Good evening everybody. Welcome to Oh, they're working really well today. that um welcome to our budget hearing, our May meeting. Pursuant to the open public meeting act of chapter 231, public law
of n 1975, this meeting notice was sent to the far press on April 16th, 2025 and has been duly advertised in the park press issue of April 21st, 2025. All
municipal clerks of the townships, the burls within the freehole regional high school district been duly notified and the requirements for this posting was met on April 22nd, 2025. Can you please rise and join me in the pledge?
Antonio. 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. Thank you,
Antonio. Mrs. Scott, any changes to the executive? Did you want to do roll call? Oh, yes. Let's do roll call. Roll call. Good evening everyone. Uh, Mr. Estella here. Mrs. Bruno here.
Mrs. Capiello here. Mr. Butcher Parks here. Mrs. Higgley here. Mrs. Lavin here. M. McCob here. Mr. Messinger here. Mr. Bruno. Yes. I'm here. Thank you.
Sorry. just the executive. Sorry. Yes. Uh in addition to the items that were noted on the agenda, it was preprinted prior to the start of the meeting. Uh the board discussed uh for exception number seven uh tax levy incentive program in the
2026 fiscal year budget. Uh the board discussed also in that same exception uh the matter agency docket number 2024-36429. Uh the board also discussed uh the uh Englishtown unified planning and zoning board meeting scheduled for
uh May 13th. Uh and the board also discussed uh the bus depot lease. In addition, exception number three, board discussed the student discipline report. And for exception number eight, the board discussed personnel items as noted on tonight's agenda.
Thank you, madam. One more. I'm sorry. One more. I'm sorry. Don't let And for I'm sorry, I missed one. Uh and for number eight, also the uh superintendent evaluation process. That's all. Sorry. Okay. I was going to
wait for you to say that's all. May I have a motion to approve April 10th special meeting? Motion. Second. Mr. is going to be any discussion board. Not hearing any discussion. Roll call. Mr. Soul. Yes. Miss Bruno. Yes. Mrs.
Capiello. Yes. Miss Butcher Farcus. Yes. Mrs. Higgin. Yes. Mrs. Flavin. Yes. Miss Macau. Yes. Mr. Messinger. Yes. Mr. Bruno. Yes. Thank you. Just a reminder, the communications are on file in the
office of the board secretary. And now Dr. Hazel is going to do her superintendent report. Thank you, Mr. Burnout. Um, the school year is winding down. I cannot even believe we are in the month of May. Um, at this stage, we are so excited. We are starting all of
our celebrations with our seniors, uh, the class of 2025. um many ceremonies and festivities um to celebrate all of their accomplishments through their four years of high school. Also, at our upcoming board meeting on June 12th, uh we have
our student awards ceremony. We will be at Manalapin High School. Um so excited to close out the year honoring um many many students uh for their academic accolades as well as um their athletic accomplishments. Uh but tonight is our
public hearing on the budget. Um we went through a lot of information at our last board meeting uh regarding uh Freehole Regionals's budget for fiscal year 26 and for our future for our coming years. This is a district that takes great
pride in being fiscally responsible. um the administration, the board of education, we have been excellent stewards of our budgets. It was our hope that during all of the years of S2 um that things would
change um and that there would be a new and revised budget formula that would increase state aid um to school districts or to our school district, I should say. um that did not occur and we have been working
diligently um through those years and in preparation for this budget. And I just want to provide some background and some context as we prepare for next year's budget and beyond. Last spring, our district, we have an
architect of record, uh, Speasel Architectural Group, they were here with us through the spring and through the summer assessing all of our school facilities and our grounds. Uh it became very clear when they presented the
reports to us that our buildings needed considerable attention uh primarily in the areas of mechanical, electrical, plumbing, roofing and interior
renovations. Um this would include considerable refurbishment and replacement of unit ventilators in the classrooms and in our school. So, our district at that point with all of that information had to really dive
into all of those reports um and the associated costs um you know for this work and we set forth an ambitious path to prepare for a largecale referendum to address our facility
priorities. This work is imperative and needs to be accomplished in our buildings. We need this to operate our buildings successfully and safely for our students. Um we don't need to be labor this, but through our years of S2, um
back in fiscal year 19, we received approximately 50 million in state aid. Now we're at 29 million. A real significant cut to our district. Um but again, we all know we're living in times of rising costs and inflation and we are
far exceeding um the 2% cap. The state aid cut for our district this year was $916,57. So we even had a state aid cut this school year. each year through our years of S2. Um,
unfortunately, we had to cut staff and we did look at that proportionally to our student enrollment to close our budget gap. Um, truly in assessing our schools, we've exhausted, you know, this
option and our enrollment, you know, appears to be flat over the coming years. 2% on the levy. um um is what we are far exceeding um obviously through
the services and cost of goods and year overyear we are facing a deficit and we will face even a higher deficit moving in to fiscal year 27. As we discussed at length at our last board meeting, the New Jersey
Department of Ed has enabled select districts, Freehole Regional being one of them to apply for a tax levy incentive aid program. Um our board approved um Freehole Regional to submit
that application to the DOE. So districts that were spending below adequacy and are below local fair share and have exhausted eligible adjustments in bank cap were eligible for this um application and for this
incentive. Freehole regional through this process uh is eligible to increase expenditures by over 30 million. Right now, the DOE is in receipt of our application and we look
to pass a budget that encompasses an increase on the tax levy of $19 million. Again, eligible for 30 Freehole Regional. We are looking for 19 million plus we will also receive the tax levy
incentive aid at the maximum amount of 1 million for one time in fiscal year 26. I believe and have shared with the board um and through our finance committee that I believe this plan
allows us to responsibly handle what we needed to do through that referendum work and through the work that has been identified through the architectural company. This is our best way uh to manage our risk and to do what we need
for the students of the Freehole Regional High School District. Tonight, uh, Mr. Ferrara, our BA, is going to outline, um, our budget in detail for fiscal year 26 and our future plans for
the Freehole Regional High School District. But in a nutshell, um by voting on this budget tonight and exceeding um the tax levy, this would allow us an opportunity to be able to
handle our budget for fiscal year 26 and make a commitment to this district for the needed facility work that we need to do in the coming years. Um, as always, I appreciate uh this board of education um
our community uh for all of their support um this evening. Miss Cohen is in the audience from Manalapin Township and Ida from uh Colts Neck from the Naval Base. Um we really appreciate um the community support and um we have a
lot to share this evening for our budget. Um and Mr. Ferrara will outline um our budgetary plan for fiscal year 26 for next school year. Thank you, Antonio. Need your vote, too.
Good evening, everyone. Uh so, my name is Alex Ferrer. I am the district's assistant superintendent for business, also board secretary. Um Dr. Hazel kind of did a nice intro of kind of the progress that we've made over the last couple months um in the budget
development cycle. And uh so I'm going to go into more detail as we kind of review um the plan for the 2526 budget um in the fiscal year uh to come. All right. So for the most part,
this is kind of just a rough outline of what we're going to discuss tonight. um the you know the the terminology and other kind of aspects of the presentation will go into various levels of detail uh and then obviously at the end I'll turn it over to Mr. Grudo in
case the board has any questions. So starting off um just based upon you know conversations that I've had with members of the administration the board um building on the work that Mr. voice the administration and the
board of ed have done over the course of years. I just wanted to kind of provide a little bit of a foundation with reference to some of the terminology just to kind of facilitate communication as we go through this. Uh so the DOE requires that districts break up their budgets into specific funds. Um and the
goal is and this is kind of um in line with Gazsby standards. Uh the goal is to promote transparency and comparability between organizations uh in this case obviously school districts. So starting off with funds uh you'll see that the
budget is broken up into four uh main funds. Three of them have to be reported. One of them is fund 10 which is the operating general uh fund and this is the annual budget that kind of governs the district's operations from July to June. on fund 20 which is
special revenue. Um these are financial resources that have very defined purposes. Typically it will be something like state and federal grants, local grants, um student activities. Fund 30 um which we're not presented tonight
because it doesn't have to be approved um as part of this submission this budget is major construction projects that are expected to go beyond uh multiple years. So in the event that the district proceeds with the referendum planning, referendum proceeds would be
reported in fund uh 30. And then finally, fund 40. These are um debt service. These are resources that are used um to pay back long-term debt, more specifically the 2021 bond issuance.
Going down to a little more detail um with reference to the revenues and the appropriations. At the end of the day, for each one of these funds, the revenues have to equal the appropriations um in terms of having a balanced budget. So, local tax levy, pretty straightforward. Those are the
funds that are collected from the municipalities to support the budget. Uh state aid, uh like we've talked about, and we'll get into a little more detail in terms of kind of the trend of state aid over the last uh 10 years. Um those are different kind of uh resources that
the state provides. And there's two components of this, two uh subbuckets. One of them relates to the funding formula uh which is where we spend a majority of our time and then there's a component of it which is extraordinary aid which uh we submit an annual
application and then consequently receive some reimbursements over the course of the summer. Um finally on the revenue side you have fund balance and these are unused resources that the district has access to to support future years budgets. So as an example in the
event that we lapse x number of dollars at the conclusion of this year those funds are to be used uh to offset the needs of future year's budgets. And then on the appropriation side, uh for the most part, uh the the programs are major
expenditure classifications, accounting, jargon, uh function obviously goes into a little more detail. Examples would be instructional uh support services. And then finally, object is uh the actual service or commodity that is being purchased. So on the appropriation side,
we'll focus on the object because obviously that's the easiest one to kind of focus on. So moving on to the actual revenues. Um so as you can see those same funds that I kind of highlighted before uh fund 10, fund 20, fund 40, 10
operating budget, 20 special revenue and 40 debt service. Um the the major things that to kind of focus on here is that district's overall budget that is being presented tonight for consideration by the board. The
majority of the funds relate to fund 10, which is the district's operating budget. That's where we'll spend most of our time. Fund 20s, like I mentioned before, are are kind of targeted to specific purposes. So that will change uh minimally uh year-over-year. And then
obviously fund 40 is statutoily required uh the repayment of debt. So, as we kind of break down a little bit further in terms of kind of revenue sources, uh the proposed uh budget actually has uh the tax levy increase uh
like Dr. Hazel kind of outlined with the tax levy incentive aid. Um I'll talk about that a little bit more in case for folks that were not able to be present or haven't watched the video um on the district website with reference to the presentation that we did at the last
meeting. Um the as you can see the tax levy increase would be a a one-time um increase of 13.5%. On the tuition uh slight increase dollar-wise it seems like a high percentage but for the most part from a
dollar standpoint pretty straightforward. Those are just kind of anticipated uh an additional u tuition dollars that we might be able to kind of bring in as a result of income students. Uh miscellaneous revenue. Um, this one seems once again another one that kind
of seems a little bit off. Um, and basically what this is is primarily interest that the district kind of collects and other kinds of um uh components that that are not kind of don't fall uh evenly into kind of
another bucket. Um, one thing that is kind of skewing the 2425 number are the incumbrances that get rolled over from the 23 to 24 year. So, but other than that, the numbers are kind of pretty flat year to year. State aid, like Dr.
Hazel mentioned, uh the district accounts for not only the $916,000 that we lost in state aid, but also the anticipated extraordinary aid application that we're going to be submitting uh later this spring. And then in addition to that, the $1 million
match that is part of the tax levy incentive aid application. Uh so program basically says that if the district were to increase um the tax levy up to the adequacy budget and like I said I'll get into a little more detail in a little
bit. Um for the most part the state will match 5% of those dollars up to a million dollar federal grants. The big reduction there relates to special education Medicaid initiative funds. uh they are completely reworking the
formula of how they allocate those funds for eligible students. Um bless you. Um that's uh that we're seeing kind of a big drop there. And then finally fund balance and this is something that we've kind of talked about a little bit in
previous meetings uh where the concern is just the ability to regenerate that money year after year. and fund balance uh has a direct correlation to unused dollars that we have from the subsequent year. Uh so the ability in in terms of
kind of having these conversations with other kind of uh finance professionals and and kind of colleagues as well as you know our own auditor the the target is that we we could allocate a fund balance that we feel is responsible for
kind of recurring um kind of long-term kind of implementation. And then finally reserves. Um the major change there is that uh for this 2526 uh we are projecting uh two reserve withdrawals.
One of them is $750,000 for two capital projects outlined also in the resolution tonight and then $130,000 for maintenance reserve to just overall support the maintenance uh the facilities maintenance budget. Both of those numbers represent about 10% of of the
existing balances of the accounts. Now, state aid um this is something that you know I've shared before obviously prior to me u Mr. Boyce kind of you know went into a lot of detail to kind of be able to kind of outline kind of this uh
trend. Uh so for the most part the last seven years that's where the district has uh seen the greatest decline. Um and that's primarily as a result of the S2 budget cuts uh and the formula a uh cuts, excuse me. Um so the the
interesting thing here especially for projected for 26 um the district kind of did away with the whole idea about equalization aid. Um the intention there is that as the conclusion of S2 was was suns setting in essence um that the dish
that the the state kind of reallocated the funds into the the other buckets. Now so what does that basically mean for the district? Um so for most districts that I have seen kind of state aid cuts over the last 7 years um what
the tendency has been is that as the district has kind of made cuts um and as we've seen in kind of some of our neighboring districts including Tom's River and Jackson Middletown um we're not that far behind in terms of kind of where we stand with reference to the
impact to the district's operations but what this graph basically shows is that over the course of that roughly same 10-year period that the district's local tax levy has had to pick up a bigger share of the district's budget. Um, and
that's kind of one of those critical components of this. Um, because at the normal pacing, a 2% tax levy and I and I share this kind of, you know, very straightforward with people is death by a thousand cuts. And the reason that I
say that is because the the 2% tax levy as a taxpayer I could definitely appreciate what the intention was. Um the obviously certain certain costs were kind of out of control. Certain uh municipalities tax rates were out of control and I respect all that. Now that
said 2% on those revenues will never equate to the average of the last 20 years which is roughly a 2.4% 4% consumer price index and especially even the last 5 years where that number has been in excess of 4% we'll never be able
to catch up. So this is something that is a greater kind of conversation uh that needs to obviously take place at the state level. Um and it's impacting more um you know abruptly um the the
districts that have been impacted by S2 over the last seven years. Uh but it's ultimately it's one of those things that will have to get revisited and like Dr. Hazel said in the conversations of both from an administration standpoint, the board of education and public the
intention is that at some point the formally gets ironed out um and this becomes less of a of a concern. But the thing that we've kind of seen here as well is that as a district and then I'll kind of get to it a little bit later in terms of the budgetary cost per pupil
the district has made some cuts right in terms of staffing in terms as as the enrollment has dropped the district has made cuts to try to kind of pace um and to minimize the impact to the taxpayer and obviously to the students. So in terms of kind of
sequencing uh for the budget year um you know we we basically projected uh some increases primarily in areas like salaries, benefits and utilities uh this year especially we're anticipating a high electric uh utility uh cost um
year-over-year. Um then we kind of moved on to the uh you know the impact of the reduction of the state aid and and what would that do for the district. Finally um moving on to the the next kind of
bubble uh discussions with finance uh with reference to you know the impact and how we could close that gap. um 2% tax levy and ultimately adopting a consensus budget which took place um two meetings ago and then moving forward
with reference to making cuts um to the appropriations to balance budget and ultimately the tax levy incentive aid um which for the folks like I said that weren't present at the April 10th meeting um the basic concept here is
that districts that are below adequacy and so what does that basically mean that basically means that the difference between what the DOE deems to be um you know the sufficient financial support for district for thorough and efficient education and the amount actually being
spent by the district. So in our case that number is close to $30.3 million that we are projected to be below advocacy for the 25 26 year and like Dr. Hazel mentioned as part of the tax levy incentive aid program they basically said you can raise your taxes up to that
amount. Um now like uh Dr. Hazel mentioned you know the projection and the recommendation for the board is to increase that to just over $19 million but the the state has that matching component reaching 5% up to a million
dollars. So more importantly, especially for the the community, for the public, why are we even considering this? Um and so the the major thing is that obviously reduces the significant risk that we have with reference to that gap like I
mentioned between revenues inclusive of the 2% and the expenditures kind of outpacing those revenues. um we basically would eliminate the need for a um for you know the the the need for a
referendum um that is large in scale um possibly over the next decade. Uh so we can we can obviously take those funds dedicated commit to using those funds for the purposes of um you know taking
uh and addressing our underfunded and aging infrastructure. And this is something that the district meaning administration that we're proposing to the board um we would basically in partnership kind of commit to that over the next decade in essence to kind of
minimize the risk for that for that referendum. So that's the reason why that uh tax levy incentive aid program is being considered and then consequently the recommendation for for tonight. As we move over to appropriations um you know
the the the administration is proposing the budget uh that obviously takes into consideration tax incentive aid program that we talked about. This is basically the breakdown uh by object code uh which is one of the terms that I kind of talked about before uh which is the most
basic kind of you know metric that the DOE requires us to report on which is the service or commodity being purchased. So in in terms of kind of some of the highlights um we we see that the majority of our dollars are in salaries and benefits. Uh for
FY26 that number equates to about 64%. The average probably throughout the the state is anywhere between low7s and 80%. Um as compared to the 25 uh 25 made
up about 70% of those dollars, right? Uh so the major driver here that you see um is primarily the the heavy focus by the district on equipment. So equipment what does that basically mean? That talks about not only instructional equipment
that you know things that happen in the classroom as well as the um facilities and HVAC improvements that we were talking about um in supporting kind of on a consistent basis. Now, in terms of kind of what's in the
budget, um, so the the major kind of delineation here is with the 2% tax levy cap, uh, we probably would be looking at reducing about 15 positions, uh, reduction in state and support services. Uh, obviously, it's assuming some
additional risk with reference to health benefits. This is an area that the district has been able to kind of navigate uh, a little success more successfully over the last few years. um primarily because we're out of the state plan. We're self-insured. We could
kind of uh minimize some of those third-party costs, middleman types of costs, but we are seeing that pressure um for for 2526. And part of that pressure comes on the back of prescription drugs. um it's not um you
know shouldn't come as a surprise to folks that are kind of either in that field or kind of just aware of of the role of some of these prescription drugs and that the costs that the insurance plans are picking up. Um, had we been in the state plan, we would be seeing
double digit increases on health benefits on both medical, prescription, and and dental is kind of a little a little calmer that that market uh in that industry, but um definitely medical and prescription. Um so the additional
risk would be like we talked about with reference to uh uh on this same if we if we kind of went with it just 2% model um dependency on generating surplus and and fund balance that we talked about and then also leasing versus purchasing
primarily technology equipment and this is one of those things that the district has tried to stay away from as much as possible uh poss for two reasons. one of them once you get into the leasing cycle it's hard to get out of it right um and then the second component is just the
added cost that on an annual basis you know you're you're incurring finance charges uh so it would be just added cost and more pressure on the budget so in terms of kind of the proposed budget with the inclusion of tax levy incentive aid uh 10 of those 15 staff are being
restored um increase in mental health support services, obviously the upgrades, the facilities, HVAC, instructional spaces, primarily targeting science classrooms, um instructional supports and materials that um that obviously will be close to
the students. Um and then the last piece is also within the capital project, we have two gym floors um at two buildings. Now, moving on to the the comparative piece here, right? So every year the the state uh the department of
education releases the taxpayer guide to educational spending. Um and the actual naming convention has kind of changed a little bit over the last decade or so but for the most part um this is an area that freehole regional as a large as a
largest 9 to 12 district in the state um always takes advantage of kind of some costsaving mechanisms just because of our size and our operation. Um, and for the most part, and I shared some information with the board, uh, with reference to a couple of other kinds of
indicators because each one of these is kind of its own indicator. Um, this one specifically is the general total cost, total budgetary cost per. But if we were to look at things like legal and administration,
um, we we would we would fare very very well. Uh so this trend that you see here in terms of how we compare to not only the state average and median but also uh the other 9 to 12 districts as well as Monmouth County that trend is is pretty
uh is pretty historically sound. Um and in terms of kind of for future years as part of the administration kind of trying to maintain an efficient kind of operation, this is not expected to change all that much. Um because
ultimately that's you know and and I know that Mr. Boyce has stood here in the past and basically said when the state looks for models for regional districts, we should be at the at the top of that list. um if nothing else
just because of the the you know large academic programs that we have and obviously the value for for the um for the for the community. Um so the the one thing that we get not necessarily criticized but we get
questioned on periodically is to say hey what adjustments has the district made over the course of the loss of enrollment. Uh so just to kind of give some perspective in 2008 that's when the district kind of had its largest kind of enrollment. The average daily enrollment
in 2008 was uh close to 11,700 kids. Um if you count the share of time kids that probably that definitely was over 12,000. Um and in 2024 uh were just under 10,000. Now in terms of staffing levels
because obviously how that compares uh the district in 2009 uh had just over 1,400 staff members and this year we're under 1,200. So for the most part as if you were to look at these tables
yearover-year over the last 7 10 maybe 15 years like I said these trends are pretty pretty consistent. Um and and basically the district has tried to kind of match its operations and level of effort in an effort to kind of keep up
with with costs um in the best way possible to minimize the impact of students. So in terms of estimated tax rates um so every year the department of education releases what's called the regionalization a regional allocation
and basically what that does is kind of changes column two which is the appropriate share that falls the responsibility of each municipality and that percentage share is based upon primarily two factors. One of them is the equalization valuation of that
municipality in compared to the rest of the group. And then the other one is how enrollment changes for each municipality with reference to the group. Um and they do this not only for 9 to 12 uh in our case but also elementary education just
to kind of see what that trend is. So, for the most part, uh, if the municipality's valuation is going up, if their enrollment is going up as compared to their other peers, then chances are you're going to pick up a larger share
of that of that pie. Um, so column um three is the most recent calculation of the tax rate as it stands right now by municipality. Column four is the preliminary tax rate based upon the
proposed budget that we have tonight and the difference in terms of the rate changes and then the percentage uh uh changes in um in the rates as well. So for the most part um this is
kind of concludes the presentation. Uh we have you know this is kind of an outline of of the presentation highlights. Uh my contact information is there at the bottom in case uh any member of the public wants to kind of reach out and uh has any questions. Um
at this point I'm going to turn it over to Mr. in case the board has any questions for me. Did any board members have questions for Mr. on the bucket? Um I just have a couple of comments. This is my 10th year on the
board. Five years as president. Every year we made cuts and we lost staff and we didn't fix our buildings or we did cosmetic work on our buildings and
fix things that we had to fix. But thank God we did have a referendum passed by our uh towns people. Our taxpayers supported our referendum a couple years ago. That was a big help. But again, we're going back to the taxpayer
um for the tax levy like we did in July. And um we have to because we are not going to become those schools that you mentioned um alone around. Um we cannot become
those schools. We cannot discuss closing buildings. um the staff enrollment, the enrollment that has to do with what's going on within the county and um who's attending
our schools. But we need to keep our schools elite and we need to keep our schools competitive. And someday I'm going to sell my house and move. Um and I need to I need
to have a good school system and um freehole regional is one of the best and um and I'm sure most of the taxpayers in how would agree if we don't have a good school
system um what are we going to talk about parks and recreation? So, um I'm voting yes for this, but um it's just that the last 10 years has always been about this, too. Um and these budget
hearings were kind of depressing. Um this one gives a little bit light, you know, for us. Um a little less pressure. I mean, I know your staff I know your staff has been working on this
budget and um this is a little bit of a gift from the state way I look at it, but um I just don't see a big choice because next year I don't want to be talking about cutting more staff. Um I
want to be talking about adding more programs and maybe some more learning centers. Um we're so unique and we got to keep this district going forward. Any other comments from board members?
Um, Mr. Speak. You know what? Yeah. My other request. Okay. Uh, first off, Alex, I want to thank you for the fiscal outlook report that you had sent us because it was just a phenomenal report
and I didn't really have to do any work researching what's transpired in the past because you basically presented it all in one phenomenal document. So, kudos for you and your staff on that. I
I'll I'll I'll defer the credit to to uh Miss Smith and and the other folks and Yeah. Well deserved. Very good stuff. Um so the other issue is with um so obviously we're going above 2% big tax
increase and the reflex reaction for people who don't like it which is most people is administrative cost administrative costs and we've gone through all the welldeserved uh accolades about the
fiscal prow hours of the way this district is run. So I want to just look at the administrative costs because that's when people always say you got to cut those costs and fire administrators. So
basically the administrative costs in this district are $1,663 per pupil. The high school average in the state of New Jersey is $2,116 per pupil. So, anyone who comes
back and says the administrative costs are out of control is not factually accurate. Okay. So, I have a question from Dr. Hazel. Again, this is been a response to
the people who say you need to fire administrators. Hypothetically, let's look at vice principles and there's three at Malber High School. For the people who say cut administrators, what could you clarify
for the public what the vice principles and just um administrators but you know vice principles are the most forward facing out of the group. You know what do they do? Because when people push back, they figure there's just
luck. So really, we always talk about what will how what will negatively impact students if there's two vice principles or one vice principal. So yes, at Freel Regional High School
District and we are a high school only district um obviously the human capital is what makes schools. We are in the people business. Um we are here to serve our
students, our parents and our community. Um and that job is paramount you know to us that really you know in our schools our administrators um are the ones that are providing kind of that solid framework for the
day-to-day operation of our schools as well as you know the visionary leader of running our instructional programs you know in our school when I look at any school but primarily high schools where
we have 10,000 teenagers, you know, in our schools. First thing is, you know, having safe and secure and healthy environments for our children and our staff to attend each and every day.
That's what parents want from the administration first and foremost. And we all in this district, every administrator and I know teachers alike and every person in in this organization takes that extremely
serious. That's first and foremost before we can even get to doing our primary work. But before we even get to the primary work of providing a high quality education in our classroom is to
ensure that our students can access the curriculum and their program. It's not just about coming to school. It's about being able to have relationships and be able to engage in your classrooms. We as administrators because
this is uh the focus of the question provide the student services and the special services that are need that are needed so that every child in this school district can go into the classroom and thrive and be able to
engage at the highest level in their classroom and they are able to access our curriculum. That is the structures that administrators put forth in their building. In this district, our building principles,
assistant principles, they are more than building managers. We are instructional leaders. That is our primary work. Those other pieces fundamentally have to be there. But our primary work is in the
classroom. Supporting teachers, ensuring that we have the best curriculum, providing all the necessary supports for students, and ensuring that we have high quality professional developments and a great learning environment for our staff
and for our students so that they can, you know, thrive and grow. Our administrators in this district are here for our kids academically, emotionally, socially. We probably have the best
extracurricular clubs, activities, sports programs, um festivities for kids. Um there is a celebration of students in our buildings all of the time and that is facilitated through our administrative teams with
the support of our excellent staff that we have in this school district. This district would not be what it is in the delivery of our curriculum and our program and our assessments if it wasn't for the outstanding leaders that we have in this school district.
We work tirelessly for our students in our community and um I couldn't be more proud of the administrators and our entire staff that we have here to educate our students. I think they deserve every dollar that they get. We
are not here for uh the money. We are here because this is our calling and um I know that every member of this organization would be here for you know and I know they are here for each and
every one of our students and take great pride in serving this outstanding community. I I just want to incorporate one thing here also. Um our supervisor model has changed since I worked here and um uh most of our assistant
principles I would say probably all of them they are all supervisors of departments. So uh you think oh boy they have to go in and out of classroom to observe. It's a lot of work to evaluate other staff members. So I would say all of our assistant principles in all of
our buildings are also department supervisors and um because our model has changed since I've worked here. We used to have department supervisors and now we have very few. So um and um so I just want to make sure our our focus is on
our curriculum, the pedigogy, the instruction and the assessments um that we put forth for our students. Um and that is the work of you know collectively we work hand inand uh with our teachers but um that is a driving force by our principles, assistant
principles and supervisors. Um we are blessed that we do have content area experts um in our buildings that can work directly with our teachers and um you know with uh upper building leadership. Uh we take great pride in that model because uh that is our
primary work. I'm sorry Mrs. I just want to say when I became a principal in 2004, we had nine supervisors in each building and now they're down to four and who do you think's picked up the bulk of that work? But it's the administrative team and they have really dug in and done an amazing job. So
that's how we've cut back on administrative cost by cutting back on the number of supervisors and spreading that work among all the others. So I don't know if people realize that's, you know, over 25 20 year period that's a big drastic cut in administrative costs. So, that's something I think people need
to recognize. Mr. Any other board members comments? Um, anybody else would like to make a comment on our budget? We don't have anyone that signed up tonight to have public notice, but anyone would like to make our budget. Mr. Ferrer, good job.
We don't have any board reports tonight. So, I'm going to go right to Are you ready? Yes, sir. Any changes to the agenda? Yes, Mr. Ferto, we do have uh some
changes that I will read into the record. Um on G2, approval of retirements be resolved that the following retirements be approved as recommended by the superintendent of schools. Uh Dr. Ross, principal of Freelo High School, effective August
31st, 2025. Uh Robert Shepard, bus driver transportation, effective June 30th, 2025. on resolution G13 approval change of status uh be resolved that the free regional high school district board of education approves the following change
of status as recommended by the superintendent of schools. Um starting off with Janine Kerry board agenda April 10th 2025 6 period assignment change the sixth period assignment dates uh effective May 8th to June 30th. Uh,
Nazine Cotton. Uh, board agenda March 13, 2025. Appointment change long-term sub predeem appointment dates to effective March 21st, 2025 through May 21st, 2025. Cara Dailyaly, um, April 10th's
agenda, uh, sixth period assignment, change the sixth period assignment dates to effective May 8th, uh, through June 30th. The same applies for Ryan uh V G V G V G V G V G V G V G V G V G V G Von um April 10th agenda as well, Bruce Juska,
April 10th and Tower week um April 10th as well. So those are the changes with reference to G2 and G13. And then one final or one minor typo with reference to the board resolution which is H3
uh on the table that has the revisions of since the tentative budget on the revenue budget line which is labeled 103190 other state aid. um that is
incorrectly um reflected as 46,976. That number should actually be zero. Uh if we were getting other state aid in the amount of $46 million, we would be not having this conversation today. Um so type all that front. Uh so the final
budget for that for that line is going to be a million which reflects the anticipated million dollars of of the matching funds that uh the state's going to offer. And then the last column the change obviously is a million dollar. Uh the reflective totals will now change to
169 287 806 and then the final budget 189 368097. Um, like I identified before, I apologize for the change and the edit. Um, as as I kind of noted before and Dr. Hazel kind of alluded to before, the
this whole tax levy incentive aid um, we've had to kind of pivot several times in terms of numbers and resolutions and tables and stuff like that. So, I apologize for the typos um, with reference to that. Thank you. May I have a motion to approve G1
through G17? Motion second. Any discussion board? Yes. I would like to just say uh in regards to Beth English, she I just want to give a shout out from Manalop and how amazing she was when she came to Manalin. She's really
changed our programs around the community around and uh she'll be missed, but I know that she'll do a wonderful job at her new place. Great. Any discussion? Roll call, please. Masoli. Yes. Miss Bruno. Yes. Mr.
Capiello. Okay. Yes. Off everything except I have some abstensions on G4 to Michael Capiello, Christine Jenner, Brian Post, Pete Mi, Craig Churn, and Jeremy Broberman.
Okay. Thank you. Miss Busher Farcus. Yes. Mrs. Higgley. Yes. has some patience. I have a few extensions. I've extended Pal High School to Joanne Becker, Matthew Coulson, Christina Aquavella, Pete Mi,
Craig Churn, Christine Jenner, Brian Post, and Jeremy Boberman at Freel Township, Carol Kesky, Rachel G, Michael Matthews, Joshua Mel, Shabri Dao, Michael Dylan, Leanne Reinwald, and Alicia Celzone, Epan Alpen High School,
Chris Provo, and Sean Curry. on G13 to Joanne Becker and G16 to Chris Provo, Joshua Joshua Mel, Rachel Gal, and Joanne Becker. Again, just note that the list was for G4
uh in addition to G3 as the Jonathan Tesco. I'm sorry. Thank you, Mr. Clickley. Um Mavin, yes. Mau, yes. Mr. Messinger, yes. Mr. Ber, yes. Thank you. Pass.
May I have a motion to take on H and program operations, building, transportation, and physical plan H1 through I3. Motion. Second.
Mrs. Caviello. Any discussion board? You good? Any discussion? Not hearing discussion. Roll call. Miss Ratullik. Yes. Miss Bruno. Yes. Mrs.
Capiella. Yes. Miss Butcher Parks. Yes. Mrs. Higgley. Yes. Mrs. Lavid. Yes. M. Macob. Yes. Mr. Messinger. Uh, yes. For everything except H3. No. Thank you, Mr. Bruno. Yes. Thank
you. All motion's passed. Educational Program Administration J and K J1 through K3. Motion. Second. Second. Any discussion board?
Not hearing any discussion. May I have a roll call? Mati, yes. Miss Bruno, yes. Mrs. Capiello, um, yes on everything except on J5, I abstain on Michael Capiello and K1, I abstain on Dr. Hazel.
Thank you, M. Butcher Farcus. Yes. Mr. Sigley. Yes. Except on K1, I stayain on Dr. Hazel. Thank you, Mr. Lav. Yes, Mr. McConn. Yes, Mr. Messenger. Yes, Mr.
Bruno. Yes. Thank you. Motion's passed. Do we have any old business board members? Want to discuss any old business and I know that you have some things in. Okay. So, I have the uh pleasure to welcome to
our esteemed administrative team um and to congratulate um our new member um Mr. Jonathan Tlesco. If you could please stand, the new assistant principal at Freehold Township High School, actually replacing uh Mr. Michael Dylan. Mr.
Tlesca comes with us an experienced high school assistant principal. Um has been an educator since 2001. I know before your administrative work you were a high school um as well as a middle school teacher um and also involved in coaching
and athletics um was an athletic coordinator as well. I know you will be a tremendous asset to our district. Um, you know, as a as a note, uh, when we were, uh, discussing with your references and through the interview process, what I think really came
through, um, was your expectations and your commitment um, to the students, to the parents, and the community uh, to whom you serve. So, um, you will be a fine addition um, to the Freehold Regional High School District. many colleagues and friends here this
evening, but we congratulate you and welcome you um to Freehole Regional High School. Also, I'd like to recognize um a colleague and friend um Dr. Ross, I see you back there. Please stand. Dr. Ross has served in the
Freehole Regional High School District since 2011. Uh started as the uh an assistant principal at Manalapin um high school. Um and is presently um as all of you know the principal of Freehold High
School. Um this evening um the board accepted your retirement. Um I know um it's it's bittersweet um but I um you have you know served a long time in public education from a teacher um to a
building principal I know or a central office supervisor you've really done it all uh a professor um at the university level as well um Levetic just you have a commitment um and care uh for the students and the community in which you
serve. Um, I know you have a couple of months left with us and through the summer and uh will definitely guide and help us uh as we find uh the next principal for Freehold High School. Um, your school is a full title one school.
You have done great work there um to serve the students in the community. Um, we're going to miss you. Um, this is just the beginning of all the celebrations, but um, I just wanted to recognize you here this evening um, because we accepted uh, your retirement.
So, uh, a credit to you and your full team over at the school for the outstanding work that you've done um, serving and leading Freehold High School. You think I'm going to see you on Wednesday for lunch, right? I just also want to recognize Frank Voltieri who's
retired from Freel Township and he always went above and beyond but he did a lot of unique things. He put the first disc golf course ever in a high school. He designed it, built it in our school. He made Gaga courts, uh, outdoor volleyball nets. He's the one that first
brought pickle ball years ago before I ever heard of pickle ball to our district. And he was always very innovative and using new things, new ways to keep the kids engaged and involved. and he's going to be a great boss to the school, but I congratulate him for his time. Very nice.
Anybody down here? Um, first of all, Dr. Cross, how are you? Uh, congratulations on your retirement though. We're sorry to see you go. Um, just a couple of things. Two weeks ago was administrative assistance day. So, I want to say thank you to all of the administrative assistants in the
district who quietly and diligently keep the buildings running uh and keep everything going. Last week also uh on Thursday was National Principal Day. So, thank you to all of our principles and administrators throughout the district
uh who work uh so hard throughout the district. And of course, this week is teacher appreciation week. So, thank you to all of the teachers throughout our districts um in celebration and take a well-deserved uh cupcake in in honor of uh teacher appreciation. Got a lot of
treats each day. Thank you. Um just a note for your calendars, the next board meeting is June 12th. We're going to do our awards, our district awards that night. Um so the schedule's a little bit different when we start our time and it's at
Manalopan. June 12th at Manalen is our district awards and our June board meeting. So have board members can put that down on your calendar. Um and we're going to be at Manal. Um we're going to finally get back into the schools. Be nice. Um
Mr. Bruno, I'd like to make a motion to adjourn. I was going to say I have a motion to adjourn. And I'll second and I have a second. Mrs. Capiello. All those in favor? I like means a D.