Trenton two days one in Trenton one in Newark ETA board representation district administration
The day in Newark spawned a productive discussion afterwards with the senators on the budget hearing panel who expressed um dismay and agreement with us that there
is this artificial and arbitrary 6% cap on state aid increases and that would need to be solved Well what we have instead is this opportunity the cap is still there but we have this chance to take additional tax levy And that's pretty much been the
story all along every year right the the solution is for communities to save themselves Our mission is kids Our mission statement is students
It doesn't say that mission includes keeping taxes at a certain level It doesn't even bench taxes at all What would we do with that
additional local levy well first we would address the steps and reductions from our prior budget presentations And we started those presentations this year earlier than any other earlier than other districts because of the amount of deficit we were
facing So just going down this list we would maintain elementary extracurriculars maintain elementary and middle school late buses pause the increases to walking maintain middle school and elementary class sizes That's a big one
We would maintain benefits for our pair of professionals who had them at the time when our district stopped hiring pair professionals full-time So that would just leave seven who um were not benefited at that time
who would lose benefits and we would maintain the team structure No class in place of team time We will look to explore ways to increase teacher contact time during that during that time span But it keeps our team structure which is
so um core to our identity of our middle schools intact Transportation So transportation was not on that list of things to maintain Two reasons One budgetary
savings Second reason operational challenges We outsource twothirds of our bus routes already What else will we do beyond that so that first slide was maintaining what we've already said would have to be reduced if we don't take this additional
levy any of it This slide is about trying to help our district move upward and forward towards adequacy things that districts with adequacy with an average budget enjoy and benefit from for their students like reducing our elementary
class size back to its max sizes from 2122 school year restoring secretaries in place of Kirk Typus in the in two middle school offices Many of these positions by the way are things that were cut or reduced in prior budget years
restoring full funding of the one tier three position whose cost is currently shared with the Ed Foundation which we greatly appreciate that support from the Ed Foundation and that shared agreement needs a lasting solution We would restore our fund
balance to the 2% maximum which is recommended Maintain our bus aid positions because it's more costly to outsource them Add to utilities add an intervention team for general education which represents three
support positions social worker behaviorist and counselor These and these go handinand with the next one which is adding two 10-month assistant principal positions for elementary And the reason for those is our elementary schools are are large It may not feel like it here because
it's what we know but if you look around and compare to other towns our elementary schools are very large and they need more support Case manager that would address our case management ratios Add a math interventionist at
each elementary school Again core right next to reading We have reading intervention We don't have a math intervention position We need it adequate districts have it Two related arts positions for
example in physical education that would decrease class size again and we eliminated two of those positions in a previous budget year Lastly maintain the building technology position which we were going to uh phase out through this budget The last
piece infrastructure improvements So we would restore 500,000 of maintenance reserves which we depleted drastically last year as uh again a way to save off cuts as long as
possible And lastly the capital reserves health safety and security Um these are urgent needs which we have been looking at possibly but it would take years to get there through a bond
referendum The reality is we need this we need this improvement now The heat pumps for example just to that carries the biggest price tag One system in every room 700 rooms total 3 to 5,000 per unit Um I remember going to
Deacy last year in the spring We had a we had to evacuate because the smoke was coming out of one of them Um that's that's that that's what I'm talking about that heat pump And um that money would let us start replacing them right
away As it is right now um it's it's very challenging They're so old that um they they really are are barely available anymore roof replacements parking lot replacements HVAC controls other capital
projects Our um maintenance department is fantastic at keeping aging components going but they're beyond their uh recommended age We need to address those things And then lastly technology
upgrades This is a topic that's come up in various ways um as uh you know phone system and the PA system in our building struggle That's a security issue We need to address that That's a subtotal of 8 million
together Those three slides total for the 14.9 million tax impact three scenarios If we take none of this additional opportunity taxes go up
5.4% If we take some they go up 15.4% An additional levy And if we um take all it goes up 25.4% And those those numbers are are big right so is 15 million under
adequacy We've been at this point before as a district um standing at a fork in the road with decision to make about a path forward and um every time we've picked what is best for
students during COVID we went with inerson full days tuition free full day kindergarten we were one of the last districts to achieve that It makes a little more sense now
looking at the you know for anyone who didn't um see that 16 million number before to see now we're 15 million under adequacy We did that because it was good for kids Our community did that because it was good for kids Tuitionfree
preschool Again this fall we achieved the largest grant awarded statewide It's good for kids And now here we are again at a fork a historic fork in the road for our
district A chance to solve this yearly ongoing budget crisis which creates harm and tra trauma across our community It's it's within our power tonight to solve
that To help our kids reach their fullest potential to help our staff help our kids reach their fullest potential Our students deserve it Our staff deserve it The choice is ours And I open up to questions and
discussion from the board Any questions or comments from the board mr Dearcy Dr Smith Um do you have any insight as far as how the state of New Jersey deems what is
adequate as far as the local fair share or how much property taxes residents should be paying in quotation marks So I'll if I can address that question in two parts So um I would say
that in their definition of adequacy they're not they're leaving it up to local communities to determine how much tax le they want to take if that makes sense So the states the state's not saying I believe they're saying the solution only lies with you at the local
level but I I there's nothing in that information that says they're saying how much we should take Though I would say um adequacy embedded in that word is an educational
recommendation when it comes to say class size No district no district wants to be in the situation that we're in where we're talking about the class sizes we're talking about So and I'll I'll just say that's one of
the recommendations we got from the county review of the budget But how do you solve how do you solve class size when you're 15 million under adequacy well tonight tonight is how we solve So Dr Smith I guess my question is what what's
the logic behind $15 million why did the state say that $15 million should be our figure as opposed to any financial figure yeah I'm gonna let Mr Yates tackle Yeah So the state has a calculation for determining adequacy for school districts in New Jersey So
through that calculation and then determine where we're at with our levy the difference is our what we're short on adequacy Now how they their exact calculation on what they determine for us is based on like cost per pupil and student needs and a whole bunch of factors that I'm not an expert on I
would say just in correlary to that is uh Like in the worst way it felt confirming to hear that number because we've been saying the number 16
million which is directly off of the DOE website taxpayer guide to education spending Anyone can go on there and check it out There's a couple dozen indicators and they break down spending in districts according to these indicators So the first one is budgetary cost per pupil which is kind of a macro
indicator and then it gets more micro as you work your way through And you can see things like for a district that's fourth leanest statewide in the K8s you can see where we're on the worst end of so many ratios within that those
indicators right uh students to teacher students to administrator teachers to administrator budgetary cost per pupil classroom spending dot dot dot all the way down To me however they're calculating the
adequacy it's the fact that it lines up it dovtales so well with another number that they're providing from other data that is accessible to us tells me that adequate and average are probably in the same ballpark if that makes sense So
basically what you're telling me is the state has a fixed number of how much it costs to educate a kid as far as how much it costs to educate a kid in EUM township And so they come to us and say based on how much we think it costs to educate a kid this is the figure that
you should be at Right because the only thing that I'm kind of struggling with is is previously speaking right our boards have managed to live within a certain means Obviously the state took away seven plus billion dollars in funding Uh
that severely adjusted the means in which we could live by uh or I guess pass a budget by I should say Um and now as a result we are being punished for living within those means as opposed to just taking the easy option of you know
raise the taxes every year as much as we possibly can Yeah Sorry if I can just add something Um to think of it may help to think of it another way um when they're saying adequacy for budget purposes they're
saying the funding level that's necessary to provide a thorough and efficient education So I know that there are just two more words out there but basically you're saying okay we're we're providing a thorough and efficient education for the students in this district So just
another lens to look at that through Are they basically saying in a perfect world that is the funding we should be getting from the state they're acknowledging that we're not and basically giving us the opportunity to take it from the taxpayers instead See because my
understanding to this is that a lot of districts in New Jersey right they were falling below that thorough and efficient mark right so what the state then did is they decided we're going to give them 37 $37,000 per pupil some districts even higher right as opposed to us where they're now looking at us
and saying "Oh well you know sucks to be EAM Township Now you got to go to your taxpayers instead." Right i mean I don't know if there's any thought as to where it comes to being on the loser end of this Um it's it's just when we present that we might have to raise taxes up to
$1,000 right or nearly $1,000 on the average assessed household Um I I think people want to know the answer to that question Can I add about the the state updated
their ed uh education adequacy report they do that every three years and they did that recently So they hadn't been updating the numbers per student over time and now they have adjusted for inflation and other things So now the actual number
that the state says it should cost to you know educate one student jumped up and now we're below adequacy That's how that all happened Where prior they said we were operating above adequacy cuz those
numbers were not being updated Now we're below adequacy but we're not getting any more money from the state So due to their own recalculation we are now below adequacy
where we should have been above all along had they updated in kind and now they're leaving it to us Okay The numbers are updated every three
years and they were just updated I I I would go back to uh in terms of what we can access and look at It's all publicly available but that 15 million number and that 16 million number are almost identical And if you go into that
taxpayer guide you can see exactly how woefully inadequate our budget is However it got there however it got to that point and we can and that is of concern and interest right also though is what do we do now right because where
we are is where we are and tonight is about where we want to go And that's Dr Smith I I I totally understand You know you're trying to keep us on the track of the conversation It's just I'm I'm pushing back on the idea of of what this adequacy is right because to me they
pulled this $15 million number pie in the sky right they said "Okay well this is what you could raise your taxes up to in order to make up the difference right?" Um which we know our deficit this year was it was $7.1 million by itself right and then um you also had the the capital projects that
we're talking about which are obviously dire needs for the district Uh that being said though um you know when it comes to taking a look at what we're going to do tonight right I don't think that we should be
looking back to the boards of education's decisions 10 15 20 years ago and what they decided to tax residents at based on the information they had at the time and then saying okay well now we have to meet up to that level that they chose not to go up to because again
it wasn't our decision decision to decrease our revenue by the $7 million that we lost from S2 So there has to be some kind of a middle ground in where we're finding uh you know where we're going to take care of what we need to take care of as regards to this budget and plan for future
budgets Also asking the question do we really need the full $15 million in additional levy to accomplish that i I have a quick question to to add on to this Does any of the admin or you know really anybody if they could fill in how
much additional tax dollars on the average assessed home were added as a result of S2 so since 2018 how much just for the school board's perspective right on how much we tax the average assessed home has that gone up by if anybody has
that number you know that'd be that'd be great We'd have to run an analysis on that That would be I guess anything in addition to north of uh 2% of our 2% each year and then the right So what I'm saying is the 2% each year plus last
year we were to take additional money and then you know so but are you applying only the additional authority that was provided to us through S2 not just standard adjustments to 2% I'm saying I'm saying across the board
across the board including the standard 2% plus the uh additional adjustment Right And I know you we might not have that exact figure You know even if it's a ballpark of of some sort from we could run a calculation for you Okay Thank you
I have a couple of questions but one probably for Mr creates only because I think the the public has been asking about this and I was hoping you could maybe shed some light
on the prek grant the pea money and the raising taxes for full day kindergarten What if any impact has that had on our financial situation over the last two years has
that made us Has that caused a shortfall have we taken money out of the general fund there's a lot of questions about that Uh so I'll answer in two parts Full day kindergarten Uh this district had the special question that was passed in
November um 2023 I believe And um that was to provide $2,90,000 uh of which the majority was for full day kindergarten and a portion was for mental health related services That number was added to your
tax base Um and that gets compounded with 2% every each year thereafter So it increased your tax base helping support the general fund budget and the associated costs or expenditures that were assigned to that for for
kindergarten purposes For your preschool funding um that's a a grant provided by the state of New Jersey So funded separately no impact on your general fund in terms of uh expenses get assigned to that grant They're not
they're not uh assigned in your general fund So the general fund budget the presentations that we presented at February and March when we were discussing revenues that funding is exclusive of PEA funding because that is accounted for separately and no impact on your general fund I will say though in the
first year in which we had that funding So this year because at the time we were passing the budget last year we did weren't aware we were going to be receiving that funding those salaries of preschool teachers were accounted for in the general fund budget So all of those
salaries and the associated uh aids that are in the classroom shifted over our calculation Uh and that was as of I want to say sometime in January when we ran that for some members of the the board Um at that time we were looking at over
$640,000 in net positive to the general fund as a result of receiving the preschool funding Okay And then each year thereafter those salaries are removed from the general fund And no they're permanently reduced from the general fund And the money that was that
is being used to outfit the bathrooms to bring them up to code that was accounted for in the $640,000 surplus Right Okay Thank you You're welcome Could I stay with the preschool so the
640,000 approximately is that something we would expect to see every year would it change would it decrease increase do you have any idea no it wouldn't be that'd be a tough question to answer because any given year you could encounter any number of expenditures I
can tell you that the preschool funding we don't just assign to it dollar for dollar We assign to it uh estimated expenditures things for like required maintenance in the facilities in which the preschool program is run So Rice Elementary School is a good example of that We do build a budget into the
preschool funding for uh Rice Elementary School for required maintenance Should we encounter uh a certain system that might go down there maybe a roof replacement or a mold remediation project in one of those classrooms or that can be assigned a portion towards
the preschool there which about 50% of the population there is preschool students then we can use some of that funding towards those projects So it does it it not only permanently reduces expenditures in the general fund it also
provides us with flexibility towards expenditures in the general fund or towards expenditures that we would otherwise have to pay for out of the general fund Okay I know you did that this year with Rice and that the the mold remediation or roof repair came So
we had a mold remediation project at Rice So unanticipated right we would never know that that was going to happen We encountered that in the summertime prior to receiving our acceptance with the grant or the funding excuse me Um so had we not had the funding that let's
say $85,000 expense would have been charged to the general fund exclusively But because we had the funding this year we were able to charge it to the funding because it took place in preschool classrooms Okay Another question on preschool for
my own knowledge Are you able to pay for some of the utilities because we talk about the utilities and the increase you anticipate Do we use some of the preschool money for the utilities at
Rice we don't right now charge some of it towards utilities because we are charging uh a significant portion of it towards assigned expenditures like teacher salaries Um we're also charging off a portion of many admin salaries So a portion of the principal salaries the
custodial salaries that are there a portion of your executive admin team as well Um so we are seeing it If we don't charge off a portion there we could certainly charge it off the utilities but it would just be a net zero for us But in the future as the grant or as the program expands there might be more
flexibility to start charging more towards some of those other things as well Okay Very very good Thank you You're welcome I have a question as it pertains to the way our budget works and I know we kind of outlined this but I just want to make
it really clear Um or our agenda sorry um tonight uh item 6.1 the vote on that is pretty much and I'm going to explain it in layman's
terms voting yes or no on whether or not to explore the option of taking the amount of money We're not voting on any specific dollar amount We're not voting on any specific percentage Um we're voting specifically
on getting into the point of of looking into how much we're going to take Am I correct on that yeah The the So yeah So 6.1 it outlines our
opportunity that we are eligible for an additional $15ish million of additional tax levy It does not specify in 6.1 how much of it we should take Um it is just an acknowledgement that we are eligible
So our our task here tonight is twofold From a voting perspective in 6.1 we need to vote whether or not we should acknowledge that we are eligible for that 15 million If the board is not interested in taking any of that $15 million we should be voting no If you're
interested in any amount between $1 and $15 million you should be voting yes Additionally as a result of these deliberations we should be providing guidance to Mr Yates and the business office as to how to build the budget There are three slides that were
presented today A slide that restores cuts that were previously proposed a slide that has additional additions to um the general fund and then a slide for the capital reserves We should be giving direction to the business office which of those slides we are interested in
pursuing if we are voting yes Okay And because the budget sorry the the budget has to get built before our final v budget vote that takes weeks that takes months Um and the business office needs that direction as a result of today's meeting and our final budget vote next
meeting Correct Can we get into the infrastructure capital reserve conversation um I'm not even really sure what my question is other than I know half of the money that we're going after potentially is going to
infrastructure capital reserve projects Um I know a lot is needed Um I guess the big question the main question is $7 million needed to achieve what it is the district wants to achieve for first
and foremost safety for our kids and just you know long range planning for what has to get done in the ideal time frame that it has to get done in So I'm not I guess I mean I know our experts are here So I guess the question
is you know in your perspective you know is it a dire situation like is it is it this is something that we need to do now terry can I Yeah So we're going to just introduce Tom Donahghue our certified educational facilities manager and we
have Brian Peterson here as well our maintenance for person Um and you we asked them to come tonight for the board and for the public to answer some of the questions that the board might have regarding our infrastructure Yeah Mr Yates before we we hand it over I know that the question was about the $7
million Mr Petot just from a overall perspective our current analysis says that from a capital expenditures and a capital projects perspective we anticipate between 80 and $100 million of of projects that need to be undertaken as a board of education to
get our buildings up to snuff Gotcha Thank you Yep Yeah we are really in need of replacing our equipment The equipment and everything that's in the buildings is 25 to 35 years old and they're failing at a
great rate and it's time that we have to move forward with looking to replace the equipment that we have It's uh it's a bad situation and you can't get parts anymore the equipment You can't go and
buy a part for it You have to go to an aftermarket or something like that And there there's no guarantee Uh when the system was installed I was here and it was brought up that we did all water source heat pumps because it was cutting
edge You know we we did it And if you look at our record there's never been a day that I've been here for 30 years that schools been closed because of any malfunction We take care of the equipment the best we can but unfortunately the age of the
equipment is at a point It's no different than your home Uh your air conditioner at home if it's 30 years old you could turn it on tomorrow and it's going to quit You It's you know there's nothing guaranteeing that it's going to run So our goal is to try and start
getting back to where we need to be And unfortunately we've never had the funding to to do that So Tom could you or Brian talk to the board since you mentioned heat pumps a little bit about what heat pumps are how many approximately we have where they're
located uh the age of them um and where you're now sourcing parts Yeah Uh the heat pump is the same thing that a lot of people in Marlton have They have heat pumps A heat pump is a an air conditioner and a heater all built into one Uh we have over 700 heat pumps in
our district which means there's a heat pump in every room hallways rooms Uh so you know it's a system that works If you have a big system in a building and it goes bad everybody's got to go home because you
can't stay in the building It's cold When a heat pump goes out in this building we take it out repair it put it back in So you know we make sure that every classroom has heat and cooling for the time that they need it and the the
temperatures that when it's needed And you know I think we do an outstanding job at what we do in our department because we got all this equipment We got equipment 35 years old that we still have running And you know it's it's a point
where you can't get the parts to fix it You go to aftermarket The aftermarket is triple the price of what it would have been But the manufacturers stopped making parts They don't make parts for these anymore They moved on to their newer models their new additions And
unfortunately it gets more costly to fix the old than it does to replace it believe it or not So it it's it's bad And it's it's not a good situation Well first thank you Thank you both because I don't think they make them like you guys anymore either if I'm
being honest Um you know just we're lucky to have you because you can fix things on site when we need it and we don't have to outsource that at the moment So we're very fortunate in that regard Um but I guess what I'm having trouble squaring and this might be a question for you is you know we have 80
$90,000 worth of project million dollars worth of projects ahead of us We're voting on potentially socking away $7 million in a potential tax levy tonight So what does that look like year-over-year and is it is it enough is it too much is it you know how does that square with what we're faced with
tonight to decide well it's the most you can get Wow True Yeah Um so is it enough no it's not enough Uh like our our district probably needs and our estimates talking with professionals this is not my guess is about 80 to$100
million And that's just based on what current referendums are going to cost approximately about each building And when you think about what goes into those things you're going to restore facade and envelopes So roof um windows doors entryways uh covered passageways
all those things You're probably going to uh work on water retention You'll also work on surface So your your per impermeable surfaces like your uh sidewalks your curbing your uh parking lots You'd also be working on all of your HVAC systems and all of your
mechanical systems So when you go for a referendum those are typically the things that are going to come back as priorities The biggest issue that our district is facing is over the course of S2 these gentlemen and their department have had to now play catchup every
single day If you could let Brian talk a little bit about his maintenance staff and just how much that they're just chasing their tails on a daily basis And I want to circle back to the referendum question Thank you Good evening everybody How are you so yeah I have a
staff um seven maintenance guys Um you know I've been uh with the district now 22 years uh 15 as a supervisor and um our preventative maintenance in in my opinion is is second to none Try to stay
on a preventive maintenance so we can be very proactive Um but over the past say five years now it's become reactive because the equipment fails more times than we can do preventive maintenance on it And as Tom was talking
about um with the units that we have our heat pumps um and the parts not being available anymore What happens is um they have a replacement part which is great because the manufacturer recommends that replacement part When
that becomes obsolete we now become a retrofit So in order to retrofit something my staff and I we have to look and say you know is it safe is it going to be safe to retrofit that because the manufacturer of the equipment they're
not going to support you doing a a retrofit like that Now the the manufacturer of the part he's going to help you walk through it but you know sometimes it's just not feasible A couple of the buildings
um like Tom said you know 1989 equipment was installed A quarter of the building is 1989 Uh that manufacturer went out probably 15 years ago Um they were bought by
McQuay McQuay went out of business They were bought by Dacon Um now Dacon doesn't want to support McQuay anymore So it becomes extremely difficult for us to find parts um that we're going to fa feel safe and comfortable um putting in
on a daily basis Um and as Mr 8 said you know the uh seven $7 million is a real good start We have a lot of equipment We have a lot of infrastructure that um you know can
be replaced right now but 7 million is is is really just the start So to uh thank you guys So to um answer your question a little bit one of the the biggest challenges that this district faces and this is something that uh we've talked with our facilities
and finance committee is there's we have depleted our reserves over the course of S S2 Um we've made withdrawals and not been able to make deposits back in Um and so now we have a million and a half in capital and about $500,000 in
maintenance for a district of our size that is frighteningly uh a small amount And if we were to go to referendum on the earliest timeline um due to like if you think about the
planning that goes involved the strategic planning the community involvement and then narrowing down what a project list is figuring out what question we're going to put on a ballot when we're going to hold that election are we going to be in a general election are we going to have a special election
for it who's that cost the district bears or does the township bear it um and then what what we specifically developed that question for and the exact amount We're probably on an 18-month timeline and there's no
guarantee that that question passes We know that we've had to continually increase taxes year after year after year through S2 and take every allowable exception to us There's no we don't know what the public appetite would be for a
referendum Um so even if it were to pass in 18 months that's my timeline but based on guidance from our bond council you'd probably not start your projects for another 6 to 12 months So you're probably closer to two to two and a half years before we've actually begun
construction with a bond referendum proceeds Um and again I will caveat that's if it passes but we are at a state gentlemen would you agree that we're at a state of critical need now And I would add to that point that uh Mr
Yeets just made If you put something out the bond referendum and it does not pass you cannot you cannot pay for that out of your budget So that's another restriction Right So so and just to elaborate on
your question a little bit $7 million this year helps gives us breathing room helps us start to tackle projects We know that if our tax levy were equal to our expenditures our operational costs in 12 months would exceed our ability to
generate revenues and we'd be at this place again year after year making budgetary cuts or budgetary reductions So this board assigning or putting money into capital reserves almost becomes a necessity because it allows us to each year absorb some of those operational
costs It's no secret and the union would would nod their heads with me 48% of our certificated staff are on the top of our guide So this gives us an opportunity to hopefully reach a point where we're going to see some of those we love those staff members They're excellent teachers
But we also having these proceeds year after year after year We might get to a point where some of those staff members start to retire and then we're the expectation is we're hiring staff to replace them lower on the guide realizing breakage within our budget That wave of those teachers is going to
reach retirement ages soon This gives us an opportunity to absorb some of those operational costs each year moving forward because it increases our base It permanently increases our base Can I ask a question one second Mr Fox
Um Miss Bram to your point about the $7 million the idea here being like we're not deciding on a number today right we're just deciding yes or no Yep If the board decides to go forward and the stipulation is that that $7 million slide is something we want to pursue As
part of the final budget presentation we should be outlining some sort of long-range plan So year over year we can realize that $7 million to become 14 towards projects Third year it'll be we will put 21 towards projects so on and so forth because again we have 80 to
$100 million of estimated projects we need to to undertake So the idea would be seven each year to to start chipping away at that Sorry Miss Fox No So I don't know I mean Janice might be the only one that can can answer this in
terms of timing but to hear that large a number is needed for repairs And to hear that there are things that were done in 1989 to me it sounds like they might have should have been addressed long
before CO and S2 And I'm curious in in prior boards or has this come up and and why are we where we are in such dire straits yeah So with the buildings yeah we can say that Um I'll I'll defer to Dr Smith and Mr Yates if they have more color to add but many of the cuts we've
seen throughout the S2 um process has has come on the backs of of Mr Donahghue's team Mr Idell's team and Mr Peterson's team Um in addition to obviously foregoing things that we might we don't see in HVAC right we don't see a heat pump So those are cuts that we don't see that we're like all right
we'll just wait till next year and next year has never come I would also add to that that you know one of the things that Tom and Brian did highlight for us is that their teams really do a great job of keeping our our our equipment keeping it running right
So um why some of this hasn't been tackled before is I think a lack of priority maybe but also that they've done such an excellent job so it's kind of a credit to them Um but maybe they could shed some light on that a little bit Yeah moving forward you know 89 20 years
and then that's 25 years Now we're 30 years We have done some upgrades in some of them areas at Rice They still have some equipment that's 1989 but they have an inside section that's all been
upgraded in 206 but they're now at 25 years So you know it's a situation where uh you look at moving forward replacing what you can We're replacing heat pumps in this building now Uh we're doing it
inhouse but we can't do the whole district Uh we go out for whatever grant we can get We just got a grant for the last three years to do boilers We replaced inhouse eight boilers inhouse at no cost very little cost to
us We just did parking lot lights uh through public service with public service as supplying the the the better price We put 150 parking lot lights in for $150 and we installed them in house
That could have been well over $40 $50,000 if it was outsourced We're we try to stay ahead as much as we can but every year you know as well as everybody else that the budgeting don't allow you to do major projects You know uh the project that
we're doing in this building right now would have been a 8 million10 million job you know we're doing it for onetenth of that So you know if you look at the what the infrastructure is we've maintained it to a point where we got
everything we got out of it And we are have been moving forward with replacing units as we go they go bad you buy a unit and replace it But it's getting to a point when you buy one you could be you might have to buy three or four at a time you know and there's lead times you
know you just can't go out and pick it up in the store because most of them don't have it because it's commercial But you know the infrastructure we maintain it we stay on top of it we we do everything inhouse There's nothing I don't think very little leaves this house except for
major roofing jobs or major things like you know doing a Demy's in a monstrous building There's a lot of equipment in there So but that's where we're at And we're always looking to move forward but at a lot of times over the years there's
never the money you know and we haven't had a bond now I think in what 10 years John The last bond was paid off in 10 years ago Last bond was paid off in 2021 Yeah Yeah So our debt service fell off in 2021 I'm unsure of when the last
referendum was Yeah It was 2005 2005 Yeah But that's you know it's it you maintain the equipment we stay on top of it and we make sure that the children are safe and we make sure that everybody's safe So it's important for the board to know about referendums too
What um a lot of districts do is they if they have a active debt right a debt that they're currently paying off before that debt falls off the books and we realize a savings to the taxpayers They can go out for a referendum ahead of time at a no cost or no tax increase to
the taxpayers that the district can then receive new bond proceeds and then uh continue its facilities upgrades Eve did not do that Um so they did not they allow debt to expire So any new debt or any new bond referendum that we go for
we do not have the sales pitch of saying there's a net tax net zero tax impact It would be a direct tax impact to the residents And I do also want to also say if a bond does pass we would qualify for roughly 40% for debt service aid So the
state will provide 40% debt service aid So that that is a big number but again uh that's for qualifying projects and the referendum would still have to pass So can you and you wouldn't start in 24 to 30 months Correct I just want to ask
about the 40% So if we need a 100 million worth of work we could get back 40 million Yeah So the district would assume or the taxpayers would assume 60 thou $60 million in your scenario I see Okay And um yeah because
my my fear here is for some reason I sound so loud that we do this and then it's not enough and then in two years three years four years you're going to come and say that we need to do not you know nothing personal against you but that's my role I understand what you're saying that we need now to go for this
construction bond I feel like there's no this is Yeah And that's also it's a good point Mrs know that this is no guarantee that this district won't need a bond referendum right we rely on the advice of our professionals It wouldn't come from me It'd come maybe through me by way of our professionals but um we
certainly rely on the advice of those professionals If we're uh even with this unable to really tackle some of these major infrastructure needs that this district has yeah there there might be a need for a bond referendum Um but this
is a bird in the hand So I had a quick question here for uh Mr Donghue Mr Peterson First of all thank you for coming tonight answering our questions and also for all your work you do for the schools I mean I uh you can't find a matching piece to a furniture set from
1989 let alone find parts for whatever level of complication of equipment that I'm sure you guys are dealing with So um have you guys come up with um a set of categories as far as uh the biggest
need items so have you guys set a list of priorities as far as what needs work the most and what needs work the least i don't know if and you know Yeah you showed you showed you the you know where it's at and what we really need to start
and that's the list of priorities is the first is probably roofs and uh uh some heat pumps roofs uh just stuff that really affects everybody's life Uh what else parking
lots You know the parking lots are really getting rough So you know we have a list of priorities that that we're looking to move forward with uh that the $7 million if we did get any part of that we we look at bringing equipment in
have it in house Something goes wrong we replace the unit Something goes wrong here we fix that Something goes wrong we fix that We have the stuff on hand It's not a fix all at you know it'll get stuff done but it's not a fixall is the
capital projects list that you provide I know it's alphabetized by school Yes But is it fair to say it's cate it's enlisted in order of priority And and because so so yeah I'm sorry So you know we put together um the package
for you to look at the the report to look at to show each building and pretty much um like when the equipment was installed how old things are Um and then we try to look at each year what's going
to be the most important piece of that report to get replaced if we're able to have some funding Um and over the past I don't know how many years it's probably been seven years there's not been uh the
available funding to do these jobs Now if the funding was to go through if we were able to you know get some of that money like Tom said we'll break that down even further to um the Deacy parking lot the Rice parking lot um the
couple um pieces of roof that Rice needs uh the Macy roof and if there's leftover you know we can do start a heat pump project Maybe it's a maybe it's a two-phase project at a building might be
say you know a rice half the building project and then if funding becomes available next year we can finish that building and move forward on the next project Um we're never going to know exactly how
much we're going to need um because the district's ever changing Things are things are going you know wrong more and more each year So we can't say is 90 million going to be enough We don't know if 90 million is going to be enough We're not sure what that's going to be
until we get started And it's been so long since we had major projects happen that it's really we're unsure what the cost is going to be on a on a major heat pump project
So that's why we kind of made that report just to just to let everybody know what needs to be done Once we decide how much funding we have then we'll break it down to exactly what we can do with the money we have Yes sir So
for most of this work um that's proposed like in in the packet for example like the heat pumps would any of that have to be outsourced or would that still be all um done within your organization all of that will be outsourced All the I believe all if the money goes into
capital reserve I think we have to outsource that if I'm correct John we wouldn't have to uh capital reserve can be used towards equipment of which then your team can install some of that equipment Um but I just think
practically speaking we don't have enough staff So yeah we'd probably outsource plenty of and then roof and parking lots would be 100% outsourced So that's kind of factored into the estimates for the numbers Yes of course And then um and those are rough estimates right like that's the money
we're going to put in the capital reserve And you know that's why that little squiggly there It's to represent like it's an estimated number Um and then uh Frederick might even be able to shed some light or maybe possibly uh Miss McGullik on like the need we we do need
an overhead and PA system like a uh the speaker system in every building So those we've factored that cost in and that's also a rough estimate as well So on the budget presentation it was outlined that uh should we take $7
million this year right um four items that we would address immediately would be heat pumps uh at $3 to $5,000 a unit and approximately it says here that 700 units need to be replaced Um you know by my math that's somewhere in the range of
$3 to $3.5 million right on the high end Uh a million dollars for roof replacements at Rice and Deacy Um which you know have presented as as critical need items $500 to $750,000 for parking lot replacements at Deacy and then $500,000 for HVAC
controls Um and I just kind of want to make myself uh better understanding of the state as as you guys see it right of of our schools Is there other items that you would say maybe as it relates to the
safety of a student or or faculty in the building or um you know as it relates to uh long-term sustainability for our equipment um that maybe you would put before the parking lot replacement Um because you know I was over at Deacy
recently I've seen the parking lot you know yes it's got lots of lots of repairs that it needs but um you know take again it's all about prioritizing is kind of what I'm getting at here So I'm curious you know if you have any input on that Um no I think uh as far as
the safety um I think we would be okay with the equipment we have right now Um and I think that the Macy parking lot and the rice parking lot are extremely important to um get done Now u you know
I have a grounds crew we try to take care of the potholes Um and anybody who knows you know walking across 180,000 square foot of parking lot If there's a pothole to be found somebody's going to find it and they're going to get hurt Um even though we try
to maintain them and stay on them um that number that was there for the heat pumps that you had mentioned the three to 5,000 I believe it was So that's just for the district to buy that That's not to that's not to have a company come out
and and so it's more expensive than that's just for parts not actual labor That's just to buy it That you know there's there's millions millions more costs that come in in play with that heat pump Um because when we talk about
equipment being replaced um as far as the heat pumps there's a lot of other equipment that go hand inand with that And in the report um we talk about the the fresh air makeup units They're also the same age all of
the fresh air units on the roof You know some of them are most of them are from 2000 parts in there uh that have been obsolete retrofit parts you know that they cost an astronomical amount of
money Everybody knows how important fresh air is I think we have an extremely great fresh air system but it is going to all need to be replaced Cooling towers Um without the cooling tower it's one piece of equipment Just
one piece of equipment that if it goes down we're not going to have air condition in the building If it comes to a motor that we can't get today we're not going to have air conditioning in the building It's just you know even though we say we got a heat pump in each
room which is your air conditioning it's water cooled from that cooling tower And if that fails we're not going to have air conditioning Just so I have the best understanding possible
right obviously I'm not going to expect to be a HVAC master anytime soon Maybe maybe I can sit down your office and you can teach me some things But um looking at replacing those heat pumps uh you know that is a singular part as part of
a a much larger system right um and as a potential cost to replacing those heat pumps you might need to replace other aspects of how that system works Is that what you're getting at here absolutely Gotcha Understood
It was all installed Yeah At the same time Yeah Everything was installed at the same time You know most most pieces were installed in 2000 Fresh air cooling towers heat pumps all came at at one time And the $300 to
$5,000 per unit that's just for the heat pump That's just that would be our cost Like so we recently bought them to do this building which we're doing in house and that was our cost Anybody who contractor buys buys anything you know
you you pay list price So if we pay $3,000 you know list price is probably 6,500 It's going to be at least 100% markup on it So that's just for us to buy it We use that as a as a figure um when when
we're trying to figure out what we think a contractor might charge to to do something like that and just for little things that we have to do uh where we have to get a contractor to come in I mean you know you know what the the rates are I mean I don't I don't get get
away from $150 an hour for a contractor to come in here and do something and he's a 4-hour minimum So it becomes it becomes very pricey Thank you Seriously a lot of insight there So thank you very much Can I ask this might be for for
Danny you you guys mentioned getting a grant What is the likelihood and how many opportunities are out there to apply for grants to cover some of the need for the infrastructure repairs yeah
not a Danny question I'll feel that one Um Danny would be grants like program grants right yeah So Ben I'm sorry Nope that's okay So uh Tom would you mind talking about the direct install program that we use yeah We got a direct
ESG They pay 80% of the bill We pay 20% We get it put into our electric bill and we get a fiveyear considered a 5-year loan for what the 20% is and we
don't pay no interest on the money Okay Uh this is how we do a lot of things We in our house me and Brian's house we look at every way to save money possible We are direct install is stalling this
equipment and it's costing us 20% of of the total amount I think it's a lot We saved a ton of money and we didn't touch it Uh we're in the process right now of looking at more PSE and G grants for all our heat pumps that we might be able to
move forward on at and save tremendous amounts of money and we look at every opportunity that we look at every opportunity we can to save money including energy savings improvement That's why I was just curious how many opportunities are are out there for things like this We if
it's feasible for us it's explored Yeah these these guys do a great job of bringing those to the table for us That's like I said with the parking lot lights public service had uh they paid all the money from $400 light right we got them for a dollar Public service
funded all that So we look at every avenue as far and as deep as we can go to get the best price and the cheapest price and the best that we can get for our money So that's where we stand Can I just on the similar topic um that
we were talking about the referendums and the availability of funds for the referendum but also I wanted to go back to what Casey said which was we cannot pay for failed bond referendums out of general budget So any item that we listed on a bond referendum if we had
roof repairs if we had whatever we needed to do new uh parking lots etc that we would not be able to pay for that out of the general budget Can you just explain that or whoever explain that a little bit more specifically yeah I'll start and then if I miss anything
from the business office perspective um Mr Yates will jump in Um so if you put something out to a referendum or a public question and you ask to raise additional funds in through your tax levy um through a referendum when you do
that you list very specifically like we are going to do this construction project for this amount of money or sometimes it'll be we're going to maintain this position for this amount of money Um I had just had a district that had they went out for um they
needed new bleachers and like a new media um I guess like the media stand at the bleachers Um if those things fail then in your next year's budget and
I'm not sure how long it goes on for but you cannot fund those things from your budget because the public has told you that they do not want to fund them So you cannot put them in your normal
budget moving forward So say it was something like a roof project that maybe you greatly need If you were to do that through a bond referendum and it failed then you're stuck not being able to fund that through your budget and you know
you really are kind of lost as far as uh I do not off the top of my head Um I think it's I wouldn't want to guess off the top of my head but yeah it's definitely the first one even if it was a year right so just think about that
timeline So now you're three and a half to four years out from replacing maybe a roof that's in critical need So second questions we submit them as part of our budget process So in May when we submit our budget we are saying here's our budget Here are things that we cannot pay for in our budget that we need to
get approval for the taxpayers to get additional tax levy for We can't then go back and say "Oh we asked you for it You said no but now we have the money We found it." Right so it's part of the budget process So I have another quick question Um Miss GH you were talking about uh you know
building money into the capital reserves enables us the opportunity to dip into that uh not the reserve funding but the source of revenue that we get from the tax dollars right um when our expenditures as they do every year uh go
past what our revenues do right so just for my say there's a scenario we're halfway through replacing our heat pumps because it you know sounds like a very complicated process very expensive process right now we reach a point in our budget where we still got half the
school district that doesn't have this problem fixed but we're using all that revenue now to cover general budget expenses salaries benefits programs whatever the case may be what what's the answer then right because we've went up to the full amount uh of the
this the $7 million that we put into the or $8 million we put into the capital reserves However we've also now at that point designed ourselves the 40% that the state covers as a portion of what you would get going out to bond referendum So my question is maybe
there's some consider not really a question but but point I guess is maybe there's some considerations as to the strategy and trying to think about you know what timeline we think we could accomplish based on our annual expenses how much they grow by on top of you know
whether you know the special bond would you know take care of that in of itself Aiden I I'm thinking along the same lines like maybe take some to get us through but sounds like we're going to need a lot of money and then we're again like you said leaving that 40% match
from the state and no guarantee next year and the year after that this 7 and a half million is actually going to be put towards you know capital improvements right so I'm worried about that part as well And um everybody says "Well it's not going to
pass It's not going to pass." You don't know that Look Cherry Hill got it Lenipe Regional got it You know if you work hard and and get people on board with it it doesn't necessarily mean that it's going to fail right i'm going to third
that because and I mean we're just going to spitball and and talk about where our heads are but for me I feel like if we take the full tax levy now there's no way a bond referendum is going to pass because people can't afford it And then
where are we when what we've taken is not enough to cover what we need So do we take some and save what we can now and put that out to bond and take advantage of that extra 40% Um so I'm just going to add
right on to that Um I didn't mean to interrupt you if you had any more thoughts Um you know it it looks like if you're asking me right on this list here um you know again heat pumps look like a very complicated process that would require a years'sl long plant Uh the the
other item that that kind of seems most urgent here is the roof replacements at Rice and Deacy right i mean you know that you can't have kids in a room that's you know leaking 24/7 whenever there's a rainstorm or you know I I think um you know I don't want to put you on the spot Kevin but you were
telling me the story the other day you know the one of the rooms just completely was you know unusable at Vanamp because of the situation there right and that's not even on the list here So maybe preliminary thought Obviously we have the final budget meeting where we're going to approve the final numbers Uh but you know maybe you
look at approving through this L tax levy a small portion of what we need to cover our most dire maintenance needs So that way we could still educate kids we could still use the facilities Um you know and we're not in the situation you
know where again rooms and buildings are just not usable uh as opposed to taking a full $8 million tax levy which again as we kind of established here we don't know if that's going to cover us the full way And I just want to jump in just
to kind of guide the conversation When you're talking about this are you talking about it in addition to the other half of the money to restore and like I'm just to be honest okay I'm
just trying to guide the convers I think we haven't even touched part of that conversation yet as as to that list of items that was kind of prescribed to us Um you want my personal opinion I'll I'll give it you know there's a lot of that seemed you know very warranted as far as you know um finding a middle
ground between you know taking what we need to continue to provide the level of service that you know parents uh expect and that students deserve Um and then there was also some aspects of that For example I'll just throw it out there an
assistant two assistant principal positions where I'll be honest I'm not entirely sold as far as you know the educational benefit that that provides to to students at the cost of an additional levy to taxpayers which let's just assume we took everything that was
prescribed on that list totals up to almost $1,000 on the average assessed home So that's where if we're going to get into that conversation as far as what we're looking at on that other side of things not capital reserve side I highly would like to hear other board
members thoughts as well Um I I was just briefly going to ask Dr Smith what the two speaking of the assistant principal positions were to cover Yeah So we would establish a rotation So we there'll be two assistant principles
across six elementaryaries We have other positions that rotate What I would just in terms of scale and we're thinking about so like that position for example supports all the other positions in a
school So if we're thinking like you know and sometimes people say you know cut from the top and and you know administrators what do they do our administration is the leanest administration the least administrative
cost per pupil out of all K8s in the state So in other words a dollar goes farther spent on administration here than in any other district any other K8 district in the state That's on one side of the piece of
paper When you flip that paper over because nothing ultimately is free there is a cost The savings monetarily is made up in a cost to the the actual
administrators in those roles So they are pulled in a thousand directions they're not able to give the support that they would want to to students to staff to families who who are looking for that support So when we're talking about adding an assistant principal
we're really talking about adding support for all of those other really important people in the school community we want to try to we don't want to look at you know compared to specific districts but I'll just say um as a
sense of scale um there's a district that has over 10 elementary schools and none of them are larger than five of our six We have very large elementary
schools that have huge ratios And if you look around you'll find assistant principles in schools that are the same size as ours in other districts And by having them you're actually helping kids and you're helping the staff in that So that's you know it would be a rotation
but I I just I wanted to also kind of address I I hear what you're saying Dr Smith Um you know my only concern there is I think that in EAM Township being the leanest district K through8 in administration is a great thing That
means that we are putting our money in places where it most benefits students That being said adding to that right between not just that but also you know uh restoring the secretary positions as opposed to clerk typists um you know
looking at case managers uh interventionists um we're we're talking you know more to making that less and less true um you know where I don't know necessarily the how we'd rank adding these things compared to the other districts still
right but to me you know we're we're we're talking about again adding to administration when so many other aspects of our districts over the past seven years have had to you suffer an incredible amount of loss So so I if I can just comment on
that I think administrative costs are like the easiest whipping boy for anyone to get upset about They're the thing that is least seen by the public but is most present in much of the staff's everyday
lives And to say that we can just keep reducing administrative costs and not having anyone in those roles and expect the schools to still run seamlessly and expect the the teachers to still be effective and the students to still maintain the same education I think it's
just a fallacy I would imagine I've received emails from several people that talked about administrative costs versus the different ways that that trickles down into educational experience and how the decrease in administrative costs and the decrease in people who are in that
pool of people that get lumped in with administrative costs directly ultimately affects educational experience for kids Now Kevin I I I do want to clarify here what I'm saying right i never was calling for you know necessarily this drastic cut to administration right
because we are the leanest What I'm saying is are we going to go to the taxpayers to then again add on to that to make the fact that we are the leanest less true and there's a difference there Um and and and what does that difference mean right it's it's you know I want to
put into perspective I and because I don't think we've fully recognized the weight of what we're talking about Nearly 1,000 on the average assessed home It is already the most unaffordable state in the entire country right i mean
that's it's unacceptable right and I I could scream from a mountaintop as I did last year I could do it again right about how an entire generation of Cherokee graduates is going to be continue to be priced out of this town right because of rising home prices which is obviously completely out of our control Part of that is also the fact
that we continuously raise property taxes every year We price out retirees who one in four are not signed up for the property tax freeze Um you know lowincome households fixed income households whatever the situation may
be We have to be extremely detailed about any additional tax levy that we're going to take and we have to have a list of priorities that's going to say this is going to help our staff help our help our staff genuinely impact students
right uh which your point is taken right I'm not saying that those administrators they're you know they don't they don't do anything to benefit students again it's a cost cost-effective ratio right can I jump in with just a quick question and and I'm sorry if you said this already but
public comment is that coming before we say yes okay yes I know there's a lot of teachers here the the admin the admin positions were a new addition to what we're looking at I would very much like to hear from the
teachers where your thoughts are and if you think that is something that would be beneficial to you and the and the kids Yeah Miss Fox comment before we vote Yeah And just to clarify for the board Macy since there's three
administrators there now so how is that working out is that a huge problem we need to know these things and nobody communicates them to us Yeah I mean that might be and that's a problem So so we are adding that real quick um to
address the point of oh we can add this so we should right I think that's the complete wrong way to go about looking at this issue right um I'm not here to say that there isn't an issue as far as you know uh you know administrators being overworked being you know having a
lot on their plate right you have more experience it sounds like meeting with them seeing what their experience is like than I do so I will fully recognize that um again the point that I made earlier though was the the strain has I felt been felt across the district on on
all different levels Right Um I'm not convinced that adding the two administrator the two assistant principles into this budget is a really necessarily going to fix that problem For example you know revolving door
issue right what there's I mean one of those assistant principles at another school uh and you know there's you know a whole list of three other principles who need assistance right no I I'm not saying it's not again though the question when we're talking about an additional tax levy we're not talking
about extra budget space here we're talking about additional tax levy isn't can we get that money or or you know because we know the answer to that is yes we can but should we get that money right and just because we can get that they have the chance to get it doesn't necessarily equate that second part of
that to a yes Um so you know I I I think it's completely fair to to oppose I don't I mean I see your point and I respect it but every single thing on here including all the infrastructure stuff is 100% good for kids Full stop
Here's the deal I could think of $30 million worth of items that's good for kids right but obviously we don't No but this is what we have in front of us This But this is But this is what the we have the opportunity to add right and I'm not listen I don't want to pay more taxes just like
everybody else does I do not However this game of chicken we're playing with the state is not it's never ending and we are going to keep doing it But the reality is is they have showed us their hand and I'm not willing to play this game of chicken for that much longer
when it's our kids the one that are suffering at the result of this game that we're playing So the only way we're going to get out of this in my opinion is if this community does it ourselves and that's just in my that's my take is like I don't I understand the burden is on people I do and and and I'm a taxpayer too and I get it and but my I
want to sell my house when my kids are done in 10 years and I want to hope my property value is good enough because the schools are good enough to be able to maintain that So I you know it there's different ways to look at the financial implication but when it comes to these items here that we're talking about every single thing here is good
for kids every single one And that's my priority because the kids come first for me Period I just want to by by taking less hearkens back to last year where we only took a certain
percentage of the tax levy and then it increased the amount that we had to cut this year It negatively impacted the school district every time we've token less We need to take the full amount Okay So I'm going to jump in with another perspective I I spent much of last night and much of today reaching
out to every homeowner in in this town that I could find and I asked them "Do you know what your house is assessed for what are you currently paying in taxes?" And even the most modest of
homes was a an appraised value of almost a h 100,000 more than the average We're talking about you know a three-bedroom attached town home which when you calculate that with taking the full levy you are looking at
potentially close to $200 a month in additional taxes and with no guarantee that we're not going to no one can no one can sit here and look at this budget and say if we take all of it we are going to be
good I with everything that is going on in this country right now on a federal level economically in good conscience I cannot ask taxpayers to burden what the state should be providing at that much of an increase
but the state has constantly failed us with S2 right but what I'm saying is we we've sat here you and I have been here for three years year after year at budget time telling everyone keep the pressure on the state So something else to that add to Miss Fox's point I I want
to make clear right taking the additional money she was on a roll she let her fail oh did I interrupt you did I'm so sorry Miss Fox I'm sorry no that's I mean I sort of forgot my train of thought but but basically what I'm saying is we have sat here for three years looking out
there you know getting yelled at put in an impossible position of making these determinations that affect teachers and kids and taxpayers and We tell them it's we are being screwed by the state and we are
continuing for that We had you know Dr Smith and Tracy and Aiden went and and spoke and I'm not sure any of the community went with them And I think we really need to work on the community outreach at a state
level We don't know who the next governor is going to be We don't know what the tax implications are going to be with the new administration And if if we can sit here and say well there's no guarantee that if we take that money it's going to be used for this and next year we're going
to be okay I'm not okay asking people you know a single parent to pay another $200 a month I know for me that that that would be a huge hardship Can I just ask yeah I'm good No I wanted to ask you something Um you had said
about um appraised values is they're different than assessed values right so I'm talking about the assessment Oh I just I just want So there's no confusion by anyone in the future Yeah John can you talk a little bit toward the financial
outlook of the district as a whole in either scenario like I mean whether I mean I guess we're just kind of against spitballing but like taking the full amount versus I mean I'm just going to say half I don't know But like I guess we should stick with what the financial scenario would
look like if we took nothing You know however you want to break that up Um I'll do my best Yeah Uh it's very complicated May I suggest maybe the three buckets that's a good idea going on here Sure And again this is uh purely
speculative right we we haven't run some in-depth analysis We don't know what the board's decision is yet Um we know if we take nothing all the cuts that were previously on the table you know that those are going to be the cuts that the board's going to have to vote on on April 28th So bud significant budgetary
reductions If you take half well my recommendation to the board is you cannot dollar for dollar assign the full amount to current expenses because again you'll just be in a budgetary a structural budgetary deficit next year
So uh if you take the full amount um it's a similar situation to taking half you're just you're really setting yourself up for financial soly solvency for many years ahead because the deposit in the capital reserve can each year can
absorb the operational uh increases So if you think of it this way maybe year one it's and I'm this is just a number seven and a half million dollars in the capital reserve Well maybe year two that number's seven or 6.8 and the following year it might be
6.3 I don't know I'm just telling you that each year you could deposit less into capital reserve to account for the operational increases or we could make reductions We might see breakage We might see some aging staff reach
retirement age and uh they they retire And so now we've seen that wave of staff start to move on and we now have a younger staff and more inexpensive staff And we also have no idea what state funding is going to be So it's really difficult to predict the future But I
can tell you that this would set you up for financial solveny for my prediction many years ahead By increasing to the full amount this would possibly ending never- ending doom and gloom of budget season Correct
For the foreseeable future You you mentioned the word if as assigned right again dollar for dollar to current expenses and we're right back here next year So you mentioned the word end right i mean I think it's incredibly important to to note that that is I
think virtually uh impossible because right kick the can you know long as set timeline right which our job as a board right is to determine how much of this we're going to take right to to determine when that deadline
hits but at some point it will hit right whether you know think of it like a homework assignment we're looking at one week down the line two weeks down the line three weeks down the Um this the I want to be very clear on the fundamental problem that exists
within our education system At some point in the future whether I'm on this board or I'm on that side of things I will be looking at all of you again in this room unless the state has a fundamental change to how they fund
education in New Jersey And we all know that to be true I'm not explaining anything new to anybody Right I just want to dispel the notion that the problem goes away should we take the full $15 million Of course the problem doesn't go away if
we take the full $15 million We can't predict what's going to happen with the next governor that comes into New Jersey that could drastically cut the aid that we get now We can't predict what things will look like in 10 years But we can say if we take the full $15 million now
that we're not kicking the can down the road further That we're doing everything in our power We are taking as much local control of our own destiny as we can so that we can stop having the continual conversation year after year after year
of trying to find out whose jobs are being saved and who has to go home at the end of the workday every day and worry that they're not going to be employed the next year It gives us the room It gives us the room in the budget to do the direly necessary capital
improvement projects that have to happen in order for the roofs to stay on top of the buildings and for the kids not to be swimming in puddles as they go through the hallways It gives us the room to increase the salaries of the teachers to go through all the steps that have to
happen year-over-year It gives us room to grow each year with a 2% cap and not having to come back to the taxpayers and say "Give us more." Because we have the additional money that's in the capital side the $8 million there that we can draw down from We're also that $8
million will also still grow by the 2% year-over-year That whole thing continues to grow as we're not taking all of it directly for line item expenses that we have every year I just I keep coming back to when we talk about adequacy and what it means to be an
adequate school district and the line a thorough and efficient education We are $15 million short of providing our children a thorough and efficient education I have no idea how we cannot want to give them that I have no idea
how that is not the bare minimum of what we're going for Is it a lot of money yes I totally agree And I don't want to pay the taxes It's a terrible situation And I would rather ask for that money tonight than do this every year in
perpetuity And for the people who are concerned about you know I not concerned about to get back to what Miss Fox was saying about that we need to continue the pressure on the legislature that we've had so many people and we've sat
here and talked so often about how we need to continue to fight the state at the state level to get more funding That goes exactly to what you're saying We don't know what's going to happen in the future So we need to take every step available to us to increase the amount of funds that the school district can
get And if that that should absolutely include continuing our advocacy efforts at the state level increasing our advocacy levels at the state level getting more of the public to go forward and testify every year every time that there is an availability to do it we as a district should be publishing this We
should be publicizing it We should make it our mission to have every person here get in front of Trenton and speak our case and state our cause All of those things will go towards making us solvent in the future so we don't have to cut
people anymore Yeah Mr Pman just one thing there about the 8 million growing by 2% every year We can't speak for future boards Obviously the board in the future could choose to take 0% tax right that's true I have to say something Oh Dave are you
sure okay Um as an individual not as a board perspective right um and I have to speak the truth right and I know a lot of people might not like it but if we find ourselves in the position
of every time we are faced with a budget shortfall instead of trying to balance a line I want to be clear here I'm not advocating for nothing here because there's a lot of items that we had to cut that I walked out of that room a month ago and I did not feel very happy
about However if the answer is every time to take the full amount possible when that deadline eventually does come that we do have to address a budget issue because the full amount that we took runs
out there's a strong chance that me my peers we won't even be able to be on that other side of the this conversation Not because we don't want to because we won't be able to
That's it Aiden I'd like to add something You know when we first found out about this the first thing I did was to email the governor and all of our legislators and I said in so many words "Thank you but this is not a
solution We cannot keep going back to the taxpayers." I said how we did the kindergarten and mental health and asked the taxpayers for more money How we did go above last year not to the full amount The board couldn't even stomach
raising taxes an additional $120 last year but we did ask for some And you know I said this is not a solution We can't keep going back to the Eve Sham residents but I haven't heard anything
That's exactly what I'm saying I don't want to keep going back I want to do this now and stop going back right but I I don't have guarantees that one it's not going to be 2% again next year And then also like no plan for that additional capital funding you know So I
think what I heard tonight was that we will have a plan before April 28th Okay Of what that will look like that we need to come in with a plan for any number of years for how we're going to plan that out for what we're going to use that capital for That's correct Mr But we have to approve to go to the full
tonight without seeing any kind of plan of what is desperately needed right now and the cost No the full doesn't have to be decided tonight Mrs Null That the idea here again is that we have three buckets that were presented by Dr Smith There is the bucket of restoring the cuts that we previously proposed There
is the bucket of additional monies that are going to add new positions And then there's the bucket of the capital um expenditures We as a board need to come to a consensus as to out of those three buckets which three are we in favor of John Mr Yates building into the final budget presentation for April 28th Right
when you you you you missed when John had said he wanted to know what we in executive mean what we felt we wanted to take and what was most important to us
if we were not taking all what was most important to us to save what where we want that money going I have a nonmoney reason for like what's most important to and that's that this community starts to finally heal from all of like the seven
years of just craziness with the budget and the angst of budget season year over year over year and this conversation that totally overshadows everything else we do and you know so my perspective in addition to you know the kids just
coming first all the time is to be able to you know it's never going to be over we're always going to have to talk about budget stuff there's always going to a thing It's always going to be something of course but since I've been on the board we haven't said a single thing about test scores We haven't said a single thing about curriculum really you
know all these other things all this other business that I would love to get to as a board where we're not overshadowed by like the budget situation And if this gives us a chance to be able to do that I think we should strongly consider it And again there's no guarantees right but it puts us in a
really good spot to not be able to to have to fight this fight every year But I don't understand why just taking half does not put us into a good spot And and I'd also like to just be a voice for the other side when you talk about healing
that additional money that you're costing no to c to certain demographics there there was a time for me that if I suddenly had a $200 increase I wouldn't have been able to buy groceries and there are a lot of people that live that
way and we have to take them I mean as a board yes we are here to administer to the students and correct and the teachers but also the taxpayers it's the entire community that elects and we have to think about the impact on all of them Agreed
I just want to touch base on the plan Um as the facilities committee and most board members are aware we we do have a long range facilities plan that's been in place for many years Uh each year our facilities department does a comprehensive maintenance plan um that
gets approved by the board in November And uh we we did detail as part of this presentation what the plan is for the capital reserves Those are kind of the immediate high priority items Each year would be to tackle immediate high
priority items with that So I'm confused at the idea that there's a lack of a plan or or maybe the board could shed some light on what the expectation is at the April meeting please Yeah Mr I think the board is looking for a multi-year plan We have plans for year one I think the board wants to see year two three and the next many years out I I see what
you plan How many years out are you thinking Mr Compton i mean I'll leave it up to the board I I think we are approving board goals this year right as part of our um it's hard to plan I think uh beyond maybe three to five years Yeah So so at board goals of
three years I think three years is a reasonable ask Understood I actually did have a question for you Mr Gates Um what oh hey Thanks Um sorry uh the question about um your
opinion of we were talking about buckets you know the one page had first you know was like what we really need to restore second being you know what we would like to get you know up to adequacy and then the third being you know capital
expenditures So obviously the first the most important are you know one and three in those buckets What is your opinion on the budget going forward if we just do those two can you clarify your question he's saying "What do you think about the long-term uh viability of the budget if
we only take about 11.8ish?" Right We leave out slide two Okay Slide slide two Could we go back to that slide so I understand yeah it's it's slide eight Mr Case It's the
second money Next one Frederick One more One more One more This one There it is Yeah I mean it's hard for me to comment on that You know I feel like that's I just didn't know if you had an opinion or off top No I mean I I can give you an
opinion on uh what I think financially but this is a more educational side of things M um I could certainly speak as a dad and say that um I think these things are needed for the children in school but uh the one thing that sticks out to me from as a business administrator
perspective is restoring fund balance to its uh you know uh 2% maximum strengthening our long-term fiscal health Yeah Could you explain that one just a little bit more so everybody because I know that's these are usually like Yeah So school districts in New Jersey are allowed to keep 2% of the
prior year expenditures as sort of their uh what what's called fund balance Think of it like a savings account right it's our kind of um oh no scenario account um that we can go into if we were to overexpend the budget for let's say uh unforeseen expenses that would happen
during the course of the year are due to uh expenses being greater than anticipated in the 2324 year which we had audited Uh we did not return any surplus or money to
reserves As a matter of fact our fund balance was below 2% the 2% standard Um and that's just kind of the the minimum It is the maximum amount we're allowed to keep but is also the minimum standard of the Department of Education as well
So if you're below 2% they want to know why Any other questions or comments from the board i know the public needs to com or wants to comment I just have a few more things so I'm completely clear On slide number one Dr
Smith the steps we definitely want to take to restore these most important things Um can you please explain about the last bullet since this was changed at the last minute restoring the team structure
no six class in place of team time how does that sorry my question is the the halls does this mean there's going to be halls no halls what about independent study I need to understand this bullet
sure so in first I would just say so this opport this is the proverbial moneybag falling out of the sky opportunity that we've used as a hypothetical at different points Um and it actually became a reality about a
week ago So you know everything this entire process right just started a week ago So I in that sense you could say it's all last minute right um we have not been walking around with a a list of um what we would add if $15 million
became available because um frankly just I'm just saying like you know as a window into um the psychology and the emotion of this moment um the the it has been just a
daily um struggle to come up with how to balance the budget with being 15 million under adequacy Um so the uh the team structure so that yes that would this would essentially maintain our team structure maintain our halls Um the teachers would
not be teaching a six class We would want to look at you know um team time like what happens during the week in all five on all five days during that period Is there a way to increase teacher contact time with students right and we
would do that as conversations with um administration and teachers to to see what is there a um are there some you know maybe improvements we can make there for student outcomes But um independent study currently is is one one day a week from that period Um and u
again we could ask ourselves is that I mean that serves valuable functions Is it ultimately maybe it is ultimately the the optimal format for that Is there another way we could look at it to try
to uh make it even more effective but ultimately it would all be happening with that period in the day not as a six class So our halls stay our halls Okay Yeah Okay
and this board fully supports the team model maintaining this model I'm asking because my fear is again to increase taxes by this much and then in two years we're told lo and behold we're at a big
deficit first to go middle school team model So I need some kind of guarantee like does the board think that you cannot be ask the board for a guarantee to speak for future boards Okay I mean I I can say my opinion I know from
listening at the past few meetings and the emails that I've gotten that seems to be the top of the list for teachers is how important it is for them and for the kids So if taking some allows it to
stay that way even for two years like are we going to find ourselves here again maybe Yeah I hope not I mean obviously we all hope not but if we can maintain it for now I'm okay with that Mr Null the one thing
I can say is the two slides as far as um additional things that we're looking to add the to the budget Generally speaking the the last thing to be added is the first thing to be cut That creates the lowest hanging fruit right we have two slides of items here right team time is
on the first slide Right My assumption would be that the administration should we see some disastrous situation in the future would recommend cuts come from the second slide first Team time is on the first slide Something um I want to add to this uh and I shared this with all the board
members the admin um and if any of you would like to see it as well uh please email me and I'll absolutely send it to you Uh I did put together um a plan uh based on you know thoughts I had uh regarding this budget Um and it
maintained class sizes uh put funding in there to account for team time uh save PAR benefits extra elementary school extracurriculars Um it put $1.3 million in in reserves maintenance reserves uh also accounting for uh increased costs
that we're going to have with regards to uh utilities and benefits Um and then uh also put $3 million in that capital reserve fund Um the tax levy is about half uh of what the full amount would be
calling for Um and if you ask me that there's a significant amount of money there that enables us to plan for the future while still not taking every opportunity we can to put an extreme undue burden on a lot of people who
would be hurt again if we go to the full amount So again if you want to see the details of that plan please email me Uh my board email is on the website and I'll absolutely share it with you Just to be clear about the plan it's probably closer to twothirds not half of the
funded amount Um the if we took all of the money the a the average assessed increase would be 909 If we took your plan it would be 560 Um and your plan still eliminates 10 middle school
teaching positions which for me is a non-starter that we're going to ask the residents to have that large of a tax increase And we're still going to eliminate 10 middle school teaching positions Right If we're going to talk John about what what our priorities are if we're
not taking all um mine would be maintaining or reducing the class sizes keeping team time keeping PAR benefits And the bus aids I know there was a lot of concern from people with non-verbal kids putting
them on the bus and that's a huge concern So I know we talked about keeping bus aids on the bus routes Those are my priorities And then I would really like to hear from the public in terms of administration positions intervention positions
Thank you Miss Fox I definitely would need a consensus from the board Um board members I guess giving individual uh priorities is helpful but give it's we need a consensus from the board Yeah Give Go ahead I was going to say I don't
know I'll leave it up to you guys how you want to do this but maybe it makes sense when you do the actual vote to have somebody say like yes to submit the application um and I'm in favor of taking it all or I'm in favor of taking x amount of money
I don't know Yeah I I think that's probably the cleanest way to Yeah I think that the easiest way to get us past our two goals which was one to decide if we should take any money or and and two give Mr Gates in the business administration office a direction to go is I think we should move into public comment I think after
that we can have a couple questions or comments from the board if need be after the motion And I think you should either be voting yes or no Yes meaning we'll take x amount of dollars whatever that might be No meaning we take no additional tax levy And if you are voting yes I believe that you should
identify of those three slides which three of those you would like to see included in your yes vote And then maybe Dr Smith could pull the board somehow because we have to build this and submit it to the county by
Monday So you know it recording a vote where board members are shouting out individual priorities isn't going to be helpful No And I think that if we go line by line we get disastrous close into talking about personnel items which is an executive session topic Um which is why I think those three buckets
should be talked about at at large right like for instance if I vote yes I'm in favor of bucket one and two not bucket three something like that I think And then we could follow up with Dr Smith to give you more granular What if I like some of bucket two and I don't like the others it can't be like that because I
can say um I can't say yes to all of this So why does it have to be like that why don't we see where we land because just from listening to the conversation I think that maybe this I don't know I
don't I'm not going to speak But if we end up that the majority is in favor of taking it all then that conversation is necessary Yeah Okay That that works for me Just understand
Dr Smith and I have to to send and it has to be line item like itemized So I if we end up with a majority voting for some can this then be in emails with what we would like to
keep I think it should the direction should come from administration right okay so then would it be easier if we voted if your vote is yes to some or all and then if it is some we'll clarify after this meeting with Dr Smith to give the administration its directive yes and
you guys can can come up with it after that You said you have to submit a line item What do you mean by that what lines yeah So the application asks for what your the additional levy amount that we'd be asking for because we need state
approval for that right so how are we allocating that additional levy and what is the rationale so so look kind of like the way this these slides are built mimics that application format if that makes sense Kind of in a miniature So
all right So is the board okay if we go to public comment and then after that we can articulate how we'll get the granular piece of our vote I definitely think the board needs to articulate what they support tonight though Like it it doesn't need to be recorded but I think that the public should probably hear what the board members are supportive of
and aren't supportive of Are you looking for a line by line reading from from the first two slides if it's some I would say I would say uh just in order for the efficiency of it and I'm going to um borrow from what Miss Gford just said If it's if if the board is in favor of all then it's
simple but we could apply that same logic to each of the three slides and and that way it could be that one or more of the slides have enough support of all for that slide and then we we don't need to go line by line through that slide We can just if if we need to do that in any case it would just be for
a slide that didn't all support Yeah And would that happen in public session or do you want that as a followup i think that should happen publicly That would defer to legal but yeah Right So then we should vote so then we'll have to have multiple votes right so we should have the the procedural vote for
61 first right to get Well we only need multiple votes votes if the first vote isn't for all Okay All right Let's go to public session Uh public comment This meeting will now be open to the public referencing any items of interest
However if your questions or comments pertain to litigation student or personnel items or negotiations we would ask that you see the superintendent after the meeting since we do not discuss these matters in public Please limit your comments to three minutes per person I don't want you guys You need to go home and go to bed I know
I want to go home and go to bed Give us a minute guys just so we can get set up One second All right Uh I need to wait for the president to get back So give us a second Oh okay
All right Uh sorry guys Just one second Okay So Mr Bach has taken over as president for a minute because uh the president had to step out So we can get started Okay we can wait That's fine
All right we're good Go ahead You can state your name and either where you go to school or where you live or where you work whatever You should definitely state where you go to school Do not say where you live Yes please don't for kid Um hello My name is Max
Benjamin and I go to Marlton Elementary School I think we should not split the halls and e even though it will be a lot if we do increase taxes to a,000 per year or 9
990 Um it's only 75.83 every single month which if you think about it isn't that much It's like one or two dinners just minus one iPhone And if we even though making
taxes putting taxes higher will make a lot of people angry taking away a lot of teachers and taking away the halls will make people more angry Also the the um the since we're splitting the
halls more kids will be in each classroom which will overwhelm the teachers and other students Students will not be able to point out their points and explain their reasoning for their work If kids cannot reason with their
teachers it will not help our students it it it won't be as resourceful to go to school if you can't really point out your point and show your work to the teacher If you got it wrong you might they might not know that it was was a
mistake or you can't tell the teacher you're doing it wrong because you don't know Also we're cutting a lot of clubs which is going to decrease even though it's taking away
a teacher uh having not to pay a teacher it's also taking away money you're getting from the clubs Um uh the Since there's less there will be no halls Uh there will be overwhelmed class
class way uh hallways and it will be complicated to find your way around the school That is all Good evening Dr Smith and board members I am Pushkar and I'm Sar and we are in seventh grade green hall at the Macy The cuts brought up at the previous meeting
will change how students look at our district for generations to come We have made a survey to show the board how students feel about the changes We have collected the data and are here to present it We put the survey out to the Macy Middle today and had 233 responders The survey was presented to the students
as a Google form with seven questions The first question is would you be able to learn in a class with 30 35 or more kids in it 82.2% of students think that they could not learn in a classroom with 35 or more kids in it while
17.7% think that they can The second question was do you think that if you were in elementary school you could learn in a class with 29 or more kids in it 77.2% of students think that in elementary school you could not learn in a classroom with 29 or more kids in it
while 22.8 and eight think they can The third question is do you think you could attend clubs without laced buses 66.8% of students think that they could not attend late clubs without late buses while 33.2% think they could The fourth
question is do you think that you can make friends in elementary school without clubs 62.4% of students think that they could make friends in elementary school while in clubs while 37.6 think that they can't The fifth question is do you think you can manage
homework tests and catch up on work while being absent without independent study 81.9% of the students think that they would not be able to manage homework tests and catch up on work while being absent without independent study The sixth question from the survey is "How do you feel about 20 middle school teachers being cut?" Students
filled out a short answer response One said "I feel that it is not fair for 20 middle school teachers to be cut because they all love their jobs and you shouldn't take them away from them I feel like I have a lot of favorite teachers and if they get caught it would be really sad because they taught me a lot and made it easy to learn Another
student said "This decision would not would do nothing but harm students teachers and families With less teachers the class sizes would of course be bigger and it would become extremely difficult for students to receive help or one-on-one time with the teacher The majority consensus was students did not
want to see teachers be cut." From the from the survey students have said that they were most upset about middle school classes sizes increasing to 25 or more with 27.6% of students for saving this The students really hope you don't take
away small middle school class sizes Even if you have to please promise to try your hardest to try and get it back To wrap this speech up the students have spoken and we hope their opinions have been heard From classroom sizes increasing to after school clubs and
buses being eliminated students are not for it So in conclusion members of the board please take these students opinions in in in consideration when it comes time to vote on the budget The the students have voiced their concerns and hope for these cuts to be saved Thank
you very much My name is Tracy Brown I'm one of the ETA vice presidents First of all thank you very much Dr Smith for putting together a proposal to address many of the previous cuts including the loss of teaching jobs power benefits middle school model plus additional items that
you've added to lower class sizes at the elementary school and the much needed support including administration our kids need more than ever among many other items It's disappointing to see that everything was saved except our drivers As you can see many of them are
here tonight and I'm sure you will hear some of their specific concerns when they speak Now Mr Dearcy you were one of my students who had the benefit of being in this school district before all of these recent years of S2 cuts Now you're a board member so it seems so noble that
you've come back to serve your former school district but now it feels honestly like you're putting on a show up there with everything you say and everything you ask You personally spent two days with me and Dr Smith and Brian and Mr Yates in Newark in Trenton We did
a shared testimony I'm going to quote part of the testimony that we shared in front of senators and assemblymen The most recent New Jersey DOE's taxpayer guide to education spending shows our 2324 budget was
3,566 less per student than the average K to8 district With our enrollment of 4518 that means our budget is over 16 million less than average That's less than adequacy But suddenly tonight because
now we didn't get the money Of course don't we all agree we wanted the state to give us this money We are owed this money But because the word taxes comes into play it becomes a big game and a big show And suddenly you're questioning
his numbers and his numbers Suddenly the average per pupil cost what like you didn't know what that was Suddenly the 15 million under adequacy What what does it mean if we're under adequacy why did you go testify we actually got heard The
senators heard us They had a conversation with us If anybody did not see that video we went I I guess we didn't go viral enough because they talked to us and within days the commissioner of education said "You know what we're going to actually acknowledge
EAM has a problem We all know that I don't pay taxes in this town I'm going to be the first to you sure don't because you live home with your parents I pay a lot of taxes at my own district and I will vote for every referendum and anything that comes up because that is
what is important for the children I know I'm almost out of time and I'm derailing because I'm so angry at everything I heard tonight So angry So again we went up to Trenton and New York together And for those of you that asked sorry I'm going to calm down For those
of you that asked about other people going it was actually really difficult to get even myself added and stuff at that last minute Can I just have one second um just so you know so we'd have to plan better because they have very limited attendance To circle back and I'm almost done Thank you Dr Smith for
putting together this proposal that helps current budget issues and helps to plan for the future so we are not in this situation every single year I hope the board of ed members take advantage of this one-time opportunity because we
don't know what is coming our way One-time opportunity to become adequate again Please please Good evening My name is Brian Whiswitz one of the vice presidents of ET Thank you to Dr Smith for a proposal tonight that restores many of the previous
budget cuts Thank you to the board for holding this discussion and considering an increase to the tax levy We have a chance right now to fix our budget shortfalls Let's not lose this chance We are tired and worn down as a staff Take
the full amounts In regards to the question about administration it might be best for one of them to speak to this but we would support the additional positions provided that everything else comes back first We would love to have more support
due to the size of our schools Student needs now are greater than ever So anything we can do to provide that support will be essential Thank you My name is Linda Masterman and I'm a teacher at Marlton Middle School Um and
I'd say about myself one of the things about myself is I am stubborn and I don't give up which is why I'm still here speaking but we are tired The teachers are exhausted This is year after year after year It ruins morale It
ruins the whole environment of the school It impacts everyone The young teachers who are constantly in fear of losing their jobs The teachers that are in the middle and don't know what this long future looks like The 20 more years they have to go till they can retire And
the old teachers like me who want to make it to our retirement in a positive way making up impact on my students that I care about so much But we are exhausted because we have been doing this for so many
years And so I'm not going to give up because I'm not a quitter But it is exhausting Last time I spoke I spoke about a grim future Now we have some hope to bring our district back from the brink of
disaster I think the biggest impact on the students is the teachers And that's my personal opinion But as a middle school teacher for 30 years I can speak best about the middle school Our middle school will be destroyed if we eliminate the teams and
we have class sizes of 33 students with teachers six teaching six classes equaling 190 students Students will be negatively affected without the team time without teams of teachers
supporting them in independent study Large classes will prohibit conferencing guided reading groups and detailed feedback on their writing There will not be time to give students what they need I know taxpayers do not want to pay
more but I also know no one wants a home in a failing school district where others don't want to move This is an investment to maintain or even increase the property values of the homes in Marlton In a perfect world the state
would have given us money but that is not an option Nor is it an option to decimate our schools by trying to run them on those preliminary budget numbers There are no guarantees that if we take the full tax levy that it will be
perfect But I know if we don't take the full amount we will be back here doing this again And we are tired We need to fix this now So please vote for this additional tax levy to preserve and
hopefully enhance our schools Now is the chance to save our schools Please act to do just that We will not get another chance like this Thank you I'm Kim Henson I live on Meadow View Circle I appreciate that we have this
opportunity to get our district back on track and I do encourage us to take it I understand it is an overwhelming amount but looking at the proposal this really does give us the ability to be exceptional yet again No matter what you decide the main priority needs to be
keeping class sizes down and making sure that that is sustainable long term While I know this is not a popular opinion I am in favor of the full levy However as has been stated where does it end we need to have a plan for how we move forward together As Dr Smith said the
state isn't going to save us so we have to save ourselves But is this going to be the case year after year i am proposing that Dr Smith and the board agree to meet with a group of parent and community representatives early next year and throughout the year so that we
do not find ourselves in this detrimental of a position last minute again Please let us help you early Please let us work together to help these kids and to support our teachers and the incredible staff that make their education so exceptional I am also again
begging for transparency There is already chatter on social media just tonight about whether where is the guarantee that this money will go exactly where it's stated and here and not to a side project While I want to believe that that wouldn't happen the
point is the trust is not there and I am passionately asking you to try and rebuild it and make that rebuilding a top priority I am also questioning where what the status is of the Yale school There was a community member on Facebook
that had some excellent questions regarding Yale and preschool I understand we're kind of allin on preschool now but I do fear that the full ramifications that full day preschool is having on the students we are committed to educating through 8th grade have not been properly discussed
and keep getting swept under the rug I work with the population that graduates from Yale I love them I believe in what they do but housing them partially at Demacy does not make sense And I also implore you to look at another solution for that I would like to speak very
briefly on busing What scares me with outsourcing is getting drivers who don't care as much about the most important thing in each parent's life My kids adore their bus driver But when he's absent the drivers admit they don't know the route And my 10-year-old is
responsible for telling them where to go My five-year-old is terrified to go on the bus every day because what if his driver is absent and what if his sister goes home early and can't tell them the way home finally I do thank you all for your service This is an incredibly large
undertaking to have to decide on immediately and I do not envy you Thank you Uh my name is Teddy Cardy I'm a seventh grade student at MMS I think that a lot of things are wrong with the budget that was proposed
for the next for the upcoming school year Um some of the things that concern me most are the class sizes and teachers teaching six periods a day It will be extremely overwhelming for every one of them Impossible to
learn anything in a class of 35 or close to that number and it will just have an insane impact on every student in the district Another one of my concerns was late buses after
school No one will join a club if they don't have a way to get home So that will have an insane impact on art and music at the middle schools It'll be it's even worse at the elementary schools if extracurriculars are gotten
rid of entirely no one will or not as many people will be doing music or art programs and that's a problem at that is a problem across the country and it would be a problem in our district Lastly I think that if there's
any way that we can like get money from the state that we should take that It's anything that we can get because we really don't have as much money as we
did That's it Um good evening My name is Sandy Student and um I want to ask you a few questions if I could Uh they're strategic Um so and I don't know if it's the business administrator it's the president of the
board or it's the superintendent How many other districts face the same crisis in this state that we are confronted with now sir this is public comment It's not a question and answer So the board won't be as answering any questions you're welcome to pose those
and maybe they'll be addressed later Okay that's a that's a shame that I can't get an answer a simple question Um what's the student population perspective for the next three years is that the same you you're not going to answer my question yes that's
the same for every member of the public that we won't be answering questions as we go Like I said you're welcome to pose them and then Okay Well that's a shame know um that I can't get an answer Um if the district doesn't adopt the budget
because the state of New Jersey Department of Education has abdicated their responsibility Is there any penalty to the district i'm sorry I I guess that's a question again So there'll be no answer
Maybe I I should ask the last question because it's one that I'm confused about Are you voting for 3 million 8 million 10 million 13 million because I'm just standing in line figuring in the back of my
mind in my 40 years of work If it's $10 million to an average person that would be $250,000 a year in income that they'd have to
make before taxes obviously But the question is oh I'm sorry you're not answering questions Um I think that's kind of stupid that you're taking a cheap way out and not answering when I'm trying to say take a strategic
view and find out other districts and unify with them and press a legal issue with the state of New Jersey for not doing what they should be doing to fund a thorough and efficient education I think that's your best stance and to do
anything else is not right I'm sorry you won't answer any of my questions You were on the school board and didn't answer our questions either when you sat right there Ma'am Ma'am we did Okay This isn't a back and forth between the public So
let's move on You and the mayor were like this Uh Jason Lutz Um I'm a school bus driver I have the unique perspective of being both a driver and an aid I was an aid for whatever it was 10 10 years prior
but I've been in this district for 13 years and now I'm a driver And I've worked with all these drivers I've been around all these aids I'm glad that the aids are in the budget and they're being considered to be kept But the drivers need to be kept too because you can't
it's you get what you pay for It's just it's simple as that I worked at a private contractor You get what you pay for That's it We're the captain of the ship I mean granted yes the the aids do help a lot but ultimately I'm the
captain of the ship and there's no guarantees in life but I guarantee you that if they're on one of our buses with one of our drivers they will be as safe as possible Thank you Good job All right I didn't come prepared with anything so I just kind of jotted stuff
down into my phone So please excuse me for that Can you just tell us your name and Yes I will I'm Janita Shedeker I'm a bus driver here at Eve Sham Have been for 23 years With that being said I'm one of the four that they're talking about keeping So I'm not standing up here tonight for myself It's for my
co-workers for the the people of the community that work for you that have put time and effort into it So I wanted to say Dr Smith mentioned privatization is already working We strongly disagree with all the talk about how much
privatizing will save the district What the what is the contingency and what is the plan once the transportation employees are gone and they hike it up as it's been proven to be done in many other districts I would like to give each of the board members something to
read right here after after obviously um that proves that privatization does not work I would also like to add something since transportation department was told at the end of January that almost all the department would be losing their jobs It has affected the attendance in
our department extremely which affects the entire community or families students being picked up being late to school So that puts the teachers behind as well So that's that's a huge thing because a lot of the employees have worked here for years and been so uh
dedicated They have some of them have 160 sick days They're not going to get paid for all of them if they get paid for any of them at all So they're going to take off as they should because they put a lot of time and effort into being here So I just wanted to just say that
if you're going to look at it like oh well our department is costing a lot of money It sure is Look at just recently from I'd say 10 11 drivers being out We have to get Helmans to come in and cover That is a huge expense Huge We as the
drivers calculated and I think one week it was almost $38,000 for one week One week Imagine what that's going to cost the district once we're not here and Hillman's hikes it up Just saying Thank you so much for your
time Hello my name is Donna I started working here 10 years ago after my husband passed away I thought this would be help would help pass the time away But boy was I wrong This job became so
rewarding seeing how some children grew and progressed They look to see us every day Many wanting to tell you about their night weekends family questions etc If they see us at a local store which most
of us live in the town they run up and give us a hug Just last week Blung gave us a piece of his foria bush and asked us every day how it was
going Friday to take a picture showing how it would be growing Another left a sticky note saying how much she liked when I came back to the back of the bus and talked with her Plus asked that I never forget
her All of my children went to this school here Now my grandchildren go I have lived in for 47 years Watch the town grow Something's good some things not so good But I really would
like to stay and work here everywhere I have a special rapport with both parents and children We work as a team drivers aids parents and kids We know each We know each other and they
trust us with their children Please don't take this away Free some money to be found to keep transportation and let us continue to do our job Thank you Hi Wendy Beach I am a bus driver in Eve
Sham I'm also a resident of Marlton for 23 years Um you want to raise these taxes Um and and that's I I I don't have kids in the the schools anymore Um but I'm all for raising taxes for the kids
education but yet you know you want to kick me to the curb with my job in this township Um there's no rhyme or reason as to why you're getting rid of transportation We really haven't gotten a straight answer on that You keep saying it's about the money but yet
you're going to save the aids because it's more money to outsource How is it not more money to outsource the bus drivers as well it doesn't make any sense to me Um and and Janine explained it well that you know like these kids um we do this
for the kids We don't we don't do you know it's it's all about them their safety I I drove 16 years with a private company and I'll tell you you're not going to get the same service I will tell you that right now You will not get the same service Um I love working here
and uh you know it was great because my kids were in the schools so it worked out great for me Um but you know it's very heartbreaking that you know in in in an instant you somebody comes in uh gets hired in this township and all of a
sudden we're going you know it's just very heartbreaking Thank you Good afternoon My name is Michael Thompson and I'm a resident here in town and a business owner here in town And uh I would first like to thank the board for you guys for everything that you do I understand that this is a volunteer
position and that you guys do not get paid a dime to be here and spend your hard time uh to get beat up by us I would also like to thank all of the teachers and all of the staff for everything that you've done Uh I moved my daughter here many many years ago uh
to go to school because the schools here in Eastam were a 10 out of 10 My daughter is now a freshman at Rowan College So I thank you guys for everything that you've poured into her But as a business owner here in town I pay taxes twice as a resident and as a
business owner and I wouldn't mind paying taxes or um a bond to help the children and the teachers here in Eveam However I would like to do that for something where I see the vision or something where I see a plan Here I
don't see a plan I don't know if we're doing three million I don't know if we're doing seven I don't know if we're doing 10 I don't know if we're doing 15 I don't know what we're doing to be honest with you And I honestly don't think the border is pretty sure what they're doing That's why they have so many questions as well So if there was a
plan or something long-term that we were doing I have no problems or no qualms paying taxes twice in this town to help support our teachers our staff our bus drivers But what I see is us taking band-aids and spitting a band-aid on a
open gash that's need stitches right that's hemorrhaging blood that continually hemorrhaging blood every year year after year after year So if you raise my taxes $2,000 a year this year you're going to come back to me again next year and you're going to
raise me $300 or 400 Then you're going to come back to me the year after that and you're going to raise it another three or 400 I need to see a plan of what you're going to do with those taxes what they're going to do I need to see a plan I need to see action And this is
not unfortunately the board's problem This is a problem that our governor up in Trenton and Miss Katz who thought that S2 was going to be beneficial to everybody and help and support everybody It is not it will not and it has not We
need to take a stand And as this young lady here said when they were up in Trenton actually I think it was Tracy when they were up in Trenton there was only two or three people there We need everybody up in Trenton letting them know S2 is not working They need to find
a new way to help us One of the things or one of the principles that we go by in Rotary is is it fair to all concerned what I would ask Miss Katz and what I would ask Mr Murphy is is S2 fair to all concerned that we're here struggling in
Eve sham because you feel that we make enough that we can afford to pay for everybody else when they're spending $1.2 million in Trenton and we are losing money We've lost close to $10 million over the course of the last seven eight years Why is it fair to all
concerned i think not Thank you Hi Um my name is uh Kevin O'Brien Chateau Circle Um thank you for your time tonight and um the questions that each of you raised Um you could tell you know you're all invested in this and and
it does there have been a lot of good points uh brought up on both ends Um the state I don't think is ever going to change how they're funding That is a problem it is not your problem I don't want higher taxes Um but I don't ever
see a governor coming in saying we're going to fix this problem and fix how schools uh are funded Um so to that regard the funding formula needs to be uh revised but I don't see it happening anytime soon But I can say to some of the um cuts that would happen large
classroom sizes accompanied by what would be reduced supports is not going to work Um I have a perspective because I work um in a in a neighboring district So I see like you had said the revolving door of kids coming in again and again
and again um more kids with higher uh classroom numbers are going to need more help Then as a result of that um the extra positions such as the assistant principles the case manager to address
um the increasing special ed needs which are required by law There's no way they can get around timelines and such that they have to do um behaviorists to support uh the teachers um social worker counselor to support the teachers and the students the students that they are
trying to uh support those positions are required in my opinion in order to meet student needs adequately Um without that they cannot do the job that they're trying to do um every day Um the job of a teacher in the
last five years um I've been in my role in the district for 12 and it has changed exponentially in the last five years um becoming more difficult for variety of reasons um mental health and and others Um so not providing them
supports but not allowing them to uh do what the students need Um you stated about parents of non-verbal students and bus aids which is an absolutely um excellent point Um it does go for drivers as well Um drivers who've done the job for multiple years They learn
how to support students with special needs Um in some instances that will make or break that student's day um more so than even a gened student but in both regards But I can tell you that students day can be ruined before they even step foot on on campus um by how a driver or
an aid will be Um I don't know if there's any consideration for their positions but I wanted that point to be said And the last is the tax increase is absolutely large That's no question Um it's not my fault or my children but I'd rather right now try to find a way to make it work and give them a chance than
the other options of other cuts because to do them doesn't seem an acceptable option in my uh opinion Thank you Hi my name is Shane Herman I just want to um point out a few things here I just want to thank the teachers the bus drivers the aids You all do an amazing
job as well And also to the ball I know you guys um continuously try to reinvent me find the best solution but unfortunately there isn't a perfect solution But one question I want to ask I know you guys are probably not going
to give an answer Do you believe taxing the the tongue or the residents of this tongue is going to be a solution um putting a burden on the tongue again as taxpayers You know there are families in this town that has a um on a fixed
income There are people who are struggling just to make ends meet and then ask them to continue to pay uh more taxes I don't think it's fair again the next thing is that um asking for more money to for positions while decrease
eliminating other position How is that even equitable of or as well the other thing is um the S2 formula doesn't work Elections have results If you guys make a wrong
decision people in the town will remember that you guys are all elected You should consider making the right decision What's right for the community and for the taxpayers as well I have lived here not for long time but I love the town I came here because of the
school system I want to preserve the school system I want I want to be to um preserve the property value What can we do to make that i think continue to make the right decisions as well We'll continue to do that Um again we can go
to Trenton I mean as as one of my other um person said here is that let's all go to Trenton and advocate say to Trenton that S2 formula doesn't work We should be able to to advocate for that and have
a better solution as well The next point I want to make is um raising taxes as well as as a taxpayer You know I just don't think how could that benefit us as well I do understand the teachers and the bus aids
and the and the bus drivers as well that you know we need to preserve as much as we can But again how much how much how much are you asking for if you get all what you're asking for today what is to prevent you coming next
year and asking for more the future is not certain Take as much as you need but don't take everything and say "Oh I don't want to come back here next year." I get it You know trying to figure out what to do today and not know what's
tomorrow is probably seems ideal but take as much as you need as as well But understand that tomorrow is not also guaranteed Thank you So my name is Magda I'm a bus driver So I just wanted to start with thanking all
my co-workers all the teachers because I feel like pretty much it was brushed off like what did you speak about bus drivers for two like a millisecond like it doesn't matter like these kids need buses So let me start since I got what two and a half minutes out of the two
hours that you guys spoke But I've worked with a lot of private companies and I left those jobs because I was paid to not care for kids I was paid to rush and to treat kids how you guys treat kids seeing them as a number which is
pretty much what was done here today Not by all of you but but pretty much I know that you guys know that as well because I drive to his two kids and he moved Earth to get those two kids on a Eve Sham bus So I know that you guys know
what the difference is between like the example that they were on a Hillman's bus and a Eve Sham bus You guys know the difference though They don't care about the kids and you guys know that And it's a shame that all you care about is numbers
You should feel embarrassed Hello everyone My name is Teresa I'm also a bus driver and I would like to speak because think again I want to thank everybody the bus drivers the teachers the teachers You guys are all great Thank you for your service Um but
yeah when I came here I'm actually new as a bus driver to this company and you guys sold me the idea that I was coming to this great place which it is And I'm thankful But now well in January I was informed hey you don't have a job pretty
much That's where we're heading at right and I feel some type of way because I as well worked for those companies that you guys may go to And I tell you right now there's no respon I I being honest the way I care for the kids
here because I didn't I I love the kids that I drive on my bus I love getting to know their names I love getting to know the parents caring about no bullying but working for those companies is not about the kids I I mean for me it is because I got to make sure that I mean everybody's
safety is important to me but end of the day is we're going to more than one one district You understand that right you're not the only district that I have to worry about I'm going to this district the other district and I'm in a time frame I'm I'm like okay I got to get to this school next school next school If a kid comes up to me oh I'm
bullying I'm like I'm I'm sorry Got to keep moving Oh you know there's accidents where these drivers don't care because they might leave your kid at a random bus stop Hey I don't I'm sorry I don't know you by name I don't know really where you stopped I was just told that you're near here Go to the next one
And I feel like that you're going to get a lot of parents in the future upset knowing that their kids they're not feeling safe on their bus The driver don't care you know um being dropped off maybe two blocks three blocks away from my house I'm feeling I feel I came here
because I wanted to I wanted my effort to be respected I felt that that's what I was getting here with the rest of my bus um co-workers that me caring so much for these parents kids putting the effort of getting to know each child name making sure they get home safe and
not worrying about the business side of it like oh I'm only here to make the company money and then you're talking about oh we're going to save so much money if we cut the bus drivers for what for one year maybe then when then what and then you're thinking about oh you know I'm I'm pretty sure it's because
you guys don't want to pay us for health benefits or anything right yeah I'm pretty sure that's another way of saving money right another thing oh wait maintenance on the buses stuff like that Where do you think they're going to get the money the other company for maintenance they're just going to upcharge you to for their bus service
for their bus maintenance It's going to come out somehow You guys might save money for one year and then what what's going to happen next year and the year after that when it comes to this your budgets are going to have to go up Where are you going to get the money you're going to do the same thing you're paying for us now You're going to pay for
another company So why not keep us that care about your kids and care about this n everybody's kids here i'm just saying thank you everyone Have a great night Hi my name is Lorie Stewart I'm a bus aid Um I'm glad to hear that you may
be keeping us but I don't know if that's true or false Um I'm here to represent my co-workers the bus aids and the drivers Um I've been a resident of Eve Sham for a little over two years I also
have extended family in Eve Sham Township for over 30 years I grew up coming to Eve Sham on the weekends as a child Two cousins of mine graduated from Cherokee High School My daughter has attended Jagard Elementary is now attending Marlton Middle School as a sixth grader
I've had the opportunity to work for Eve Sham Township Transportation coming up on a year in this past March My position is a bus aid I was skeptical at first when taking the position and came to find out how challenging my job can be
In this short amount of time working here I've learned to love my job due to the fact that I have met so many amazing children On top of that I've gotten to understand and learn about children with special needs I also work as a lunch aid as well for Marlton Elementary School
It's great to see my kids smile when they see me on and off the bus That definitely makes my days that much brighter and better and does for them too So at this point in my career for Eve Township Transportation I was originally told that my position was
coming to an end I had a plan to continue working for the township as long as I possibly could and maybe have the opportunity to move up in the department or departments if it were presented to me Due to the fact that the township may outsource a transportation department would be catastrophic for
children that ride the bus especially special needs children in which I work with every day These children need one-on-one attention for them to feel comfortable during the bus ride to and from school So by outsource so by outsourcing transportation the downfall
would be school bus routes would be combined causing the buses to be overloaded as well They will most likely not have the opportunity to have a bus aid on the bus every day or even at all These children and their parents especially special needs are going to
suffer in this decision is made Stop looking at these children as a number percentage or dollar amounts Emphasize on the matter at hand This now will fall onto the children that truly need us throughout their school days and years Many senior
drivers and aids that have dedicated their livelihood for many years will be losing their jobs causing them to lose their pensions and health insurance and which they desperately need I enjoy my job every day I like seeing the children grow every day I've had the opportunity
to grow a bond with my kids and teach them respectfulness and responsibilities of riding on the bus I've even had some of the kids call me mom In this letter I've expressed my deepest concerns for the decisions that may be made So I hope
by saying this letter you guys make a great decision I'm back again My name is Shalica Um bus drivers teachers thank you guys for what you guys do Bus drivers thank you for
what you guys do I'm going to thank them before I thank you guys because again these kids are not numbers They're not dollar signs They are our children I'm going to have my son stand up Stand up That kid right there has phological
disorder You're gonna basically add 35 kids to a class like his that's in a LD program You think he's going to get the help that he needs having funological disorder go ahead and Google what phological disorder is and see how much help that
he actually needs in his classroom by asking his secondary teacher for the help opposed to her saying "Hold on I can't help you Sit down." Opposed to saying "Hold on I can't help you because I have 20 other kids I have to help."
Right there is safety codes There are a lot of other things that go about that Um you're probably tired of hearing me talk but I'm tired of looking at you at this point because it's every single time I have to look over like a broken record And it's it's sad to me because
you guys all have kids If you guys didn't have the position you guys have now would you guys be okay with everything going on in this district don't answer it You don't answer questions Um when it comes to bus driving thank you personally for what
you do If he's not here on a day my son waits at the door If he doesn't see his bus driver he doesn't get on that bus Why today I had a bus driver skip his bus stop but come around and say "Hey do
you need a bus this is not a taxi I don't I didn't call for a Uber right?" So I said "Hey what kid are you looking for?" She looks at her book and says "Hm I'm sorry I don't know the kid's name this is not my route Do you think
outsourcing is is perfect at this point if they don't know the routes they don't know the kids They don't know who they're picking up This man goes above and beyond what he does He waits within the one or two minutes not open close the door You said a little while ago
that you have um workers that worked about 15 to 22 years These bus drivers has worked 30 plus years and they deserve to stay Not only that but if you are thinking about getting rid of them how about pay them out their their hours
that they have that they earned that they worked for They didn't work for free They didn't just come here to sit on their ass and say "I'm just going to collect a paycheck." They care about our kids the same way these teachers care about our kids when they have to realize that there's more kids in the classroom
now that they can't help But mind you these are also parents that have to go home and help their own kids with work and they can't get a lot of stuff done in the meantime So think about it before you make a decision that you're going to regret because in a couple of years maybe a year or two you probably like
"Damn I should have never made that decision." My name is John Rule I live at 6 Yorkshire Court I understand the students and the teachers not wanting any cuts It makes sense But we also have to realize from the taxpayers point of view The only two that have made
comments tonight on this entire board that I can see that have common sense in this are Aiden and Tracy I understand we have to have increases No one here expects our taxes to drop We know they're going to go up somewhat For you
as a board to on such short notice vote to increase my taxes by $2,000 a year is unconscionable There is no way that can be justified especially on this short notice At the last board meeting we
talked about all the possible cuts we can make There was nothing talked about about having a sizable tax increase That wasn't a dis discussion That was a point of discussion Now tonight it seems to me like from what I can see you're going to
vote to 100% approve a $15 million increase which is going to cost me dearly and everyone else here I understand we have to have some increase but to vote complain That means all the work you've
done in the past to try to see where we could cut where we could tighten our belt what we really don't need and still maintain the level of education we should have To just ignore all that work you've done is wrong And that just takes
you off the hook That's a a poor phrase but it does It takes you off the hook You took a lot of ball last time from the the cuts that were going to be made There was a lot of pressure on you They were asking for resignations They were asking for just resign That was that
that's not good No one wants that But now you're going to just say "Oh the hell with it." Trenton says we can improve 15 million Hey let's do it We're off the hook and we'll worry about it next time That's bull And I think everyone here knows that's bull Okay let's stand up and be reasonable about
this and agree to some but don't agree to the whole thing just because it's available What if they said you could raise it 30 million would we say "Oh okay Now we're in great shape We can add more admins We can add more superintendent We can add add because we
have the money." That's not what this is all about This is about responsibility as taxpayers as board of education members as citizens as students as staff teachers everyone We have to be responsible We have to use common sense
And I don't see it being done if we vote everything It was okay just to pass everything because it's there and we can take it Yeah we can take it And we can all pay for it too Thank you Hi Donna Rose Nero I am in the
transportation department I've been a driver here for close to 19 years This is the third time I'm going through this as a driver trying to save jobs that nobody really seems to care about My real question here is has anyone been
told on that board how much it's going to cost to privatize us because we have never gone through this and not had a comparison as to what you're going to save versus what you're going to spend We were told you were told $800,000 you were going to save That was before the
AIDS Now it's about $450 Hillman's could cost you a million and a half You have no idea And you were asked to vote on this Okay Something is wrong There's a problem with management starts at the
top with our department We have runs where we have drivers doing one school They pick up children in one school and it's maybe five or six kids That's a problem Runs need to be condensed Runs need to be combined That's all money to
be saved I've done it before 12 more than 12 years ago I did it personally by hand We saved thousands and thousands of dollars Nobody looks at this Nobody's looking at it because the easiest way is just get rid of us because nobody knows
how to run our department right now That's what you're paying for Okay I have some quotes from a meeting with Mr Physicaro and Mr Smith and actually I
believe that Mrs Null was involved in that too back in 2020 when you were going back to school on COVID Yes you were And I was there with you Mr Physicero The transportation contract is
appalling This was with Hillman's is appalling and I am so not happy This is a time where we should come together not rip each other off Speaking of Hillman's for this contractor to be raising costs
at a time when no one should be raising cost is ghastly and inhumane them deciding to jack up their rates is going to cost people here for more than just a few dollars and ultimately affect
the kids The problem I have is once they grip you so tight they just squeeze you to death So my charge to this district down the road is that we need to end
privatization Dr Smith he gave a little spiel and you said "Bring it all back in house right bring it all back in house." And he said "Yes that is what we need to do because they wrap their tentacles around you and squeeze you to death
after they get a hold of you." That's my comments My last one is one of our aids rode with a Hillman's driver this week She was appalled when the driver said "I hate these effing kids." That's your
Hilman's drivers I'm uh Jason Hoy Cambridge Park Lived here for 11 years I have three kids that go to Deacy getting a phenomenal education uh learned the reading recovery program existed this spring and it's phenomenal that it does Um I know
that a couple months ago that was discussed as a possible efficiency to cut Um luckily it wasn't I I just take some issue with some of the language being used like efficiency for getting rid of PAR's health benefits efficiency for cutting
interventionists Whe whether we have an undue burden the kids have an undue burden We have the burden Like the our the burden is us is the adults The the kids aren't going to fix the heat pumps The kids aren't going to replace the roof We have the burden We can argue the
state has the burden But if we can't get the state to carry the burden we carry the burden And and there's a lot of talk about letting people off the hook We are on the hook If we don't do this the kids are on the hook and we just need to take responsibility for ourselves as adults in this room and realize that if we
don't do this the kids ultimately suffer and we have no one to blame but ourselves But that's it for me Thank you Good evening Donna Dances I'm a Marlton resident to Paddock Road also a teacher here at Marlton Middle School I spoke last time when we had the the budget
cuts presented to us and in my speech I remember saying let's instead of making class sizes larger let's make them smaller Let's make our school better Let's let's have a team working together to help our kids I think I even
mentioned like guidance counselors working together social workers It's like a dream come true in this new presentation It's exactly what I had said It's exactly what we need What we need Board members I sent you an email yesterday I know you guys didn't all have time to read it Mr Pilman thank you
for your response In my email I talked about how the middle school child in particular is such a vulnerable and impressional um you know individual and how um our children their education their safety their ever growing um
social emotional needs in our current society is what needs to help guide your decision And I feel like this is our moment this is what's going to be the the the the way out of a terrible situation As a tax payer my husband and
I were discussing We already pay a lot but we want to when we are ready to sell because yes I'm one of those old teachers that are close to retirement that you want out but I'm still here Um and anyway I'm sorry When we do sell our house we want our property value to be
just as good as the house that just sold across the street from me for a phenomenal amount of money People are still moving to our towns Why because we have great schools because we have great bus drivers because we have great administration And yes we would definitely benefit from having more
administration in the elementary schools Have you ever been in the halls have you ever been in their lunchroom these um these students are very needy The more support we can give them in any way in this day of time is definitely needed
and appreciated Thank you for your time Good evening My name is David Knot I'm 64 years old I've lived in EAM for 64 years And I think there's uh you might have been misled
about our school bus drivers and our aids that they abuse sick time they ever use sick time Okay Recently I attended an involuntary meeting with the superintendent Mr Yates And it came up
oh you know you guys use you know so much time it's ridiculous And um I forget the exact words I don't know any of you have been school bus drivers or aids but let me tell you something The kids come on the
bus and we love them and like the other bus drivers and aids have stated but they're kids They walk up the steps they sneeze on us They cough on us They sit behind us and cough and sneeze
okay they leave all kinds of stuff on the buses Then we have to pick it up We pick up so many colds and viruses Yeah we stay home We get sick Do you not think Hillman's or First
Student or Hulcom has the same problem so if that's one of the thoughts that were put in your head that oh well Hillman is covering two twothirds of the town already Might as well just sweep the other third out because they abuse
sick time They're always out Blah blah blah Well think again And one other thing is and I brought this to the attention of Dr Smith and I brought this to the
attention of I think our third transportation coordinator in a matter of what a year I witnessed a Hillman's driver the same
one hit an Esham bus in front of Vanzant School I witnessed that same Hilman's driver hit my bus in front of Vanzant School Again that same Hillman's driver
drove up onto the sidewalk in front of Vanzan School at dismissal Fortunately there was nobody right there but there was children and adults had to run out of the way I brought it to the attention of
the transportation coordinator And that driver will never drive in EAM again That driver is still driving in EAM Okay That's the kind of service you're going to get
Thank you Hi Uh my name is Maniski I am a teacher at Marlton Middle School um and just had to get up and speak because I couldn't really shake the thought of everyone who I heard in front of me and at the mic tonight who just kept saying
like "But what about in two years what about in five years is this a guarantee?" We all know there's no guarantees All of you in front of me know there's no guarantees And maybe this is a band-aid although I'm really coming to hate that phrase But in all
honesty if you cut yourself with a knife in the kitchen do you not take the band-aid and apply pressure until you get to the ER to get stitches like we have to do this right we have to do this because it's what's best for the students here I'm one of those middle-of
the road teachers okay i've been here for 12 years only 34 34 years young hopefully most of us think Um and yeah right And I'm tier five So like I still legitimately have almost 30 years to go
And I want to be teaching in a place where kids want to be Teachers want to be that has resources that has teachers that want to be here That has kids who have access to small class sizes right
books that they need supplies that they need I said at the last meeting that Esham truly was my dream job A student taught in this district 13 years ago right across the street at Marlton Elementary School I did 10 weeks in a
fourth grade classroom and I did my other six weeks in one of our SPS classrooms And the teachers here were so good My dream was to come back and work in one of those SPS classrooms Then Mr Hoffman saw me and somehow knew that I
was destined to be in the eighth grade a place I never thought I would be EAM saw my potential I want to stay here and I want to be able to see the potential in the kids every day If we don't take this opportunity to the fullest extent possible and Dr Smith thank you for
presenting that tonight Thank you That will not be something we can do in the future Please please take advantage of the opportunity we have in front of us We're not going to get it again Thank you Seeing no other public comments we will
close that portion of the meeting Moving to item 6.1 we need a motion to approve item 6.1 the additional expenditures and tax levy incentive aid Do we have a motion motion by Mr Thompson seconded by Miss Bramitz Any questions or comments from
the board seeing Anish can you clarify again what were exactly because you were talking about bucket one two and three So what am I voting for yeah So Mr Yates and and Miss Gford tell me if if we should do something different I believe we should
vote either yes or no If you are voting yes please indicate all or some If the alls have it we are done If they if the sums have it then we will have a followup line by line Yeah So I think I think the best way to do it is
um vote yes or no Indicate if you're all or some If the alls have it we're done If the alls do not have it then I think we need an additional motion to direct Mr creates to um build the budget
with the additional money at an amount to be determined and then we can have that discussion That's probably the best way to do it Mr Yates roll call please Roll call Item six application
submission Mr Brown yes all Miss Moitz yes All Mr Dearcy Yes some
Ms Fox Yes some Mrs Null Yes some Mr Thompson Yes All Mr Peeleman Yes All Mr Bach Yes All
Mr Conton Yes All the motion carries Thank you Mr Yates Any other questions or comments from the board i have a comment and I'm going to apologize to everyone here because it
doesn't really apply to you guys but I just wanted to bring something up that happened after the last meeting and this one was a lot less acrimonious But everyone on this board is on this board because we thought we could make things
better and we wanted to make a difference And I was extremely disheartened after the last meeting to see some of the comments online calling board members trash
um calling them god knows what because we have been here every year that I've been on the board in the same place and the people come out and they yell at us and this election we had two people on
the ballot one of them an incumbent There was only one other person that sat through all of the budget talks last year and said "You know what i'm going to get up and make a difference." until we had two other writins You need a board whether you
want us on it or someone else someone needs to be up here And when people are looking at what you're saying for people that are really in an impossible position who in their right mind would
come up and run for this on a personal note I cut a birthday trip at my daughter's college short to get back here for that last meeting I left Syracuse at 2:30 dropped my mom at home
and came straight here because I knew what an important meeting it was I woke up the next day and I get to see Tracy Fox is disgusting She is appalling for voting yes from some strange man on the
internet I'm not even going to touch the misogyny of the fact that four other male voters did not get those comments but I have some weird guy talking about my body language while I sat here
looking at every one of you that spoke and taking notes and going back to the administration and asking them for further clarification on things so I could vote knowing what was important to everyone And I think while we're sitting
here talking about what's best for children we need to think about the example we're setting for them with our behavior Thank you Miss Fox Any other questions or comments from the board mr Pelman I just wanted to add one other thing in that this was an unusual board meeting
in that we did most of our deliberations in public today everything that we were allowed to do And I just really appreciated that we were able to do it this way Um I think it's helpful for the public to see how the board deliberates that everyone is fully invested in the conversations that we're having and
trying to come up with answers and that everyone has questions about the process So I just wanted to thank everyone for doing it this way Mr Brock um I just want to say I'm not one for talking a lot I know that Um but I wanted to make it clear that the fight
is not over This is not a band-aid This is an attempt to fix things It sucks It's going to impact me It's going to impact everybody Not you know the ideal way to do this But at the same time we can't
have the schools crumbling and expect you know things to get better when we know the state is not going to do it However it doesn't stop here I I've asked for years that everybody continue
to hound the state Make it loud Make it known This is why we were in this situation And I want to see you know my the one thing I said you know cuz I'm not running next year Don't worry you guys
got me out The um but I wanted to make you know my only legacy is that the next board after you know I'm gone doesn't have to worry about this That there there's not a huge upheaval in you know
the crowd and everything yelling at everybody to you know try and get stuff done We need to start focusing on the other things that matter We've been so hyperfocused on budget issues and the trauma of that that we're not doing things like really focusing on you know
test scores and the reading program and things like that and really supporting you know the teachers with you know what they need to get that stuff done That is what I want to see happen next year And you know while I'm not going to be in this seat because my wife
will divorce me if I run again I will be on the other side supporting the board and supporting the teachers for that Especially learning what I've learned in three years of doing this There's a lot there's a lot that you know um the public isn't privy
to There's a lot that you know people don't understand about what we you know do up here and what we talk about up here Um but please don't think for a second that anybody up here doesn't care about kids or that you know doesn't want to be here for you know the right
reasons Every one of us even though we have differing opinions we're a board of nine We have different opinions We have different ways of going about things We have different ways of you know just performing you know for people Please don't think that anybody
up here hates your kids or anything like that I have a kid in the district We love all the kids and that's why we're here and that's why we're making these choices to try and do what's best for everything in town So but please do not just be satisfied with you know the win
of we're restoring a bunch of stuff and ignore advocating for the state That needs to continue because there's going to be changes We don't know what's coming down the line Don't stop it I will be with you next year with that Don't worry Can I can I add something i want to say
that um the board voted to increase to the $18 million the full amount 18 million is there not enough to keep transportation in house
uh we we we talked about you know we talked about the increased um absences Well when you go to a department in January and you tell them they're going to be outsourced and they're only going to get $15 per day if that's the right value
um for all the sick days they've acred what do you think they're going to do anyway um enough that you'll fire them Okay So anyway I'm just saying that uh I I lost my train of thought but my my point is
for $18 million you know you could keep this inhouse You don't just outsource something you know because there are challenges It's challenging to run a school district And I'll leave it at that Any other questions or comments from the
board i will leave it with I would like to applaud um the Senate of New Jersey for Senate Bill number two They were clearly right in S2 in the sense that they told us that our taxpayers could afford more They told us that the state was giving
us too much money and today we proved them right by taking an additional $18 million and I did as well by voting for the same Four years in a row when we were complaining that S2 was decimating our school district Four years in a row the only two people who showed up in Trenton were myself and Dr Smith for
four years This year I think how many people do we have this year four Uh combination of five Five Almost more than doubled our turnout Fantastic I hope for the next crisis that it takes more than four years to get more than two people to show up to advocate in
Trenton Motion to adjurnn Motion by Mr Dearcy Seconded by Mr Thompson All in favor