Just So much warmer back there. >> Nikki, I heard you guys had a very fun day. said you had a very fun day today. >> Thank you. >> It'll stay open, right? >> Yeah. unlocked yet.
>> Unlock. >> That's awesome. >> That's why >> that's why that's why I asked that >> we'll be done. >> No, now it's done. >> All right. Good evening everyone. The public has been duly informed of this
meeting in accordance with chapter 231 of the public laws of 1975 by posting at least 48 hours in advance a notice on the bulletin boards in Stevenson and Churchill schools, a notice to the township clerk, and a notice to the Herald News and the progress. Now,
please join us for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
>> The board president's report. I just want to thank all of the students um from the choir that attended the winter wonderland on the 13th. They did a great job. They really did and it was great to see all of them out there and the parents that came out to support them. It was probably the best turnout that
we've had thus far and we really appreciate I I even seen a couple teachers that came by obviously Mr. Gupta uh other board members. Thank you very much. Uh I'll pass it along to Mr. Gupta for the superintendent report. >> Sure. I just want to focus on one of the
items you might see. One of the items on tonight's agenda is to approve the retirement of Dr. uh Tributoo. Um he'll be finishing off the school year. Um so we'll have plenty of time to honor and embarrass him before he rides off into the sunset. He's leaving a lasting legacy. I've only been blessed to know him for the last couple
years, but um he'll be dearly missed by staff and his uh 22 years of dedication. Having said that, we will do everything we can to find the best possible candidate to follow in his very large footsteps. I'll be putting together a committee right away after the break. We'll be seeking input from students,
staff, and parents. So stay tuned for that for more information as we get underway with the principal search right after the break. Also after the break, we will be honoring our Cardinals and Bulldogs of the month at our regular January and February board meetings. So parents can expect to receive invitations as those dates approach.
And then um I just want to wish everyone a blessed and peaceful holiday season and I'll see most of you in 2026. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. Uh in committee reports, just one report uh in regards to buildings and grounds. Joe, if you don't mind, I'll just turn it over to
Wally. Wally, could you just let us know where we stand with our long range uh facility plan? >> Sure. Uh the architect should have that plan available um I'd say by the second week of July and we'll be able to do a walkthrough with the facilities committee and address the needs of this
of the district. At that time, there will also be a cost assigned to that plan. And so we'll get an idea of what we really need to put into uh the facilities of our district. >> So we'll have a better understanding possibly for the January but most yeah not the reorgan January but the uh the regular January meeting. >> Fantastic. Thank you very much. Public
comments on agenda items. Anyone have anything on agenda items? Please state your name and address for the record. >> Hello Dayton Pierce 17 Foxhell Road. Good evening everyone. How we doing? Um, this may Wally, you may have hit that in
my first one, which would be 6F. So, is that the 5-year long range facility plan? That's what you were just referencing. Okay. So, the scope of services for the 8,000 is for them to conduct the study, get back to you, and then you guys either accept the recommend file a plan with the state. >> Okay. Thank you.
Um, in 5CO, great. Sounds like a great program with the cooperative partnership. uh just understanding is there a costbenefit analysis that was done like what do we get in cost savings by entering into this agreement? My next question tales into the vendor that was selected looked
like it came from this but can you kind of walk us through um you know what precipated joining this agreement and what the benefit to the district is by doing this? >> Sure. There's no cost to join um a cooperative. It gives us the opportunity to to pick vendors that we may not um be able to use in some of the cooperatives
we have. Uh the vendor that we were um soliciting was a vendor that I've used in the past, provided great services and uh utilized throughout the state. Um it also makes uh takes the work out of doing the bidding process because the cooperative has done that for you. Um so we got a quality contractor at a good
rate at at an easier uh procurement process. >> Great. And then just kind of d Thank you while dubtailing into that. So obviously you guys solicited two bids. It's three bids aren't required by law. Okay. Just wanted to make sure because guess the private world's a little more strict in that regard. Um 1G, uh just curious,
>> you weren't required to solicit the bid, but I did so just to see if the cooperative price was going to be uh sufficient or good. >> Sure. >> And it this kind of proved that the cooperative price was better than uh someone that wasn't in a cooperative. >> Sure. No, that makes sense. So that's implied. Thank you. Um and 1G saw you
guys are approving Fairfield Education Foundation monies, I guess, for items um requested by Mr. Group. Just curious again that's an outside board agency so just you know procedurally trying to understand why that's on for approval with you guys you know still new to the process so forgive my ignorance.
>> Oh we just like to to make it aware that the HSA is donated. It's like a grant to us. Sure. >> That way the board um is aware of it and the public's aware that we do get money from outside agencies and uh you know just to have it as a resolution. >> Okay great. And then in 2G you guys are going for a grant. What are their
proposed scope of services? Is that part of the 5-year long range plan? Can you comment on that at all? >> No, this would be similar to the project that was done over at Stevenson where we did the playground. So, it's a recreation improvement grant. So, we're looking to try to do the same thing over at uh Church Hill. >> Okay, great. Um, thank you. That's all I
have, guys. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Pierce. Anyone else? Public comments on agenda items? >> Sure. State your name for the record. >> Tracy Ripa, Five Scott Drive. Um, I noticed that there's a lot of uh
approvals for third-party vendors for the special education stuff and I understand why because we are down employees. Are we still posting those jobs though and trying to fill them or are we just going the third party route? >> No, we've posted for all the positions we're posting now. We're advertising
now. We've advertised for the ballot question positions. Every position we have open, we've advertised for um when there's no candidates, no applications. Obviously >> literally getting no candidates and no applications for these roles. >> Zero. Nobody wants to come work in this great town
>> with qualifications. Yes, >> we do some get creative applications. >> Yeah. >> I was going to ask. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> So, so these are just temporary then until we can find the wonderful people who want to come work here. >> State of New Jersey is all after the
same group of people. >> Okay. >> Yep. >> All right. Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Thank you, Tracy. Anyone else? Public comments on agenda items only. All right, with that being said, we'll move on.
The following finance motions are made at the recommendation of the superintendent of schools. Anything placed in this agenda, items 1 through six, will be voted upon in one motion. I so move. >> Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Roll.
>> Yes. >> Mr. Py, >> yes. >> Mr. Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> The following contract motions are made at the recommendation of the superintendent of school. Anything placed on this agenda items 1 through
six will be voted upon in one motion. I so move. >> May I have a second? >> Second >> roll. >> Mandoli. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> M. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Mr. Deep. >> Yes. The following grant motions are made at
the recommendation of the following of the superintendent of schools. Anything placed on this agenda items one through two will be voted upon in one motion. I so move. >> May I have a second? >> Second. >> Roll. >> Miss. >> Yes. >> Mr. >> Yes. >> Miss.
>> Yes. >> Miss Al. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> The following buildings and ground motions is made upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools. Anything placed in this agenda items one will be voted upon in one motion. I so move.
>> Have a second. >> Second. >> Roll. >> Mr. >> Yes. >> Mr. >> Yes. >> M. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> The following personnel motions are made at the recommendation of the superintendent of schools. Anything
placed on this agenda items 1 through 10 will be voted upon in one motion. I so move. >> Have a second. >> Second. Roll call. >> Miss Chandoli, >> yes. >> Mr. >> Yes. >> Miss, >> yes. >> Yes.
>> Yes. >> The following curriculum program motion is made at the recommendation of the superintendent of schools. Anything placed on this agenda, item one, will be voted upon in one motion. I so move. >> Second. >> Second. >> Roll call.
>> Miss Shandori. >> Yes. >> Mr. Py, >> yes. >> Miss, >> yes. >> Miss Alai, >> yes. Yes. >> Right. Thank you all for that. Right now, we'd like to open up the floor for public comments on non-aggenda items.
Anyone? >> You guys got anything? >> Yes, it's me. >> Hey guys. Uh just wanted to see, you know, while we have you on the record if we could get an explanation on the date and time change for this evening from Thursday's meeting. Um obviously move to the week of Christmas and working hours
a little tough for some folks. So just curious why >> so so absolutely uh one of our board members was unavailable to attend. Okay. >> And we really like to have a full panel up here. So with that being said, believe me, it's a big of an inconvenience for us as it is all of you
know the community members as well. Uh so I share in your sentiments. We rarely uh like to move the meetings, but we really felt it was necessary that everyone was here to attend. >> Sure. No, I appreciate the explanation. It's just again I'm this is my third meeting, right? So, I'm an outsider, but
it looks like 20% of the meetings this year were rescheduled. Uh, last month was during the parent teacher conference than this. It certainly seems like maybe there's a strategy this board's using to, you know, not have public input. So, just curious if that's the case or not. >> Well, just uh to clarify on that, I'd like to tell you uh like you said,
you're new to this board. Sure. So, I've been on the board now for four years going on five. Um, outside of conflict, we never have more than 11 people in the room. So I could assure you that the board's not using using any strategy to misdirect our communication with the
general public. In fact, we're all available via email 247. The agenda is published in advance purposely for that. >> Sure. >> So when things are moved, it's because we're although we are elected officials, we're also volunteers. Sure. So we have lives as well outside of the board of
education and sometimes there's conflicts. Um I'm not sure if you're aware but if you don't have a particular amount of board members you don't have a quorum. Therefore the meeting you know cannot take place. So unfortunately with busy time of year having kids
illnesses it's it sometimes it's difficult but for the most part I uh I we're pretty strategic on when our board meetings are and we're extremely accessible. >> Okay. Well, I appreciate it, but to your point, I am new and out of the last three, two of them haven't gone well in
my opinion in that regard. So, it's it's question. >> It's a it's a great question. Um, >> they are scheduled a year in advance. >> They are scheduled for the whole advance. >> Okay. But we were also here a month ago. We reported a date and then I get that things happen. That's understandable. But again, respectfully for my position,
we had a conflict with parent teacher conference, a packed agenda with a lot of dollars spent. Two people were in the room, myself, one of them. Again, tonight we have a sudden schedule change. There's five people in the room and I appreciate the explanation. Again, I'm still getting up to speed here, but you know, it's just a question that I felt was warranted as we end the year
and look to start 26 strong together as a community. >> Yeah. No, thank you. We appreciate it. >> Absolutely. Thank you guys for your time. Happy holidays. >> Likewise. >> And just to respond on that, I I take some I take responsibility for that because obviously the parent teacher conferences, there are dates and guidelines that we are forced to abide
by. um whether it's when the marking period ends, so when the best time is to have teacher conferences, when things need to be board approved, we do our best to avoid all of that. And like uh Mr. D. Pascal said, transparency. You can approach me anytime, you can call me
anytime, you can email me anytime. We have nothing to hide. If we could pack this place every night, I volunteer to attend any and every event and be available for questions during a soccer game, football game, whatever event you can ask me about anything. So trust me,
we do not move, adjust, anything to avoid people. We try to get as many people here as we possibly can every meeting. >> And we also do our our uh our best to have it here, Mr. Pierce, as opposed to in years past when um we've run into conflict, we have it at the school
sometimes. And it's just it's not the same environment. Sometimes we have problems with the audio. So unfortunately when we do have to reschedu we have to reach out to the municipality our town clerk find out when this meeting room is not being utilized. So sometimes we we find
ourselves in a situation like this where we had to cancel and it was I believe it was tonight or tomorrow night and we were I guess getting pretty close on the you know on on the 23rd. So we apologize for that. No >> I appreciate the explanation. Anyone
else comments, non-aggenda items? All right, with that being said, the board would like to wish everyone merry Christmas, happy holidays, a happy and safe new year. Be it resolved, the next meeting will be held in person on January 8th. Public work session
beginning at 6 p.m. followed by executive session with public session resuming at approximately 7:30 at the Fairfield Municipal Building. Please keep in mind that is our reorganization meeting on the 8th. So it's not a typical board meeting. It's where the
board comes and reorganizes its positions if for those positions that are going to change. The board that you see here will be serving you in 2026 as well. So thank you all very much. I have a motion for adjournment. >> Motion. All >> in favor? I.
>> Thank you very much. Have a great night everyone.