To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all again we have two sided things
Okay. Okay. I just want to make sure this is what I'm reading because it's a regular meeting. Okay. Okay. >> Sorry. The New Jersey Open Public Meetings law was enacted to ensure the
right of the public to have advanced notice and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon. In accordance with the provision of the act, the board of education has caused notice of this
meeting to be published on February 18th, 2026, posted on the district's website, www.f flbboe.com published in the board's designated online media outlet newspapers
the record and the ledger filed with the clerks of the bureau of courtly and mailed to all persons if any who have requested said notice. Please be advised that this meeting is being recorded and may be broadcasted on local TV and
online at a future date. The Open Public Meeting Act allows for participation at board meetings and defines meetings as any gathering, whether corporal or by means of communication equipment, which is attended by or open to all of the
members of a public body, held with the intent on the part of the members of the body present to discuss or act as a unit upon the specific public business of that Roll call, please.
>> Miss Buyers Kang is absent. Miss Curry >> here. >> Mr. Goslin >> here. >> Miss Cotang is absent. Mr. Lopez >> here. >> Mr. McTieran >> here. >> Miss Perez >> here. >> Miss Recctor
>> here. Miss Morell >> here. >> The board will be convening to executive session to discuss legal personnel and other confidential matters. The board will reconvene into public session at approximately 7:30. May I have a motion
to go into executive? >> Motion Victor, second Curry. All in favor? >> Any opposed? Any abstensions. We are now in executive. >> United States of America and to the
republic for it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Okay. >> Thank you. The New Jersey open public meetings law was enacted to ensure the right of the
public to have advanced notice and to attend the meetings of public and which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon in accordance with the provisions of the act. The fall board of education has caused notice of this meeting to be published on February
18, 2026 posted on the district website www. lb.com published in the board's designated online media outlet newspaper the record and the star ledger filed
with the clerk of the burrow courtly and mailed to all persons if any who have requested said notice please be advised this meeting is being recorded and may be broadcasted on local TV and online at a future date the open public's meeting
act allows for participation at board meetings and defines meetings as any gathering whether caporeal or by means of communication equipment which is attended by or open to all of the members of a public body held with the
intent on the part of the members of the body present to discuss or act as a unit upon the specific public business of that body. Roll call please. Miss Bonner. Uh, Miss Buyers Kang is absent. Miss Curry >> here.
>> Mr. Mr. Goslin >> here. Miss Cotang >> here. >> Mr. Lopez >> here. >> Mr. Mcieran >> here. >> Miss Perez >> here. >> Miss Richtor >> here. >> Miss Morurell >> here. The body convened into executive session
at 6:30 today to discuss legal personnel and other confidential matters. Miss Colazo can begin by sharing your superintendent report. >> Thank you, Miss. Um, good evening everyone. Tonight we are pleased to have
again with us Nasha Chatima, junior at Fort Lee High School. Um, she is here to share updates on what's happening at her school. >> Good evening everyone. I hope everyone had a good Monday. We have finally entered the month of May, which means
we're slowly starting to wrap up our school year and just reminisce of the amazing year we've had this year. This year, Poly High School hosted their annual career fair on April 30th. Over 25 participants from various career and trade backgrounds presented to all
sophomores, juniors, and select students. At the fair, students were offered alternatives to four-year universities with options in careers like cosmetology, trade, military, and public services, as well as numerous other incredible career paths. We look
forward to continuing to provide our students with the best options to be successful in the future. Congratulations to the Forte Corell coming in third place with a superior rating of 92.25 25 and winning the
espert the corpse award representing a dip a deep sense of morale trust and unity on Friday April 24th at the music in the parks festival in Hershey Parks PA. A special congratulations to Rebecca U for receiving the outstanding
accompanist award. And the performing arts department presented our annual spring con concert on Wednesday, April 29th at 700 p.m. in the Portland High School Auditorium. There were performances by the choir, the Smith
Clinic band, jazz band, and orchestra. And a big shout out to senior baseball player Luke Senator because every time I come here he always has my cheating. And this time he's reached a 100 hits from his high school career. This is the first ever accomplishment to happen in
Fort Lemon. He's really making a name for himself and for as I said the year is coming to an end which means we're saying goodbye to our seniors. And we really felt that this Friday, May 1st, because our seniors celebrated commitment day. They're
wearing gear that represented their postsecary plans. We want to congratulate all of our students who received college acceptances to their dream schools. We also want to recognize and celebrate those who are bravely choosing to serve in the French
military, pursue trade school, and attend community college or enter the workforce. There is no single definition of success and we celebrate every journey. We are proud of the class of 2026 and we'll miss them. And as real as
the school year is coming to an end, we know there's going to be testing. Best of luck to our students taking an AP or IB exam over the next few weeks. And also a big reminder that the grade nine students will take the NDAA mathematics
assessment on Monday, May 18th and 19th. So therefore, the students in grade 10, 11, and 12 will have a delayed opening on Monday, May 18th, and Tuesday, May 19th. As we've seen this year, the fourth athletics department have been
crushing it, and they have not stopped. This week, the fourth athletics team had some amazing achievements. The boys baseball team, currently ranked in the North Jersey top 25, have advanced to the sweet 16 round of the prestigious
Brian County tournament. They will play at St. Joe's High School tomorrow and we wish them a good luck as they advance to the tournament. We hope all of you go support them as they have done amazing this year. A big congratulations to the girls track team for defending their
title and capturing backto back big North American League championships. The girls boosted five first place finishes to secure their win and finish their regular season undefeated. The boys team ranked among the North Jersey top 25
secured a second place finish in their league. A big congratulations to the girls softball team as they're currently undefeated in their league play and contending for a big North American League championship in the next weeks. We have not only been crushing it in
athletics but also in academics. On April 30th, Portland High School's National Honor Society proudly inducted 17 new members in its chapters. The ceremony celebrated students achievements in scholarships, leaderships, service, and character
during these events. During this event, current members warmly welcome inductees, emphasizing the value and responsibilities of an NHS membership and encouraging them to continuously make a positive impact within the school
community. On Thursday, April 30th, Cler John Hogan and members of his staff visited the high school for a voter registration presentation, speaking with seniors about the importance of voting and the impact of each the impact each
individual can have when they cast their votes. As you have seen, Bley High School students have been working really hard and did an amazing job of representing our community. And we just wanted to say a big thank you to all of them for the community for helping us
and I have truly enjoyed coming here and being at the board meetings and this is hopefully going to be my last meeting for this year. Thank you. >> Thank you so much. It's been a pleasure. I hope we see you next year. Um so I also wanted to announce um that
since our last meeting the district has reported six um HIV cases of those two were founded four were unfounded. In addition all required fire and security drills for the month of April were completed in accordance with district policy and state law. And I would also
like to extend um a big thank you and appreciation to our teachers. This week we celebrate um teacher appreciation week. So this is a meaningful opportunity to thank our educators for the care, the dedication um and the professionalism that they bring to their work every single day. And I I hope our
students say thank you to their teachers. Um so thank you to all of them. I know that the PTAs are very active with doing special things for our teachers in the buildings. Um and at this time, Mr. Render Connect and I will lead the final budget hearing presentation. Get the presentation up. PowerPoint
presentation. >> Jason. Good evening every Good evening everybody. I'm Mike Connect. I'm man business administrator, board secretary. Welcome to the public budget hearing on the district's 2026 27
school year budget. Uh before I dive into the presentation this evening, I just want to make it clear to everybody, number one, the Executive County Superintendent of Schools has approved this budget. And number two, this budget
has not changed since it was presented to the board and the community at the time in which it was approved in its tenure for having said that next slide. The budget process I always like to talk about a little bit and the primary
reason is I don't want anybody to think that this collo and I and the board's finance committee and the board slap this thing together in a few weeks. Uh this has clearly been on the table administratively and ultimately rose finance committee and the board but we
started the process about five and a half months ago. So, this is something that's it takes time and I'm going to be very frank with you. Tonight's a bid night for me in the squazo and that the board will be approving the budget. We are going to be sending it off to the
executive county superintendent in its final format tomorrow and we are going to march on with bigger and better. Uh having said that, just to talk about the process, Miss Collazo and I meet with the principles, directors, and supervisors gathering uh budgetary
requests. We review program proposals, staffing needs, and capital requests, make budget adjustments and align them with the district's priorities, and then we discuss tenative budget budgets with the BOE through committees. Uh some of
the key dates as I mentioned earlier the board approved the tenative budget at the March 25th board meeting uh March 27th we approve uh the executive county super we submitted to the executive county superintendent and we're before
you this evening May 4th uh for the final public budget year. Next slide to talk a little bit about how school budgets work. the local general fund tax levy. Very simply put, if you look at
our general fund tax levy, you can only the district can only statutoily increase the budget by 2%. That 2% is1,572,679. There are other allowable adjustments
which include enrollment. district was not uh entitled to an enrollment adjustment, health benefits adjustment, which the district was entitled to in the amount of $774,158. And then lastly, bank cap. So, as the
bullet notes on the bottom, the district could only statutoily increase its general fund tax levy by 2%. And then the $774,000 was an additional.98%. So all in the district's general fund
tax levy is going up 2.98%. Next slide, please. I'm going to bore you with some numbers. Again, these numbers haven't changed since we since we approved our tenative uh budget. local tax levy you can see uh for next year is 8,980,789
and that represents a 2.98% increase as I mentioned earlier. Revenue in lie of taxes is associated with the modern high-rise development. Uh we're getting payment annual payments
there in an amount of $383,000. There's a budgeted fund balance in amount of $3,886,19. Th those monies are monies that the district is appropriating from its surplus to reduce the general funds tax.
Simply put, for every dollar that budgeted fund balance is reduced, it increases that it would otherwise increase the general funds tax. state aid. We were blessed with the fact that we received a 4.02%
increase. We would have loved to seen that to be more in line with 10%, but that total state aid figure is 6,386,000. Extraordinary aid, again, that's all associated with special education related costs. The budget figure is
$1,485,000. miscellaneous revenue or a variety of revenues, interest earned, uh, and and other revenues that, uh, the district may see throughout the year, book fines, things of that nature are all difficult
against there. Fortunately, over the past couple of years, we've seen interest rates increase. So, now we're getting some more substantive uh, interest rates and interest revenue. uh transportation fees is in relation to
district courtesy busing. Uh we did make adjustments to that for next year. There will be a flyer going out. The courtesy busing rates are going to increase to $850 per student for next year. And that's simply just to cover the costs that the
district incurs. uh tuition in the amount of a million dollars for various uh students received paper reserve withdrawal. We're going to talk a little bit more about that later on. We're doing a withdrawal from the paper reserve account in an amount of
$2.9 million. Uh and and that's a balance sheet account where we have monies in a capital reserve account. We're withdrawing those and it's not gonna it does not have any impact on what you the local taxpayers are paying. It's it's
it's tax levy neutral uh semi- revenue in the amount of $46,000. Then we have various uh grants in fund 20 special revenues ESA IDA other federal entitlements
uh and that those figures $1.9 million. Then we get into fund 40 debt service aid in the amount of $412,000. And then lastly is the debt service tax levy in the amount of $3.8 million. And
just so everybody's aware, the debt service tax levy is associated with prior referendums and I think that the most recent referendum which was quite a few years ago was in relation to this building and some other capital improvements. So the total proposed
revenues for next year is 104,790,218. Next slide, please. Just a little historical uh uh uh chart on our year-over-year state aid. You can see it is slowly uh climbing. Again, not
climbing nearly as much as our our budget is on the propagation side. We'd always welcome more state aid, but that gives you an idea of where we stand with state aid overall over since 2009 2010.
Next slide, please. Again, another another glimpse uh of the ups and downs with with our state aid. Uh you can see during the pandemic or excuse me not state tax levies you can see during the
pandemic years um were in a 2% increases it was a jump up our 1 time to 4.41 drop down to 4.04 for the current year's budget and then we're at 2.98% this year. Um,
the thing I'll say too is keep in mind we don't have any bank cap. So board if it wanted to couldn't raise statutoily the general fund tax levy any more than it currently is and that's 2.9%.
If you look at a lot of the other districts around I'm hearing tax increases anywhere from 2% upwards to 10%. So you could ask yourself why fortly are you only going up 2.98%. That's because we don't have the
capacity statutoily to increase our budget any further where other districts might have that cap available to them which allows them to go up all the more above the 26 statuto. Next slide please.
All right. Just a a look at your current expenses on your appropriation side. Current expenses are 95,629,537. That's a $2.97% increase. Capital outlay, you can see current year, and don't don't let this
throw you, but the current year's capital outlay is $12,534. you can see a significant increase uh to a proposed $2.9 almost $3 million. It's a $2,795
uh 95% increase. And again, that's because the board is doing a withdrawal from its capital reserve account. I'm going to talk in a couple of slides about those projects that are going to be funded through the capital reserve account with special revenue uh is 1.9
million or 200% of the entire budget. And then lastly, this fund for 40 debt service is $4,230,451. And that represents almost a 10% reduction for a grand total of appropriations of
$104,790 and appropriations do in fact match the revenues that I spoke about earlier. Next slide, please. All right. a withdrawal from the capital reserve account. The district has a capital reserve account. The primary purpose, the primary purpose and the
only purpose that those monies can be utilized are for capital projects. Uh the board prudently put money away over the years to fund capital projects over the years for an out years and now we're doing withdrawal. And here's the
projects. Fordly High School uh stairwell security communications upgrade for ADA compliance. That project's $297,500. Again, Fort Le High School first second floor bathroom for ADA compliance,
$416,500. And the high school security meuel upgrades and ADA compliance, $119,000. Uh we have the again at the high school first second floor door and saddle replacement for ADA compliance and that
was at the actually at the boys bathroom $35,700. Here at the intermediate school we are doing a chiller replacement. Budgetary figure is $1,190,000. I say budgetary figure because the board
not too long ago did quite well when we went out to bed and even though the budget is 1,190,000 actual project award came in at $488,000. Uh it's folks I say this all the time to
boards. I say to members of the public when it comes to capital projects every school district in the state of New Jersey wants to do the projects during the summer. If you want to get competitive bids, you want to be organized, you want to identify your
projects early on, and you want to be the one of the first districts to get out and get your bid out on the street. The closer you get to general, you're going to get contractors that are just going to throw numbers against the walls to see if they stick or not. So, we were
we were I I got to credit the board for coming to a quick conclusion as to the projects that we were going to do. We we we engaged our architect. We got our bid specifications put together and we got out to bid and we're seeing fair
projects uh a bit awards. intermediate school again HVAC condensate system repairs uh is $892,500 and if I'm not mistaken when we awarded that project that in itself came about
$350,000 under budget. So from a budgetary perspective the withdrawal from the capital reserve account is 2,951,200. The only other caveat I want to say also is with the capital reserve account. Once these projects are completed, if
there's $750,000 left over, legally those monies must go back into the capital reserve. Next slide, please. All right. Another way to look at the proclamations. You
can see salaries and benefits uh by and large are the largest components of the budget and then you have 34% of all other related expenses. Next slide.
Uh program budget comparison. It's just all your regular regular instructional programs. You can see uh the current year which is in uh brown and then the proposed budget which is in orange. You can see regular programs, special
education, out of district placements, administrative costs. By the way, I just want to talk a little bit about administrative costs. It's not solely my salary or Miss Plaza. Those are all the principles. Administrative costs include
far more than what you might otherwise have. phone cost for phones, internet, uh, copy machines. There's a whole host of things that go into administrative costs far beyond administrative salaries.
And then you have custodial maintenance and security. Next year's proposed is $8 million. Student transportation, you can see coming in at proposed 3.8 million. And then employee benefits you can see
is coming in at 19.7 million. Uh I I'll talk a little bit more about it, but any of you might have heard that we're seeing sign not just we virtually every school district in the state of New Jersey is seeing
significant increases in their employee related health benefits costs. Next slide, please. All right, just another another pie chart of the general fund expenditures. I'm not going to read them all. You can
see the various uh slices of the pie and those costs that are attributable to the respective pieces. Total general fund appropriations is 98,598,271. Next slide, please.
All right. Again, as I spoke earlier, helping I'm I've been doing I've been in the business for 30 years. I will tell you that I've never seen health benefits increases to the degree I've seen them
this year. You know, there's times I've seen 8 9 10 12 14% increases, but not 30% increases. But we're giving you a little historical here. year-over-year of the the health benefits increases.
And you can see for 2627, the board prudently opted to leave the state health benefits uh program this past January 1st. Uh so you can see the proposed budget's 19.7 million. It would
have otherwise been $21 million. We we the board saved the taxpayers $1.4 4 million by leaving state health benefits and going with the horizon private uh health benefits
folks. I'm not hearing good numbers. It's early but I'm not hearing good numbers for 2728. And to be fully transparent as I always am, Mr. Lazlo and I have told the board's finance committee, we told the
board, if we continue to see 25, 30, 35% increases, you know, the unfortunate cuts we have to deal with this year to balance the budget. It's going to be back to the drawing board again for 2728.
Next slide, please. Miss Colazo did a wonderful job on the slide. Uh I always hold firm with the tenative budget when it comes to disclosing what the cost is going to be on the average of the home. I don't like
to speak to that because I don't want to throw a number out then all of a sudden something changes with the budget and we got to rein on that number. Having said that, average assessed home value for $481,982. the tax increase and that tax increase
is on the general fund tax levy that includes the general fund tax levy to debt service is 3.33%. Annually it's $193.78 and that skinnies down to $16.15. Next slide please.
All right, here is just a uh a look see at various other comparable districts in Bergen County. You can see Fort Lee is orange. And the main uh purpose of this screen, this particular slide is to show
you that our costs aren't off the wall. We're competitive and you can see there's certainly school districts that have per pupil costs far greater than four. Next slide, please. At this point in time, I'd be more than
happy to send hand this presentation over to Miss Glazo, superintendent of the schools. >> Thank you, Mr. Ren Connect. So, I will be um talking about, you know, what took place in in March and a lot of this
information is going to be pretty much the same, but just for full transparency and given that this is our um public budget hearing, I will repeat the information. So, um, about a couple of months ago, we found ourselves faced
with a $3.9 million budget gap. Um, as Mr. Vender Connect stated, due to rising costs, um, including health benefit increases, the contractual increases that are part of our collective bargaining bargaining agreement, we really couldn't go anywhere with that.
um rising operational costs and we did have limitations our increasing our our revenue beyond that 2% very far beyond that 2% and then as Mr. Render Connect stated we didn't receive sufficient state aid. While our state aid did increase from one year to the next, it
wasn't enough to close the $3.9 million budget gap that we were faced with back in um February, March. Next slide, please. So, we were faced with some really difficult decisions, but as a team, an administrative team, the board, we came
together and we made a commitment. um to work hard to prot to protect quite a number of things. First, to ensure that our students remain learning in safe and supportive environments. That is our absolute top priority and we made every effort to ensure that we continue to
provide um a safe and supportive learning environment. Uh we also made a commitment to preserve our instructional programming and I'm happy to say that we are able to preserve all of our instructional programs um even with the budget um challenge that we faced. Uh we
also worked hard to protect our student support services. So our counseling services, all of our um related services that we have to offer our students, our gifted and talented, our basic skills instruction, our intervention services, as well as all of our curricular
programs. Um school is is about more than than academics. And it's important to us that our students receive a well-rounded education. And that includes all of our athletic programs, our co-curricular programs, our theater,
our music, um all of those programs that really help our students thrive beyond the classroom. And so that was the commitment that we made as a team moving forward when we were faced with some tough challenges. Next slide, please.
Uh so the last thing we really wanted to do in our last uh I I guess you could say resorts was to go to staffing. Um so we went back to our budget and we were able to identify an additional savings of $1.3 million and we did that through
creating a student re-engagement program. So we will be inviting some of our high school students back um to the high school that are in out of district placements. um they will be housed at the high school and certainly part of
their general um their general education um peers. We are postponing the purchase of technology resources. Mr. Render Connect and I met with Mr. Rogerio and identified um certain resources that we can postpone. However, I will say that
we won't be able to postpone those purchases for very long, but we were able to postpone them for for next year. And we also decreased other operational and and instructional expenses. We were able to reduce our transportation costs by 300 to $400,000.
We decreased professional development costs and other operational costs. Um but however, we found ourselves um with a remaining budgetary gap of $2.6 million unfortunately. Next slide, please.
So the decision was to close that gap with the least amount of disruption to our students and we decided to take a look at staffing. So we looked at our enrollment trends, our class sizes across the district and our program needs. We did find in doing an analysis
that our enrollment is decreasing. It's decreased by about a 100 students I would say in the last year and particularly in some of our classroom across the districts. It was important that we were able to ensure an equitable experience. Uh so we did look at
classroom um and staffing. We also determined reductions first through consolidation and attrition. So how could we consolid consolidate classes, consolidate sections and when we received retirements, we asked ourselves if that retiring employee um needed to
be replaced and or also the same with um employee resignations. Um, with these staffing reductions, we are actually able to maintain valued class sizes. So, our class sizes, we will not see um large class sizes of of 30 at our
elementary or our K6 levels. We will still see quite reasonable class sizes of 21, 22, 23 um in our K6 programs. And where we found ourselves is that our staffing reductions led to um 18 FTE
positions being reduced and we reduced one FTE stands for full-time employee and we reduced one full another full-time employee to part-time and these reductions reflect 3.1% of our total staff.
I do want to add though that through these reductions we are still able to preserve our programming K12. Next slide please. So while we did have to make some of those um challenging decisions that we
never want to have to make uh as Mr. Durham stated this, we could find ourselves here in the very same position as we prepare the 2728 budget. And so moving forward, we have already exited the state healthcare plan. However, we
will continue to work with our broker to research other cost savings possibly through health care plans. We will continue to seek other revenue sources such as increasing our prek tuition and we have done that for next year. um taking a close look at our courtesy
transportation and ensuring that um the fee for our courtesy transportation is allowing us to actually break even with the cost and we are taking a very close look at our facilities usage costs. Um also as we move forward we want to
ensure that we balance our expenses and needs. So, we will always remain focused on the students, making sure that we continue to provide a quality, rigorous, um, competitive education like all other successful Bergen County school districts, that we continue to ensure
that we support our staff, that we maintain strong as well as safe schools, but also being responsible um with our with taxpayer dollars. And so as we move forward, we will continue to hold those um priorities um as we make our
decisions. Next slide. And that comes to the end of our presentation. Uh this presentation will will be available on our website um tonight or first thing tomorrow morning. Um and then you will be able to take a closer uh look at the at the
presentation as well as our 10-minute budget presentation. So I do want to say thank you to the board for their support through this process. It certainly was not an easy process. Um but the the teamwork that that um it took was
productive and I also wanted to say thank you to our administrative team um also for all of their support and their work as we put this budget together. So thank you That concludes my support. Thank you, Miss Colo, for your superintendent report. Um, I want to say
thank you to Nisha for all her wonderful reporting throughout the year. It it it was truly amazing listening to her give us all those those details about what was going on every day in our schools. I
I I thoroughly enjoyed it. So, thank you so much and I hope she does come back next year. Okay, moving forward. So, do any board members
uh have any committee reports or liaison reports? Thank you. Um so um the policy committee met um last Wednesday and we continued to
discuss the facilities use policy or usage policy and uh figuring out a fee structure um as the superintendent mentioned. Um so we're going to continue those discussions. This is nothing detailed in the report at this time. Um
the other policies we discussed um forgive me was 0145 and we um changed that uh that's the board member designation and removal policy. So in that policy,
we've changed the wording for the attendance of the board members or we have not changed anything here. We proposed a change and it's in a draft policy for first reading tonight. Um in that it talks about board member attendance being um in person only.
That's what counts. If they're on Zoom, they can watch like the rest of the public, but in order to participate and be counted as present, the board member would have to be here in person. So that policy covered that. The other policy we discussed was the policy on the
committees um the board um or the committee um is recommending and um it's in the committee report. The five committees we believe would make the board more efficient um and lean um to get more things done in a quicker
manner. And um that is up for discussion tonight um for any board member. That's why it's here um as a committee report rather than um um policy for first read because we wanted the board members even though we've reached out and asked um
you your feelings u we want to make sure we are not doing anything that um we're all on the same week. So that is it for the committee report. Um as a liazison to the BFW it was a great day at the BFW
um open house or day of service. Tony and team there were gracious and and fun to be with as always and it's always great to sit and talk with Auggie who's going to be 100 August 12th. So we should probably have a a party or
something for Augie. Anyway, that's it for my Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Goslin. Anybody else? Any other board members? >> Finance from committee also met last month. Um but I apologize. I left my notes at home. I
>> that's okay. >> I will give a report at the next meeting. >> Perfect. >> Thank you. >> Anyone else? >> No. Any other >> do
you can say? You can say >> good evening. The sick day bank met uh last week and we went over the parameters of what the sick day bank is and in attendance was myself the stricter and uh Miss Amy. Thank you.
>> Thank you. Okay. Do any other do any board members have any comments on tonight's agenda? >> Um so good question. Thank you for clarifying one
uh specifically 145 on 9130. Um there's some changes to that as well. That's the public agreeances updates. Is there anything that precipitated those changes?
>> No, that was just John Cesme that sent us a revised version. Got it. Thank you. I want to thank um Mr. Connect for um adding a lot of details into our agenda now. Um specifically 11F and 16F are
those I don't recall seeing them in the past and did a lot of details in them. Um can you talk about 11F um specifically? Is this something we have done in the past and just haven't been listed in the
agenda? Um, and then 16F also is this something we have always done it in the past and it looks like it's just purchase of all of custodial supply into one one contract. Is that correct?
11F 11F is new. Uh that's a contract award to uh train um for preventative maintenance and maintenance
of your HBAC system uh is something that probably should have been done in the past but wasn't quite faithfully done as it should be. So we are we are now entering into a contract. I can tell the board that uh
this allocation in that amount for train has been fully budgeted for. Uh moving on to 16F. Folks, how I'm going to respond to this is I'm I'm the district's interim
business administrator. Uh, and I'm here to make modifications to how the business office has operated in the past. And there's there were some instances with procurement where things
may not have always been done properly. So, you're going to see resolutions. Even though you see these resolutions, doesn't mean it's new stuff that's transpiring. It's just that they were never put on agendas in the past. Namely, when you're purchasing through
cooperatives and you exceed the bid threshold, which is $53,000, I am obligated to bring that forward and have the board award that contract. So, you're going to see a a lot of uh agenda
items in relation to finance that you should get used to seeing. They're they're good motions. And my my goal is to build a good format so when the day I decide that I'm going to be vacating
this district, I leave you in goodstead with proper procedures and protocols. I really appreciate it because each year then we can go back and see you know these are annual contracts so we can compare differences and and this give us
a baseline to compare to. So thank you so much for this diligence this level of diligence. >> Another example is you'll see on this evening's agenda we're approving our pre-budget year tuition rates for 26 27.
I want to this agenda the secretary our secretaries in our offices are always referring to the prior year. I want to start building systematic procedures and so does Miss Clauso. So moving forward we have we're starting to
build a process. >> Thank you so much. >> You're welcome. Does that mean that um when we purchase custodial supply we don't do oneoff purchase but it's based on number of students that we have in the district >> with spruce industries and this particular cooperative it is uh based on
the uh student count of the district that's not always the case but with spruce industries it is >> okay and does it get adjust adjusted throughout the year as our enrollment fluctuates or is it something >> we snap the line at a given point in
time and that's this evening uh where the student uh count is set forth and per student costs are a fixed and we move forward with that purchase. >> Student count is 3,900. So a little bum
that we didn't use that number instead, but that's fine. Um with regard to 2CUR and 10F, those are uh transportation related items. Um obviously we have um students that we need to
transport to out of district and and and particularly one of the student that that charge is greater than others. Is it because there is an A on the bus so that the per DM is 320 versus say the
other two student that ranges from 44 to $68. What motion you referenc the differences because there is an A on the bus. >> I think that would be if you email me with that question, I'll be able to give
you a more specific response, but I would say looking at the numbers, it's quite likely that's the reason what they are. >> Got it. And then with regard to 10F um after both 10F and 2CUR
do we as a district consider the option of extending um transportation contract to the parents if it's a le less costly option we consider that as a standup protocol going forward
so that you know if it is less expensive for the parents to transport their child we give them that option. If if there's a unique situation uh where a particular child is going to a school that maybe
is somewhat unusual as far as a school of attendance, we might offer something like that. But I'll say in general, you know, we don't just go out and negotiate with parents to transport their students. But I throughout my career
have had very unique situations uh where I've entered into uh a parent district transportation contract for a variety of reasons.
>> Perhaps this you know this this is a conver more extensive conversation for going forward as we options. Um, I know it's one-off situation, but if it's going to save us tremendous proceeds, this is a
conversation for finance committee. >> I will say this, and you being the chair of finance and the finance committee is aware of this, we've made some significant inroads in reducing our transportation costs. I comfortably say
uh we probably achieved about $350,000 worth of efficiencies over the current year. Uh and I fully expect more to come. >> Thank you. >> And also, Miss Coten, there are times when the transportation is spec specifically stipulated in the child's
IEP. >> So when that happens, oftent times there is a conversation with the parent during the child's annual review meeting. Um, Miss Kaso, can I ask a question on the budget presentation of the positions
that were eliminated? How many teachers do you have that number? >> 14. >> The number of student reduction in the district is matches with the reduction of staff. correctly. >> Oh yes, >> actually I believe there was about a 5%
decline in enrollment for students and our reduction in staff is 3%. Any other questions? No. Now the motion to go into public to open the floor to the public. Thank you.
>> Motion Rictor second. Buyers Kang. All in favor? >> Any opposed? Any abstensions? Anyone that wants to come to the podium, please do so. Say your name
and uh your address for the record. Make your comment. Participants are limited to three minutes in which to make their statement. Good evening and 326. Um very about the capital projects. Do
we have an engineering report that we're using to um >> so my question is regarding the capital projects. Is there an engineering report that's being used? Because I know I work in schools in New York City and right
now I booked me out stuff like 2728 school year because as you mentioned everyone wants stuff during the during summer only so many contractors and so many staff available to do the work. I was wondering is there engineering report that we are using currently to
base these projects on. My next thing is is regarding the um the um zoom uh meetings. Um again, you know, all I'm asking is for a
conversation about it, you know, I mean, I know the way it was done, you know, is is kind of like one and done. Okay? I know it's not policy. I get that. All I'm asking for is to have a healthy conversation
and we could come back in a different format but just to allow somehow the public participation is there are many reasons that parents or clients they can't make it out here that we don't
know about. Maybe that they are maybe they're disabled. Maybe they're sick. and they have a babysitter babysitting issue, you know, there's very there's various reasons. So, just asking that this board, you know, committee or whoever, they're more than happy, you
know, to talk to anybody about it as you all know and just have healthy conversation. That's all I ask for. Thank you. >> Thank you for your comment. >> Thanks. Did you plan? So the capital projects are identified
um as a result of the architect of record doing a comprehensive assessment of all of our facilities. Okay. And I have a motion to close to the public motion. Second, Richtor.
All in favor? >> Any opposed? Any extensions? Before we move to resolutions, we have walk-ins that our attorney, Mr. Stern, will now read
resolution 8B. Therefore, we have resolved that the Fort Lee Board of Education hereby permits the following non-resident student to continue enrollment at the Fort Le public schools for the remainder
of the 2526 school year at the advertised prorated tuition rate that is 8b walk-on. 9B is the same language um that the Ford lead board of education
permits the following and and the the student is listed by student number in in order to protect their confidentiality. Um non-resident students to continue enrollment at the forly public schools for the remainder of the 2526 school year at the
advertised prorated tuition rate. Um board resolution 10B um resolved that boardly that the Fort Lee Board of Education hereby permits the following non-resident student to
continue enrollment at the Fort Lee public school for the remainder of the 2526 school year at the advertised pr-rated tuition rate. And finally 11
B Um, it resolves that the portly board of education hereby disenrolls the following non-resident student from the Fort Lee public schools. >> Thank you, Mr. S. Okay,
moving on to resolutions. And I have a motion to approve 1B to 11B. Motion >> motion. Victor. >> Second. >> Second. Co hang. Roll call.
>> Miss fires. >> Yes. Except for I stayain on 8 9 10 and 11. 8 9 10 11 >> Miss Curry. >> Yes. >> Mr. Goswin. >> Yes.
>> Miss Coten. >> Yes. >> Mr. Lopez. >> Yes. >> Mr. McTinan. >> Yes. >> Miss Perez. >> Yes. Except I think I have to abstain on my name on TV. Miss Rtor. >> Yes.
>> Miss. >> Yes. And I found my name on 3B. And I have a motion to approve items one BG. Motion. >> Motion. Ra. Second. >> Second. Curry roll.
>> Mires 10. >> Yes. >> Miss Curry. >> Yes. >> Mr. Goslin. >> Yes. >> Miss Coten. >> Yes. >> Mr. Lopez. >> Mr. McTieran. >> Yes. >> Miss Perez. >> Yes. >> Miss. Recctor.
>> Yes. >> Miss. Morell. >> Yes. Can I have a motion to approve items one cur and two CR? Motion. >> Motion. Rita. >> Second. >> Second. Coten. Roll call.
>> Miss Buyers Kang. >> Yes. >> Miss Curry. >> Yes. >> Mr. Goslin. >> Yes. >> Miss Coten. >> Yes. >> Mr. Lopez. >> Yes. >> Mr. McTurnan. >> Yes. >> Miss Perez. >> Yes. >> Miss. Rtor. >> Yes. >> Miss. Morell.
>> Yes. And I have a motion to approve items 1F to 20F. >> Motion. >> Motion Curry. Second. Victor. Roll call, please.
>> Miss Buyers Kang. >> Yes. >> Miss Curry. >> Yes. >> Mr. Goslin. >> Yes. >> Miss Coten. >> Yes. >> Mr. Lopez. >> Yes. >> Mr. McTinan. >> Yes. >> Miss Perez. >> Yes. Miss Richtor, >> yes. >> Miss Morell,
>> yes. >> And I have a motion to approve items 1 P to 10P. >> Motion. >> Motion. MDA. >> Second. >> Second. Lopez. Roll call, please.
>> Miss Fires Ken. >> Yes. >> Miss Curry. >> Yes. >> Mr. Goslin. >> Yes. >> Miss Coten. >> Yes. >> Mr. Lopez. >> Yes. >> Mr. Mc Tieran, >> yes. >> Miss Perez, >> yes. >> Miss Rtor, >> yes. >> Miss Morurell,
>> yes. Can I have a motion to approve items 1 P? >> Motion. >> Motion. Ma. >> Second. Perez. >> Second. Perez. Roll call, please. >> Miss K.
>> Yes. >> Miss Curry. >> Yes. >> Mr. Gastlin. Yes, >> Miss Cotang. >> Yes, >> Mr. Lopez. >> Yes, >> Mr. McTinan. >> Yes, >> Miss Perez. >> Yes, >> Miss Rtor. >> Yes,
>> Miss Morell. >> Yes. >> Moving on to Is there any old business? >> I just want to congratulate the high school orchestra, band, and choir for an exceptional performance. it the it was a
full house in the auditorium and it's easy to take it for granted what an amazing unparalleled and strong arts program we have at Baldwin High School. You go to any other school and and and
our our our music department stands leaps and bounds ahead and and I don't want to take it for granted. I'm always amazed when I attend these concerts that the caliber and the scale of participation. So, congratulations on a
job well done. Any other old business? Any other new business? >> I'd like to comment or talk or whatever start the discussion on the policy committee stuff. Um, I really appreciate
the minutes, report, whatever you call it. Um, someone who had to serve filling these spots on 16 committees and trying to find board members to fit in every committee. Um, I am definitely a fan of
reducing from 16. I think a reduction of 16 down to five right away is a little strong. Um maybe some happy medium somewhere in the middle uh from 16, you know, between I don't know like 11, eliminate five or eliminate six and then
maybe eliminate more as we go and realize we really don't need all of them. I just think eliminating 11 right off the bat is a little bit too much too fast. >> Anyone else want to comment? >> I would like to comment. Okay. Um
I am on the policy committee so I was involved in the conversation. Um my view on this is that uh we're reducing I'm not saying that it has to go down to five but we right off the bat reduced um
committees that were not meeting. Uh we reduced two ad hocs that don't need to be listed because they are ad hocs and we don't need to be standing meetings. Um and then we wrapped in committees that other districts usually already
have together. So uh buildings and ground security curriculum due to achievement would include equity finance currently would stand on its own. Personnel would be sick bank day and negotiation and then policy and legislative advocacy. So instead of
having multiple committees where you might even have the same people on the meeting for different purposes, we consolidate so that when you're meeting with that topic, you've got the right people having a conversation where branches out over those currently
existing committees. So um if five is too small I simply ask what we would break apart or keep that we have advised to remove because they weren't
>> anybody want Yeah. So I I appreciate the the conversation. Um I think our time is important. Um so I I appreciate where this is coming from. Um, I think that, you know, as we approach the end of the school year, you know, there are going
to be other other items that we will tackle, um, uh, middle of the summer and as we open our school year, uh, next, uh, next school year. Um, so I do think that reducing them is is a good idea,
but down to five at least right now, I think that's um, that's a little extreme. I think you know 10 to 11 feels better and I think that that will be the smarter approach and end of year end of the calendar year we can
>> we can um discuss it further and you know figure out how we want to move forward and if we whittle down to five or six then we I think that would be the better approach. >> Before I start commenting does anybody want to comment? Um, I wasn't gonna
speak, but since we're >> kind of cooking the data, I'm gonna speak. Um, we're we're going from 16 committees um down to five. Yes. But in those five are the functions of one,
two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine committees. So, we're really going down nine committees, right? We're just consolidating some. Um, any board I've ever served on, whether it was an international nonprofit or a co-op board or this board, is the only board I've
ever seen has so many committees. And there's an old saying about committees. If you want to get nothing done or you want to kill something, send it to a committee. And when you have 16, it amplifies those results. So, I understand we're saying we're 16 going
down five. That's true, but that's just doing that. Um, standing committees shouldn't exist if they're not actively working. So, they shouldn't be standing committees. That's the way boards are supposed to work. Any board, not just a school board. You shouldn't have committees there just in case. That's
why the president has the ad hoc power to create and dispose of committees as they complete their tasks. >> Absolutely. >> Um, I just want to add something. I think combining personnel with negotiations is a lot because there are
times where there are a lot of vacancies in our administrative role. We have experiences before. Hopefully, we don't anymore, but there have been times where we've had a lot of personnel committee meetings to discuss and sit in on interviews for administration and
supervisors and and such. >> Um, and during a negoti as somebody who has served on a negotiations committee many times, If you have the same committee on personnel and negotiations and you're in negotiations with flee and flag, that's a lot of commitment for one
committee to make. So I still think negotiations needs to be a stand just for the time alone. If you go into if you go into with a um mediator and things like that, I mean a personnel committee meeting to interview a principal and a negotiations committee
that stays in mediation until 3:00 a.m. Those people are not going to give their all in every single committee meeting. That's a lot for one committee. That's just my feelings. >> I'm a fair point since I'm new to the board. Do you have any other thoughts on
the rest that were consolid say that again, Michelle? >> I said to Shann, any other comments? Is that helpful in terms of the ones that were joined up together in the first five that we have on the list or any that have been deemed inactive? Um, I think communications is probably a
big one, especially as we open for a new school year or send out information on transportation as we end the school year. Um, that's just mine. Is just for clarification, is communication going to be handled by the
new marketing group or is that still in committee or is committee needed for that? How is that for seen process-wise? as far as >> so I saw on the agenda we have a new uh marketing firm. So I just wanted to
understand if coordination between that and a committee or not a committee. >> Yeah. So there are certain communications that just have to go out. It wouldn't necessarily require a full committee meeting but you know we are looking we are working with a PR firm. We are looking to update our website. Um
communication is one of the goals of the strategic plan. Um so we are looking to kind of modernize and and and also streamline how we communicate not just to to parents but also within um the various stakeholders in the school
district. So um yes the PR the PR firm will be assisting us with the website with design with messaging but also they will als they will be assisting us with branding because that is something that you know I would like us to to move towards um the school district where the committee can serve is first I would
like the committee to meet the firm um and also whenever we're doing big key projects to have um that liaison with the board committee um to to to hear on our plans and and to weigh in on recommendations to the full board.
>> Just so that I'm clear, that would be then we recommend that as a standing committee instead of an ad hoc. >> I guess I'm asking as the current >> I I think I think it's important for it to to remain as a standing committee
especially that we're on board with this person now. Um there's there's a lot of important work that's coming up. Um, one of the big one of the big things that we've talked about is website how parents um you know people come up here
and talk about that or address. So >> thank you. >> I have a a comment about the first when the building grounds and the sec security committee would be together. Um
I was on the I was building and grounds for um two years and there were a lot of things that were um you know buildings and grounds is of course is very easy to understand building and grounds and security is something completely different from that. Buildings and
grounds there's a lot of things that go on with it. Um so for me those those two together are completely separate. Um the security is security is the safety of of the students is how I see it and the buildings and grounds is the actual
structures that it is. Um my question to the policy committee is how um if it did go down to the five how would um Michelle have mentioned if the right people were in the room it would be
taken care of. How do you know who the right people are? I don't think that's up to the policy committee to decide, but I mean, we're all on committee, multiple committees, right? So, the right people being in the room is whoever's assigned to those committees. And just as a point of
information, and I'm not disagreeing with you at all. Uh, you've been on this board longer than I have, a lot of other school districts have security because school security is about the buildings and grounds themselves, with buildings and grounds and sometimes even with finance. I just we thought that might be
too much all at once, but because they are involving the schools physically that it made sense to put them together. >> I can see why you I could see why you would would think that. Um but I think
it's two separate things and I don't care who's doing it. It's two separate things. Thank you. Just to add on to that, I think as somebody that I'm not on the committee obviously, but in our experience with
buildings and grounds and security, many of the things that we discuss in security often end up being buildings and grounds related. As far as we're talking about cameras, where are they going to go? Installation, it impacts the building. Um also in terms of where
our security personnel lie, we need to talk about buildings and grounds and where um you know we can best allocate our resources. So that spec those two specific committees. It was really it was really to allow so that we wouldn't have to have two separate.
>> So are you >> No, I'm not saying that. I'm specifically responding to your question around buildings and grounds >> and security and condensing the two of them. That's what I'm responding to. >> Just I remember um negotiation tend to
meet around negotiation time. So it's more of an EOP function if I call negotiation is correct. >> The reason why we combine stuff number one we did research. We didn't make all this up. Um but committees in our
meeting aren't working. That's why they were folded into certain things so that that committee can one month they might be working on I'm going to make this up get excoriated for it but communications might be working on communicating for a month and if they were doing something else for the next nine months they could
do that something else because they're not always communicating like we haven't heard any committee reports this year until tonight I think we had three so that was taken into account that committees are not working so it gives the public a perception of this 16 committees and what are they doing?
Should I go after why what is the security committee doing? Last year it was a very important topic. So that was like we're like why does that exist? Does the board really have a role in implementing security or is that the super's job and hurt police and the the
officers? I see what you're saying. >> So we don't also want to mislead the public with committees that are there that make them think we're doing something that we're not supposed to be or are actively doing. I wasn't personally speaking to you. I know my eye contact was there because I'm
nervous. >> My question so negotiation does that does that get active around negotiation time or is it active every year? >> There are negotiations.
Yes. There's times where it's extremely active because you're meeting for contractual things. Okay. But in the course of the year, there are also times when you're meeting for things that are it's not as with the two union but
within the contracts themselves that you have to meet. So is it is it you know I'm going to say it like this. I'm going to say to keep okay to the
three of you okay you don't have to have committee meetings every week for every committee but in and of each individual committee there is a purpose okay there is a purpose and there's
going to be a time it might not be January or February March that that committee is going to be active might not But oh my god, come June, July, and August, it it's kicking where they're meeting every week. It just because you
have committees doesn't mean that they're do or that they're unnecessary. It's when they're when they're needed. Okay? So I mean for that you could say every committee is ad hoc but it's not
because there are certain there are certain committees that we know we're going to need. Okay. And I say this as somebody who has longevity on this board. There are times that there have been ones,
you know, I'm just going to say it for argument sake the day. There are times doesn't mean it all. There are times unfortunately it does mean. Okay. So sneezing on the truth. God bless. Um so I understand what
you're saying and I and I agree and I >> disagree. That's all. >> Right. And I but I agreed with you that there's too many. My my concern was, as other board members are
saying, is cutting it down too much in the beginning. And so I agree with Doug, I agree with Kristen to take it down. And I think I had mentioned this not at the last board meeting uh I mean at the last committee meeting but at the one
before that where I said start making your mark and get it down to 10 and then the next thing I heard was down to five. >> We're not just going to cut to get down to a certain number. This was bought out. You all are not thinking a lot of
it out where you're saying you're going 16 to5 is insane. You're not you're disrespecting the work that these two and I have put into this and actually put thought into it. So I understand we disagree and I'm okay with disagreeing. >> But I don't want it to be fun into
something else. It's just a disagreement and I don't say that we're disrespecting your work. I think that disrespectful disrespectful apologize for that. >> But is also not disrespecting anyone. She's offering her opinion as somebody
who's been on the board for an extremely long time. However, I want to go back to a comment you made about this being the first committee report that's been given. If you check the drive, there's committee reports. Curriculum committee has met this year. >> You can't just say there's no committees that have >> No, that's not what I said. What I what
I said >> you said this is the first committee report that's been given speaking because I'm a little nervous and I apologize for that but I was saying there was not a lot of committee reports throughout this year since we've joined the board. >> Yes. We've been talking about the budget the entire time we understood.
Understood. >> So it's not to come out here and say that in front of the public when Diane and Mike are giving the presentation. We can't sit here and say we talked in a curriculum meeting about cutting 14 teachers. >> No that Yeah. I understand. I understand. Okay. Look, I I get it.
Thank you. >> You said it better than I did. So, >> yes, I was going to bring that up. I also I also think that, you know, we are conscious of Diane and Mike's time as well. And
um them with these meeting requests, especially, you know, we just approved the budget. Now, this year has been all about the budget for them, >> right? And I think we've been very respectful of their time so they can focus their energy on on steering the
ship in the right direction. So um now that we moved on and the budget, >> you know, let's we can certainly start >> John >> just talk into the mic for me because I really can't hear you. >> I'll do my best. >> Thank you.
>> Thank you so much. >> I'd like to try not to get hung up with the magic numbers. I don't think there's like this number suits everybody. You know, 51 16 something in between. I'd like to continue where the conversation
was about, okay, there's a suggestion of collapsing. You know, there's logical thoughts as to why, but there's also sometimes lack of experience to know the ramifications of those collapsing. And I think I mean I don't know there was
agreement but like personnel negotiations, communications, those were two that were suggested to be collapsed that I felt there was good arguments not to. If that's accepted now we're accepted. Again not a magic number but
maybe that's a place we're landing. Um so to that speech like are there other places where we're collapsing where it feels the collapsing is wrong? Not the endstate number because the number is irrelevant really wherever we're at.
>> Right. Well, this is where I think this is where I think the board needs to discuss and and we all need to just look at the committees that we have and give recommendations.
um uh you know, as far as what what committees do we think we need and things of that nature. Um and and that's where I'm at. I have always been willing and I always for as long as I've been on
the board, I believe in compromise. That's how I I that's who I am. So um Kristen mentioned you mentioned uh no don't mention communications and PR I think that
should stand alone. I I said personel and negotiation >> should stand should stand alone >> and I think Kim agreed with that >> right I was speak ahead Kim >> well I was just gonna I was just going to give my my two cents based on you
know my you know experience with some of these committees some of them I don't have in my curriculum I've never been on the curriculum them. So, I'm not going to say anything about that. But, um, as far as um, like negotiations, so I've been on the negotiations committee for
the last three years, you know, um, the the chair this year and I guess Ed as well. Um, so I definitely, you know, was very busy with it. So, I do see it as a standalone. I will say, however, that
now that we've moved into five-year contracts >> that the the the need for, you know, you know, monthly or, you know, quarterly meetings may be reduced, but definitely
when it was active, you know, and I I do also think that you need a point person for some of these other things as well. So, I'm just going to go to like the ad hoc RFP. At a minimum, as an oversight, there
should be, you know, a committee chair for for RFPs and somebody should every year be looking at the RFPs and saying, "Yep, there's still I'll just use banking as an example because we just went into, you know, a new banking last
year, two years ago. We should be looking at that every year and saying, "Yeah, are you getting what you need out or is there any concerns? Should we be go going out to, you know, another RFP?" So of all the RFPs that we had or all we
should somebody should look at them every year >> and so I don't know if you want to call that a committee, but there should be some kind of oversight. >> Can I ask you a question about that? >> Yeah. So the way you're thinking about it, could that not be not a standalone
committee but uh an ad hoc or >> it could be part of finance or does it really need to be a separate thing? I just want to understand >> I think you need a point person. So you whe we we we use the word committee chair. So you need a point person
>> and that point person should work with >> other team members Diane and and so forth to to look at all the the RFPs. We did this three years ago. We looked at every single RV and said, "Do we need to go out and and you know look for
somebody else and we pated the services that we're getting?" >> And you know, we made decisions based on that. And so we did go out for so we didn't. I just think that there should be an oversight that that function should happen every year. >> And you think that that should be
separate from say finance? >> Yep. >> Yes. Absolutely. And you think that judge should be on a standing committee? >> Whatever way you want to because it's either it's in the policy which is required to have it or if it's in an ad hoc then the president says this year we
need this and this is the chairperson. >> I think it should be standing every year. Okay. We should be able to go out to I'm just using banking because I'm intimately familiar with that. We should be able to go out and tell the public every year. Yeah. We looked at the, you know, our
banking services and, you know, we're getting everything that's based on, you know, what we agreed upon. We're happy with them, you know, or not, you know, whether it's legal services,
whatnot. I I think that at least annually there should be some due diligence and we should communicate to the public that we have done that. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Um I I do believe that there's a lot of thoughts put it but I
do value the input that I just heard. It is important that we have a healthy constructive debate. It's so important that this is allowed to have different view there. So I want to honor that and acknowledge that. Um I personally also
believe communication has a place because so many parents have come forth and through our strategic um um planning have that articulate as something that is still
have room to improve so much room to improve in that area. So I I personally want to support that um negotiation. I also believe yes there is a place for it. But I think where we talked about why we would merge that or or even in my
personal opinion if I can um give another possibility to have that as an ad hoc where you would have individual from or committee member from personnel finance and possibly curriculum be part of that ad hoc discussion because I
think there are components of um finance that can lend support to negotiation. how how we set target for basis is that in line but just want to throw out that
it's not being reduced it's being planned structured differently so I just want to you know give one other way of thinking about this that it's not reduced it's restructured that's all you in my view I won't be
meeting any less because I am in a few committee in fact I may be meeting just as much. >> So, >> I was um wondering why we didn't keep or
we wanted to remove the a strategic planning committee. I only say that because I think giving a forward view to the public is valuable. And I know that you can say well you can
merge it with finance but when you get down to the finances it's after things have already been decided. >> So I'm just saying I can start chime in. Um so the strategic planning has been completed. We have plan to work on it in
the next five years. Yeah. >> And and and there are clear goals that I think when we last met with um Diane, it was laid out so that committee certain committee can focus on these goals and
that was my thought in terms of having this committee in some way or more of an ad hoc. >> Exactly. because when we say eliminating committees, what we're talking about is someone shouldn't
be standing. Um, if you look at >> any board, they have usually three committees, maybe one or two more. We are a unicorn and we learned that when we were at the NJBA convention, but I also knew that from my experience in in
life too on the boards that I've served on. So it's not so much where you say there's no more strategic planning. It's no that committee needs to be in existence and the president should create it and dissolve it as soon as their job is done every five years or
whatever. >> How do how do boards who don't operate uh by committees? How do they operate? >> Committee of the whole. >> Committee of the whole. So when they want to discuss things that are that are
discussed in committees. What we discussed in committees now they come together like this and they all meet together. I personally like that. Um I think that that involves everybody. Um I
I like everybody to be part of. Um I know that's not going to fly obviously, but I'm just putting it out there how I feel about it. Um I felt that way from the very beginning because uh when I came on board um I don't know if someone
was happy that I was on board so they gave me things that never met. So um I didn't really feel part of um and then slowly but surely you know what it's fine I mean whatever I'll talk to anybody it's fine but um for me I will
do like that and those kind of boards do exist in New Jersey correct? >> Yes. Yes, I do know that for a fact, but I just wanted you to say thank you. >> And typically, Tanya, those are boards that are smaller, >> right? Traditionally like a five member board would operate that way. I'm just letting you know that's what's typical
for >> Right. But why does it matter if it's >> Oh, no. I'm just I'm just giving you right what we're doing now would happen almost every meeting and we would have that. Yeah. So, okay. That's great.
Everybody knows transparency. >> I I'm I'm sure we're I don't know what time it is. I took off my >> Oh, there you go. What we talked about for you? >> Can I quickly summarize what we've just discussed in terms of numbers and the
committee just to run through it? >> Yes. >> So, as of right now, we discussed having buildings and grounds and security, curriculum and student achievement with equity, finance. So, that's three. Four, personnel with sick day night. Five,
policy and legislative advocacy. Six, comms and PR. Seven, negotiation. A RP. Uh, we have eight right now. >> If I'm correct, that's what I have to >> the president being able to call as
always any ad hoc right >> that's necessary. Did you say communications? Did >> number six. I called it comm. Sorry. What do you call? >> Oh, okay. Because what I had was I had policy. I had curriculum and equity was
number two. Like they were together. Uh number three, I had negotiations. Number four, I had communications and PR. Number five, wait a minute, I'm going to buy my five. Hold on. Probably better if I take off my Oh, is strategic planning.
Number six was RFP. Number seven was finance and number eight was hold on because thank you buildings and grounds and security. That's how I had it.
>> Can I just ask a question? Yes. Sorry. >> I know it says that um there's a board leazison for the special ed committee that was in place and would that also fall under curriculum since most of the obvious.
>> Yes, good point. Thank you. Thank you. Good point. Um, so you know, there are ones that we don't have to say that are being collapsed.
Okay. Um, but we could also make if we really feel strongly about it, we make it a liaison. I think some of them have already liaison, right? So, you know, under committee
reports would be zone reports. So, it could still be the same thing. So, how we all feeling with eight? Do we want to like just go around and raise our hands or how do we want to do how do you want to do it, guys?
>> What are we raising our hands for? May I propose that we take these eight go back into committee and discuss it further and bring it back? >> Absolutely. >> Absolutely. >> That's that good answer. >> So are we good now?
>> Yes. >> Can we go home and >> I think we need to take a motion >> when this when this when this happens. This will be for the next year coming or will this be we'll start everything fresh? Because once something is in our
policy, doesn't the policy start as soon as the policy is for it to be for the next school year? So it would start. >> So you'll wait until then to get it approved. >> So to start in the summer so it coincides with the beginning of the year. >> Okay. So we would all So we would all
instead of like normally the committees are given out after >> Yeah. So we would we would all get new committees starting in the summer >> which will probably end very much. >> Okay. >> Well, we don't know who it's going to be
because >> I I've said that I I have said that >> I said it. So once you do this policy >> read and second read then Mike will have to be prepared with a new list of committees
fill out >> and right and everybody will get a new sheet and I will go back to the board >> motion to can I so the so how we're leaving it is policy
is going to meet, revamp, be discussed and then come back to us. >> Okay. Are we ready to go home everyone? So can I have a motion to adjourn? >> Motion.
>> Motion by Kang. Second Lopez. >> All in favor? I >> Any extensions? >> Any nos? >> Who? You never know who would say no. But okay, thank you so much.