okay call the meeting to order please rise for the pledge 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 root of egress in the event of an emergency all people may exit right or left from this room and proceed to an exit door all doors will open from the inside the New Jersey open public meetings law was enacted to ensure the
right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interests is discussed or acted upon in accordance with the provisions of this act the Hailton Board of Education has caused notice of this
meeting to be published in the North Jersey Rec record Herald News for its official newspaper on January 15 2025 notices of this meeting indicating date time and place were posted publicly on the door of the main entrance to the
school and filed with the clerk in the municipality of Hailen roll call please mrs cerner Mr mr colada present miss Katrad here mr goodman here mr mrs
johnson here mr martinez here mr matzo Mr ramadan and Mrs zissa here okay can I have a motion to accept correspondence second moved by Mr martinez seconded by
Missado roll call please mrs sa yes we did mr ketta yes miss Gado yes mr guzman yes mrs johnson yes mr martinez yes and Mrs yes thank you uh can I have a motion
to accept prime minutes so moved second moved by Mr martinez seconded by Miss Johnson roll call please mr mr ketta yes Miss Gado yes Mr
yes Mrs johnson yes Mr martinez yes and Mrs yes thank you can I have a motion to open the floor to citizens on agenda items second moved by Mr martinez seconded by Mrs cordado all in favor
okay the floor is open to citizens on agenda items only um if anyone would like to address the board please state your name and address anything online Mr uh uh Dolin nothing
okay to address on agenda items yes okay please come forward state your name and address and you have we just want to allow uh Athena Cornell or the board's attorney substitute tonight if she's looking to get in Delve in okay again
Athena Cornell is the name i'm sorry to interrupt you no worries okay so state your name and address and you have three minutes to address the board my name is Pedro Lal um I am a HPS parent as well as the uh club manager
for your address your address sorry your address 90 Church Street held in New Jersey okay um I'm the I'm a club manager for North Jersey Roads uh we're a nonprofit baseball uh club we're dedicated to providing pits the
opportunity to learn and play baseball um through practicing clinics we teach our youth the fundamentals of game uh we teach them hitting pitching fielding and base running uh we currently have 103 kids in our program um 40 or 40 to 50 of
those kids are in our softball and t-ball program um those are the kids that we looking to uh um access your your facility for um we don't need the space every every day only one or two days a week that would mean a whole lot for us
to have you know access to your facilities um these children that play for us are already held in public so having them you know practice in a in a facility that in a facility that that that they're um accustomed to it'll
it'll be you know more comfortable for them um we would really appreciate a yes vote um you know we we do this for the kids you know we don't do this for no no political reasons you know for no money you know it's just for the kids so if you guys can vote yes we would really
appreciate it okay thank you so much no problem thank you okay and anybody else chris Um 45 Z briski Christian um so we also have already 14 girls registered for softball and counting i had an extra four girls there today so it should be
18 after this today um we finished our registrations this Sunday our goal I'm pretty to have a full two team and 12 so they'll probably we really want the facility more for the softball and coach and tears i say four to eight year olds and then more of the girls 8 to 12 year
old girls for softball cuz that's the same field they use back there um yeah now so we have 107 guys I don't and uh we should have about like 115 120 by the end of the week and uh yeah it'll be great if you guys give us a facility 90%
of our students go to help in public so it'll be easy access for the kids as well and they'll be accustomed to the area especially for the parents as well there'll be a closer commute um so that's all I have to say really okay thank you so much it is on the agenda so
we will be voting later uh any anybody else okay so can I have a motion to close the floor so moved by Mr martinez seconded by Miss Bado all in favor okay so moving on
to committee reports or reports so I will start good evening everyone thank you for joining us tonight we have a full house um I want to take a moment to thank the business administrator Miss Austin chief school administrator Mr
waka and my fellow board members for a good discussion at our last meeting in particular regarding the draft school budget for 2005 2006 it's okay that we don't always agree as long as we're respectful of one another and the process
everyone being at the table and contributing to the discussion makes for these kinds of important exchanges of thoughts and ideas and in in the end is how informed plans and decisions are made it confirms my belief that attendance at board meetings is fundamental so that everyone is part of
the conversation and that we can work better as a team to that point I'm glad that we've committed to making sure that all of our committees meet periodically coming together with a purpose in mind provides an opportunity for board members to engage meaningfully and to
take ownership of their committee business which in turn leads to more thoughtful feedback to the whole board and the process of working through board business i want to take this opportunity to remind my fellow board members to be sure they are going through the agenda
before meetings you don't have to read line for line or word for word as we often get attachments that are over a 100 pages each um however we should all be familiar with every item on the agenda so that our voting is informed
whether it's a yes no or or a no vote that's what we're elect to do please keep in mind that while every board member is entitled to a yes or no on any to vote yes or no on any agenda item board business needs to move
forward programs and services need to take place staff need to be compensated for the work they do and students should be rewarded for important victories while a no vote may not change the outcome of an agenda item it makes a
statement before voting no on an agenda item please consider whether this is in line with our district's strategic plan and mission statement both of which are posted on the HPS website and both of which ultimately aim to educate and nurture our students for success in
school and in life though we don't agree on everything we should agree that the success and well-being of our students academically socially and emotional emotionally is always the priority moving on we had a scary incident take
place at the school on Friday March 14th two individuals fleeing the police fleeing the police trespass on the school's playground while students were outside for gym class thank goodness the situation was dealt with swiftly and students remained safe sincere thanks
are due to HPS security officer Brian Smith who apprehended one of the individuals and turned him over to the police to the Halen Police Department for apprehending the second individual and subsequently ensuring that the school campus was secured to the
teachers who reported the trespassor to administration and kept students calm and safe to Mr waka and the school administration for enacting all the proper procedures in response to the situation and to our teachers and students for following protocol
regarding the ensuing lockdown though this was a frightening occurrence it's good to know that everyone did what they were supposed to do in order to remain safe so thank you to everyone involved next I want to give board members a heads up that we're approaching the time for the
superintendent evaluation which is due annually on June 30th once Mr waka completes his portion we will be notified by NJSBA that we may complete our individual evaluations when the process opens up for us I will create a timeline for individual
submissions board discussion in executive session and review with Mr waka in executive session i will outline the process and provide deadlines to make sure we stay on track after today we have three board meetings before June
30th so we'll have to make sure that we stay on track and new board members we will explain the whole process to you so that you know you you know what to expect um I also want to point out that we will have our board retreat on
Thursday May 15th from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m at the school uh this date is on the calendar of this year's board meetings which was approved in January please put the date in your calendar so that we have full attendance uh it's a very a very worthwhile group activity that I
hope will help us reflect on our district and board goals and how we can work as a team to carry out board business and achieve the best possible outcomes next I want to give a shout out to the Hilton PTA for putting on a terrific tricky tray last week it was a
new venue and it seems to have been a successful event so thank you to our board members who contributed to the tricky tray prize and who attended um in addition last Friday some of my fellow board members uh our BA and uh and I attended the New Jersey School
Board Association second annual Women's Leadership Conference it was a day filled with learning networking and hearing inspiring stories from successful women leaders it was a a reminder at least to me that women bring their own unique and authentic
leadership style to the table and that is something that everyone can benefit from when I'm done with my report I'm going to ask uh anyone who attended if they would like to add anything about the the conference uh finally I want to
congratulate HPS's longtime middle school Spanish teacher Senora Va on her retirement i can only imagine how many students she has taught and had a positive impact on over the years including my two kids i think we can all agree that it is a great benefit for
students to be exposed to other languages and cultures something that we take pride in here at HPS and inhaled in general and I'm grateful that our district can provide our students with that opportunity while Senora Ta will be leaving big shoes to fill I look forward
to HBS continuing to cultivate this subject area thank you Senora for your years of dedication and service to HBS and its students uh thank you and best of luck as well to fifth grade teacher Miss Zinsky who will be moving on from HPS um fifth grade is
an important year as students begin to transition from elementary to middle school hps has been fortunate to have a strong fifth grade team of teachers who work closely with each other and students during this time i am sure that Miss Linsk's contributions and expertise
will be missed thank you Miss Sinsky for your years of service to H at at HPS uh and lastly I want to thank um HPS teacher Miss Berdick and certified Angel staff member Shadeet Alamar for their service to HPS and its students and we
wish them the best of luck in their future endeavors um so that's it for my report um does anyone have any anyone from the board have any questions or comments or does anyone want to comment on the women's conference
i will okay go ahead Mr johnson i think it was very empowering and I like the fact that they um kind of make a point of telling you to you know use your voice and like you said whether it's a or a yes or a no vote you should use because we all have a common interest
right is the the town community the kids the school but I I like it it's very informative and very empowering yeah for sure for sure anybody else okay then I will turn it over to Chief
School Administrator Mr walka thank you so first I want to thank uh Bill and Duchi um we known we had this many awesome people here visiting us i would had seats ahead of time so I apologize that you had to stand for a little bit um I want to begin uh by talking about
last Friday because I've kind of gone off script here because I hadn't put that as part of my notes and I appreciate the board president and and the board and it holds appreciation for the the staff's response and the police's response and I think it's a
good thing that I didn't put this on my notes because that it's expected like it's I think it's a really good spot where I could sit where I'm at and just expect that when something happens We're going to have the staff and the security personnel and the guidance personnel and
the police work together exactly as you know we we prepared for it so of course I'm appreciative and I I love the fact that we have the expectations as they are um I want to begin by thanking Miss Sinsky and Miss Berdick for their service uh Miss Sinsky the best as she
moves to the southern part of New Jersey to continue her career down there and we wish Miss Berdick the best as she leaves her career advancement there are two these are two great teachers and we're blessed to have them have had them helping our staff at HPX uh we also want
to welcome Mr roman uh to our staff for the next 25 26 school year um Mr trio musc and I went to the William Patterson uh mock interview and we just happened to meet a woman that had just moved into Hailen and was looking for a job as a a
local Spanish teacher and it's it it seems like you know on paper a fitting replacement for for Miss Rivera who did a great job for us and has done a great job for us for so long the big thing coming up this week will be our QAC on-site audit every few
years uh different schools in Betay County uh are ran are selected for their onsite QC audit other times you just do like a you know an electronic statement of assurance kind of thing uh so the state will be coming in next week to
review all aspects of school operations this is the third time now that I've gone through an on-site QC audit so I I know exactly what to expect and I'm confident that with domains of governance and personnel and facilities and operations we will once again score
very highly uh and our marks on instruction will be determined by the results that we get um from our spring uh state assessments just like every other school in the state item three is that we also have the science fair and the school play coming up within the
next few weeks in our science fair each grade is given a different theme as their science fair theme and we will also continue to allow parents uh to come in after school to science fair projects as we've done every year uh since we've done this and uh this year's
school musical is going to be the Adams family and just from my office kind of close to where they rehearse the the music sounds really really good this year so I'm looking forward to that item four um I emailed the board uh with
a list of programs and adjustments for the 2526 school year fortunately we were able to build uh an entire new wing to the school and still maximize the amounts of money that we could put into our reserves in many of our reserve
accounts over the past 5 years but since there is a limit on the amount we can bank into reserves from any one year into the next the remainder of the monies we had needed to the remainder of the monies needed to be spent this allowed us to offer a wide variety of
programs and offer them quite extensively now that we received a $688,000 reduction in our state aids we've made reductions on certain programs and eliminated others altogether if you haven't gotten a chance uh to check that out that email I
sent earlier this week then I strongly encourage you to do so and lastly I get asked a whole lot about the federal government uh the federal department of education and what impact uh it may have or it may have if or when it gets
eliminated altogether or if it gets absorbed into some other cabinet um right now the federal government accounts for about 15% of all spending nationwide in public education in New Jersey we're the second
to last most reliant state on federal on federal funding so I think that's a you know right now it's a good thing but will that have an impact if things change of of course it will because 15% it's a big percentage right um but right now we haven't received any
information about what's going to happen or or when things will happen or if things will happen or if there will be changes or if changes will come with certain stipulations um it it's mostly a wait and see approach because the only direct communication I've received u
from the federal government has been about DEI related things uh but I I haven't received anything about anything fiscal so um you know to the people that keep asking me I just you know what I know then I'll I'll I'll look to formulate a plan bring the people in that can help me formulate a plan but um
that's where we're at and that's my report tonight thank you just to clarify you said 15 right five so nationally it's 15% uh New Jersey about 7.2% of New Jerseys is from the federal government but you'll have
states like Alaska 26 or something like that thank you go ahead M um the list that you provided for the program reductions is that like um the final day or is that something that So like if the federal government
comes in and says "Hey your your your federal aid is going to be 10 times more than you thought it would then let's bring all the programs back because we we've seen we we've gone up like academically each of the last few years substantially right and I'm not saying these programs are the only reason but they're they're significantly
contributing." So I guess my question is like for instance like this is the final say like I I just have question in a specific program i don't know if I could bring that of course yeah so the boss program you say that you want to move it to two days out of the week instead of the full four days so what I'm looking
to do is eliminate the final the I'm sorry homework the the homework the homework go from four to two yes now listen if this board tells me that that's something that's important to them to expand to to keep it at all four days that's something that we'll look to do i would absolutely support the four
days only for like working people like or single parents that work late and don't have that time to sit and do the homework i think it's important so I think what we have to do with all of these programs and by the way this is for the 25 26 July school year right so
is you know especially the ones that involve academics like boss and homework club we have to see if there's an impact you know because we're trying to balance two things we're trying to balance you know the money and students uh um
academic you know performance so you know if it does you know we would we should monitor you know how and I think it goes without saying but we should monitor how it goes if we start to see you know that the students performance is being impacted if they're only going twice a week maybe they're not getting
their homework done and you know for whatever reason um then we could you know regroup and and think about it maybe you know I mean the boss is a little bit harder to I guess gauge like you know how Yeah the boss is a
supplemental program and it's it's it's a program offered to everyone but you know only a certain percentage take you know take advantage of it or are able to take advantage of it um and we've seen that like if there's you know the just because people have different vacation schedules like the third week the fourth
week has seen a little bit of a drop off in attendance um and during times of planning we want to offer boss five days a week if you let me in and I for as many weeks as possible i'd like to offer after school home five days a week as many times as possible um but I think
right now we're not in times of planning so we just make reasonable adjustments and we'll we'll monitor and we'll see you know we may need to make adjustments as we go yeah thank you any other questions for Mr walka actually just wanted to comment that I'm actually that we're actually speaking about this
because although the school offers these extra uh programs to help the kids that are supposed to be doing homework at home school um it also you know uh benefits them if we're able to provide it but unfortunately if money is not
there then we have to make the adjustments necessary and hope that the parents can pick up some of that side that that is it 100 what is it 100,000 what that saving 36 the total cuts were about 130
something right yeah touching what we what we lost anyway that yeah one six of a year yeah it's significant Okay okay um if there are no other questions then I will turn it over to Can I ask a question or just a
statement mike oh yeah mr walker thank you for the effort you put in with these cuts for next year again these are for next school year i just want to make sure that everyone's clear on that it's not uh anything uh to the best of my knowledge that it's nothing that's going to affect this year um I did have one
question um regarding the email I sent to you and both Miss uh Austin the numbers you gave for the professional development that number didn't match the number that I got from Miss Augustine so if we could go back later and check just to see which is the accurate number
because they were substantially different um regarding what the actual budgeted amount was for possible it was my mistakes if there's a time this week that you could do a conference call me and LMA I'd love to do that because it might have been my mistake yeah know like I said and I just want to
make sure like again we're not this is for next year and it's not anything that would affect uh personnel or anything like that at this point so want to make sure that everyone's clear that that's where we're at as of right now you know as far as I see it and I think everybody else sees that on the board just trying
to do our best to save while not uh affecting the kids' ability to learn and uh achieve well i'll reach out to you Mike thank you is that coming from the general budget the Will you say that for the way in Paris
the professional development um I'm happy to talk about that now or we can talk about that during that part of the it's up to you let's let's talk about that when we get to the um professional development okay i thought that's that I thought that's what he was talking about h I don't know if he was talking about that specifically but I'm happy
professional development in general i think Mr kleta was talking about um but we can we can discuss that when we get to that agenda item i believe that's curriculum technology a part of the email so that's why I addressed it because you said any other questions so
yeah I'll make sure I'll make sure that my comment was in reference to the the numbers in the email not what was on the agenda the the cuts regarding the email what email is this the one that I sent to the board about the uh program with
the program okay okay yeah all righty okay so there if there are no other questions for Mr waka I'm going to turn it over to our business administrator Miss Austin thank you Madam President so the first thing I just want to remind um our board members
to complete your financial disclosure forms this is very important because we're in a QAC year so this is part of our governance um piece and we will be um evaluated on that part so please if everyone can get those forms in um as
soon as possible it does take some time to get them approved so we have to submit them before the deadline and the deadline is April 30th uh the next thing I just wanted to note is that the budget is in county review as of right now i am speaking
with the county um business administrator to make sure that all the aspects of the budget is correct and she is you know just kind of going back and forth this is a usual process that we go through when we're in the county review of the budget the other thing I wanted
to mention is that um I think the board had tasked me with last boardman u meeting to um get a resolution drafted for our representatives that is on the agenda tonight if you guys had a chance to review it i know it kind of came in
today but we will be passing that resolution if we all agree regarding the u reduction of our state aid and letting it be known that um our district will like well you know our share of the um
state aid um is equitable and not you know we're not happy about the $600,000 that was decreased so that resolution will um be it before your consideration tonight the other item I wanted to discuss is that um shortly after our board meeting
last um last month the BAS had received an email from the county that we are eligible for this is a new item it's a tax levy incentive aid this is new i'm still
fishing it out but what it does state is that um Helden does qualify for it and one of the qualifications is if the district is spending below adequacy in which we are um we have to go on and
apply and we do have to meet a couple other criterias which I will continue to fish out what it does not state is who will pay for the increase so I am trying to get more information on that once the
application is available I will go on um the state's website and apply for it and go through the process um it gives the state or it gives the district the option to increase our tax levy up to a
million dollars or 5% but it does not say if the state will subsidize that or will that come from our taxpayers so until I find out that information I will come back and report on the progress even if it's between board meetings I
will apply for it and obviously if it benefits us where it's not coming from the taxpayers I would you know recommend that we go ahead and try to see if we can you know recuperate some of those funds as far as um levering out the tax
levy for the um for the talents so it's still in the infancy stage um we a lot of BAS you know I spoke with them i went to my round table we don't have a lot of answers they just threw a bunch of statues at us and we're trying to fish it all out okay
let me get um I think I have 12 oh so I just have a few items on the res for resolution tonight and I just wanted to explain what 12.1 and 12.2 are on the um board agenda tonight so we have a um
third-party administrator that handles our 403bs for our district we are renewing our agreement with them and also adding on a few additional vendors i know there was a few um teachers and staff members were asking for more
options i'm um adding a few more options right now we are going to be um approving the 403b and also the 457 we've only always had the 403V but now we're going to add an additional option and I also have asked um our third party
administrator Omni to also forward me an agreement for a rock or IRA so I know there was a few staff members that were asking for options and um hopefully to get all of these options kind of approved and move forward with them um
but right now we're going to just reinstate our 403b and also add on our 457 and we're also adding a few more vendors on there and I will continue to fish out additional vendors because I do believe that you know we should all have these options to choose from and I think
the other items are just if there's any questions I can answer those and that's all board members any questions for Miss August thank you okay thank you Miss Austin and thank you for drafting that resolution um you know anything we can do
to recoup some of our funds will be you know is is a a good thing to do okay so moving on to committee reports um personnel and management mr guzman um agenda agenda items only i just want to
point out um yes we have a retirement as it pertains to our Spanish teacher and uh we want to thank her for her service uh but again and I like to point out the good things i want to thank our superintendent because I see on the agenda that we have a replacement is
that correct where most schools are struggling to find teachers is that correct no okay so I just want to point that out and agenda items only again thank you thank you Mr gizman um curriculum and technology um
Squad agenda item okay policy and public relations mr kleta agenda items only okay um safety and security mr guzman
um agenda items only and um I just want to thank again the the school district uh all our all our teachers um our staff members our chief of security Brian Smith who who did assist the Helen police um on that day
um for their great work um and that's what we do when times get hard we come together and uh we're resilient and uh we will always rise to the occasion as long as we work together that's what it's all about i know we we I'm sorry to interrupt but we have Miss Smith here as one of the
one of the first people to kind of start the communication channel and I I'm be remiss if I didn't say thank you Miss Thank you Miss Smith okay um okay community engagement Miss Bodo um so I just wanted to go over the
Royals baseball softball team um I did have an opportunity to chat with Mr tahara in regards to the team um and I I was made aware that it's not implicating any scheduling with the other team um
which is our recreational team um it doesn't conflict with the schedule so parents have the opportunity of either doing both or picking which one it's not you know it's not a favor to them um and some of the the good things that he pointed out to me was the special
clinics that they have um they're going to be playing against teams outside of the Patterson League and playing in tournaments that are showcased in front of private schools um and also the age options so they're starting from age six
all the way through age 14 for um boys and age up to age 12 for girls um which is also something to take into consideration um so we just need to determine if we're going to do any fee charges yeah I don't know what to do but
um I just wanted um to note those items um other than that agenda items only okay and just regarding that I wanted to point out that um this would be for the scheduling will have to be worked out because the during
the week is not an option correct because our team Monday through Friday our girls softball obviously Chris knows is going to have the the right of first refusal for that field um and then like there's no lights so like there certain once it gets dark no one's playing any
sport um you know I if if if Mr tahada is is willing to reimburse us for the cost of a of a custodian or for the hours that just to clean up things I think that would be a very fair thing um and then you know I'd love to work with him in in Germaine and and get him what
he needs okay so we so weekends and it would have to be weekends Saturday or Sunday and uh for the for the cost of um the custodian to I guess open up I think I think it's a good floor to start at if the board wants more than you guys
it's up to you the board you know on my facility but I I think it would be equitable at least make it so the board doesn't lose Yeah absolutely absolutely we should definitely not lose any money and um you know we should be compensated for any
you know for any custodial time um okay so um Miss Quad did the committee have a recommendation in regards to the No no because we got all the information um and this I I figured that the finance
would go over fees okay all right well well we can discuss it we can if the board votes yes like I'll know with the custodial hourly or two hour three hour cost and then I if the board votes yes I present that information to Mr jad and if he agreed to that fee then no we be
good to go okay and then it will be put on the um the contract would be put on the agenda or does the contract need to be put on the agenda oh it we need to approve our rental fees and agree to that and whatever whoever um rents our space once we agree to that they would
have to abide by that but the custodial fees that will be worked out depending on who the custodian is and Okay okay all right so for tonight we're just voting on whether to approve the use of the facility okay uh thank you Madu
finance and physical plant um Mr martinez we met earlier uh agenda items only oh okay um let me go back here for a second um Miss Cornell do you have uh anything
to report for the attorney report i don't not for this evening but Mr merolino will have a report at the next meeting okay thanks for um filling in for him we appreciate it no problem thanks for having me okay so let's go back uh to vote
personnel and management mr goodman Miss Ma'am I'd like to move items 7.1 through 7.9 so moved okay so moved by Mr
guzman seconded by Mr martinez roll call please mrs serna mr colada yes miss Grod yes mr guzman yes mrs johnson yes mr martinez yes and Mrs
isa yes okay um curriculum and technology miss CuadraD i'd like to move items 8.1 through 8.5 second moved by Miss CuadraD seconded by Mr martinez roll call please mrs serna
from 8.4 everything else Mr ketta yes for 8.2 and 8.3 and no to 8.1 8.4 and 8.5 i didn't hear the last part yes to 8.2
and 8.3 and no to the others okay Miss Yeah mr guzman yes mrs johnson abstain from 8.5 yes
everything else mr martinez yes and Mrs yes okay policy and public relations mr ketta like to make a motion to move uh item 9.1 second moved by Mr kleta seconded by Mr
martinez roll call please mrs cerna yes mr ketta yes miss Gado yes mr guzman yes miss Martinez I mean I'm sorry Mrs johnson yes mr martinez yes and Mrs zen
yes okay uh community engagement mr dado I'd like some more items 11.1 and 11.2 second moved by Miss Padra seconded by Mr martinez roll call please mrs serna
11.1 yes uh 11.2 mr ketta yes miss Kadra yes mr guzman um it looks like they're uh they're going to have the boats um but I just want to say so I think everybody knows
what I do for a living but one thing that I also did was I uh volunteered at the Helden Recreation Center for many years i was a soccer coach i was a basketball coach and I didn't always agree with the operation you know but I feel like it I feel like we
have a responsibility to guide our youth and that's what Christian has done that's what his team has done but that's also what people like Carlos Mox have done um and the list goes on of so many coaches that have gone through here like some of you didn't even know that I went
to coach i've been doing this for a while i didn't just start doing this um and again soccer coach basketball coach and yeah sometimes I didn't see eye to eye with whether it was a town or the or the YMCA or the Boys and Girls Club but
if we don't see eye to eye we just I don't agree with running and creating a new team we got to figure it out as a community i respect the the the drive i respect the tenacity i respect it because I feel like Christian and his team their their heart is in the right
place but I can't support this i cannot support this because I believe in unity and I know how hard that our mayor and council have worked they're working so hard behind the scenes to redo and restructure the entire recreation center they've been putting money away for that for a while that's one of their highest
priorities i I cannot support the vision i'm sorry i cannot my vote is absolutely not no you're voting no on Base two resolution George Mr goodman just on
11.2 no just on 11.2 no my vote 11.1 is yes absolutely yes Mr martinez yes on 11.1 uh abstain from 11.2 Mrs johnson I stepped over you yes for
11.1 no for 11.2 and Mrs um so yes for 11.1 for 11.2 I you know I want to you know I agree with Mr guzman and I and I my kids my son has was also
involved in the baseball team and I think um the town does a great job and um we had many happy um seasons with baseball and softball um that being said I think
um you know there is a new team out there and we have the opportunity to you know let them use the field while it's not being used and um you know I think they have these kids lined up and
it not to um not that we want the kids to be divided but you know it's an option it's another option for kids in our town and um you know I think we should we should
let it we should see how it goes um so I'm going to vote yes for 11.2 okay uh finance and physical plan uh I don't think sorry was the calendar then we have madam president yes if it didn't pass
now it doesn't mean it can't pass at a later time i don't know we have what is the count we only have one one two four m madam president may I make a request yes just one second we're just trying to
figure out what the vote is it should be two two obstain there's two nos and two abstain so it's four four so it passed okay so it has passed okay
pass okay good okay thank you thank you guys for the Stay for the meeting you got to stay for the whole meeting now or else we're like you ain't getting off easy you got to stay
okay um finance and physical plan miss Mr martinez I would like to move 12 through 12.6
okay uh second can I have a second it has to be the majority yeah it's not has to be the majority i'll talk well I think that in that in that I'm gonna as there's times where I'm I'm
going to piss people up by doing it i have to advocate for what's best for the kids yeah I've had I've had legal opinion that suggested that Roxan can vote she shouldn't have to abstain she's allowed to vote i think we should ask the lawyer because I think this it has to be the majority
of the board there's not majority of the board president okay so um Miss Cornell can you weigh in on this get my screen up so we have I saw a comment for it's down oh Mr ketta still
has a comment oh but it's down the middle it's 44 it's not the majority of though but if she Mr i don't think she needs to abstain hold on mr kleta had something i don't know if that'll change why don't we just ask the legal what their opinion yeah
okay let Okay everybody hold on let's Let's ask Miss Cornell what her opinion is we have so we had two abstains uh two nos and two yeses and we're missing uh three board members so what
should we do do we need a majority so four is not a majority of the board correct you need a majority yes okay so the the attorney says we need a majority so either somebody who abstains should vote or or it does my
thing is this is that is there I don't believe there's any direct conflict for Minnesota voting here um and we don't agree on a lot of things but there's I there's I don't see any reason that she can't vote on this it's a nonprofit and I I think that she should be able to cast her vote either way madam President
if the attorney is saying that there's no conflict with her voting then there's no conflict with her voting what's the attorney What are the attorneys saying yeah no no there is no conflict because Mr molino had also mentioned that there was no conflict with either Mr matskco or Miss Cerna voting so other option
Madam President if I may um all fairness to the royals all the board members are not here we can also we can always vote to table it to another meeting the vote is complete they have to you have to you can't just change it right it's complete
so but but it's on you have to I don't know table so so the vote is meaning it didn't pass okay so the vote is complete that it didn't pass yeah you have to bring it to the um agenda item again madam President I make a motion to table
this item you you've already voted for it so bring it up at the next wait wait Miss Cornell can you clarify so since we only have four votes for yes that means it did not pass is that correct correct
okay so it didn't pass folks it didn't pass okay all right thank you um Okay thank you Miss Cornell um All right well let's It didn't pass let's move to the next uh May I make my
comment finally or yes go ahead Mr colada okay so in the order point of order point of order what we need to call these people they just left here thinking that the vote passed somebody needs to step out and call these folks that's not that wouldn't be proper they're probably calling families you
know I think the superintendent could excuse himself i guess my question is this why can't someone motion to revote on this in light of the new information i made a motion to table it but I didn't get a second we could talk about this did she
well if the if it's the attorney is saying that the vote is complete it didn't pass so I agree that somebody obviously needs to tell Mr tahada and the other coach but we're not going to interrupt the meeting to do that it'll have to take place after the meeting
i'll talk to So motion to to vote again in the next meeting no the president on the next okay so on the next Yeah mr so wait hold on what are you saying Mr august that we're going to put it on the next agenda we don't have to if you want
to present it as another agenda item next time the vote again at the next meeting this vote is complete this is complete because everyone voted on it it's complete that's complete but if you want to bring I don't know so to
make that happen Mr tahada would have to present it again and then it would have to be put on the agenda again for the next other agenda item okay okay and in the meantime though he would not be able to do at least not with saying that the the
um saying that the practice is going to be here okay i'm sorry go ahead Mr kata go ahead i think one thing uh I understand it's over that's fine he can resubmit it um however I do think people are missing the point that Hen Warriors does not offer softball and their
solution was always to send the kids to Patterson to play for a Patterson team we have a Halen team that was looking so in the interest of everyone speaks of unity it's very disappointing that again the girls of Halen get left out because they are offering softball which is not offered currently so it's very
frustrating that people talk of unity but yet again the girls get left out this has been an ongoing problem the girls have not had anything since my daughter and your son were little and they had to play on the same baseball team because there was never an option for the girls
okay thank you Mr kleta i do want to clarify something i know that the the girls and boys play together up until a certain grade does anybody know what grade the girls go off to do softball because it's my understanding that the girls can they they play together up
until like a certain grade go ahead Miss Kado so my daughter was on the health warriors too um so it's basically until they lose interest from playing with boys or they're able to do it here at HPS with grade six is it in grade six
yeah right right okay all right well um I mean I think that's something that Mr tahada should clarify too if he wants to make his arguments you know what to what grade um
so I have the aes here madam president okay so he's offering something that's not currently in health and as well which is t-ball from ages four and six um and that's unisex um for a pitch league a uh ages 6 to eight softball for
girls 8 to 12 um ages 8 to 12 and then baseball for the boys ages 8 to 14 okay and actually what we need to clarify is the Helden Warriors um what you know what role the girls
have in Helen Warriors so currently the health and wreck offers baseball for ages 8 through 12 and it's unisex so if girls want to play so 8 to 12 okay and then after 12 they can play softball at
the school okay okay all right president go ahead mr president I just feel compelled to respond i'm sorry um so here here here's here so so what I'm saying doesn't be doesn't get taken out of context when I'm talking about
unity the Helen Recreation Department is the Helden Recreation Department there obviously was a disconnect between Mr tahada and the Helen Recreation Department what I mean about Unity is that they have to work that out christian Tahada is is a is a very
talented ambitious young individual with a bright future you know he should be mentored and and he can assist the Hill and Recreation Department with the expansion that they're currently working on i would hate to see because they're not getting along and run off and try to create something different and I feel
that in my personal opinion that will create unity it's our responsibility to to to ensure that everyone works together we have to lead by example as elected officials you know what I mean unity for example unity with our teachers who who worked very hard during
CO 19 all right came in to work every single day but meanwhile we want to sit here and talk about cuts no absolutely not we have to lead by example as elected officials and it is our duty and
obligation to teach our to teach the youngans that if there's a disagreement we have to handle it not that we're going to run run off take the ball and go home absolutely not we have to work it out that's all I'm saying and that is why I can't support that so I didn't appreciate that unity comment that's all
I wanted to say okay thank you Mr okay all right well I think so it it will be up to Mr up to Mr tahara whether he wants to present it again and then it would be uh if he does it'll be on the agenda for the April 30th meeting and
then we'll vote again and um you know and we you know we are down three board members tonight so if everyone's here then I think that will be a decisive I'll let him know okay which for the record I brought up Madam President i offered to table it because other board
members were not here in the interest of unity for the record well it was after the vote right we can't table this one we have it would have to be resubmitted understood and also again we want to thank our superintendents for always trying to do the right thing by the community and bring this to the table
and and everything else so very I I get it i see it but this is personally where I stand and as always something gets on the agenda we can vote it up or down of democracy all respect but it's all with respect it's all it's all off okay all right thank you everyone let's
move along um I'd like to move 12.1 to move 1216 on finance and physician can I have a second second moved by Mr martinez
seconded by Miss Quado roll call please mrs cerna um yes everything except for 12.8 oh uh excuse me Miss Johnson if you have a question here about that agenda item uh the William Patterson you can ask it
before you vote that's right yeah well let let's wait till we get to her before she votes she can ask her question we haven't gotten to her yet so we're going to go go ahead miss um Miss Austin with roll call please mr kada yes miss
Kadrad yes mr guzman yes mrs johnson yes i just want to the explanation for 12.9 for So yes so the I'd like the opportunity to talk about the William Patterson Professional Development Partnership and and it's twofold they're
by no means our primary professional development training tool there's by no means that's what their job is um but they provide supplementary and very often free of charge professional development um most of the time does to
some people I I say no because I think you know we need the teachers in the building you know that's where they're they're most effective um but when they have like either weekend or after school or days where it's like Columbus Day or like we know we can send staff out we look to take advantage of that but there's also another layer of this it's
kind of I guess implied and that is we I want first dibs on the William Patterson features that's what I want first dibs on um and maintaining this professional relationship is very important in order to to maximize that
and you know George talked about our you know replacing Mr is going to be very hard number one because she's very skilled but like there's there's not that many Spanish teachers that are looking to out there right now um and if it wasn't for the fact that we got seat
1A at that that job fair and all we had to pay was $120 plus the you know the PD but but just having that really established relationship gets us in the front of the line for a lot of things um and whenever there's someone that comes in late the last second to the college of education and they need a last minute
student teaching i I've made it very clear with the deans of all the local colleges like you need someone last minute always call me first and I'll find a way to say yes um because you know we we have a lot of people even in this room that were were we're were part of that William Paris pipelines at one
point so um I think it's a a really smart thing for us to to look to continue so this is more of a like to help build a relationship or it's it's you know we're paying technically we're paying for the the PD that they do offer and we're paying so we have them work
with our our NEFI teachers our first second or third year teachers we have them work with you know Miss Kefir does a lot of work with certain you know that in other grade levels other years uh so they're going to work with us maybe I think it's like six or seven or eight hours contracted a week where they're a month where they're going to be here
with teachers um but by saying yes to that agreement I get front row seats at a lot of the William Patterson you know getting their student teachers to work to to teach here and getting a first crack at interviewing them for other people too this one makes me nervous
right i think the right move yes I know but you know I haven't heard the word cut until today right and I like this i went to William Patterson i I love professional development but when we're talking about numbers I don't want this
to be a part of you know take this is from the budget the general but I'll but tell you one thing when I hire a teacher from it's a student teacher I'm hiring step one or two or three or four i know but I'm hiring,000 600,000 i'm talking about as far as the
budget the cut okay the cut this 12,000 then may add to the whole we already have now we're talking about cutting somebody you know I don't want to make it worse um what you know you understand i tell you you know next thing you know they gonna say we have to cut somebody
because an extra 12,000 here an extra 10,000 here i will say this Miss Johnson this this program has been in place for a few years and it's been quite successful so if that is I'm just saying if you're already talking about I think if we get
another year or two of of negative stadium numbers and obviously there's going to be substantial change no doubt about that and this is going to be one of the the you know the the next on the list to go pretty early on but the there's a real value to this one like
this one helped us out in a lot of different ways um and I I think it would be very hard like even just last year it was Corgan I got her there's every year like two or three people we get directly from there and it's been that way for a while
and they come back and the crowd is sitting here and we're down again i'm trying to help but Mr martinez yes so before I vote I'd just like to say that uh the reason the budget uh is what it is is because we're not cutting
right right um so so thankful you know let's let's speak I think I think that I speak for all of us that we're happy that we're not making any cuts right now right um and we we will be budgeting for the next couple of years to ensure that
there are no cuts right and but if there are we tried our best yeah right if there are then we have to manage it as it comes but right now if it's working you know let's try to keep it and I vote yes
and Mrs yes okay all righty so uh any new or old business m president yes Mr grizzman um I just want to say as as it pertains to um roles as board members I just want to
remind my fellow board members here in public the inherent responsibility of board members we are elected officials we have using words like cut so loosely i don't think that sends the right message to our school district people people uh I don't even know where it
came from i don't know either but folks may get scared such as maybe their layoff is a program getting cut we talk about cuts what else are we going to cut we don't have anything to cut you know what I mean think about that for a second we want to cut our boss program which is so phenomenal for our parents
we have we we can't just we can't just talk about cuts so loosely we have to allow the the the uh the school administration take a look at their budget like Mr walker did and come back to us and uh which is why we have an audit coming right we have an audit
coming that's always and uh and let's and let's and let's be careful with uh just my personal uh advice let's be careful with words such as cuts this and that that's why we have things in committee bring it up to the board the vote the vote the vote the board votes it up or down everyone in
here is elected already they all know you're doing your job you don't have to come here and talk about this and talk about that i get it but just be careful and understand that there's people watching there are parents people have families we can't just start talking loosely about cuts like where are we cutting oh how about this Department of
Education well guess what yes they're trying to they're trying to dissolve the the federal department of education but if you notice is that a madam VA is that affecting Title One money today today I can't
today we have to call it what it is understood the last research the last research that uh that came out was that the Trump administration by law couldn't cut title one money and things of that nature and if they do guess what they're going to get sued it is what it is education is a
right it's not a privilege they have it is what it is the federal money is just going to go poof and disappear that's not the way government works you know so let's let let's let's let's take it easy let's lower the temperature let's let the administration do what they do that's why that's why we pay them let's
have let's have confidence in them for quite a lot this is why they get paid the big bucks we cannot interfere with the day-to-day operations of the school that's why and Mr waka from from what I know has a healthy relationship with the HA you know speak to the stakeholder
comes back to to the board we voted up or down that's all I said thank you thank you um before we we realize that we did not I realize that I did not um ask for the report for state and county so Miss Guardo would you please uh give
us your report for state and county and I apologize for that oversight yes and um thank you fellow board member George Goodson for you know your words i really appreciate that and just to piggy back off you we did receive a letter from our
um the president of the or the CEO of NJSBA in regards to Trump's executive order on March 20th um and the order is to dismantle the US Department of Education um it was advising that the association is closely monitoring
developments and how the executive order would affect um New Jersey school districts and its students um so basically the order is telling the US secretary of education to take all necessary steps to close the department of education um and return the authority
to the states and local communities as permitted by law um the executive order um or the letter also uh it states that the US board of education should ensure the effective and under uninterrupted
delivery of services programs and benefits on which Americans rely on um so again monitor the the NJSBA is monitoring and staying in close touch with our legislators as they determine whether or not or how it's going to
affect the um New Jersey schools um a couple other items that I have for St and County are just a couple of reminders of some upcoming trainings um we have um school public relations forum with NJSBA on April 4th um there's also
an equity expo on April 11 um we have a virtual spring conference May 30th um and then there's for those you definitely reach out to the business administrator to register for those and
there's also upcoming mandated training for anyone who uh needs some of the mandated training um they are virtual governance 2 is actually tomorrow so if anybody needs Governance 2 tomorrow virtual from 7 to 9 uh governance 3 is
going to be April 1st and governance 4 is going to be April 3rd these are all virtual and that's all I have okay thank you okay any other new or old business
okay so can I have a motion to open the floor uh to citizens motion second moved by Miss Johnson seconded by Mr martinez all in favor i okay so uh the floor is open we'll start with folks who are here please state your name and address and
you have three minutes to address the board i will do my best in three minutes diane Cartain i'm the president of the Hen Education Association um I'm I'm going off paper here guys because and I'm going to apologize to my people who all came here because we watched the
March 12th meeting and I have three pages of notes from that meeting of things we were upset about and now I come here today and you guys are all like "Oh no we're not making any cuts." I don't know exactly what the breakdown was maybe there was something with the video that we saw on March 12th but I
have three pages most of which by the way was stolen by my friend Mr guzman here um about how this is public education and we watch board of ed meetings no we're not here all the time you know what we're not but obviously we
need to be because the tune in this room changed a whole lot by us sitting here this is not what I heard March 12th so I'm going to read to you some of what I wrote and I apologize that now some of it seems irrelevant because you all have
changed your mind here so no we haven't changed anything i'm going to read what I've got uh I'm here tonight proudly representing the Halen Education Association as we wish to respond to statements made at the March 12th board of ed meeting so let's just filter out
the noise which obviously all of that was and get to the facts fact the school board administrator on March 12th presented a preliminary budget to the board that included zero cuts to student services zero cuts to
staff the She did this despite the fact that the district saw a significant cut in state funding now fiscally speaking the district was in a healthy position and we all absorbed the loss great except not because a second fact emerged
on March 12th and that was there are members of this board of education who insisted on cuts anyway we all watched it we listened to it i heard things like we need an audit to see where we're going to cut we need an audit to see you know we need less programs we need less
teachers this is what we heard on March 12th we all listened we also learned on March 12th that somehow the voters in this town elected the board with a goal of cutting property taxes i didn't see that on any of your flyers okay um I have now informed the NJA that
we need to pay a little bit more attention to schoolboard elections and hailed it because student first doesn't actually mean funding student activities which is what you're supposed to be doing now it is true that the preliminary tax preliminary budget for next year includes a 2% tax so let's
talk about it the concept of public education is as old as this nation none of us were even alive when it was determined that the government federal state and local municipalities would fund the mandate that every child be offered a public education so let's be
clear it is a mandate it is built over many years of history and it is the role of the taxpayer to fund public education yet at the March 12th and many other times before I heard a board member of this board say that money from
the state was a gift a gift comes in a basket with socks and a candle the money that comes from the state is the responsibility holding up the responsibility that each of us takes to fund public necessities like police and fire and garbage
collection and libraries and I'm over already um and yes public schools amanda do you want her to read it or you want me to read it it's it's Thank you sorry um listen in an ideal world each locality would fund
their own school if you drive three miles in one of these directions you can go to Franklin Lakes and they do exactly that no one here thinks that those kids are more entitled to an education than ours are you know what what Franklin
Lakes spent per student this school year $28,584 per student you know what Hen spent $18,614 how much more do you guys want to cut so as was mentioned many times on March
12th to be meaningful any budget cuts would reduce to aim would aim to reduce staff that message was heard loudly by your employees fact 21 school districts in Pay County hps is 21st dead last in median teacher
salary and average teacher salary respectfully in the midst of a teacher shortage your concern should be on teacher retention not on teacher elimination if you want to continue to talk cavalerely about staff layoffs that's fine but think long and hard
about that decision the next time you ask if the building is fully staffed there is no question public education is under attack we read the papers too and I am going to speak to my friend Mr guzman here it seems like the last time and I am old enough to be here
the LA to have been here the last time we had this problem seems like the last time the board and the teachers we all worked together we had a common enemy we went to the state we had a common enemy i don't feel like that
now i need to We need to feel like that again i'm not just piggybacking off in here a lot of you have changed your ideas here today please I'm just going to finish with as the months go on more and more opportunities are going to come up to fight for public
school funding i get things all the time let's do this job action let's do that i want to work together with you guys we want to work together with you guys because we need to get public education back on track in this country we just came to tell you come join us thank you i'm sorry I went over
here thank you thank you Miss Cartina i'm gonna take take all comments first and then we'll close the floor and board members can respond if they wish does anybody else that's here want to address the board okay uh Delvin is there anyone
online that has their hand up no one motion to close the polling portion second okay so moved by Mr guzman seconded by Mr martinez all in favor i so I want to address first Miss Cartenda's comments um I just want to
say that I appreciate you coming and I appreciate the show and force here um we the school district is nothing without the teachers so um and it's my hope that we don't have to cut any positions of
course we balance we have to balance the budget and we have to um you know make sometimes decisions have to be made that are difficult but always cutting personnel is a last resort as far as I'm concerned um and I
think that's the sentiment I would I would hope from all the board members that that's a last resort we don't want to cut um personnel but I really appreciate you all being here and um and thank you for all that you do um does
anybody else want to Yes before I do this because he he likes to fill this go ahead go ahead m I will say I will be the first to tell you before I say something about cutting anything I definitely will say something
about a teacher i mean um sorry a program because I received notices before and it hurts when you I received a notice in the academy you know so you know I would never want to do that but if we talk about programs before we do anything else that's the first thing you
know not a teacher I would never want to do that so just in case you guys I don't know what I can't even remember what happened last year but um it definitely wouldn't be the kind of teacher a program have to go before I see any of you I just want to make that clear
first of all thank you i don't know either if we don't have to thank you but thank you for all you do Mr gizman yeah madam president i just want to we have just want to say we have a couple new board members right and we were all there i was a new board member and
and there's a lot of growing pains with the position um and uh I don't think anyone meant anything against the school just the the the teachers actually when I walked in here earlier I was asked by a fellow board member you know what are the teachers doing here do you know anything i was like I don't know
anything but I know common sense tells me if you're going to talk about cuts the teacher going to show up i mean I said the same thing like Yeah yeah well any anything even in that context because they shouldn't it's their responsibility that's what we do right so all I'm going to remind this board is
this government a lot of times and I've got this in my personal life everywhere have the shortest memories let's never forget when every school district was closed around here these teachers showed up for our kids they
were here we had the most in-person instructional hours in the whole region thanks to these teachers and the fact that they are the lowest paid in the county is despicable and I blame myself for that too because I was a board president and I didn't know I didn't know it was that bad but my whole thing
is is that uh personally I appreciate you um obviously our ethics calls for we're not here for the teachers we're not here for we're here for these for these children but just remember that if the teachers are not good how can our kids be good if if their morale is not where it should be because we're here
talking about cuts prematurity and things like that then how can they render a good service for our children if they don't know am I going to have a job next year we want them to come to work and have a good working environment we want them to feel supported not only by the administration but by their board members talking about cuts especially so
prematurely is irresponsible you know and I wasn't going to say that publicly but I'm saying it now because obviously should be said you know and this is not a knock on anybody i don't think anyone in here wants anything bad we're just trying to figure it out that's what And I have
faith in our administration i have faith in this board that we will get it right Miss Cartina and we will stick together i I I do feel that because we voted for this uh symbolic resolution that we we're going to hand deliver to our state reps or and uh let's see what happens let's hope we can recoup some of this
money and uh not cut any programs we cannot cut anything we have nowhere to cut we're giving these children the bare minimum we're talking about cuts we should be talking about where we're going to get more money we have more programs for our children not to cut you off but you know I also want to say you
know like I said before when we asked the VA she said we were in trouble so I don't want it to seem like you know we're this bad group here and a few people said this and that she said we're in trouble so when you hear we're in trouble you want to do everything possible to save the teachers and make
sure the students are getting everything they need correct i mean that's the first thing I heard is we're in trouble i'm like wait a minute listen Miss back there didn't go nowhere that's awesome no but seriously you know um yeah that that kind of made you a little nervous
it made me a little nervous to hear that we're in trouble so I mean that's probably why you know a lot of the conversation came up nobody here I don't think wants to Martinez yeah uh uh you know I mean um I I sat at the meeting uh
last meeting the finance meeting and um as far as being in trouble I never felt that we were in trouble going off what she said as far as the numbers as far as No no no nothing against you just just um just um as far as looking at the numbers and looking at the budget that
was set out for this upcoming year we're good we're good now the concern was and if I may is that if we don't get the money that we're supposed to get like we didn't get it this for this
upcoming year then we can be in trouble and then that's when we have to start thinking about what are the remediations that we're going to need to take in order to make sure that our kids are not in trouble yes okay so then obviously you know we're human and our emotions
get the best of us and we feel this and we feel that and the reality is that we're not in trouble today right can we be in the future absolutely are we going to get there are we going to allow that no because we believe in what they do and
we believe in what our teachers do so we may agree on some things and we may not agree but the what we're what we do agree on is that we're not going to let anything happen to our teachers and our students and we're going to always fight for them in the best way that's all
i just wanted to add um you know first of all thank you to all the colleagues with um all of their um comments i you know I definitely agree with everyone and I just want to add to everything that as as a school board we do have to work together besides this resolution on
thinking outside the box and seeing what else can we do just to ensure that you know we keep our teachers and as many programs as we can that's all I have to say thank you thank you hey madam president let's point out too that that budget called for a 2%
increase there's districts there's no district that I've seen that went under 2% right you know and man some districts are forgiving so I think I think we are in a good place and we have been for a while and that's because we're all working together as a team our
administration our school board and our ha and as long as we continue doing that and we and we also have the support of our mayor our governing body we're going to be okay that's the bottom line madam President may I respond my phone's at 5% uh yep go right ahead Mr
okay respectfully um I am a big proponent of that words have meaning so perhaps I should have chosen my words a little bit more carefully however I do think and disagree while I respect everyone on the board I do think and disagree that it is
irresponsible to not look to see where you can save money perhaps the wording of cuts was uh taken a little differently however I have asked for two budgets this is the third budget i have asked Mr waka what could be saved what could be
cut back where we don't have to spend as much money because that is what is responsible that any adult any business owner any business any government agency should be looking at what can be saved i have never once said we should lay off teachers i don't think we should lay off
teachers um I've personally been laid off as a police officer and I understand the drama that it causes and how hard it is to deal with additionally I think that after fighting and arguing for the third meeting I have a list now from Mr
walker where we are looking to save money on different things not cutting teacher positions not cutting administrative positions and it took three years and two tax levies to get a list of something that simple uh again
my concern is the funding formula which is done for the state 87% of our budget comes from money from the state or federal government if that money is cut we could end up like East Orange my concern is that I don't
want to see a mass cut layoff or anything like that for the teachers that we have or for our kids because it would be unfair to them so I am just looking forward to try to ensure that that doesn't happen because as you see even though we do have friends at the state level our budget was cut and there's
nothing to say that next election you won't get a Republican governor who will look to cut further and my fear is that I don't want to see where you have a mass layoff you don't have a mass program reduction however I do think that is irresponsible to not look and say where can we save money including
things like I constantly vote no for the professional development for board members where it might not be a lot of money but there's no reason why we can't save where we can and again if any teachers were offended by my comments again words have meaning and I did not suggest that we should lay off teachers starting today i don't think that that
should be a consideration right now however you fiscally responsible if you get a massive cut that is something that could happen in the future but I would not look to eliminate teaching positions in a school district that is already behind everywhere else other than pattern of
simp it didn't take you three years to get a list of of things that are be truncated it it took it took us $688,000 state aid reduction because if you're going to give me a between $600,000 and a million dollar extra five
consecutive years in state aid I ain't going to cut anything Mike i'm I'm going to build things that that's that's the that's how it works and you have to look for when the money's not there $188,000 reduction last year reasonable restrictions that's why you got the list
Mike no I got a list there was no cuts last year so you didn't last year last year we had $800,000 you know bonus in in state aids why would you want cuts because it's all a grant from But we maxed out we maxed out the amount we
could bank in in a lot of our bankable areas mike I got to spend it okay again I didn't say to to lay off teachers so anybody that's putting those words in my mouth I don't appreciate it that was not what I said madam President I just want to say I just want to say if
I may Madam President that I just want to back Mr kleta up on this because I did have a sidebar conversation with him um at no point did he ever say he wanted to see teachers laid off or anything like that so I want to make that loud and clear i think what he's saying is that okay where can we you know he want
you know maybe the the the the the secretary of doge for the health and the board of ed you know where can we talk you know you know but but he in no way shape or form is talking about eliminating positions he's never mentioned anything like that so I want to say that about Mr kleta as a matter
of fact Mr klet has also has also said that he too knows how it feels to be laid off and he never wants to see nobody in that position he just wants to see us you know be proactive and monitor monitoring our fiscal situation that that's all you know um I think we
learned a lot from this i'm actually glad this happened in a way maybe we needed to have this conversation because again we're all in this together and we have to work together so um I I think our several board members like Mr mleta
said he's you know if he if he misspoke about cuts he apologizes you know like Mr walka explained um and again let's have confidence in our administration let's continue working with our HA and let's continue the school district forward okay thank you everyone um any
other comments from the board thank you everyone um you know yeah we we have um we we're not going to make to Mr wa's point we're not going to make cuts when we had a surplus we're not going to do
that of course though we want to think proactively we want to think ahead um and anything that we can do that doesn't involve cuts is or or you know reducing reduction of services or programs that
would obviously be a first choice it may come to that it may come to reducing um some services and um but the again the personnel cutting personnel is always going to be an absolute last resort and we're not there we're we are raising the
tax levy 2% is going to cover it so and the work that Miss Austin has done we're good for 25 26 and we're going to keep working to figure out how we can sustain that so that we don't have to cut we don't ever have to cut personnel if if
possible and we don't have to reduce services or further reduce any services so we're going to work together we you know of course that's what we want we want what's best for our kids we want what's best for this the staff and we want what's best for you know our district and our community of course
we're going to do that um and we do want to work with you so I hope you know I really appreciate you all being here and you know showing your concern and um we hear you loud and clear and we're going to you know we're going to work we're going to work together so I just want to
thank everybody my board members and um the teachers and everyone who's you know participated in this conversation and uh let's let's see how how we you know how this all goes how this all plays out but we do need to support each other so thank you
um so if there are no other comments um I'm going to we do have an executive session i don't think we do we don't because you know that was the you guys got the backup for the HIV unless there's any specific questions you have but otherwise it's pretty cut and dry
okay so then so then we just what you just voted to affirm what you've seen you know from the the back if you want me to go if you want to have an executive we could vote I just you don't have to have executive session regarding that matter yeah so so we and we don't need to vote on it right there's no vote you're just voting to you already voted
to um in one of the earlier agenda you voted to um this is a different one though I should be 0325 yeah this one is is a new one we have we we confirmed that your uh this 0525 let's let's wait for the next board meeting i'll be more
I'll be prepared to give that i I I miss Mr that's fine okay so So we're going to adjourn then motion to adjourn second okay so uh moved by Mr goodman seconded by Miss Johnson all in favor okay thank
you everyone of money to