All right. Can I have uh a motion to open our public meeting? Can I have a motion to open? Seconded by Miss Stevenson. Karen, are you able to call roll? >> Yes. Mr. Colin?
>> Yes. >> Mr. Corey? >> Yes. >> Mr. Hayward? >> Yes. >> Miss Parlamus? here. >> Dr. Pooie Bender. >> Yes. >> Miss Stevenson. >> Yes. >> Mr. Tang.
>> Yes. >> Dr. Robins. >> Yes. >> Motion passes. >> Thank you. All right. I'll actually do the flag salute today. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Adequate notice of meeting in accordance with PL1 1975 chapter 231. Notice of
tonight's meeting was mailed to the record in the Ridgewood News on January 6, 2026. Notice of this meeting was also mailed to the burough clerk and was posted on the bulletin board of the board of education office in the administration building on the same date. I hear a little bit read our mission
statement, please. The Glenrock School District, founded on principles of education in partnership with the supportive community, provides an exceptional education to all students to cultivate resilient, responsible, and engaged global citizens.
I'd like to also just take this moment uh to share that Glenrock's lost a beloved member of the community, Mrs. Karen Mitchell, who is a loved teacher at Central School and longtime Glenrock residence uh resident has recently passed away. And I'd like to take a moment of silence just to reflect on the
impact that all teachers, especially her, have on this community. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. >> Good evening, everyone. Uh, I know I'm not usually in attendance for the first
meeting of the month, but since the last two regular meetings were cancelled due to snow days, I'm here. and I have a lot of updates since my last report. So, uh, let's jump right in. So, both basketball teams are currently playing in the state sectional tournament, uh, with both playing their third round games
tomorrow. So, good luck to them. Three of our wrestlers placed top three in their weight classes at the NJSIA district tournament, qualifying for the regional tournament, which will take place on Friday night. Uh, and the winter track team con continues to set what seems like school record after
school record just all the time. Uh, with multiple athletes qualifying for nationals in Boston. Uh, and spring sports will begin practices next Monday. So stay tuned for updates on them. Uh, I also just wanted to highlight the vocal
music winter concert which was on December 17th. It was a long time ago. Um, but multiple choirs of the Glenrock High School students sang songs from around the world across many time periods and themes. And I just want to say how impressed I was with the exceptional level of musical talent of
those students. And I'm very excited to attend the spring concert. On February 26th, the inaugural class of the SAI Alpha Psychology Honor Society uh was inducted. So, congratulations to those uh psychology students. Uh and overall
morale is pretty high in the hallways as semester 2 is in full swing. Uh especially with the success by the sports teams as well as the exciting spring events coming up. Um I also just wanted to take the time to address policy 2430 uh which I
previously proposed a change for. I understand the concerns about staffing as well as efficiency when it comes to how many students are actually interested in the club and whether that club already exists. However, I still want to highlight the importance of publicizing the criteria to get a club approved. Uh, as I feel it's unfair for
students who fill out the application and are unaware of why it might not succeed. Uh, and to that end, I also want to suggest that if the same once per year application cycle is kept, uh, it happens during the school year rather than in the summer. So, students are able to potentially meet with the review
board and speak to them about why their club may not have been approved. Uh it would also allow students to begin club programming in that same school year. Uh which is important for a club sustainability, a key part of the process which was mentioned in the last meeting. Uh I also agree with the recommendations
that some clubs can and should start outside of school and then be brought onto campus once they've been established. Uh and I'd actually like to propose a program that should be implemented to set some clubs that were denied approval on a track to be approved later on. Uh if for example a student wanted to start a club but was
unable to garner the necessary support from other students for that approval, uh that club could operate outside of school until a later year's application cycle uh once it's been able to obtain that level of membership. Uh these clubs which of course be aligned with school rules and policies uh should also be
able to advertise within the school as the same way as certain as current clubs do such as during the club walkound or posting flyers in the hallways. This issue is very important to the Glenrock High School student community. And while I understand the concerns about changing parts of this policy, I'm committ I'm
committed to working with you all as well as the review board to compromise and ensure expanded access to extracurricular opportunities for all students. So, thank you. >> Thank you so much, Hudson, and thank you for your insight and um advocacy. Thank you.
>> All right. Uh just a few things. Um this morning I was looking at the weather and it it told us told me that today is going to be the coldest day of the until next winter. Isn't that a nice one? You know that uh this is it. We're we're going to start warming up. So I'm I'm looking forward to that. It's nice to
see the snow melting out there. Um also one of my favorite days of the year of daylight savings time beginning. I love it when it's light after work again. Um just a couple updates as as things move into the spring. Um, we have right now 147 kindergarteners registered for next
year, which is right on pace with where we normally are for the year. We also have 15 preK registrations. Um, that's tuition paying students in the preK with a weight list of maybe 10 or 12 kids on top of that. So, we can expect to have a full house next year, which is great. Um, really happy to see that that
program thrive. the uh couple updates that I want to give uh real quick. We do a a full-on program of studies update for the high school which because it's a much more formalized thing. Uh with the middle school, we just kind of give general updates about things that that might be changing in the in the
curriculum for next year. And really there there isn't a lot of change except in the music program. We're always looking to offer electives that students want to take and uh to drive some interest there. So, the music teachers have been working on some some new or some re revamped courses uh that I
wanted to just bring to the board's attention. Uh we're looking at um where are we? Choir six, adding that to our our list of of opportunities for our youngest uh in the middle school, our sixth graders. Um a new course called
music on the screen. So it's about music and kind of its importance not just in TV and movies and film but also in video games and online you know video kinds of things. So the the impact of music on on those things. Um they're revamping the Broadway workshop course to make it a
little bit more uh hopefully a little bit more interesting to some of the students and also revamping the course on music legends which is kind of about the the big name music legends in the music industry. And then lastly, a new course called World Percussion, which
we're hoping we'll we'll bring in some some interest there in in in our music program. So, we're looking forward to seeing those and and students will have the option to rank those as their their choices when they're in middle school. Um, and then the last thing that I I want to update the board on, uh, we've
been talking I was talking with Dr. Robinson and and I know I emailed you about this last week, uh, or the week before. Um, talked with Melissa Del Rossi. D Rosaso um who's the um New Jersey school board's rep for for our area about looking into that um
strategic planning and profile of a of a graduate or profile of a learner work that they do. So she and I talked today about that for a bit. Uh she agrees this this would be really good work for us to be doing. Um they are kind of revamping the way that they approach that in school boards that it used to be two separate things, the profile of a
graduate and the kind of strategic planning piece and now they're lumping it into one one thing. I think that she said it was um generally it's a three sessions of community input um you bringing folks in to to talk about it. Um there is a a small cost in addition
to our New Jersey school board's membership. Um but it sounds like a promising thing. She is available if we're interested in coming here at our next meeting on March 23rd to just talk about the process a little bit more with us. She's not available that night for
the full-on training that she's going to do on April 6th. We couldn't schedule her for the 23rd, but she can swing by here on the 23rd to talk with all of you about that if this is something we'd like to pursue. I see heads nodding. Okay, I'll reach out to her tomorrow and and ask her to come on the 23rd and we
can chat more about it. >> And that concludes my report. >> Thank you. Looking forward to that. Um, so I see on our agenda next is our student safety data system and HIP report. Um, thank you Miss Deltuna.
that time of year again um which runs through September uh through to December. So we report out to what twice a year reporting period one and reporting period two. Uh this is just a review of our current anti-bullying specialists across the
district. Um in the fall we have our annual meeting with the anti-bullying specialists. Um I meet with all the bu the anti-bullying specialist specialists to review responsibilities, procedures, expectations to ensure consistency
across the school. Um throughout the year, I provide ongoing support to specialists including guidance and assistance with investigations as needed. Um in particular, we do have two uh new anti-bullying specialists. Um, so
in those cases, I'll provide support specifically with investigations and following up at the building level to ensure um, all of our procedures are carried out. Um, at the beginning of the school year, we provide training at the new staff
orientation. Um, and we also provide the buildings uh, building level leadership with resources to turn key to their buildings. Um, additionally, I've met with the building principles to review policies and procedures again to ensure that consistency is happening across all
six schools. So, this slide shows our trainings and programs. Um, just to clarify, a training refers to instruction andor practice activities that are specifically designed to prepare staff to implement a program or strategy. Um a
program is defined as a series of organized events, plans or systems uh designed to move towards a specific goal. Oftentimes those goals is building positive school climate culture um you know promoting positive behaviors um
peer peer-to-peer positive peer-to-peer interactions. Um the district provides a range of appropriate programs and trainings opportunities at all levels. Um specifically at the high school and middle school. These uh programs may include the wellness fair, our
peer-to-peer mentoring program which has been really successful. Um we've have regular class meetings and in the middle school they have advisory lessons regularly. Um, students also receive HIV focused classroom presentations and participate in assemblies that reinforce
expectations around behavior, respect, and reporting concerns. At the elementary schools, our programming includes ruler family night, week of respect. Um, we have lots of community service projects and schoolwide emotional uh social emotional learning
initiatives such as the community teams, lessons, and assemblies. Um, additionally at the elementary schools, students also participate in character education lessons, kindness week, conflicts, conflict resolution instruction, and um, a variety of schoolwide assemblies.
All these efforts reflect an ongoing year-over-year commitment to provide structured, developmentally appropriate programs that support a positive school culture and reinforce our anti-bullying expectations in alignment with state guidance. At every building, there is a school
climate and safety team. Um, this is a requirement of the anti-bullying rights act. The purpose of this team is to promote and sustain a positive school climate through ongoing systematic practices and to regularly review and strengthen school climate initiatives
and related policies. Each team includes key stakeholders such as the principal at the middle school and high school. It also includes the assistant principal. They have teacher representatives, the anti-bullying specialist um and a parent member. This
structure ensures shared responsibility, transparency and consistency and monitoring school climate and supporting safe respectful learning environments across the district. So some of the responsibilities of the school climate and safety team um is
that they are responsible for developing fostering and maintaining a positive school school culture and climate through ongoing um practices including addressing climate concerns such as harassment, imitation or bullying. Um each team is required to meet at least
twice during the school year. During these meeting the team meetings the teams will review HIV complaints that have been reported to the principal and work to identify and address any patterns or trends within the school. Um parents are a part of this and valued members although they do not participate
in the discussions or activities that could compromise uh student confidentiality. Okay. So here is our actual data from September 1 to December 31st 2025. Um this is a summary of school incident
data by school. Um it's important to note that the incident total um only reflects violence, vandalism, substance, weapons, and HIV confirmed. These are required for state reporting. Um what is noteworthy is that we have no reported incidents involving vandalism,
substance, weapons, or confirmed HIV at any school. Um the category that says other incidences leading to removal. Um these reflect incidents that do not that require removal but do not fall into the state reportable categories. Um examples
of these might be disrespect toward staff or students. Um leaving school grounds without permission. That's specifically a high school related one. Um at the middle school that might include misuse of school equipment and violations of acceptable use policy.
Um, the HIV alleged column reflects reports that were investigated but not confirmed as HIV. Many of these allegations included off-campus or cyber digital activity. While not all reports meet the legal definition of HIV, each
was taken very seriously and investigated in accordance with district procedures and state requirements. Um in response to some of these trends um we've see preventative measures measures being implemented at the middle school in particular. Um we are in the winter
months where students are indoors. So we've increased supervision in the gym during in doro lunch. Um and we have designated indoor lunch um as uh electronic free. So these steps reflect a proactive approach by the building administration focused on supervision
prevention and maintaining a positive school climate. This slide represents the trends from the last uh four years. Um this is the incident totals. So remember that includes violence, vandalism, substance,
weapons and HIV confirmed. Um the high school we have significantly seen a steady decrease in these over the time. In middle school we see one additional incident this year as compared to this time last year. Again, we're only comparing reporting period one over the
years um and some of our building level administration in response to some of this data. Again, the increased supervision in in certain areas of building um in advisory period, they're specifically strengthening targeted lessons. So, they're constantly revising
those uh advisory lessons. Um each week the each each month the advisory team leaders um our team leaders get together with the building principal and look at those lessons and really target them in response to any sort of trends that they're seeing. Um
we also expanded program um including restorative practices. We had a training on restorative practices early this school year and we have um piloted some community circles in the classrooms in the middle school um which has been a large success. Overall, the data is reviewed regularly and used to guide
adjustments in supervision, instruction, and program um to proactively support a safe and positive learning environment. Um the last slide is the trends in other incidences leading to removal. Um so in the middle school, the the this has
remained predominantly the same and I would say looking at the data, the most common examples of these incidences are misuse of school equipment or violations of the acceptable use policy. Um so those are the typical um data that falls into the other incidents leading into
removal. The high school the most common examples under other incidences leading to removal are leaving school without permission um disrespect towards staff or students or use use of threatening language. Um those would all fall under other incidences leading to removal. Um
so building level administration reviews this information regularly um to guide lunch supervision assemblies uh class meetings um advisory lessons and other proactive members measures to support a positive school climate and prevent escalation of these behaviors.
Uh and that concludes my report. >> Thank you very much Miss Delortino. >> Thank you. Um, does anybody have any questions or feedback? >> Thank you so much. Thank you.
>> Thank you. >> All right. So, typically in in February and March, we do a mid-year update of our district goals, which I will go through fairly quickly. Um, so just to
recap, we had uh nine goals, three for kind of each area, elementary, secondary, and then finance and operations. And I'll go through each of the goals and kind of update you on where we are in those in those achieving those goals. So the first goal for elementary is
about using ruler as one of our major practices for social emotional learning. Um using the revised curriculum materials, the classroom charter, community circle, mood meter, etc., etc. And and this is the one that we're we are marking as complete. Um the guidance
counselors have presented um at ruler at new teacher orientation to onboard new staff. Uh principles created master schedules that include community circle and ruler time every day. We're very much making it a part of our of our daily interaction.
Principles joined a community circle meetings to welcome the students back. So, they they've been part of this as well. Teachers and students co-created class charters in the classrooms in September. Counselors have created new lessons over the summer that created new lessons over the summer are going to be rolling out this spring. And each school
has hosted a family ruler night in the fall and we'll host another one again this spring. So, so I think definitely we're we're very much on track with with goal number one. With goal number two, um, for elementary was about coaching and about job
embedded professional learning. So, coaching cycles, PLC's, planning sessions, grade level meetings, uh, demo lessons, etc. with progress tracked through the coaching logs, agendas, meeting notes, etc. So, again, we're marking this as complete. the intervention coaches and the building
principles have facilitated PLC's um in each of the buildings. Some of the topics of these PLC's professional learning community in case you're not up on the jive sorry I try and avoid acronyms as much as I can but you know how it goes. Uh building thinking classroom shifting the balance not your
granny's grammar small groups big results reading structures and fluency student engagement and listening. So these are some of the the PLC's that have been offered in the elementary level so far. Uh we have ongoing grade level meetings with principles and intervention coaches to redefine to
refine instruction and respond to student needs. The elementary supervisor and the coaches organized and led district-wide grade four meetings to align curriculum assessments, instructional practices. The coaches conduct regular INRS follow-up meetings regarding student interventions. And the
Sunday, that's our uh reading, sorry, a word study program for phonics and such at the elementary level. The Sunday professional development refresher was delivered by elementary supervisor to K to3 staff. And then we had a Sunday trainer in here to work with our fourth and fifth grade teachers because it was
new to them this year. Continued for goal number two. Um just give you more information. Uh the uh intervention coaches have um conducted I'm sorry where are we here? Yes. Yes. Conducted targeted they conducted
targeted planning sessions for new teachers to build instructional foundations. Uh we we always have new teachers and we're really targeting to make sure that they're right on board with everybody else. The coaching cycles and demonstration lessons have centered on high impact strategies and interventions including follow-up
support connected to prior professional learning. We have peer-to-peer observations organizes collaboration between coaches, principles, and the supervisor within and across schools enabling teachers to learn from colleagues and bring effective practices back to the classroom. And the elementary supervisor is delivering PD
at all faculty meetings about understanding the needs of gifted learners because that's one of our our targets there. So when we say complete, you know, 100% of our teachers have engaged in at least one type of meaningful job embedded professional learning and we have a lot of examples of of the things they're participating
in. Goal number three for elementary uh 100% of classroom teachers will utilize formative collection data collection tools to create weekly flexible grouping during the win period. So this is that flexible uh intervention period that
we've built into the week uh for all students. So again 100% of our teachers have done this. Our coaches and teaching staff have participated in professional learning demonstration lessons about utilizing assessment data to create flexible grouping. The principles, coaches, and elementary supervisor
facilitated conversations during grade level meetings related to analyzing benchmark data to inform instruction. PD provided by principles, coaches, and elementary supervisor at the new teacher orientation on MTSS, that's multi-tered system of supports and interventions.
Principles, coaches, and elementary supervisor visit the classrooms during the win period to determine appropriate next steps and necessary support. And the coaches provide small group and/or individual coaching sessions to support win planning. Moving on to secondary,
the first goal um is that by September of 26, so this coming fall, develop and implement a standardized INRS protocol across the middle and high schools, including referral process, timelines, pilot documentation for template tracking, and training for building
level teams. Again, uh they did this work and and are marking this as complete. the there is a clearly defined middle and high school INRS teams have been created by uh including administrators, child study team members, wellness counselors, school counselors, classroom teachers, and
those teams meet twice per month. The refer referral forms have been revised and posted on the schooly pages for easy access so that we know we're all using the same form now. All staff members have received training on the form changes and the process for submitting. The data collection template and
tracking system have been created and are in use. 6 to 8 week timelines for data collection and review have been established. And the mid-year reports identifying trends for each school have been submitted to me, the acting superintendent for review.
The second goal for secondary we're marking as in progress. Um, it says by June of 26, 100% of core subject teachers will administer one departmentwide common benchmark assessment per marking period to track student growth against curricular standards. So, here's where we are in
progress. Supervisors have collected and reviewed all benchmarks for marking periods one and two. Teachers have administrator administered those benchmarks in all core subjects in marking periods one and two. We're now the supervisors are now collecting and reviewing benchmarks three and four which will then be administered during
mark period three and four. Thus it's still in progress. Supervisors have led data review with teams of teachers for benchmarks one and two at the department meetings common planning time data review meetings and PLC's again professional learning community. Teachers are utilizing the data to
inform instruction and have when necessary revised course assessments accordingly in concert with supervisors. Goal number three for secondary is about um there are two parts to it. So I have two slides here. The first part is 100%
of teachers will implement a targeted standards aligned tier 2 support program for grades six through eight in mathematics and um and that's going well. Um I've talked with yes she's giving me two thumbs up right now. Miss Dela Fortuna um is coordinating that. Um
so this is the middle school math lab that we are running to to support the the students in math. So, all middle school mathematics teachers provide tier 2 small groupoup instruction twice per rotation with ongoing data tracking of student progress targeted to students individual needs to support achievement
and grade level standards. The student data and eligibility criteria are reviewed quarterly by the mathematics supervisor and teachers to monitor progress, determine appropriate support. And based on these reviews, students enter and exert tier 2 support as needed with the mathematics supervisor
communicating decisions and next steps to families. So she's very much coordinated. Yeah. >> Can I can I ask a question about how that sure is run? I And I only because I know she's helping here. So um >> I better get it right. >> Is it how how how does that work? cuz I
I was excited to to to see that on um you know like started up this year and like so what is like what is the math lab doing like do the kids >> luckily we have the math supervisor here still and so she's going to answer that question for you
>> I know >> I'm glad you stuck around >> since you're here otherwise I'm I would have just emailed >> um it's going really well so all six of my middle school math teachers are running math lab twice a rotation which is a half a lunch Um so it's working out really well with indoor lunch.
Everyone's happy to go to math lab. Um and so right so we review the eligibility criteria which is their performance their current level performance in the course um their previous NJSLA scores um and teacher recommendation. You know the teacher recommendation would be that maybe this
child needs some basic skills remediation or benefits from small group instruction. Um so our sizes in math lab run to about like five to 10 kids depending on the teacher. Um we try to keep it on the smaller side to ensure that you know every student is getting what they need. Um and we track the
data. So we track what skill is being taught in that math lab. Um whether the student is developing or proficient or mastered. Um and then we will track whether or not um what the next steps would be for that teacher. So, I have access to all the data. Um, and I'm
communicating with parents regularly. They're probably sick of getting emails from me. Um, and so it's it's going quite well in the small groups. Um, I'm getting tons of positive feedback from the parents. Um, and so each quarter we reevaluate using that checklist to decide if a student should exit or
continue into the math lab into the next quarter. >> Thank you. Um, I can say that just, you know, subjectively, I haven't really received many or if any emails at all from middle school, um, parents with math. And that is probably
the first time that I can say that for years now. So, um, I'll just take that as like another positive feedback that I I'd say. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Del Fortuna. Um the
second half of goal number three is about the sixth grade language arts English language arts curriculum that we wanted to enhance that to improve student learning outcomes um etc. So uh this is also in progress y um sixth grade implementation of mem which is an
online program. It's a personalized vocabulary instruction um is something we're using now across all reading classes. uh the supervisor of English has and the teachers have reviewed the data from the mem from me in conjunction with benchmark data review and then the
supervisors plural uh several of them have planned and facilitated the first two meetings of the interdisciplinary literacy PLC. So one of the I mean educators know this forever all of literacy doesn't happen in the literacy block right it it is a it is a thing
that should be baked into especially social studies but also science and and like people kids should be reading and writing everywhere so so we involve everybody in this so there's an interdisciplinary literacy PLC including teachers from language arts social studies and special education uh the
first meeting they focused on aligning language expectations classroom best practices uh with professional learning provided by the supervisors. The second meeting they were talking about building core competencies and a toolkit for teachers across departments to ensure horizontal alignment as coordinated by
supervisors. If I'm giving you writing feedback in my language arts class, it'd be nice if he was giving you similar feedback in the social studies class about your writing, for example. So, similar rubrics and language and all of those things are what we're coordinating. That's what we mean by horizontal. Uh, and the third meeting
was about aligning the upcoming benchmarks to the NJSLA. Okay, that's adaptive in style and focus with expertise provided by supervisors in unpacking those standards, best practices on assessment construction. Uh the fourth meeting will focus on unpacking that assessment data. So what
do we do with the results of of what we have there? So this is an ongoing uh in progress goal as well. And now we move on to finance and operations. And I will let Mr. Canelis take over for a few.
>> Thank you, Mr. Vaness. So goal number one uh was to um reach out and get our state health plan claims rates from the state uh and you know work with our benefits advisors to determine the feasibility of changing
plans based on the district's claims rate. Um as you all have heard from uh prior discussions about the budget uh we have done that. We have submitted that report to our uh uh benefits consultants and uh there's not a hope for us to get
out currently uh based on a claims rate of 131%. Um our second goal was to engage uh PSA who is our architect of record uh to provide a proposal for district-wide building assessments. Um and then upon
receipt of the proposal uh to evaluate the proposal and determine which would move forward um within three months we'll complete the assessment and provide a report uh prioritizing the project. So this is in progress. Uh we have engaged PSA. PSA has done at least
three walkthroughs uh of our facilities. The last one being uh this past Friday uh that included PSA um an engineer, our buildings and grounds director, our facilities
manager, and myself where we reviewed every building in the district and created almost um uh here's everything that's wrong and here's everything that we would also like. Uh so we hope to get something back from them within the next
three to four weeks. Uh they have to come back. Um unfortunately we weren't able to get up on top of roofs. Uh so they'll come back and go on the roofs and give us an assessment of roofs as well as uh building facades and things of that nature that were just not doable
uh on Friday. And last but not least, uh we have our continued uh commitment to reducing the district's reliance on excess surplus to balance our budgets. Uh we had set a goal of $100,000 for the 2627 budget. uh that reduction has been
successfully implemented in the proposed budget that has been circulated amongst the board. Um and we look forward to continuing that $100,000 reduction uh for the next couple of years until we can get this number uh to a controllable
and a comfortable level. >> Thank you. That concludes our report about district goals. This is just a mid-year kind of snapshot of where we are now. You can see there's still some things to work on and a lot that has really been done. >> Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Um are
there any comments, questions, feedback, anything? >> All right. It's nice to see that we're on track. Thank you. Um so at this time I would like to open up uh the first set of public comments for action items only. Um please state your name and
address and you'll have three minutes. just for action items. >> Okay. >> Okay. Thank you for your service. Um Sanji Worry, 131 Fair Mount Avenue, Glenrock, of course. Uh I have a couple of question. I I saw the report
here, right? Is that the year- end report goal that we achieved or this is a mid year review of the goals? >> Sorry, >> it's a mid year. Okay. And the way you guys see the complete complete I think
couple of months ago last year someone Dr. Robinson I think you gave the report of the data where the school is progressing the scores and testing. you think those this report reflect the progress that uh you guys shared?
>> I'll I'll be able to um address your questions like after like after that's my question reflect on that. >> Good. So I just want to make sure there's a correlation between uh that. >> Uh another one is uh
I have a question about uh community school. Can I ask that because that's not part of the agenda so I can't Okay, good. Uh the budget is part of the agenda, right? >> It is part of the agenda. Um which I mean I'll I'll include this knowledge
but so we actually are changing our our budget um not sorry our um agenda to reflect action items only. So it would be something that we're acting on. So the the budget isn't something that we're like voting on today. Um, so it's not technically an action item, but
>> you're already here, so I'm not even >> I like to see you guys more often, but that's fine. I also heard about the the uh the registration for the kindergarten. What is that number? I forgot. >> 147
>> which is on track with what we have. >> 147. >> I think you maybe answer that later. like do you know what's the how many sections we are planning to have for the kindergarten and how is that compared to the previous two years how many sections
this enrollment is high or low >> I'll I'll related to that one is I was talking to some people in community uh and I heard that we may not be following our class size policies um I
think I'm hearing the Class size in elementary schools are closed like 18 19 students and the class size policy says 22 to 26 right. Um and if depending upon the composition of the class the superintendent supposed to present like
hey you know the reason we are going to have that lower number of the class size because of composition of the student population. I went through some of the meetings um I didn't hear any recommendation from the superintendent
not the current one uh that hey you know we're going to have 18 students instead of 22 or 23 students who made that decision because it has a uh direct implication to the budget to the finance
and I understand some people some say hey you know I want to have a you know smaller class size Makes sense. But then who decided that's going to be 18 or 19 kids, then why not go to 15 or 14 kids, right? Cuz I believe that spending more
money on the class side does not I don't think it's uh relate to the outcome of that because the smaller class size that you have, you may not have the good uh like you know if you want to have a group activities and so on, you may not have right groups, right? So you you may
be having a smaller group, three kids instead of four or five kids. So interaction will also have a impact. I want you guys to think about that because that will have an implication on every time you reduce the class size you have to hire a teacher the pension the
health benefits. If we have the policy like previous board members like me work with other one, we put the policy forward. What is the reason that we are not following that policy? And I think that should be looked into without any
emotion attached to it. Hey, I want 18 kids or 19 kids because when the population move to the middle school, you cannot afford 18 or 19 kids in the class. You cannot afford the same class size in the high school. On top of that, CVS apartments, they will be opening up
in a year or so, you will I will say even if you got 20 or 30 kids and then another building will be coming up next down the road for another 60 apartments, you have no way to manage that influx of
the student and the the finest implication that crowd will bring. So I think we need to make sure that the policies that we have we follow. If we don't follow exceptions should be noted approved by the board of ed not by the
superintendent because that's why people elect us to do the right job. You have Christine here with the with a good master degree in finance. I see ex superintendent. I see Tang here. Mr.
Tang in the IT. So, if you guys can look into it, I think that will help the community. Thank you. I appreciate your help. >> Thank you. All right. If there are any other members of the public um who would like to speak about action items, um please
state your name and address. All right. Okay. So, I'll close public comments at 8:07 p.m. Um so, to address uh some of the comments only because I happen to kind of know. Um so, with kindergarten registration, we are
we're on we're on target. I would say there's um these numbers are consistent with the way that it it has trended um over the past several years. Um and only when it goes over I don't even remember the exact number like it was something
like 180 or something like that then you open up an additional section. Um and so right now we aren't on target to be at an expected growth that's higher than anything that's you that's usual and expected. Um everything that we've
encountered has been consistent with the demographers report that we received um last school year. Um and with that demographers report which we do um I think we did one it's like every five years or three to five years somewhere in there. Um which you know I'll share
that with you. um uh they they they knew that we were also having um the apartments um coming at CVS and also looking at uh the reports that are all in the area. So they took all of that into account in terms of um determining
what the expected growth is. Um I would really encourage I would really encourage you to um to watch it and watch it in detail because I I certainly can't speak to it better than the gentleman um who did. Um but the expected growth for children, it's not it's not actually what we would think.
It's not going in the same direction. Um what they're finding also is that many of the the the youth that's coming back are actually the youth that have graduated from from college and that are coming back to live at at home. So the growth is just not in the same way. Like
people are having less children. Um it's just it's different than than what we've traditionally expected um going forward. Um but it was really detailed. Um, so I I I'd highly recommend it. Um, you asked a question about um
oh about class sizes and things like that. Um, so there's certain things that I won't be able to answer or or pro provide insight on. Um, but I think generally speaking with class sizes and the determination for class sizes is is also dependent
sometimes on our goals. There is a there is a um correlation between um class sizes and student achievement like overall like like you know not not just like our thought process but just like overall like
smaller private schools have you know many or fewer children sitting in the seats compared to the amount of teachers um that are teaching. Um however when we do uh just the same assessment that we um talked about at the beginning here that uh Mr. Vaness brought up when we to
do this profile of a child and the strategic plan that's an area for community input. If there's something that you know the community is asking for us to shift and to reconsider and to um change you know that's going to be the area where we're going to put in um
you know that input to be able to shape what we want. our Glenrock, you know, graduate to look like and to make sure that everything that we do that's, you know, rolls up and aligns with that vision and if a change in class size or a change in expectation or a change in
staffing or a change in resource allocation is what we're going to need in order to present that Glenrock child with the education that we want. That's how I think that we're going to do it and make the decision for um you know, like things like class sizes and and and all of that to go. The other part with
class sizes that I can also say I have an impact um you know in my email inbox is when sometimes people also move in or you know they moved in and they want to have they want they you know I live by central and I want to make sure that my kid goes to central but you know Coleman
is the one that has um the the space like that those are things that are also impacted because a lot of people want to move in and specifically just go to the the school that's close to them and the the class sizes have to also be balanced in that way to be able to allow for for
for for that flexibility. So that's kind of like those two competing goals like the flexibility for kids to be able to go to the place where their you know older sibling is or for people to move in and to be able to attend the school that's like right in their neighborhood versus you know all of those that they're they're sometimes at odds but
definitely um cons you know under consideration. Uh, so I think that answered everything that I can, you know, speak to. Um, I don't know if anybody else has something that they want to say to that. No. All right. Um, so can I get a motion to approve
resolutions G1 through G7? Liz Calves, seconded by Ed Hayward. Um I already know that on G2 um Boaz, would you like to make uh recommend uh a motion for an amendment?
>> Yeah. So either we um so basically in P1220 we're missing the most important sentence which allows the board to give criteria for selecting a superintendent. Um in in the draft there are two options and we didn't select anyone in the in
the final version which uh I think it's it's amazing by mistake. So either we add that sentence or we push it back to the next meeting and with a new version. >> So I would say um just make the motion to add the the
missing sentence if you have the exact um >> so >> I mean I know it's in our I know it's in our um >> Yeah. Yeah. I can I can uh but it's just the motion. Let me just pull the sentence proper procedure. So we'll give you a second. >> Yeah. So motion to add the sentence uh
to P1220 that says uh select the optional the first option the candidate shall meet criteria established by the board. Uh and again without it we cannot put any criteria to select the superintendent. So and since we do want to have a criteria to select a superintendent we
we should select that sentence. We should add that option. So I I agree. Um well, one, do you have a second for your motion? >> All right, Christine. All right. Um >> and and and now we can have a a
discussion. Um so with uh P1220, I'd say that um even if we didn't have that sentence, having this is like the the supreme function of our our job as a board is to select the the criteria that we need for our school. So, it's there's statutes and
things like that that um do provide for that. Um I did see when I went over and you pointed it out to the um Strauss asked me that sentence is in there like per the um recommendation and we didn't select the other items. So really the
way that I understand it is really this this sentence just further defines um what our job is. it doesn't really change the spirit of our um uh of our policy. You know, it just further defines it. So, you know, I'm I'm in
support of adding this sentence. Um does everybody understand what the ask is? >> Is the full policy in appendices as >> um so it >> I was looking in the policy folder. go
to the appendix in uh the previous board meeting. Um you'll you'll see that sentence uh it's not in the current agenda because that sentence was not included. So you have to go to the previous meeting look at the appendix
and uh it specifically says that um you either choose the first sentence or choose one of the following. >> I see. Okay. Yeah. Appendix E has our attachment of of policies and then we can >> scroll through in order. >> So P2.
>> Perfect. >> All right. So, we'll just take a moment um for everyone to look All right. All right. Mr. Gandales, >> if you're able to take role on the
amendment. >> Mr. Cohen, >> yes. >> Mr. Corey, >> yes. >> Mr. Hayward, >> yes. >> Miss Palamus, >> yes. >> Dr. Poochie Bender, >> yes. >> Miss Stevenson, >> yes. >> Mr. Tang.
>> Yes. >> Miss Calves. >> Yes. >> Dr. Robinson. >> Yes. >> The amendment passes. >> All right. Thank you. >> Um, any other comments um or questions with regards to G1 through G7?
>> Yes. >> So, I'm just going to abandon G1 because I wasn't in the previous meeting. >> Okay. I just have a comment. um five. I just like to thank the H Heartland family for starting a scholarship for one of the students.
It's very very generous of them to um help the kids out here in Glenrock. >> Yes, absolutely. Thank you. >> Yes. I'd like to add to um Miss Stevenson's comment because Mrs. Herlette was an active member in the community also on the ambulance corp. So
I I think that um this is very notable and I appreciate the family doing that for our students. >> Thank you. Absolutely. >> All right. If we could call roll please, >> Mr. Cohen.
>> Yes, except from G1 extent. >> Mr. Corey. >> Yes. >> Mr. Hayward. >> Yes. Mr. Pearlis, >> yes. >> Dr. Pooie Bender, >> yes.
>> Miss Stevenson, >> yes. >> Mr. Tang, >> yes. >> Miss Calves, >> yes. >> And Dr. Robinson, >> yes. >> Motion passes. >> Thank you. Can I have a motion to approve resolutions B1 through B5?
Liz Calves, seconded by Christine Palamanis. Any uh comments or questions with regards to B1 through B5. All right. >> Oh, yes, Miss Stevenson. B4. You spoke about that the last meeting, right, with
the copers. >> Right. Okay. So, there's a savings there for the district in that, right? >> Yes. >> Excellent. >> All right. If we >> Oh, one more. I'm sorry. We're on B5 being the Special Olympics here at Glenrock I think is an absolutely
wonderful um event that we're going to have. My friend's son participates in the Special Olympics playing basketball and also track and I've seen how much it has affected not only him but his whole family. It's just a great bonding experience for all the families and for
the kids. Um so I'm so so happy to see that happening here in Glenrock. >> Excellent. and we are going to look into it, but there may well be volunteer opportunities for our students to help out on that day or two. So once this is proof, we'll reach out to see if if that for again that same kind of just the experience is a really wonderful thing
for everybody. >> It's even better. No, it's just it it's tremendous. Like he won a gold medal and it was like go, I know a gold medal winner now. >> Excellent. If we can call roll, please. >> Mr. Cohen, >> yes. >> Mr. Corey,
>> yes. >> Mr. Mr. Hayward, >> yes. >> Miss Parlanis, >> yes. >> Dr. Pooie Bender, >> yes. >> Miss Stevenson, >> yes. >> Mr. Tang, >> yes. >> Miss Calves, >> yes. >> Dr. Robinson, >> yes. >> Motion passes.
>> Thank you. Uh motion to approve uh P1 through P13. Dr. Pucci Bender, Mr. Hayward seconds. All right. Questions, comments? Uh P1 through P13?
>> Yes. uh P1, Mr. Kavanagh been a longtime member of our community schools >> and I'd just like to uh congratulate him and uh wish him well on his next chapter. Absolutely.
Any other uh comments or questions? All right, seeing none, uh roll call, please. >> Mr. Cohen, >> yes. >> Mr. Cor. >> Yes. >> Mr. Hayward. >> Yes. >> Miss Palamus. >> Yes. >> Dr. Pooie Bender. >> Yes.
>> Miss Stevenson. >> Yes. >> Mr. Tang. >> Yes. >> Miss Calves. >> Yes. >> Dr. Robinson. >> Yes. >> Motion passes. >> Thank you. Um, I have a HIP resolution, a motion to affirm the decision made in
GRH AM HIB301656 as reported by the chief school administrator during the February 9th, 2026 and GR HIB 299478 as reported by the chief school administrator during the December
15th closed work session meeting. >> Yes. >> Uh, just one comment. the the one from December, they um families are allowed 60 days before the proceedings. So, we gave them that 60 days. So, that 60 days is over. So, we're approving it now. Um it would be appropriate for those of you
who were not on the board on December 15th to abstain on this one because you were not part of that discussion. >> Um I just need a second, Mr. Hayward. Okay. And then if we can call roll, please.
>> Mr. Cohen. I'm staying. I was not in >> Mr. Corey. >> Yes. >> Mr. Hayward. >> Yes. >> Miss Prolamus. >> Yes. >> Dr. Pooie Bender. >> I abstain on the one noted >> but yes.
>> Yes. >> Miss Stevenson. >> Yes. >> Mr. Tang. I'm staying on December. >> Miss Calves. >> Yes. >> Dr. Robinson. >> Yes. >> Motion passes.
>> All right. And we have our evangelism suspension and hip reports. All right. And then um just because this is a you know truncated meeting or joint meeting um we're going to go to our committee of the whole agenda. Um to begin we're going to start with
discussions about policy and a review and first read of um the policies and appendix F. >> Yes. >> So as you know back in September we asked the stress sane associates group to do a policy uh audit of our policies
as well. We got that back on I think September 29th or 25th. I'm sorry. they they sent it on the 25th and we had a board meeting on September 29th where we approved a whole bunch of policies. So, I gave you a document that listed all of those that were approved that same week or
whatever. Um, there were a few others that just needed some some simple fixes like we didn't have the date on there. There were several that they marked as needing an update because we did it as soon as their draft came out, but their so their date was later than that, so they just flagged it, but it's the
correct policy. And then there were two that are actually uh mandated policies that we're missing. And those are these two in front of you now, which are the varsity letters for intercolastic activities and the school organization policy. Uh both very short and pretty straightforward policies, but they are
here for your your first read. >> All right. Excellent. >> All right. Um so I guess let's just I mean we can go through each one. Uh 24 31.8 24 31
I'm just trying to find it. >> It's an appendix uh >> if anyone's there already. Think give me the page number. >> Appendix. It's not not only page
>> page. All right. The budget 3120 Okay. Mr. says it's too long. Okay, awesome. Are any um questions or
concerns about policy 2431.8? Hold on. I'm just trying to get back to my page. So looking at this, it looks Is this a new policy or just Okay. >> Yeah. So well, I'll get I guess I'll
combine it with the old business. Um so when we were looking at it um with a prior um board goal, we said we wanted to do the policy check. We did an NJSBA check. We also use Strauss Esme to manage, you know, a lot of our policies
and their legal team um is robust. So we also asked them to do a policy check. our policy numbers don't match the NJSBA numbers. Um when uh when Strauss Esme did the policy check for ours, they noted that we didn't have these two
policies. Um and there's some other things that we'll talk about uh as part of old business afterwards, but these policies are mandatory policies that we should just have. Um and they're, you know, standard uh policies um to have in
there. So um that's what's attached in appendix F. Um and that's it. So first we Yes. So really all this policy is saying is that if any student who participates in a school sponsored intracolastic
extracurricular activity that involves competitions, they can then earn a varsity leather whether it's sports or I would imagine robotics would then go in because it is a competition. They do do competition, but I don't know if it's like a How do you determine a
>> vity? Maybe eligible. >> Maybe. Okay. >> We have to then come up with a regulation to go with this like who would be eligible. Is that correct? >> Yes. >> We we could write that. I mean, we we have what we give the varsity letters actually to now. We could certainly put
that into a regulation. Yes. >> Okay. >> So, what does maybe mean? So, so that means in Yeah, you're you're right to pick up on the word. If it says shall, that means they all get a letter. If it says
will, they all get a letter. It says may means we can decide which are our varsity letters, sports or activities. >> Okay. Thanks. >> Interesting. That that's common with state and pretty like interstate national law. The may gives you the
opportunity to choose or not to choose. It actually says in the last sentence that you don't have to >> Yeah. Yeah. It that that's that was what I noted on the bottom is that it kind of carves out what's not the scope of this policy at the bottom here. Um which is
always an interesting read to see what's specifically not included. So makes me wonder where it but it's it's referencing state law or this policy to not mandate that we have athletic programs. But that
should we do that? >> Yep. All right. >> Thank you. Yes. Interclassic extracurricular activity. It's great >> descriptor. Do we have team managers as well? >> Team managers. Oh, as in a member of the
team but not a play. >> Yeah, but not not um like for example they >> they don't physically play, >> right? They don't play but they manage the team. Do we have those rows? >> I don't know the answer to that question. I can look into it. >> I can say from personal experience with
one of my children, they kept the stats for the football team and they they I believe he did get a letter for that, but I know in the past the football team has used kids that didn't play football to do all the stats for everybody. And I think lacrosse might do it also.
>> Yeah. >> All right. Um so policy 8130 um for school organization also in appendix F as you can see through it any I know that's pretty uh simple but any questions or
comments um 8130 >> so this just affirms the grades per the schools themselves >> um we have a separate Glenrock Middle School and separate Glenrock High School here >> they're in come back
>> because they are >> I don't mean physically but yes >> even though they're co-administered is my point. >> All right. Um so we're done with our first read. If you if anything comes to mind, we'll just discuss it or send an
email before our next meeting. um with uh old business uh just to reiterate so the NJSBA policy check I I even asked um Melissa Del Rosaso about it and I said you know how do we reconcile with the numbers the policy numbers that you're saying don't match the ones that we have
with um you know our policy book as well as strame and things don't exactly match up does that mean that we like fail a policy check and she said no the requirement is just that you get a policy check and we did get a policy
check check. So now we did that. We also have one from our policy holder like with um Strauss Esme and that brings us to um their policy audit which um do you want to um walk us through? >> So I included the the action items there. I briefly talked about it
already. I think the only thing that I'd highlight is is the letter that I included that they said we are in excellent shape and I like the word excellent there. Um and in talking with the Strauss SMA experts, uh representative, I said a lot of districts just don't pass these policies
as they're as they're done. And and so we're while we're always fine-tuning and making sure that that we're caught up and we we missed a couple, uh we're really in good shape staying on top of of what's doing uh what's coming out from Strauss all the time and a lot of districts are are not according to her.
So that's a little disheartening to hear, but I'm I'm happy with with the review. uh we looked through all of their recommendations and and made those changes with these two. We we'll be right right there with them. There is one um one policy that we just need to look into a little bit more about the
rate um because it's a it's it says if if we if we need to have that one um I can't remember the language they use. Um but we're looking into it because it's an old policy. I think it was written in 2012 or 2013 or something. So we're not sure that it's actually current. So we're we're double checking on that one.
Otherwise, I think we're in good shape. >> And uh so Mr. Cohen, I remember you brought up um something with the energy drinks and looking at the policies. So instead, I think we could because we don't participate in the um free or
reduced lunch program based on um our district needs here. Uh there you could work on figuring out where in our current policy book um that language could exist based on our current policies. So, it's just kind of like looking and determining like, you know,
making a recommendation to amend any a specific policy where you think that that could lie. >> Yeah, I can do it. >> Okay. >> Um, and then policy 1067. >> Policy 1067 is about it relates to
public comment and how we we run our our meetings. And specifically, was it last meeting we had? I think uh Mark our our board attorney >> yeah he he um said that it doesn't like the
>> so he he said that um as we said today you know on what action item are you speaking he said there are some boards that ask the folks in the public to identify the agenda item number so you know this is in regards to B3 or this is in regards to whatever before their
comment um and then the other piece of that policy is that >> Dr. Robinson always asks for state your name and address. That's actually not written in our policy to state their address. And so this is one of those things of maybe we should clean up the policy a little bit to align it to what
we want it to be. So um so I wanted to just bring that because this is a cow and this is where we should be talking about these things. Uh what are your thoughts about that policy? Do we want to adjust it? Do we just want to move on? Where are where is the point? Dan,
>> u is it Robert Robert's rules of order for that the public states their name and address? >> Do we know that? >> I I know one it's we it's our historical process. Um two boards there are some boards that don't even allow members of
the public that aren't um in the community to speak at boards. like you don't like there are it could be a board policy that if you are not a resident of Glenrock that you are not allowed to make public comments that could be and and for certain communities that
actually could be significant because there are people that come in to either agitate or to do you know like >> to start something that you know is not really reflective of the community. So we can kind of do what we want. >> Okay. I I only ask we've we've discussed policies before and when policy excludes
something but it's obviously or not so obviously covered by state law somewhere else that it really doesn't behoove us to complicate our policy for more more robust reading but we end up um memorializing something that really isn't our authority to do because it's subject to state law. That's why why I
asked >> Mark is the one that initiated this conversation. >> Mark is not here for me to argue with stuff. >> It's like he he he brought it up that he thinks that we should consider it or just have that as part of our conversation, especially since we were
talking about where we want to put like the public comments and how >> how we realign that. That's how this came up. >> That makes sense. >> Yeah. Dr. May I one more thing? I apologize. I put in there 1067. It's 0167. and I have the zero and the one
flipped. So, my apologies. It is policy 0167 that we're talking about. >> Thank you, Mr. >> So, I don't think it's a bad idea to ask people to give their name and address just so we know if they're from the community or not, just so we have the
reference, but to ask them to state the specific paragraph that they're or the specific section that they're speaking about. I think we don't have a lot of people coming. Uh I would love to have a full room but since we don't have it and I I encourage people to speak up and
just not make their life harder and just let them speak. I I don't I think we we will figure out by ourselves which section it reflects to and so we don't need to ask everybody to say you know this is according to or like this is in regards to section such and such just to
make everybody's life easier. So, I I'm I'm in favor of writing the address but not asking everybody to state the section that they're talking about. >> Okay. Um, I'm gonna have to say yes, but no, I
favor uh that the public has the right to come and make the comment, state their name, and then in that first comment time, it's quite easy to um state I'm referring to question is on G5. And this way it's easy for those that
are not with a computer in front of them and are listening, maybe driving, they'll know exactly which question to go back to. Um, I think it just, you know, if they don't do it, I wouldn't be upset if they didn't say it, but I think that as a practice, if we can get them
used to referencing which item number it is, I think it brings clarity. Um, just just my my thought. >> Thank you. >> I'm used to that practice. That's why it's easy for me. I would I would support that that practice too. Um the public has a
limited opportunity through that three minute window to be specific about what they want and less of a courtesy but more of a focus to the other people paying attention. What is it that you're talking about so that people can follow up and and know it's just communication protocol.
>> And I would say like for you know like being the person that's the board president right now I'm always navigating this. it's helpful for for us to be able to focus it to say like this is an action item, what which action item are you referring to or this is on
the agenda or not or whatever. Um and then I'm never I'm not the type of person that's going to like cut people off and you know fully send you know send people back to their seats. So I think not even just for me but for future presidents that you know like we
give we give grace where possible. if there was like a real serious problem, then now you have it in your policy to kind of like help support, you know, rule. >> Um, I I like the discussion the the
action item when you ask a a member to quote the action item, it the wording is like very insular here and they might not be familiar with it to Boaz's point that you know, you want to encourage it um but you can also balance it with framing it. So, uh, maybe there can be
wording in how we structure it to to call out better in our agenda what the action items are that they're allowed to I I don't know, you know, comment >> because we just we just moved it from agenda items only to now like action
item like or I don't know it could be action, you know, like um point agenda number or like bullet number. >> Just agenda item number. >> Yeah. >> Yep. Go for it. >> Well, while I like the ideal of this
idea, I do think this would become a quite frankly a royal pain to have to remind everyone to go back and check your agenda item to do this. Uh we have so few public. It's not like we have to train three people who are here every month. It's going to be different people every month, every time. I don't think
it'll go very well, quite frankly. So, I' I'd be a fan. I certainly name and address. you know, we want to know the information though anonymous reporting as it were, but I I just feel like this would we're adding constraint to something we don't need to babysit.
>> It's my thought. >> Good. Okay. >> I don't know if this fits in the policy, but maybe if it's unclear after their comment, we could try to clarify, >> which we do anyway already. >> Which we do anyway, right? >> We're already doing it. >> Option to clarify, >> right? But a lot of people also do say
the agenda item when they come up. Also, people have people do say the agenda item at times when they come up to >> like we're trying to solve a problem we don't have. >> Right. >> I agree. >> I agree. >> We're spending a lot of time talking about a problem we don't have. So, okay.
I I think you write a policy to mimic what we're doing and >> continue on. Policies keep us safe. Do we want Can we just stop >> if they choose to stated that's why I said no it's neither here or there but I think that for those that are watching
if if they hear the policy I'm sorry if they hear the agenda item number they'll be able to reference it in the agenda quickly to find it. Um for us we have it in front of us so it's easy to find what they're they're going to ask because we're right there. Um but for anyone
else listening it might be more difficult. But I again Ed I and and Mr. Ho and I feel that if they don't it's not you know it's not a terrible issue that we have to stick with. >> Okay. >> So I think we all stick with it then we shouldn't put it in our policy because fairly
>> uninfor >> we could ask anyway. We don't have to write policy for >> what agenda item you >> solved. >> All right. So, it seems like we have consensus on name and address. If we can have a straw poll for adding the agenda
item to the policy. So, for those that are in favor of adding the agenda item number, whatever to the policy, please raise your hand. >> Do you mean asking them to state that? >> Yeah. Yeah. And adding it to our asking
that add to our policy. So, we're adding it to our policy, but if they don't say it, we're not cutting off their mic. >> That would be my my practice would not be that doing that. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, >> I just want to be clear. >> I Yeah, I'm not But I don't I like there
could be a president that has like a somebody with a a hook pull some, but it's not me. So, um so straw poll for making that change. If you're in favor, raise your hand.
Great. Moving on to All right, moving on. So, we will get the language um from Mark that says the name, address, unless we could just make that up because I don't think we >> we'll put the language in. It'll probably be on the next cow, which will
be >> a month, >> April cow for a first read for the approval at second meeting in April. >> Perfect. Thank you. All right. Governance. All right. So, does everyone have um internet access? I
just forwarded a document um about committees. So, pretty much everyone that I've spoken to is generally in favor of moving um the board to a committee structure. Um doing some search over like some what some of the
other um boards in the area uh do came up with about let me Let me pull this up. Hold on. Okay. Came up with um five committees that generally focus all of the things
that we do. Noting that even if we go through a strategic vision change or we go through the profile of a child and we determine that the board structure needs to be further refined in order to meet the needs um of our goals then we can do
that. We can change the name of the committees. We can change you know I would just want us to like look at this from a intention to be decisive. So academic excellence committee would deal with all things academic excellence. So you can look um you know further into
this document to kind of get a sense. um finance and audit committee we have facilities and operations negotiations committee uh governance um policy and compliance or and a thought I'm throwing out to you is that maybe it's
negotiations and compliance and then um governance policy and legislative because then the governance um aspect is like you know what we're doing now um policy is policy and then legislative that's also uh you're going to be able
to update us, update the board on on um things that are going legislation that's going on in the state and you're or locally that could affect our our school district. So, that's a a great committee that's able to keep us aware of what's going on um and maybe speak on those things. So, those are the five
committees. Um personnel would be the whole board. Um that wouldn't be a separate committee. we would just do it as a whole board so that nobody um that information would directly come from um administration to us um together. Um
just before we go further into that, what are your thoughts? It would look like we would have one um one meeting a month um one whole meeting a month um instead of our like two meetings a month that we have as a board
uh together. Um we could have either a working session um like maybe right before our meeting um and then we have committees and then our committees would meet and the committees could meet at the beginning I
would assume that we're going to meet often because you want to establish you know like the role of the committee you want to get a sense for what the work is that you want to do um get a sense of how the the the committee is going to function and then the rhythm could be different. It does. Every committee does
not necessarily meet at the same time. For instance, I think I was I was talking with you, James, and asking like, oh, how would the finance committee go? Like, what would that look like? And um there are there are times like if you're looking for a new budget, it's not like it's not like you're going
to get a new budget in in June and July, you know, like you're going to wait till after you come back from, you know, like school and you you're probably going to meet I don't know what did we say like November might be the first meeting or something like that. >> December probably. >> December
>> for strategy. January working on actual budgets. >> Yes. Um and then some of the other work that we would do would help to even inform the budget. So some of the other committees are going to be you know like uh your academic excellence which might
have instruction and programming and or um you know like with curriculum um it might have a facilities oper uh facilities and operations that's going to turn around and inform you know uh budget or inform the other things. So those are like going to this structure allows us you would have three board
members um plus a uh yeah three three board members one of them being the chair. Um the board president would be able to attend any and all of them. We probably do them in a a combination of Zoom or in person depending on what the
committee wants to do. um set that up, come together as a um as a board and discuss and have like the committee reports. The minutes for the meetings need to go out to the entire board from the committee chairs. Um that's also a
way to protect against some of the problems that I had heard about in prior boards um you know like from when the committees were in function uh you know years ago that sometimes the information wasn't really the complete information that was shared and that there's a
potential for either manipulation and things like that um if if you're working in small groups right so just to protect the integrity I would want the meeting minutes from each of the committees to be shared amongst everybody so that you from the from the um from the chair so
that you keep things in the most um open and transparent uh transparent as possible. What are your thoughts? I know this is a lot. I'll be sure to kick off. Uh I I think
this is more work for more of the board compared to historically where we have the committee of a whole where the entirety of the the board work rests on the president vice president shoulders. So this is a great way to get more new board members with paired with senior
board veteran board members and get people more engaged. thinking back then in my first and second year just kind of ninth person in the totem pole and you're waiting to find out what the board president VP did. I think this is a much better way to get people in
engaged into perhaps issues that they're passionate about or more competent in or just more available to throughout the pace of the year. So programmatically really excited to see about this. I I think you already addressed right now some of the concerns of what a committee
can do if it's not transparent >> and this is a one-year seat and you can fire that committee chair if it's not working at the you know at serves at the pleasure of the president. So this is something that >> and that's going to be I would say you know like making sure and not just for
me but like for all presidents in perpetuity is making sure that you know the committee chairs are the right committee chair for the right committee. You know you just making sure like I think that that's a way for us to all you know in future make help the process
work smoothly. Some people are really great at at at certain things and putting them in alignment is helpful. Um, I would say that one of the things that made me more sure that I want to do this is that I've been trying to kind of
push the board in terms of like divvying things up to get um, you know, more conversation like to get us working across the aisle with each other and having these discussions and it's been successful I think. Um, and ultimately
it's almost like we're functioning in committees. It it almost feels that way. The more the more that it feels good is the more that we're getting closer again to like committee work. And so I think that defining it this way um will be helpful. and a lot of the things that
people are saying that they want to do. Um it would it would be helpful to work those things out in committee and then bring them to the board um when when you have like full you know data and it doesn't mean that everything gets done right away. It's not like like that
like but it would just it would just be much more you know smooth I think. Um yeah. Well, we just got this, you know, as you're talking, so we haven't digested it. And you're asking what we think, but just offhand, are you I heard Dan say, you know, it's what we're
interested in, but would the president assign the committees? >> The president always assigns the committee. That would change. >> So, I see that you recommend three years, no more than three years for a committee head. But wouldn't it be one year since the president would have the
right to assign the committee head? >> So, no. So three when I say three years I mean this is this is a board decision right? So it's basically saying that we don't want one the same person to
fulfill a role more than three time three years in a row. That's that would be what we're we're saying. I know as a board president if I'm board president this year and I say that you know Angela's gonna be um you know like on finance committee and she's going to be
the chair of finance committee and then next year somebody else is president and they say you know what we want Angela to do it again and then the third year after that our according to our policy if this is what we you know say we want to do then that we would be saying like it needs to be somebody else to to share
the knowledge and it's more about and I think it's more about that about sharing the knowledge amongst more boards. So you have like stability in a transition if it's only one person and it's been that way in the past where it's one person that's like for instance you know like Rona was phenomenal at policy but
then Rona retires and now you know like we we want to make sure that we have like some sort of like continuity amongst the board and so that things are kind of like living you know long and in terms of um the this isn't the first time we had the
discussion we talked about about going into committ in um our last meeting. So, I'm not sure if if if that one was um where you weren't there, but going going into committee, this is just that do we want to do it or not? The details
of figuring out how the committee is going to be, you know, structured is something that that would be the next step for us to look at the individual committees and then make a decision. So, yeah, this isn't, you know, over today. But this is the step that the board kind
of told me that they wanted to go in. So that's how we ended up here. >> Yes, I'm very much wholeheartedly in favor of uh committees and I know that annually is the assignment given by the board president. Uh the limitation
though however I feel that sometimes consistency is better that if there is someone who excels in policy >> I think that you know the others that are in the committee that change over get to learn what it might be and when
someone retires from that they can you know pull up and and take the role. Um, I think that it would be very very helpful if the acting superintendent superintendent turns around and folds the conversations
into each committee with certain items that's that's easily done, right? A new program would not only fall under academic excellence committee, but it could also fall under finance because it costs money. So if it's coming from the same individual, our district leader,
that helps to keep the knowledge evenly spread um throughout the committees. Sometimes it works better than other times and it lends itself, but I think that this is a great opportunity for us to in small groups have deep rich conversations. Um, you know, good things
happen when we have smaller groups together that we bounce ideas off of each other and we come up with some really good plans. So, um, I I am very much so in favor and I I would look forward to doing that. >> I was just thinking as you were talking
about Rona and policy, right? She was the queen of policy and did it forever >> in this structure. I guess she could do it for three years and then still be on the committee the fourth year, >> correct? and then go back to it if she wanted and but she'd be there to mentor the next person, etc., etc., so people
could stay focused on their strengths. >> Just a thought. >> I like the idea. >> Yeah, it's a good start. >> Yeah. >> Sorry. Yes, both. >> So, I'm I'm 100% in supportive of the committee structure. Just two two
things. One is can you explain page number uh four? What do you mean by meeting strategy optimization in the months? Um, oh, so, so that was just, that is just a sample. That is a sample to say like, okay, well, in September, this is
we tend to have an academic and policy focus. In October, you know, or we are like potentially like gearing up for finance. um November, you know, like it's it's just an idea like and this would have to also be come from administration like I would need
administration to say, okay, this is when for instance like CQAC if we're if we're in a CQAC year, it starts here and then it ends here. If we're when this is the time where of the year where we consistently review all of our facilities or maybe we have um
>> but the committees but the committees will stay operating the whole year. This is not just the months that they're operating. >> Okay, great. >> Yeah, the when when we would break into the committees, the first thing that we're going to do is define what exactly
we want to make sure that we cover in the committee and as well as one uh developing um a rhythm for meeting. There might be times where you are going to meet more often than other times. Um that's going to be based on you know the committee chair's discretion. And then
there might be months where you don't have anything that you really need to discuss because you're waiting for something maybe and you don't need to have a meeting. So that this does you would never be able to only meet once a month. >> I mean once a year. >> Yeah. My next question is so I know we
just got it and uh we need to look at any committees are missing but the negotiation committee I would think that it's like just when we have negotiation and that's like not every every year. So I think there's an opportunity to put additional committee like I'm just looking at what in our agenda like we we
have the a community um discussion like maybe we should have like community committee or something but I think there's an opportunity to have additional committees >> okay >> or at least one or two >> and so I I did ask um about negotiations
um and James you had you actually gave me some good insight that there are times where um where administration may be having like either an an internal like labor dispute or something like that. Um, so
it's not just only going to be for um, you know, negotiating contracts because like for instance, if it's the GREA contract, we're still, you know, a couple years out from there or um or the GRA contract we just did, you know, like last year that so it's it's it's going
to be more it would be more often um, than that, but yes, you're right. Um, so go ahead. So I I I look forward to your feedback um over this and then when um James what would be
if if off the top of your head um how would we move towards implementing something like this? Theoretically we would identify the policy where we are uh organized as a committee of the whole. we would then take that policy
and rewrite the policy um as you see fit or as the policy committee sees fit and then we would bring it forward for a first reading and a second reading and we'd be off to the races. >> All right. So, right now, um Bo, you're
policy chair. So, I would ask if if one we could um solicit feedback um you can CC myself and Mr. Cohen and um and and actually CC myself uh Mr. Cohen and uh Liz and when you provide that
feedback we'll compile it we'll take a look at the actual policy and we will draft a new policy based on that feedback um to present at our next meeting. So sounds okay.
>> All right. >> Oh well I mean he's currently the chair he's currently the chair of the policy committee. So yeah. Yeah. Oh. So yes, like he actually is the chair of the policy committee. >> Yes.
So you know, so since you asked, Boaz, uh yes, please could you um Yeah. All right. So, yay to um All good. No, you're you're right on time. Right on time, that's all. Um so
committee structure check. All right. So now on to um actionable item which is the delegate assembly proposed resolution. Uh born out of some of the discussions like we had some great discussions within the many um the micro budget meetings. One of the things that came up um Mr. Cohen you made a
suggestion uh do you want to do you want to even give a preface for like what you said and then I'll continue on. Yeah, I I think that there's power in quantity and if every town in New Jersey has to negotiate by itself, your power against
the software developers and the the vendors that we have is limited versus u multiple towns uh working together to negotiate at a better deal. So, um, I like to speak about the the suggestion, but I think it's it's a great idea and,
um, you know, just looking for towns to work together to save cost for the taxpayers, uh, without losing anything, right? It just, uh, rather than negotiating as a town of, you know, 10,000 people, negotiating as a state of uh, 8 10 million people. And it's like
it's very different and you'll get at a better price and and a better um terms. That's how it works. >> Thank you. And so there's a few things that come to mind. Um just so just to kind of talk about the delegate assembly, the delegate assembly is
something that occurs um and statewide. It happens twice a year. Um and it's basically all of the um school board the school boards across the state send at least one member to the delegate assembly. Karen has um volunteered for
that position for a few near few years now and had the opportunity to go down to is it in Trenton or is it >> it's like >> No, it's at Mercer County Community College. Um and at the delegate assembly you can introduce
um you resolutions and if they are adopted or voted on by the um the bodies uh the body there you're able to help to dictate which direction you want NJSBA
to advocate for. Um so this is a way for us to really be involved in the process. If we're saying that there's pain points, which we are saying that there are pain points in our budget, there are things that we are, you know, concerned about as a school district. There are things that we're concerned about as
taxpayers, um, residents, parents, whatever it is, we should find ways within our elected position to be much more active um, and make sure that we are advocating for our constituents essentially. And so since we've had like
a lot of times people, you know, share like good ideas or or even complaints about legislation or our legislators and things like that, this is a way this is a way for us to propose resolutions that could make a
difference. Um so I I liked what Boaz suggested and um it was mentioned that even California has something in place like this actually. um and so wrote a you know resolution. So what you see in
the agenda um I shared it with Karen over the weekend and she um looked at the format that NJSBA is actually requesting and that's what you actually have uh printed out next to you. It's just basically truncated a bit um to fit
the the format of um the NJSBA resolution. And so if when it comes if you're in agreement, I want to continue the conversation, but just to let you know what I'm looking at. If you are in agreement, this is also like an exercise for us,
right? Like Karen would then be able to go down, read it, present it, have the um have the NJSBA uh members vote on whether or not they want to
support this or not. Sorry, go ahead. So the first thing that we would need to do is to approve this. Yep. By Thursday. >> Yeah. >> Is the cuto off date for the May meeting. >> After this is you know if it is approved then Damala you need to sign it >> and then we we submit it for approval.
It goes through a committee on the school boards before they present it to the entire body. So they will go through it. There's a lawyer that goes through it. Um sometimes you know when you get your packet when you get there some of the resolutions that were submitted were withdrawn or
they were changed they were tabled for for another time. So I mean those are all possibilities. I mean if people want I mean I think it's a great idea and I think that was one of the one of the many benefits of those small meetings. Um this really still emphasizes local
control because that is a huge issue in New Jersey. Um it's basically saying we can do sand uh Sunday for example if there's 10 districts using it we can negotiate together trying to get the price down really is what this is doing. It's not going to change the law. It's going to help focus school boards.
>> So I mean if we want it on the agenda for May we have to approve this this evening. If not I mean there's a meeting in November. So whatever that we come to, people want more time to look at it. >> And there always are like um you know
like political concerns for instance like if there's uh either um legislation that's being considered to prevent um like cooperative pricing in New Jersey that could be going on right now and we don't
know. We don't know or unions could decide that that they feel like this offend offends them and we don't know but if we compartmentalize with what our job is and our responsibility is and just focus there and then then you know
like we'd see what happens. We'd see what happens. This is like I'm I just want us to focus heavily on our job and doing all that we can to advocate for our constituents. I'm I'm always happy to be openly critical of actions that have statements
that have no action, right? Local local boards and councils can make proclamations that have no bearing or impact on their constituents or really fact their basis. This is something that we can do. This is great. We spent a lot of time looking in and I don't think as
a board I haven't seen the Glenrock board of education look up towards the towards the state and how to consolidate our other interest around things that we see as a identifiable action. So I'm fully in support of this. I think it's a new thing for us as a board and if we
make a little bit of a splash that's fantastic. So >> yeah, I think we could as even part of a committee or like the governance and legislative committee, we could have some we could have like a running list of things that are consistently on and every delegate assembly present
something, you know, that that addresses some of the issues that people are saying that they want to see either in education or um school laws or healthcare benefits or like whatever it is that it relates to our budget or like this is this is the place where we should be investing a lot of our
attention. So, >> as when and if needed, >> as when and if needed. Like hearing the the two cycles, we have May and November. Uh by November, you'll already be in the beginning of the throws of budget season. So, sounds like now is
the best time to act followed shortly by tomorrow. You know, >> I mean, there are there are towns that do present every delegate assembly. There are towns that have people that are >> every meeting >> every meeting. Um, so if this is passed
this evening, I would ask on May 16th that if other board members would like to join me at the meeting, I would appreciate the support and I think it would also look, you know, it would look good for the delegate assembly to see that we are all in this together.
>> I appreciate that. Thank you. >> I'll definitely try uh come join you. I I would love to hear why anybody has a reason not to support this. uh it feels like a no-brainer and uh a way to save money for any town in New Jersey. So >> yeah,
>> uh it feels like why why nobody has done it until today. So yeah, >> it it'll be an interesting process to find out because there are I can imagine already that there are very specific reasons why this could um you know not be supported at the state level. But >> um
>> it can come here arguments against all kinds of things there. It's interesting because there's people from all over the state and it it's just always interesting to me to hear other people's perspectives. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Yep. Um and assuming it makes it out. >> Does that mean all the district needs to
agree for this to work? Otherwise, how would that work? >> Now, it has to be the majority of the delegates that are there. >> Has the majority, right? >> I I'm trying to remember. I don't know that anything's ever been voted down. I have to go back and check my notes, but I don't think so. A few things have been
very close, but most things, you know, most things pass. And it really is a thorough um >> evaluation that they go through before it does come onto the board. >> I mean that I'm just like I'm not against this or anything, but
I don't think this is zero tradeoff, right? There's got to be some tradeoff. concentrating this person in power in a few people rather than more people, right? >> Yeah. >> Some trade-off, right? >> When you say trade-off, um, what do you
mean? >> Collectively. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Sometimes you get stuck with, >> right? Sometimes you get stuck with a certain package style. >> But not zero. I'm not saying I'm against
it. I'm just saying be zero trade. But the state's actually done this before. They did it with internet access. They've done it. Um you've got Middle Sex Regional High School or Ed Service Commissions or I guess they're what are they? New Jersey Ed service commission now. North Jersey, New Jersey. Um this
is sort of exactly what they do. And it looks like this one's trying to focus a little more on uh instructional materials, etc., etc. But um mechanisms like this exist. Um what you're saying is actually right. Most schools just do their own thing anyway and try to find a contract to put it on. But if you put
the actual purchase together, the hardest thing with the internet, um I was involved with that with the state was getting schools to line up their renewal dates, right? That's that in and of itself with every item on there could be a thing. >> But if we found someone to coordinate that from the state, that would be
great. >> But just if this gets approved by the school board um delegate assembly, it doesn't mean it becomes law. doesn't go into it has it just goes into their policy and the things that they advocate for. Yeah. So, anything that that gets
passed at that assembly does not become law at that very moment. It just helps guide and focus the New Jersey School Boards Association on their lobbying efforts and their advocacy. So, there there's no loss in it. And if it already exists, they'll just tell us it exists
already. I didn't see it there, but that doesn't mean it's not there. I was just reading an article in New Jersey Spotlight that happened I would say within the past two weeks and it was talking about uh the assembly education committee and you had many members
either of the public, some from school boards, some from even our audit companies and things like that that went down to the education committee meeting and decided to um share what some of their pain points were for their budgets. It was a heavily about budgets.
Um, and I'll share the article with everybody, but uh, the chair, um, Assemblywoman Verina Reynolds Jackson said, "Thank you for, you know, sharing your comments, but do you have any recommendations for
solutions?" And this is like another way for us to say, well, yes, actually, we have a recommendation for a solution, and this is one thing that you can address. Granted, we recognize that the biggest things that are driving our budgets in the schools are going to be, you know, like salaries, benefits, um,
transportation, special education. Those are the top four things that are driving our budget. And so, this is small but still helpful. And it's a good way for us to like just get on like an exercise of like seeing what the process works and finding a way to put ourselves
in it. And then in going forward we could do you know like whatever whatever the the the board wants to do like if if you it's just allowing us to innovate and think about things in a different way um and and and get out there and advocate for them.
So all right and so uh you if we one so do we do we have a straw poll that we want to um move move this resolution. Oh well I was going to do a straw poll just to say like is it do you want to do
the motion right now? Just do the motion. Okay. All right. So, in terms of like striking the one that's on the agenda. So, so um I would like um I'm going to make a motion to strike the
G8 that is currently on the agenda um and introduce a new G8 which you have in front of you and I will read it. uh resolution submitted uh to the New Jersey School Boards Association delegate assembly by the Glenrock Board of Education. Whereas New Jersey public
school districts collectively educate approximately 1.37 million students across nearly 600 operating districts each independently procuring instru instructional materials, digital curriculum, software platforms, and related educational services. And
whereas instructional materials represent a substantial and recurring statewide expenditure borne largely by local property taxpayers conservatively estimated between 3 350 million and 500 million annually. And whereas even
modest cost reductions achieved through enhanced transparency and coordinated purchasing strategies could generate significant recurrent savings for New Jersey taxpayers while preserving classroom resources. And whereas the decentralized procurement structure of New Jersey's school system may limit
collective bargaining leverage, reduce pricing transparency, and create potential disparities among districts of varying size and capacity. And whereas the association has historically supported cooperative purchasing, shared services, and other cost containment strategies that promote efficiency while
maintaining local control. And whereas the association has consistently affirmed that local boards of education retain primary authority over curriculum, instructional materials, and educational programming decisions. And whereas responsible stewardship of public funds requires policies that
promote transparency, equitable pricing, voluntary collaboration, and efficient use of taxpayer resources. And whereas the delegate assembly of the New Jersey School Boards Association is the policymaking body authorized to establish positions guiding the association's le leg legislative
advocacy efforts. Now therefore be it resolved that the Glenrock Board of Education respectfully requests that the delegate assembly of the New Jersey School Boards Association adopt the policy following policy position. The New Jersey School Boards Association believes that statewide
procurement policies for instructional materials and digital educational resources should promote equitable pricing, transparency, cooperative purchasing opportunities, and responsible fiscal stewardship while fully preserving local board authority over curriculum decisions and voluntary
participation in any statewide purchasing agreements. Be it further resolved that in furtherance of this policy um position, the associations shall advocate for legislative and administrative measures that one promote price pricing transparency and equitable treatment of New Jersey public school
districts in the acquisition of instructional materials and digital educational products. Two, encourage mechanisms that strengthen statewide negotiating leverage, including voluntary cooperative purchasing structures or consortium based contracting models administered through
appropriate state authorized entities. Three, support disclosure practices that improve clarity regarding bundled materials, digital access rights, professional development services, and related supports associated with instructional resource purchases. Four, direct appropriate state agencies to
analyze and report aggregate instructional materials expenditures to improve fiscal transparency and infor um inform policy development. Five, ensure that no such legislation or procurement reform shall mandate the adoption of specific instructional materials or
vendors. Transfer curriculum decision-making authority from local boards of education. Uh require district participation in statewide uh contracts. restrict a district's ability to negotiate independently or secure pricing below any statewide agreement. Be it further resolved that this
resolution was duly adopted by the Glenrock Board of Education on um March 2nd, 2026, and the board respectfully requests its placement on the agenda for consideration at the May 16th, 2026 annual delegate assembly. Can
I have a second, Mr. Cohen? And if you can call roll, please. >> Mr. Cohen, >> yes. >> Mr. Corey, >> yes. >> Mr. Hayward, >> yes.
>> Miss Prolanis, >> yes. >> Dr. Puchi Bender, >> yes. >> Miss Stevenson, >> yes. >> Mr. Tang, >> yes. >> Miss Calves, >> yes. >> Dr. Robinson, >> yes. >> Motion passes. >> Thank you. >> Great.
Um, nothing for imp. Uh nothing for special services. Um did you um on to fiscal management um the 2627 budget update? >> Yeah, thank you. I I'll take that. Um we
were talking about committees very appreciative that we have a a budget committee which is a limited scope of what it'll be. U let me do the the bottom line up front. Um the entire state Glenrock is not excluded has a
challenging budget year and >> sorry. Yeah. The entire state Glenrock not excluded has a challenging budget year. Um what what this committee is seeking to do is set a timeline so that all trustees have an opportunity along the different bud uh steps to our
budget. The next milestone that we have is March 12th where we'll know the final numbers of the New Jersey state aid. That is the I would say the the the final approach glide slope towards what we have of May
5th of 2026 where we're going to approve our finalized budget. uh what I've been discussing with the other trustees in small meetings. We've had uh two two to three trustees in at a time to really facilitate questions. Each of us have
unique perspectives and questions, concerns, etc. Ideas that have come out of that I think have been helpful. And we're in a process where at least we now all understand the the challenges and dynamics. And we're getting to a point where now the budget committee, which is
myself and Christine, can come back together and take the voices of all nine of us and really try to make sure that we're fine t uh fine-tuning and honing down to a budget that we can um that we can understand and ideally accept.
uh the next steps for us from that process are going to be I don't want to say limited but we've we've done a lot of the work ahead uh ahead of time and now the questions are going to allow us to make sure that we're making the right decisions where we where or we where
cannot we cut um sorry I have a really bad cold today so this might come out a little lumpy um so on on the 12th Christine instead of a board meeting we're going to be having our committee meeting that time. Um, many of you have caught me
through through individual emails. There's a lot of a lot of volume of con uh content. Um, I it's something I said earlier tonight. Every idea that we have um it we're finding a budget that supports our objectives and ideals. That's the hard part for us is we really
need to know what the what the community is asking for so that we make sure that this budget is funding those objectives. Um it there's a lot of a lot of holes to to look at and to see what we could possibly work on. Uh and some of those questions so
far we found really aren't um the opportunities we thought they were. Cutting services isn't something that anybody has asked for. Uh but that's really what we're faced with a lot of these budget constraint uh questions. U in the next committee meeting. I'm
looking forward to really robust conversation because now we have the voices of everybody and those those comments and questions do not need to stop just because we've had the the the meetings. My my inbox is open. Please continue to send in your thoughts,
questions, feedback and uh additional follow on ideas, suggestions. So if there's no no questions now, I'm happy to have a dialogue. I know we're kind of running over over time right now. Um,
but I'm happy to entertain a comment or a question from uh from anybody on the board right now. >> So, before we even open it, I just want to say thank you so much for the work that you've done. I think that you've spent countless amount of hours. Thank you, uh, James, first and foremost.
you've spent a insane amount of hours and and and Greg on on on the budget and making adjustments in a very difficult um environment. So, just wanted to say thank you and that I recognize the efforts and also thank you
to the all of the board members for um participating in this process. I know it's a little bit different, but I think that we've had some really great conversations and um you know come to you know a better understanding of of whatever our budgetary constraints
are. So >> saying that now um go ahead Karen. >> I also just want to make a quick comment. Um I want to thank the budget committee for all their their hard work. Those micro meetings James will agree with me. I I found to be very productive and it was the first
time that I was on the board that this has ever happened and it really you know you're sit sometimes when we're sitting here as a group it's being presented you know you you're looking at it but when you're in those smaller groups I think you can dive into it a little bit deeper
you know Joe and I were the first ones to come in so I don't know anybody was what what to expect but we had a very open and honest dialogue there were some disagreements they were coming to an understanding. At the end of the day, we all want the be the right the same
thing. We want the best for our students and we want the best for our families in town. So, when we're all have the same end vision, our path there just may be a little bit different. But I just really want to thank you all because I felt very comfortable there. I felt very
comfortable saying what was on my mind clearly. Um so again, thank you for your time, the time away from your families to um work on this budget for us. Thank you. >> Appreciate it. Um I know I feel like I said a lot of platitudes. Um but the the
long story short is that we have an incredible burden across every single school district in the state due to health rising healthcare. Um we're also shackled with a 2% increase cap which is an increase on taxes but uh if you look
at the last couple years has been an incredible increase uh through inflation. So, we're we're pressured to do the same amount with not a lot of um not a lot of economic relief uh in this
budget. So, my my concerns and I' I've heard the concerns from other people on the board is that saving money now versus cutting money now or what are we doing in this year's budget? What are we bringing up? Uh and what are we kicking down the can? Um I'm
I there is opportunity here to uh to see I shouldn't say opportunity. It it's it's clear as you're going through the uh the budget what really has been compressed over the years. Um what has not been funded, what's been what's been cut, what's been held back, and where we've tried to grow services without
really growing the budget. Um every single year costs go up and a 2% cap is the statutory limit that we're allowed to. But if you think about that's barely even keeping it keeping up with inflation. U everybody I spoke to this past month
said that their heating bill was twice what it was and that's not even adjusted uh for the the actual cost of the that hydrocarbons that are coming into your house. So welcome any other questions um
is it Cydlenroj.net feel free to send your questions in. >> Yeah. Does anyone have any questions or concerns that they want to bring up amongst the board right now? >> Okay. Yep. Sure.
>> Um again to uh James and and Greg and the Molly and Liz and of course Dan. That was a lot of work I know that you undertook to get that all done. Um very much appreciated I'm sure by every single one that sits here. Um, I do have
concerns. I have concerns because like you say, our bills are going up at home. So, what do we do at home to adjust is what we have to try to figure out here. Uh, what do we do to adjust? Unfortunately, I'm going to use a very
old uh statement that I learned from a superintendent many years ago that I feel like these are belt tightening times uh because the money is tight. The money's tight. The opportunities are not um what they were at one time. We from
what I understand last year we went above the 2% and we want to do it again this year. Um I don't know how clear that came across to the public. Greg, I uh I'm sorry, James, I know you worked really hard on making sure that all the information was included, but I I think
that um if there's an opportunity to give a presentation style for us and everyone else just to um to really to give it justification and validation of what we want to do here, I think that that would be really in the best interest. Um because this is a very u a
difficult budget. It's hard. It's it's a hard um nut to crack and uh I think that um you have to have buyin from everybody. Thank you. >> I just realized this isn't public comment. We can just dialogue. Um yeah, that that's a great point. Um there's
there's qualitative reasoning that goes into why we're trying to fund what we fund. Uh in in years past, budget was just something that was was done presented. Not I wouldn't say presented, but just >> put up in front of us. Yeah. but
presented once and that like like Karen said, this process didn't happen before. I think this is the change that we wanted to see. So, here we are now in in this timeline getting that through. Um, we have stakeholders throughout the community, throughout the district, uh, staff, the the supervisors, the
administrators, they all have a incredible component as to what goes into this budget uh, and what goes into what we offer as a district. And we do have two months of time where it'd be great to be able to, you know, not just have this on paper, dollars and cents, numbers, but really kind of see what
this what this budget is presenting and offering to make sure that we're be able to communicate and view and and vet what we want to see. >> Yeah. Only because I'm a visual person myself, not only do I need to hear it auditorially, but I need to see it to really um absorb what's being said.
That's just my learning styles. There you go. And can I say um so you did mention that there's like two months of time to to talk about it, but if James if you're able to even just reiterate some of the the current timeline crunch even for the reason why we're moving our
meeting from the 12th, you know, just to kind of show what it looks like basically from here all the way through to May. >> Sure. Um so state aid numbers uh are a function of the governor's budget address uh which is typically the last
Tuesday in February. Uh because we have a new governor consistent with prior uh years where we've had new governors. The uh legislature has extended that date to March 10th. The DOE then has 48 hours to
get our state aid numbers to us. So that is March 12th. So I should get the numbers the morning of March 12th and the committee will meet in the evening of March 12th. Uh the legislature surprisingly has also
given uh the districts some uh relief on when we need to get our numbers to the uh county for county review. Uh so that date was I believe this 18th of March
has now been moved to the 26th or the 25th I believe. Hold on. Check that out. It's the 25th. up. So we then are going
to meet at the meeting of the 23rd uh to approve that submission and that is the tentative uh budget. Once it gets approved, then we will uh begin uh to uh
advertise the be user friendly. Um that'll go up onto the website and then once it's approved by the county, we will start then to prepare for the the more formal presentation uh that Dr. Bender is referring to which is the
public uh hearing on the budget which will be I believe May 5th or something uh in that nature. >> All right. >> All right. Thank you and thank you for that. But did you have something? >> Yeah. So I think there's no question
about it that um the majority of the tax increases are due to the state. uh it's really easy for the state officials to just do nothing because we have to be the ones that increase the taxes and we're the bad guys. So, uh there's no incentive for them to to do anything.
So, uh that's not a question and and I think that's the majority of the increase. That being said, um I heard that there is no need for cuts or no no thoughts for cuts and I agree with uh Angela like we need to start thinking
about the cuts. There's clearly discussions that uh we all wanted to have but we never had and we all understand where the opportunities to cut but we haven't had the discussion. So with that I am definitely not comfortable with the current budget uh
proposal and the increase that was suggested by the budget committee. >> Okay. >> Um I would I wanted to address one well I guess two things that you had just mentioned. um you said that there's no incentive for the state to do anything
and while many times I agree with that sentiment I think that the problem that is occurring here across the state is that multiple school districts are in a massive budget deficit so it's not even you know just like little amounts it's
millions and millions and millions of dollars in multiple school districts five 10 I mean multiples of that uh even within Bergen County and and ongoing and next year it's not going to get better. It's going to be worse than it is this
year. Um so the state even I'll you know forward that article but it is a it's a crisis. It's a crisis and it's not even just on education because it's a state health benefits plan which also affects the municipalities and like everybody
that's in it. Like we do have the um the educator plan and things like that. So it you know even when you're making cuts then okay the timelines don't match up because then the state budget gets approved and then you find out that you have another 30 or 35% increase on your
health benefits next year. That still by itself is the 2% cap. The the health benefits alone is that. So I would hope that they would realize that this is actually it's insolvent. So they have to do something because it it
can't um function. Um there was um another thing that you mentioned. You said something about So one of the questions that you asked um about legal fees. Um I I just want to address it because I I had some time this weekend
to go through um the prior budgets and look at line items and and and try to figure out, you know, like what what are what numbers are we talking about? So, there is a line item in the budget um which I'll share I'll just share in the group afterwards, but the there's a
specific line item in the budget that goes over legal fees from um year to year. And so, I have legal fees all the way from like 2020. And it's like 2020 to 2021 it was like 97,500. And these
are just like your um appropriation amounts. Um the dispersement amounts may be less. What I'm also seeing is that the dispersement amounts compared to the appropriation amounts, it's it's like the the gap is narrowing and it's also because we are reducing our surplus in
every like our line items all over the place. So the amount of like just like um James mentioned that we are going towards being less reliant on our surplus in order to balance our budget. You know those the the gap in between like what we're budgeting for and what
we're actually paying out is like shrinking. year to year year to year. So 2020 to 2021 97,500 21 to 22 115 117,05 then then it went down to 105 um and in
23 24 sounds like when James got here um I'm just saying went down to 105 and then last year 105 this year proposed 105 so $105,000 compared to a 60 plus million budget is
like less than 2%. But if you look at like the increases and decreases like 21 to 22 um you know like there was an increase of about like 17,500 which was 18%. But then the following year it was like plus 2% and then the the two uh 23
to 24 which I I told you went down to 105 which is a decrease in um about 11% and 24 and 25 it was flat. And when you look at our current budget in that same line item, it tells you where we are um at the 105, it's like 102,000 or so that
we've spent out of that and what and based on our uh the total encumbered. The total encumbered would tell you, you know, what we're projected to spend um based on like current billables, you know, like what how much have we committed out of that budget and it
might be a little bit more, but it's still on track. So it's like I I hear your ask, but what I'm also hearing from um administration in our emails is that the amount when we had Fogertity and
Hara, they didn't itemize the um the bills in the way that you're asking. You're asking about like cases and like how like have our cases increased or you know for special education or things like that. They didn't itemize it that way. Our current legal team does. So I
understand that you did receive that but the amount of time that it would be taking um you know our our our team to dedicate to break down something that is you know less than 0.2% of our budget which has pretty much remained flat over
the course of these years um is significant and would require like the full board to you know ask for for things to go in that direction. So this is something that I just did based on the the data that's available there in our budget and I'll share the line items
so that you can take the look yourself. Um but it's it's a very very very very insignificant number like less than 0.2%. So for the first part, I agree like the state might have to get into a crisis mode before u our elected officials will
act but uh you know that that's out of our hands and uh hopefully they won't uh let let it get to that point but so so two things to what you said like one even if it's a tiny put aside the data that I as but even if it's a tiny amount of money that we can
save we should still save even if it's a 0 point2 of the budget we should look every saving that that's one thing. Second thing uh if you compare and that's why the state have like um a metrics and a system that every district needs to submit the same format so we
can have a comparison and if you compare our legal cost to district in Bergen County and district in our size and if you compare our administrative administrative cost to district in Bergen County and district on our sides we are
I won't say heavily but we are skewed in the top um uh one to five districts in the in the highest band. So that's my concerns and and that's what I would like to uh that we would look at. Um so the one two
things about that um the 0 2% represents the entire amount of legal fees and that goes to everything not just special education that's like uh you oper requests that's um all contract reviews that's uh anytime they have to show up about labor disputes go to court that's
everything so the 0 2% isn't what we would be saving I'm talking about the variance the variance between the budget years is like extreme like we're talking about $1,000, $5,000. The when you have when when we when we as a board ask the
administration to shift from their their primary mission and invest 10, 20, 30 hours doing something for us, that also has a cost. So, if we're going to ask for, you know, a significant portion, especially while we're here, and we're asking for all of these other things,
we're asking for them to, you know, start the the the strategic plan, you know, like we're asking for um, you know, a separate um separate discussions about late start. We're asking for like I mean, I won't go down. We know what
we're asking for. We're asking for all of these things. So, if we're asking for that shift for $2,000, that's that is where that's what I mean. Like the the the savings isn't 0.2%. That's the entire legal budget. It's more like $2,000. Um, and it does cost like time is money. So, if we're paying,
you know, James, which Thank you, James. Um, we want to continue to pay you. Um, we're paying you hourly to do something that's also like is it are we paying him more money than we're going to save? to do something that we're not that's
it's it's a wash. Um so that's what I want you to just consider um in that ask. But um any other I mean any questions? >> I think contextually uh in order to get to a balanced budget there were I think
it's $800,000 worth of uh individual cuts across different categories. some of course there projections. We know the projection is only as good as what you think it is, but um we have it um at this point that's a a healthy amount of
cuts to get down to this this budget which is still at a 2% increase. So I I would say that making sure that we're spending the right amount of time on the right on the right issues and then also taking the effort um I you know I didn't
go back to it but uh one of our goals that that the district executed was exploring uh the health insurance processes. Perhaps that could have saved us money and we spent a lot of time to really find out that it didn't and it it's going to get worse before it gets
worse as the expression goes. So, we're budgeting a 30% increase with a projected 30% 25% increase in the year following. Uh, I'm I have no information to say this is going to get better for us. So yeah, we need to save money, but we have millions of increases coming if
we don't do the type of thing that we advocated before to say that we need to collectively work on important issues, bigger ticket items that we can take our voices up and really make an impact in Trenton before it becomes a crisis.
>> But Dan, just >> just to clarify, you said there was a 2% increase. Maybe it's not 2%, it's Do you want to review what it's at? I'm I'm describing the 2% statutory cap. Yeah, this is this requires a lot of
description. Happy to review it all the time. So, year-over-year, school districts are allowed by the state to increase their budget up to 2%. If you think about the things that Glenrock has paid for over the over the years, which includes the expansion in Hamilton, it's
we should really have uh thought about how to not do that through an increase in tax revenue. Something like that could have come through a referendum where you're going out and you're convincing the the constituents constituent, sorry, our neighbors that this is a thing that we all want. When you do that, there's state dollars that
come in uh that that do help that support some of that. again to your point because it all comes together. On top of which, and I think this is what you're wanting to hear, there's an additional significant increase uh above that 2% allowance because of the
increase in healthcare. Um James is trying to get the beat this into my head. I'm doing my job to do my best to keep up and learn with it. You're you're not allowed to increase your budget more than 2% every year except for exemptions, which is how New Jersey writes all of its laws. exemptions are
if 200 kids move into town and we need to suddenly build a new building. There's one other category that he'll correct me on later. And then this third one is healthcare. Um healthc care is is exploding our budget right now. So
dollar for dollar. I think the proper number is about five and a half%. when I'm driving and I'm describing 2% because that's really our operational budget exclusive of this uh health insurance. >> Just to be clear to the public, it's
it's 6.26% that we're that the whole for the whole amount that we can take. >> So fine. Um the 6.6 is sorry 6.2 is is that the increase to the levy or the
increase to the >> uh rate? >> The 6.2 26 is the increase of the levy on the operating budget. When you factor in the debt service fund, which is the
uh cost of principle and interest on past referendums. Because we were able to refinance uh the 2016 refunding bonds, we were able to save money which then brought
the effective levy increase or the total levy increase down from the 626 to 5.62. So I just would like to add a couple other things. So there is one instance where we have saved the district money
by going out and pursuing that refunding. We've also saved the uh the district money in in terms of our photocopier cost this year and $30,000 from the contract that you just approved. We did a Verizon uh data line
audit this past year that saved us $35,000. So, we are actively looking to cut costs or save money um as much as we can, but the the the item that I like to use uh
more more often than not is is a cut that's really not a cut, and that's our buildings and grounds budget. Our buildings and grounds budget has been the same since I got here despite historic levels of inflation. I mean, we all know when we've done things at our
home, uh, that the cost of just lumber during that period of time has been incredible. So, I think that there are savings that don't necessarily pop out of the page as being a number that's lower, but it's a number that could have
very well been higher. But we have done a lot of work for instance in buildings and grounds as an example to not bring in third-party contractors but to to do jobs but to do it ourselves. I can tell you that the amount of tools that we
have purchased that to be quite frank was surprising that we didn't have them right to help us with different plumbing and different HVAC uh type expenditures. So I I think that there there are places where we have saved. It's just doesn't pop out of the page because they could
have been higher. Um and I think buildings and grounds is is is like one of those places where it particularly stands out. I'd say even like, you know, a recent item that we had was the purchase of of the bus um with the with
the emergency fees and that helped us to then now be able to transport with the larger bus inhouse our athletic teams. Um the the coordination now think you know thank you to our leadership team. We have much easier coordination now
with the burrow and to try and work on sharing services, communicating very regularly, using each other's resources, planning that way. We I know um the mayor's uh expressed wanting to have a joint meeting which she's she and I had
talked about that maybe like two years ago and are are going to have it this year. I I feel confident that we're going to have it this year and uh find you know even more ways to either reduce costs within the borrow share services
that are possible um innovate where possible like you know utilize each other's resources that that is what you know we're doing and need to continue to innovate on >> the only thing I also like to add is the
6.26% 26% increase on the operating budget. That's been a number that's been out in the public. I've said it as early as I believe it was November. It was said again in January. So, that number has been out there. It shouldn't be come
as a surprise um to to anyone. Um, in addition, I believe I have been putting immense pressure on uh our association of Bergen County Business Administrators to get the survey results that will tell
us all of the towns in Bergen County that respond to the survey of what their anticipated levy increases are going to be. Anecdotally, and I don't like to deal in anecdotal stories, they are all in the range, if not higher, than ours.
So just from a contextual perspective, it it's not a Glenrock issue. It is a systemic issue. >> And there are towns all around us that have yet to balance their budget that don't actually have a balanced budget
yet. >> Tamalei, can I add I I don't um I want to add to something that you said and uh give some context to it. Even though I'm don't like being an alarmist, that's not my intent. Uh, but from my sources, I've been told from the county and the state
level that there are 15 school districts that are going to be $4 million in a deficit and there are more to come. That was the exact words. More districts to come. So that's why
when I get a little, you know, hyper about it, it's because, you know, the concern. I don't want to be one of those districts. I I know and I trust that we're not um but I I I just you know it's a it's an innate fear, right?
>> And sometimes it's decisions like this in raising the tax levy to the extent that we're asking you to is that we prevent getting to those points. Um, I would venture to say that if you look at some of those districts and go back, you will see that they had left tax tax
increase money on the table in past years that in some cases self-perpetuated the deficits. >> Oh, so again, just wanted to lend my voice in recognition of all the work that was done by the committee and the
leadership. love having a robust conversation. And Angela, I just want to go back to something that you had mentioned earlier, you know, talking about when you're, you know, facing inflation and higher bills, you look to tighten the budget at home. And I think tightening a budget at home means that
comprehensive review of where is money outgoing. But at the same time, there are things that you safeguard and then there are things that you say, well, we'll do an analysis on this and we'll understand what the impacts are to our family if we cut this out. And so I
think that's where Thank you. I think that's kind of, you know, where I've landed at the end of this. Yes, next year we are facing something very difficult, but I think for right now we have a balanced budget and that's where I've landed. Let's look
at the things that we would need to look at for years to come, but through a thorough analysis and not just a reaction. >> To to point out the comment about 2% and balanced, it makes no sense if you just say, well, we're up we have a six 6.2%
increase, but we're only increasing at 5.6 and we're balancing at 2%. This is why this is confusing and this is why people get mad. And I think half of this is why we're all sitting here. um the the concept of balancing is to that 2%. And and it's
>> well I asked you only because we we weren't speaking numbers. We were all speaking generalities and I think it's important to speak the actual numbers since this is a public meeting. >> Yeah. And that 2% >> it's easy it's easy to make it confusing and it's easy to make the point and it's really easy to say well this is like we
don't want to cut this is like what we care about. But yes there's things that there's things that I would not touch like I would not touch the teachers. However, the administration cost in Glenrock, New Jersey is one of the highest in Bergen County. 11 I can tell
you the exact number. 11.13% of our total budget goes to administration. This is the I think it's like the highest in in Bergen County. So, we should have a full and honest conversation about the uh things that we can and should look at the cutting.
However, when I asked for for looking at cutting, they said no, we cannot we cannot do that in the middle. And then the other side we cannot look at cutting. So this this is where we are and and you know again it's really easy to say oh it's confusing it's a lot of things and we cannot that's why just
prove it and say 2%. But but it's not when you start looking at the data and understanding what's what's things you understand where's where's the where's the issues are. >> Mr. Cohen I you had an hour in our session you extended it was great. You had a 30-minute session. I said unfortunately you had to keep it to your
timeline. You extended it because you care about this so much. Um, we both wasted our weekend uh lobbing emails back and forth at each other if that's how you feel. I took all of your considerations very clear uh very deliberately and like I said many times tonight, we can take good ideas but make
them actionable and what I said to the entire board tonight is we need to take all these ideas back to the committee and now have the committee work on them. So rest assured, certainly rest because it's our job now to take everything that you put forward. if you have any more further info in info. I know you sent me
some details, some numbers. They were a little bit um I wouldn't call them cherrypicked, but they were specific to what the point you were trying to make. I think I' I think the whole committee would love to see the full volume of that data. Anytime. I already said my email and and you know it. So, don't
worry, it's happening. But keep on giving us the data that you want us to look at, we'll do it. >> I I'd also like to make a comment here. um it the numbers that are out there in terms of administrative caps.
>> So there are caps based upon the north, the south, and I believe the central that are built into the budget software that we have to maintain. They're also outlined in the taxpayers guide to educational spending. And what it does is it takes costs not as a percentage of
the total budget but a percentage of students which the state the way the state reviews us. That's the way they use it. Not administrative costs over total budget. And when you look at that um and and and I can provide you with this data if you'd like. I think I've given you a chart for it. I could give
you the actual data from 2015 1415 school year uh to the 2526 uh school year. That numbers range from $2,045 per student to $2,875 per student. And in each and every one
of those years, Glenrock is below that average cap. Okay? And that average is is uh calculated based upon the previous year's submitted budgets by all of the districts. So
I don't see by using the information in the taxpayers's guide where we are more expensive. A business administrator under the the math that you're doing, right? A business administrator is a business administrator is a business administrator, right? But for instance,
we are a 62 million 62 $64 million budget. my salary as a percentage of that is going to be higher than if we had a $102 million budget. And and and that we're just a small district. That's
the fact. And when we have the same things that other districts have like supervisors, we are going to trend higher because it's a smaller denominator. and and and that's why I I would I would recommend
that you take a look at the taxpayers guide which it gives you each school all over the state and and and really gives you some good good ideas because you know while I dislike the state's budget software immensely what it does do very
well is it makes sure that you do not exceed the various uh thresholds like the administrative cap like the legal cap app it just it it just says nope you can't submit a budget. Um so I I welcome the the the comments but I would love to
get an understanding uh beyond just this calculation of actual over uh our total budget because that I concede will always going to be higher. a social studies teacher who's at top of the guide as a percentage of
our budget is going to be higher than any district that has a budget that's larger than ours. >> I I I just want to step in one second just because you know I've heard you know what you've said. I've heard other um board members have asked the same
question or any member of the community that's asked that. Um, I've heard also what our administration um has stated and you know, no notebook LLM is a LLM um that does use some AI tools that
is within our Google suite. >> Oh, uh like a AI model like chat GBT is one. Um open AI stuff like yes. So it it's one that that is you know keeps our our information you know safeguarded but it does give us access. Um, so I was
able to put in some of the information that's from the school performance um, data like that comes from the state and one compared across Bergen County um, with the supervisors as well as some of our metrics because really it's not just
you know individual groupings of of either teachers, administrators or like whatever. It's it's like what what do we want to be as a district? So, what do we want our our our our children's achievement to be? How does that compare all of those things? And so, um looking
at some of the ELA scores and or um you know, the costs per student and things like that and then breaking that down between Bergen County and um even further breaking it down to the INJ districts that we you know like constantly use to compare and it doesn't
tell that that story. I'll share the information with you, but it it doesn't when you look at our student achievement, it's actually, you know, higher than than most of the um Bergen County and the INJ districts. Um when you look at our costs for like
administration, it trends somewhere close to the middle. And it's not enough for you to say like we're oh well, you know, like we're what if we were like I'm just going to throw this about like 60%. Well, we're higher than the average, but like 10%. Like, how do you like adjust for just like five, 10, 2%
or like over plus or minus? It's not we're not an outlier. We're pretty solidly in in in the middle. Um, and so one, it's like yes, trust, but then also like verify and take that information. And I just could not replicate um the
sentiment that like it's well known that we are you know topheavy or it's well known that compared to other districts or comparable districts that we are outliers. I don't see that we're outliers. So taking taking that we're also looking at student achievement as
our priority. our kids are our priority, you know, and you you commonly brought brought up that we're trying to achieve at as at the same levels as like Ridgewood or Fairlon or um you know, Northern Valley or you know, whatever it
is. Um many of these districts, if not all of the ones that I name, also have similar structure to what we have. So if we are able to balance our budget and keep our resources focused on our children and then determine how we want
to rightsize in the future, that's that that is what like you know that's just how I'm you know looking. So I I'm happy to send you kind of like what I've um you know worked on like
thank you Ed for um helping a lot with like generating these prompts. Um, but I just couldn't replicate it. >> Yeah, I I did the same thing. I uploaded to Google M all the Bergen County budgets from last year and and I got to
So happy to look and compare. >> Thanks. >> I'm just going to circle back and bring us all to hopefully a close on the conversation. Um again my primary concern is um I just want to be sure that you know I've dedicated 40 plus
years and I'm still doing it of my life to my career in education. So I am very invested in how children do especially our children in this community. Uh let's make no mistake about that. But again I
my question was at one point in our meeting we have to differentiate between what is a want and what is a need >> and if we can you know I ask again if that can just be you know taken into consideration and reviewed that would
make me very happy and I'm thinking that maybe we can find some more um something else that may be able to be I don't want to use the word sacrificed because if it's an a want. It's not really a sacrifice, right? >> No. And and and it's a good point, Dr. Puji Bender, that and that's why I'm I'm
excited about the the strategic planning work that I really think that we need to do and and so that we're we're having those conversations about what is it that we value as a community? What is it we value the various stakeholders and all that? Um so that we are aligned with that so that we can make those decisions
about about that. I am as as you know very supportive of of the work that the supervisors are doing. You saw it in our district goals. Most of those are being led by them. The instructional work that they are doing is really important. I value that. But we need to hear from from everybody and and and make sure
that this is the direction we are all wanting to go, right? you know, when it comes to not just test scores, but when it comes to the social emotional learning, when it comes to the whole kid, when it comes to all of those things and and those are the conversations we have to have and and I think we had this conversation in in the
microbudget meetings that the the appropriate way to plan budgets is to start with that big picture, where are we going and we're all rowing in the same direction and then start lining up what does the structure look like and what is the what is it? You know, that's what those are the conversations we need to have. Absolutely. And whereas whereas
whereas we have attempted to have this kind of conversation in the past and um found ourselves unsuccessful. You have a definitive timeline for these conversations, right? There's no ambiguity about when, how, what.
There is a very clear timeline within, you know, our next bud our next meeting. We're talking about strategic planning and we're talking about doing committee work. We're talking about moving forward on various initiatives. We're talking about that early and vigorously. Right?
So there's everyone is empowered on this board. Right? So let's get to work. Um moving on to uh the new business item, the dental insurance renewal.
>> Got back just in time. some good news. Uh so >> savings. >> Yeah. >> Um so uh we were able to work with our benefits consultant uh for our dental delta dental plan which expires in June.
Um we were able to get a 3% increase for next year. So that's 2627. um and then flat for 2728. So we have some nice cost certainty um
in our dental uh 3% is from what was shared uh on the lower side of the renewal rates. Um and so we're we were pretty excited when we got that number back. Um hopefully I will have a uh a
proposal from Delta uh for the board to approve and then we can be off to the races. So good news on the dental insurance side. >> All right. Thank you. That is good news. Um nothing for operations any liaison
reports any um HSA or anything? I know. Um uh this this Friday is uh Central School's centennial. They're celebrating our hundth year. Um so I actually did um just write like a
positive uh note from um the board of education which I'll share I'll send it I'll also send that out to you. But I'm actually I went to get it framed. So, I'm going to donate this personally um with some of the older um pictures that
I worked with uh Kathy Walter um who not only is like a wonderful teacher here, but she's also um in the Glenrock Historical Society. And so, she uh sent me um some digital pictures that I went and I'm getting them put into kind of like this big shadow box thing um to
>> Huh. >> You're you No. >> No. No. Uh, recently she somebody donated to the historical society a stack of um glass negatives from the 20s of of old photos of of Glenrock and she
heard through the grapevine that I have a dark room at home. And so I developed some of the pictures including one from of Central School from probably 1926 or something and uh one of the fire station. I think the rest were all kind of places in town. But anyway, it was pretty cool. I it
>> I don't know actually she so one of them may well have >> they might have been and I don't know I just I told um the company that I'm working with to just take creative license on choosing which ones to put because of the color scheme and like the resolution and things like that. But um
I'll share it when I I'll definitely share it when I when I get it. I'll make sure to send you all pictures of what it looks like. And um it's really cool like it like one of the original um uh the original central school was actually in the parking lot of the current central
school um and it was a house and that's gone. And so then um central school was built, you know, later and it's just really it's just really cool to see some of the pictures as well. So I'll even I'll just send you the the pictures and stuff. It was nice. Um but yeah, we're
celebrating 100th year um for the 25 to 26 school year. So that's it. >> Dr. Robinson, on an anecdotal note, we know that the school was there and that house was there because not too many years ago, a sinkhole opened up in the parking lot of Central and we saw the foundations of all those buildings.
>> Excellent. >> On to operations buildings and grounds committee. Um that's great. No sink call anymore. Uh, excellent. Um, so our Oh, meeting location for close
session. >> Last time a trustee brought up the the temperature in this room and just kind of the hospitality of this room sometimes and um moving this meeting to another location would be prohibitive because we have the sound system in here and we don't want to replicate it in
another room. But what we are considering as a compromise, two things. We have the wall closed. I think that maybe that's helping with the the heat keeping in here. >> 68. >> It's 68, he says. So, I think it feels warmer to me. Um >> very warm. >> You're very warm. And then the the
actually the the reason this is on the on the agenda for for conversation is um the other um compromise we can offer is we could certainly have close session not here. Uh we could meet in the library in one of the classrooms, we could meet in the board office, we could
meet some other places, we could figure that out. Um, it'd also allow Keith and and the student staff here to set up while we're enclosed and and public could come in and sit and be ready for us so that when we come in, um, it's something that we could consider, but I wanted to bring it to all of you because
it's it's your meeting. I'll >> Before we talk about that, I'd just like to thank you for closing the wall there and accommodating. I think it's slightly warmer this time. So, thank you. >> You're imagining it, Christine. Oh, >> you don't feel it blowing. Maybe we can find in the budget to put in the media
center the same setup. >> I'm just >> We were talking about tightening belts. Dr. >> Tightening belts. >> Tightening belts. >> Okay. >> Um but yeah. So is there is there an interest in in I think that there would
be one one I would say I I definitely felt a difference um walking in here. So I definitely felt the difference, but then yes, there's a temperature that he's been monitoring. um and texting me about all meeting. No, I'm joking. Um
do we want to move closed session into um like a smaller environment? One, there's the benefit just like what uh Mr. Vaness said. I think that that actually by itself is also a good idea because having our um our staff and uh
our support set up is helpful. having u members of the public able to come in and sit down and then we arrive after our close session is a good idea anyway. But um we also commonly in our close sessions move our tables together. So if we were
in a different room, we would just be sitting right next to each other. So do you want to do that um and investigate? >> Stuple. Yes. >> Yes. >> All right. So whatever whichever you know you if you could please make a
recommendation and I think either or any of those options is fine. >> This is very exciting. >> Okay. I'm glad you're excited. >> Yes. >> Um question before we close. So we had a discussion uh in the last board meeting
about the later start time for the middle school and the high school. And I think we got um a lot of emails from the community definitely u the most about the subject since I joined and I just want to understand like what's the next steps in the exploring the the option or
looking at the community has requested. >> Yeah. So we have had about maybe a dozen people email us about that. Um and and you know we're listening absolutely. So, um, I talked with administration a week or two ago, um, and said probably we're going to put together a committee to
explore it, right? Because there are a lot of moving pieces there. Every district has has a different, you know, structure physically, you know, as far as moving kids around and such. So, um, I'll have I'll have a I'll put together a committee of of folks and we'll we'll look into what that looks like for and
make a recommendation. And um as I believe you said, you already have kind of a committee that's kind of working like challenge success. >> Challenge success is more about I was I was tempted to to bring it up earlier. I went to their challenge success meeting last week. Um it's more about the the
main thing that they're focusing on right now is student engagement at the high school. And so I mean it's related. If you're if you're sleepy in the morning, I imagine you're less engaged. Um so so I think that you know Yes. Okay. Um, so I I think that there's maybe an overlap there. Um, but I think
this would be a um this wouldn't >> something separate. >> Yeah, this would be something separate. So I I'll put together something with that. And it's it's going to have to involve, you know, uh as as normal lots of the stakeholders because while while some folks might might very much like that, it might also cause hardships for for for drop off or pickup. And I don't
know what it's going to do to traffic and and all of those things are questions that we'll we'll look into. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. Um, so our next meeting date is March 23rd. U, we know budget committee meets >> and that is a change. Remember to mark that in your calendar. It is a change. March 23rd.
>> Yes. Um, and so now it's 10:14. We'll open um for our second set of public comments. Please state your name, address. Three minutes. You've been patient, Sanjie. Thank you. Sanji Wii, 131 Fairmont Avenue, Glen
Rock. And thank you for it for uh your comment. We are spending too much time discussing on things that doesn't matter. Uh going through the agenda item to say me tell me. Okay. Thank you for that. Um I think uh u you
guys are in trouble and I think the town is in trouble because the previous guys who was sitting right next to you with the empty seat created all these problems. And I say that with all conviction because you guys spent $4 million and lights in the lower soccer field
without going for a referendum. Bad idea. Uh and I I have no reservation saying the the leadership at that time had no clue how to run this board of head the school districts. That's why we're in trouble.
Uh hopefully we will charge uh you know things will change. committees. Uh I think this board needs those committees. So that is a step in the right direction. Uh I think you should have uh finance committee which which is a
critical one. The way I look at it when I was on the board was the safety, security, education and the finance. They are all interrelated. You can't have a good education if you there is no safety and security for the kids. Uh but you know um I can talk to you separately
how to do it. uh you want to make sure the finance committee is the people in the finance committee are they're also part of some other committees because so that's how everything rolls up. >> Um I think I also want to say I learned
about the school board uh from the best at that time Barbara Stewart and Rona. I spent three years in the boring committee called policy committee. Yeah,
>> but that's where you learn about the school district, how to run every single word that you write in there. If you're not, if you don't have time to spend, don't join that meeting because you are you will be creating lot of problem for
this town. You want to learn, join the policy committee. You would do a good job to this school district. Uh another thing is so going to talk about is I don't hear u any efficiencies talking about the budget right you know we're
all complaining about 30% you know healthcare cost went up it's norm it's always going to go up next year it's going to go up but I'm not looking I I didn't see any efficiency people are somehow very emotionally attached to the supervisor position oh I don't want to
cut the I don't want to fix the class size because I want to have a tomorrow class size these you got to make a a rational decision without emotions to what is good for the school district
because lot of people in this in in this town I would say close to 90% have no clue that you mention hey the budget is going to go going to go 5.5 or 6.2 to 90% population in this town have no
clue. People who attend HSA they are aware of what's happening. Rest of the population they have no clue. So it's good uh you share some powerpoints. We had the templates that I was on the board. Uh it was a good
powerpoint template. These are the dates we are going to discuss. These are the numbers we have. Last 10 years sub budget how it went up. If you can share those powerpoints, I think that will be very helpful for people like me who care about this town with the rest. You know, I want to know we providing the best
education within our financial framework. The limitation going to the 2% increase I think it will be difficult but going to the five and six I think that is just too much. uh look for some
efficiencies you will find >> you're able to >> Okay. Okay. Thank you. Appreciate it. >> Thank you. >> All right. Uh seeing no additional um members of the public, uh we are closed
for public comments at 10:18 p.m. Um, I need a motion to um uh that the regular public meeting of March 2nd be adjourned. And we um are actually I need a motion to return to close
session after tonight's meeting to discuss personnel matters where no additional um action will be taken and the board will um not return to public session. So I need a motion. Liz Calves, seconded by Ed Hayward. All those in favor?
>> I Any opposed? All right.