Call the meeting to order. Please rise for the flag salute. 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. 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 interest 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 15, 2025 and April 23rd, 2025. Notices of this meeting indicating date, time, and place were posted publicly on the floor of the main entrance to the school and filed with
the clerk in the municipality of Hailen. Mrs. Mr. Cerna, Mr. Kleta, Mr. Drado, Mr. Guzman here. Mrs. Johnson here, Mr. Martinez here, Mr. Moxel here,
Mr. Ramadan here. Here. I'm here. Can you hear me? We heard you. Okay. Um, okay. So, we're going to start with a presentation by Mr. Waka of the
chronic optism abism uh cap report. So I'll be basic about I'll be brief about this. Uh thank you board president. I want to begin this report by discussing the cap document for chronic absenteeism that you see
listed on the agenda. Um so a student is identified by the state as being chronically absent if they have missed more than 10% of the possible days in a total school year. Since we have 184 students each year, uh, since we have
184 days per student each year, that means that if a student misses a total of 18 or 19 days, they are labeled as being chronically absent. Our average daily attendance rate for students is about 92.6%. And that is overall pretty good
all things considered, but that also means that we see each day on average about 75 total students that are absent. The problem that we have is that the attendance data we have shows a great level of polarization in that most students are absent just a handful of
times a year. However, the students are absent often or off are oftentimes absent very often. This is why we are seeing over 20% of our students the last two years fall into the category of being chronically absent. This impacts us in a lot of ways. Of course, even
though our test scores have gone up significantly over the past two years, I think it's fair to believe that our scores would have been even higher had a smaller rate of our students been chronically absent. I think the teachers do a remarkable job with the Google classrooms and perhaps that might lessen
the learning that is lost. But I think that most of us would agree that in-person learning is a stronger learning environment, especially for young children. Just as importantly, we are penalized in our QAC assessment of our test scores because of our chronically absent rate. This was
something that several years ago was not a factor of our overall QAC academic score rank and scores and rankings. Uh but now it is and our scores have been lowered because of that. The state has mandated that all schools that have had their scores lowered due to chronic
absenteeism must share a corrective action plan with their boards aimed at addressing this. Therefore, districts like Clifton and Manchester and Bake and Pro Park and Hawthorne and Patterson and many others in the county were instructed to create plans to address this. Uh the data is showing us that our
youngest grades that in our youngest grades, it's that we see the highest rates of absenteeism. The prek through second grade cohort sees the highest rates of absenteeism. And the data we gained from the parent survey shows that it that illness is by far the heaviest factor
for parents keeping kids at home. And I get that. We even tell parents that if their child is feeling sick that we want to keep them home so they don't get other students sick. What is unfair in my view is that the entire school's test scores are
penalized by this because grades preK, K 1 and two, they represent 40% of the grades that we offer at the Helen public school and these students don't take the New Jersey state tests. Um, another important aspect of this is that it's
not uncommon for students to just move out of the district and not tell us about it until weeks later. We've had students just stop showing up, stop showing up, and when we call home after a certain amount of days to check in on them, we sometimes don't get anyone to pick up or we notice this phone numbers
don't work or have changed. When this happens, we still need to keep them on our roster as per the district policy in the state law for 10 days before we disenroll them. In this scenario, and this is not a terribly uncommon scenario,
um if a student stopped showing up in November, then they would have only been able to attend school for maybe about 50 or so total days. But if we have 10 consecutive days of them being absent, there before we take them off our ROS, then right there, we're going to be at
least they're going to be at least at a 10% rate and make themselves chronically absent. Another thing we see is that it's not uncommon at all for students to take trips internationally for a few weeks at a time to visit relatives. In these situations, we don't disenroll the student since we have it on good faith
if they're coming back. And I understand why parents would do this. It's expensive to fly overseas and it it takes a long time to get there. So, you're not just going to fly to these places for a weekend. You're going to stay for a little while. And I understand that. Now, even before we were told that we needed to make this plan, uh we'd
already begun actively looking to try and curb this trend as the year began. And we began programs this year looking to ident incentivize attendance through monthly perfect attendance bulletin boards, strong attendance frozen yogurt parties, perfect attendant pizza lunches, and attendance certificates
sent to students with strong acade strong attendance data. We have also through our guidance and CST and parent liaison be calling parents and students with attendance issue to get insight as to why the students are home. Most of the time illness is the stated reason.
In extreme cases, we have filed charges in the Halen municipal court for truency. We've done this this year three total times. The maximum fine uh that can be assessed statewide for this law is $25. So, the law is not very forceful
on this. And in all three times that we tried it this year, uh the judge uh gave a warning to the parents and did not issue a fiance. With that said, we are still going to keep monitoring this data and we'll look for ways to reduce the rate of students that are chronically absent moving forward. That's my report.
Um so Mr. Walker, I was just looking through our strategic plan. I believe that that was still one of our goals or was that one from the previous plan of um working on absenteeism? on this one. I don't specifically recall seeing that as a as
a hallmark of our most recent. I could be wrong, but I don't specifically recall seeing that. Yeah. No, you know what? I think it wasn't because with CO we did we did this last plan after COVID and then we weren't really worrying about absenteeism because that was um
you know that was like a fluctuating situation. Um so okay but regardless it's something that we got audited on and um by CQAC or we got um called on by QAC but as you pointed out it was a change and I remember that conversation
at the board meeting. It was a change in the way that they were yeah waiting and a lot of schools were affected by this. So but in any case we have this corrective action plan and you know forces us to pay very close attention which the goal is going to be baby steps. It's going to be baby steps
because it's it's it's It's going to be very hard to reduce chronic absenteeism, you know, in a super high percentage any from one year to the next year. Um, but you know, if we see progress and we'll look to keep oning where we see progress. Question, do they bring doctor
notes like when they have So, it doesn't matter why they're absent. That's a good question. So, they could be absent for medical reasons. They could be they could legitimately be sick to a point where, you know, coming to school, it's reasonable not to come to school. they're still not here, right? That's how it's measured. And what's the state
mandate like when they're not here and if the excuse is not So if they're absent after a certain amount of days and there's a real medical reason, then we'll provide home instruction and then those kids won't won't be part of it. But there's even if you gave me a doctor's note every single time your your son or daughter was sick, they
would still be absent, you know, right? Even even though it's through no fault of their own. So it's not excuse. We could excuse it internally, but on the reports like the we have to send it to state who was here this day and who wasn't. Whether or not we excused it, it's not going to be relevant data for
their purposes with this. Is there a purpose like how many days they're out? Like I know if they're out one day, they don't need a note. But is it like So if we don't get you for three days in a row, uh if you give us a call and let us know little Johnny's going to be out for a while, then then we know we don't have
to keep checking in on you. no call, no shows for three days. Uh that we reach out guidance after 5 days and George will know this because he sees that we actually do this. We'll request wellness visits uh by Hen police officer to just to make sure everything's okay with the kid. Um we
also send if you your child's been absent at 5 days, you get a letter at 8 days at 13. There are certain increments uh that we send out notifications and this year for the first year we've had our our parent leaison to call parents to to start dialogues about attendance
excuse me and I'm assuming the number is just to keep a tally right it's to keep a tally and right now if you see in that document we're we're sitting at about 22% now that doesn't mean that number is going to go up or down because there's going to be a lot more school days moving forward and if the kids stay here then you know numbers can come in our
direction um but I I it there's It's a whole myriad of reasons why why people keep their kids home, but we're trying to come here more often. So then the next followup last month, so um if we seen this like within the last year,
what's the cost for us? Like even when we send out the letters or we make a phone call and like you said, mostly manpower probably a fiscal thing out or whatever. Probably the greatest cost will be, you know, kids not being in the building, right? and and the impact of what what their achievement is going to
be academically and socially. Um, but as far as a fiscal cost of the district, it's it's probably just more manpower hours that we spend, you know, checking in on kids than than actual, you know, budgetary items. Madam President, yes, I
think Mr. Ramadan has Oh, okay. Uh, go ahead, Mr. Ramadan. Yeah. How you doing, folks? I'm sorry, Mr. Walker. I just have a question. with these efforts that we put in to try to combat this uh phenomenon or this particular issue that we have. Um is there a recourse for us
because these numbers obviously add up and in the calculations and impact us negatively. Do do we have a recourse with this particular with the state as far as again we can't control the absence the absentism for sure but I mean is there do we have a recourse that
it's not going to impact us negatively? I wish you could go now. I think our recourse is just to to advocates for ourselves, but um you know, I know there was a group of S superintendents in South Jersey that had
never been had their scores affected by this and and they're looking to start their own lobby. Um, but is is the state's going to want to see the kids in the building and they're they're they're not really going to look to or maybe Merina can shed light, but I haven't
seen them be very lenient on on excuses, you know, and I know we can't control it. Um, but you know, I also do think that we probably should see higher rates of attendance that we currently see. Some I was going to say some some boards have sent letters to the state asking
for some help on this. um because I think it was the majority of districts in both Pake and Bergen County had this corrective action plan. So, it's not it's it's it's it's rampant. It's some the state needs to change the rules or or give some kind of
incentive plan to to make some improvement here. I don't think it's it's right to put on the districts like you what you're doing is just talking about it. I don't know how to how to fix this. And and I do think that you know the teachers what we learned during co they
they got so good at these Google classrooms and and preparing. So like being absent for three or four days now wasn't like it was before co like it just seems so I I I I think that's why you're seeing the scores still went up even though we're seeing this chronic
absentee issue. Um but yeah it's a tough spot. I agree Jeff. Just to back up one uh one more point and then uh we'll continue. Um, Mr. Waka, have you seen this from your um, uh, colleagues? If there's any other plans that works in their in their
district, maybe we could adopt or we could enhance ours in a way that we could again entice or cut down on this number. So, that's a really good question because uh, we were the last school in the county to do CUAC. I don't know why they booked us last, but they they booked us last. Um, so by the time
all the other schools were told, hey, you have to make this correction act to plan for um for CUAC um I was able to the the superintendent of of Patterson and Manchester and and Hawthorne and Clip and a lot of the locals and and to say they sent me the drafts that they
had made um because well we all basically kind of started this plan you know this year that we got the QAC scores and now it's become mandatory. Um, right now the data is inconclusive that we're, you know, anything we we've done is is is making the impact we want,
but it's also, you know, it's still early and, you know, it might be a year or two before we see the movement we we want to see. But right now, I I don't I don't know how to answer that. Thank you. Any other questions? I I just want to one thing that I have
seen in other districts. So, some districts have gotten really good at just enroll. So if a student's away on vacation or or sick sick maybe it's going to be like with COVID positive and maybe it's going to be more than a week. Some districts are in the practice now of disenrolling the student providing
materials at home instruction but actually disenrolling them off the off the the roster so not to not to get penalized and when they get get back or get or get in back into the country then they'll put them back in in enroll them again. I'm I'm not sure that's what the
estate's intent, but that's what some districts are doing. Yeah, I've heard that, too. And I I've been reluctant to want to like I I I understand the superintendents that that have advocated for that. Um but I I I personally I I don't want to go there unless we have to to to do that because I want a kid to to
always feel that they're still part of us, right? Like I I don't want them to even sense that they're disenrolled and they don't matter. But but I also understand why districts have done that. I guess if it were to become really extreme that that would be like a consideration but if I agree it seems
negative to disen you know to to disenroll students. So I'd rather not have to get there. I mean it yeah and I I agree. I mean coming right now like right now I'm teaching culinary right and I have wide span of
kids that come and a lot of kids don't come won't show up for two weeks and the grade that I give them is the grade that it is if you don't complete your testes and your exams and but then you get emails where can we let them make up the
work can we let them do this can we let them do that so then and that's just culinary so my biggest factor is are they really learning? You know what I'm saying? Like we're just going to give them a test. We're going to help them out. They go from an F from not being there to a D and they didn't pass. You
know, so it's just understanding, but that's absism because they go away, they go to their country, they out there for three weeks, four weeks for whatever it is, but then they come back and it's more pressure on the educators. Have you noticed I mean I imagine that there
would be a correlation between students who are absent a lot and lower grades or failing subjects. Yeah. And I think nationwide I think you data support that. Um I don't have the specific data for hailed in public. Um but you know
it's the kids you see here every day it just the eyeball test it seems like they're they're a little more prepared for what's coming their way. Okay. Thank you. Okay. So, moving on. Um, Miss Austin will give the our
business administrator will give the final budget presentation. Okay. Thank you, Madam President. So, this presentation is going to be a um collaboration between myself and the superintendent. I will start off um the first couple of slides. He will talk
about Mr. Walker will talk about the curriculum. then I will talk about the financial effects on the on the district with the um the goals that we set forth. Okay. So, we're going to pull it up on the screen. Um Bill's going to help me out with
this and try to do a full screen and I'll let Bill know when it goes to the next slide. Right. All right. So, next slide. All right. So, the budget process. So the budget process goes on for quite a few months. It's a lot of
collaboration between myself, the superintendent, um the administrators, they talk to their um staff members to find out what is working this year, what do we need to do next year, what should we um should we pivot and go in another direction. So
that starts early, you know, October, November, December, the conversation. Then we kind of get down to the nitty-gritty when we're getting closer to the end of this um the year and then around January or so when we're um meeting with the administrators going
through the line items looking at the budget developing it on the on the software and looking where um we need to make any changes. So that process happened and we move forward to waiting for the state aid numbers. We come with
come up with all of our expenses and then we we project how much um we intend to get for the um from state aid and present those that preliminary budget
around March and I think um that was right I think our um meeting was March 12th. We presented the preliminary budget and once that is um presented and you guys approve that, we submit it to the executive county superintendent. The executive county BA,
they do their scrutiny of it and ask questions. This year, I mentioned in our finance committee that we just had, the county BA asks a lot of fiscal questions this year. She we went through a lot of detail. She wanted to make sure that districts were sound because of a lot of
the um impact our surrounding districts are having. She's looked into our capital projects. We had to show our long range facility plan. She looked into our maintenance reserve. All of these um items. She was very meticulous
in asking and having me show proof of everything. Um a little bit different than what we've done in the past. So this year they wanted to make sure that our district was fiscally sound to move forward with this budget. And that being said, after all of that review on April
16th, the sup um um executive county superintendent approved our preliminary budget and we advertised it in the newspaper on April 23rd for public view to um come here today on April 30th and
present all of our um budget details and um have the board consideration to approve it to so that we can move forward to the next year. Next slide. Some of our um budget highlights. Just to start off, our local tax levy
increase is 2%. We talked about that in length the last time. Um our state aid decrease is 4 negative 4.43% and we also discussed that in length um um at the last meeting. We will go into um
specifically which state aid went up or down or fluctuated um in a later slide. We um we are putting in or doing a couple capital projects, a total of 2.6 million. Some of those capital projects we're going to continue the security
vest bureau which is on the board agenda tonight for approval. The HVAC replacement um and selected classroom fire alarm system and upgrade and replacement of some cameras in with throughout the district. We also um have
in our budget for technology um equipment and class specifically classroom phones, vape detectors and the door lock project. We are using um our surplus money to balance our bud budget of 1.1 million. Our budget include our
NA new math curriculum and we have some um other program items um invoking any staff reduction in almost all programs are still being offered and we have some experience um in slight structural modifications. Okay. So now we will pass
it over to our superintendent and I'll jump back on once we get to the financial part. I just want to say that I do know how hard Lama worked on this. um you've been just such a joy to work with these last two weeks. Um but LaMa, you know, she
she takes this budget personally. Um and I've seen how hard she stressed over it and and and kind of agonized over. So we appreciate that. Um we took the goals just from the u the goals that we approved as a board. I think we did that in 2023. So we actually have those
coming up in a couple years. uh but the we've looked to make sure that the the purchases or the major projects we have uh align to these particular goals. How do I move forward? Next slide. Um so the the goals of every staff
member is they take they they create something every year called the professional development plan where one of their goals is going to be related to their summitive evaluation. one of their goals uh is going to be related to something that they're looking to work on and one of their goals be related to something that uh you know they and the
supervisor uh work on together. Uh it's a very similar thing for the the administrative goals of our our assistant principles. Uh my my goals are outlined um on the NJSBA website. I just submitted my self-evaluation u a couple
days ago. Um, and the board members, you know, you have your individual goals and the board members, you also create board goals. And I know we're having a uh a board retreat here on May 15th. So, I imagine those will be something that we talk about that day. Uh, the priorities are always going
to be student achievement. You know, we we in that that it's academic, it's social, it's behavioral, it's athletic, it's artistic achievement. um the staff uh student and staffcl and the opportunities that we present uh the
positive opportunities that we present to students. Um I think this school has kind of got is in such a positive direction in terms of prioritizing student safety and school safety. Um, and then planning for the future and we knocked off a big one with our this past
year with our uh the expansion project and we also did a playground project and we also did an HVAC project. Um, and uh, you know, so we're always looking to the future and you know, Lama uh, I'm sure in a report we'll we'll mention the uh, the front door project that we got some
information about. Please. Um, you know, this budget, you know, looks to make sure it supports every subject that we have, um, you know, for for both the elementary school and at the middle school level. Uh, and these are all, you know, mandated by the
New Jersey Department of Education that we make sure that our budget addresses all the following. So, you can click again, Bill. Um, and you, you know, you guys have access to this presented on the website as well. You can click again, Bill. And
now back to Let me Okay, so this year our annual budget is asking for a tax levy increase of 2%. Total annual budget is
27,612897 which 25,205186 is specifically for our general fund and our special revenue fund will be 2,47715. With that, again, we are asking for your consideration of a 2% tax levy
increase, and this is a difference of $134,000 349. Next slide. As you can see, the district has uh between 2021 in 2024 has actually 2020 and 2024 has done
a 0% increase. Um we are um in a different time in in an era right now and that during those years the state aid was very plenty and favorable of our district. Now that we are in a um
position where we are um not receiving the same amount of increase or we're getting a decrease, it is a fiscally responsible for our district to consider to do a 2% just to sustain our um budget and also restain all of sustain all of
um the programs and um you know salaries and staff and and health benefits. they go up more than 2% but we're asking the consideration of 2% for this budget. Next slide. This is just a bar graph to see
how steady our budget um our tax levy has been and and where it went up and down. So next one. So how does it affect the tax um payers? So right now looking at the overall assessment value of
$231,829 it will be an annual increase of $62.38 with a monthly increase of $520 on an assessment value of $231821. So again, this tax levy is
asking for 2%. The dollar value of that from last year to this year is 134,349. This is re a reasonable request to maintain our budget per my recommendation. Okay.
Next, this is just a repeat of what I just said about the assessment value. Monthly annual cost $62.38. monthly cost $520. So when we're looking at our budget and our revenue sources, we as a
school district have different accounts that fund our um budget. We have a fund 10, we have a fund 20, we have fund 40 and fund 60, but that is not um applicable to our budget in general, but
it is accessible to districts that it applies to. So let's talk about the fund 10. Our revenue sources from fund 10 where they come from. The majority of our district fund 10 which is our general fund revenue sources come from
our state aid numbers. As I mentioned before our state aid numbers decrease about negative 4%. So the typical fluctuation each year dependent on the state political position and agenda. The
state aid numbers are usually released at the end of February. By that time, we're already started, you know, developing our budget. And then um we start to project what we think we're going to get. Most
districts prefer for um to our state aid to be flat or you know an increase, but that is not what happened in Hamilton. Okay. Another revenue source is tuition that we receive. It can be a um Kenny Vento
student. It can be refunds from a previous year, adjustments from um uh a tuition adjustment from last year to this year. more. Sometimes um we go by a tentative tuition rate and then once the
state does their audit a year later, districts are either we owe some districts um money or usually it's private school or we get refunds. Typically, we get around $10,000 back every year. So, we um budget it about
$10,000 for this year. Another revenue source is interest um on our bank accounts, our reserves, our general funds. And we estimate historically of what we received in the last year and also taking um consideration the um Fed
rate for the year and we estimate ex um approximately what we think we will receive and this is just a projected number. The actual numbers are obviously unknown and we just look at historical data before we decide on what um um what
number is that. We also use um e-ate funding. We look at what we anticipate getting with E-Rate. We look at what we got before. And please understand like when you're projecting these numbers, this is just a projection. And the projection is according to what we've
done historically and what we anticipate to get. Okay. We also have miscellaneous revenues and this is um just from prior projections of what we've gotten for any um reason. It could be a refund. It can be um you know a service we provided to
um someone. It can be some um something um of the shared services that we have. All of those are miscellaneous um income for like transportation or anything or rental use. This is all the in um miscellaneous income that districts
receive. The other revenue sources are 2% tax levy or our tax levy in general. We can do it at 2% which we're recommending this year or whatever the board recommendation is at the time. And um another revenue source that we use is
fund balance. The fund balance is the audited amount of our expenses from the prior year. When we do our audit every year when I present the audit numbers, there's a total amount of expenditures that we um um accumulated throughout the
last year. We districts are allowed to take 2% of your previous year's expenses and allocate those funds to fund balance. Fund balance are funds that can be used for general funds. So we're allowed to assign at least 2% of our
prior year expenses to a line a revenue source in order to fund our budget which we have typically done for the last um years as far as I can remember. Like as far as I've seen, we've approximately used around 900 700 900,000 one year and
this year we're using 1.1 million to balance our budget. And the other items are our reserves, which is our capital reserve, maintenance reserve, emergency reserve, tuition reserve. If we if the districts um the board decides to use those and other options which we did not
exercise this year, the board has something called adjustments. The adjustments are um stored over the years when the districts do not increase their budget to the recommended tax levy um allotment. Districts store this money in
bank cap and health adjustments to be used in case there is a need. For instance, say we did not get the state aid numbers we needed and we're way below our um amount of expenditures or
what we budgeted for. These amounts and health adjustments and bank cap, we can actually raise taxes using these dollar amounts to get our budget to where we need. So this is what this stored money and I say stored
because it's only realized once you decide to use it just in case of um an emergency where the district did not receive the funding that they need to for this upcoming budget year. So does everyone understand that part with the health injustice? And you only have
three years to use that and you only have three years. Absolutely. And just for the public, um, and this is this would be the first year, right? We're not using No, we're not using We're not using No, no, I know I'm saying, but it's three years to use it.
So the first year, it'll show on the budget software three years of how much bank and health adjustment you have. So for instance, it'll show the year that it accumulated in a year. So every year it keeps
dropping off every time you don't use it. Okay? So if you don't use it and you know it it's not there. It can disappear just for the public. I think I saw the number was like 96. It's 932,000,000 that we'll lose out this
year if we can use it. We lose part of it. Part of it because we got three years to lose 14. Absolutely. Just for the public to know. Yeah. Yeah. Just uh one question on this end if possible. Mhm. I mean I heard obviously with the adjustments they're indicating and this
is in case of uh emergencies in case we we in case the state cut aids as well or this is just a specific uh emergencies per se. No, it's it's not. It's an I say emergency because if
you don't have the funding to um support your budget, if you don't have any revenue sources, we don't have to go through the emergency process to use this. We just would pass a resolution. We don't have to go through the voters
per se. the board can make a decision to say we need to continue supporting our staff, students and our programs. Let's use bank cap and health adjust the health adjustment so that we don't have to make any drastic changes. And this is
worst case scenario and this is worst case scenario if we have to I should say that the majority of the state is is using it for this year for the first time bank. So the majority is in is and I would imagine almost 100% by next year is going to use it. There's I hope you
don't get maybe you'll be 99. You'll be the 1% that does it. But it's scary right now that how many districts had to go into bank. Yeah. Now Mr. Marino, I'm sorry. Mr. Marino, do you I mean when you said about 99%
using it, uh do we kind of have an idea how did they utilize that funding? It's it's for health it's healthcare. So, health insurance went up over 10%. So, when you have when you have decreased state aid and you're and you're using your surplus and your capital reserves,
um eventually those c those accounts run out and now you don't have those accounts. So, when your health insurance goes up by more than 10%, you're going to need to use bank cap space unless you get more state aid. Now, you guys have been really fiscally responsible. So, you're you're in the in that 1%. You are
in the greatest. I haven't seen any district with raising taxes just by 2%. You are the lowest I've seen. Um so I I hope next year you're you are that 1%. Everybody else is is now hit the bank cap.
Thank you. Okay. So the other revenue source we have which we will be using next slide so is fund 20. So fund 20 is federal funds. These are we are and I hate to say it at the mercy of the
federal government you know to make sure that um to see what we will receive. I don't have the information yet. This comes out to you know around July or in August. And what fund 20 entails is our
title um funds. So we have title one which we do have salaries in title one. We um support our afterchool program and we buy um supplies specifically for title one in you know initiatives and incentives. We also have title 2 a a lot
of the title two funds do um support professional development and also you know supporting our our staff and to make sure that they're you know understanding and ready to support our student body. Title three is ESL and immigrant. This is this title we get the
least money from. And um title four is STEM and usually support PBIS, PD and supplies. And we also have our IDA funding which is out of district tuition. And I also want to preface the IDEIDA funding too. This is we offset a
lot of our out of district tuition with IDEIDA funds. So we are I you know as a district we're waiting to see what these numbers are because we have to u make sure that we can obviously handle and support this these um expenses when
these numbers come out. So I will keep the board updated once those um um federal funds are released. And um I did budget typically what all BAS usually do is budget 80 to 85% less or budget 80 to
85% of what we received in the prior year. So we if we received about a million dollars I budget 80% of that just so that we are not in a position where um we put all of these expenditures there and now we don't
receive what we anticipated and we have to kind of go back to the drawing board. Okay. So, but just know we do have salaries in title. I do I am optimistic that we will at least get enough for the to support the um t um the salaries, but
you know, it's a waiting game right now for all districts. Okay. We also um have our preschool um monies are in um federal funds. We already kind of know what we're getting in state aid with preschool monies. We
also have carryover. I did have a conversation with the finance team letting them know I I I went to one of the preschool meetings. The state or the federal funds I'm not federal government is um talking about not allowing
districts to use carryover money anymore in preschool. So that is still in a conversation or at least I think it is. I don't know if they settled on that yet, but we I will follow up on that. And having these carryover funds in preschool does help that budget and it
did go down um a lot from last year to this year. And you'll see that in a later slide. Okay. Okay. So, this is a summary of our revenue sources and the projections of what we um came up with this year. We'll
start with our general fund again, our tax levy. were asking for 2% which you know we've just heard that we and I know we are because I we're the we are the lowest um as far as increase this year but we this budget is very conservative
and it does we're we're able to meet all of our obligations with this budget as is in the way we project it. So 2% again I am recommending that we do 2% at least so that we can support the programs and the staff members and um everything we
need to do here. The the other item we're doing is our um excess surplus. This is the surplus that I mentioned during the audit. This is a 2% um estimate of what we can use from our prior year expenses. So we're using 1.1
um um 1.1 million. This is an increase from last year but this is necessary to um balance our budget. Uh interest is between interest and ma miscellaneous. This is all the other items that I I um
looked at historical data and you know just projected an amount that we that's reasonable that we can kind of plug in to say that we we anticipate these funds. our state aid, our state aid overall between all of the um sources um
went down about um um 30 326 million, but you'll see 30 33 26,000, but you'll see on a later um spreadsheet um you'll see them line by line and you'll see which um category
went up and down. So, there was a big fluctuation between all of them. our Medicaid semi went down quite a lot. So we usually estimate around last year around $30,000 and um that been consistent over the years. This year you can see the big dip and this is
something that is a projection that we get from the state and saying this is what you plug into your number for this. This is a big difference um from last year to this year. Our federal funds again just um this is between um the
state and federal are projected a very conservative amount. So we wanted to make sure that we are not putting too much in those um categories just yet until we understand what the actual numbers are. Um preschool aid also this includes our carryover. So again you
will see in a lot later slide that our aid amount is actually lower than what you're seeing here. This is our carry carryover plus um plus our aid and our re uh revenue um re uh re um our capital and maintenance reserves. So this is
what we have stored up over the years and it supports our long range facility plan and also whatever um monies that we allow to put into our maintenance reserves. our overall budget went up about 7% but later on you'll see where that
correlates also with other um appropriations and expenditures. Next, this is just a um diagram to show you what percentage of our revenue sources come from state aid, what percentage come which is about 50%, what percentage
it comes from our tax levy, and what percentage comes from um other aid which is five um 5.3% and our special revenue um which is about 3.5%. So in all in all you if you look at the other aid state
aid and our special revenue funds the majority of our budget is dependent on outside sources. So I just want everyone to be like very cognizantes of that our dep our revenue sources are the majority of
them are coming and we depend on our outside state and federal government to support our budget. So, okay. So, here you'll see the breakdown of our state aid. We have our equalization
aid went down um two minus 2.52%. Our transportation aid went up a little but 62%. Special education aid went down negative 40 4.4%. Our security aid went down 14%.
And this is where I was letting you know about our um preschool aid. You see the difference of how much it went down from last year to this year. N almost 20%. So, and these are all federal funds that we're um we're receiving
state. They're a mixture of um I guess state. So, next slide. So when we're looking at our expenditures, we're going to go from, you know, line by line from our regular instruction all the way to um our
capital. So looking at our expenditures for 2025 26. So in our regular pro um program which supports salary supply um supplies services in our new math curriculum um to to say the least that we went up about 1.4%.
Okay. Our bilingual education a negative.5%. Which also support our supplies, salaries and ser other services. Basic skills went up 7% salaries, supplies and
services. our co-curricular. We looked at those areas to make sure that we were more accurate in our projections. So, as you can see, we um went down 18% in those areas. And then our grants, which is our
title and prek, about 6%. And charter schools about 63 six it went up to 63%. So, our charter schools is not something that I can say, okay, we're only going to budget a certain amount. The state gives us a
notice just like they give us a state aid notice. This is your projection for charter schools. This is what you have to budget for because this is to support the projected amount of enrollment for next year. So, can I just clarify that? So, that's for students who are in our
district who are attending charter schools, correct? Okay. Right. Right. So we don't have technically a choice on budgeting or not paying that bill. So that is something that we're obligated to do in for all the kids that live in
our district. President and I just want to point out too as it pertains to charter schools, not only do we have to pay their salary, I mean their the tuition, we have to pay their transportation as well, which could be very very costly in our
district. Um and perhaps that's something that this board can look into. What are the legal ways um that we can make sure that our children turn our local public school versus going district to a charter school. Great. And
just for your own um comfort, we have taken an approach to make sure that every student that we do pay for does live in our district. So we we do do residency verification to make sure that every tuition that we are
paying for is our student. Okay. The next is our special education costs. So our instruction includes um salaries and um supplies and related um related services for our special education program.
um we wanted to make sure that those um expenses were appropriately um budgeted. We looked at all of the line items to make sure and we also um you know worked with Mr. Mendes to make sure that we um have um the appropriate amount because
um these expenses vary from year to year and we just look at what we paid last year, the year before and and did an estimate of what the needs of future needs of the students that they had we have enrolled currently. Okay. On the other end, we um if you see here
where it says the IDA grant, the tuition went down. I intentionally um decreased this just to make sure that we are getting the correct amount of um funding. So, we did not want to put more
um than we needed to in the IDA grant because again, this this is the amount that we need to verify in July and August. And if we do receive the amount that we need to cover these um out of district tuitions, then we will make
that adjustment accordingly. And again, I will keep the board updated on those federal funds. And we have our regular um out of district um tuition um that we um just did an assessment of every student that we we we have out of district and we wanted to make sure that
was appropriate. We did some adjustments accordingly. So overall, special education went down 1.9%. So the charter schools went up, special ed schools went down. The charter school I don't even have a say yet. And it is
what the what and it's automatically put into the budget software um automatically. So it's not even it's not even something that I I can even um adjust. Yeah, it's just an interesting observation.
Yeah. So, um we move along to our um other um support services. We have our speech extraordinary aid. Yes, this does have to do with um um the child study team and it supports all students IEP. So, we looked at those um areas to
make sure that we are on point and we do pay for some vendors for some services. So, we wanted to make sure that was all incorporated appropriately in the budget. We have our health and attendance and um um salaries and services for here. So this is has to do
with um personnel mainly more than our health benefits. We'll get to our health benefits um later down the line. We have our guidance department. This mainly has to do with um salaries um supplies and services. And the same thing with the child study
team line items. And we also have instruction. I think um we were looking at the instruction line and this has to do with curriculum development in PD. If you remember, we did discuss about um reducing some of the professional development that we have from last year
to this year. So that's where the um biggest um dip in that line item comes from and also our um library media salaries and supplies. So overall, this section of student support services went up about 18% with a fluctuation of
looking at certain um line items where we went down the most in the um um professional development line. Okay. Madam President, yes. Uh Madam Ba, um improvement of instruction and
training uh cut by 50 or nearly 50%. Can you talk a little bit about that? There was a program that was done last year that didn't need it to be done this year. So it that's mainly um where that cut came from. So there so if it if there was a PD that was done I believe that cost a certain amount last year
that we didn't need it this year. So just want everybody to be aware. Next slide please. So now we're on our buildings grounds and capital projects. So here we have um our building maintenance required maintenance for our district. And
remember this line item um is supported by our maintenance reserve funds that we've had stored up. So um overall we looked Mr. Man and I looked at each line item. We looked at all the things that the district will need next year. This line item support the building required
maintenance repairs security services and our SRO. This is the line item that we um just looked at very meticulously and made sure that we were just being reasonable and looking at all of the projects that we may need to do um next
year. Looking at overtime, looking at all of these items to make sure that we um are um where we can find some savings here. And then we I think believe we also had some retirements of um custodial staff. We we did an analysis
to see um how many staff members we had and what is the required amount for um school districts. Um just so everyone know that in a building um each custodian should be able to clean about 17 um 17,500 square feet. We did the
math of what our square foot footage was and we divided up how many um custodians we need. So being Jermaine and I Jermaine um did that very early on when he came on board and remember I don't know if you guys um remembered you guys hired a few extra custodians during the
co years so we had more um items that we needed to take care of but when we there was a request for a retirement we did not um um fill that position so that's where a lot of that um savings come from too. Okay thank you in our capital project. So, our
capital projects again is funded by our reserves and as we mentioned early on, our capital projects consist of our HVAC project, our fire alarms, and we're also looking into um addressing some of the piping issues that we have um throughout the building, specifically around the um
cafeteria area. Okay. So, we'll move on to our administration. And administration primarily is just salary increases. Um we have our communication um um that we pay for and profession and other professional services like legal,
architectural, envir environmental. We also pay for um um um what was the architect and it was another one that we're going out for RFP, but I'll talk about that later. And we also um have our school admin administration which is
just salary um supplies and and and services on this line item and our central um services and technology department and and here we're doing a few projects. So um and buying a a few other um um vape detectors and also I
believe this is a server that we're buying and this also supports our shared service agreement. Next slide. Almost to the end, guys. And our last is our transportation. Again, we took a look at all of our transportation costs from
last year to this year. We made sure that we were um budgeted reasonably. We looked at some of the outer um district of students. We do pay aid in Lu and like um Commissioner Guzman was saying that the aid and Lu is a a payment that
we give to charter school students and also non-public students that do not attend our school district. We pay them for um the transportation cost even if they don't come to our school. Okay. So that is where um that is what ADU is and
um we do make sure we are making sure that these students are our students before we pay them out and that was the overall negative um decrease about 5.1 just because you know just looking at it more meticulously and making sure that the projection is
reasonable and the expenditures are reasonable. And then we have our health benefits. Our health benefits um went up um 19%. We're projecting that amount because um we received you know I reached out to our um our um consultant
to see if there's a possibility of any type of um relief anywhere or if there's anything out in the market that we can you know maybe even consider. Um I received a report back and um we're we're only eligible to be in the um
state health benefits and with that cost we have to endure their increase which is about estimate about like 18 or 19%. So we have to project for that. So our o so our overall budget went up about 7.9% between the different
categories and this is where we stand as far as um um our expenditures. Any questions on those? Um Miss August a question if possible? I have a question on uh relates to the
again the special ed program uh with the forecasting of uh of the amount doubling from the previous and as I heard you before say and in pre in the other lines this is in l especially when it comes to charter schools we are paying for students going outside of our schools
and they're not attending our schools and on top of it we're paying for transportation is there a possible way to or is there something that could be done in the form of passes some costs down. That's one of the questions as far
as the charter school uh doubling up as far as for the forecast being doubled up from 1 8 to almost 2.2. So for transportation costs and any type of charter school payment um the
districts are obligated to pay it. The only way you can get around that if the kids come to our school district. Um it is in statute. We have to provide this transportation not only for the charter school for any private school students,
non-public schools and any students that um live two um two miles away which there's not many students in this area that does that. But we will have to either provide the transportation or pay the um aiden bill. Those are our
obligations. The only way that you can change that if is if you change the law. Yeah. Thanks. Or if the student comes to our district. I think what we want to say, what we want to do is make Kelden public school the best school it can be
and as attractive as possible so that students will come, I guess, especially students going to charter schools. Sometimes with the special ed, it's their their needs are very specific and if we can't meet those here, that's, you know, it's a different scenario. But
like with the charter schools, um it would be great to get some of those students back into our district. You know, it would be not just financially, but just, you know, so that we have them and we can serve them here at home in our own district. Madam President, yes.
So this is reminiscent of uh Manchester with the safe context. And I remember that uh we rallied for years to get our children that reside here in Kelvin that go to P County Tech to have proper transportation. Now Manchester was with was within their
right. They said we should we're not going to pay for it. Uh P County Tech should pay for it because they go there. But Manchester would be obligated to pay for it. However, that's the two mile thing for high school is two and a half.
Exactly. from from uh from Hen to P County Tech. Technically, Hen didn't have to cover the transportation. But finally, P County Tech was nice enough to pay for it for the transportation and our kids no longer have to walk up that hill and
be exposed to all the dangers up there trying to get up to tech. Uh but that was a lot of years of advocating for that. right now. What is stopping this board to see perhaps if any of those charter schools want to, you know, pay for their
students for transportation? There's a difference though, okay, for Helden, for Manchester, they don't provide buses and they're we're a walking district in general. The only reason why we pay for transportation is a special is in the
kids's IEP or if the charter school is over two miles. The reason why they did not pay it for the kids in tech because it was under two and a half miles. That was the real reason. I know the the what went out there may have been
different, but the real reason is that the walking because we do provide transportation for some kids that are two and a half miles outside of that. But if you're within two and a half miles, you're not obligated to provide the um transportation and the distance
between where Manchester or whoever um you know because my child was there too and we had the driver you know because we were within the two and a half miles. So thank you. So okay so this is a summary of all of
the appropriations that we just discussed by category. Um the overall um amount um was um increases of 7.49%. And we have the different categories of the regular program, special education, tu um tuition,
transportation, maintenance and security, dental office, administration, technology, salaries, health benefits, special revenue fund, and the capital projects.
That is our total appropriation of 27 million712897 and we were able to balance that with our revenues. Next page and that's just a breakdown of the percentage of how much our appropriation. So 41% of our
appropriation is dedicated to salaries. The other 17% is dedicated to benefits and that is not abnormal in most organization. your salaries and your benefits is a larger part of your budget and that is where most of our cost is
and you have other breakdowns of you know of expenditures but just know that this is where the majority of any impact of anyone's budget will be will be in the salaries and health benefits. Okay, next
page. This is just a breakdown by of our salaries um by um program. We have regular program went down 9.49%. Special education went up 22.77% and um maintenance and reserve
went down about 4%. Transportation overall went down negative 24% secretaries 28% school administration went down negative 12% and um fund 20 and preschool went up about 10.42%.
which our overall increase in salaries is 7.29% and that is um throughout the district including the fund 20 items. This also includes fun 20. Okay, next slide. This is just a
breakdown by percentages um of each category. regular program is about 56% special education 22% and so forth and we have about 8% into our fund
20 so this is the one that I will be watching just to make sure that we are good there next one we have our capital projects like we stated before this is a breakdown of that about 2.6 6 million.
We had four classroom HVAC replacement, $45,000. Fire alarm upgrades estimated about one $1 million. Um building pipes upgrade and replacement about 300,000 and a roof to the HVAC and other
selected classrooms about $819,000. And our last is our classroom and technology equipment which we've discussed already. We have um classroom phones um upgrades that we've been working on over the um past few years. We've been doing a little bit each year.
So, and we also have our dashboard renewal. What is that? That's the observer, right? Firewall. Yeah. Firewall. Yeah. Okay. And then we have our vape detectors that we're putting in in our door lock project which we're making all the doors digitals so that
everyone can have a swipe card and that will be done. Okay. And that is the end of my budget presentation. I am open to any questions from the board and then we will open up the floor to the public to make any questions after I think we
approve the correspondence. Right. Uh that Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I have a question. Okay. Go ahead, Mr. Ramadan. Actually, first I want to commend uh Miss Augustine and Mr. Walk
and I'm sure her team as well for work for doing a great job on putting a budget together because obviously this is a very hectic situation requires a lot of attention a lot of research projections among other now we are reluctant to to have like not to
increase the taxes in the past couple years based on being healthy from the state some grants from the state. Now, um what avenues are we using to try to stay proactive in the future? Uh if we
if the state normally proceeds with this line of cuts, uh with more cuts or or more aids being reduced, uh we're trying to be proactive about it to try to avoid tax levies in the future. I don't personally I don't think we
could avoid tax levy in the future. That's my um um opinion from what I know. The only thing that we could do is mine our expenses which we are we are definitely working on doing that even with our cabinet meeting today. We had
another discussion with the admin team to make sure that everything is justifiable. I want to make sure and I've asked for um specifics when they're presenting and you know recommendation for employees. We stated in our preliminary meeting that we are going to
be replacing people if someone um is going to like retire. We're we're replacing we're not adding on new hires. The only exception would be if there's a child study team request specifically to increase the classroom, but right now it's looking like we don't have to do
that. So that is another area we're looking to make sure that we can cover expenses in every area. Even when there's a request, we've already asked that our staff members let us know what budget is coming out of and we're going to refer back to the budget to make sure
that it was already in there before they send the request. So we're, you know, we are buckling down on everything that we uh need to do to make sure that we are monitoring every penny that comes out. And I just continue to encourage you guys to ask questions when you see
things on the agenda so that you know we can be accountable to what we said we're going to do. Well, TZ, you know, I think this is like my sixth year in this position. And in that time, we've raised property tax a total of 2% and then
after tonight, I'm hopeful that it'll be a total of 4%. In that time period, I don't think you're going to find too many other municipalities that that had such a 4% total over the course of six years tax increase. And yeah, we
benefited not you know the society did not benefit from CO but fiscally uh you know it was something that helped support us but many other districts got the same co funding that that we got and and had raised taxes over the course of
that time period and they're still riffing large numbers of staffs right now and and we're not doing that. So, we we're definitely not asleep at the wheel and you know, we're we're going to make the best possible decisions based on the best possible. Um, and and that's what
we're going to continue to do with test. No, good. I mean, I commend again I commend your administrator administrators, your your cabinets, your staff among others. You definitely guys doing a great job in keeping keeping the
ship floating and tidying the belts. But it just again this is a projection down the line. Again now we know where we are. We know where we heading. The idea is to have a focus and a plan to try to stay within the guidelines and floating
without incurring other other expenses and costs. So this is literally as Miss August and she's good with projections for the future. Maybe there's a projection down the line. We could think about it, put it together, go with it. that's going to help us and help our
community as well and benefit everybody in between from our kids all the way out to our our taxpayers as well. Thank you, Madam President. Yes. Um if I may, um there's only one thing about
this budget I'm not surprised about and that's a 18 almost nearly 19% cut in extra activity. And and let me let me just explain a school district very very sensitive situation because we're talking about most
precious jewels which is our children. We're not me personally I'm not for cutting anything. I feel like these are the bare bones of what we're working with right now. We have to understand something. If you cut a program, you cut extracurricular activity, guess what
happens? That's something less that our children have to do after school. Okay? We want to make sure that we set up our children for success. Student achievement. Everybody always talked about student achievement like it was about A's and B's. It's not just about A's and B's. It's about giving our
children the tools to be able to succeed and be great productive members of society. And those programs are very crucial because in now instead of being in in in an extra activity, what are they going to do? They're going to go find something to do. Okay? And guess
who has to deal with that? The police department. Okay? So, we need the cooperation of the school district. School district has a $27 million budget. The municipality has about $11 million. Okay? So, let's not forget that. As far as property taxes, I want
to talk about that, too. In times of uncertainty, all you can do is point to your track record. That's it. That's it. So, let's look at the track record of this board of education. Mr. WA, when did you start in this school? 2020. 2020 as
superintendent. How about as principal? 2016 or 17. Okay. Now, let's let's look at that real quick. 2015 race taxes 1.9 1.995%. 2016 2%. 2017
4.27%. 2018 2%. 2019 negative 1.10%. 10% 2020 0% 2021 0% 2022 0% 2023 0% 2024 0% 2025 2% which is the bare minimum 2026
again 2% the bare minimum this is the same board of education that throughout all those years also has board retreats we don't cater all types of food and just raise money we do potlucks my wife is up at 4:00 a.m. making a panadas for the board. You know, same thing for the
rest of the board members. We didn't go on extravagant, you know, conferences and things like that. This board has never been about that. This board is about one thing, student achievement, okay? We also have to make sure that our educators are taken care of as well
because why? Because if they're not paid a fair wage, okay, then that hurts their morale, okay? And we want to make sure that their morale is high so they could better serve our children. Same thing with our administrators. Okay, this is the bare minimum. This is
the bare minimum. Like to me to talk about cutting anything, no, absolutely not. This is the bare minimum. This board has committed itself to fiscal responsibility, student achievement, school safety, preschool education. We did a whole expansion to the school
without having to raise taxes. I feel this board has done its job. And not this board because our job is really not that hard. We're elected by the people to do what? We're elected by the people to do two things. To hire the superintendent and evaluate the
superintendent. That is our job. And obviously we help guide the superintendent. So that's his job. We can't tell the superintendent do this, do that, put this person here, put that person there. That is not within the purview of the board of education. Okay? That is the superintendent's job. Now,
we have an attorney on on online on online on online on online on online on online on online on online on online on online on line. If I'm wrong, correct me. Okay? That is Mr. Walker's job to continue and let's trust Mr. Walker. Why? Because like I said, in times of uncertainty, you go to the track record. Let's look at Mr. Walker's track record. Has he shown a track record of being
irresponsible? Has he shown a track record of of wasting money? What are we talking about here? Talking about all this and that. Are you kidding me? This is a man that has shown a track record of nothing but fiscal responsibility. Okay? not only to the to
the students as he should but to the taxpayers too. And if somebody has a problem with it, the he he has he has an evaluation coming up. Put it all in there. You know, that is our job to evaluate the superintendent and to hire a
superintendent. Okay? And it's very important continuity. Another thing is extremely important. Before Mr. Walker was here, we used to go through superintendence and principles like it was no tomorrow. There was no continuity for these for these children. It was a bunch of changes here. New principle
comes, new programs, new this, new that. The children never had a chance to adapt to anything, you know, and and we have to understand all of this, the complexity. There is no magic formula. We have to work together. We have to make good decisions
as they come up and move forward. That's all we can do. And we I could lay my head on the pillow and know as the longest serving board member here since 2016 January. I'm coming up on 10 years by the way. Very excited about that.
That we have done that. We have really truly done that. Are we perfect? No, we're not perfect. But this budget for uh Mrs. August, you don't have to answer this if you don't want. But were you are you worried that this may not pass? Because if you are, that is so
sad. Like it really is. It's It's actually comical. I have to laugh. I have to laugh because 2% She knew that the answer. Yeah. It's ridiculous. It's it's it's ridiculous that that you you should come here, Mr. Mrs. August.
You should be proud of the work that you have done with you and your team and Mr. Waka putting together this this this budget. All right. That has a bare bone minimum. And uh I I'm voting not I'm not voting yes. I'm voting absolutely. And also I wish that we weren't cutting
extracurricular activities because now that's something less that our children have to do. Where's the cut? I don't know. We have to uh we have to we have to look into uh a lot of the the boss program took a uh maybe a 25% reduction. Reduction but not a cut. No,
still we're still gonna look up if you guys vote yes, we're still gonna have it this year. And then um uh a lot of some of the afterchool extra tutoring and learning loss programs that we probably those are going to be gone. Mr. Waka shared that th those cuts. Um I
think I can share tomorrow if you meet I'm sorry Madam President Madam President. Um so what I'm saying is that is this. It's important that we look we we
we let's let's stay let's keep our our our effort on the post. Let's let's stay focused and I know times are uncertain, but let's continue to look at our track record which has been positive. Um and let's have faith in our administration
that they're going to continue to guide the school district in the right and in in the right way with obviously with the support of this board of education and the public. You know, I think that that's very important. Um, as far as the 18.6% extracurricular activities, I
appreciate them being proactive and and say, "Okay, perhaps they don't need this club or that club because they want to prepare for the future." I get it. But at the same time, let's remember that's a sacrifice. That is something less that these children have to do after school, okay, or on the weekend or during the
summer. Let's remember that. That's all I got to say. Thank you, Mr. Guzman. I do want to address those those uh extracurricular cuts were if you remember we received communication from Mr. talk about those. I don't think anything was cut completely. They were
all reductions. But I do want to say I regarding the cutting, you know, regarding programs, regarding our staff, it all goes back to this that the point about the charter schools. If we want to keep our students in district, if we
want them to come here, if we want Hailen to be um an attractive town for families to move to, our school has to be top, you know, and we need staff, we need programs, we need to be able to offer all of those things, quality things to to our residents and their
children. So, you know, it's something to keep in mind. And yes, we have to balance the budget, you know, but it it there has to be balance there. That's the the key. You know, it can't, you know, it's going to be tax levy. It's going to be maybe having to make some
tough decisions here, maybe cuts here, and we don't know what the, you know, next year will bring. But I I I have I trust that Miss Austin and Mr. WAKA and the administration are doing their best to um as of right now and as of always
really spend wisely and um you know do what what they need to do to make sure that we're solvent to make sure that we're uh not going into debt. And we're not we're in a good position
right now and we're going to watch this closely and you know the and our the board should watch it closely and um ask questions. Um any Yeah, go ahead. Um Miss Augustine um great job. Um, I've
looked at the past few years of the budgets that we've had and u even when we thought the worst was the worst, we didn't have to change a thing. Right. Right. Because we prepped ahead of time. Now, I wanted the 2% increase
the year before that, but you know, that was just me because I I kind of saw it coming and we you know, talked about it. But, you know, again, you know, you know, it is what it is. But um but I'm glad that we're able even even when you know uh things happen or life happens or
budgets are not what we expect them to be. The fact that we're ahead of the game uh speaks volume and um thank you very uh super grateful to be part of this board and the way it's being managed. Anybody else? Any other questions,
comments from board members? Good job. Okay. Thank you so much, Mr. President. Um, can we just make sure we follow up on that resolution um that we sent down to the governor and our state representatives from the 35th Legislative District. That's another
thing. We have to continue to uh keep uh our finger on the pulse on that because it's important that our school is fully funded in in an effort for us to continue serving our school community, especially our children. Our children deserve every single penny in this
budget. Yeah. Was was it sent miss? Okay. Great. Yeah. Good. Thanks for the reminder. Um Okay. So, we have a couple of things here before we, you know, we'll open the floor to the public. Um
and then we'll vote on the budget be after we review quickly the um the committee reports. So, okay. So, can I have a motion to uh approve correspondence?
Second. Moved by Mr. Martinez, seconded by Mr. Matzko. Roll call, please. Mrs. Cerna, Mr. Guzman, yes. Mrs. Johnson, yes. Mr. Martinez, yes. Mr. Matzo, yes. Mr. Ramadan, yes. Mrs. Yes. Thank you. Okay.
Can I have a motion to approve prior minutes? Second. Moved by Mr. Moscow, seconded by Mr. Martinez. Roll call, please. Mrs. Cerna, yes. Mr. Gosman. Yes. Mr. Martinez. Sorry.
Mrs. Johnson. Yes. Mr. Martinez. Yes. Mr. Boxel. Yes. Mr. Madan. Abstain. Do we have enough for Oh, yeah. Okay. Uh, yes. But if Sorry, if we read the minutes, we don't
have to, right? Yeah. You don't have to. If you if you weren't at the previous meeting, you don't have to abstain. If you read the minutes, you can vote. It's It's up to you. Yeah. Okay.
Um, okay. So, um, before we open the floor to the public, I just want to explain, um, you know, we have to be consistent with our our, uh, policies with, you know, public, even if there's nobody else here, we we stick to the three minute
um, time frame for the public to speak. So, um, can I have a motion to open the floor to the public on agenda items only? So, Moved by Mr. Gen, seconded by Mr. Modsko. All in favor? I. Okay. So, the
agenda, the floor is open to members of the anybody who's here first in person can. Okay. Just state your name, your address, and um and you have three minutes. My name is um first I want to talk about the
budget through um the chair, Madam President. Um, great job Madam Ba and Ma and your team. Um, I just have kind of just questions because my but I had Sorry.
So, I need to know with the 63% increase in charter schools, how many of those students come back and how do we get reimbursement when it doesn't work out for them? All right. Because you know, if if you're acting up in a
charter school, they're going to send you back to your home district. So, do we get that money back? Is it prorated? You know, I need to find that out because that's money that we need to be getting back to from our to our district. Um when it comes to
um the professional development, I wanted to see if you could tap into William Patterson uh Montlair State for the continuing education programs that they have. Um sometimes they come in and they give PD workshops um because they
have a lot of grant money. So you don't have to spend any money and your and your um teachers at the end of the year that they have to fill out the paperwork that they've done like 20 hours of professional development can be done through those colleges. Um the other
question for your autistic population of students, I wanted to know how many students are um out of district that we have to pay for because that's a big chunk of um tuition money. Um and
then let's see um going back to u Mr. W. We're talking about attendance in the beginning. I can talk about that. Okay. So, normally there's 180 days that students have to do during a school year. You have being
an educator. This is what I'm talking about. Okay. So, you have five consistent um days in a row that you can have unexcused absences for um in the state mandate. You can't be out more than 21 days of the school year
without having truency coming to your door and asking a parent, you know, why aren't you in school? Then, you know, see, and yeah, you have to go to court. Exactly. Um, so it's hard for all the school
districts right now to try to figure out what the magic potion is, but in your student handbook, are you retaining students that have been out for more than 50 days out of the school year because you can't keep pushing kids on
if they are not in school. Now, I know I use Google Classroom um for students that have, you know, been out sick um for a period of a number of days, but then um you also have bedside for
students that are going to be out, you know, if they've been in the hospital or whatever. Those are excused reasons. Um and of course, we have to pay home instruction for that. You we have to pay teachers for that. Um, but you know, for
us to for for educators to have to bear that burden on making sure that they pass a test and they have not been in school half of the school year, we have to do better. So, you know, maybe that's
something that you have to talk to the legislature about changing some of the rules because since COVID, you know, it is tough. you know, there's a lot of um mental illness and there's a lot of stress and we have to figure out what we're going to do with, you know, the
social emotional learning part of it. Okay. Um, Miss Farah, please wrap it up. It's been four minutes. Um, so yeah, so basically those are some of of my questions. Um, and then to bring out I was one of those those
parents that sent my kid to private school. There's reasons why people go to private school. There's reasons why people go to charter schools. At the time when we moved here, there was no the kindergarten got out. It was a half a day. I worked. There was no way that I
can send my kids to um H public schools. It didn't mean that it wasn't a great school. It was not good for us because we had to work and we were educators and we got out of school later than than the school system at that time. I think you got out at like 2:35 or 240 at that
time. When it comes to um transportation, I got transportation because my kid went to private school, but it's reimbursement. It's, you know, we had to we drove our kid to school, so we didn't have a bus that took him to school. So, it's really
a reimbursement that we get from Manchester. Um um so if you want to change the the verbiage to to kind of make you feel a little better, it's really a reimbursement thing. Okay. Um, and when it comes to say county tech, you know, my husband and I and a
bunch of parents, um, went to the board and we rallied for that bus because, you know, we didn't want Charles walking to school at, you know, up up that hill at Oldtown without having sidewalks and the coyotes and stuff running around. Okay.
So that's the that's how those buses came about to take our kids from Rose Street over to Pacific County Tech and lobby that they need to pay for it because they're paying for the kids in Hampshire. I don't but that's how that worked out.
Okay. So you kind of know the backtory on that. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. Anybody else? Go ahead. Charles. So, I'm going to start with the charter schools and my first question is how do
you know these people that you're paying for to go to these charter schools actually live in hailed it? And the reason why I'm going to use that example is because every morning I take my wife to work at school too and there's this car in front of me. people who both are
going down Belmont a stop at school too, they stop right in front of me at school too and their children get out at school too. Okay, so people are doing all kinds of things. People are using PE friends
addresses and all kinds of things here and whatnot. They're living in Tota, Woodland Park, whatever, and going to whatever schools they so desire. So, I'm I'm curious to know, do you have definite proof that everybody that you're paying for that's going to a
charter school actually lives here and not using grandma's address or auntie's address and stuff like that? And because a lot of people spend most of their day trying to figure out how to get over on
the system. Okay. Um, the budget's good, but I'm going to say this to you as a board, and I know you commend yourself that you didn't raise money and stuff. Well, I'm going to go back to when Marty Barnes was mayor in Patterson, and they were commending themselves that they
were staying flat at $36 million. And they kept kicking that can down the road, down the road. And now Patterson is paying about 70 or 80 million into the budget when they should be paying 60
more than that. Okay? Because they kept kicking the can down. The state, yes, has a responsibility, but we as taxpayers have a responsibility, too. Okay?
And if we were doing 2% the other years, we might be in a better situation than we are now. So, I agree with you. We should have been doing because still in the back of my mind since those numbers aren't coming in until August and I don't believe that they're coming
because I already read today a news break with the Department of Education here says that they're not signing any letter that Trump wants them to sign that's dealing with DEI. So if his threat is either you sign it
or you're not getting money now what? Where does that 2% go? Does it go to six or does it go to 13? Okay, we won't know. And the state is obligated to provide a thorough and
efficient education. They've been obligated to do that since 18 something. And they still haven't met that obligation. Okay. So once again we have to look out for here and I understand the after school programs and stuff like that and
all that sounds good but at some point if you have to charge the parent a little something for these programs I watched parents from here when we were training people up at Manchester they were there or they were going to Ken Kugo for the
summer paying $2,400 for the summer and stuff like that. So we have to be, you know, sometimes in other areas are saying at the Y in Patterson to go there, there's a fee for the week and there's a $100 fee just to be able to
attend and parents are paying it. So we can't always again on easy I see the carnival. I don't know where that money goes and stuff like that, but I always go back to um St. Anony's and and Horon. We raised over over a million through those
through those carnivals and stuff because of the sweat equity of the parents running the games, handling the food concessions and all that stuff, the parishioners there doing it. We could do the same thing here and reach out to the community to say, "Well, I love running.
I love the games. I always as a kid, I always want to be I want to be one of these workers." So, anytime I have that opportunity to do that, I I do it. I tell Patterson that we have East Side Park, West Side Park. That's money that's coming in
because we're not like here. Patterson's got all those tax abatements. Okay. So, and not one dime comes into the city for that. Thank God we don't have to deal with that here, but these are things that we have to do. So, it sounds good not to raise, but we have to. And again,
my son, other than playing in that gym, practicing, when we're training here in Manchester, but I still pay because we're it's our responsibility. As I told one person who said, "Well, I don't think I should be paying. I don't have any kids." I went, "When you were in
school and she was older than I was, were more seasonal than I was." I said, "When you were in school, there were people that didn't have children either, but they felt it was their responsibility to make sure that the children got that education to make them productive citizens because they might
be the one that's got to serve you or wait on you. So, you know, so saying it's we didn't do it, it's not always a good thing because every time I look at that, I reference Patterson. Where would we be if we had been doing
those things when we were supposed to? Okay, because now we're hurting now. And God help us if the federal government says nothing's coming. The taxpayers are going to go through the roof. The ones that are carrying the city, which is like onethird
of onethird of the people in Pal are carrying the city because the county, the the the state and the federal, they pay in taxes. But, you know, the budget looks good. But back in my head, I'm like, and I've even talked with
Congresswoman Po. You need to wrap it up. Yes. I'm just I spoke with Congresswoman Po that she has to encourage her colleagues on both sides of that aisle that we need those numbers when the budgets are due. If they're if
the budget's due in April, they need you need those numbers before then. Absolutely. Not in August. Mhm. Not in August because now you're going to come back and you're going to have to revote on something else. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Um is
there anybody online, Mr. Miller? Okay. So then can I have a motion to close the floor? Second. Moved by Mr. Martinez, second by Mr. Mosco. All in favor? All right. Before we move on, um, Miss August, do you want to address any
of the questions or Um, the only question that I can address is the charter school. We have each year we have two opportunities to verify whether a student is um a resident and
it's called um you go on to NJ home room session one and session two. We look at the list. Um we have found students that did not um live in the district. I usually find like one or two each year.
So we do um we do um deal with that you know by annually and and I don't get a prrated time prorated amount when the kid leaves but it's half a year. So that's the most we will get. So I have
two opportunities throughout the year to it's usually in October and then another time around maybe um maybe um around this time actually it might be coming up. So we get two opportunities but the dis um the state only prorates it like half a year not
the whole year. So it's not the day they disenroll or when we catch them. It's like at that time when we have to go in and certify. So the charter school certifies and then I certify. Um, and I work with um the lady of my office and I
also work with um the attendance person here to verify if they register with the district because a lot of people don't even know that you still have to register with Helden because we're paying the bill. And when that happens, that's when they send all their residency stuff. But so far since I've
been here, I I usually find around two each year of kids that are not residents. Then real quick on our end, I I love the point about the William Patterson School. We're a Williams Patter partner. Um we've we've benefited big time from that partnership both in
getting student teachers and the PD. The only thing that I and I talked to their dean about this last week. The only thing I would I've asked them to do is they're so generous with giving PD, but I need PD not between 8 in the morning and 3M between Monday and Friday, right?
Because it's so hard to get. So like I I want to fill us up. They want to send the teachers out for it, but when they do after school or weekend PT that's so like it's just in order for me to be this the staff as we need to be that's helpful. So they're going to look to do that. And I also ask that if they could have their big PD events if they could
reach out to all the neighboring districts and say when is your uh inservice day and when's your inservice day? If we can coordinate to kind of have one solid inservice day that we that all local schools kind of look to have as their PD day, then we could have said the whole bunch of people to William Patterson because we're not having kids to take care of that day.
But I think it's a great point. Um your point about the the retaining students, it's it's such a fine line, right? Because we we have to put students in age appropriate grades, right? That that's super duper important. Um, and but it's also what you said to teachers
like we're if you're teaching between grade three and eight and you're having a kid take this test, they're not there. Like I get the the the position that's in. I'm glad the state kind of went down on their reliance of the SGO. Um, but but it's still there, right? At least to
a certain extent. Um, and then I didn't even know we had coyotes around here. So that was that was interesting. Um, I had no idea. got bears bear walk in my backyard. Yes, that's no good.
So, I will say if I may, um I've gone to William Patter on Saturdays. They they do have it where you can um either William Patterson or or Montlair. Y um I would also again partner Patterson. They usually have PD
that everybody can do sometime on the weekend for the evening. Good to know. Thank you. All right. All right. Thank you everyone. Um so let's move on to to reports. Um I'll
start with mine. Uh so thank you everyone for joining us tonight. I hope that everyone was able everyone was able to enjoy spring break since it's a time to rest, refresh, regroup before the home stretch of the school year. Um, unfortunately, I
have a sad note to begin my report on. Sandra Sourge, HPS middle school science teacher for 19 years before retiring, passed away on April 6th. Over the years, I've attended numerous eighth grade graduations, and Mrs. Sour's name
came up consistently from student speakers as someone who supported and believed in her students and even as an inspiration regarding my own interaction with her during COVID when when she was my son's teacher. I noticed how positive and upbeat she was despite the
challenges that the pandemic posed to her personally and to the teachers and students alike. On behalf of the Hen Board of Education, I send our condolences to Mrs. George's family and hope that they find comfort in the memories that they have and knowing how beloved she was to
our school community. Continuing on the topic of HPS teachers, I want to thank Miss Molina and Miss Cass for their years of dedicated service to HPS. As a member of this school's ESL staff, I'm sure that Miss Molina has helped hundreds of our
students as they learned a new language and assimilated to a new culture and way of life. Surely a most vulnerable time for our young students. That kind of support is crucial to their overall development and well-being. In the years that Miss Cat was with us, Miss Catz was with us. Um,
not only did she competently teach English language arts to our middle school students, she also took on a role as one of the drama club leaders, building rapport with participating students and giving them a safe space to express themselves through music and acting.
Incidentally, I was lucky enough to see the drama club's uh production of Adva Adams family this month and I was so impressed with their talent, with their enthusiasm, and just with the professionalism of the whole production. Um, both Miss Molina and
Miss Catz will be missed at HPS, but we wish them the best in their future endeavors. Uh, congratulations are in order for Elsa Guerrero, who is retiring from the HPS custodial staff. Um, thank you to Elsa for doing her part to keeping our school clean, healthy, and
safe, and we wish her the best in her retirement. I also want to congratulate our own a Halden BOE commissioner and former board president, Mr. George Whisman, on 10 years of dedicated, loyal, and fervent service on the Hen
Board of Education. Mr. Guzman's commitment to our district's students, teachers, administrators, staff, parents, and families is evident through his many achievements over the past decade to move our district forward, but most notably through his consistent
engagement of and outspoken advocacy for our school community. Mr. Guzman always looks to invite all stakeholders to the table in order to bring about meaningful dialogue and effective solutions to challenges. Mr. Goodman will be recognized at the May 28th Pay County uh
schoolboard association meeting among other distinguished awardies. So I hope everyone here can make it to that meeting. It's the last county meeting of the school year and the details have gone out um numerous times. I think we just got one this morning um to register
for that. So congratulations Mr. Goodman and thank you for your service. Um some reminders to please keep on the top of your list. Uh board members, uh you should have received an email from um the NJSBA, our county rep, Kelly
Mitchell, to complete a board self evaluation. So that's due May 7th, and Kelly is going to use that information to facilitate our retreat, which is May 15th, and that's going to be here. Um and it's, you know, it's a really
worthwhile activity. It's um and I hope to see everybody there. Um, in addition, you should have also received an email from Kelly regarding the superintendent evaluation, and I'm going to discuss that later during new and old business. Um, third, as we approach the midyear
mark, I want to remind all committee chairs that as a board, we have committed to having committee meetings at least twice a year. The finance, policy, safety, and personnel committees have already met at least once this year. So the curriculum and technology
committee and the community engagement committee should have their first meeting within the next month or two. Um if there is no specific issue to address at that time of at the time of your meeting, you can simply review any pertinent topics within your committee scope to see how our district is doing
in those particular areas. Uh committee chairs should create a brief agenda and be prepared to report out at the next general board meeting. And you can ask Lois to help you schedule uh the meeting which can be in, you know, via Zoom or in person. And lastly, I want to thank Miss
Austin for the budget presentation that she gave us tonight and for her hard work um along with her team with Mr. Walk and the administration. Um I'm confident that this is a good, fair, and sound budget and that it's going to serve our district well for the 2005
2006 school year. Um, and that's it for me. I will pass it on now to our chief school administrator, Mr. Waka. I'll be brief. Uh, thank you, board president. Um, I'd like to report to the board that on June 9th, we will look to host a ceremony before the board meeting to
view the mural that will be painted in honor of in remembrance of a student that we lost earlier this year. This will be an invitationon uh event with board members, certain HPS employees, uh, the child's family, and certain select students uh, invited. Um, I'll
provide the board with more information uh as the date approaches. And then the only other thing I have is that um you'll see on the budget, you'll see on the the agenda that there's been a calendar change. That's due to the contractually obligation that we give back certain days when we haven't used
them for for unused no days. That's it. Thank you, Mr. WA. Um, and Miss Augustine, do you have any other do you want to um report on any other items? I can just quickly kind of note um we we did meet our obligations of submitting
all of our disclosure. So very um appreciative of everyone that worked with us and in the central office. This is an important um step in the governance piece of um QAC. So we wanted to make sure that we got those in on time and you know thanks for everyone um
dealing with a lot of the rejections and trying to figure out what happened. Um and thanks thank Lois because she definitely followed up on that with that. So I appreciate that. Um just another reminder about the October conference. Um it is um coming up and I
just want to let everyone re know that if you are not coming or if you have an adjustment, please let me know as soon as possible if you are aware of when and you are you know coming or when you're not coming or if you're um deciding to come certain amount of days. We just
want to make sure that we get all of the reservations and we know exactly who was coming and so we can um get everything kind of finalized. You might have received something already regarding your um your accommodations and and just send it back and let us know, hey, I'm
not coming or I'm only going for two days so we can make an adjustment. Um yes, and also if you want to register for the event on May 28th, let me know. um reach out to us and we will get everyone registered and I just encourage everyone to um attend that event. It's a
really it's going to be a really great event um for here at Helden and also Manchester there. I believe they um there's some awards going on on that side and there's no charge to that to those county meetings. No, the county because we're members of NJSBA. And the other thing is that the finance
team did meet like madame president said and we also discussed about having our meetings um the day or two before um the board meeting. I do we we all kind of agree that it's it's beneficial. We have more time to look through the agenda thoroughly and um have all our questions
and everything kind of um ironed out. Um at that meeting really quick, we talked about the bid um that occurred on April 17th that those items are not on the agenda tonight, but it will be on the next agenda for the HVAC program which we are HVAC program um project that
which will be going on next year 2526 which we mentioned in the um um budget presentation. Um in addition to that we have the security vest on the agenda tonight. that bid opening will be May 7th. And this is the project that we're
starting now and which will spill over to the next year. And I know a few um commissioners have reached out to me to get a copy of the um the renderings and the drawings. And if anyone wants to see that, just let me know and I can forward those items to you. And um oh we're also
on the next um maybe agenda or so we're going to go out for RFP on all of our professional services. Um those services will be auditor, architect, legal services, security services, and environmental. Every three years is um
it's kind of a good practice for districts to um do a request for proposal for these professional services to make sure that you know we're still meeting the needs of the districts and also making sure that we're um following all of our purchasing requirements. And
that's all I have on the report. Thank you, M. Is there any questions for Miss August? Okay. So, let's start with personnel and management. Mr. Goodman. Yes, Madam President. Um, thank you. We had a personnel committee meeting before
this meeting. Um, it was attended by Mrs. Lisha Johnson, Mr. Rafie Martinez, the superintendent as well as yourself. Um, and we uh reaffirmed our commitment to ongoing fiscal responsibility. It was
a very productive meeting and agenda items up. Thank you. Okay. Curriculum and technology. Just one one question because I made a mistake earlier. Esther is different than Essentia.
Oh, that's the whole picture. She's on top of it. Now you get it right now. I get the whole Okay. So, it's covered by Thank you so much for everything. The committee meeting was great. Now, everybody understand.
Okay. Uh, curriculum and technology, Mr. Ramadan. Um other than the uh future upgrades with the tech as far as the phones and the door locks uh uh agenda items only. Okay. Uh that's actually security right
that technology. Was that under technology? Oh sorry. Um okay. Well, okay. Agenda items only. Um, policy and public relations, Mr.
Martinez. Uh, security and safety. Mr. Goodman. Um, nothing to report. Okay. And, uh, community engagement, Mr. Mosco. Well, there's nothing on the agenda. Um,
nothing to, uh, report. Okay. And finance and fiscal plan. Uh we met on Monday few days uh before this meeting and like um we discussed uh looking forward to um having these meetings before the actual uh meeting day give us
more time to go over everything. uh we discussed the budget and all questions that were addressed and answered and uh I think the BA uh spoke on everything and I won't have to give a
big uh explanation on everything. So agenda items. Thank you. Okay. Uh their state and county major isn't here but um I mean we we already mentioned the meet the county meeting the last one of the school year that's coming up on May
28th. So hopefully everybody can make it and you know we got a lot of emails from NJSBA so I know it's hard to kind of filter what's really pertinent but just pay attention especially with everything going on right now in the state and in the federal government pay attention to
uh those emails and that information that's coming in just to kind of keep a breast of everything that's going on. Um okay and then Mr. Molino, do you have anything to report? Okay, I think you're on mute, but I think you said
no. Okay, nothing. I think he's saying nothing to report. Okay, thank you. All right, so um let's go to the the budget and let's vote on the budget. So, can I have a motion to pass
7.1? So, moved. Second. Moved by Mr. Martinez, seconded by Mr. Rosco. Roll call, please. Mrs. Sarda, I just want to say that the budget is only um secure for one year. Um with all the training that we get as elected
officials from from NJSBA, uh we are trained to have a budget for at the minimum of three years. So with that being said, Mr. Gusman. Um, again, um, with, um, just times of
uncertainty, all you can do is point to your track record. It's, it sounds cliche to say we're doing the best we can. This is the best we can do. But this is legit the best we can do. Other votes, yes.
Mrs. Johnson again. Thank you. You did a great job. Um, but this year it's it's I think we did good and long as we stay responsible in the upcoming years. Yes,
Mr. Martinez. Uh, so I'm going to vote yes. Um, and I do agree with Merna with the three-year, but unfortunately without without knowing what's going to be given, it's hard to kind of create that
third year or second year budget. Um, but yeah, I vote yes. Okay, Mr. Mel, vote is yes, Mr. Ramadan. Again, we commend uh both uh at this point for doing a great job on this budget and coming up with solutions and uh
exploring a lot of avenues and hopefully again we will have a better focus going forward when it comes to the uh future budgets. Uh for now, yes. And Mrs. Um, I agree that a three-year budget or
a pro uh of projecting is a good idea and it's a best practice. And I think um as Mr. I think it was Mr. Martinez said, you can't really do that when you don't have the state numbers or the federal numbers. But I'm confident that uh that you, Miss Austin, and the administration
are being proactive and doing everything you can starting now and starting even before to make sure that we're being responsible and uh I, you know, encourage the board members to ask questions and stay on top of things. And
my vote is yes. Okay, great. And I think we had some really good discussions. You know, some of them were heated, but we had some good discussions around this budget. And it's, you know, it's all part for the course. You know, this isn't it's important. And it's um
it's good to have these discussions and it's good for the public to weigh in. And, you know, it's it's all for the for being more informed and being involved and engaged and making the best decisions and the best choices possible.
Madam President. Yes. I don't want to be that person that talks and then the public only want to get a few minutes, but I just want to say um it we it's okay to agree to disagree. We're not always all going to agree. I just want to make that very clear. Mrs.
Austin, I think you've you've opened your doors to every board member to come see you, sit down with you, go over the budget, they have any suggestions, is that do you still does that still remain? Did that change? I mean, this is public information, so anyone could ask
details of it. Yeah. And it's okay to disagree as long as we we make we have to make sure that we're we're one body. We're one board. The power comes not from the president, not from one person as a board. We are one board and we have to continue to work together. We're a
team. And again, we're not always going to agree on everything, but let's continue to respect each other. Let's continue uh leading our school district. Sorry. I agree. Maybe when u when he says to do something at a meeting, we should follow through with
it analysis or the control or having it shift around in ways that we have for next year. Rally and come here. You can have that's what's it's actually
suggested by NJSBI and you have help from NJSB. But this is the question for next year. No, it's for I'm saying for the second year. So we have a plan for next year. It's not a budget for next year but we have a plan and we have a
plan for you know future. So, and we follow best practices and we have to see how things unfold and you know the public has a right to come including teachers including residents anybody they have a right to come they have a right to ask questions they have a right to protest if they want president itself
like Mrs. Cerna has some concerns or some suggestions and you know she should be able to bring them to the table and for the administration to take into consideration there's I don't think there's anything wrong with that. Um, as a matter of fact, in our personnel committee, I think she she had whatever
she's referring to. I think Mr. Walker had talked to Mrs. Johnson about that. So, um, I just want to bring that up. Go ahead, M. No, I was I was going to say we did speak about that the analysis and
hopefully you know well we will during the retreat possibly go over some of those things in further you know conversation about that very proactive and we'll continue to look at things we'll continue to look ahead you know of
course it's wise to have a plan for the for the future so we will continue to do that think it has to be practical that president if it's not practical to do a three-year budget it doesn't matter what the SBA says or what I say or you say if
it's pract madam ba is that practical to do a three-year budget um it would be nice can we do it well the only way we would um do it is especially if we're looking at the state aid is just making the state a numbers the same going
forward as a flat or just putting right now to me if I was to look at the state a numbers I would average out the fluctuations for the last three years and that's what I will project for next year with the understanding that we will possibly get less but
my my real look forward look at once I know what the federal does in July and August I'll be able to respond to that better because then I can see the trend for the next year. What the politicians or what we're looking at once I know
what we get in July and August from the federal government, I will be able to say, "Okay, this is a possibility of where we're going." So, so if I may ask, Madam President, um, is it ideal for school budget to be three years? You
can't. No, I'm just saying does other schools go by a three-year thing or because aids come in every grants come in every year, right? They come in every year. Programs come and go every year, right? Only thing I could possibly project is making things flat and we
know that the salaries are 4%. We know that we keep the expenditures pretty much the same. So, it's all a projection. It's all a projection and it would be like a planned budget, right? It wouldn't be, it's not that it's a budget that's voted on for three years.
It would be like a plan, right? But that was also like the video you sent me like the person that produced that that was like a a highlevel executive member of the NJA. It just was, you know, posted on the the school board. Um but you know it's it's we vote on every district
votes on a budget now annually and you know we we could make projections and of course there's plans where if if if we have certain amount of bad numbers you know moving forward there's plan A, plan B, plan C. Um and that's something that you know it's it's a very important to
keep that plan confidential. Uh we don't want to get to that point and we're not there. All right. That's gonna be that's just like you know raising taxes maybe letting everybody know they're going to raise taxes for the next three
years. That's part of the budget too. You think about it. You could say that but like you might have new members every single year. Like every years you might board members. You don't you can't really proclaim what's going to happen. You could say we here's what we think if if you really want to put yourself out
there like that. But the only vote that matters is is going to be what we do each April and May and budget season. I just think that we just did the bare minimum with this at 2% when you said that you on your board you did four. I think Patterson is at six. So uh even though it's at 2% for just HBS, we have
to consider Manchester which is at 2.8 and the town which is also another two. So, I know that you guys want to say that it's only 2%. But we're only thinking about the taxpayers or are we thinking about the teachers for next year or the students? So, what my my
point is is that we're not preparing for next year. And if there's like if we don't get anything, we're going to do cuts and everybody was here. You heard the word cuts and then everybody was here. We're not going to prepare for that and we're not going to move things around or try to make things work, then
we are going to be in better. So if I may ask in is it for the kids, for the parents, or for the teachers? What the budget? Like you just said, you know, we don't know what to expect. I'm just asking like we don't know what to
expect. But is it benefiting for who? The kids, the teachers, or the parents? Are you saying the 2% for this one? No, I'm just saying in general like who is it benefiting? Like your concern? I don't think it's benefiting anybody, which is why I believe. No, just just a little. It's a bare minimum.
That's that's all I'm saying. It's just I don't understand bare minimum though. I think this is I want to hear No, I want I want to hear this because maybe she's on to something. I want you do though. You said it bare minimum. Bare minimum. No, bare minimum as far as services for our for our children. I think is the bare minimum. I feel that we could do more for our children. I
feel that more clubs. I feel that's how I personally feel, you know, but somebody may not agree with me. That's okay. But not this this budget here. But I feel like in this budget we could do we did say we weren't we just you know watching the hiring we just doing replacement. So I feel like you know
what that being said if we are taking those steps we're being you say we're not preparing but I what I see is almost nearly 20% cut in extracurricular activities. What I saw is a reduction. Yeah. But that's still a 20% cut reduction. 20%. Well it's not a total
cut of a program. It's a reduction in in some of those services. But I, you know, we are planning. We don't have a budget that we're going to, we don't have a three-year budget that we're going to vote on, but we are planning for it. And, and you know, next year might be really different from this year. Matter
of fact, I just want to know it's Miss Cerno suggesting that we we go up more than 2% to have more services for the children. Well, I said I said I said I started out at six and fair negotiation would be great. However, I know that
everybody's going to get in their feelings about the taxes, but do we have a plan without saying the word cut to for a teacher's position or an administrative position? We have to be able to plan for the
future. So, Miss Austin, if I'm not mistaken, when you get the numbers in August, we're going to start looking at you're going to look at how that's going to fit in and of course how that plays into next year. That will
give you a better idea once you have the numbers in August. But in the meantime, we're already thinking ahead. I mean, I I see it as as a homeowner, it's already 6%, right? If the town's raising, schools raising, right?
Counties raising and county raising. So it's already at six. So if we like eight Yeah. So if we did six here, we're talking about Yeah. 14%. But that's just making up of the five years that you did raise taxes. I mean, five years that nobody complained about too, but we
can't make up something that we're not behind. We are behind. That's why we're in hot water right now. Well, we're not in hot water. Our budget is covered. Our budget is balanced around again with this hot weather thing for an emergency.
Definitely. All right. I I mean I I was just trying to just figure out that and it's great. That's why I love the board. Everybody has an opinion and that's what makes it great to disagree to agree and it's the best for the kids, the
students, the scholars. That's what I was. That's all I mean. Yeah. No, I I agree. I'm only asking cuz I want to be educated too. Just cuz I here I every day is a learning. I've been watch Mr. Fra see him city patter council for for years. I got number respect for this
man. He's absolutely right. But remember, of course, but remember this though. I I I don't We're at a public meeting. I don't want to criticize any other district. So, I'm just going to talk. We did 0% for a couple for for for several years there, right? And it's
like, oh, now we got to catch up. I don't look at it that way or because another municipality had to play catchup. Maybe another municipality had to play catchup because other municipalities are doing tons of tax abatements and all this other stuff. Our district, I mean our municipality does
has not engaged in that. You know what I mean? So it's like to me personally it's comparing apples to oranges. You know what I mean? We were in a position where we were able to do that. Not only did we do the 0% but we were putting money away. They're putting money away so we
could do the expansion on school that needed to get done. We didn't raise tax. We couldn't raise taxes to put that expansion on school. We didn't do that. We put money away. We were trying to be fiscally responsible. And what you're suggesting is that now this school district must pay the price because we're being fiscally responsible. So now
the state's going to be like, "Oh, Hilda, you've been fiscally responsible, so we're going to cut back on your money." That's not school district. What we should be doing is is is working together, being united, not only us, but with our teachers, our our parents, and getting down Trenton and finding out
where our money is so we could get every single penny that our children deserve. But you don't you don't understand that the teachers were here last meeting because of the word cut on the 12th meeting. But they also So they're nervous because of what is happening
already. No, I think they're nervous because we have to, in my personal opinion, because us as the leaders of this school district, it's important what we speak about here at a public meeting. If you we start talking about cuts, and I don't think anybody here, including yourself, wants to see anybody
laid off. I want to make that very clear. I I feel that if we say certain words, yes, as teachers, as a union, they're going to be concerned. They're going to come here. They're going to want to find out where do we stand as a board. You know what I mean? And I think that's where the issue lies. So if if we
stand in a position where we're going to just cut anybody, yeah, they're gonna they're going to come here as they should. You know, if we're if we're in a position where listen, this board is going to remain united. We're going to continue fighting for for funds at the federal level, at the state level to continue fully funding the school for
for our children, for our teachers, for our entire school district. That's the best do. That's what we that's what we've been doing for over 10 years and we've been okay. what's what's changing now? And and you know I I again I I mean that's just my personal opinion. This is
not a knock on nobody. This is just my personal opinion and my personal opinion is I have been in business for over 30 years and I look at the budget and I don't which is why well can I also can I say something quickly without prolonging this is this
issue or situation. I think I think I kind of relate to some of the the things that's happening. We're not saying when we keep saying it's just 2% we're not thinking about what what other raises there's other like tax levies coming through to the the taxpayers including
again if it's just this we nobody's going to see an issue establishing this but we're going to get hit from let's say 2% here 3% there for the county or 6% there five 3% here and four like in other words the the levies is not just
happening from one place only to make it. Yes, it's nothing. It's okay. But we have the we have we're going to get tax from the from probably Manchester. The same thing the county is going to charge us. We're going to we're going to have to pay levy taxes from all over. That's
over over you know the accumulation is not just 2% just thinking about our own 2%. It's like overall probably for this year we might be hit for more than 10 10% altogether from from the town inclusively from everywhere. So that's what I think is
the picture is not just strictly to the 2% that's only dedicated to HPS. If it's just the only 2% increase dedicated to this from from the residents just to this uh to this institution or just to HPS, I don't think anybody has a problem
even making it 4%. But again, we're going to pay 2% here. We're going to pay Manchester there. We're going to pay the county here, police, fire department, etc. So there's a lot of increases is not coming from one angle. If it's a one angle, it's understandable. It's nobody
nobody's going to see an issue in establishing that. It is it is for the benefit of everybody, the benefit of the community. We have no problem with that. But again, the the hit is coming from all angles. It's not limited to just 2% just our 2% HBS. That's what we're
saying. We had a couple good years too where the county went state at zero, the town was like 1 point something, we at zero. Things were good. You know, um the only suggestion if I made to my fellow colleague is this. I see other folks bring up suggestions. They'll say like
the fur brought up some great suggestions. I encourage you to do the same. If you have any suggestions, if you think the budget is that bad, please the the the VA has said come see me. We've already had our discussion. I mean, that's what I
So, the budget has passed. Um, we haven't had to to let go of anybody. We we've done, you know, we have we've made some reductions in services and programs, but it's, you know, not detrimental. We haven't removed anything. Um, and we are going to
continue. I know that Miss Augustine and Mr. Rock are going to continue to be very proactive. And we're going to project ahead as much as we can, as much as makes sense, as much as is practical, and as much as we can. And you know, let's
um let's look let's have faith that this budget is going to um you know, do what it's supposed to do and and we are going to keep working on it and you know being uh responsible. Yes,
Mr. Martinez. Um just I mean if if we've looked at our utility companies um look at the news effective June 1st our utility companies are going anywhere between 17 to 20% up yes they did not ask anyone permission for
that not at all okay now I understand that our town's duty our town is to make sure that our kids get an education so if our town has to raise taxes not 17% obviously
uh to make sure our kids go to school, then we'll vote on it accordingly. Now, I remember what I just said, vote on it accordingly versus like the utility companies, they're just taking from you.
Um so, I'm grateful that we have a board that we can agree to disagree, right? And you know, agreeing to disagree also opens up better understandings. So brain and and you know planning so that we can
mitigate cuts or or mitigate you know things that are detrimental as much as possible. You know nobody wants to raise taxes. Nobody wants to cut. Of course not. We have to plan so that we can mitigate that as much as possible. But we do in the end we have to balance the budget. We're good this year. Um and
we're going to keep our eye on the next year and the following year. Madam President, I just want to bring something to the board's attention. Um, remember we also have an option for especially for critical situations to work with the with the town to try to to do a referendum. Let the taxpayers
decide on certain issues if it comes up to it. They can vote for it. They can say they can vote it up, they can vote it down. So that's also an option that another tool that we have in our toolbox. I just want to point that out. Yeah, we just start taking our own garbage to the to the
DPW and got to reduce their taxes. I leave mine on the cursor. I'm glad you said. All right. All right, folks. Um, thanks for volunteer. So, let's see what I like to move items 8.1
through 8.19. Okay. Um moved by Mr. Goodman, seconded by Mr. Mr. Martinez. Roll call, please. Mrs. Cerna, uh no to 8.9. Yes,
Mr. President. Uh I do have a question about an item here, but um I I'll talk about it. I'll ask offline. Um, as far as 8.9, that's hanging with HPD. That's an event. That's something that we have done for years. Um, they named it Helen PD now,
though. But we used to uh always do something called TGIF with the kids on Friday nights where the school district pays for the chaperrons. Uh, that's something that's been going that's that's embedded in Helen district. Uh, where our police officers come and they interact with the children, parents,
whoever. Um, it's it's a it's a wonderful event and I support it 150%. And I'm going to double down on this and say it's extremely important for our children to have a a healthy relationship with the police officers that serve that are here to serve them.
Okay. So, that's something that I've never I don't lightly. Um, and uh my vote is yes. Thank you, Mrs. Johnson. Yes. Mr. Martinez. Yes. Mr. Matzel. Yes. Mr.
Ramadan. Yes. And Mrs. Um I did have a question about 8.15. Um so that contract for the sub. So we pay that contract just to have the
accessibility to the subs but when we get subs we have to pay them um directly. Right. That's an additional cost. Correct. We have two. We have a substitute service to cover um I guess areas that we can't cover, but we do
have we we do employ direct subs too. We have a little bit of of both. Okay. So, when we get the subs from the the contract that we have, do we do we pay this annual fee to have the accessibility and then also pay those subs? So, if we have direct subs that
are our employees and then we have this sub company. I see what you're saying. saying we're we're paying 13,000 under number five $13,000 three3 per per year. Uh correct me if I'm wrong, but your question is we're paying that fee, but when we hire the sub, do we also have to pay them
the if they're if they're hired by Nor the company, we're paying the company, but then we have direct subs. Okay. Got it. Got it. Okay. So, yeah, my vote is yes. Okay. Um so um nine n uh curriculum and
technology Mr. Ramadan. Motion to move the 9.1 to 9:15. Second. Moved by Mr. Ramadan. Seconded by Mr. Matskco. Roll call, please. The noted exceptions for 9.3 through
9.10 members. Oh, yeah. I have it here. Great. Okay. So there's some extensions that um hopefully everybody's well Mrs. Cerna abain from 9.37. Okay. Um Mr.
Guzman, you abstain from 9.6. I'm going to abstain from 9.6. And let's see here. My vote is yes, sir. Okay, Mrs. Johnson, abstain from 9.8. Yes. Everything else,
Mr. Martinez. Yes. And abain from 9.6. I'm sorry. 9.9. Yes. Mr. Matzo. Yes. My vote is yes. Abstain from 9.10. Okay. Mr. Ramadan. No, there's no obstition. I'm not
attending at this point. I can't Is your vote yes? Oh yeah. Yes. Thank you. And Mrs. Zissa, uh, abstain from 9.7 and yes to the rest. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Uh, security and safety, Mr.
Guzman. Yes. Uh, I want to move 11.1, but I just want to touch on it just for a second so the public is aware exactly what it is. So, this is a memorandum of understanding between law enforcement and school officials in the state of New Jersey. Without this memorandum of understanding, law enforcement is just
going to do what law enforcement does. If they have a right to come into school, they're just going to come out and go into school. If they have a right to arrest somebody, they're just going to come in and arrest somebody. However, this memorandum of understanding between law enforcement and school officials, Mr. Walker signs it, the chief of police signs it, and they come to a mutual
understanding agreement such as if an arrest is going to take place in the school, where does it take place at? It will take place, it's supposed to take place in the principal's office. uh officers that are not uh plain closed officers should come uh have an unmarked unit outside so as to not disturb the school. Obviously, it's something that
that's exigent, they're just they're going to do what they have to do. Um but uh protocol for when you bring a K9 into the school, not the therapy dog, by the way, not K9, I'm talking about drug um and things of that nature. So that's
what the memorandum of understanding to law enforcement and school officials is. And again I need it. Second. Okay. So moved by Mr. Guzman, seconded by Mr. Mosco. Roll call, please. Martinez.
Uh Martinez. Yeah. Sorry, Mrs. Sona. Yes. Mr. Mr. Guzman. Yes. Mrs. Johnson. Yes. Mr. Martinez. Yes. Mr. Melo. Yes. Mr. Ramadan. Yes,
Mrs. Yes. Thank you. Okay. And then uh finance, Mr. Matzo. Yes. I'd like to move item 13.1 through 13.26. Second. Moved by Mr. Moss. Seconded by Mr. Martinez. Roll call,
please. Mrs. Cerna, Mr. Bethman? Yes. Mrs. Johnson? Yes. Oh, I have a question. 13 point um that the doctors 13
for the students they are for the students evaluation. Okay. Yes. Yes. Mr. Martinez. Yes. Mr. Matzo. Yes. Mr. Mr. Um, there was a abstension. Did you
obtain from 13.7? Oh, I guess I will. Give me a second. Okay, Miss Mr. Badon. Yes. Mrs. Yes. Okay. Thank you. So, moving on to new
and old business. I do have one item, but if anybody else has anything else first. Yep, I do. Um, it it has nothing to do with the school district, but it was brought up on the public portion about the carnival. The carnival is uh is is ran by the PBA, the Hen PBA local.
Uh that was that wouldn't have been possible without the cooperation of Mayor Michael Johnson council because for many years it was through ordinance. It was prohibited to have a carnival in this town and they changed the ordinance to allow carnival to carnivals and
certain things like that to happen which is which is a beautiful thing. I just want to point out that our officers are out there right now working at Carnival for the next five days for free volunteering. Want to put that put that up. Thanks. And um so I just want to uh
I'm very proud of our officers for that for for that initiative. George, it's a row this year. Excuse me. Street for the next five days starting tomorrow, right? We encourage the community to come today. Let's finish up.
They have good food. encourage everyone to be there. Uh and uh yeah, all the PBA members, they're volunteering their time for the next five days police to happen as they've done since since they started the carnival a few years ago. And I just want to, you know, it's very important the pillars of
21st century policing, community policing. President Barack Obama um signed off on that back in 2015. It was embraced again by President Donald Trump. Community policing is part of it. And uh that's what our that's what Sergeant Funes and all and detectives
that they do. Uh coffee with a cop, ice cream with a cop, color with a cop, all these events. Um and uh I thank them for their work and I just want to point that out. Thank you. Thank you. And that's awesome that they volunteer at the carnival. I didn't know that. Um any
other new and old new or old business? Okay. So, I'm going to just t talk very generally about um the chief school administrator or superintendent evaluation, the process and the timeline. Um first off, I just, you
know, I want to reiterate how confidential this process is. Um so, you know, it's one of the few times that I will, as the board president, email all of the board members via blind copy so that we don't have a quorum.
um because it's very confidential. So, but I'm just going to go through some deadlines, some some you know the timeline and some uh steps and then you know um I'll follow up with an email so that you have it all in
writing. So, the board president uh of every school board has to submit one superintendent evaluation for their district by June 30th. So, I'm asking all board members to complete their individual evaluations by Friday, May
30th. That's more than four weeks from now. Um, so it is a lengthy process, but that's plenty of time for you to to to do that. Um, that gives me about one week once you submit all of your
individual evaluations to go through all the responses. Um, compile them and draft um summaries, draft a summarized response to each question that captures the majority consensus. That's what the
school board the superintendent evaluation is. it's the it will reflect the majority consensus to each question. Um so I suggest you start it as soon as possible. Um and if you have any
questions especially the new board members since this will be your first time doing it please feel free to reach out to me. Um it is timeconuming so please give yourself enough time. Um, after I receive all of the after I gather all the individual evaluations
and by the way there I don't see who who wrote what. It's all I just get all the comments. I don't, you know, see which comment is attributed to what board member. Um, so that once I do that, I compile it. I do one draft. I'll send it
all to I'll send it to each board member to review. And then at our June 9th meeting, we'll have an executive session without Mr. Walka present and we'll go through the draft evaluation. Um we'll go through all the responses. We'll um
you know discuss any minority opinions and then we'll make any necessary adjustments. Um and then we'll finalize one final evaluation um to present to Mr. Walka at the next board meeting. So that's where we run into a little bit of a problem. Our next board meeting after
June 9th is June 30th, which is when this is due to be submitted by. So I want to request if it would be possible to move that June 30th meeting to the to June 25th to Wednesday, June 25th. June 30th is a Monday. So if we can move that
to June 25th, we can have our executive session with Mr. Waga go through the evaluation. He has a few days to look it over. eighth grade graduation on June 25th. Seeing I'm seeing HPS staff calendar June 25th 8 graduation. Is that right,
Bill? We can also instead of having it due by May 30th, we can have it due earlier. So that way by May 30th we can I don't know if that's enough time to give everybody new.
It's literally a month and a half. Yeah, but I need time. So, I need time to go through everything and that you know that's time consuming. So, but Bill, you got that for the date on your calendar. I'm sorry. You I mean, you guys would have to have that done like
within two weeks to give me a week to, you know, by what was it? May 15th. If if you pres if you present it on June 30th, you satisfy the timeline even though it won't be signed because you'll have you'll give Mr. Waka a few days to look at it and and make any rebuttals,
but you'll satisfy the timeline because the board has presented it by June 30th. Okay. Okay. So, if we because what I want to make sure is that Mr. Waka has a few days to look it over before we have to submit it because that's not really fair. So, no, the the submitting is the pre it's the presentation to the
superintendent by June 30th. That's all you have to do. Okay. All right. All right. So then in that case, we can keep it at June 30th. We'll keep it at June 30th. Um we'll we'll present you we'll go through the evaluation you in executive session on June 30th and then
you'll have you know a few days we'll ask you to maybe like within four four or five days to you know get um yeah I mean you can ask See the thing is though like if he wants to ask any questions then Mr. Marino, if he wants to ask any
questions, we don't have another meeting until like July. It's you're you're still you're still fine. You're you're still in compliance. It's it's just the board the board has to complete its part of the evaluation by June 30th. And you would have done that. His his questions are
are outside of of that that timeline. Okay. All right. Great. So, so if you do have questions or concerns that you want to discuss with the whole board in an executive session in our July meeting, then we can hold off. And if not, if you're good with it, you sign it and
I'll submit it. Very fair. Okay. So, uh Okay. Well, good. Then we don't have to change anything. Thank you for clarifying that, Mr. Rino. Um Okay. So, let's see. Um so, yeah. So then that's it. Once um you know, Mr.
Waka uh signs the evaluation, I'll submit it and and we're you know, we've we've done our evaluation. Um let me see if there was anything else that I wanted to mention. Um oh yeah, some this is
important. Please, please make sure to attend every meeting from now until then in person. Remember that we have a policy now that if you attend virtually, you may not participate in an executive session. So if you attend either the uh
the June 9th meeting or the June 30th meeting, you will not be able to participate in the discussion of the evaluation. So um you know, please attend every meeting and um in person.
Um and I think I think that's it. So after so to tomorrow I will send you these dates and guidelines just so that you have it in writing. If you have any questions you can reach out to me. Um and again just you know I would I strongly suggest doing it sooner rather
than later so that you have enough time to you know go through it and um you know answer it with with uh calm. That's it. Any questions on that? Okay. So, let's open the floor to
the public. Uh, one more time. Uh, and yes. So, can I have a motion to open the floor? Moved by Mr. Martinez, seconded by Mr. Mosco. All in favor? Okay. So, the floor is open to the public
anybody anybody online, Mr. Miller? Motion to close. Okay. All right. So, mot moved by Mr. Mosco, seconded by Mr. Martinez. All in favor? Okay. So, we do have a few matters in executive session.
Um I Mr. Waka, you may leave after the first the first one like I before I sent it to the board. I think the board even requested to get the backup. So, if the if the board has any questions about the either of the HIVs, I'm happy to to stay and and talk about that. But does
anybody want to discuss the student matters in executive session? be good. Okay, then. So, we still have an executive session with Mr. Merino. Uh, but you will be free to go once we adjourn or well, once we go into
executive session. So, um, can I have and and this should take, uh, I don't know, Mr. Marino, maybe like 15 minutes. Like 10 minutes. It should, it should be pretty quick. Um, okay. So, and no action will be taken. Correct. No action. So, can I have a
motion to go into executive session? Oh, sorry. Moved by Mr. Mosco, seconded by Mr. Martinez. We have to do roll call, right, for executive session. Yes. Okay. So, roll call, please.
Mrs. Cerna, yes. Mr. Mrs. Johnson, yes. Mr. Martinez, yes. Miss Mr. Maxwell, yes. Mr. Ramadan, y um just let us know when we can um get back on. We're good. Okay. Can I have a
Okay. Can I have a motion to adjurnn? So move. So move. Go wild cats. What? Moved by Wait, hold on. Moved by Mr. Martinez, seconded by Mr. Mosco. All in favor? All right. Good night. Work on your superintendent evaluations and work on your board evaluations,