Hey, uh, good evening. I'd like to, uh, call to order this 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
Courier 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. Batty,
>> Miss Cassell Dunn >> here, >> Dr. Coleman, Mr. Maldonado >> here, >> Dr. Pixley, Miss Cruz >> here. >> Uh, Dr. Schoolman, >> Miss Staniel >> here,
>> Miss Bardman >> here, >> and Dr. Batty >> here. >> Okay. Uh and now um be it resolved pursuant to the Sunshine Act, the Highland Park Board of Education will now meet in close session
to discuss uh HIVs and personnel matters. These exemptions are permitted to be discussed in closed session. Information regarding the board's closed session discussion will be disclosed to the public as soon as the need for confidentiality no longer exists.
Uh, I move that we recess to executive session. >> All in favor? >> I Okay, I would like to reconvene uh this meeting of the board of education to regular session.
>> Dr. Batty >> here. Miss Cassell Dunn >> here. >> Dr. Coleman. Mr. Maldonado >> still here. >> Dr. Pixley >> here. >> Miss Cruz >> here. >> Dr. Spman. Miss Danio >> here.
>> Miss Burman here. >> Uh, 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. >> Okay. We received uh three communications. One about uh snow removal on school grounds and one about uh the budget considerations for uh sports uniforms.
Uh now we do the approval of minutes. >> I move. >> I move. >> Second. >> Dr. Batty. >> Yes. >> Miss Cassald. >> Yes. >> Mr. Maldonado. >> Yes. >> Dr. Pigsley. >> Yes. >> Miss Pruz,
>> yes. >> Dr. Schoolman, >> yes. >> Miss Stano, >> yes. >> Miss Bartman, >> yes. >> Okay. And now we can move on to the student representative reports. >> Okay. Um, I summarized we summarized all the
reports from this month and last month. So, should we start with last month or Okay. Um, so for the month of February, uh, from Irving, we have like with the PTSO support. Oh, wait, sorry, one sec. Okay,
so for February, Irving celebrated Black History Month and students had the opportunity to explore exhibits throughout the school depicting famous black Americans. And um, Irving held a family Zoom night and a family yoga night. and the kindergarten uh class
watched Curious George during their trip to the state theater. They thank everyone for supporting these fun educational opportunities. And from Bartle, uh Bartle kicked off their first day of every week in February with dress down days and students wore jerseys,
pajamas, um team colors throughout the month to pro promote kindness, teamwork. Yeah. And um finally, they continued their daily attendance challenge. And for middle school, the they continued their attendance challenge with sixth
graders uh coming in first place. And they also held dance on March 6th and would like to thank everyone who helped coordinate it and set it up. for the high school. Um, we had a guest speaker for the Holocaust Remembrance Day and we also had our Lunar Year celebrations and
our Black History Month um with guest speakers and it ex we also had um dedicated spirit week and students had the opportunity to select course courses for the next year and they encourage parents to stay informed on the classes
that the school offers and finally they look forward to kicking off the spring sports. for March. Um, Irving uh with the BTSO support, Irving hosted author Victoria can uh students learned about their uh
her books and were encouraged to find joy in reading this month and they thanked the PTSO for making this event possible. They also honored uh women's history month by shouting out female staff over announcements and hosted Silly Billy, a reptile handler who
brought six-foot python um for the preschoolers and kindergarteners. And finally, Irving hosted family fit night through um NJA fast grant sponsorship. Parents and children got to uh participate in physical fitness activities together. They encourage
parents to attend their next uh Zoom evening on April 9th to participate in art lessons. >> Sure. >> Oh, brain on your mind. Sorry. >> So, for the month of March, Bartle celebrated Read Across America and would
like to thank Mayor LZ Foster, the Highland Park Police Department, and district administrators for being guest readers. They also held their Bartle talent show and celebrated students comedy, singing, magic tricks, and more. They also look forward to hosting career day later this month. And for the middle
school, their spring dance was a wonderful success. They would like to shout out the PTSO and parent volunteers for making the night magical. The eighth grade is leading the March EXL math challenge, which will continue throughout the year. Middle school is also currently celebrating spring spirit week and looks forward to friendly
competition during their pep rally this Friday. The sixth grade also enjoyed a trip to the Liberty Science Center and had fun learning about science. Finally, for the high school, they begun they have begun their spring sports and would encourage families to come out and support their teams. DECA also attended
the state competition in Atlantic City with 20 students moving on to ICDC in Atlanta, Georgia next month. The model UN team visited Philadelphia where they explored democracy and visited historical sites as well as the third circuit court of appeals. 23 out of their 29 participating students won
awards at the Model UN conference. The juniors also completed their NJGPA testing and all grades have finished scheduling for next year. This week, student congress is hosting their spirit week and the school is also looking forward to their own pep rally this Friday. And that concludes updates for
March. Thank you. So now we can move on to the superintendent report. Good evening everyone. Well, Bri, first I want to congratulate you on uh I believe first place for mock trial some something fantastic. Do you want to
share? >> I was part of the mock trial team as a court reporter and I qualified for the national competition next month in Iowa. >> Congratulations. Okay. And any other comments or questions for the students?
Okay. So, good evening everybody. Um, always my favorite when we get to spotlight uh some amazing and well-deserving students. So, first I'd like to call up to the podium uh Miss McN, principal at Irving for some of our Irving friends. >> Great. Well, good evening everybody.
As always, it's a pleasure. One of my favorite things to do is to talk about our welldeserved awards for our students. Lev, would you like to come up with me? Yeah. Our first student who was nominated
is Lev. What grade are you in? >> Kindergarten. >> You're a big kindergartener who's learned so much this year. And Lev is a wonderful leader in his kindergarten classroom and a truly kind and inclusive
friend to everyone. You are eager to participate in discussions. You ask really good questions and you share your ideas with the class. You especially enjoy reading geodess and
learn and loves learning about science. What is your favorite thing to learn about in science? >> Doing experiments. >> Love it. All right. So, you love learning about science and I also heard that you're fascinated by space and
dinosaurs. I love it. All right. And you're very curious and you love joining classroom conversations and you have a lot to offer in those conversations. And you speak both Hebrew and English,
which is not easy to do. You know more than me. All right. Outside of school, you're also very busy, right? So, you stay active by attending music and swim classes, and you play on
a basketball team. These are all awesome things that you do. You enjoy arts and crafts with your mom, and you love listening to rock music with your dad. Do you have a favorite? Just all of it. Okay.
So, when you grow up, I also heard you want to be a guitarist. Is that true? All right. It's so neat. I love hearing that. And your enthusiasm for learning and your caring attitude are what make you a
wonderful choice for Irving Student Spotlight. So, congratulations, Lev. Very welld deserved. All right. Up next, we are going to recognize Vanessa in first grade. I don't see Vanessa here, but that's okay. We'll make sure that she gets to listen
to this. Um, but Vanessa was nominated for a number of reasons and she has shown tremendous growth in reading both in skills and enthusiasm. She loves to volunteer and helps other students in the classroom who may need more support.
Her love for reading is apparent along with her confidence and her desire to learn across all subject areas. Next fun fact about Vanessa, she is empathetic and she really cares about those friends around her. She loves to
help her teachers in the classroom and she loves helping me with the morning announcements. She goes on a streak and she will make sure she is downstairs by 8:30. She has to be first to do the pledge or the school chant. So, I love when she helps me with those. She always makes it
a point to try her best and really demonstrates our Irving expectations. She always includes her classmates during free choice play or if they do not have a friend to play with. She is a joy and truly embodies the Irving School
spirit in her demeanor, upbeat personality, and her desire to learn. So, a huge congratulations to Vanessa. Well, thank you, Miss McN, and to our favorite Irving Dragons, and and thank you. Congratulations on such a great accomplishment.
Congratulations, Le. All right, I next like to call up Dr. Morero. Uh tonight we're going to spotlight one of our an huge accomplishment for one of our student athletes. >> Great. Well, I love doing these at the board meetings. Um it's been a
tremendous nine months. Um this one, this past winter, um was truly remarkable to be a part of. Um, tonight on behalf of Highland Park uh district and the athletics department, I'd like to recognize an outstanding student
athlete both in the classroom and uh on the court whose commitment, his perseverance, and leadership really left a lasting mark on our program. Cooper Ballentine has had an exceptional exceptional basketball career representing Highland Park through the
years of hard work, discipline, dedication to the team. Cooper recently achieved one of the most significant milestones uh in our program's history. This season, Cooper became only the eighth boys basketball player in Highland Park history to score a
thousand career points. Even though I thought he was going to end up with 999. Even more remarkable is he's the first Highland Park player to reach this milestone in the last 24 years. He finished his career with an impressive
1,06 points. While the numbers themselves are extraordinary, what they represent is even more meaningful. They represent years of commitment to not only himself, but to his teammates, to the countless hours in the gym. Uh the
heartaches, the struggles, blood, sweat, tears, all of it. Um and the resilience required to compete at such a high level while representing our school with pride. Cooper's achievement reflects not only his individual dedication, but also the strength of our basketball program,
the support of his coaches, his teammates, and the pride of our Highland Park community. Cooper, on behalf of the district, the board of ed, and the entire Highland Park community, we congratulate you on this incredible acco accomplishment and thank you for the legacy you leave behind for our program.
Please join me in recognizing Cooper for an outstanding basketball career at Highland Park. I'd also like to just if we have a brief moment invite uh coach Copper up here. He has a few words to say as well. I know he's been instrumental to your
success. >> Thank you. It's just quick just want to recognize Cooper. Um yeah, Dr. Mark, thank you. You said it all. But overall, Cooper has been the captain of our program. I've worked with him for the last two years. I've known him since he
was middle school. Um, he's wor he's worked really hard. I always knew he was going to get it. Um, but reaching these this thousand points reflects his heart, his commitment, and the legacy that he leaves for future ALS um coming up to the high school. So, I hope they chase
it. I hope they break it one day. >> Um, but Coupe, I'm very proud of you. Very proud to be a part of it. So, >> thank you. Yeah. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Again, one more round of
congratulations to Hooper to Lev, Vanessa to Oh, is that Vanessa coming in? Oh, would you mind repeat? Would everybody okay with a little a quick little repeat? Okay, thank you. All right. Yay. I love your dress. All right, Vanessa, now that you're
here, I want to take a moment to recognize you as one of our student spotlights. Sound good? Deserving? Totally. All right. So, Vanessa, we know that you're in first grade, right? So, I want to tell you a couple of things in
your nomination that I hope make you feel very special. All right. So, you have shown tremendous growth in reading, both in skills and enthusiasm. You love to read now. Yeah, I know. You love to volunteer and help other
students in the classroom who may need support. Your love for reading is apparent along with your confidence and your desire to learn across all subject areas. You are empathetic and you really care about those around you and you love to
help your teachers in the classroom. And I was telling everybody before how much you love doing the morning announcements. Do you feel like a professional at that? I have to come tomorrow. Okay. So, Vanessa makes a point to always try her
best and you always demonstrate the expectations at Irving. You include your classmates during free choice play or if they do not have a friend to play with. Yeah. and you are a joy and you truly embody
the Irving school spirit and your demeanor, which is how kind you are, your upbeat personality, which I always enjoy, and your desire to learn. So, a huge congratulations to you. I'm really proud of you. You're very welcome.
All right. So again, congratulations Lev, Vanessa, and Cooper for um just embodying the amazingness that is uh Highland Park and your continued contributions to the success of the district. So, congratulations again. And I'd also like to recognize the staff
that came out to support our students tonight. Um, to go above and beyond is always what you do. And that doesn't go unnoticed. So, uh, a big warm of thanks to to our staff here tonight. Thank you. >> Um, and my superintendent report continues with the uh presentation of
the preliminary budget. It's must see TV. Very riveting. But you have all had very long days. So I completely respect if you would need to leave to go and uh take care of other personal things, please feel free to do so. Good night. Thank you.
>> All right, we'll just stand and do this. Let me adjust the typically I we I mean it's I'm s setting sensing a trend where we clear clear out the room. I must All right. I'm going to just No, no, no. I'm just going to since these are the majority of the people in
the room, I'm going to adjust it. All right. All right. So, uh my presentation continues tonight with the tentative uh budget presentation. So important to note right out of the gate, it is a preliminary budget. So we do this every
year. So tonight you get the preliminary budget. We do have to present a balanced preliminary budget to uh the department of education, to the county and the state um after tonight and then we have about four, five weeks uh until we have to figure out the actual plan for the
final budget. >> Just do that. I don't I hit this the right arrow. Did I >> like Oh. Oh, there we go. >> Nope. Yes. Okay. Thank you. I was so close. So close to nailing it. Okay. Um,
so just since we only give this presentation once a year, I'm going to reorient uh uh the board and the community to how we um go about our planning process. Uh it's a long process. So our fiscal budget planning process, we have to align our budget
with several key things. um the district goals and objectives, our strategic plan, uh the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the Every Student Succeeds Act, and the New Jersey Student Learning Standards. And like I said, it's a very long
process. We actually start early in the fall. So, we start back to school in September and by October, we're planning the budget. That's typically how it goes because it's a long process. So what happens is around the December January mark um each administrator meets with
myself and Mr. Rosa and then we go through their wish list items. So they build a budget based on what they think that is going to be needed. That includes if we need new person, more personnel, changes in personnel, resources,
um programs, things like that. It's all presented during that time frame. Uh and then we usually talk about it. So we go through it and we kind of talk about um where we land in that and sometimes we're able to make some decisions uh during that time. Uh for
example, we and they're all part of a collective conversation. So sometimes we find um an administrator wants to put in professional development in their budget. We'll go to Miss Rodriguez from title 2A and say, "Hey, can we cover this out of federal funds?" Yes, great.
Take it out of the local budget and we earmark it for federal funds. So, those are the types of conversations that happen in December and January every year. And then we bring um the administrators in to meet with the finance and facilities uh committee to review some of those budget items that
you've heard uh being presented from um Allison and then uh provide the overview of our preliminary budget um and then uh the final budget in April. So some of the things for budgeting which are really important to note is
that we put the budget into three buckets. The first one our level one is our required mandatory ones that are legal requirements. So anything that is legal has to be in the budget. So that usually falls in for example ESL requirements or special education. Um so
for example in this budget season uh our projections show that we will have to increase uh a special education class at Bartle. So we'll have to hire another teacher. So that gets built into the budget. So all of those legal requirements fall into a must do. Those are first
obviously top priority. The second priority are those that are required by board policy. So if there's anything in board policy, we have to make sure we budget for that. Uh for example, if we offer more units for graduating high school or something like that, we have
to plan for that in our staffing. So, anything that would be board policy, if you make a board policy that we want to ban cell phones and we want them locked up, we have to budget for the resources to lock them up. So, those would be examples of a level two budgeted item. And then the level three budgeted items
would be items that are not required but a high investment for our community. And so, examples of that would be we have a really robust mental health program and social emotional learning programs across the district. uh that is a high priority from myself obviously in the community but it's a
level three because it's not a requirement um or our music programs. So we go above and beyond standards in some areas unfortunately over the years that has kind of dwindled a little bit. Um and that's unfortunate usually of where if
we have to have um to be a little bit more fiscally sound that's usually where we're going to start our cuts are those things that yes mean a lot to us but unfortunately are not required by your policy and not required by the DOE's um or legal requirements.
So heading into this budget process. So one of the things we do is we build those budgets based on needs. So the projected needs and all of those budgets, there's obviously unforeseen expenses that come up throughout the year um that we have to take into account as well. And so then we usually
get uh the the the note of here's how much we have to look to trim based on all of these wonderful wants and needs that we would like. um and then come up with this tenative balance budget. Um so some of the things going into this budget uh that put us in a in a
particularly trying fiscal year includes a continued increase cost for students with disabilities. On some of the subsequent slides, Mr. Rosa is going to highlight and show that um we actually have less we're paying less out of district tuition, which is phenomenal.
That means we are educating peers with their peers in the school district. Amazing. But those we uh you'll see an increase um in another line item as a result of that. So you'll see a decrease in one but an increase in another as a
result of uh shifting students from out of district back into district. Uh which will require some additional resources and staffing needs to be able to do that. Um, as you've seen, our our uh facilities, um, there's been some wear
and tear over time that hasn't necessarily been addressed. So, uh, making sure we address those facility needs are really important that our students have uh, safe and secure places to to learn and healthy places to learn. uh the federal and state mandates which
they fund us less but put on us more so it doesn't seem to uh equal itself out but those mandates um have been coming at us as well um contract obligations. So really the bigger biggest driver which we'll show you in a couple of subsequent slides.
The biggest driver for this uh fiscal um budget year happens to be health benefits um is probably the single the single most driver. Uh there's been a significant increase to health benefits and as you saw from the auditor's riveting presentation the majority of
your pie is personnel is um is you know uh p you payroll um and benefits are your are your biggest driving costs. So, right now we're going into this tentative budget for the first time in uh the five years I've been doing this without knowing the cost of our health benefits. Um it's been a moving target,
unfortunately. Um we're hoping to get that information soon. We were hoping to have it by tonight, but we just don't have it yet. They're still trying to shop that for us and get some information. So, that's really been a big driver heading into this budget process, but we always look for ways to save money. Uh the team is incredible at
doing that. um we scrutinize every every data point. So we look at our enrollments, we look at trends, uh we look at needs and what we do is try to present to you all ways to be able to have a balanced budget without an impact on student instruction. So when we do
that, we look at it if it's going to impact student instruction, it's the lowest to to get cut. Um so it's unfortunate when we have to make some um challenging decisions but that's um that's where our head is at when we try to try to do that.
Um so like I said the biggest impact to this budget is the uh health benefits. So the right now the preliminary projected increase is 32%. Like I said over the past couple of weeks it's moved uh from 22% to 28% now 32%. We're hoping
maybe it'll go down, but again, that's a moving target. Um, which is a $ 1.5 million increase to the overall operating budget. Uh, some factors include our medical loss ratio, which is at 94% and our prescription loss ratio
is at 211%. So, those are pretty uh significant. Um, the state does allow districts to increase the tax levy above the 2% for increases in health benefits. For Highland Park, it would be um just over $1.3 million, which would equate to a
6.1% increase in tax levy. Uh the tentative budget um includes 700 approximately 719,000 of the 1.3 million. So, what we're proposing in a tentative budget, not final yet, but a tentative budget would be to go to the taxpayers for that increase in the
health benefit adjustment uh to help with that uh potential shortfall knowing that um some of the biggest um the information some of that big information from the healthcare providers and our brokers will be coming out in the coming weeks. Uh so hopefully some more information obviously will
help drive our decisions. So, with that being said, this year, well, this coming school year with this tenative budget, if it were to go through as is, uh, the budget would enable us to maintain schools that are fully staffed with qualified personnel. That's a really big important kicker there, uh, least impact on student
instruction. It would still allow us to have instructional resources updated and aligned to our standards. um this coming year it's ELA, math, science, and uh multi- language learners are the the ones that the DOE is recommending for um some updates. And then it would still
allow us to provide courtesy transportation for students on hazardous routes. Unfortunately, what the um oh, sorry, and continued. Uh some other op um items in the budget that will uh allow us to do will include some facility
improvements. those still we would still like to get them done including the high school Koopa which is that beautiful peak outside of the high school. Um there is I know that we've been reporting on it but um the gut the because it's a historical building built a 100 years ago uh the gutters are in
that Koopa and it's the water is coming down and causing some significant damage to the school. So we need to get that repaired. Uh the replacement of the water service line at the high school which we might be able to get some additional funding for to be determined. uh replacement of the Bartle fire alarm
and strobes um because that is antiquated, the replacement of the Bartle boilers and replacement of exterior lights at all schools. So, those are some safety um security and health um health risks that we want to address. Um it would allow us
to increase two additional security cameras at all schools. Uh this budget will allow us to increase preschool enrollment by 15 students, which is exciting. They'll start over spring break on the construction of that classroom and it will be able to support new uh a new math program for students
in grades K through five. Um if our existing funding levels stay as is, the budget will not be able to support the following. The maker space at the middle school
for administrative assistance one nurse. So, we'd go to a middle school, high school shared nurse model. Um, we would be down one full-time media specialist, one fewer Bartle interventionists going from four to
three. Um, and we'd be looking for we're already looking for ways to um get the um high impact tutoring grants. So, regardless of what happens, we're going to be exploring that. Um, but we would definitely try to to maximize that as much as possible. And then um we would
go down one secondary social studies teacher. Um so again uh all of this was based on an incredible amount of data. Certainly not easy decisions when we had a full list of all the possible things that could have been cut. Um but we can still provide wonderful services for our students and great instructional
programming. Okay, you're up. Talk the money. >> As Dr. Cesca mentioned, uh this is a tenative or preliminary budget. Uh the final budget will be presented April 27th. Uh and the board is looking to add
an additional discussion meeting uh for the budget. Uh but this tentative preliminary budget proposes a general tax levy increase of 4.14%. Um that represents the 2% that you can increase by statute and also roughly
719,000 of the healthc care cost adjustment. Um you'll see also that our state aid did increase 6%. Uh that re represents an additional $357,000. Um our projected extraordinary aid. Uh
this is an estimated amount. Uh we're projecting a decrease of $150,000. Um the known amount won't come out until July every year and this is based on an application that the ED services department submits. But historically
over the past few years, the state has funded at a decreased ratio. So the reimbursement is declining. And now that we're projecting more students to come back into district, we project um a decrease in that aid. >> Oh, Denise, could you just explain what
extraordinary aid is? Extraordinary aid is um funding from the state that's received. Um our ed services or special ed department um highlights and goes through the cost of every child that's classified. Um if they're out of
district, the ratio the threshold is $55,000. So if we pay over $55,000 for out of district tuition and rate related services, we can submit that student to on the extraordinary aid application.
The state then takes those costs and analyzes them and reimbures the district a percentage of that overage. So it's in add. It's over and beyond the threshold for in district special ed students and out of district special ed students.
um our lo local sources and interest which includes our interest income any tuition, our pilot money from the bureau, any enterprise activities and refunds of the prior year expenditures are increasing roughly um $8,000 and our
semi this is um an amount determined by the state. This is a refund uh from the Medicaid program is projected at $56,000. So our increase in operating revenue is roughly 4 07%.
Uh we're going to utilize capital reserve for those projects that Dr. Susa mentioned, those facility projects, the Koopa, uh the Bartle fire alarm, the exterior lights, the boilers, and the water service line. Um but that is a
decrease over this current year because the Bartle structural repair was a huge huge hit to our budget. We're proposing to utilize about $250,000 of maintenance reserve and we're utilizing 131,000 of emergency reserve.
Um that's for the security cameras and for fencing at the high school and middle school to secure the athletic complex. This budget also includes surplus of projected of 924,000. So, our total budget or total revenue is
$44,717,851. Our proposed expenditures, so you'll see there's a a minimal decrease in our regular programs and instruction, but as Dr. Susa mentioned, the special education instruction increases about 11% and that's due to students coming
back in district and needing more services. We had a reclass for bilingual education. So a a portion of um a member salary is now being charged to regular ed. So that's represents that decrease
of -14% in bilingual. Our co-curricular athletic and afterchool programs are increasing 5% uh which represents a phased in approach to athletic uniforms to revamp the varsity uniforms and additional supplies.
Um this negative 22% for supplemental and at risk instruction is um represents the one interventionist at Bartle and total tuition is decreasing about 3% because we're moving district students
back into district. Our attendance and health related is going up a minimal.1%. uh child study team a minimal decrease of 1.31% improvement in instruction staff
training is decreasing 12.9% >> and that's due to the uh decrease in one portal uh one media center specialist >> correct um our school district central and IT costs are decreasing negative 1%
our operation and maintenance of plant including security is increasing 1.4% 4%. Our transportation services is increasing roughly 3% and employee benefits are right here representing 22.93%
which is the $1.5 million. Uh charter schools uh or the capital outlay you'll see here those are all the the um the projects that we are including and the transfer to charter schools is declining about 10%. We have
18 students uh which is a decrease over current year. So our total budget again is 44,717851. So the tax impact on a 4.14 school tax increase uh per the tax assessor in the bureau, our average assessed home value
is $482,368. Uh for the 2627 budget, we're projecting uh the estimated annual tax of $8,342.72, which pres uh represents around $343.35 per year on the average homeowner.
So, thank you. That is our presentation. Um and we'll open up the floor to uh questions from the board and just speak into the mic. Yep. Hello. Okay. Um because I just needed some clarity to make sure that I'm understanding. Um so this is the
preliminary preliminary budget. Um with like with or without the tax levy proposed tax levy like with is it with or without making cuts if I don't know if you could break that down for me. >> Yeah. So it's with it's with going for
an additional increase to the tax levy at 4.1%. And the cuts. So in order so like like it we were proposing a $ 1.5 million shortfall. We got an increase in 6% in state aid
300,000. So we're left roughly sitting at about a cut of 1.195ish. Um and then from there that's what we're proposing. We're doing a combination of unfortunate cuts and going out for the healthcare adjustment to the taxpayers,
but not to the full amount that we can. Uh we did it slightly over to save a couple of more uh positions because if not, we we'd have to cut more. So, it's a combination of some cuts and some extra to the taxpayers unfortunately in
both of those situations. Dan, >> just to give a sense, so to cover all of those costs, it would be I think you said 6.1%. Uh uh, right. And then those seven or so
positions would stay under that. >> No, if we if with this those positions have to go. >> Not with this. With the 6.1. >> Oh, if you went for the full adjustment, >> right? >> I don't know. >> Okay. because we just don't have the numbers from the healthcare yet. So just
that's why I'm saying it's a tended budget, >> but I right it's all preliminary, right? But so I'm I'm just trying to get a sense for the public of the range of kind of decisions here, right? So 6.1 would roughly cover th that increase. >> Not not no. So if we were to use all of
the health benefit adjustment, it would increase our budget another six roughly 600,000. That's not going to cover all the positions that were listed. Okay. >> Uh it would cover most of them but not all of them. >> And then so the other end of it would be we increase 2%.
And then we have to cover 700,000 or something like that which would mean further cuts maybe seven or so positions. Right? So what we're what's being proposed right now is a sort of middle ground between the the the
largest kind of increase um and the like just the two normal kind of 2% increase which um we're not really getting into because we'd have to find other positions and other money if we didn't increase to the 4.1
>> correct. Yeah. Correct. Correct. Oh, >> is it is it around four middle ground? We're at about four% tax levy. >> The Well, typically it's 2%, right? Um,
last year we had the tax levy incentive aid. So, we went uh 6.06%. The year prior it was 2.78%. We did take some health benefit adjustment and enrollment adjustment the prior year. Um, but this budget that was
presented is a 4.14% increase. >> Can you explain, even though I've heard it different meetings, the ratio issue on the health benefits, the one that's 200%. >> If you can explain I I'm having I cannot
say my own words. >> So, a loss ratio is your medical claims. How how do you use them? So for every dollar that we pay a premium, we spend 94 cents on medical.
So we're under the premium. Therefore, it's a shorter um profit for the insurance company. >> But we want to be under, >> right? Under is good. >> Understood. >> Uh prescription loss ratio. For every
dollar of premium, the insurance company is paying out $2.11. So, there in lies part of the reason why we don't have a renewal contract just yet. Um, our broker has been working feverishly to obtain quotes uh to get
more marketing marketing the district um to other health insurance companies um other prescription companies looking for any avenue to save money. So unfortunately we just don't have that
information just yet. Last year our prescription loss ratio was 115%. So that and our healthcare premiums came in higher last year but this is a market increase. >> Correct.
>> Yes. >> So I want to remind everybody that we did when we left the good thing we left the state benefit plan when we when we did uh theirs is end up hovering over the 50% increase uh versus our 32%. So, anybody any school districts still in the state plan. Yikes. Um, so I'm really
grateful that we made the move when we did and thank you to the board of education and the collective bargaining agreements that negotiated that um because at that point we had saved about a million dollars that one budget season which was very helpful uh for us and also um we were it was a really good
time for us to leave because our loss ratio was a lot less so we were more marketable. the the issue that we're having now because of um these numbers. We're just not as marketable now. Um so I mean I know that when you have to make
cuts or make decisions and get more money from the taxpayers, I know it's not easy. A little bit of a brighter side just because I always have to say that is, you know, good thing we left when we did because this could be considerably much worse. Um but I think sometimes it hits smaller districts a little bit harder. But um you know but
at that point we were very marketable and now our problem is is that we're not as marketable um really in particular because of that prescription loss ratio is really crushing us right now >> to to follow on just to um close the loop on the prescription loss ratio. So uh I understand what that
means and then it goes so the insurance company pays more. We don't necessarily pay that. That is just what they use in their calculation for projection to make us less marketable. >> Correct. Okay. And can you explain please the uh the reason for the 1.5 million increase in
the healthcare costs just so that everybody's sort of understands the the context of that if we can discuss it. >> Um so I will say that uh it is a very sensitive situation. Um so I'll try to say it as delicately as possible. I don't think that anybody that put
chapter 44 into place uh the law around healthcare benefits for public employees uh in school districts anticipated a miracle weight loss drug to be covered by insurance. Um and so what we're finding is that uh we um have um some uh
we call them belly buttons. So, not necessarily staff, but it could be uh people insured by staff um that are uh partaking in um some GLP1s and that's really unfortunately driving uh driving the cost
>> and I think people should be aware that this is not a problem that is specific to our town. This is affecting health plans across the country. >> Correct. Um and I just want to clarify uh what chapter 44 means. Um, it's a law, a New
Jersey state law that sets uh school employee healthc care contributions as at a percentage of salary, not a percentage of premium. So every time there is a increase in healthcare
premiums, that increase is borne entirely by the district. Um, that law sunsets at the end of next year. But so that's why I mean, this would be a problem no matter what um with these kinds of
dramatic increases uh in healthcare premiums, but it shifted entirely onto the district. This is something that we're seeing in all of the towns right now. Um like everybody's doing their budget meetings last week or this week and the headlines
all over the place are these shortfalls due to the increase in healthcare costs. Um, so you know, we're a little bit ahead because we did pull out of the state plan. Um, however, it is it's something that is unfortunately out of
our control. >> I did have a question. Um so in regard to the um reduction in staff >> um how do we anticipate um that you know if we're if we're anticipating
potentially cutting for assistant administrative assistants and one nurse, how are their workloads going to be handled by the remaining staff in order to not overwhelm those that are remaining? >> Yeah. So, um, we're going to move, um,
registration out of each main office to a more centralized, um, registration within the technology department. So, we already have a staff member in there that will be able to handle um, that load. So, uh, and it it actually makes sense from a student data perspective. Um, so we would be able to move central
uh to a more centralized um, central registration, which I think would be beneficial for the school district regardless uh, just so that there's a one-stop shop for registration versus going to multiple different schools. So we'd be able to handle the workload there. Uh in terms of some of the other work that would um have to happen, we'd
still have to problem solve around that just in terms of like when the secretary in the building takes their break, making sure that that is covered. So um but those are sort of easy problems to solve uh around this. Um and the other one was nurse. Thank you. Uh so we
looked at the data and it seems like predominantly the majority of students at least at the high school and really at the middle school are using the nursing facility for bathroom use. Uh when we reviewed the data um so that is important. Uh but we're trying to look
to see if it's like particularly heavy hitter hitters. Is it medical needs? Uh what we're finding out as we dig through the data, it's not necessarily for medical needs. Um so we are thinking about a more centralized location for the nurse's office. Um and then from there I think we're we'll be able to
better equip handle uh a combined um a combined nurse between it given given the data if we kind of um um account for that moving that out uh because there's plenty of other bathrooms um in the middle and high school that are
available. Um those physical locations of those bathrooms would still be there um you know just having a staff member open it or something like that. So, it's not that we're taking away any bathroom, but it seems to be a lot of students are going there. They're spending a significant amount of time in the bathroom in the nursurse's office as
well, which cuts into instructional time. So, we're trying to problem solve around that a little bit. Uh, previous uh many many years ago when I did the research, we were in one uh a one nurse model. And then when we did the research around the uh county uh most uh schools
that are combined size of our middle and high school have um one nurse. Some districts are going down to one nurse for a district. We don't want to do that. Um that would not be okay. Um but we did do a little bit of research to make sure that we were kind of in line with what um other districts were doing for the size of a combined since the
schools are attached. It made a little bit more sense in looking at our data. So, um I don't think we should have any any issues operating around uh shared nurse. In addition, um Dr. Donovan and Miss Brady had talked about um where we could station staff during their duty to
make sure because we don't want uh middle school kids roaming around the halls into the high school. Um and you know, so we would have uh station duties to make sure that students get to where they need to go and back in a timely manner. So, we've already thought about
that. Um, and to follow up on that, I mean, one of my concerns with going down to one nurse is, you know, the school nurses in the middle and high school also deal with, um, athletic physicals. Um, would they still would that single
nurse still be responsible for that or would that work get shifted? >> So, uh, believe it or not, actually, doc Dr. Mark is sitting right by me here, but, um, when, uh, Dr. Dr. Morero start started with us and he reviewed our contract with Rucker's behavioral health
um and um and Dr. Wmach's office. So Dr. Wack is our team physician, our school physician. Um we were underutilizing his contractual services for physicals. We were doing a lot of the work ourselves here and and and giving that work to the nurses. Um and we were underutilizing
that contract. So when we met with Dr. Wulmarmac um when Dr. uh M started with us um you know Dr. Dr. Wmarmac said, "Yeah, we this is what I can do. I can come here, bring them there." He has a whole way of operating. So, actually the work will shift to Dr. Wmach's office
for health physicals. So, it's a little bit of recordkeeping on our end, but um the nurses do get some money over the summer um some hours. They get uh some hours over the summer to do that sort of more data entry work. Um but the majority of the work is actually shifted to Dr. Morero and Dr. WAC
>> two two questions. Um >> by secondary social studies teacher that's meant a social studies teacher at the high school. It's a So, as our numbers turned out, we probably could go down one um one social studies teacher
at the high school, but it would be the unfortunately it would be the last person in in a riff in a reduction in force is the last one out. Um so I you mean I'm not going to speak to personnel um in public, but that's typically what happens. So what would um happen is we'd
just have to shift um after there's a reduction in force of a staff member, we'd have to shift um some of the people around and that actually comes with uh we move Mr. Gervin back into the classroom uh full-time. Um so that um has shifted the numbers for our students
taking social studies classes so we can actually go down um a social studies teacher. >> So you sort of added one a little earlier this year. >> So we added one essentially this year so we could actually go down one next year. um bar interventionist going from four to three. We've seen such good things
happen because we're interventionists. There's some more about that committee later on tonight. Um you know anywhere that I feel like a justification of bringing in more revenue would come, it would be from keeping these interventionists where they are because and I understand people
are upset about justifiably given the affordability crisis, you know, paying more government. We also hear a lot of um in the community about wanting, you know, wanting extra tutoring, wanting students to, you know, be caught before they struggle and doing better and
people are proving the numbers, you know, test scores going up. Like I think that's where understanding would come from. >> Yeah. And we've closely reviewed that data as well. Um and and the data actually shows that we could probably go to a three-person model um with one
person at Bartle being fully ELA and one person u providing intervention fully for math and one that actually can um do both >> and service both u math and ELA students. So um you know honestly the what we're what we're seeing uh in our
pilot for the the math program which I'm sure uh Dr. Batty will talk about um is that I think I think where we land is going to be such a great spot. Um the preschool has been a tremendous asset um in closing some gaps. We're actually seeing a lot less. Um in fact, last year
we um uh went down um one um ELA interventionist at Irving without impact because preschool is doing so phenomenal that we're actually seeing those gaps start to fill. So I'm really hopeful with a more rigorous math program uh that the same thing will happen. um and
the math numbers that Bartle um didn't really justify needing um for. But with that being said is all of those are priority. So that list that I presented to you are a priority. And by the way on the presentation they're not in any particular order. It was just how my brain was working um when I put them in
there. Uh but what what my recommendation is going to be after is that you know in the coming weeks depending on where we land with our health benefits is we have some conversations around if we're going to add positions back in and not cut it on the final and hour for the April
presentation the April final board hearing is prioritizing them right what if if we had to make a list and say you know we're able to find you know two $300,000 what are we saving on this list? So, uh, for the board, what they've seen is, um, uh, a cost for each
of these, um, and so we plug it into a formula and say, okay, if you got 300,000, make it work, pick and choose here from this list, kind of thing. So, what we would do is I would make that recommendation to prioritize obviously the ones that would impact students the most, um, would, you know, be back added
back in certainly as as a possibility. So, that's important, too. Uh on a more positive note, I like seeing the transfer of gone to charter schools go down. That's nice. >> Yes, that's just not guaranteed. >> Unfortunately, that's not guaranteed
because in November, uh some some students may transfer and in November we get revised numbers, but for right now, it's lower. >> Take the win. Take the win, Miss Rosa. Take the win. >> Has there been any information from the Department of Education on the high
impact tutoring grants? because I know that in the governor's proposed budget there's supposed to be 15 million extra dollars specifically for that purpose although it's still proposed. >> We're monitoring it closely. Those come out usually the DOE sends out um broadcasts to us weekly um and then we
disseminate that information and grants definitely go out as a a first ticket item that comes out of my office. Miss Odado does a phenomenal job of of pushing that out. The minute we get any grant information, it goes to every staff and Michelle is is on it and trying to monitor it very closely for us.
Oh, is there Oh, Mon'nique. Mon'nique. >> Hi, I'm the air. >> Hi, Mon'nique. How are you? >> Good, thank you. Sorry I can't be there in person with you all. Um, I just wanted to first highlight uh the positive that you did as well, Dr. has
been your presentation on us still being able to increase our preschool enrollment by 15 students. Um that's, you know, just great to hear. Um and I did want to ask if you could if you wouldn't mind just reviewing the plan for the two additional security cameras
at each of the schools. Sure. Go ahead. >> Um so it's based on uh the principal's needs and wants. So, we just budget for two per location and then John Flandigan will work with the principles to determine the high area, high high
impact hallways, um things that are not in view, maybe the playground, it could be a variety of things, but the locations have not been determined right now. >> Okay. But each school administrator requested two additional security cameras. Is that correct? Or is this just
>> Yes. >> Okay. Thank you. Okay, seeing no other questions, that concludes my report. Okay, so now we are moving to the first public comment uh period of the night.
Um the Highland Park Board of Education welcomes public participation. It's reserved this time for your comments. Uh is there how many do we have online? Uh anybody raising their hand? Okay. Going once,
going twice. Okay. Uh we will we will have another public comment um section following committee reports. Um so now we move on to board committee reports. Uh Dan >> curriculum instruction met on March
12th. Um first uh brief update about the math adoption. Um this is moving forward. Last week um people visited from both clear math and Eureka math. Um which I think it's E squar. Is that
right? EM squared. Um we got positive feedback that the teachers were following the curriculum with fidelity. Um everyone will be um done with the unit prior to spring break. Um the week before spring break, teachers will meet to complete their rubric. There will
also be a survey sent out to parents to get feedback um on their perceptions of the um on piloting the curricula. So, we should have more of a sense for how the teachers are viewing the curricula. Um,
how students are viewing the curricula, how parents are viewing the curricula uh um right after spring break. Um, and yeah, curriculum instruction will we'll um look at that and uh at some point make a recommendation kind of
moving forward based on how all that went. Um, we also talked about benchmark data. Um, and uh, last time I went through detailed uh, um, percentages on this. I'm going to um, summarize a little bit
more. Um, but if folks have questions and please ask. Um, so um, for ELA benchmarks um, the percentages are the percentage of students that were um, at or above grade level. So in Irving, K1 students
were 51% uh at or above grade level. Uh compared to this same time period uh for last year, uh those numbers were 48 to 50%. Um so about uh the same maybe a
touch higher. Um at Bartle, uh students range from 48 to 63% based on grade level. um this year and last year was 49 to 65% so uh pretty much on par uh there as well. Um and they have been using the
same assessments um for a few years. So those are the same assessments. So um they're pretty uh comparable. Um in math uh at Irving 49 to 52% um of students uh
oh um for math uh we look at uh the percentage of students who scored 60% or higher on the assessment um I think that's uh supposed to be comparable to at or above grade level um on um their benchmark assessment and the benchmark
assessment they're using for kinder through fifth grade Um, I did skip something. I'll go back to ELA in a second. Um, um, that's supposed to be, I think, roughly equivalent to at or above grade level.
Um, so just think in math, uh, this percentage of students is doing 60% or or above. Um, so Irving, 49 to 52% of, uh, kinder and first grade students um, were at or above or at that 60% threshold. Uh last year that was 51 to
75% particularly because first grade scored um pretty high for this uh um uh for that benchmark period. Um at Bartle um last year was the first year they started using Envision. So they used
that again um and the numbers are have a huge range at Bartle. Um so I'll say something uh about that. But at Bartle the percentage students depending on grade level were from 9 to 62%. Um last
year that was 6 to 33%. Um second grade uh performed much better. Those were the second graders who performed much better in first grade. Um so that's uh somewhat notable. I think what uh so then you think about 9% um so every grade
actually improved um a few percent uh that 6% went to 9% uh I think uh 10% went to 18% so those numbers uh went up a little bit after the first year they they um uh took it but the uh some of those numbers particularly kind of third
through fifth are are pretty low um and I think in some ways that's uh we we've seen that on some of the state tests as well Um in middle school um uh students um were at or above 45 to 69% um with
8th grade uh being the lowest. Um those numbers were 40 to 46% uh for the same time period last year. So uh that means seventh and eighth grade actually showed um some uh good increases. Um,
wait a second. That's what I skipped for ELA. Those are ELA numbers. Okay, I'm going to restart. Uh, for ELA, uh, I didn't do middle school. Um, and students were at or above, um,
grade level 45 to 69% with 8th grade still being a little bit lower. Those numbers were 40 to 46% a year ago. Um so you're actually seeing a increase in seventh and eighth grade in particular at the middle school in math. Um 75 to
85 uh% of students were um at that threshold. Um those numbers were 61 to 85 um for the same period. So actually in math 8th graders showed market improvement um from last year. Um so generally uh the numbers seem to
improve. move. There were some grade levels that uh kind of maintained or or whatnot, but we didn't see um too many um drops uh and depending on the the content um you know, this is sometimes the second year. Um
uh some of those students have seen those assessments in ELA, it's been a little bit longer and so we have more of a sense of the trend. Um we also talked about uh policies. Uh I think um you're going to hear some of this in equity and excellence too. Um we
talked about the resource materials. Um we've talked about this before. We are leaving in some value statements in the policy that appeared both in the policy and the regulation and uh board members and I think generally wanted to keep it in in both spots to make clear what our
values are. There were also some questions in a prior board meeting about the uh composition of the committee uh because it was something like seven or more people uh any time a book was reviewed. That seemed a little bit excessive. Uh but that is required by
law. Um and so we can't change that. Um so something we were looking at changing the library material uh policy and regulation. Uh we actually can't. So that's staying um as is. Um
uh we are um approving some uh some shifts and and chaperones for the field trips. Um some of these we we talked about um we've talked about before. Um but uh
um students are uh going to Highland Park Municipal Building to learn about local government. Um, a seventh grade trip is going to Medieval Times. Deca is going to, uh, Atlanta. Um, and there's another number
of other kind of exciting field trips. So, Liberty Science Center. Um, uh, going to DC to experience Asian culture and so forth. Um, so we are, um, approving some of those. We also had an extended conversation about technology
as we're trying to sort of assess technology use particularly on the Chromebooks. Um, and we're trying to get a sense for what you know the level of data we have, how we can look at it, what we can't see. Um, and so part of
this uh is uh about filtering uh websites. Um, and it's particularly hard because the uh proxies are are consistently changed. And so, for example, uh someone can create a proxy that's cool math games,
which sounds very educational. Turns out that Fortnite is hidden in cool math games. Uh, and so then, uh, we use a software called Linewise, which learns uh, essentially from district supporting um, these proxies and and websites. Um,
so then the more districts that use this, the more it helps other districts um uh as as we report and whatnot. So as one district uh blocks it, then it actually is updated in our system as well. Um, but that's just to give a sense for as these proxies are are kind
of created and then maybe Fortnite or some other um uh you know application is kind of added in uh then you have to kind of block that. Um, at the same time, sometimes when we block things unintentionally, we block websites that are actually
educational and so uh then teachers have to request them to not be blocked. So, it's a it's a difficult thing to manage. We did look at the top websites that are actually used on um within a district and YouTube, Google Docs, JavaScript, Google Search, Google, and Google Play
were the um most common ones. Um the first three, YouTube, Google Docs, and JavaScript, uh account for 80% of websites used in the district. Um uh however, we don't have data on when those are being accessed. We can't tell
whether they're being accessed during school hours, uh at home, and and so forth. >> Just really quick on that, um to note, that's not just the student use, that's administrator use, too, >> right? The entire district use, right? Um so we we did spend some time looking
over possible data to examine what we can get and how much work that would be. Um just looking over uh middle school for one mo month included 77 million instances of web website access and that is the entire district um not just
student use um to Sarah's point. Um, so we discussed what specific data we want to look at and what questions we actually want answered. Um, and decided that we actually needed another meeting to kind of narrow that down before we um, come back to um, administrators with
some more focused kind of asks um because we're asking for uh, there's a lot of data. Um, not all of it's going to necessarily be useful to our cause and so we have to figure out how to to make it I think um, doable and manageable. Um so the committee uh will
be meeting in the future to kind of discuss this and figure out uh how to narrow that down given uh a brief look at some data during the meeting. So that's something to kind of look for coming up. We also discover uh discuss chaperone checks. Um I think equity and
excellence provide a little more um uh detail in in their report on TV tests and background checks. Um but we briefly discussed that as well. So, I'll leave it to them to go a little deeper. >> Um, all right. Uh, approval of field
trip requests. Uh, we have approval of HIV reports. There are two confirmed uh cases. Uh, approval of the revised district calendar. Uh, approval of sidebar agreement. This is for a pilot uh program around teacher evaluation. Uh
number five, five is uh an update to the Dana teacher rubric that would be used in that evaluation. Um approval of a schedule B uh intercolastic uh athletic schedule um for a middle and high school. Approval of national
cheerleaders association two-day camp for high school. Uh approval of a agreement with Satan Hall. Um approval of summer teaching uh and reinforcement. This is the STAR um
program. And approval of home instruction for three students. And finally, approval of a revised job uh description um for general maintenance worker. Any questions?
>> A question. Um, and you may have said this before, it just I probably forgot. Um, but in terms of the math pilot, are they um looking for any student voice in the decision making? Are they going to ask the students that participated in in
the appropriate I think grade grade levels like maybe four and five um how they felt about the curriculum because they do have they are able to compare it to what they had you know originally um to see if they have any feedback. I
believe that was was part of the data being collected was to actually gather some data from students, some from teachers, some from parents. Um, and and to put that all together, right, to and they and there's rubrics out there, too.
So, it's not just kind of like which often happen with curricula like, oh, this the look of this one is so organized and everything. And then like yeah, the content is uh not the best. So sometimes you have the um publisher with the most money kind of
winning the battle. Um so yeah, so I think the idea is to actually really try to collect this and and and hold to the rubric um across teachers uh students and parents to to gather all that feedback. >> Awesome. Because my kid actually has
some opinions about it. I was surprised. >> Hold on. >> I was like, hold on. Well, I could state these things, but I want to make sure you have a chance to also. Um, and then the other I just wanted to make a comment, um, especially with you reading the upcoming trips and and the, you know, acknowledging all of the wonderful
things that our student rep shared about student achievements that I'm so happy that we were able to preserve those out of district trips, out of state trips, because we just now we have what, like 30 students that are going to be able to go on something that is extraordinary. Um, so I just want to acknowledge, you
know, and thank you for keeping that that opportunity and working something out. >> So I did have a question about the job description. If there's any particular reason why it has to be a four-year requirement of having a requirement of
having had four years experience, and if that wouldn't box out other candidates who would be just as qualified or able to fill that same position. >> Yeah. Um I'm not sure that was the recommendation of the facilities director. Uh we lost
uh Willie Roman uh retired this past December and he had a plethora of knowledge and there was a a loss of knowledge. So maybe it's just uh bridging that gap um in the needs of the district. >> Our question um what is what is
JavaScript? What is that? What is that a suffix? I mean, >> I think it's computer code. Yeah, it's like website. >> So, it could be anything. >> No, it's like code to actually create web pages and stuff. So, it's people who
are going in and either creating or editing kind of web pages or a construction of >> and it's used a lot for games actually like coding for games. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. is too soft. Oh, somebody >> Oh, sorry. Yeah, this voice from
nowhere. So, I just don't know. I raised a virtual hand, but nobody knows. >> All right. So, >> so 80% of web traffic goes to YouTube. Google Docs I know is used in Google Classroom by teachers. Um, and then
JavaScript, which is a coding language often used for games. Maybe we could at least get it within that 80% is like YouTube like 60% or something. Um, >> well, YouTube is the the most >> is the top. So, >> yeah, I I think the thing about that too
is because it includes non- studentents, we it's not interpretable at this point. And so, what we discussed was the we really need to figure out a way to filter it to make it meaningful to really understand, you know, what the students are using, what's being blocked, what's not being blocked. And
so, I would say at this point, you know, we just we don't know enough. >> Yeah, if I could just jump in. So it the the data is a lot for that and I think it's really important to get at like almost granular like what is it that is what you really want to see so that we
can parse out the data. So the uh Mr. Lubis and his team have been non-stop on the calls with Line Wise to to talk about ways that we can better get the data so that it's more meaningful because when it was presented at 77 million points like what do you want to
see the things that are blocked? the things that are unblocked and then what is that going to tell you, right? Like what is your end goal? What is it that you want to see from the data um so that we can decide if we can even get to that point or not. So um one of the things that after about an hour extensive call
with them um they were able to provide us some some more reports. So here's just an example that might be what you want or might not be what you want but there's other we're trying to get as many access to as many reports as possible. So this is what's called the digital distraction report. The purpose of this digital distraction report is to
highlight students who are exhibiting online behaviors that may indicate that they are not focused on their learning. The report allows the user to select a specific peer group and date range for comparison and I and identify students who are exhibiting
these behaviors significantly more than their peer group. Higher distraction ratings indicate that the student is demonstrating concerning behaviors in multiple categories of distracting indicators. So of course I said well what's the bar like what's the norm for that? So we don't really know. So a lot
of these data like these reports we're just trying to pull and look at. So the the tech department is hearing you. We have these conversations quite frequently to try to figure out what is it that we want to see and if it's you know you how long they're on something. I'm not sure that we can get that way
but we can definitely find something that might indicate that they're not focused on their learning by use. Are we able We're trying to figure out if we can parse the data out by time for students. You know, that that is really hard, too. If we look at it saying, okay, are we only looking at what
they're accessing from 3:00 to 300 p.m. till 7 a.m. or 8:00 a.m. or something like that? Is like that a data set we want to look at? Do you want to see what it is being blocked or what they are accessing? I'm not sure if they access a YouTube I don't know if you'll
see how long they'll be able to stay on that. Right. So it's there's a lot of data that can be there. What I would like the board to do is really think about what's the end goal. What is it that you want to know so that we can pull the right data set for you? Because
it is it there's a lot of data there. And I think it's hard if I just go saying I just need a report and when I pull a report of 77 million cells, Excel can't even handle that. our Excel that we have can't even handle that. So, we need to to trim it back a little bit so that we can even pull a report that's
meaningful um for you. So that was just one example that uh they you know that line wise said maybe this report we just built this report do you want to try this report tell us what you want we'll help you build a report um so they're willing to work with us we just need to know what it is that that you all want to see
so that was why I was encouraging um the curriculum instruction committee to maybe really have like a little side conversation to to unpack what it is that they want to see so we can get that data >> and currently we can't parse out like we're basically looking at time you can't tell if it's like academic YouTube
and like you know just >> the way I the way I read it it's very hard for me to decipher I mean unless I go to each URL and now look at it and I can do that not sure that's the most effective use of my time but I can certainly do that because that's what it
is right it comes out in an Excel spreadsheet and it'll say YouTube 567 8 Z QP and now I would have to copy and paste that in and say what is that right and it could be it could be an educational video by the Right. But if you've ever been on YouTube, one video
ends and guess what? Another one starts and I'm not sure with that data if it tells me the next is that is that the same URL? Is that now a different URL because a new video started? Like all those things are so nuanced that I don't know. So I what I
don't want is present data that then is really misleading because it doesn't capture what it is we want to see either. So everything is so nuanced with it. I want to know like I just really want to know what what is it dear goal that you want to see so that we can work backwards from there and try to collect data around that.
>> We could cut it back so you don't have to look at like 10 million websites. >> Perfect. That's better than 77. Thank you. >> Sure. We can >> are you so requesting and are you comfortable with for instance the CNI committee meeting or discussing things
you know prior to the next official CNI meeting? That's okay. that would be that would be desirable just so that we don't spend our time in that meeting because there's so much other especially with the math pilot and other things that we have to talk about. Not that I I definitely don't mind spending two hours
talking about this, but uh out of respect to everybody's time, I think if we just come with some sort of ideas, that way then I can jot the notes down, I can go back to the team, we can get that data. That way, it gives me a month then to be able to present it to y'all in a meaningful way versus a spreadsheet of 77 million data points and you're
like, I don't know what I'm looking at. Let's do some pivot tables. What is it that you want to see around this? What are we pivoting? So I think that's if we can decide what we want then I can go back to the team collect it and be able to present it to you in a meaningful way. Yeah. >> Okay. Um so now we can move on to equity
and excellence. >> Okay. Pull up my window here. Okay. So equity and excellence met. Can you all hear me? Okay. >> Yes. Okay. Equity and excellence met on March 11th. Um and we went over the same
policies that curriculum in instruction discussed around um versus the school chief administrator and um actually I'm sorry Dan you may not have mentioned that in your CIA notes C CNI notes um but there was discussion around or
questioning around the language uh that stated that the superintendent shall devote uh devote themselves exclusively to the duties of the office. Um Dr. Susa did check with uh um our um council on that and the idea behind that language
was really just to limit the potential for a conflict of interest created by the superintendent having involvement in outside employment. Um that could you know obviously interfere with their uh work as acting on behalf of the best interest I should say of the district and board. Um but bottom line is there's
no existing state policy or law requiring this language. So the decision was made to um remove it since we didn't have to have it in the um policy. Um so that policy was revised accordingly. Um let's see the resource materials policy is uh
I believe what can Dan said C and I discussed as well. Um minor language updates there. No major changes. Um the original language around the resources stays in the policy and has been added to regulation as Dan mentioned. Um what else? nothing new to add from our
discussion on the 2535 library material um policy either. Um yeah, I think Dan pretty much covered everything we talked about around those policies as well. Um and again we in terms of the appointment
of a review committee uh that discussion around the excessive number of people uh resulted in the clarification or the information from our attorney on the uh uh regulation around that. So of course
that committee has to stay in in place. Um so moving on, we also talked about background checks for per parent volunteers and we are going to be um having some follow-up discussion around this. But what we did discuss was right now we know the board does not have to
require criminal background checks for persons in regular contact with students um volunteering regularly with students. We do ask for a background check um and the person if we do ask for a background check the person must be reimbursed. Um,
we talked about the TBI requirement not being recommended. Um, again, as we consider how to um, approach background checks for different parent volunteers, um, Dr. Susca is going to follow up with the leadership team just to think about how to define
what is a regular contact volunteer such as um, volunteer coaches, re recurring volunteers, um, overnight trip volunteers, etc. how do we kind of define and categorize categorize those volunteers separately from let's say sort of one-off volunteers. So, she's
going to share some draft language with that around that um those terms with the committee at our next meeting because we just found that in our discussion it was really important to understand um or to define um uh how we're we're um
categorizing the volunteers and using that to help determine the the type of checks background checks that would be needed and which which volunteer roles would require or should require the criminal background checks. So that is a discussion that is to be continued. Um
we also looked at next we looked at the ALP or advanced learning program enrollment data that Dr. Cesco pulled together for over the last several years from 2022 to 20 to now. So I'm just going to open that window up in one
second. Um so what we looked at was the uh enrollment data for fourth and fifth grade students uh starting in the 2022 2023 year and ending in 2025 2026 year. Uh and what we noticed uh was
that uh there was a significant drop in students over that uh entire period. So, for example, in the 2022 to 2023 school year, there were uh 49 students that
were tested. Um, and that number in 2025 to 2026 school year this school year is 39. There was a slight bump between the 2022 2023 school year and the 2023 2024 school year. So it went from 49 to 53
but from that point on from 2024 to 2026 uh the numbers decreased. Um so we also we talked about sort of the concerns around um
underpromotion perhaps of the program and uh possibly contributing to the uh drop in student uh testing numbers. Um, some committee members who have students um, at that in that age range talked about perhaps some of the communications
needing more descriptive um, information about the program as opposed to just the name or title of the program just to help ensure that all the parents are aware of what this p program entails, its purpose um, and and the process uh, the testing process. Um, Dr. Tesla is
going to re Dr. Cesco will be reporting back with more information on how information about the program was shared with the parents. We just didn't have that available at the time. Um we also talked about uh the decision to stop testing all
students for the enrichment component and the role that that um change could have played in the enrollment number uh drop. So uh Dr. Dr. Suska did report that uh this that decision was prompted by the fact that some students were
found to um have experienced anxiety around the testing process. Um so administration decided to um remove that requirement. uh but she will be reporting back to the committee on uh you know exactly when students stop being stopped being tested for the
program to see again if there's any correlation between that and the uh the numbers of enrollment the number of the students enrolled. Um we also looked at uh some the racial disparities that were also quite glaring in the um numbers. So
let's see for example uh over all the years no actually the first three years so from 2022 to 2025 I believe there were um I'm sorry from 2022 to 2024
there were um more white students in than all the other racial groups um in uh enrolled uh there were also So, uh, there was also only one black student across all years
in the, uh, that was tested in into the program, or I'm sorry, that was actually a a participant in the program. Um, students with disabilities dropped from, uh, six to one. Um, so six in 2022 2023 school year down to to just one student
in 2025 to 26. Um, interestingly enough, our economically disadvantaged students were the only group to have a significant increase between 2022 to 2026. So, um, in 2022 there were three economically
disadvantaged students and in 2025 2026 that number uh was 11. So, um, and again that was the only category that saw that significant increase over all the years. Um but again we these are um some sort of initial takeaways from from the data
and certainly you know areas of concern around um the disparities typical disparities that we see with underrepresented groups. Um so we will be discussing the the program more as Dr. Susco reports back with more information from administration on um
communications around the program um and of course the um the testing decision to stop the testing. We also discussed the importance of uh differentiation for all in all the classrooms and how that um can help support obviously all
students more and perhaps sort of with the lift all boats all uh tides approach to uh our our uh educational enrichment and what Dr. Susca talked about was
that um there is an understanding that differentiation is a challenge um and it does require tools for teachers um to be successful and the adoption of resources. So this is something that again is just an ongoing
work in progress for administration and just having the resources and tools for teachers to support them in this work. Um but it does continue to be an area of concern. Um let's see. We looked at we briefly looked at uh some of the uh responses to
the rigor survey that was conducted and I know Dr. Tusco will be doing a presentation a full presentation on that data in May. Um, so I'm not going to get into details there, but generally what we looked at was just sort of the overall um, uh, viewpoints from the
students and parents. Um and overall the majority of the students expressed positive views around um uh the extent to which they felt like they were um stimulated and challenged um by their schoolwork and their feelings around
their perspectives around their uh what they felt that their teachers um felt about them and and uh overall again positive responses there. Um for the parents most mostly favorable views but there certainly were concerns around um
increasing the the need for increased academic rigor and uh mastery of expectations. There was also um uh let's see concerns around um the need for improvement in parent
communication uh around the program. Uh but overall another positive takeaway from this study was that uh students and parents seem to have sort of a shared understanding of ricker. So I know this term we hear a lot but just to know that
um there is this shared and correct understanding that ricker focuses on sort of deeper learning not just more work. So that was another take, you know, takeaway from the survey. But again, this is just a very quick overview and uh we look forward to the
full um uh breakdown of that those results in May, I believe. Um then we looked at our ISS and OSS data for February. Um again, total incidents continue to trend
down um especially uh really across the board. Uh and we're also just working better at keeping kids in school in the learning in their learning environment. At Bartle, there were a total of 15 total incidents um involving 12
students, one ISS uh and one OSS, I believe. Yeah, I don't know why that there's a four there, but I believe it's one ISS and one OSS. Um middle school, there are 19 total of incidents, 18 total students, three ISS
and one OSS. Um and at the high school uh higher number tick up there 50 52 total incidents. Um and that did have to do with the kind of um uh group uh discipline incidents that
occurred there. Um but three ISS and one OSS suspensions at the high school level. So again, I you know, we just uh had to at least celebrate the fact that there is there continues to be a trend downward and we're seeing um less
students getting out out of school suspension and keeping our students in school. Um even if they have to be um uh pulled out for a period of time in our RISE program, they are still receiving an education when they're in that program.
And that is it for my notes. Any questions? >> Uh, yeah, I actually have a question for Christina um on the chapron policy. So, it's not actually a board policy, correct? Correct. So, what is the current status? What's going on with
that? Uh so we actually met today to review um some some of this feedback and we're working on sort of putting it into um language in a document, share it with the team for some sort of input and then uh we can we can push it out back to
committee. >> Oh, we probably going to follow up with the question. >> Well, okay. So, let me rephrase that. There is policy around it >> but um it we have to parse it out by group because we have volunteers for
many different things. So for example if so what we have to determine is what defines our volunteers is the kicker. So is it what Monique was saying is it um like we have volunteers that coach we
have volunteers that go on overnight trips. We have volunteers that come in to do book fair. We have volunteers that come in to read to kids. So we have all of these different pockets of volunteers, but those things are not articulated clearly on what determines what would need um like a longer term
exposure with our students. So what I was saying was example would be if we have parent volunteers sleeping over at Camp Mason for example, my recommendation is that that would would warrant maybe a little bit more of an expensive check versus people that are coming in to maybe just volunteer to do
the book fair, you know, during hours where there's, you know, a staff member in the room with them or something like that. So it we just those are the nuance things that we are just trying to decipher. Uh the question I think um that folks have for the current field
trip um the original policy or at least rules um were including the TB and the background check and and the question is that effective immediately because I think there's just some confusion amongst the parents. >> Yeah. Because I don't know how but it ended up circulating on Facebook.
>> I I don't know how it got there. I did not put it there. Uh so we will get clarification around that. >> Yeah. >> Yes. >> Sooner. Uh so so >> as soon as we Well, so we have some options. I mean, I could push out and we could just do it electronically as long as everyone's good with what I'm presenting or do we want to wait till next month till I review it with
committee? >> I think that the bigger question is just some parents do believe right now that for the field trips they don't need the TB, the background check that's effective immediately. >> I will put something out as soon as possible. >> Yeah, that that's all for that one. Y I
think right. Yeah, >> I have a question or a comment. Um, we have I think my impression is you definitely been seeing pretty steady declines in uh new behaviorary incidents and behavioral stuff which is
great to see. Um, have you you know do Dr. Susa have a sense even sort of anecdotally to what extent that's um related to the cell phone policy >> um at the middle school probably for
short probably a big a big uh a big amount of that probably is um just even with the smart pass alone we're seeing less students out um during what we call unstructured time uh which is where we had a lot of our our issues so they're not going leaving the classroom as much
therefore not interacting with each other during unstructured time as much. So, uh at the middle school definitely for sure. I think that's a a big um a big reason. I think you're seeing a good culture shift even around that at the um
at the high school a little bit. Um so, I'm sure that is definitely part and parcel to it. I will say also our staff that are being uh trained and and working every month on the nurtured heart approach. um seeing some of that um active recognition happening in the
classroom and inner wealth building with students has been a tremendous asset as well. Um you'll see our goals coming soon. Um uh so that that'll be really exciting in the spring as well. So I think I think there's a combination of stuff but the cell phone definitely was
um a a big player in that for sure. >> I just wanted to comment on two things. I think one um the employment of a chief school administrator, the the issue about a superintendent not being able to kind of contract out or do different
things. Uh if we did limit that, that would put us as a school district in a very difficult spot getting a chief administrator. Um most of our past administrators have thought at Ruckers they couldn't do that. um that I think puts them in a
good position and so you know I don't know if the public kind of necessarily thinks about that and and it's to limit conflicts of interest but also limits their kind of impact uh around right in in even relationships uh across districts and and with different
universities and whatnot. So, um, if if we were to put that language in, I think it would severely kind of restrict that position in our district, which would make it harder to hire and and that's not, I don't think, anything we we really want to do. And the other piece,
um, around the ALP data, um, I think it was like two years ago, we actually really tried to clarify some of the communication with parents. And so, it, uh, it also looks like about two years ago, we saw a drop. Uh, and so it's just it's just concerning to me that that
that kind of intentional kind of move to kind of communicate seems to have impacted that program. Uh, and and so yeah, it just makes me think we need to look at that again, which it sounds like. >> I agree. I remember having that conversation two years ago and one of the things that we had proposed was that
at back to school night that there be presentations on ALP but unfortunately um I shouldn't say unfortunately the decision was made Bartle to have these uh more open uh house sort of um you know open school
nights so there were no formal presentations um so if there were no formal presentations then I don't think anything was delivered ed out. Um, so so that I think may have stifled some some opportunity for parents learning about
the program. I do remember newsletters about ALP going out at some point. Um, and uh I don't I don't know if any have gone out recently. So I think yeah, definitely something to look at and see kind of like how we intended to
communicate maybe rethinking the plan. Thank you. Any more questions, comments? We will certainly be talking about ALP in our next meeting. >> Okay, we can move on to facil finance and facilities,
>> right? Um so finance and facilities met March 17th. Um we looked at the budget uh the preliminary budget presentation. So I'm not going to um you know go over all of that again. Um we also looked at the pea uh which is the preschool
budget. Um so that the preschool budget is a separate budget. Um so we did look at that as well and um you know as as Dr. Susa mentioned we are going to have 15 more seats in prek which um the construction component of that is in our
main budget. Um the rest of prek has its own budget which fortunately because we did opt in to prek when it was originally offered is very well funded by our state and so we are very very fortunate for that. Um for some
facilities items we um you'll see on uh some of the agenda items there is the purchase of a storage unit for bottle to hold outdoor equipment and that is due to the demolition of a staircase that had a closet underneath um where all of that was stored. So now we have to find a new storage space. So we're purchasing
that. Um installation of door alarms and key switches to three exterior doors at Irving. that addresses concerns from Irving about some alarm updates that actually led to alarms not going off when doors were open. So from the inside um so now they have fixed that and the
alarms will go off. Um there's an additional change order to permanently wire 15 ventilators um unit ventilators and those were wired temporarily due to construction and now will be wired permanently. Um and there are also forthcoming change orders um
for the business office um to be you know discussed. Um we also looked at the same chief school administrator policy and we agree with everything that everybody else said. Um someformational items. Our lunch b our negative lunch
balance now sits at $55,15821. Um some facility project updates. the baseball field. We had previously reported, I think twice now, that we were waiting for an updated quote from a landscaper. So, um we have decided to contract out to separate vendors for
some landscaping jobs um in order to get that done. Um there's also some updates on the uh the Bartle I mean the Bartle structural repair continues to be ongoing. Um, the Bartle toilet room
renovation is almost done, 99%. Um, and some of our board members saw the bathroom and can attest to how beautiful it is. So, we're very, very pleased. Um, the prechool classroom renovation that we
had discussed, um, that construction is going to begin on Friday. Um, and then over the spring break, contractors will install a temporary wall to split the cafeteria into two rooms so work can continue on in the room that's going to
become a classroom um while the rest of the cafeteria remains untouched. Um, and then the uh we also touched base on the HPF environmental sustainability project. Um so district had a meeting with all stakeholders to discuss um a
room at the high school being converted into a maker space and a room at the middle school being converted into an environmental sustainability center. Um that proposal is still a work in progress. Um Champions also sent an update. There is there are 289 students
currently enrolled with 32 students receiving subsidies. Um and they are also going to be um running spring break programs and a summer program. So in addition to our town program, we are going to also have the champions uh run a summer program and the town gave their
blessings. So um all is good there. All right, I'm going to move on to the finance and facilities agenda items. Um numbers one through six are part of that tentative budget. So number one is the authorization to adopt the tentative
budget for the fiscal year of 2026 to 2027. Number two is that adjustment for health care costs. Um and that's the increased cost in health benefits in the amount of $718,000
1700. Oh my goodness. 78. Never mind. the number that's listed about $718,000. Um, and so those additional funds will be used to pay the to pay the additional increases in health benefit premiums.
Um, there are number three is the approval to withdraw capital reserve. Um, and that is for all of those facility items that Denise uh Mr. Rosa presented during the budget presentation. Um number four is the approval of maintenance reserve
withdrawal again um to support some of the items that were outlined in the budget presentation. Um number five is also emergency reserve withdrawal again um and that's for the addition of the security cameras um at the high school
and middle school and the fencing around the athletic complex. And number six in uh regard to the budget is approval of um travel and related expense reimbursement for next school year. Um
number seven is approval of that preschool budget plan. Um number eight is the approval of our bill list. Number nine is our treasurer's report. Number 10 is the board secretaries report.
Number 11 is the board of ed certifications that our monthly finance report is all good. We have sufficient funds able to meet the district's financial obligations for the remainder of the
year. Number 12 is budget transfers. Number 13 is the approval of travel and related uh expense reports for this current school year. Um number 14 is the approval of contractors for professional services and related services. You can see we have um the art of education
university coming in. Um Tober Freriedman came uh for a Holocaust survivor presentation at the middle school. We have lead universe um coming for an assembly at the middle school. The brain injury alliance for New Jersey
to uh for um concussion safety very important. And Dr. Morit Blancc from uh for a parent engagement group. Number 15 is the approval of bedside instruction for one student. Number 16 is the approval for that storage
container I mentioned. Number 17 is for those door alarms uh switches that I spoke about. And then number 18, I'm sorry that was number 17. Number 18 is um some adjustments uh change orders and increases in contract amounts for those
borrow structural repairs. And that's that. >> And number 19 is going to be this >> change the light. >> This light that's going to give me a migraine in like 3 seconds. >> Any questions for finance and facilities? >> Yes. So this prelim can't I don't know
why I say that word. Preliminary budget here is what we saw with the tax increase and all the cuts. >> Correct. >> Okay. But it doesn't mean it goes through. It means we discussed at the next meeting and that >> Yeah. So this is what we're propos this is the balanced budget that we're
presenting to the state to say this is our preliminary balanced budget. However, we still have to you know obviously wait for the health benefits information and and you know some other numbers and kind of see where we are. So
those adjustments may um be made after you know throughout the next month. And just to note, a tenative budget has to be approved and sent to the county for review by March 27th.
Okay. Thank you, Allison. Um and so for um personnel on the agenda items um we have an approval of withholding salary increment. Um for number two we have an
approval of a termination. For number three we have approval of uh five leaves of absences. um medical leave, uh administrative paid leave, and a couple of unpaid leaves of
absences. Um for number four, we have approval of appointments. We have uh volunteer softball coach. Thank you. uh wait room for the spring, AV uh technician
support, event monitors, uh uh parent night at Bartle Elementary School, uh French translator at Bartle, um pair professionals, uh team treatment
meetings, AP proctors, and some leave replacements. Um for number five, we have approval of change of dates and reason for additional instructional um assignments and that's uh changing some dates for staff members that were
covering a maternity leave. And then for policies and regulations, um number one, we have policies and regulations for first reading uh which are the policies and regulations that we discussed in the committees. um
employment of chief school administrator, resource materials, library materials, uh and then the regulations for those policies, resource materials, library materials. Um we also have policies and
regulations for second reading. Um and those are uh a nepotism policy, sexual harassment staff, public complaints and grievances um and the regulations for sexual harassment staff and public compl
complaints and grievances. Um so now we uh can open up the floor to our second public comment period. Uh, how many people do we have online?
Okay. Um, does anybody have their hand raised? Okay. Okay. >> Hi. >> Hi. This is Abby Stern Cardell. Um, I just have a couple of questions for clarification that I might have missed.
Um, just in terms of the budget. Um, sorry I didn't I wasn't able to um ask during the first public comment. Um, I'm wondering is capital reserve or emergency reserve able to be used for salaries or is that earmarked for
facilities and other projects? So, I was curious whether that could be considered for salaries or if that's um separate. Um, I also was a little bit confused about the cost for students who are out of district. Um,
and I'm wondering if it costs more for a student to be out of district or in district because it sounds great that we're able to serve students in district at this point. And I thought that that would be um beneficial in terms of the budget, but it sounds like that might be
costing more. Um, so I'm a little confused about that because I thought that sending kids out of district was a significant cost. Um, sorry, I have a couple more questions. I figure I'll just run through them. Um,
oh, I might have missed So, I I can rewatch if I if I missed this, but just the outcome or the math pilot, I think I heard a little bit of mention of it, but I didn't fully I don't know if there's anything um that can be shared at this point. I know it just ended. So, um
probably some information to to share at some point about that. And then my last uh question is about the prek expansion. Um just whether there's still discussions going on about that. My understanding is
with this new classroom will be up to seven prek classrooms, but out of that seven, four of them are covered through four trailer or modular classroom um classrooms. So that really only is three
if we're talking about what's in the in the um current facility. So, I'm wondering if there's continuing to be discussion because I know from past uh meetings it has to get up to 14 or 15 classrooms. So, that's still a big gap, but I'm just wondering what steps are
being taken with that um that kind of long-term problem that we have. So, that's all my questions. Thank you. >> Uh thank you, Abby. Um is there anyone else? Okay. Uh well then with that we will
close uh public comment and move on to board action items. Let people know about the capital reserve thing just so it publicly can be know. Is that possible? >> It is not possible. Capital reserve and emergency reserve is capital reserve is
only to use be used for capital improvements. Uh and the amount in capital reserve cannot exceed your long range facilities plan which ours doesn't come near to it. Um an emergency room reserve can only been be used for
security or health benefit adjustment. >> All right. For curriculum instruction, I'm moving items 1 through 11. >> Second. >> Dr. Batty. >> Yes. >> Maldan. >> Yes. >> Mr. Maldonado.
>> Yes. >> Dr. Pixley. >> Yes. >> Miss Pruce. >> Yes. >> Dr. Schoolman. >> Yes. >> Miss Sanio. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Oh, yeah. Monique. >> Hi. I'm here.
>> Oh, I'm sorry. >> Sorry. I know I didn't get to check in for attendance. >> I had crossed you out before. Sorry. >> Okay. >> Is that a yes? >> Is that a yes? >> Oh, yes. Yes. Did you call my name? Okay.
>> Um for finance and facilities, I'd like to move numbers 1 through 18. Second one. >> Okay. >> Dr. Batty. >> Yes. >> Miss Cassell Dunn. >> Yes. >> Pullman.
Dr. Coleman, >> Mr. Maldonado, >> yes. >> Dr. Pixley, >> yes. >> Miss Pruce, >> yes. >> Dr. Schoolman, >> yes. >> Miss Daniel, >> abstain on number one. And yes, everything else. >> Miss Bardman.
>> Yes. Oh, and then it's me. Okay. Um I for personnel I would like to move uh numbers one through five. >> Second. >> Dr. Batty. >> Yes. >> Missile Dunn.
>> Yes. >> Dr. Coleman. >> Yes. >> Mr. Maldonado. >> Yes. >> Dr. Pigsley. >> Yes. >> Miss Pruce. >> Yes. >> Dr. Squman. >> Yes. >> Miss Stanio. >> Yes. >> Spardman. >> Yes. >> Uh and then for policies and
regulations. Uh, I move numbers one and two. >> Second. >> Dr. Batty, >> yes. >> Mel Dunn, >> yes. >> Dr. Coleman, >> yes. >> Mr. Maldonado, >> yes. >> Dr. Pigsley, >> yes.
>> Miss Puce, >> yes. >> Dr. Schoolman, >> yes. >> Miss Stanu, >> yes. >> Miss Vardman, >> yes. >> Okay. And now we can move on to board liaison reports. Does anyone have uh liaison reports?
>> Yes, I have one for board of health and I'm sorry I didn't pull it up yet. If anyone else wants to I got to find that that screen I had up if anyone else wants to go. Um but give me a second. really quickly, the final um focus group
for the special education program evaluation uh is this Wednesday, 6:00 um for caregivers um who have students that are receiving services and 7:00 for um
general public I suppose um I guess caregivers of parents in our school or of kids in our school. Um, and but really if you, you know, go to the the time that you can make it, we just really want people to be there. It's Tuesday, not Wednesday.
>> Is it 2? >> Oh, is it Tuesday? >> Yeah. >> Is it 24th? >> 24th. >> Okay. This is the second time I've messed up on this date. Um, you know what? It's the first few were on Wednesdays, that's why. Sorry. It is tomorrow. It is tomorrow. The final
focus group for the special education program evaluation is tomorrow. Thank you, Nikki. Um because I would have been on that Zoom Wednesday at 7 being like, "What is going on? I can't believe it." Um so 6 o'clock again if you have a a
student that's receiving services. Um 7 o'clock if you are um you know any other parent that wants to give input. Um but honestly just come when you can come. Um the Highland Park Commission for
Universal Access met. Uh we had our very own interim director for special services, Amy Capola, uh who um was an invited guest. Um so we talked about uh out of district uh placements versus in
district placements. Um I'll just say industry placements are much cheaper. um a prior question that was asked. Um but she also updated on like how many students are actually served through special services in the district. We talked about CPAG, encourage people to
attend um the events um and respond to the surveys and whatnot. We talked about the Globe program and and Buddy Ball. Um uh it was great to have her and I think uh updated the commission on a lot of
things around the district. Um and uh way it you know was an update too since they've donated to Glow and Glow Jr. about um how that how uh those programs are impacted by the money and so she told them uh how that money is being used and so it was it was just really
nice to to have her there and really informative. So, just wanted to say that >> I have an update from the Highland Park Educational Foundation. On Saturday, uh, April 11th from 7:30 to 10:30 at Penos,
there will be an 80s dance party fundraiser. So, uh, crimp your hair or slick it back and roll up the sleeves of your blazer. Tickets are $35. There'll be a DJ, a 50/50 raffle, a best dress prize. again. That is on Saturday, April
11th, 80s dance party fundraiser. >> Uh, I do plan on being there. And that is my birthday weekend. So, I hope that you will join me. >> And the next time we do this, I'm going to move that they call it the safety dance. I think that would have been a much better name for an 80s dance party fundraiser, but I guess they I could
have changed it when I printed out the posters today, but I did not do so. Uh, April 11th at Penos. >> Okay. And this is Mon'nique here for the board of health. Um they met on March
12th. Um and again, they're just really eager to find ways to uh lend their expertise and backgrounds to support the school district. Um mental health issues uh was an area of interest for for the
board of health members. um they expressed a desire to find ways to support the district with our efforts to support our students around their mental health. So I think that's something that perhaps Dr. Sesca you can kind of think about um with your leadership team um if
there's any way that the district could possibly tap into the expertise of our board of health members. They are more than willing to um be of service in any way they can in that regard. Um there are a few uh at least a couple I believe board of health members who specifically
um do research or work around that area of mental health. Um they also talked about uh and this was an issue raised I think at their last meeting about their desire to have a student a new student rep for this school year or if the previous student rep would like to
return. Um they're just not sure exactly what the status is on that at this point. uh they did reach out to Elizabeth Azmoa um and hadn't heard back from her yet at that time. Uh so we'll follow up with with them on that. Um and then there was a question around um the
new life policy um and a question and a few comments uh that they wanted to share. One um let's see that removing a student for light headlights is typically not advised by the board of health. Um they
also uh so they question sort of why removal is a part of our policy. Um their exclusion is not recommended from a board of health perspective and there is no state regulation requiring this. Um so again that was just a concern that they expressed. Um uh they also sort of
just advise uh the district to um be be careful in communication around uh lice which I'm sure you know our our district has been doing just making it clear that lice is not a disease. It's you know this is kind of a normal part of our
student um and child uh uh childhood experiences so to speak for many students. Um but just to be really careful when we're communicating with the parents um in that effective m manner um and being clear about ice uh lice not being a disease. Um so again
just some input that they um shared around that and again questions around the exclusion component of the policy. Um and I know I did ask Dr. Susa just to provide some background on that and so I will be reporting back to the board of
health um on that. Um let's see what else can I share from that meeting. Um the burrow reported that they are collaborating with the library on the distribution of high hygiene products um at the uh at the library. So that's a
positive um note there. The board of health has also communicated with the teen library and they're setting up the first purchase of um uh those products as well. Um and I think that's it.
Yep, that's all I have on that. >> Um, and so then on the uh athletic boosters, I would just like to um update that there was a fabulous uh bag designer bag bingo. Uh it happened. It was super fun.
Um, and uh, thank you to um, everyone on the school board uh, who helped us sponsor one of the bags. Uh, I forget who won it, but yeah. Yes.
Um, okay. Is that it for the Okay. Yeah. Um, okay. Okay. Well, then I'm just going to move on to the uh president's report, which is um the budget process was a little different this year um timing wise than it
normally is because uh we have a new governor and so the budget address and therefore our aid numbers were delayed in in us receiving them. So all of the dates got pushed back. Um and we were
originally scheduled to have a board meeting solely to discuss the budget. Um that would have happened last week. Uh we weren't able to do that because of again the timeline and process. Um however, given the budget and what what
we're proposing, um uh I believe the plan is that we are going to add a budget discussion meeting um to allow for more community input. um before we vote on the final um on the bud before
we vote to adopt a budget at our next regularly scheduled board meeting. So, we will be we'll send out a notice, but there will be an additional budget discussion discussion meeting um on April 13th where there will be more community input.
Maybe we might even have our healthcare numbers like some of this might be. Um, and we will be able to discuss that more fully. Um, okay. Old business, new business, say um, happy birthday to Dr. Siscat.
>> Happy birthday. >> Thank you. >> Happy birthday. Should we sing or should we >> new business old business? >> Okay. Well, then I move that we adjourn. >> Second.
>> All in favor? I I What?