Highland Park time. >> I was like, "No, give it give it time." I was like, "It's Highland Park time. Nobody comes on time." >> Yeah. >> The best audience we've ever had. I'm so excited. >> I really am. I'm so excited to have an
audience. like normally like if anybody's listening out there the world. >> All right. Ready? >> Ready. All right. Thank you. >> Okay. Hello everyone. Um I'd like to
call to order uh this hybrid special meeting of the Highland Park Board of Education. Um, the New Jersey Open Public Meetings Act was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meetings of the public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is
discussed or acted upon. In compliance with the open public meetings act, the Highland Park Board of Education has caused notice of this meeting setting forth the time, date, and location to be submitted for publication to the Home News Tribune and Corer News and posted
on the board's website at least 48 hours in advance of this meeting. Members of the public who wish to address the board will be given the opportunity to do so before the board adjourns for the evening. >> Dr. Mr. Batty, Miss Cassell Dunn
>> here, >> Dr. Coleman >> here, >> Mr. Maldonado >> here, >> Dr. Pixley >> here, >> Miss Pruce >> here, >> Dr. Schoolman, >> Miss Daniel >> here, >> Miss Barkman >> here.
Okay. And now the pledge of allegiance. 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. >> All right. Okay. Now for the
superintendent report. Ready? >> Yep. Okay. All right. We're good. Okay. Good evening everyone. It's great to see a lot of people here tonight. Um so tonight we are giving a brief update um
on the tentative budget which is the purpose of uh the meeting. Just to recap um typically the state gives us deadlines for when we have to propose a tenative budget and then our final budget. The original tentative budget presentation was adjusted because a new
uh new governor in office uh she delayed her presentation of her state budget which then pushed back everybody's tentative budgets. Hence instead of a mid-m March tenative budget hearing, we had one at the end of March. So at the end of March, we presented our tenative budget. So I'm going to review that
shortly and then review um and provide some information on updates um since our tenative budget and kind of talk about next steps. So, the um preliminary budget was presented on March 23rd, like I said, and just a general synopsis, the
full presentation and video was sent out on Friday. Um, but some of the highlights included that uh there was going to be a tax levy increase of 4.14%. Um, and with that increase and uh budget that was being proposed, we were going
to have schools fully staffed with qualified personnel. instructional resources were um updating the line to standards for ELA, math, science, and ML. All of this stuff from the presentation that was shared um back in March and we would continue continue
offering courtesy transportation for all students on hazardous routes. So that was what our budget that we were proposing will maintain. it. Uh, our budget was also going to include facility improvements like the high school Koopa, high school water service
line, Bartle fire alarm, Bartle boilers, and replacing exterior lights. So, those were some of the facility projects that we were proposing in our budget. Unfortunately, due sorry, and supporting a I'm sorry, and the increased preschool enrollment by 15 students. So, we're
going to be adding an additional preschool class. So our budget will include expanding preschool and our budget includes supporting a new math curriculum K5. So those were all the added um value into the budget for this coming uh for next school year.
Unfortunately, due to some financial constraints in order to provide a tentative bud uh balanced budget, um the budget at that point in time as of March wasn't going to be able to support the maker space program at the middle school for assistant administrative assistants.
One uh we were going to be one fewer nurse, so we were going to go to a shared nursing model between middle and high school. uh since the buildings are attached uh we were going to have one fewer media center specialist, one fewer Bartle interventionists going from four to three and one fewer secondary social
studies teacher. Um so all of those decisions when you're looking at budget cuts came with a lot of thoughts um a lot of discussion between myself uh members of the board of education as well as the leadership team as a whole.
So when we're facing budget um deficits to to propose propose a uh balanced budget unfortunately sometimes difficult decisions have to be made and what we do is try to prioritize those uh cuts according to what would be least impact on student instruction.
Um when the budget was presented on March 23rd we had a couple of things that were really unknown. So the reason for those proposed cuts was because we were projected to have a significant increase in health benefits. So the if
you go back to that original presentation, I encourage you to do so if you haven't, that was a 20some% uh increase by the line item. If you look at um our expenditures, that was the single biggest hit to our increase in our budget was health benefits. Uh so
at that time what um our broker gave us was a um a tentative uh proposed increase. So we tried to go with a sort of worst case scenario. That way we can give that tenative budget knowing that if we came in a little bit less we had a
little bit of wiggle room versus having a conversation at the end of April when we give the final presentation and saying oh no it's come in worse than we thought now we have to cut more. So, we were trying to be a little bit more conservative with that estimate um and kind of overestimating it just um to to
make sure we were in in good shape. So, the uh like I said, the biggest driver of that was our health benefit increase. Um and so that was really unknown at the time. So, that uh proposed cuts and the proposed budget items was based on really an unknown number that we were
kind of guessing at um with some data. In addition, we were continuing and still are looking for ways to save money that looks so the data set that I talked about including student enrollment, student needs, and then we try to do it with the least impact on student
instruction and student achievement. Since the proposed budget, we do have some numbers which we're really excited to share with the board tonight. So this is just a summary of what was included in the tenative budget for health
benefit um insurance at that time. Our broker insurance company Brown and Brown um did had us do a preliminary projection of 32 increase a 32% increase in our health benefit cost over current year. Uh which equated to as Dr. Ces
said $1.5 million um which was 20% of that line item. Um, and the factors really had to do with our medical loss ratio was 94% and our prescription loss ratio is 211 uh percent. Uh, what does
that mean? It means that for every dollar uh that Horizon pay that we pay for our premium um Horizon's paying out 94 cents for every dollar we pay in premium. And as for prescription, for every dollar we pay for our prescription
uh uh coverage, they pay out $2.11. So our broker works with Horizon, and at the time of the tenative budget, they were still in marketing. They were marketing back and forth, and we didn't have a finalized rate or renewal.
So now we do. So we're really excited to share again that information. So, uh, we were fine. Thank you to our, uh, broker, Brown and Brown, who really, uh, worked some magic with Horizon and was able to get our medical and prescription to only be a 2.1 2.6.2
26.1% increase. Uh, which is great. So, it's less than what the originally we originally ant anticipated in the preliminary budget. And a dental at only a 5% increase. So, um, that's pretty good. and the sort of uh the uh asterric
by prescription um that projected savings. The reason why we were able to come down from a 32% to a 26.1% is because we are going to um migrate um our weight loss GLP1s to Brown and
Brown's direct GLP1 program. So nothing will change in terms of the um access to GLP1. So as we discussed in the tenative budget, what's really driving that cost? I'm just going to go back a screen again. Is the prescription loss race ratio at 211%.
A significant amount of that comes uh at the um uh members. So, it's not necessarily um staff, but they call them belly buttons, but the people that use the benefits that come from Highland Park Public Schools on GLP1s for weight loss um was
a considerable driver. Um the chapter 44 um uh guidelines regulate health benefits for New Jersey public school employees. Um many many years ago, I don't think they anticipated a miracle weight loss drug um that was going to be available through our health insurance.
Um but here we are. Um Highland Park is is no different from a lot of other districts unfortunately most districts around the state that are um feeling this as well. So, what we did was we worked with Brown and Brown to offer uh the same access to those weight loss
drugs, but it's going to be through a more direct program. I'm not going to get into the weeds on that, but it's very, very easy. Uh it's just the way it's administered. instead of going to like a Walgreens or a CVS to get it. Um the belly buttons associated with the Highland Park uh Horizon prescription
plan, just go uh the prescription goes directly to the manufacturer and then it's just you get it at at your home. You go online, get it, you know, fill in the information, the script goes right to Lily or Fizer, whoever creates the drugs and then the drug comes to your house. So, it's just to me a little bit
easier. you don't have to go to a pharmacy to get them, but it was just a way for us to save a considerable amount of money um to the taxpayers and and to everybody here. Um so that projected cost savings from the tenative budget is now $376,000.
So we're very excited about that number. Um you want to speak about that? >> Yeah. So um the state allows districts to increase their tax levy above 2% if their health bar if their health benefit projected costs are more than the state
health plan. So um at the time of the tentative budget uh we included use of what they call a health uh benefit adjustment. We included approximately $719,000 into that budget off of that adjustment
uh which equated to uh the tax levy as Dr. Suska mentioned of 4.14%. Uh now that we have a decrease in the cost, there's a calculation that's done. So now that the cost of the health benefits is increasing 26.1%
the most that the district could have in that adjustment is 1 million around $1,ion52,000. So we could utilize that $1,52,000 to increase the tax levy above 2%. If we
took all of that adjustment, the tax levy would be 5.13%. >> Okay. All right. Uh in addition, there's been another update. Um since then, like I said in the previous slide, we have been working around the clock, non-stop,
pretty much it feels like on trying to figure out ways to uh create uh produce a balanced budget for the board of education and the community um as part of our responsibility to be fiscally sound. Um one of the things in that process, we were trying to figure out
all the ways that we could do this um was some code that we found. So, we do have a transportation update. Uh, that will be a cost savings for the district that we're sharing publicly. Um, so based on some clarification and directives provided by the Department of Education, New Jersey Department of Education, and part of the budgeting
process, because our school district doesn't provide transportation for our local public school uh, students based on their distance. Uh, pursuant to the code, the district does not have the illegal authority to issue aid and loo payments to families of non-public
school students. So, with that being said, an idea that I'd like to propose to the board that will not be passed tonight because this is not the budget adoption, but something for us to consider at the formal budget adoption process at the
end of April will be to cut out aid in lie of transportation money. We actually don't have the legal authority to um issue those payments. Uh so with that being said um that savings for projected cost savings to not pay out aid in lie
of transportation for 165 students would be $225,000. So again we are trying everything. So all that being said we're at a probably a plus $61,000 um in from what we projected till now. So we're really excited for that chunk
of money. So the the purpose of that I will um now that our presentation is done I'll open it up the board first um to have discussion questions or comments around this um but what will be next steps so like I said tonight is not any formal vote on the um the final budget
that will be done um at the end of April the last Monday in April. Uh but tonight is to hear uh comments about what it is that we value as a community. I'd like to make a recommendation in the best interest of the students, of the staff,
and of the taxpayers. It's a daunting task because there are many different stakeholders involved in these very important decisions. And I don't take that decision lightly. Like I said, we've reviewed so much data. I thank the leadership team tremendously because at
at a whim at a drop of the hat they were able to provide me copious data sets that we could look at information to make informed decisions. Um so the next step is I'm going to take uh detailed notes today um on our values um and uh
make suggestions to the board as my final recommendations for the budget hearing on April 27th. Um, so that being said, in terms of, you know, now that we have $61,000, we have some options with that, um, as long as barring nothing happens, uh, significantly between now
and the final budget hearing. That can include, um, going back to those list of proposed cuts and potentially um not having those cuts um, you know, or do we do some tax savings um, you know, a combination, one the other or a
combination thereof. So, that's sort of where we're at. Um, I know times are hard for everybody. Financial times are very hard. Um, we value um our staff and and student achievement as well. So, like I said, they're certainly not easy decisions to make. Um, but I'll take detailed notes and make some
recommendations to the board ahead of the April 27th board meeting. That concludes my report and I will open up the floor to questions or comments from the board of ed. a question microphone. Oh, there we go. I have a question because I just want to clarify
it because there was a lot of information. Um, so because I did take notes as well. Uh, we have um what is it 1 point like something million are lacking in? Is that what you're saying?
>> The first slide. >> The total deficit. >> That's the deficit right now. the the initial one the initial deficit going into the preliminary budget on March 23rd was approximately $1.5 million. That was our
deficit. So that's what we had to close. Um and so so what we did was during that time we proposed a combination of increasing the tax levy 4.14% and those cuts to make up that $1.5 million.
>> Okay. And that has since changed and now we start to put place pieces in wherever we correct. Okay. >> And I just want to clarify that was 1.5 million at a 2% property tax hike, right? >> Yeah. So that was one. So the deficit is
actually >> was greater than that. That was a 2% property tax hike. Yes. >> Yeah. >> So with the $600,000 in savings that we've identified, what's the delta? Do we still have 900,000 to account for or
what's the gap that we're trying to fill at this point? >> So the 6001,000 is what we can essentially put put back into the budget in some way, shape, or form. So I don't have to cut any anymore, which is good news. Um
the the idea is what do we want to do with that $61,000? Um the options would be do we decrease that 4.14% on the slide? So do we go less for the taxpayers um you know and
sort of put that money back in there? Do we um stick with the 4.14% and save what would equate to $61,000 of the um of the cuts? Um do you want to
increase more than 4.14%? Um, and I could save more of the positions. Um, you know, so like we have some options. So, um, you know, where how do we want to to uh to to figure this out to get to our magic
number? Because we do have to we have a legal obligation um by the New Jersey New Jersey Department of Education to produce a balanced budget on April 27th. >> A quick clarifying question. Um, for the Aiden loop for transportation, it was 225, I believe.
>> Uh, just to clarify, that's not a choice for us, if you will. That's we no longer can offer that transportation. It sounded a little bit like it was something we could vote on, but just to be clear, >> there's there's nothing to vote on there. That is the law. >> Yep. >> Okay.
I um um got a little clarification on that as well in that um the way it's supposed to work is that if you are busing kids because they live far away then there's this it's basically like pass through money that
comes from the state that then you um you know pay out to families of non-public school students. um we haven't been getting that money, right? So there's no money from the state dedicated to this for Highland Park. Um
and therefore we we just simply are not legally able to continue making those payments >> and uh distance and Okay. Right. Because we don't offer busing based on how far away you are. We alter based on the hazardousness of the
route. We're not at other districts that do offer distance based busing, they still have to accept that pass through money and pay for non-public school students, but we're not in our class anymore. So, we can't and aren't supposed to and nothing to say about it do that anymore. >> Right. >> Got it.
>> But just give it a little context. Um I was doing a lot of uh Googling before I came to look at what other districts are doing. Um, not that and not that this is surprising because it keeps coming through all the news feeds how every other district in New Jersey or the vast majority of districts in New Jersey are
in the same position that we are. They're um the same position or really as I was reading in a considerably worse position. I mean, if you look through uh Edison, you know, they're up they're they're proposing a 12% increase in taxes and their community is up in arms,
right? 12% is a lot of money and each of these districts has their own history. It's not comparing it to us, just saying that we're in in good company as it were. You know, that it's a it's a some of the articles were saying it was a perfect storm between this and yes, we have only a 26% increase in health
insurance, but it's 26%. I mean, that's just a lot of money. And other districts have more than that. Some had a little bit less in my research today, but they were all well more than double digits. You know, that the increases in health insurance is just uh really hard to manage. Um, some some districts, as you
know, Middletown is closing two schools. The Scatteraway is proposing a 7% increase and cutting proposing to cut 23 positions. West Orange, they're the number one when you Google right now, and they're proposing cutting 70 full-time positions. So, it is a rough time for education in New Jersey right
now. So, I kind of wanted just to give us that context and the fact that we did save some money in this process right now, you know, with with uh some good brokering on the part of our insurance gives us a little leeway. Um, and the other piece that I wanted to say pass it
on is that um like Dr. Suska said, we have done we have looked they have looked and presented to the finance and facilities committee and at other board meetings lots of options for how to balance this budget. It's not, you know, it's not what we came up with. What they what was recommended and where we're at
at the preliminary um is we looked at at cuts to courtesy busing. We looked at raising class size. We looked at at at administration. We looked at athletic programs, world language, you know, where where can money be saved? Every place we looked, it had a greater impact
on students in in the opinion of people that was we're looking at at the time. So that's just given us some context as to where we are right now. Um, so it's we're in good company. It's not as bad as some other districts, but it's every single position and every single program obviously has great value both to the
board and to the community. So it's that's where we are in making a decision. >> Um, so I just want to uh clarify a couple things. So I think the number we're we're trying to meet uh above that 2% gap is like 1,ion52,000
on the slide prior, right? That's the actual number. >> That that's the amount that we could increase given the cost of our health benefit plan >> in addition to the 2%. >> Right? So that's the cap on how much we can raise taxes, which wouldn't
necessarily mean we can save all everything still. >> Um, we we probably could. I mean, if we wanted to go Well, we're we're short about a to save the six position or the nine positions, we're short about a hundred and
>> some odd thousand dollars. So we would have to we could if we left things the way they are we would have to increase taxes above the 2% to bridge that gap >> okay >> just to save um >> just and saving no position >> right because I know at the last meeting
we were talking about kind of no matter what there's one position we were going to cut and the max was up to like 14 if we didn't raise above that 2% right so >> I'm just trying to get a sense for like what the range is here in terms of
positions. So it sounds like no matter what there's one position even with the cost savings in healthcare and and the uh aid in Lou and cutting that. >> Yes. >> Right. Um, and then I'm wondering if you can talk a little bit about because uh I
know in some of the emails we received uh there was requests to think about cutting administration and and whatnot. And I know there's been some discussion about that and I'm wondering if you can talk to us through a little bit about some of the things you looked at and and maybe just make that a little more
public and transparent so folks know. >> Sure. So every year what I do is propose that uh once we get um the budget a good handle on where we are at the budget, myself and Mr. Rosa look through um you
know what what our deficit is and then uh the tax levy options and what I do is I make a myriad a myriad of options uh to the board of education um in terms of sort of like what I think is um least
impactful to student instruction up to most impactful um on student um achievement really it's not even instruction it's achievement because culture and climate in our buildings and and um feeling part of a school community um is far beyond just what happens in the four
walls of a classroom on any given day. So what I do is I put that list together um and we prioritize that and all of those have a numerical value. So it's um whether it's the resources associated with it, it's the salaries associated with it, benefits associated with it, um
whatever that is, everything ends up really just becoming sort of a numerical value. And then um we try to then rank them uh in terms of most impact to least impact um and then try to figure out what are the options that I could pro propose to the board. So some of the
options this year that I did propose included a couple of um options with some administrative cuts um as well. Um but uh again when when I do that with the data so not only is the one line
item the data of how much something costs but the data in terms of its impact. Um so when we reviewed that kind of data it didn't seem like um it would necessarily be a good option. Uh we're pretty um pretty I don't want to say bare bones but pretty bare bones in
terms of administrative support on on where we cut our administrators. You know do we cut an assistant principal? do we cut a supervisor? Um what do we do? So those were proposed options as well. Um but unfortunately it sort of just didn't make the the list of of what
we all kind of agreed to. >> But last year that was last year did last year was that helped us to balance the budget. Yes. You talk about the position that we cut last year. >> Yeah. Last year the position that was cut was um the district funded pro funded programs and district initiatives supervisor funded programs and district
initiatives. In fact the only one position. So last year during the tenative budget we had had a number of cuts. Uh so some staff out there that are listening were part of this conversation with me last year. So last year I um had conversations with some staff saying at the tenative budget I am
um proposing a couple of cuts that included a supervisor. Um I believe at the time I I was um the media center specialist. There were a couple of maker space um was last year. So I had conversations with those staff. Um we had the same kind of thing. So the
tenative budget time happens a couple weeks later and we had some new information come come to light during that uh during that time um which was able I was able to save all but one position last year and the position that I cut was an administrative position
that was the only one that was cut last year and then what I did was um I reorg the leadership team to um dole out that work because it has to be done if you if we want our title funds title one title 2 a title three title before uh professional development uh affirmative
action so many things that we that we have to have. Um I redistributed that work to the members of the leadership team last year. I'm sorry, Dan, did I answer your question? Go ahead. >> I just to piggyback off of that, um
while we did cut the supervisor for funded programs last year, we did also add the athletic director. So can you speak a little bit to the financial impact of that and whether it is a you know gain loss situation? >> Sure. So the impact on that was a a a
$20,000 impact overall um to the budget. So it wasn't a significant um increase to our budget um and that was due to combining. So we looked at the data around how much we were spending on um uh athletic trainers. So we looked at that data set, how much we were spending
on staffing for that um alto together and the proposed options to increase the roles of that staffing. Um and so when all said and done um to be able to provide better services for our student athletes um from the a medical
perspective um and to to increase the the programming um we added that position. So what we did but it was only a net of like it was only a $20,000 increase. So, it wasn't a significant increase to the budget. Um, and that was still cutting an administrator. So, although it was added, it wasn't adding
a new administrator, a new really expensive administrator. The program itself, uh, for athletic administration and sports medicine was already a sign was already in the budget at a significant amount of money. Um, we just increased it slightly to be able to provide, um, more robust services for
our student athletes. So instead of having four or five people do it part-time and being out of the classroom um part-time uh to run different parts of the athletic program instead there's now one person >> correct
>> which also did that um answer your question? >> So then also going to that can we talk about the um social studies teacher and the the cut there? >> Oh yeah sure. So we again we were looking at all the student data. Um
although enrollment this year has been relatively steady. Um our incoming classes um like our I think it's our fifth grade going into sixth I think is about 95 students. So we're we're seeing a slightly less. We have like one one group of students that's significantly more one grade level but for we're
trending around 95 to 100. So um they're not really that big. So when we looked at uh that the enrollment um and then taking a position putting it back in more full-time um the numbers show that um we are um uh in a position where we
don't necessarily need that additional social studies teacher when we reviewed all of uh the numbers. The course scheduling is done at the high school. So that was a significant um help to look at um the course scheduling. So there was no impact um to that. So what
we did was to make these decisions, we asked all the building administrators were given um the task of giving me their projection including special ed projections um in enrollments um class sizes um their scheduling to sort of make make
decisions around what uh what this looks like um with with some I proposed ideas. Unfortunately, I don't have them solidified in in terms of what um what it will look like with these, but knowing that um we have some ideas to make sure that we do it uh to not impact
student achievement. Um and I was confident with these recommendations that they would be um the um the better of the worst choices that we have to make here. >> Dr.
>> I have more. Um yeah, so I just uh just to kind of get a lay of the land, I was I was looking at the organizational chart and look at how many district uh administrators we have, not including some of the staff underneath them and stuff. And we have somewhere around 10
or something at the district level, not in not within the schools, right? And not the staff that are supported. Uh and I think one of those positions actually being filled by a part-time person right now, even though we have it posted, right? Uh the supervisor of education. >> Oh, it's interim, not part-time.
>> Oh, >> it's an interim. >> Not the executive director. >> No, the director. >> It's not part time. It's a full-time position, right? >> But being filled by an interim. >> Oh, that one's being filled by an interim too right now. But we have it posted for a permanent. >> Yeah.
>> Or in the interview province, >> right? And I I think I think we would um argue that's really important given some of the uh the current evaluation of special education. Um some of the issues that we know uh have play out with CPAG
and whatnot that we actually need that that someone overseeing child study teams and whatnot. Um, so I'm just thinking about, you know, the choices uh that we're making and being informed by um um by the public and and how to how
to make these decisions, right? That um we we actually can't raise the tax levy enough to like save all the positions. We need to know kind of what people value the most. If you are really arguing for district administration, we
have 10 over a district. Um and so you know it it's thinking about uh where those cuts would be um given we're we're a small district that needs coverage around education services, right? We have big facilities issues. Um you know
we have a wonderful business administrator. Um but the these are these are the decisions that that we're making, right? And and then it's about how much to increase that tech tax levy versus how much to save these positions. Um and and those those are essentially
the the hard decisions that that we have to make and and basically we want to hear from everyone about kind of priorities and and how we should go about this. Um yeah, but I also wanted wanted folks to know that uh you know cutting
administration had been on the table was a was a discussion point. Um because I was raised um and yeah and so you know as some good news both in terms of health care as well as the flu have kind of come down um there
are are options about how to how to kind of work with this. Um but yeah, >> I was going to say to piggyback on that when um we had uh thinking about posting for that position, one option that I did proposed to the board was to not backfill that position um once we um
moved our the former supervisor into the director position was to not backfill. So that was an option too when we talked about cuts, do we not backfill that position? But that is a significant amount of of work to put on one person and ed services is a lot because it um oversees not only child study team
related services, special education, ESL, McKenna Vento for homeless liaison uh that department overseas now our mental health services uh the supervisor of counseling health and wellness um and everything that comes along with it. So it's a really um all the legal suits that that we deal with uh for due
process and things like that. So the position is a lot um you know so that that but but I did propose that uh because unfortunately we're we're in a position where we have to think about those things. Um also I just want to go back so for
anybody who watches every year I I don't get too many watchers for the tenative budget or the final budget hearing but hopefully maybe I will start having more of that. um what I share and I talk about I want to reiterate is that budgeting not only is a hard process but we do it um looking through three
different lenses. So the administrative team and myself like a level one budget item are those legal requirements. So there are certain things that I can't remove from the budget because they're legal requirements. Um mandated time students need to have access to
something or ESL requirements, special ed requirements. There's a lot of legal things that that we have that I can't those are musthaves. So if we talk about needing to open up a new special education class or we're opening a new program, those are legal requirements. So those have to be in the budget. Um
some of our level two are then the DOE other requirements. So anything with the New Jersey student learning standards, certain music and art requirements, there's a certain number of fizzed uh minutes that students have to receive. all of those requirements that are at a level two budgeting
um budgeting uh point and then our level three are those that are community values and our board values um sorry and level two would be anything in our policy that would be over above the state um the state requirement. So, for example, if we wanted students to
have the board, let's say, required environmental science being a a board policy, they wanted all students to graduate, we'd have to require that and then that would have to be a budgeted line item. So, that was that's our level two requirements. Our level three, which
is what um I think we're almost most passionate about, are those things that we value that are above and beyond the state requirements and legal requirements and our board requirements. Those are things we value, right? our mental health services, um our robust music programs, our robust art programs,
world language at the middle school, right? All of these things that are not statemandated requirements, but we value because we really believe in. It's unfortunate that when we have to make budget decisions, the level three things unfortunately are
the ones that end up on that list. So, uh to Dr. Batty's point um what I do is I take all those things that are not required are things that we believe in and that's how we make that list of what it is that uh we might need to propose
to cut. Dr. Pixley. >> Yeah. Um, one thing uh maybe just to help add to the dialogue. I know was really confusing for me too is you know you see articles that were saying we get we had a 6% uh increase in in budget and so you know it's kind of a hard thing to
reconcile but what what really important I think for everyone to understand is while maybe at the state level more money is going into education seemingly when you have an increase 30% of insurance and 50% in some places it's not nearly enough to leave districts
without a deficit that must be covered by cuts and or by um increasing taxes. So that that it's it's too hard to reconcile those two things. So if you could say it more eloquently than me, but I think that's really important. >> No, not working.
>> Sorry. I I think when people talk about a 6% increase in state aid, um but that's only of the money that the state provides to us. So 6% of $34 million is a couple hundred,000
and we're looking at a a 1.5 or now $1.1 million increase to our health insurance. So that it's really um the percentage is really not of equal value if that makes sense. >> And it was 6% of the $5 million we get
or $6 million we get in aid. Right. Right. So, um, and I actually would like to explain a little bit about the state aid situation because I actually think that this could be an opportunity to reach out to assembly members and our
senator and the governor's office because the state funding formula um, last year we had a 3% cut in our state aid. This year we have a 6% cut, but that's because or 6% increase. But last
year our cut in state aid was actually supposed to be $1.1 million. That's how much we were supposed to get cut. That would have been 20% of our It would been It would have been awful. Um the state decided to limit the amount
that you could lose to 3% last year. They did the same thing this year. This year we should have gotten $970,000 but they limited that to 6% increase. So what's insane to me is that the state
thought that even though everything was exactly the same in the district are um the number of kids we have like mo most of it was very stable. you're talking about a $2 million swing in aid from
year to year. That that's the way the formula would work. And I mean that just makes everything extraordinarily difficult. Um so we were you know l by limiting it last year that saved us last year. Limiting it this year really did end up hurting us. We would not be in
this situation if we had 970,000 or 600 extra thousand. That's >> that would have been perfect. Yeah, >> actually that would have been perfect. >> Can I ask you a question? So, I'm I'm interested to hear a bit more about the process because I think you know people
the board comes in and sees a slideshow. We get it a few days earlier and public sees a slideshow. I think it's it's important to kind of wrap our heads around the weeks in some cases, you know, months that this takes. So, so am I understanding correctly that um and
Dr. Susa, you ask when you get a sense these that the that the budget's going to be a painful one. Um, you ask the principles to kind of go go out to their staff and uh ask people you know what is the most important where you know where
does the data suggest we might be able to cut some things. They put their recommendations together then it moves up the ladder to the central leadership team and then you all look at it in conjunction with the board members on that team. I mean, how long does that take from start to finish? >> Yeah, so we start the bud. So, just to
clarify a couple things, we start the budget process around um October, November, excuse me, October, November um for the um leadership team. So, they get a budget manual. We review it with financing facilities and let them know that um we're starting the process. So,
each of our leader members of the leadership team builds their uh their budget um for our at the local level for the schools. It's um um I want to say it's more cut and paste. It's a very much that we they get
a per pupil spending. So the state tells us how much at each in each building is a per pupil spending. So what we do for at the building level is we tell them this is how many students you have times um the dollar amount and then that's your budget and then what do you want to
do with it. So the principles do that and then at the more department level whether it's curriculum and instruction um or ed services um counseling health and wellness they you know for our school counselors things like that they build um and the nurses they build
budgets um for their wish list items uh then they meet with myself and Denise and they go through and that's typically where we go through their budget and say um no baby yes uh for some of the wish list items And that usually becomes what
we try to do is some of the things that might be um uh expendit there might be some things that we could spend out of this year's budget if we have a little savings that we didn't encumber. So sometimes we might say okay that's something we can buy this year put that in. That means we can remove it from
next year's to help balance the budget. Uh for some of them we look at like if it's professional development, we turn to our executive director and say, "Hey, can title 2A pick up the professional development or could that be used for since all of our schools now are title one funded schools? Oo, could that be a
title one funded something?" Um, you know, or if it's an ESL need, oh, can we budget, can we use title three funds for that? So, we start like looking at all these different options on how to pull stuff from their budgets during that time, um, but be able to find it
somewhere else. So, we do a lot of that um in the late fall going into the winter. Then, usually over winter break, uh Denise doesn't work. She works her magic at home and kind of puts all of that together and then shares with me where we're at um in terms of like how
much over budget we are. Then from there, we go back and say everybody has to cut insert percentage. So, everyone has to cut 5%, everyone has to cut 10%. So then they and I usually let the leadership team then prioritize where they want to cut from their budget. Uh
then they come back to us. We kind of redo our our our figures a little bit. Um and this sort of just kind of is an ongoing process where we'll go back and sometimes we just make the cuts like we'll go back in and say cut this, take this out, take this out, take this out. Um you know uh and we just kind of do
that along the way. We scrutinize every line item. Uh we have you know try to make projections on students um needs and stuff like that. Um and that's sort of where we land. >> And that that leadership team, it includes representation of each of the schools, right? So the principles are on
it. Uh the assistant principles, >> every member of the administrative team is on it. >> Okay. So these are not cuts that are sprung on the schools in the dark of night. I mean this is a six months consultative process where a lot of painful decisions are you know sort of
broached and then you go back to look at it consider it more and then you then after all that you have the slide. >> Yeah. So the but the the other piece of that though there the personnel part of that which is the majority of your budget if you listen to the auditor's
presentation very engaging presentation from our our auditors and you look at that pie chart majority of our budget is is human resource capital is uh salaries and benefits benefits makes up a big chunk of that. Um, that's not decisions that are happening during that budgeting
cycle until once the budget is finalized and we look at where we have to close. If we're looking at $1 million, asking somebody to save a couple dollars on paper quite honestly is not really going to help the grand scheme of things where we're talking when we have to cut $1.5
million. We're talking about personnel. So what we do then is I make that list of the level three non- required by the state non-legal requirements and then from there I ask the leadership team please provide me data on students in
intervention. Please provide me students participating in our extracurricular activities and sports. Please provide me data on insert how many people are using our mental health services and what what does that look like? please provide me data on. So if if you're um a staff
member and you were asked, hey the superintendent needs your intervention data or needs this data set, you know, it's because I am pulling those reports. So I ask my leadership team, pull me a report on this, pull me a report on that, gather this information, gather it. I don't tell them anything about it. Just gather it and then I look at it to
try to make sense of that data. Um and then from there we that's where I use it to to make that list for you. Ju just one more thing. So from my here's kind of where I'm going with this. So from my point of view, the the slide up there that says these are the positions that
if we don't raise taxes at all or above 2%, these are all the ones that have to go. Um you know, of course, it's always possible that, you know, there are positions, administrative ones outside that slide. Maybe it's but that are
better candidates. But given the kind of process you're describing, it would take a lot to convince me at least that that was the case. But I'm really eager to hear what people in the community think about. Yes. Anything you want to talk about, but especially
um the positions, the personnel on that slide. You know, there's the social studies teacher, there's the nurse, there's the four administrative assistants, there's the um there's some others. uh uh uh there's the maker space, there's a media center, and there's raising taxes. That's kind of,
you know, the the pieces we have to play with. So, of course, we're always have I'm always happy to hear anything the public has to say, but especially in thinking about what, you know, the important decisions we have to make over the next couple of weeks. help us to understand which of those pieces are the
biggest priority for you and include in that universe the the t you know the tax question and we will take that very seriously and we have room now to move things around which is we didn't have early and I got to say I can't imagine
how much work it must have been to you know find that savings some of it was a dex market from the state some of it wasn't so thank you for all that work and now we have some room thanks to the work that people have done. So please let us know what we should do with it. >> Uh one thing just to say uh about this
iterative process that's a thing Ethan for you and others too to hear about. So an example uh when you're did projections and and thinking about the interventionist at Bartle I know because I was on the subcommittee for the ESSA um where we were able to actually get
some funds at Irving right and so those are the kind of things where you're looking at you know so in that case I think there was a part-time that was able to be pulled from from ESSA funds and so you have to think about where you might be able to use those funds and that was just an example where I know we were able to gain some resources uh
creatively um but that I think we've exhausted those creative avenues at this point. That's just one where, you know, I thought was useful. >> Hi, I have a question. It's Mon'nique here. >> Hi, Monique. Go ahead. >> Hi, thank you. I appreciate this discussion and you know I am encouraged
uh by the you know the updates that we have received tonight. But Dr. Sessa, can you talk a little bit about um you know what the administration's understanding is at this time of the anticipated impact of a potential interventionist reduction at Bartle? you just want to hear a little bit more
about you know think considering the current impact the current number of students you know benefiting from the service um and just you know give us a little bit more information on that particular item. >> Sure. So I know that uh at the uh tenative budget my recommendation was to
um that we are regardless of by the way the interventions we are seeking out the high impacts tutoring grants. So, the New Jersey Department of Education did push out more high impact tutoring grants that um we are going to be applying for. So, my hope is that we can utilize those um regardless of our
situation uh to help um our student needs um with the math intervention. Um we had um some some um staff uh personnel things that happened. One
was we had to pull one of the math interventionists to be a classroom teacher because uh for the world that exists finding really good high quality or any long-term uh leave replacements especially in math instruction in fourth grade was very problematic. Um we had no
candidates and so we had fourth grade students losing out on math. So we pulled one of the math interventionists to cover for that position. Um there was another personnel issue that caused another staff member to um be out a little bit. So unfortunately right now that's the issue is that that data isn't
significant because we haven't had anybody in there to do that and we were really trying our hardest. Um it was actually my um communication to them to to to the um to the principles to say at no cost at no expense are you going to
cut take these positions out because it's all that's always been sort of a reoccurring theme here is when we're we're low on staff we're pulling those people. Um, and we it was Defcon 5 and we had to make a decision. Um, and it was um to service those fourth grade
students. So, uh, we pulled them. So, right now the math intervention doesn't suggest necessarily that we need it, but I know we do. Um, so if we talked about positions I'd like to potentially bring back from the list because our
achievement gap is significant, that would be a high priority item for me. Um, but I want to hear from the board and from the community in terms of that would definitely be an area. But I will say um um my hope is that um one of the things I I know I put on a slide that we were
prioritizing uh let me go back to it. Uh under included the fourth bul uh third bullet um under included is a math program K5. So we're really excited. We're at the final stages of our data collection on our pilot program for that. So, please
stay tuned for the April 27th board meeting to hear some more information about that. Um, so the recommendation most likely will be coming, I'm thinking in May, uh, to adopt formally a program, which is really great. I'm hopeful that that will help close the gap. So maybe
over time with full day preschool for all three and four year olds over time. The idea is hopefully we will see less gaps. To say that they won't exist is probably not going to happen given the transient nature of our population here in Highland Park. However, we might need to see I'm hoping to see less of the the
role of a tier three pullout intervention um over time, but right now we're not there yet. >> Thank you. So, if I'm understanding correctly, we have we've been underutilizing even without the hard data, right? But
we correct we've been underutilizing our broad up to now, right? Just to needs and other areas. Um and and I think we do know that interventionists don't just help with filling kind of skill gaps, but they also address sort of the our
broader goal of differentiation right in the classroom. And so, you know, for me, I'm just thinking about the impact of making sure that we, you know, can do what we can to hold on to the interventionists that we have and utilize them as we should be because it's not only talking about target
intervention for students who um need it the most, but it benefits the broader classroom, right? And the teacher in terms of really achieving this long um term goal of ours of um of differentiating our our classrooms instruction.
>> Yes. Correct. So, not only do they provide that tier three pull out support for intervention, but they do a lot of work with supporting in um in like a sort of a coaching role to help with the teachers um in the classroom too by providing so they sit out on our intervention and referral services INRS
committees uh to make recommendations on um interventions that could help uh for a level a tier one or level one um uh support in the classroom. So helping teachers with, you know, instructional strategies in the classroom to help students that are struggling before they
get there. So yes, Mon'nique, they're they're utilized in a variety of different ways. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Uh in addition to the interventionist, I think uh both from the public, but I think on the board too, we're also concerned about the nurse. Um, and I
know as you went through the some of the budget process, I think you realized there were some uh existing contracts that weren't used that kind of their full capacity that would remove some of that workload. I wonder if you could talk a little about that. >> Oh, it was just the physicals, the the
athletic physicals. So, in the tenative budget, we were talking about that. So, we discovered um that we were underutilizing our service with Dr. Walmarmac um from um uh uh Robert Wood. Oh, sorry. He had a brain uh brain lab
somewhere where uh he's located out of out of Robert Wood. So, after reviewing that contract really closely, we found we were underutilizing that service. Um so, we have the district doctor um and Dr. Wmac and and his team are able to do a lot of that work and reviewing physicals and stuff like that. So that
was going to help alleviate um some of the the sort of more administrative tasks of um of the nurse. >> Yeah. So it just it really is just reducing on the physical like load on say all the other kind of things they provide.
>> Correct. So some of the data around the nurse um was looking at um so we did look at the legal requirements and the best practice requirements and then what other local districts were doing. So, we did look at all of those uh three data points. So, one was the legal requirement is that a district is
legally required to have one school nurse per district. Um that's which I don't even agree with. I'm not sure how that's a legal requirement, but that is a legal requirement. And there are some districts that do have one nurse for an entire district. Um we looked at uh Middle Sex County schools and a lot of
districts that are servicing um uh as as um close as Dunellan that service between their middle and high school one nurse. they have a shared nurse. Um some other schools that were operating around just one school operating around a thousand to600 kids were operating with one school nurse. So we kind of
collected that data to look at what um services and then the other data that we looked at was around the utilization of the nursing services because I don't want the health services impacted for our students. So what are the uses of the school nurse? Um and the majority of
the um uh reporting that we're seeing is utilizing it for um bathroom services. Um which can be utilized in another capacity for students that still need to access that bathroom. They still have access to it. Um but we can you know kind of look at it through a different
lens um but making sure that the medical needs that our students need um and any kind of uh emergency services and things like that are still being required. So that was that data set that we were using to um to make an informed decision around going to a shared model.
>> Thanks. Uh thank you for clarifying that. Um on from somebody as somebody that works in school wellness has worked in a school, prioritizing health and safety for our students is number one for me. knowing how often I did have to
contact my nurse and how, you know, how much of a struggle it was if that nurse was out that day, I really do hope that we can prioritize access to our students. Um, you know, regardless of what the bathroom data is, high
school is complex. Um, when we think about nurses, I think we think of them very traditionally, but there are so many roles that a nurse plays. They are eyes and ears. They are tier one. they are mental health screening. They do all of those things even though it's not
maybe within the job description. Um so, you know, I just wanted to share that that's what my priority is like is is health and safety. Um and so, you know, I hope that we can prioritize that moving forward. >> Thank you. I'm going to have to agree with Allison with the health and safety
because I come from healthcare and I know how overworked uh nurses can be and if we're giving we're doubling up now what their workload and their case load, it's going to burn them out. It's going
to have some students missed when they really need the help. Um but I also want to say it's they're not just going for the bathroom. There's sanitary napkins in there that they don't have access to in the other bathroom. So that is a that is a health issue as well.
So I have intervention and nurse. Okay. Thank you. Any other comments from the board? Um, I just wanted to say that following up what Sarah said about creative ideas that we've they've gotten us in pretty good shape until now and I don't think I think we still are is um I
noticed in one of the schools that I was with reading online one of their increases in cost was prek and yet we have put our you have put ourselves in a position where we're increasing one class and additional 15 students um which is wonderful for them and
wonderful for their families and long-term for us in terms of achievement and it's Not am I correct to say it's not costing us any additional money, right? Because that's because we got into the prek program at the early stages where the government where the governor was funding it differently than
it's funded now. So I think that's that's a big plus for us. Other districts are struggling to keep that going if they got into it at a later time. So we'll be up to 90 students in our prek next year. 105, excuse me. So that's that's impressive. And that's not an increase
in our budget, which is which is helpful. >> Yeah. Correct. Ethan, >> sorry. >> Uh, yeah, Nikki just said something which really I hadn't thought of. You know, it is an absolute shame to lose a social studies teacher. Um, but there's
a lot of other teachers and to teach social studies as well. I I I hadn't thought about this. you lose one nurse out of two, that doubles the workload for the existing nurse. Even if that was not a terrible idea, which I'm open to,
it's very subtle. And I just feel like if we can have a have a longer run, I mean, I feel like the sort of in addition to prioritizing instruction, I think minimizing the sort of culture shock is
really important. Um, and that is an area where the the culture shock could be big and we're sort of uh out of luck. It doesn't work very well. I also just wanted to speak like it is a very difficult decision to make because I know myself my taxes are very very
high and we are struggling um you know and I know that a lot of our community is in that same uh you know position and it's very hard to look at raising taxes to an extent where
we almost did last year because we did ask a lot of the community last year I think we raised it 6% we and to do that twice in a row almost would be a very significant ask. So I do hope that um you know we hear from the community in terms of what they
would like us to you know think about um but I think it's going to be about balance at least for me. >> Dr. Pixley I know you want to say something. I think that's a great point and what I think about is you know this is clearly
a problem the increases in in healthcare and you know 20 30% 50% um and that's really out of our control and so when I think about as a community member like what can we do where can we enact change to make sure that we're not in the same
position next year what would you recommend we do as people who want to galvanize around this chronic problem that's really going to hurt education in New Jersey. >> Yeah, it really is. So, good good question. So, to piggyback on what Miss Bardman said regarding contact local
legislation regarding the S2 funding formula, um where it's the same formula, they're just changing the weight to make it work. So, it's not really equitable. Um the other is contactor legislation about healthcare reform in the state of New Jersey in particular. It's called
chapter 44, uh which governs healthcare. Like I said, um I don't think that they were anticipating what they've got now. um chapter 44 doesn't sunset until 2028 2027. So around that is when it sunsets. Uh so my concern is that if if they
don't do some fasttrack legislative reform um the conversations I've been hearing through um the superintendence because we all are struggling with this um is that either the state has to make a decision either some sort of reform on
chapter 44 or um that they force every school district to go into the state plan. So, it's like either all go into the state plan to make that work or reform on chapter 44 because I'm not sure how the next couple of years, any school district in the state of New
Jersey can survive, especially given light that the GLPS are turning pill form now. So, anybody who may have been hesitant around the miracle weight loss drug through the injection will now have access to a pill. Um, so I anticipate that things
will only get worse for school districts in the state of New Jersey. So, um, it is problematic. Um, so if you can contact your legislation about reform chapter 44, um, that's what, uh, the local superintendents in Middle Sex and and myself are doing.
I'd just like to add to that that um you know some of these cost increases didn't hit us um earlier because we left the New Jersey school employees plan earlier um saved us a million dollars one year.
Um and so we could have been dealing with these kinds of increases for the last two years if we hadn't left. However, that's putting because districts like ours are leaving um that's leaving that entire program in a death spiral. So, it's it's not working
for anyone right now. All right. Anything else from members of the board? >> Are we working? Oh, okay. You're working. Okay. So, um I just want to piggyback on what you said,
um contacting legislators. I know that this town knows how to organize. >> So, if there is a big organization or organizing of people, it can really um it can really bring some light to it to the whole idea and probably make better
change and maybe other other districts will follow suit. >> Thank you. Any other questions or comments from the board? Mon'nique. >> No, thank you. >> Okay. >> From the community.
>> Okay. All right. That concludes my report. Thank you. >> Sorry. I'm just kidding. That does not conclude my report. Hold on. Sorry. Go ahead. >> So I um I know that on on the list are um the media center
and administrative assistance. Could you clarify what exactly those positions entail? Like what what like I guess a brief job description of what it is? >> The maker space as well. I'm not >> maker space too. >> Oh, so makerpace is a program at the
middle school um that offers financial literacy and technology standards for students at the middle school. Um and then uh assistant administrative assistants are additional secretaries. They're secretaries. We have two categories. So, some secretaries uh
throughout the district um and media center specialists um uh govern the uh libraries, but also they do media literacy um out of uh the uh we have two and a half in the district um that
oversee the um curation of library materials, media materials, and um media literacy like helping students um and teachers navigate like EPCO host post and searching criteria and um online um you know good effective online searching
and things like that. >> There actually are like one in each school. So we have one that's middle and high school >> um one at Bartle and then a part-time one at um Irving. >> Okay. because I do think that that's something that is important if they're
teaching them um media and understanding media and knowing the difference between fact and um you know fiction and you know because there's a lot of information out there. The webs the web is really big and there's a lot of misinformation out there and it's really
good to have you know our students know how to tell the difference. >> Thank you. But we also have the um the dollar values for each of the non-supported um bullet points so that we can quantify which how much savings each one of those is.
>> Yeah. So the plan is going to be like I said I'm taking detailed notes. So from the board's perspective a balance of maybe some some version of some cuts plus increased taxes but not terribly much is what I'm hearing from the board. that would include supporting um uh
maintenance of the math interventionists, uh a school nurse, um and potentially media center specialists as priority items. What I'll do is hear from members of the community. I'll take detailed notes around that as well. Um and then what my plan is going to be is taking all of this information um going
back to it, taking that priority list and then giving it to uh we'll we'll speak about it in finance and facilities and share it um as part of the the final budget uh presentation. Okay, that now concludes my report. Thank you.
Okay, now we're moving on to our public comment section um on the 2026 2027 budget. Um I just want to clarify a few things. I know there's a lot of people here. We're going to prioritize people uh who came in person
first. Um we are going to do a 3minut limit um time limit but also very genuinely like we added this meeting because we understand the severity of what we're talking about here and we
desperately want to hear the feedback from staff from the community like what we as a community value. It's these are very difficult decisions and we very genuinely want to hear from you about
what the values are. Um so you know just please uh let's yeah um so uh the Highland Park Board of Education welcomes public participation and has reserved this time for your
comments on the 2026 2027 budget. you uh introduce yourself. Please give your name and address. >> Okay, let me let me sign that first. Maybe I can do two things at once. >> We could put that form on the table so
that the people waiting to speak can sign. I am Rob Scott and I am a Highland Park taxpayer and I'm a voter and I believe in democracy and I'm here
today because of that and I like all this talk about values and priorities and that's what we do when we make a budget, right? We do our values and then priorities and then we make the budget. But the budget is also math. So I read
the prior thing and I looked at it very closely and there was missing math and there were admissions and it was a very frustrating experience for me. Uh and there's still omissions. And the very last question that was asked, there were two great questions from the board. Um
Dan, you got at something very early on. Um and it's going to come to a key number that I'm going to offer which is 127,000. And then that other question, what is the cost of the proposed cuts? Because I'm here because I don't like those proposed cuts because
I don't want maker space cut because that's the kind of thing that put the Artemis astronauts on the moon, right? And our students deserve that. And that's what I want. Okay? And I don't want a ticket lying down in the Trump era that we're not going to do that. And I want a school nurse cuz I believe in
public health, right? And I want a social studies teacher, right? Cuz that was really important for me. And I want those interventionists because I want services for disabled people like me and for our students. I want all those things. They're good and taking those
away is a harm. The negligence in the budget. There's all this talk about process, right? Like if the process was perfect, then we should love the outcome, right? But we can also judge by the outcome. The outcome is that question, that essential fundamental question. How much does the school nurse
cost? What does it cost to restore the school nurse? What does it require? We don't have those numbers. I can't do the math. I like to do spreadsheets, right? But I can't do the math because we don't have those numbers. So, let me give you a little bit of math. One thing
that I noticed in the first presentation was the whole slide about expenses, which is missing here, right? And there was an emission of a number which was the difference between what we spent this year and what's proposed to be spent next year. And that told me
something very important. That told me this this was an austerity budget about cuts notwithstanding all the stuff about the healthcare because the budget proposal the preliminary budget proposal was a cut of $127,000 right from last year. So it's a budget
where we spend next year less than we're spending this year right which seemed bonkers with state aid going up right now. If we knew how much the school nurse caught, I'll bet that $127 we cover it.
It's my guess. I don't know, but it wasn't in the supers presentation. So now we hear I had to do the math quickly, right? But we get $225,000 of money that apparently we've been spending all along that we were never allowed to spend. Oops. We get that plus
the um uh the money because uh we decided, oh, we can do something else with theic prescriptions. That's excellent. I don't think it's that creative though. I mean, it's sort of the obvious thing to do. So, that comes to uh I think it was $61,000.
Now, we can raise and if we go to the maximum tax amount, >> Rob, we're um past 3 minutes. >> Can you give me Can you wrap it up? >> I'll wrap it up. Yeah, I can do that. uh add in just uh a small increase on top of that and now we got 900 grand if
we do 5.1.3%. Which I think many people in this town would be fine with. The cost of that $127,000 just to put this in perspective to the average taxpayer is $2.61 a month. That's go to Dunkin Donuts or
don't go to Dunkin Donuts once a month and don't spend $2.79 on a cup of coffee. And you know what? I want our kids to have maker space and a nurse and be future astronauts. And I am willing to sacrifice my coffee or my
Netflix subscription. Thank you. Hi. Uh, Nicole Marion, 1701 Cherry Street. Uh, but from here forward, I'm going to be speaking on behalf of Janie Majer, the high school nurse. Unfortunately, she couldn't be here with us this evening, but as I start reading this document that she wrote, uh, the
eyes will all be Janie. Good evening. I am speaking tonight in order to provide the facts so you are in a position to make an informed decision about combining the middle school and high school nurse. I am in the position to do so as I am the nurse in the high school and have been for the past 20
years. At the last meeting, the board asked appropriate questions about combining the middle and high school nurse. I do not believe you received accurate answers to your questions. Once before, there was only one nurse and I was that person, the middle high school
nurse for eight years. I was housed in the high school. This was physically challenging to say the least, having to run to the fields. the third floors in each building, attend meetings for both schools, conduct registration and sports physicals for both schools was a lot. I
was a lot younger then. I was very concerned for the safety of our students, especially in emergency situations. A new superintendent came in and understood the concerns, the needs of the different age groups and the workload of two schools and a middle
school nurse was hired. At the last meeting, you were made to believe that once we stop the bathroom visits to the nurse, the nursing visits will decrease. According to code, the nurse's office must have a bathroom. It can be adjacent. Furthermore, it is not only
inaccurate but offensive to suggest that the primary function of the nurse is to provide bathroom visits. Students who use turn styles to sign in and log in bathroom does not mean that there is no clinical contact. The number of visits is high for a number of reasons,
including the policy to have a genderneutral bathroom, the new policy of closure of high school bathrooms on the first floor on the afternoon, and students being told to go to the nurse's bathroom if needed. The nurse's bathroom is the only location for menstrual
products, and many students come to lay down to use the heating pad or need Tylenol for their cramps. We also have many students who come in with tears or emotional issues that need to be dealt with on the spot. The other question you asked was how sports physicals were
going to be managed. I just want to let you know what it it what is entailed. A student hands in the sports physical. The nurses check it. If something is missing, if the cardiac or other clearance is needed or the wrong forms,
the patients and parents are notified and the form is returned to the student. Oftentimes, the student's doctors needs to be called. If the form is fine, it is entered into Genesis and there are appropriate sports roster cover sheet is applied for our school's doctor to
approve. There are many emails between the coaches and the nurse updating information regarding physicals and injuries. Even with the summer hours to do the physicals that come in for fall sports, there are still physicals that arrive for fall, winter, and spring seasons. To give you an idea, from
September 18th to March 1st, 362 physicals came in. The only role our school doctor has is approving and signing off and rubber stamping them. Please also consider the role of the school nurse and the state mandates when
you are making this decision. 836 screenings. IHPs, registration, immunization records, incident reports for student and staff, home instruction, 504s, the emergency preparedness, PE and attendance notes, and medication
administration, diabetic and asthmatic students. In other words, a lot of fall a lot falls on the shoulders of a school nurse. At the last meeting, you mentioned bringing out of district students back into the district. These students are often medically needy and will only put an additional load upon a
single nurse. I know this is not an easy decision to make and budgets require careful attention. When I did the job, I had a full-time clinical parah who was able to assist with inputting information into Genesis, helping with the sports physicals, helping with the filing, and supervising the nurse's
office while she was not present. I have heard talk that there are districts with only one nurse. This is not correct. Yes, they can have one certified school nurse as required by code, but many of these have an RN working under a CSN. I
suggest we consider doing the same. Hiring an RN for the high school, saving costs by not hiring a CSN. Perhaps cutting a nurse will save some money, but most likely not as much as you think. And it will have a cascading effects that will touch everything from academics to athletics and most
important to the physical and emotional needs of our students. Thank you to Jamie Mer. My name is Karen Kelly. I'm the school nurse from the middle school. >> Sorry, can you hear me now? Okay. I'm the school nurse from the middle school. I do not live in town. I live in South
Planefield. Um, however, when I took this job 5 years ago, um, it was what I dreamed of doing. I can now say that I can't imagine being anywhere else. I can't imagine taking care of any other students than our middle school
students. Um, that being said, I'm sorry. I would like to speak about the elimination of the nursing position and the merger of the middle school and the high school and the health offices. I feel that there there is no need to repeat anything that nurse Mer said. Um,
there will be some things that I'm going to repeat, but I think they need to be repeated. Um, but I would like to echo those things and these duties and some of them do go uncounted. As far as the nursing service plan, some of those things that go uncounted are
unexpected emergencies, clerical duties, seeing students when they need to be seen for bathroom or other reasons, um, when they become emotional, when there is a health emergency for one of our staff members that we can't track. when there is an emergency as far as um
leaving the building. Each office presently each nurse each office sees about 18 to 25 students a day. This is a full capacity. When I say that, that is not including
our bathroom visits. I know that for a fact because Miss Mer has her students sign in and out for a bathroom. I do not. our students who come in through my bathroom. Maybe it's my mistake, but they have a smart pass. So, we have a
way of tracking our students with a smart pass. So, we know they're in our bathroom, but we do not have them I do not have them sign in and out in Genesis. It does change our numbers and scale them a little bit. But some of our students who come in and out, they may
be sitting in here. They may just be walking across the hall to use my bathroom instead of walking down the hall. So that's why I don't have them do it. Um, we also have
an amount of seven students who need daily meds between both schools. We have five students with diabetes who need constant or intermittent monitoring along with compensation and insulin and and teaching. We had one new student this two new students this
year that were brand new diabetics that we need to take time to teach them about their diabetes and their routines. We have 86 students that have as needed medications. That includes our asthma medications or insulin medications if somebody goes into diabetic shop or
needs a glucose um boost. We also have students who have EpiPens and allergies. We also have students who have cardiac issues that don't have medication that we would need to go see if they were needed to be seen. We also have students
who have a seizure disorder who have seizure medications. By the way, some of these medications that they're on for as needed medications, they cannot be delegated to a to a lay person. um medications such as val V valtoco and um nephy which we don't have any nephew as
of yet which is the nasal epinephrine cannot be >> um I'm sorry we're at the limit so could you wrap it up >> some of the some of the concerns that we were that I had was the age span between the two the the groups between high school and middle school the age span is
18 is 10 to 21 some of these students might not be comfortable they may not seek medical attention they may not want to discuss whatever they're feeling or whatever they're doing in that in that span. I also would like to present the fact
that if there is one nurse, what happens if there's one child who is in the nurse's office being attended to and there's an emergency out on the field? There's an emergency in a calf, there's an emergency in the hallway, there's an emergency in the classroom, there's an emergency out on the field,
who's who's caring for that student who is out who's in the office? Finally, I would like to just present the board with a presentation for you to present for you to peruse on your own time.
Um, this is a halfyear report of all the numbers of all the services that the nurses provide. Um, it is pulled from Genesis. It is the halfyear report from the
nursing service plan. It is the dates I used for from September till April. Um, and is quite quantitative. So, it will show you exactly what happens in a nurse's office, what we do in a nurse's office, and I just would like to um have
you use it when you are making those decisions. Thank you. >> Thank you. Hello, I'm Ellie Springer Lipton and I'm a student in the middle school. I I do not know about budgets and these complex
things. But what I do know is that I have relied on a nurse my entire throughout this entire district. I have connected with them. But one person, one nurse standed out from them and that was nurse kill. But I also feel calling her a nurse is a disturbance to her because
she's much more than that. She's a mentor, a teacher, a someone I can learn from. But most importantly, besides being a nurse, she's a friend. And I I I want to give every new middle
schooler to have that experience as her. I want everyone to be able to experience that. And if we have one big middle school, not middle school, one one nurse, not each student, each student who feels this way, who and I go there almost every single day and I am not
joking when I say that and so many others too. I I would know more than most people that so many students consistently go there and most and some for medically re medical reasons, but a lot for just emotional reasons. But and to take that away to take the that that
I preferably have caused like like when I have a good day, I will say to nurse Kelly, I will tell her I had a good day today. I she is someone who I can trust and I I'm not going to speak for the high school nurse because I do not know
her, but I I bet you that a lot of people feel the same way about her. Thank you. Hi, I'm Abby Stern Cardell. I live on Harper Street. Um, I have a couple quick questions and I know there's a lot of people talking, so I'm going to be relatively quick. Just some um
>> Abby, could you move the mic? I really I have a ice maker in my >> Is that better? Is that okay? Um, so just a couple quick uh questions kind of along the lines of the math and the money. Um, so in terms of the two ways
that money was saved, um, as Rob said, it's $61,000. Um, and I'm also curious how much each of those items cost, but a quick mental math, uh, says that I counted there are eight positions. Um, so that's not counting the maker space, but the rest
were positions. One of them, my understanding, is going to be cut regardless, so that leaves seven. Um, again, doing the quick mental math, if all of those people made $100,000, which I doubt they all do, that's 700,000. So, when you take that away, that's not far from 600,000. We can save a lot of these
positions. Um, I, you know, I'm not going to speak to any one position, but to me, there's also, um, kind of the perspective of I don't want to pit people's kind of professions and what they put everything into. So many of these people play multiple roles and
everything that I've heard people say, but I also know the administrative assistants play more than just, you know, like a small role. Like everybody plays a large role. So I also want to just recognize that these are people's lives. We're talking about them as line items, but they're also people's lives.
And I know we all know that, but I just want to recognize that here. Um, I am in favor of the 4% or whatever percent tax increase. I think that that is uh perfectly reasonable. Again, seeing other towns like Edison proposing 12%,
we are nowhere near that. We need to again preserve these services. Um if we start to make these cuts, it not only affects the quality of our school, but our community and people wanting to move here. What we want to do is have people want to move here for our great
schools and not that we're, you know, cutting these critical services. When people move here, we get more taxpayers. we get more of a, you know, tax benefit to everybody, but we need to have a good school district and making some of these cuts. Again, I'm not going to go over the specifics because they all serve
critical roles, uh, specifically the people, but I think we need to do the, um, tax increase, which honestly is not that much. So >> speak if you could just like maybe hold the mic up just so that the people home can also hear. Thank you.
>> Is this high enough that you can hear me? >> Yeah. Thank you. >> Okay. Hi Andy Zappo 131 Johnson Street. So this uh the fundamental issue in front of the school board this evening is not really a funding problem. It's a priorities problem that you guys need to focus upon. So, the school nurse, I'm
going to have to hold this up closer because as I age, it's just hard for me to read uh things that are close to my face. Nurse's office is not a medical office. It may be the one place in this building and the one next to it where there are no rules attached. Some kids go there because it might be the only
safe place they have. You can't put a ratio on that. How many of us have walked into a hospital when there was a loved one there and as soon as we walked in the room, we saw the nurse standing next to their bedside and half of our problems went away? That's what that nurse is to that person in the school,
the makerpace teacher. You might be cutting the one person in this in this school who is actually capable of teaching kids the responsible use of AI because she's an IT professional from her background. Have you thought about reallocating and maybe thinking about that as a broader way to use the
position? They could teach the educator something as well. Uh social or librarian rather the media person. Schools teach to the test. This is just a fundamental fact. And a library is an institution where children discover what they love, who they are, what they need
beyond a grade. These are institutions that are usually the institutions. When democracy starts to fail, they crumble. That cannot be what this school holds as a value or this schoolboard holds as a value. Cannot let it get buried in a budget line. The same applies to a
social studies teacher. Social studies, civics, history, social responsibility. This is how you create citizens in the United States or other countries throughout this globe. Again, you cannot put a value on that in this day and age. That cannot be a schoolboard value that
you guys want to allow. the interventionist. I was here to talk about CBEC a couple months back. I'm walking around the room and there's people in this room. I'm getting emotional because they were involved in the interventions with my son and the guy in the work and how he
found his confidence again and the make teacher was part of that. And the fact that I look around in a room and I see 12 to 15 people who are all part of my kids' education and think that you're going to cut away an interventionist from Bartle, you're going to kick the damn can down the road for a two, you
know, a kid between second and fifth grade and let the middle school handle it. It's ridiculous. It's ridiculous. You can't do it. And with the administrative folks, look, that's not an easy job. It's not a pretty job. But unless the administrators are the one that are going to take on the task, the
ones that got added, like the activities director, excuse me, athletic director or the superintendent's contract getting increased, that's not fundamental good use of money. The administrative assistants, they're the people at the bottom lines. They're doing all the hard work here. You have to find a way to
keep those jobs. And here's the thing. Why do you folks up here, you have higher education? you had to earn those credentials by being challenged on something and defend your data. So do the same thing for this district. Challenge what you're shown and stand up
and when you have to raise your hand in a vote, do it because you're doing it what is right, not because there's more hands up in the room and you feel weird about it. Thank you. Let me know if you can hear me. Elise. Okay, good. Hi, Board of Ed. My
name is Max Warren. I live at 2011 South Second Avenue. I currently function as a public school nurse in a middle school with over 1,000 students. So, let me paint a picture for you. Here's what it looks like. Eliminating a middle school nurse and expanding one nurse's responsibility to
over 800 students is not a neutral budget decision. It is a choice about what this district is willing to risk. Let me tell you what one of the nurses Let me tell you what one nurse for 800 students looks like to me. It looks like
having a child having an aszmatic episode while the nurse is managing a diabetic alert on the other side of the building. It looks like a student in a mental health crisis waiting because the nurse is dispensing medication to other children. It looks like a seizure, an
allergic reaction, a suspected abuse disclosure, and one person responsible for all of it. This is not a bathroom pass operation. This is triage for our most vulnerable
public health school students. As you've evidenced, this isn't a budget constraint. This is a choice. I request that the board of ed members challenge this choice as I intend to challenge it. I will be running for the board of education for the second time
because decisions like this are exactly why these seats matter. Thank you. Can you guys hear me? Budget cuts in a school district are often framed as necessary financial decisions, but the true cost extends far
beyond spreadsheets and bottom lines. When these cuts result in the loss of staff who genuinely care about students well-being, teachers, counselors, aids, administrative assistants, and support personnel, we risk undermining the very
foundation of education. These are individuals who notice when a student is struggling, who provide encouragement during difficult times and who help create a safe, supportive environment where learning can thrive.
Losing such dedicated staff is not just a reduction in numbers. It is a loss of relationships, trust, and stability for students who rely on these connections every day. For many students, especially those
facing challenges outside the classroom, these educators and support staff are a critical lifeline. Removing them sends a message that emotional support and individualized attention are secondary when in reality
they are essential to a student's success. If we are truly committed to preparing students for the future, we must recognize that their well-being is inseparable from their academic achievement. Cutting the very people who nurture, guide, and advocate for
students is a disservice that can have lasting consequences. Our students deserve more than just access to an education. They deserve a community who support them as whole individuals. Um, that's your name.
>> Um, hi, my name is Buffy Wall Greenberg. I'm a public school parent, 60 North 7th Avenue. Um, first I'd like the board to please lift the 3minut uh time cap and to invite anyone up who was cut off early, especially any staff members. Um, but I'd like to ask the board to please
lift the threeminut time cap for public comment tonight. kind of like a lot of people here don't know who on we have online that want to speak. So, I want to make sure we have the opportunity to do that. Would we be able to do like one or two minutes extra? Cuz
it seems like everybody's using about four or five. But I understand why we need to cap it. I mean, so what we can do is do four minutes. There's people there's also people online. We want everybody to have a chance to speak, but you know, we can also circle back through if somebody
wants to speak longer. Uh I think four minutes sounds fine. Everyone deserves a chance to speak. Uh and that means that some people don't speak for as long as they would like to. I think that's a good balance. I think we have to have a reasonable cap that
everyone in line and at home can say their peace and not be one o'clock in the morning. Um, okay. First, I just like to start that like this is really shameful. People should not have to come up here close to tears begging you not to cut
essential staff. We shouldn't have to have to stand up here and have a middle school student tell you, "Please don't cut the nurse. She's what gets me through the day." We shouldn't have to have the nurse come up here and say, "This is what I actually do." Right? So, you can look at this and be like, "Wow, what a great democracy. What a great
town." Yes, I totally agree. But this is also an absolute failure of the administration that any of us are in this position where we have to beg you don't cut an interventionist at Bartle who helps you know who helps people's kids learn how to read. Um
so those were not part of my remarks but it's just what I was feeling. So um Dr. Cisa's budget reflects priorities that are anothetical to our town's values. Her budget prioritizes high-paid administrators and surveillance cameras over a social studies teacher, a school
nurse, and other educators. This is a budget that asks those with the most to sacrifice the least. We need a budget that reflects our values, a budget that invests in our teaching and nursing staff, expands services for students with disabilities and creative programs like makerpace, and values the
administrative assistants who ensure our schools are run efficiently. Tonight, um, I've heard a lot of talk about numbers and I think it's important to put those in context. It can be awkward to talk about people's salaries, but one thing is we don't know is what
the salaries are associated with the positions that we want to cut. What we do know is that we are going to save about $225,000, which is great news. But again, let's put that number in context. That is approximately Dr. Susa's salary.
Currently, it's 194,000. in a few years it will be exactly 225 right so when we prioritize administrator salaries it means that we're taking money away from things that help our students um I heard a lot of people talk tonight talk about the school nurse which is what I was
planning to do as well I want to be very clear that while I'm focusing on the school nurse I stand in complete solidarity with each of the workers who the superintendent is seeking to cut if the middle school and high school nurse have to share one nurse the nurse's case load will go from about 300 45 students
to 854 students. The New Jersey legislature has considered several times capping the school nurse case load at a 750 students, which in my opinion is still too high. However, that has failed multiple times. But just to again give you guys some perspective that this is
really um really a a bad idea. Um, my son has type 1 diabetes and nurse Kelly um is the reason that he is safe and that he stays alive at school. Um, here's just a small sample of what she does. She monitors his blood sugars
remotely, his doctor's office for any high blood sugars. She calculates the carbs in his food and monitors his food intake. She ensures that he's given the correct amount of insulin for each meal and snack. She tests his blood sugar if there's an equipment failure. She
updates me throughout the day with any issues, including just a few hours ago, and sends me a daily report every afternoon. She treats his blood sugar lows quickly and calmly. If this is not done, he could have a seizure. He could fall unconscious, and he could die.
She's trained on his diabetes equipment, his injections, and his glucagon. She also creates a warm and welcoming environment for all children, particularly children who may have difficulty getting through the school day. She never sits down. She's constantly caring for students, talking to parents, or coordinating care for
field trips, which for a child with type 1 diabetes is extremely complicated and generally involves much more work than I think probably anyone in this room can imagine. Um, this is what she does for just one child, but he's not exceptional. She does this, she provides this level of
care for every student in the middle school. Last um on Friday, I spoke with the executive director of the National School Nurse Association, and I asked them, "How do you determine safe safe staffing ratios for schools?" They sent me a four-page position paper that they
published last year, which included more than two dozen data points that should be considered when you're determining staffing ratios in a in a school district. I didn't hear any of those data points discussed tonight. So my I'll end with a question which is one
has this board of education or the administration contacted the national student school nurse assoc excuse me the national school nurse association and have they conducted the assessment recommended? If they have can that be shared with the public tonight and
published on our district website? Thank you. >> Hi. Can you hear me? Um, my name is Darab Botfinick. I live at 348 Becker Street. I'm a teacher here at the middle school. I teach reading intervention. I've been blessed to be in the district for a long time and I'm very
appreciative of everyone's efforts and work on behalf of the district. Um, I wanted to I wanted to I'm going to bring it down. I wanted to actually echo a lot of what other people are saying, but my basic
message is that we are doing so well right now at the middle school and I don't know if people know that and I do want to speak on behalf of the entire staff and I think we we want to not rock the boat. We are moving in the right
direction. I do not I really really urge you nah if we can do this another way and we can raise taxes a little bit as a taxpayer I am saying I would rather pay a little bit more and keep us moving
forward. I think that is the big picture. I think we are thinking in a little way versus the really big the big progressive momentum um in the middle school. Whoops, I just lost it. I'm so
sorry. Hold on one second. Um, it just went away. I got it. Okay. In the middle school, we decreased our discipline infractions by 42.9%. You're It's huge. You can't talk about
taking away a cycle. If you think that's not going to impact our future, that's incorrect. We increase our ELA benchmark scores by 23.7%. We increase our math benchmark scores by
3.6. We are moving in the right direction. And this is perhaps the biggest one and this impacts well it's not the biggest but it's another big one. We are doing writing across the curriculum um and doing teaching models at more than I've
ever done in my entire experience at the middle school. And our current social studies teacher is a big part of that. Our secretary is Spanish speaking and a big part of that. Maker space is doing
writing across the curriculum in addition. and my children, I have two children who went through the district and they are both STEM and one of them is graduating with a PhD in applied math and one of them is studying physics. I urge you not to take away STEM from a
middle school curriculum. Um, I also want to speak to having been in the district for a long time, it was mentioned, but it was not really, I think, emphasized to the degree that I remember it. the middle school and the high school.
As a community, we have done an incredible amount to separate middle from high school to the extent that we created different schedules when we started, when we ended to actually go back to sharing a nurse. And you're going to ask a sixth grade girl or a
seventh grade girl or an eighth grade girl or an eighth grade boy or a sixth grade boy to go into a space with an 11th or 12th grade individual. It it's it's scary to me that we're having that conversation. So, I do recognize that
this is a hard time, but it sounds like we're very close. And my basic message financially speaking is give it another year. We are growing. If you can raise taxes a little bit or somewhat and keep things stable for this year, things
change yearly. Let's see what's going on next year. I really really ask you to keep all the positions in the district. Thank you. Can you hear me? Okay. Hi. Um, my name is Gina Dunaten. I am the maker space
and personal finance teacher at the middle school. I have proudly served the Highland Park School District for 22 years. My role has evolved alongside our students needs from providing computer s excuse me from providing computer support at Irving and Bartle to transitioning with our sixth graders to
the middle school. For over two decades, I have watched technology move from a peripheral elective to the very core of how our students live, work, and learn. In the middle school, sixth and seventh graders currently receive maker space. Sixth grade receives maker space for two
marking periods and seventh grade receives maker space for one marking period. And in eighth grade they have a class called personal finance which is required by the state to have that class before they graduate from middle school. In sixth and seventh grade we focus on
digital citizenship and use fuse to teach the engineering design process. With digital citizen citizenship we aren't just teaching kids how to use tools. We are teaching them how to be responsible digital citizens. This includes data privacy, identifying
fishing, and crucially how to use AI, artificial intelligence, effectively and eth ethically within the parameters of copyright law. We also use the Fuse program to uh which is a program that's developed by Northwestern University.
This um interest-driven steam lab offers 36 different challenges ranging from 3D design and printing electronic circuits to video game and coding. Because students choose their own path and level up based on their ability, it is one of the most naturally differentiated
programs in our district. Some of the real world impacts. The true value of this program is seen in the sparks it ignites. We are planting seeds in middle school that grow into careers and businesses. Entrepreneurship. One of my former students took the fundamental skills that he learned in my class,
specifically 3D design and vinyl cutting, and used this to launch his own business once he reached high school. Career pathways. We see a district pipeline from our middle school, maker space, to higher education. We have many alumni currently majoring in computer science, computer engineering, and other
STEM fields. In 8th grade, this is our fourth year. We pivoted to uh personal finance. Our students learn how to shop for bank accounts, file taxes. Every eighth grader this year will be able to fill out their own 1040 form. In the
eyes of a 14-year-old, I can proudly say that the impact is clear. Many of our former students have gone on to major in business, including finance, finance, investing, and management. We are giving them a head start on financial literacy before they ever receive their first paycheck. The risk of elimination. I
firmly believe that a well-rounded middle school experience must include a balance of art, theater, and maker space. If Fuse is no longer a feasible due to budget restrictions, the technology program at the middle school can be altered to allow students to be exposed to Steam without the expense of
Fuse. Fuse costs around $6,000 a year. Removing this program doesn't just eliminate a class, it eliminates a career spark for students who thrive in hands-on technical environments. Furthermore, we must consider the logistical impact. Eliminating this program would force our remaining
specials to absorb these students, likely spiking class sizes anywhere from 30 to 35 students. This would significantly diminish the quality of instruction for every student in the building. In closing, these are not just electives. They are vital life and career foundations. I ask you to
continue supporting a curriculum that prepares Highland Park students to be safe, financially literate, and technologically capable leaders. Thank you for your time and your dedication to our students. >> Hi. Oh, sorry.
Hi. My name is Ardan Lee. >> I don't have a script prepared, but I'm a current junior at Holland Park High School. And I was looking at this on Zoom and I realized, wow, high schoolers really have to do better. because looking in the crowd, there isn't a single one of my peers with us today.
But I'm here today because as a student of Highland Park, I realize that our staff members are truly what creates the environment that makes the educational impact of Highland Park so strong. And I'm here today to astonishly advocate against striking any of the positions
because as a student in both the middle school and the high school, I realize that the institutions where students learn are a microcosm of their democracy in the future. I'm someone that I would say is pretty civically engaged in Highland Park. But that doesn't start out of nowhere if you don't cultivate
the skills within an environment. If you know John Dwey, this is a core part of his educational pedagogy. It's something that I think Highland Park has long adopted. But this is directly threatened by the fact that we're currently proposing or maybe potentially not supporting a social study teachers, a
social studies teacher in the eighth grade and forcing one from the high school to move. I'm also stating this because I've seen the impact that our social studies teachers have had in our high school. This is the place where individuals realize that they could actually use their voice the way I am right now to speak in front of
individuals and show that their opinion has something that matters. This is what you see in ballot boxes in the future. And if we want to ever address the problem we have with voting today and voting turnout, that starts in the high school and in the middle schools. I also want to talk about the nurse a little because as an individual who has a
menstrual cycle and who has friends who have menstrual cycles, I don't think you guys realize that data points don't actually reflect how individuals are impacted by the programs that you're talking about. I know friends who have went to the nurse, found her unavailable in the moment due to maybe a lunch
break. That's normal. But then when they need something that's actually urgent, they go to the middle school nurse. I fear that if this isn't an opportunity anymore, you'll see health and safety access be extremely hindered. Individuals won't feel that the environment that they have
at school is a safe place where they could privately express their needs and their health needs. This is something that comes with student empowerment. It's something that we can't be considered lightly. I want to emphasize this again. data points are not reflective of how the student experiences different programs and also
the class sizes are something that's a big deal as well. Students feel when their class sizes increase even by one student. Students feel diluted and students feel diminished. It's important to say that individuals need small private class environments to actually
thrive in Highland Park. individuals bring students to Highland Park because they understand that they're going to get one-on-one interactive class classroom meetings and discussion. This isn't possible if we just increase class sizes and expect students to just deal with it because most students can't. And
especially after CO 19, I'm seeing learning losses around me. I'm seeing learning losses in front of me as I tutor students. They feel discouraged in their current classroom environments. And if we want to be an academically excellent school district, I can't
stress enough that maintaining smaller class sizes, maintaining one-on-one dialogue with students is how you truly empower them. We're seeing students who are disenchanted. And I don't want teachers to continue feeling as if they're ignored because students feel ignored themselves. This is something
that doesn't happen from just an individual student teacher relationship. It's something that happens on the schoolboard level. I know there aren't many high school students here. I know there aren't much middle school students here, but I hope this gives you a little bit of insight into how policy actually translates into student action and
student impact. I know the board prioritizes a pragmatic approach to budgeting. I've interviewed doc Dr. Cisco last year. I appreciate that, but I think the language has been used in this meeting really enraged me a little bit and that's why I decided to come to
speak here today. Thank you very much. not really wanting to follow that act. I'm Kristen Springer at 423 Dennis Street and I came to talk about the nurse which I will but there has been a lot that's been said about the nurse and I'll reiterate some of it but not all of
it. But I also want to talk about kind of the language of talking about the budget cuts. I'm noticing that we've moved to save these positions. So, it's kind of now into a framework of these are already lost and we're going to jump in and save them. They haven't been lost, right? We need to really think
about if this really is a conversation about where to cut the budget and then we really shouldn't even be necessarily having this conversation, right? It should be what are the options that we have to save money. And that's the conversation we should be having instead of having them already basically being cut and then we're coming here to save
them. It's it's a really disingenuous kind of backwards way of talking about it. That's troubling to me. Um, I also picked up on what uh you guys said in terms of you um are trying to find budget cuts that don't h you're trying to save things that have the greatest
impact on students. I I'm not quite sure how cutting these positions could have any more of a greater impact on students. These are fundamental critical positions and you know, you haven't provided any other data for us to understand what else could be cut instead of these positions, right? It's
a real large problem and and as much as you all talk about wanting to have communication, wanting to have input, you've given us very limited parameters of which we're allowed to have input, which is not really having full input, and that's frustrating to me. Um, okay.
So, I came to talk about the nurse. Uh, the other thing, one thing about the nurse, and we talked about the bathroom data, um, the bathrooms are locked often, right? And so, people go to the nurse because the bathrooms are locked. That's not a reason why the nurse isn't important. that's because the bathrooms are locked, you know, and and it's also
seemed very dismissive to the the important role that the nurses play to have that be your data point instead of all of the other things that the nurses do. Um, also from an equity and excellence point of view, which we supposedly value greatly, the nurse is a central place for people who do not have
other medical resources, who are underprivileged, who are lower SCEs. This is where they go to. It's where people can go to have um sometimes it's the only line of medical care, the only place for people to get medical care and it's a safe space where other people other places aren't necessarily as safe
of a space. So, it's troubling from a district that talks about equity and excellent that this is what we're we're cutting or we're talking about cutting. Same with the um resource interventionist, right? That is also troubling in terms of a district that talks about equity and excellence. Um,
and the nurse also prioritizes and focuses on kids with disabilities. Again, an issue with equity and excellence. So, I think that, you know, and all of these other all of these other positions too really are essential for the school to survive. Um,
I think that uh everything else has been said. Um, but I really would ask you to instead think about what are the places that we can cut that are going to save these essential staff. What is more important? what has a greater impact on students than the nurses and the staff?
And so go back and see where else we can cut or raise taxes. Um, and next time maybe have a conversation with the community that actually includes the data that that are useful for us to be able to have a full conversation and be full members in our kids education. So,
thank you. >> Uh, Mary Baution, 709 Madison A. Uh, regarding the proposal to cut the maker space program. Uh, 10 years ago, Dr. Susa, when you first arrived in Highland Park, several of us met with you, and we
were so grateful that you recognized STEM was sorely missing in our early grades. uh and you immediately supported getting these programs into our school system. So uh clearly you know the value of this program to our middle school kids. Uh at one point you actually even
had the title of supervisor of curriculum and instruction for STEM. So the ask now is for you please to work whatever magic you can to preserve this program. whatever it would take to make sure we don't go back to where we were 10 years ago where there was a huge
science and engineering gap for our Highland Park middle school kids. New Brunswick Middle School just put in a STEM program finally about 2 years ago. Maybe you could talk to them or other middle schools to see how are they funding their learning labs. I also want
to emphasize why the middle school maker space concept um is so valuable specifically in middle school versus waiting till high school. Research shows that by the time students reach high school. Many view science and engineering as uninteresting,
unimportant, irrelevant, and something that's totally beyond their reach. They become focused on many other activities and social situations. These learning labs that are offered in middle school are shown to help this age group make
science and math relevant and it lets them see that a career in these fields might actually be for them. Business Insider says, quote, "Providing students with exposure to STEM in the middle school years is a must."
The point is, if we wait until high school to offer this type of program, it's too late. you will miss the opportunity of this ideal age group window. The other thing I want to emphasize is how important it is for us to have this
program here on the premises in the middle school as opposed to thinking that kids can just go to a private STEM program after school or to a summer STEM camp. These programs, afterchool and summer programs are crazy expensive.
Even at Rutgers, a 4-day STEM program is $500. One of their five-day STEM program starts at 1,600. Every public school, middle school student in Highland Park deserves these
programs, not just the wealthiest families. Last but not least, um if I have done the math correctly, our Fuse program puts about two over 200 middle school kids through it every year at a cost of
only $30 per student. That is a huge value in every way to make sure that these kids have this critical opportunity. Please, let's not go backwards 10 years on this. Thank you so much.
Hi, I'm Kesha Ingram. I'm a secretary at Irving School. First of all, I want to thank Dr. Sesca and the board for taking the time to consider the different ways to come up with ways to pay the positions. But what I want to speak to
specifically is the secretaries. So, the secretaries in Highland Park are the face of the district. They are the ones that know all of your children. They know their needs and they serve everyone from visitors to teachers to staff to janitors, anyone in the district. We've
had cuts for secretaries before and it wasn't a good thing. And we came back around to having two secretaries in every single one of our school offices because we need it. So if we cut the secretaries again, the workload for the
secretaries that remain is something that's going to be a real issue for us. And I know that the jobs that my fellow secretaries do right now in the district, it's priceless. You can't put a price on the service that the administrative staff does for this district. Not just in serving the
students, but in serving the staff. Again, we're the face of the district. So, I understand that budget cuts, you guys are taking a lot into consideration. I would ask you to really think about what the secretaries do for the district and ways that we can save
those positions. Thank you. >> Hey, good evening. Robert Savage 123 Magnolia Street and I missed your name, but thank you so much for coming up to talk about the secretaries. I know when I started on the board, one of the things that had been cut was secretaries and then over
years it was all about building the secretaries back up because there was a very hard uh task of keeping track of everything in the schools without the secretaries there. And you know, I was on that side of the table for nine years. This is probably the worst part
of the job right here trying to go through the budget. But right now, I think um as Kristen said, you guys are working at it from the wrong angle because we're trying to save some positions. You like a social studies teacher. I mean, that that
hurts. Just the idea of, you know, in a Trump era looking at removing a social studies teacher, it just screams to me of following his agenda. uh losing interventionists that we work so hard to
bring into the schools. makerpace which is a program which confused the heck out of me and it but everyone was saying hey this is a great thing and you know they the students came up with anti-bullying campaigns in makerpace they came up with
so many different things in makerpace and as everyone so eloquently talked about it it is a backbone it is a program that really brings studentled teaching rather than teacher-led teaching you know, at a point where they really
have to learn the idea that, oh, we have something to say here and something to get out of this. Uh, I've made a lot of decisions sitting behind that table that in the end of the day, I felt like, oh, I needed to fight harder for this. I
think at the end of the day, if you approve any of these cuts, you're going to after your time is done there, this is going to be one of those times where you regret that decision and you don't feel good about it later on, 2 years, four years down the road. It's just like, h, I should have done better.
Thank you. Good evening, everybody. My name is Keith Prey. I'm the president of the Highland Park Education Association. Speaking tonight on behalf of the membership. First, I think the budget needs a line item for a new mic
stand because this one's terrible, but we'll make it work. Also, I know we haven't really been following it, but my remarks are about eight minutes. So, Susan Dooy and Chris Broadfield will be yielding their time to me. Okay.
I want to begin by acknowledging that we understand the district is facing real financial pressure. See what I mean? We understand. >> Don't make me Okay.
Okay. Uh we understand that health benefit costs and other rising expenses are creating difficult budget decisions. But understanding that pressure does not mean that proposed cuts should go unquestioned and it certainly does not mean that the
community should accept them without full explanation. What has been presented so far is a tentative budget and that matters. It matters uh it means the district still has time to provide information, answer questions
and reconsider harmful choices before anything is finalized. And that is exactly why so many staff members are here tonight and community members. Our members are not reacting out of rumor or emotion alone. They are
reacting because they understand from inside the buildings what these positions and programs actually do every day. They understand how schools function in real life, not just on a spreadsheet. At the same time, tonight's
presentation makes clear that this rem this remains a moving target. We appreciate receiving updated health benefit information and a few other additional savings. But even with that update, the district
still has acknowledged that it is still weighing options, still reviewing feedback, and still deciding how to use the additional flexibility that now appears to exist. That makes it even more important that
proposed staffing cuts not be treated as automatic or inevitable. That is not a small issue. That is the issue. I also want to address the way part of this conversation has been framed publicly. At the March 23rd meeting,
there was discussion of prescription costs, GLP-1 medications, and language referring to people on the district's health plan as belly buttons. That was and is troubling to many of our members. And that same language was used
again this evening. Employees and their families should not be reduced to a talking point in a budget discussion. Rising health care and prescription costs are real issues, but they are systemic issues. They are not the fault of the staff members and dependents who
rely on the coverage they have. Budget pressure does not justify language that minimizes or stigmatizes the people who work here and the families they ensure. Our members deserve better than that. That conversation should reflect
professionalism, accuracy, and respect. One of the clearest concerns we are hearing, especially from the middle school, is the proposal to remove a share uh to move to a shared middle school and high school nurse model. This
is not a minor operational adjustment. This raises real concerns about safety, supervision, student comfort, age appropriateness, and continue uh continuity of care. The middle school and high school together serve a large
student population plus staff. Middle school students and high school students are not interchangeable groups. They are different in age, maturity, developmental needs, and comfort level. staff has raised legitimate concerns that younger students may be less likely
to seek care in a shared setting with much older students. They have raised concerns about emergencies happening at the same time in different locations. They have raised concerns about supervision, rest space, bathroom access, mobility, and whether the
physical spaces being considered are even appropriate for nursing services. These are not abstract objections. These are building level student centered concerns grounded in actual experience. If the district believes this model is
workable, then it should present the nursing service plan and clearly explain in practical terms how one nurse will safely and effectively serve all students and staff across the combined campus. We are also very concerned about
reductions to support staff, including secretarial support. A school main office is not just another budget line. It is the front door of the school. It handles phones, parents, attendance, student needs, visitors, deliveries,
emergencies, and constant day-to-day operations. If those positions are reduced or frozen, the district should not simply assume that the remaining staff will absorb the work. It should explain exactly how those functions will continue without overloading staff or
diminishing service to students and families. We are also concerned about cuts to programs and positions that support continuity intervention and student opportunity. If programs are functioning, if students are being
served, and if schools are doing well, then the burden should be on the district to prove why those cuts are educationally sound, not just financially convenient. And that leads to a broader point. For many staff members, this does not feel like one isolated budget cycle. It feels like
part of a longer pattern of erosion. Over time, schools lose pieces of what once made them broader, richer, and more supportive for students. Programs shrink, opportunities narrow, support
structures get thinner. Each individual cut may be described as manageable, but the cumulative effect is real. At some point we have to ask not just what the district is uh district is under pressure but what kind of district we
are choosing to become. The association is not here tonight to tell the board which individual employees, positions or programs should be cut. That is not our role. But it is absolutely our role to ask whether all priorities are being examined fairly, whether all alternatives have seriously been
considered, and whether the district has fully justified the impact those proposals would have on students, staff, and daily school operations. We appreciate the additional information shared tonight, but before permanent
staffing decisions are made, the public still deserves clear answers. What additional alternatives were considered? Which cuts are still actually necessary? How will services be maintained? How will workloads be redistributed? And
what will the real impact be on students? Those questions need answers before this budget is finalized. Our members are here tonight and participating virtually because they care deeply about this district and the students they serve.
They are informed, they are engaged, and they know what these schools need in order to function well. We urge the board to move carefully, share information fully, and reconsider any cuts that would weaken student support,
school operations, safety, and educational quality. Thank you. >> Okay. Okay. How many people do we have online? Okay. And so if you're um online and you'd like to speak, please raise your
hand. Oh yeah, Christian, you can go ahead. >> Oh, Christoal, can you? >> Yes. Can you hear me? >> Yes, we can hear you. >> Yeah. So, um, thank you everybody for, uh, for the time and I, you know, this is like I've been to these meetings a
couple of times. I just actually I wanted to talk to the public more than anything because I've been to this meeting when the current superintendent decided that 7:45 was a great time to start the middle school. I've been here before when there was a great decision to end paral support for some school for
some classes, second grade classes. My kid is one of those classes that need support. There's not enough par professionals. I've been here when we talk about the problem with the um after school program that was privatized and now it's more expensive for many families. I really just want to talk to
the public. I really want to talk to the public. I want to talk to the students. These are your nurses. These are your teachers. These are your school system. If you think the system is not working, please, please, please mobilize. It's time to move. And the same people will make the same decisions. We'll have the
same propositions. It's always about cutting. It's always about cutting. I think it is time for people to start organizing themselves and start seeing not just coming because as I said before I've been here for multiple times with every time bringing awareness to the problems of making decisions that are
making the school system worse when the uh 7:45 school time having the par profofessionals having less par profofessionals in our classes the problem with the after school program that now is more expensive it's less accessible for people the problem now
with the nurse with teachers with like how do I explain I think it's hard to explain to people that yes, we need more than one nurse every 800 people. How do we explain someone that you need librarians? How do we explain that these things are vital elements of the system? Naturally, you don't use a nurse all the time. That's the same thing with your
insurance. But again, I think this is an issue in which the people, students, the neighbors have to mobilize. I think it's time for us to um to take a next step because we will going to get the same recommendations from the same people. I um I wish you will consider the opinion
but I really um not very helpful. Thank you. >> Okay. Do we have someone else? >> Um Nicole, can you hear me? You can go ahead. >> Hi, good evening. My name is Nicole Zas. I am on 116 Washington Avenue. I just
would like to say I was born and raised in this town and went through the entire school system and I found it to be amazing which is why when I decided to raise my family here and keep them in the school system it was because of the experiences I had which also then put me onto the PTO for the Bartle school and
my son being in Irving school. And with all that being said, I see what administration does and I see from the teachers to the nurses to the administrative assistants, principles, vice principles, they all play a role. But one of the biggest hearts of all the
schools are the administrative assistants. They are the key to what holds everything together. when there's an emergency, I've seen in the Bartle school them run at any moment's time to help out when they need to be where they
need to be, to calm a student down, to help a teacher out when it's in need. And you know, even with the nurses, too, they're there in the time of need. And I just think it's going to be something that would be so wrong to do to take away from these children. They are
memories for these children and they are the biggest hearts that help these school systems out. And I just think that's one thing that the parents and the administrative uh needs to know that at the end of the day, it's not just dollars, it's also people's, you know,
well-being. It's their livelihoods. It's, you know, their home also. And I just wanted to let that be known from me. kidding. >> Nicole, um, I'm sorry,
Lyanna, >> how are you? Hi. How are you? >> It's great. We can hear you. >> Hi. So, I am um a parent of two kids at the schools. Um, we've gone through Irving and Bartle. I don't know how
um my kids would have survived without the administrators, without the teachers that they had. We've had such a great experience at these schools that taking anybody away from them would just
diminish their experience and their future education. Um I myself am a teacher at a high school and we have two nurses. I can't even imagine having one nurse. It it just isn't fathomable to
think that that it could function without. There's so many things that everyone has said already about kids who take medication and if there's things that happen, that's an emergency. You can't have one nurse. It's just not it's not feasible. There's a lot that happens there. Um it's not just a place to go to
the bathroom. um uh getting rid of a social study teacher at this time. It's really it's really scary. Um we need to have the truth out there and social study teachers do that. Um I know the board of ed and the leaders that's a
really hard position to be in and I just thank you for doing that job. It's not great. Um you have a tough job to do. And in closing, let's remind ourselves that those astronauts that just came back were all public school kids. So, it's our responsibility to make the
future kids go to space and to make future leaders. So, cutting a lot of those um people, it's it's really bad. All right. So, thank you so much. I appreciate it.
Thank you. Uh Andrea, you can go ahead. Andrea, are you there? >> Yeah, sorry. Just trying to unmute. Um, so this is Andrew Alexander, 116 North Third Avenue. Um, I've heard a lot of
great comments tonight. I know there's a lot to be concerned about. Um, I I don't I don't think that any of um I don't want to pit one of these positions against the other. I think they're all really important. I understand all the concerns about the school nurse and it, you know, it seems like that's a huge
concern to more than double the nurse's workload, especially when we hear tonight what really goes into the job. Um, but the thing that I wanted to talk to you is I wanted to speak to my experience and that is my concern about eliminating the an interventionist position at Bartle. So, I just want to
talk about my experience in the district. Um, I remember years ago when it was like nearly impossible to get help for a child who was two years behind in reading. Um, because I was told so many children needed help and there's nobody available to help and we didn't have enough interventionists and
you know and I had to, you know, fight to get help. And now fast forward years later and, you know, back then we had a system that was unworkable and now we actually have a system that's working. Um I don't know if you how many people are familiar with the math testing at Bartle, but you know now we have
benchmark testing and if your child is behind in the benchmark they just automatically get intervention. You get a letter saying your child's benchmark score was this and your child's going to be placed in intervention. And um I've seen what a transformative difference it has made and I've seen a child go from
hating to read to not being able to go to sleep at night without reading to themselves. And I would hate for the district to lose that. I also know in our town that there's been so much concern over the years over our test scores and student performance and I keep hearing that we're on an upswing and I you know can see it personally. So
I just know I just wanted to speak out for the interventionist um and my support for those positions and um also would you know I heard you the board and the superintendent wants to hear the public's concerns. So um you know I hope that you know that position and all
these other positions can be saved. I hope we can do what's in the best interest of the students, their, you know, their mental health, their education. Um, and you know, I know not everybody's in this position, but I'll say I'd be happy to pay more in taxes to preserve these positions, um, if that's
what the, you know, the choice that I was that we're presented with. So, thank you. >> Thank you, Andrea. >> I'm sorry. >> Oh, um, Laura. >> Yes. Hello. Thank you. Um 148 Duclo
Lane. Um I just wanted to also say I completely support keeping all of these positions and finding other alternatives such as what people are saying, potentially raising taxes or re-examining other aspects of the budget. As everyone has been saying, these are all crucial positions for the
health and safety of our children and for creating a civic society that we all want to live in. And I would also just ask the board members um to please listen to these stakeholders. We are your, you know, we're your neighbors, we're your teachers, we're your um you
know, the students are speaking, parents are speaking, uh the nurses are speaking, everyone is speaking against this idea and you board members represent us and we are saying we do not like this proposal. It is not good idea for our schools and unfortunately this
board and or the previous boards and the superintendent have a history of not listening to the community when we come out against a proposal that the community does not like. And I'm asking you this time to please listen to all of us. Not one person has spoken in favor
of this proposal. Please listen to us and make a decision that the community and your neighbors and the people who are working for the school district all support. Thank you. Thank you, Laura. Are there any more? Um I just announced
anyone online um if you'd like to speak uh raise your hand now. Going once. Going twice. Okay. No more Zoom. Um, does anyone else in person want to speak?
>> Yep. Um, Abby Stern Cardell. Again, I just want to say a couple um quick things. One is a question that I forgot to ask earlier about the busing that we've been paying for. Um, my understanding is, as you were saying in the beginning, I was
listening before I got here. Um, we didn't need to be paying this because we're not providing courtesy busing in town. So, we don't need to be paying when someone is maybe going to a charter school or some other out of district. My question is, how long has it been that we shouldn't have been paying this? and
if this money should have been coming to the state, can we go after getting money that we were owed? Um, it seems really crazy to me that I don't know if this is new or if this has been going on for years that we've been paying money that we shouldn't have. Um, so that was one question. And then my kind of broad
comment about raising taxes. So, um, I want to acknowledge for the people who maybe whose skin is, you know, prickling when they hear about raising taxes, I want to acknowledge that we are in an affordability crisis right now. Um,
this this is the reality of where we are, but this is not a Highland Park or district created crisis. Um, I'm going to go really big picture. The what is causing this crisis is our federal leaders. This is Trump. This is why we
can't afford groceries and gas and we cannot save that situation by cutting critical school functions. We cannot allow ourselves to be um redirected locally and saying what do we have to do? This is going to continue. We can't
buy into the narrative of these I'll say crazy people on the federal level and say, "Okay, well now it's the Democrats uh in the Democratic town raising taxes." No, this is not this is
what we need to do to save our schools. This is not uh something where we can say, "Oh, we need to never raise taxes because people can't afford groceries and gas." That is not your responsibility. and not possible for us as a district to save that situation. We
need to provide our students and our community with the services they need. So that's what I want to add. >> Thank you, Abby. Is there anyone else for um public comment? >> Sorry, Rob.
I want this to be productive because oh my god, you've heard from so many people, right, about the town's priorities and there have been questions asked like what do these positions cost and stuff and so the process is there's going to be a vote on April 29th. Well,
what how does this conversation continue after today given all that you've heard, right? How are you going to continue to listen to folks in the town, right? And take it forward from today. That's that's the question.
That's funny because that's actually what I was going to ask like how do we continue this conversation because there's a lot that's going on right now. Yeah. Yeah. Um, okay. Um, I guess, uh, if there's no
more public comment, then I move that we adjourn. All in favor? I. You. Good night, everyone.