and call the meeting to order. Please rise for the flag salute. 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. Rude of egress. In the event of an emergency, all people may exit right or left from this room and proceed to an exit door. All doors will open from the inside. The New Jersey Open Public Meetings Law was enacted to ensure the right of the
public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interests is discussed or acted upon. In accordance with the provisions of this act, the Hilton Board of Education has caused notice of this meeting to be
published in the North Jersey Record Herald News, the board's official newspaper on January 15th, 2025. Notices of this meeting indicating date, time, and place were posted publicly on the door of the main entrance to the school and filed with the the clerk in the
municipality of Hailen. Roll call, please. >> Mrs. Serna, >> here. >> Mr. Colada, >> present. >> Mr. Miss Gado, >> here. >> Uh, Mr. Buzzman.
Mrs. Johnson >> here. Mr. Martinez >> here. Mrs. Issa >> here. >> Okay. So, we are going to begin with the
um oath of office for our two new board members who are uh being appointed. Uh they were actually appointed at the last meeting, but they're being sworn in today. So, um we can begin with uh Miss Fischer. Would you like to begin? Sure.
Okay. to come up here. Okay. [Music] >> Okay. Say your name. Okay. >> I say your name. I, Ellen Fischer, >> do solemnly swear and affirm
>> do solemnly swear and affirm >> that I will support the Constitution of the United States >> that I will support the Constitution of the United States >> in the Constitution of the State of New Jersey >> and the Constitution of New Jersey >> and that I will bear true faith >> and that I will bear true faith >> and allegiance
>> and allegiance >> to the same >> to the same >> and to the government established in the United States, I'm sorry, >> and to the governments established in the United States >> and in this state >> and state >> under the authority of the people >> under the authority of the people. >> So help me God. >> So help me God.
>> I state your name. I, Ellen Fischer, >> do solemnly swear and affirm >> do solemnly swear and affirm >> that I possess the qualifications >> that I possess the qualifications >> prescribed by law of the office >> prescribed by law for the office >> a member of board of education
>> for a member of board of education >> and I am not disqualified >> I am not disqualified >> as as a voter pursuant to RS194-1 >> as a voter pursuant to RS194-1 >> and I am I am not disqualified
>> and I am not disqualified >> due to conviction of a crime >> due con due to conviction of a crime >> or offense >> or offense >> listed in >> listed in >> NJSA >> NJSA >> 18A >> 18A >> 12-1 >> 12-1 >> and that I willfully
>> and that I will faithfully >> I will faithful faithfully and partially >> and partially >> and justly >> and justly >> perform all the duties >> perform all the duties >> of that office >> of that office >> according to the best >> according to the best >> of my ability. >> My ability. >> So help me God.
>> So help me God. >> Congratulations. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Congratulations. [Music] one. >> Don't give me your name. Say your name in the blank. I Your name >> Gregory Williams.
>> Do solemnly swear and affirm >> do solemnly swear and affirm >> that I support the Constitution >> that I support the Constitution >> of the United States. of the United States >> in the Constitution of the State of New Jersey. >> in the Constitution of the State of New Jersey. >> And that I will bear true faith >> and that I will bear true faith
>> and allegiance >> and allegiance >> to the same >> to the same >> and to the governments established in the United States >> to the governments established in the United States >> and in this state >> under the authority of the people >> under the authority of the people. >> So help me God. >> So help me God.
>> I say your name. I, Gregory Williams, >> do solemnly swear and affirm >> domly swear and affirm >> that I possess the qualification >> that I possess the qualifications >> prescribed by law for this office >> prescribed by law for the office >> a member of board of education >> a member of board of education
>> and I am not disqualified >> and I'm not disqualified >> as as a voter pursuant to >> and I'm not disqualified as a voter pursuant to >> RS19 >> RS19 >> 4-1 >> 4-1 And I am not disqualified.
I am not disqualified >> due to conviction of a crime >> due to conviction of a crime >> or offense listed in >> or offense listed in >> NJSA >> NJSA >> 18A >> 18A >> 12-1 >> 12-1 >> and that I will faithfully
>> that I will faithfully >> and partially >> impartially >> and justly perform all the duties >> and justly perform all the duties >> of that office >> of that office >> according to the best of my ability >> according to the best of my ability. >> So help me God. >> So help me God. Well, congratulations again to Mrs.
Fischer, Mr. Williams. >> Welcome. Welcome back. >> Having you on the board. Okay. So, we're going to do a little switch here with the presentations. We're going to begin with the presentations on human resources audit
report and then after that we'll do the presentation on the board norms. So um I would like to ask um our our rep if he could begin his take it away.
>> Thank you. Before I begin, congratulations to newly elected members. to see. Um so what I I am going to do uh throughout the presentation and then
after the presentation any there's before I even get into the present there's so much data that I process that I bit off a lot more data than you can chew at one time. Um, but that's why I want to leave it leave it open-ended so that if people have
questions that I don't have off the top of my head or that's not in the presentation, um, I'm going to write down j questions and be able to communicate that back. Let's go through. So the from the beginning the the focus has been to look at in and this I think
was sparked by the climate right now financially and what's going on with um health benefits. I I know few districts personally that I've spoken to friends who are administrators being given a 30% quote of an increase. So it's that time
of year where it's it's wise to start being prepared for uh what might be coming down the road. So walk the whole purpose of this was to be able to walk into this unforeseen future financially uh at least with an
idea of where the the district stands in terms of personnel and staffing and and certifications. So first it was human resources and compliance. Um I physically this summer spent time in the office at Manchester
look you know the boxes of files going through the files to make sure to verify that what needs to be in the file is there and then after that hands-on file review process was completed then went back to uh NJ educational search uh has
a a search ability uh to verify certification. So this way I was able to match every certification to every person in the district's file and the electronic uh file as well. By doing that I was able to put together a master catalog of
staff credentials. what the purpose of this document will be um to something that the district can refer to when the time comes. God forbid you need to, you know, find a teacher for a certain position for a lead replacement or
something comes up and you're not sure if someone has that certification, you'll be able to now do a a search to see which searchs are held by um by your staff. Looked at a different um looked at student numbers and this
big piece about this project is is I'd say well over 90% of it's confidential because it either involves information of you know students classes or their classification or or staff members. Um, so I want to be make sure I'm I'm careful, but um, looking at the numbers
in terms of enrollment from 2425 to 2526 and then trying to project forward to 2627 in terms of how your enrollment numbers could potentially impact staff and then a financial analysis of of total employee costs. But this the
employee costs that I'm going to discuss this evening are specifically only to those individuals who are participating in the health plan because the increase in health coverage premium would affect those so those numbers
terms of staff personnel pulling information demographics status uh job titles and assignments which involve looking pulling the data from your student from your information system for Genesis for human resources matching it
to the um submissions that were given to the state of New Jersey which is now called NJ sleds uh and then cross records obviously to the file to make sure everything is aligned. Okay. So in terms of uh files
broke down the the review into categories. So staff, personnel information, demographics, out of 193 files, 193 were were perfect. Nothing missing, no concerns whatsoever. Uh, in terms of employment status and
contracts, all completed in the files. The two areas that I have to follow up on, so I'm not saying that there's a problem. I'm just saying I'm not 100% certain because these involve certificates that are probably in process of being issued. So don't have
didn't have an issue date, but there might be already paid and um a search a certificate that's um got to check how it's grandfathered in. So I I just want to double check before I commit to that. But in those two sections, but um it's
just a handful of of files to look at again. Um and everything else in terms of professional development was being mainst. So this link um is what's going to be useful to the admin um for look I can't open it up here but looking at the the
master data that's uh comes with the NJ sled submission. So certifications was probably the the um took a little bit more detective work especially with ma name changes that come up from time to time. So making sure like before I didn't know if it was
a person, I would pull a file and and look through the documentation and find it. But um in terms of certifications, everyone's appropriated certified working across positions. So when it comes to like I said about following up on those two areas, it was
um the two certification areas I mentioned, this would be the credential log. It's a Excel block submitt submission. So this is where your district has to submit every year
to the department of ed every employees file electronic file that has a state number which is the smid number and with that is attached the current salary their step their how many years have been in the district. It's a lot of information and that information
obviously has to match what's being done in real world and and the verification of that you know going through that there was no no errors that was so that was all 100%. So when it comes time to go through the
when if you have a question about a license or a credential, there's also in here a master catalog of staff credentials which has every certification, every certificate that's held, not just being used, but that's held by every staff member. So, you may
have someone who has students with disabilities certificate that's teaching a regular A class and hasn't had it put it into effect yet. Um, this would tell you which staff members have which search if they have more than one.
Okay, this is where we start getting into the analysis of right now we're based on what projection of numbers for students from last year this year and now moving forward and contract obligations and all those other obligations that the board
has and the unknown the uncertainty of what's going to happen with health benefits. I must also add to this what's going to there's uncertainty as to what's going to happen with title programs title one you know those areas uh we have to be prepared for that
so what I did was I worked out a model and these numbers again are based strictly on those individuals who are in the health benefits plan participated because those are the numbers that will cause a increase this has not this is not the overall budget this is just a
snapshot shot of employees who are in the health plan and how it'll affect each year the overall system. >> Okay. >> So if if it stays flat, zero increase, which we're hoping but optimistic, but I
think that would probably be unlikely. If it stays flat with no increases, there's still a natural increase that's going to occur in the in the budget because of an increase in steps increase in on the guide itself. That's putting us next year at you're
putting at a cost of 12,786 per pupil. If there's a 10% increase, it's going to increase overall by 36,000, which is going to be 2.5%. Putting your cost per pupil at 12822.
It hits right in the middle and there's a 15% increase. So overall $324,12 2.71% and then cost per people will go up to 12840 20% 341,327 2.85% 85% from the previous year in that
area category and the cost per pupil is 12858 25% still right below 3% increase 358,551 12876 and if 30% is the number looking at
3.14% increase uh 12,894 per people is the average spend So now when we look at student enrollment 2425 you had 1,03 students
and the trend went for 202526 uh you went uh down to 9 58. So there was a drop of students. It doesn't mean it's automatically time to then look at staffing but you're looking for a trend. We're looking for trends. So what would
the trend be uh for next year? This year's students that are going to enroll for for next year but based on the the the trend of the population itself. Okay. Okay. So here's what we'll come up with
per cubicle. So if you look at the the increase of potentially 272,000, right? That based on the average salary of the individuals that are in that data set. That would that would be the equivalent of 3.75
full full-time equivalent. FTE means full-time. That doesn't mean full-time teacher. That means full-time equivalent of of an employee. What? Because that's that's where the expenses come from. Okay. um get you to where and now when you
look at 4.2, we can't have 0.2 of a person, but there's ways that districts will get creative and have people play more than one role. Um meaning they'll take a fifth of a class schedule and teach four from another uh subject, a subject or grade
level. looking at the equivalent of four positions. When we get to 15%, we're almost close to four equivalent of four and a half positions. 20% you're over four and a half positions. And then right below, you'd be right at about five positions. So if
we plot a ballpark, we'd be say between four and seven, right? Not knowing exactly the exact numbers. Now what I mean by positions doesn't mean I'm not recommending that um these are positions that are um eliminated. I'm saying that there's the recommendation is
that when the time comes if you get to that road where you have to now start looking at hard numbers um I I the way that the trend is going in terms of student numbers and then your financial the money that's potentially going to be lost trying to
balance those two the first thing I my recommendation the first thing would be to sit down before you look to add a new position or hire but to sit down and go through your actual program numbers and see where you are in terms of because
everybody that works here has a role and we can't overlook the fact that every role impacts students. So that's where the the board comes into play working with the superintendent and the administration and parents listening to feedback looking at programs that exist
and then how can the board look to to uh make up the gap the shortfall in in dollars that's going to be laid out more for health benefits and potentially loss of funding without losing current staff. That's where I would my recommendation would be to start the looking at what
you have and now you have not information as to what everybody holds the certifications the number of years of experience and so on. It's a it's a there's a lot of data there, but I wouldn't I I if I had to be asked right now, I wouldn't walk into
this off uh scheduling season in the spring without taking a look and seeing, okay, what if you know, you ask Miss August, what's the worst case scenario, 30%, you can refer back to this, run the numbers again. It gives you an idea of looking
at programs and looking at at how your energy is used in terms of any questions. Go ahead. >> Um, and this is just to clarify, this is as of what you've presented so far is only based on the increase solely on the
individuals who are currently accepting health benefits through the through the school and not including funding cuts. This is only strictly on the excessive amount >> because the people that receive the benefits the board. So this is based on the calculating
>> the board's liabilities of having an employee. So like it's not just the salary, it's salary, the pension contribution, payroll, social security, the ma all the matching and then the potential increase in what has to be paid for the benefits
of the board share um goes into that number. So, you know, what my I I come from this, you know, when it comes to looking at these things, I I approach it with a scalpel and think that's my recommendation to the board is to look and see, you know,
it doesn't mean that you would go right out. Like, so I'm saying if you had a when I say a shortfall through attrition, you got to the point where 27 28, which is, you know, the year after, right? not knowing, you'd still want to be able to
look to see, do we have any pending retirements that that goes into the calculation, right? Because then you have a pending retirement, you know, there's a difference in the amount of money that it may cost for the person who's at the top of the compared to middle ear. Then you adjust that number
and it may not be then it may be a half a roll that you just found. You know what I'm saying? So there's ways to be um very very creative with it, but this is a time Whenever there's a financial climate like this, this is when districts tend to really start looking
carefully. It's like looking at your home budget, looking carefully at what you're using. That's what my recommendation is now, just before you before the move happens to add any additional staff. I would say look through what you're running now and see what can be done before you look at not
knowing what the next two years bring. >> Yeah. Um, what is the percentage in the difference of staff that is enrolled in health benefits and staff that isn't? >> But I'll write that. That's why I brought my back.
>> So, you want to know the number of who are in the P in the plan that >> percentage of the difference? Yeah. >> Compared to. >> Yeah. And there and there's some people are in the dental only, some people are in the
total package. So I'll break it apart. >> Thank you. >> So I'm assuming that this is not ready to disseminate to the board members, right? You still are working on >> Yes, I told Lena this morning. So I told her this morning the I wanted to make sure I was able to get here to first
introduce myself and started and get through where the process of this the amount of time um is is come to the point where like I want to be able to like these questions if I didn't do the calculations I want to be able to feel them do it and then as so I told her
I'll help through the end of the school year. God forbid you get to the point where you're sitting now and you have to make look at programs and look at the numbers. I'll be able to help you dive in. >> Okay. >> I have another question, sir. >> Yeah.
>> Um, so the numbers of enrolled students, is that including the students that we pay tuition to go to other schools? No. Okay. >> No, that was strictly based on your your students that are in district. >> Okay. Thank you.
But these these are good questions to ask because those are areas where if you're losing money on this side, you could try to claw it back and then >> helps. Yeah. >> Offset question. Um >> thank you for so far what you've done.
Um part of what we had asked for as a board also I don't know if you got to it or research still working on this. Um, is there going to be a review of like the administrative function that people have, the administrative side, the not only the teaching staff, but on the administrative side, the secretarial
staff, the janitorial staff, all the different functions that we have, you know, through what that looks like, you know, staff or it because one of the main things we asked was, you know, is it topheavy? Do we not have enough? Do we need more help in one area? Do we
need less help in a certain area? Can people be moved around to avoid having to per say get rid of a position but could someone function in a different capacity where would you know eliminate the need for someone to be laid off or not you know because again I think everybody's on the same page we want to
do the best we can to fulfill our fiduciary obligation as well as make sure the kids have the best uh you know teachers and the best people we have in the building that we can afford that >> so I have I have the list of we have all the list of the administrators custodial
clerical >> um sort sorted out from the data because if they weren't taking benefits off, put it back together and then I could break those apart just like we would with the teachers. >> Um yeah, but I know like for the in other words, I when we I went through the custodial files, it was literally
like I did check their black seal license the same way checking a teacher's license if they have it up to date. It's in the file because they have to have the license, the boiler license every year. I could there's the so the state provides numbers the state provides re um recommendations
for how many custodial staff have based on square footage um and how many administration typical is that those a lot of that is based on averages per pupil you know role playing dual role of the chief school administrator and principal
as compared to those are just chief school I could get that's why I started off with I'm going to walk out here Any [Music] other questions from board members? >> Well, thank you so much. Uh we look
forward to getting more information. >> Okay. So, now we are going to move to our presentation that um our um county rep is going to do for us. Miss Kelly Mitchell. She's going to do a presentation on board nor and a
discussion on board norm. I could do it from my hard copy. >> Bill, do you want me to email her presentation? Yes. >> I see it. >> I see it. I don't know.
>> Does Mitchell email me? I'm happy to email it. >> Yeah, I see it. It's actually I don't know. >> All right, Bill. I just sent a just now. >> Did you get the hard copy that I put in your packets? It's not
>> on the agenda. There you go. Okay. Okay. Good. Hi everybody. Thanks for having me back. I last saw you in May. So um we chatted a lot about the board self-evaluation at that time and one of the things that we talked about was um like tightening up
some of the structures that you have as a board. Uh and then speaking with your board president, I thought that um board norms is a good place to start. It uh it gives a lot of structure to the meetings itself and um to the board as a team. Uh
so when we talk about what board norms are is it's just a code of conduct. It's it's something that gives you a snapshot on what should we be at all times? How do we treat each other? How do things get on the agenda? how do we um access
information if we needed to? And then like are we being a model uh board that kind of emulates what we expect from our students. So um we're interacting with each other during a meeting. Are we being respectful? Are we active listening um to each other? So, we're
going to go through that um this evening and just talk about what um each uh you know bucket basically is and um and what what some of the activities are and where we think it should be. In your packet there is um some examples of
board norm documents. Um some of my highest achieving boards do these um documents itself and then reference them throughout the meeting from time to time. So, um it's just about behaviors that are going to make you u more successful
than you are at the moment. So, there's going to be four different buckets. One, um how you act together at all the time. Um one before a meeting, during a meeting, and then after a board meeting. So, we're going to just chat real quick
about that. So, some examples about how you should be with each other um at all times. you should be focused on um strategically on your goals and you should be um constantly updating on those goals and really understanding
that data. You should have a really strong partnership um with the superintendent. That is probably the key aspect to um any successful board. And in your packet, um, I did put in, uh,
just a little bit about the roles of a board member and the roles of a superintendent. And, um, it really references, uh, exactly what the board should be and then what the superintendent should be in charge of. And you get that question quite often.
So, when I talk about being a board member, you're you're the what. You're asking those questions. What, how much is it going to be? why. But then the superintendent is the how. The superintendent is um who's going to be
responsible for that, the action plans to the goals. That's for the superintendent to do. And sometimes the boards and superintendent like that role gets kind of, you know, the lanes get a little blinded. So I put that into your packet so that we we could talk about
the understanding of that partnership and the respect and trust that come into that partnership will help you uh have a greater sense of student achievement. So um let's just talk about uh some of the examples here and uh if if this is
something that you feel that should go into your uh the board norms document. Anybody have any any thoughts on on some of these and what they'd like to see in your board norms do? Like I said, in your packet there is an
example of um several board norms. Um one of them is from my Harmony District. We just started doing this. The Harmony District uh was um you know had all the right focuses but they were really struggling on the structure of the
board. they um they had a hard time with like if they had something that they wanted to put on an agenda, how what is you know the um catalyst to that. Uh so they wanted to make sure that they put this all in writing so that they could help along the way and during their
board meetings sometimes it it became a little chaotic on um actively listening to other board members and uh and being respectful of of the minority opinion at the table. in a town called Harmony. >> Harmony. Yes. >> Oh, okay. Harmony. >> But they were struggling with their
harmony. >> That's what I'm getting at. Yeah. >> So, uh, so they said, you know what? H, how do we get to the next level? And the next level was to put this board norms document together and we had, um, a really nice workshop where we took all
these examples and we pulled from all different districts and said, "This is what we want to be. This is the code of conduct that we want to stand by." And then what they did was after we were done with that document, they all signed it and then they brought it to the
meeting, every single meeting. And if uh you know a member lost their way or if there was a question on how to handle something, they had that document right there and they kept it as a reminder. And I think that that's super important for any um board. I I know that Jeff's
on the Manchester board. we've we've done it there successfully and I think that it really helps the structure and the focus at the board table. So um so having said that any of these examples here strike you as wanting to be in that
um that document? >> I think they all should be. I think they're all pertinent and they're all important. >> Um you know I think they're all things that should be followed. They're all guidelines that should be followed.
>> Yeah. Yeah. So, um any in particular that you feel that um would help from this moment forward as far as um like struggle with the with the board itself? Um anything that you feel like maybe board members aren't being um educated
on how to have the protocol uh with any of that. >> I have thoughts, but I'll let other board members weigh in. >> This is a discussion. >> It looks pretty good. >> Yeah,
>> it's all like like um President Eza said, it's all all pretty good. So >> I think one of the most important things and you stressed this Cali and it's stressed in all the trainings that you know we do is the importance of a good
working collaborative relationship between a board and a superintendent. I think that is really that's just foundational. You know if you don't have that it's going to be hard to do some of these other things. >> Yeah. Yeah. So if you spend your time on
uh you know not having that trust and and not having that confidence in um in that partnership then it's time wasted uh for the students and I always tell our boards that it's super important to be strategically focused during your
meetings and then also at the end of the meeting you should be asking yourself what did we do to uh enhance student achievement did we make a difference to those students? And if you can't answer that question by the end of the evening on what what did
you do to move that needle, then you're doing yourself a disservice because you're all spending time here um for the wrong reasons, right? So that um relationship between the superintendent um the superintendent's recommendations,
of course, you can have discussion on that. It's very very important. But um that matter of trust, whatever you have to do to build that trust and that teamwork, that's where you're going to see the needle moved on student achievement is is that partnership. So I
I think that in any um board norms document, that's I would say out of all of these that's paramount because you're never going to get to the next level unless you have that. So thank you. Thank you for ch So the the uh next examples is about
before the board meeting. Um so are the members prepared? Uh I always used to laugh as a as a board president because we would have um the packets instead of everything being emailed and I would see board members come in and the packet would be perfectly sealed and I would
say you didn't read the agenda because it's perfectly sealed. So, it's super important to um look through that agenda and if there's something on there that you say, you know, um why are we talking about this or I need more data, please
let everybody know ahead of time because um you want to be able to come to the meeting prepared with the data that you need to make an educated decision. Um and that's super important. So that's something that I would definitely um make sure that you have a protocol on
how that's done. Um so let's say that a board member took a look at the agenda and needed something or needed a a question um answered before because they wanted to have extra data at the board meeting. What is the protocol for that
right now? >> Well, basically they will email Mr. Waka Ernest Augustine or both and ask questions. Um what we're what we've been working on this year and this was kind of uh this came from our retreat was
uh bolstering our committee structure. Um really the only committee that meets regularly is finance and so um and then policy will meet occasionally when we have a slew of new policies. So, we've been meeting more with personnel because
we've been having issues with personnel uh agenda items. So, um we are working on that and we did um make recommendations. We had a group we made recommendations going forward in January for every committee to meet
regularly. So, that would answer a lot of questions that board members have before a meeting. um and then they can report out to board members um you know with what they discussed at the meeting and then share that information. So it's
coming not just from Miss Austin and Mr. Welcome but it's coming from the committee as well. Um but right now I would say um so that's what we're trying to build more of. >> But right now I would say um it's mainly board members will reach out to either Miss Augustine or Mr. Walker or both of
them and with their questions. So, um, super important that the board understands that committee structure, the, um, committee chairs understand their roles and what's expected of them. That would go into that, um, board dorms
document that we're talking about. And that's something that you really kind of want to research and figure out who do you want to be as far as that goes. Um so uh the chairs when they are appointed in January should be able to give all the members of that committee the um
exact schedule for the entire year. That way they know and the focus is there. So um that would be a recommendation that I would make for that. Um and then they should also know when they should have their reports ready. It's going to um do
all that uh that documentation. >> Yeah. How thorough should a report be? >> A report should it can be um you know bullet points uh on the onset, but if there was something that was a deep dive um then they should really uh you know
maybe do a more of a narrative but then come to the board meeting with that uh with that report and just explain and then you should really have robust discussions based on what that committee chair has has said. Um because a lot of
times board members just listen to the committee report and they're just like okay we checked that box but the committees are there to do the deep dive so that the board doesn't have to as a whole and then they should be giving their recommendation and that's basically the chain of command. So you
want to make sure that that structure is there that mechanism there. Um and like I said, if you need help with any type of structuring of the committees with regard to the reports or what have you, I have um examples of that. But you
should every committee chair should be using the exact same reporting document so that it's it's uniform across the board. And then also they should have the expectation of knowing, okay, I have a committee meeting. When should I have that report emailed out to everybody?
That type of thing. So I think that um that's what I would put into your board um norms document uh especially about the committees itself because you haven't been using the committees um to the extent that they could be used. Um
you also about the policy committee remember that our functions as a board you're a policym body so a lot of times board members are like what does that even mean? So that means that you should be going through that manual and you should make sure that it's not outdated
that um those policies are really the vision of um reflective of the community and of um the board itself. So if you see uh the recommendation basically is is if a policy is five years or older
then you should really update it even if it's perfectly example the perfect example of the policy is fine. um then just time stamp it that you that you looked through it and you felt that it was fine going forward. >> Does SBA still do that service? Um well
they'll kind of do like a like an audit or autopsy of your policy. >> Yeah. Autopsy. We don't use that word at New Jersey. >> Okay. Get that right. >> But yeah, so a wellness check. >> Yeah. You guys still offer that? >> Is there a fee attached there? >> And that's part of uh your dues. So you
>> It's It's included in the dues. >> It is. It is. So, um, we just need an email from your VA to myself and I will forward it to the policy department and, um, they'll go and take a look and give recommendation. >> Yeah, we did that in Verona a couple years back. We liked that.
>> Yeah. No, it's it's great service and, um, there's a lot of services that that you all have at your disposal that a disposal that maybe you're not taking advantage for New Jersey school board. Um, one of them is training. uh you know I can come in however many times you
want and and do training on subject matter that you need if you feel as a board and that's all included it's you're not paying for my time at all. So just be you know understanding that you can do that at any time. So then we're
going to talk about um also uh arriving um on time, beginning on time, uh you know, whether you're you feel comfortable with the virtual piece. I know that you had board members on virtually, you know, that policy based on that. Sometimes boards change that
from time to time. And then during um the uh the board meeting, how do you uh interact with each other? How do you feel that um you interact with each other at the at the board meeting? Do you feel that um you're actively listening? Do you feel
that you're allowing for all voices to be heard um during a board meeting? How's everybody feeling on that? >> Quite a bunch. Come on now. >> I am. >> I think that there's room for improvement. >> Good. >> I agree.
>> Yeah. So I think uh I think being respectful of each other and um allowing for that discussion sometimes, you know, some the discussion makes each other frustrated when they hear certain things. That's how we learn. And you're here to to be a snapshot of the
community. So you you want people to disagree with you at this board table. You want that back and forth of understanding how everybody feels because you're representing the stakeholders and it should be a snapshot of all the stakeholders. You shouldn't just sit here and constantly agree with
each other. So feel comfortable with having those um robust conversations when something is brought up. Um, so that should go into that um, board norms document about being respectful of other people's opinion and then also allowing
for all voices to be heard. That's usually something that we put in there. Another one that we put in there um, is to have no surprises. If you need extra data or if you um, if you know that you're feel you read the agenda and you're feeling uncomfortable about
something, voice it. It's it's okay. But to come in to have a gotcha moment at the board table, we it's not it's not fair to anybody and you're not moving that needle for student achievement by doing that. So if you do need extra
data, if you want more updates, then you know, let your superintendent know that you need that um and and the why behind uh the because you you certainly don't want the administration doing work on something for for nothing either. So,
make sure that um that's something that's >> anything else that you can think of as far as during the um board meeting that you'd like to see change. >> I do have a question. Um I'm only familiar with our board. I can't speak to other boards. >> Yeah. >> Um
>> how do they normally handle the questions? Um the way we've been handling it normally has been we d someone makes a motion immediately on their agenda items committee chair and they dive right into voting where you don't actually have a
debate uh point of content on anything until your turn to vote but the voting has already commenced. So say I have a point or even I may have voted someone could bring up a point where I'm like oh didn't think of that. >> Yeah it happens all the time and but we're already voting. >> Yeah. Is that is that how and other is
is that >> so it should be first second and then um any discussion and and I always say um to board presidents to to just give it a second before we go right into roll call because >> sometimes it takes a lot of courage
right especially when you're being photographed or videoed right like it takes a lot of courage to to be like yeah I have a question so I always say the timing of that for a board president is to you any discussion and then pan
the room to make sure that everybody gets an opportunity. Um, we're so used to, you know, checking the box, checking the box and moving, moving, moving. And that's something that you should really be having discussion if there if you do feel the need to discuss.
>> So, we I'm sorry. Go ahead, Mitchell. No. And and you know sometimes when you do have the vote and there's a majority um you know vote that's that's great but that that is that time for that minority opinion even if you disagree as you know a collective
board like you want. >> So at the last meeting we just started doing that. So I asked before we started voting I asked if there was any discussion. Um and then you know we started voting after so after the sec
before we before we started the second motion I believe it was. So um it is a good practice to do that. Um so we started doing that already and we'll continue to do that. >> Yeah. Yeah. It's really helpful and it just um when you say that it it does
give everybody the opportunity and we learn from each other. There was a lot of times where I came in and I was like this is the way I'm going to vote you know when I was a board member and then I would listen to the discussion and I'd be like wait a minute >> you know I think I think I'm going to change the way I'm going to vote. So
that's that's really important. Everybody's uh everybody has different expertise >> and I think it's important to listen to all >> and it's important for the for the community to hear you know because like I said they they voted you in because
you're a representative of of all stakeholders. So good. Uh and then um after the meeting so uh supporting that majority opinion um and and vote that's very very important. Um but and then also like not
going out in the world like let's say that you were not the majority opinion in the in that vote. Um not going out and taking to Facebook or taking to the grocery shop and it all the discussions always happen in the grocery shop um about like well I was disappointed in
that vote that's you should be a collective group you should be collaborative and so the majority rules and then that you should accept the will of the board. So that's something that I would definitely put into the board norms document accepting the will of the
board. Sometimes that's hard, right? But um it's important to show that you're a team and and that's how you have to think when you're sitting in these chairs is is that you're you're a team, you know. Um so that you support each
other. Any thought about anything after uh board meeting? So when something comes up that you want to see um sent to the committee level um how is that handled? >> Um well it could be a request from the
chair. Um it could be just if there are um things that keep coming up you know uh consistently in board meetings that it it just makes sense to have it discuss it at committee. um you know or
it could be just the the agenda like the like for example when we have the policy committees that's because we have like a whole new slew of policies so we'll have that meeting that's you know usually how the committees have been up to now um requested or or planned.
>> Yeah. So, um I think that what we'll do is we'll like tighten up some of that um structure um once you have a a time to digest all of this information because I I know it's a lot and um you have a
meeting to do. But, um I think that some of those structures would be really great to have in the board norm so that you that everybody knows, you know, uh what to do afterwards. Um a lot of times boards um struggle after the meeting. they do all that here and then who's in
charge of followup, you know, as far as board members go. So, that's something that you might want to define on who would handle the followup. Um, you know, as uh as board president, sometimes you handle it, but um you know, board president has so many different aspects to their job and they don't really take
advantage of the vice president. So, um, I would always as board president give that over to the vice president and say, "Look, here were three things that we talked about board members all collectively agreed that we wanted to do. So, maybe hand that over to the vice
president to do um so that they have, you know, part of the leadership position." And I mean, usually we see the vice president step on up um to uh board president at at some time. So that helps them to grow that leadership
piece. And like I said, my top performing boards all have um board norms and they go through board norms um you know from time to time. Uh Harmony uh we did board norms last year and that's that example. But I just had the board retreat with
them uh last week and we went through the board norms and said do we want to change anything? you know, and there were a couple things that we we changed and we tweaked because it wasn't maybe working perfectly. Um, so it should be something that we check up on and update
uh every year uh during our retreats. So, um, having said that, what I'll do is because this packet is very lengthy and I and I know that you have a lot of things to get to, um, I'll leave that with you and then maybe we'll get back together one time when we can, uh, sit
and go through all this and actually come up with that document together. Sound good. Well, thank you so much everybody for having >> Thanks. Thank you, Kelly. Um, we'll yeah, we'll everybody should take a
little time to go through the materials that that Miss Mitchell shared with us. Thanks very much. >> Oh, my pleasure. >> Okay, let's see. So, moving along. Um, correspondence. Can I have a motion to
accept correspondence? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Moved by Mrs. Fischer. Seconded by Mr. Kleta. Roll call, please. >> Mrs. Sterna. >> Yes. >> Mr. Ketta. >> Yes. >> Miss Gado. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Fisher. >> Yes.
>> Mrs. Johnson. Mr. Martinez. >> Yes. >> Mr. Williams. >> Yes. >> And Mrs. >> Yes. Okay. Can I have a motion to accept prior minutes? >> Second.
>> Moved by Miss Frad, seconded by Mr. Martinez. Roll call, please. >> Mrs. Cerna, >> yes. >> Mr. Ketta, >> yes. >> Miss Fedrad, >> yes. >> Mrs. Fischer, >> abstain. Mr. Johnson. >> Yes. Mr. Martinez. >> Yes.
>> Mr. Williams. Mrs. Iself. >> Yes. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Can I have a motion to open the floor to citizens on agenda items only? >> So moved. >> Moved by Mr. Kada, seconded by Mr.
Martinez. Uh, all in favor? >> I. >> Okay. >> Is open to citizens on agenda items. Do we have anybody anybody online? Mr. Miller,
>> I don't see any hands. >> I have a motion to close. >> Motion moved by >> second. >> Seconded by Mrs. Johnson. All in favor? >> I. >> So, moving on to reports. >> Um, I will begin.
Good evening everyone and thank you for joining us. I want to begin by congratulating Mr. Getta, Evelyn Garcia, and Tanisha Gatling on being elected to the Hamilton Board of Education. My hope is that everyone on the board come January will work together with the
administration to advance our district, first and foremost, our students. I also want to thank Mr. Martinez and Jamie Spiritiglozi for stepping up and running in this past board of elect board of education election. As I said
at the last meeting when we were conducting interviews for the open board seats, it's not easy to put yourself out there, but if you do it for the right reasons, it's worth the commitment even if you don't win the election. Secondly, I'm encouraged that the board
approved one of the special education positions at our last meeting. I certainly hope that this trend continues as I believe we all understand how crucial our obligation is to have classes fully staffed with qualified teachers.
Lastly, I wish everyone a safe, healthy, and happy Thanksgiving holiday. And with that, I will turn it over to uh our chief school administrator, Mr. Waka. >> Sure. So, uh, board president ease had asked me, uh, to provide an update, um,
on our progress on our five-year strategic plan, and I thought I was going to be able to do this just by looking at the screen, but having watched Kelly's presentation, my eyesight isn't where it needs to be. So, I have it up in the screen. And Bill, if you could be my clicker, that would be
greatly appreciated. >> I would love to. >> Oh, look at that. That's a great attitude, Bill. I appreciate that. So let's talk about our fiveyear strategic plan. Uh so we'll do the first click now, Bill, when you're ready. All right. So the first uh you know any goal has
for a school has to be about academic growth. Uh so we talked about our fiveyear growth in um terms of English language arts. So um there's something in the screen that's that Bill's gonna get rid of.
>> There we go. Um so the column on the uh the far left that was our baseline that was the year before we made uh these you the goal of growth. Um and then you'll see each as the the as the bars get darker that's each subsequent year per
grade level. So you'll see in ELA we went from uh 28 to 29% over time for grade three. In grade four, we saw a 6% gain. In g grade grade five, we've seen a a 5% gain over time. In grade six,
we've seen a 14% uh increase over time. Grade seven has seen a 5% increase. And then grade eight has seen a 15% increase. So, um if you if you take the the culmination of all that, you see that over time, we're at about an 8%
increase. So, we're we're we're we're making positive inroads. Um, and that's despite the fact that the average Hamilton student only is with us for a handful of years. That's just the truth of it. Uh, but I think our teachers do a great job and our coaches do a great job and our administrators do. So, I think
we're, you know, I like the direction we're going here. So, we can get another clickbell. Now, you'll see the same chart, but we're talking about mathematics. And, and the reason you don't see preschool or kindergarten or first grade, they're not tested subject. They're not tested grades. Uh the tested grades are grade
three all the way through grade 11. But since we don't have high school students, we just do grade three. And again, over time, we see that there's a 1% increase in math for grade three. Uh six I'm sorry, I'm I'm the wrong thing. Uh we see a we've gone down four points
in grade three math. We've broken even over time in grade four. Grade five has saw an 8% increase. Grade six has saw a 7% increase. Grade seven is at a 5% increase. Grade eight is at a 7% increase and overall we're at a 4%
increase over time. So again, um it's trending positively over time. So if we can go to the next slide, Bill, uh another thing we talked about in our strategic plan was utilizing our ESSER funds. This is the the money that this gave the there's ESR one, ESR 2, SR 3.
This is money we got from the federal government um to kind of address learning loss. So what we did with that um we set up programs uh and we see that our assessment scores have ascended which is what we wanted. Uh but we also was a we were also able to established the beyond ordinary summer school we
called our boss program and we allowed all students to be part of that. Now will this program continue next year? That's to be determined. Um and then we also had an afterchool academic enrichment for all students that was funded via our ESSER funds. Uh that
program is no longer running. Uh I I don't anticipate we're going to bring be able to bring that back anytime soon, but you you never know. Our next slide, Bill, is teacher recruitment. One of our goals is to be fully staffed. We've worked very hard to fill every position
once it becomes vacant due to retirement or resignation. Uh due to the current teacher shortage, this task is very difficult as it is. However, it's exponentially more difficult when the board votes not to staff members after we screen the candidates, interview the candidates, and agree to a contract with
the candidate for a vacant budgeted position. Uh, currently we have multiple vacancies at the special education level. Next slide. Uh, goal four is our seal, social emotional learning, and our commitment towards extracurricular activities for our students. Uh, let me
move down to my eyesight's not that good. Um, Google We hired anCCL guidance counselor uh through our our ESSER funds. Um and we've been able to maintain that position since and it's been a net
positive for our school without a doubt. Uh we've also maintained a very large variety of athletic, artistic, and academic excurricular activities for our students. So, I'm really happy with our progress there. Our next goal was uh sustaining school security and improving
upon existing security features and I think we've done you know you know as good a job as I'm really pleased with our progress here. Um over this time we've added electronic locks on every single door. This gives us both accountability and time stamps and it
also gives us extra safety. Uh we've increased the number of cameras as well as the quality of cameras. We've also put cameras that have like the 180 degree eyes on them so they they cover more ground. We've hired a full-time secure SRO police officer. All the
drills, Miss Pelzano is the the ZAR of this. All the drills that were required to do are conducted in timely fashion. Uh we've implemented a new front door security project. Uh completed that on time and on budget. And there's also tech technology security like there's we
get about 10,000 cyber attacks on our school system every single year. That's a fact. Um, and we haven't been uh compromised by them. So, I think Bill and Patter did a really good job of that. >> Don't jinx us. >> Well, thank you, Bill. You don't jinx us. Get the job done. Uh, you're doing a
great job, though. Uh, and lastly was our our facility. So, um, you know, the big one, we added an entire new wing to our school and we did that without a referendum and we did that on time and we did that on budget. No, Lama and
Germaine did a tremendous job with that, but so did everyone because just because we added a built a layer here didn't mean that all the built the classes that were below it were able to just stay there. We had to relocate six classes of kids. We turned this library into a three classroom preschool. We turned our
STEM classroom into a two uh a two classroom preschool. Um it was a a very precarious year, but we did fantastic with it. So, I was really proud of of of everyone that was part of that. Uh we completely redesigned our playground. What happened was some of the roots from the trees that we had and everyone likes
trees. I like trees too. Uh but the roots were causing the the the what's it called like the rubber mats to kind of they call it the to rip apart a little bit. So we had to remove the trees and install a whole new matting for our playground. Uh and I think they did a
good job with that. But we also decided to do it with an inclusive playground ideology. So uh if you go out there if you ever want a tour I'm happy to give it to you. But a lot of the the machines and the the games and the devices in the playground uh are going to use sound, they're going to use touch and the it's
going to require you to work with at least one or two partners in order to get the equipment to work, which is kind of like the vision that we have for that. So, we we've had positive reviews for that. Lame and I have worked on various HVAC projects. In fact, we got two going on simultaneously right now.
We've completed multiple plumbing projects because that's a big deal. Uh, and Miss Henderson, this library is lovely. By the way, you did you do such a good job with it, but we we spent, you know, a lot of time and effort remodeling this and and what you've done with it is just the next level. Uh, our
three science classrooms are redone and we're really proud of that. We remodeled our front door uh security system. Uh, in fact, the only goal that I I can tell you we haven't achieved is we haven't gotten to the silver level of the uh New Jersey sustainability. We're still stuck on the bronze level. Uh but you know, I
still got two more years left in our strategic plan. So hopefully maybe we'll get there. Uh but that's our my report is if what you asked me to that's our report on where we're at with our five-year plan. >> Any board members have any questions for Mr. Watson?
>> Madam President, thank you. Um first uh also you had sent out last week or the week before um the document we had requested regarding uh where we stand in reference to the county. Um I wanted to point out that
the third graders actually had a market improvement um where previously we were fourth from the bottom. They moved up two slots and it was the only grade level. So, I wanted to say thank you to the third grade and below teachers because they did something very good.
Uh, it went up. Now, they're head of Clifton Toa Patter. >> Was this the document I sent you, Mike? A couple months ago. >> This is July. >> No. Do you send another one? >> Did I send another one? >> This email is from two weeks ago. >> Okay. I'm I'm trying to recall. Okay. >> From the last assessment.
>> Oh, the state one. >> Yes. >> Oh, okay. That one. >> We compared it to >> I thought you told the one in July that I >> No, this is the most recent one. So they they were the grade level that went up the highest and I wanted to point that out. Um I did have a comment on your PowerPoint. Um let me just find my
question that I wrote down. Um overall though it should be noted that the scores only went up in terms of since COVID. If you look at if you were able to pull them back up, several of them were actually lower than the year before. Um, it is also important that, especially with the
guests that we have here today, that we point out that while some jobs were not approved, it's also important to note that four federally funded jobs that were budgeted and covered solely based on uh title one funds which were cut were then moved and covered by other funding to make sure that those teachers
did not in fact lose their jobs. So, I think it's a disservice to the teachers and the people in town that you don't point out the fact that you're quick to point out that we didn't vote for certain people to be hired. However, you don't point out the fact that four jobs that were slated to only be covered by
federal funding were then carried at the expense of other items in the budget to make sure that those teachers were still here for the kids and to make sure that those teachers were kept. >> Interested. >> And additionally, I'd like to point out that I did send an email with several questions. Uh you asked for more time and then you never responded.
>> That's what the email got back to you on some of them. >> Miss Augustine got back to however I did not get a response. >> Oh, you respond with me. Okay. Um I would like to point out that well I think the there's some areas that we just did are doing really well on it in
regards to our strategic plan goals facilities. We have a new wing security I think we I think everyone's on the same page with security. We do a good job with security at HPS um the So this is actually in um in
reference to something that Mr. Kleta said regarding like some of the federal funding for some of the positions that we've kept. The seal counselor was one of those positions, but that is something that's integral to this 5-year strategic plan. So, that is crucial that we keep that role and it has done um
it's been very beneficial for our students and and for our staff too. Um and I think uh Mr. uh Spazado is always one to um talk about the benefits of all the things that the SEAL counselor brings to HPS.
Um the area that you know we're always striving to improve is student achievement and that's something that is it's improving and we're going to keep working on that. That's that's the crux of uh a school board of teachers of an
administration is to improve. That's what the number one goal what to make help the students achieve more to do better and that's going to make our district move forward. That's going to you know that's the the goal that's the end game. So the fact that we're
improving is encouraging and you know we want to keep going. We want to keep that momentum going. We need to for the sake of our students. You know that's they're they're the most important uh stakeholder here in all of this. Um but thank you. Thank you for that
update. Any anybody else? Okay. So I would like to just go back and approve the um the committee appointments. Um number 7.1. Can I have a motion to
move 7.1? Moved by Miss Prado, seconded by Miss Johnson. Roll call, please. Mrs. Cerna, >> yes. >> Mr. Kleta, >> yes. >> Miss Gado, >> yes. >> Mrs. Fisher, >> yes. >> Mrs. Johnson, >> yes.
>> Mr. Martinez, >> yes. >> Mr. Williams, >> yes. >> And Mrs. >> Yes. >> Okay. So, let's just run. Oh, no. I'm sorry. Uh, Miss Livingston, I'm going to turn it over to you for your report. >> Okay. Thank you, Madam President. So,
the finance team met today. it. We usually do re meet on Monday when our board meeting is on Wednesday, but we met today only because of the way the meeting fell. We went over all of the resolutions on tonight's agenda, but we also um talked about specific
resolutions for 1416. Uh we did have some questions regarding the budget planning um calendar and this um administration is going to work act actively with me in on preparing the budget. And I believe on the calendar I
said that February we talked about the February 27 um deadline for everyone to kind of get involved. and I um discussed in the finance committee that we're going to be doing that earlier so that we can be prepared once the state aid numbers come out so that we can make any
adjustments that is needed and we want to have the you know pretty much 98% of the budget done and if we have to make an adjustments during that time during state aid we'll just be focused on that. So that's the plan for as far as the budget calendar and the budget calendar
is comes from the DOE and we make adjustments once it's um finalized. Okay, the other item was 14.8, the comprehensive maintenance plan. Um, I explained that the attached maintenance plan is a report detailed that we have
to um submit to the county before November um 15th. And this is a actual um look um lookout as far as um our actual expenses when it comes to our required maintenance versus our um budgeted amount and our projected amount
for 2026. So this is a report that tells us um what the district should be focused on every year and the funding for this um comprehensive maintenance plan comes from our maintenance reserve funds. The other item as we discussed
was the Delta T resolution the 1413. This is a contract that provides the district with um staffing specifically for this um onetoone aid that is needed for our child study team. and it um it acts as a resource to fill out um any
vacancies or personnel positions that the district may need. We also had 14.3 which is the Helden Medical Associates. This is primarily used for any type of student um medical needs that is warranted. And we also use this um this
facility for newly appointed staff members and they have the option to utilize this um this facility for their um required physical exam if they do not want to go to their primary care doctor. We discussed the um fire alarm project
and the the um payment applications that's on the agenda tonight. Um this application tonight is for the bonds and the insurance and we're starting this project and um the most of this project will be done after school. So it shouldn't have any interruption with the
school district um or the um any type of student interaction at that time. We went in a little bit. Um, we had a conversation about True View, which is our residency um, company that we use to do a lot of our residency investigation.
We talked about the cost and we also talked about some of the data as far as some of um, the um, I guess families that may have um, interact with um, um, True View. We had investigations but we didn't want to go in too deep about what
the actual strategy is because we want to make sure that that is more of um administrative um look through so that when we evaluating that we I want to know also has kind of wanted to know that we did do um a comprehensive look at 200 families that we did have and
we're working on some um active investigations right now. Okay. And the other thing which is not under finance but is the shared service agreement that's on with Manchester to cover some of the accounts payable duties that we are in transition now. We do have
someone that we want to appoint tonight which is um on the agenda also. But I just wanted to let the board know what that shared service contract would be. And it would be um two um employees that are currently working at Manchester, which which is filling in for um a lot
of the duties right now until we appoint somebody and that person gets cleared and they're um come on board. And that's it for me. If there's any questions, >> any questions for Miss Austin? Um I just want to confirm that um
14.13 is a required uh appointment as for the students IEP. Correct. >> Yeah. Yes. >> Okay. Okay. So if no or no questions then
we'll start going through our agenda items. Uh personnel and management. Mr. Martinez. >> Um, we had a meeting today and um, we we spoke about uh, personnel management and
um, nothing further to report. >> Okay. Uh, curriculum and technology, Miss Quadrad. >> Nothing. >> Okay. Policy and public relations, Mr. Fleta. >> Nothing to report.
>> Okay. Security and Safety. Mr. Plata. >> Agenda. Uh, nothing to report. >> Uh, community engagement. Miss CuadraD. >> Nothing to report. >> Okay. And finance and physical plant. Mr. Martinez.
>> Uh, we had a meeting uh earlier today. We went over finances and we we'll be voting on them later on. Nothing else to report. >> Uh, stating county. Thank you for state and county. Uh I
first I want to apologize for not printing out like a bulleted um report of this month's state and county. I didn't have time today. Um but I'll give you a brief summary of what I have here. Uh the New Jersey Department of Education released the 2024 2025 school
performance reports in early November providing updated data on student growth, attendance, and um subgroup performance to guide for the fiscal year of 2026 planning. Um, the NJOE also opens public comment on the readoption
of the standards and assessments and the extension of the state's ESSA ESSA waiver. Um, draft updates to the New Jersey student learning standards focused on career readiness, financial life literacies and science. Um, they
were presented at the November 5th state board meeting with additional guidance expected this winter. Um, several new state laws will influence district planning moving into 2026, including the required integration of Latino and
Hispanic history into K to up to through 12 social studies. Um, new advanced notice requirements for IEP meetings and updated expectations for school counselor um, certifications and training. A change to the teachers
pension and annuity fund eligibility may also affect long-term HR planning and districts are reminded to ensure student ID cards reflect the updated suicide prevention hotline. Um at a county level, the Pate County Health Department
and United for Prevention continue promoting youth safety initiatives with new prevention funding anticipating in uh December. County legislators remain active in advocating for expanded transportation and security aid and the
PI County School Board Associations announced upcoming professional development sessions including a hybrid meeting December 8th that's going to be titled Navigating the AI Frontier and then there'll be another one in February. Um, looking ahead, the
district should prepare for continued legislative activity, updated NJDOE guidance, and early planning for the transition of the new um, government governatorial administration in January 2026. Thank you. Any questions, board
members? Okay. And I do hope that everybody had an opportunity to fill out that survey that went out regarding the school funding formula. it was a chance to give some input on how that can and may be um
re-evaluated and and rewritten. Um so I hope everybody that the deadline is already passed but um it was I think November 14th, but I hope that um that you all had have had were able to complete that survey. Uh okay. And now
I'm going to turn it over to Mr. Cuddy. Thank you for joining us. I know that Mr. Brown had a conflict today, so thank you for joining us tonight. Do you have anything to report? >> Nothing to report. >> Okay. Thank you. Okay. So, um for personnel and management, are there
any questions, comments, anything that we want to discuss before we begin voting? Okay. Then, uh can uh let's see, Mr. Martinez personnel. >> Motion to move the items.
>> Second. >> Okay. So, a motion to move um 9.1 through 9.9. Moved by Mr. Martinez, seconded by Miss Johnson. Roll call, please. >> Mrs. Cerna, >> yes. >> Mr. Ketta, >> yes. >> Miss Gado,
>> yes. >> Mrs. Fischer, >> yes. >> Mrs. Johnson. >> Yes. >> Mr. Martinez. >> Yes. >> Mr. Williams. >> Yes. >> And Mrs. >> Yes. >> Okay. Curriculum and technology. Major. Oh, I'm sorry. Are there any questions
or um any discussions before we vote on curriculum and technology? >> Okay. Miss Quadrto, >> I'd like to move um item 10.1. >> Second. >> Okay. Moved by Miss CuadraD, seconded by Mr. Ketta. Roll call, please.
>> Mrs. Cerna, >> yes. >> Mr. Kleta, >> yes. >> Miss Kadrad, >> yes. >> Mrs. Fischer, >> yes. >> Mrs. Johnson, >> yes. >> Mr. Martinez, >> yes. >> Mr. Williams, >> yes. >> And Mrs. >> Yes. >> Okay. So, now we're going to jump down
to finance and physical plant. Mr. Martine, oh, are there any questions or comments or discussion? M I have one question on 14.4. Um in the chief superintendent's uh
chief school administrator's opinion, is this a program that you think has been beneficial um based on how it's been implemented uh regarding moving people who shouldn't be in the in the district and is there in fact an action plan for these several families who are not in
compliance? So um this summer alone I think eight or nine families were able to identify and then we identify them and then some families will will fight it but overall about eight or nine this summer alone u kind of wave the white flag and and and transferred out. Uh
what we do is we have three groups of students we get from True View. Uh the green light means there's 100% like there's zero indication that you don't live in Halen. It's almost guaranteed that the the child lives in Halen. There's the yellow light where there's some documents that show that they, you
know, you you know, little reason for doubt. Uh oftentimes this could just be just the parents are divorced and so there's some records in other towns. So that that's, you know, we don't investigate the yellow lights. Uh we investigate the all the red lights. I think we got 40 red lights. Is that accurate? The the most recent one or 200? What was it?
>> 20. >> We got 20 red lights. So that right now the new batch of red lights we got, that's the one where we ask Tribute uh to do in-person investigations where they go in like an unmarked car um and they'll go I think it's like at least between five and seven mornings or five
and seven afternoons to to see where the child goes and when they come after school they they start following the family. >> Dr. All right. >> Thank you. Um, but if you want to have a conversation privately afterwards, I'll
tell you. Um, I think this company works better than any other company we've used. Um, is it possible there could be a better service? Yes. I I don't know of it. Uh, but I I believe that, uh, this company works really well. And I think the other thing to factor in is that
this isn't like a a one month or a two-month process. Like to catch someone that that's in a in an address that they don't belong in or using a fictitious address um or fraudulent address. It's I would say six months is is kind of like the standard time that in order for us
to build our case. Um so that's my answer. Mike, >> thank you. >> Any other questions? >> Okay, >> Mr. Martinez. >> All right. So, motion to move 14.1
through 14.25. >> Second. >> Okay. Moved by Mr. Martinez, seconded by Miss Johnson. Roll call, please. >> Mrs. Cerna, >> yes. >> Mr. Getta, >> yes. >> Miss Gado, >> I'd like to 1421, purchase order 6688
and 143, purchase order 6681. Yes. Everything else. And actually there was one that I miss should abstain on. >> Um do you >> do you have them?
No, I do not. Um Okay. So for um Miss Cerna it's 14.23. So I >> it's her reimbursement. >> Yeah. Yeah. These are for the reimbursements for uh
Phyllis uh number two. And then there's a PO number, a long PO number. >> Okay. >> Mrs. Fisher. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Johnson. >> Yes. mute. So, Mr. Martinez,
>> can you please mute Mr. Martinez? >> Yes. Yes. >> Mr. Williams. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Issa. >> Uh, abstain on item 14.23, bill list number 26080 and yes on all the others.
>> Thank you. Uh any new or old business? >> The only new business is I'm going to reach out to the facilities committee. Um I I guess the finance and facilities committee to to ask them a question about a vendor using our what the recommendation is about a vendor using
our our property request. And then you know based on what the facilities committee is looking to do uh it may or may not be brought up to the next board meeting. >> Okay. Um, so I just want to mention in regards to um the the board on boarding um
handbook and you know the procedures that we're going to go into 2026 with I am still waiting for um some of the biographies if you guys can submit one to me and then I'm hoping to have a rough draft on our next board meeting so
that we can include it to maybe approve one. >> Great. And then my last one, uh, stay with me for a while. U, Mr. Williams, one at a time, whenever it's good for you, uh, if you'd like to come to the school, I'd love to give you a tour and kind of walk you through our operations and answer any questions you might have.
So, just email me and we'll we'll set that up at your convenience. >> Great. >> And Ellen already did it because she's been a board member here for a couple years. >> Okay. So, if that's it, then um can I have a motion to open the floor to
citizens? >> Second. Moved by Mr. Pleta, seconded by Miss CuadraD. All in favor? >> I. >> Um, so >> just state your name and your either your position or your address. And you have three minutes. Okay.
>> Uh, good evening. I'm Amanda Pilowski, the president of the Halen Education Association. I'm here tonight representing the 113 HA members throughout our district and we are looking for some answers on the services rendered by Power Education. It was our
understanding that the board contacted Power Education to conduct an audit of the district's daily operations and NJ DOE compliance requirements. In the June 26 contract offered by Power Education, it stated that it will provide detailed
transparent reporting on staff credentials, personnel records, enrollment trends, and cost analysis to inform your decision decision making for the upcoming 25 to 26 school year. A power education representative never
stepped foot in our building, nor spoke to the administration or the union president. It's mind-boggling to wrap my head around where the information is coming from. The power education contact state contract stated a detailed review
of the district's human resource database and personnel files. Verification of staff license and certifications through the New Jersey educator certification portal. Where did this come from? What files did he go through? And did he go through our
personal files? Did he have access to our social security numbers to gain access to our teacher certifications? The board contacted Power Education to calculate and document the total cost of employment for each district staff member. How did tonight's presentation
fit this objective? Was it worth spending $30,000 on? because I know I don't have to tell you how far $30,000 can go to restore some of the programs that were cut or towards other district expenditures.
Finally, but most noticeably, there are concerns about future staffing down the road. However, there are so many variables, student enrollment, health insurance costs, funding that are really hard to predict. So, now that you have this information from tonight's
presentation, what's your plan to use it? Clearly, we remain out of compliance. As of today, November 17th, we still have two special education vacancies, one special one special education new hire were waiting on to
begin, and 24 students with IEPs who are not receiving the services they're legally obtained, they're legally obligated to provide. So while you cannot go back in time and reverse the decision to enlist power educator education's help for this district, you
can strive to change the change the current course we are on. The GA invites you, the board of education, not an outside firm, to come into the building and live a day with us to see what
really goes on here. We're more than just a list of names and certifications on a few pieces of paper. We're the men and women who make this district a vital part of the community. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mrs. Anyone else? Are there
any other comments? Anybody online? Oh, Mr. Fisher >> uh DHF Fisher 3 Avenue Citizen. Um during the HR presentation, one of the things that was brought up was whether I
think it was your VP asked if the his decline in enrollment included uh all of the students that you pay for addition. I assume you meant special ed, but I would also include charter. sure your charter probably at the moment has gone up like a lot have and that's costing
you drawing you know funds away from the students that are here. Um so that's one of the things that I think is important to look at but also it just reminds me as Chris was doing the presentation on the true view or the
answering question on tribute uh as to whether or not you check your charter students. Um, I know we at Manchester we're looking at are GCPI students because u we found that a significant number of them are not really residents
of the district and it raised a question that I'm not sure if we check on that Manchester but I know I will have a meeting on Thursday make sure that we do. Uh, but I mean those numbers are going up and they're probably continue. >> The numbers are going up. um you know
I would say talk about not significantly but they are going up they're they're trending in an upwards direction but LMA might be able to answer the second part. >> Yeah um we do check them and they have gone up. I had to certify the numbers today and u we check to make sure that
these individuals do live in our um our district and we have two times a year to be able to verify that and we require them to come in and register in the district also. Yeah, >> thank you. >> Anybody else? >> But I'll specifically because it's a
good point. I'll specifically double check the tribute does that because maybe you know we do it internally. >> Yeah, we can. We'll do. We'll double check that. >> Anybody online? Mr. Miller? >> I say yes. >> Okay. Can I have a motion to close? >> So moved.
>> By seconded by Miss Johnson. Um, all in favor? Hi. >> Hi. >> Hi. >> Um, I just want to address Mrs. Puchilowsk's comments. Um, we can certainly ask where, um, the information
was obtained. We can ask, um, if he can come in and speak with staff if that's part of the protocol. Um, you know, we can discuss that with him. Um,
as far as the, you know, spending the 30,000 and where has that gotten us? Well, I guess that remains to be seen. We're going to see what happens when we get the final report. Um,
this this um request was important to a lot of the board members here. um almost like an answer to a lot of things and um we we went with it and we're
going to see if it pans out. So that's all I have to say about that. Anybody else? Any other comments? Okay. Well, then can I have a motion to adjourn? >> Second,
seconded by Miss CuadraD. Uh all in favor? I adjourn.