Good evening. Welcome to the Hillsboro Township Board of Ed meeting, April 13, 2026. Mr. Eert, will you call the role, please? >> Mr. Eric, >> Miss Jackson, >> here.
>> Manny Peter >> here. >> Mr. Marine, Miss Nurse >> here, >> Miss Stats >> here, >> Mr. and Mr. here. >> Yes, we are going to um move to
executive session. Do I have a motion? >> So moved. Second. >> All in favor? >> Oh, next I need to read this. >> Pardon me. I need to be able to read. Whereas the Open Public Meetings Act,
chapter 231 of the laws of 1975, provides that a public body may exclude the public from that portion of a meeting of which the public body discusses certain matters for which confidentiality is required as permitted
in section 7B of the act. resolved by the board of education of the township of Hillsboro and the county of Somerset and state of New Jersey as follows. The matter to be discussed is an HIB appeal.
The matters discussed in executive session shall be disclosed to the public when the need for confidentiality no longer exists. So with that, we will retreat to executive session.
Oh, now we motion and second. May I have a motion? >> So moved. Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Thank you. All right. >> So the previous security Sorry.
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Hey, hey, hey. Good evening. >> Welcome again to the Hillsboro Township Board of Education meeting. We have returned from executive session. Uh Mr. Eert, will you call the role please? >> Mr. CR
>> here. >> Miss Jackson >> here. >> Miss Craig, >> Miss Lanny Beer >> here. >> Mr. Marini, >> Miss Nurse >> here. >> Miss Stats >> here. >> Mr. Trillo >> here. >> And Mr. here. Pledge of >> Allegiance, please
for it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. We've received a correspondence as noted on the agenda.
And um for the board president's report, I want to uh report that we are engaged in ongoing discussions
about the budget and the levy and all of those things. And we will a little later on in the meeting uh open the floor for the board to have an open discussion
here about specific items being proposed for the budget. Last meeting, the proposed budget was approved at that time, but it's it's called a proposed budget because it's
being proposed. The final vote is on April 30th, and that's when the budget for 2627 will be cast in stone. And we want uh the community to be aware that the
conversation is ongoing. There are inquiries being made. There's research being done. Uh and we will discuss some of that here tonight. Uh more for your benefit than than ours. I
would say I would like the community to be aware of the fact that the board is engaged and does take very seriously uh the implications of what these tax levies mean uh for the entire community. So that will take
place a bit later on. And uh with that I turn it over to Mr. Vulpi for the superintendence report. >> Thank you so much Mr. President. And I first want to start by apologizing uh for many of the winter sports athletes who are here. One of the offices told
you to be here at 7 o'clock and our board meetings start at 7:30. So apologies for that, but I have a feeling that many of you are going to be back for many athletic seasons uh in the future. Um and we'll make sure we get the right time out, but it is at 7:30. We do certainly appreciate your patience. Um, this is one of my favorite
board meetings of the year because we get to recognize a lot of athletic excellence um, across multiple sports for many different reasons. You will hear about athletes that overcame adversity. You will hear about athletes that accomplish something they've never done before. You will hear about
champions. You will also hear about students who have done outstanding in the classroom as well as in their particular uh, athletic field. And uh, we have the board president over there, Mr. Davis who we're going to call up some student athletes and he's going to present you with a certificate. I'll
just say a word or two about your accomplishments. Then if you are an athlete who is being singled out, I welcome you to after getting your certificate to come to the podium to say a word or two if you like. I see some people already shaking their heads no or pointing at someone else to do that. Um if you can't think of anything to say,
there's a couple things you can do. Thank your coach, thank your parents. Thank your teammates. And if we invite up a whole team, um I would ask for the coach to to say a word or two, you know, about the team and we may be singling some people out from your team as well. So congratulations to everything you did
so far uh this year. Some of you will be involved in other sports and we may be seeing you back. And the first sport that I would like to recognize is basketball. And we have uh one of our male athletes and one of our female athletes. Both who made first team all Skyland conference conference Aaron
Feith and Bellaroo. And Bellaroo in addition to making first team all Skyland conference was also third team all group four. Congratulations to both of you who come up to see the board president to get a certificate. And then if you want to say a word or two, you can. And you can applaud for them too if they're here.
And I guess they really didn't want to say anything at the podium because they happen to not be here right now. But congratulations to both of them. We also have a very interesting uh recognition that we have right here. And some of you may know about this, some of you may
not. Uh we don't play soccer in the winter as an organized NJSIA sport. However, Ana Lopez Akuna uh was recently made the Mexican U17 Women's National Team roster as their goalkeeper. And it goes without saying that earning a spot
on the national roster is one of the highest honors in sports. Congratulations to you, Anya. You can come up to see the board president now. Sure. Yeah. >> We're amazed by your accomplishment. So, please be recognized. And would would
you like to say a word or two about your experience? >> Would you like to say a word or two at the podium? >> Sure. If you want to >> uh I want to say thank you to my parents and all my coaches and also some of my
teammates that are here. Thank you. >> Congratulations. I also have two students that I'd like to recognize as the Skyler Conference Scholar Athlete of the Year. We have Julia Broulette and Liam Rory. Julia for soccer, winter track, and field in
lacrosse and Liam for football and lacrosse. If you're both here, please come up to see the board president. And again, if if either of you would like to take a moment to speak at the podium, we congratulate you for everything you've done. Would you like would you like to say anything? You don't have to. I just want to give you the opportunity. Thank your parents.
Thank your coaches. >> Yeah. Thank you to my parents, my teammates, and my coaches. >> I'd also like to thank my parents, my coaches, and teachers. >> Thank you. Thank you for all you've accomplished. Next, I'd like to invite up an entire
team. If I can have the girls wrestling team, our Skyland Conference champions, please report up to the board president. I don't think we have individual certificates for them, Joel. We're just recognizing them. I did want to take uh a moment
to point out to uh everyone who does not know that although we've had girls wrestling with us for a couple of years now, this is the first year we had a full girls wrestling team and to accomplish a conference championship in your first year is absolutely amazing.
And we have some outstanding coaches along with us. You can give them a round of applause. Coach, would you like to Yeah. step up and either say a couple things about the season or about a couple of your athletes, too. And I'll be pointing out a couple of them as well. >> Sure. Yeah. And uh Mr. Vulby said most
of it, too. Um it really is an outstanding uh accomplishment in our first season. Right. We've had a few girls the past few years who are still with us now who kind of helped build this team that what it's become now. Um but the accomplishments that these girls have gotten done this year has been short to, you know, are nothing short of
amazing. Um can't thank the parents enough. Of course, parents in our community has always been amazing with our wrestling community and of course in its first year of inception. Um, thanks to the administration and teachers and Mr. Davis who's not here as well. Um, all the support we've had on the back end. Thanks to everyone. If I could have
your team stay there, too. Just have your team stay there because I want to recognize a few of your athletes in particular. And the first one I'd like to recognize is Maria Imhouser who is a Skyland Conference champion, region champion, and third place at the
wrestling championships. Also would like to recognize Charita Samino, a district champion, seventh place at the wrestling champions, and 87 career wins. Coach, how many career wins did you have as a as a wrestler here for us? It was 100 something. >> A few. Yeah, a few. A few. But uh yeah,
I mean just to add to that too, our first 75 win member of you know the female wrestling team. >> Absolutely. Absolutely. >> We also want to recognize Manali Brach who's a district champion and took eighth place at the state championships.
And finally, Kayla Cesiano, who is a Skyland Conference champion. Would uh would any of your girls like to say anything or No. Okay. Just want to give you the opportunity. Go ahead. Yeah, you can do it. You can do it.
>> I just want to say thanks for um all the support from my coaches and my teammates, my friends and my family. It really meant a lot to me and it helped me like it helped carry me through all the all the adversities throughout the whole sport. So, thank you.
>> Absolutely. Congratulations. >> Okay, thank you. >> One more thing to add real quick too, just while Charlene was up there. She's also going to be our first female wrestler wrestling in college next year for Muenberg University. >> Wanted to call that
congratulations. An amazing season, an amazing team, and we look forward to many more years of this. So, coaches, if you can stay there and and ladies, if you can have a seat for right now, congratulations again on a great season. And we do have some other wrestlers I'd like to bring to the podium as well. So,
if Nick Darty and Owen Miller can come up, please. Nick was our Somerset County champion, first team all Skyland Conference District Champion, region champion, fifth place at the NJSIA championships. That was your seed too, right? Wasn't five your seed and 108 career wins. And
Owen Miller was first team all Skylanding Conference. Congratulations to both of you and what you've done for our wrestling program. And uh coach, again, I don't know if you'd like to speak about either of these young men or if either of the young men would like to say a word or two. I just want to say I'm incredibly
grateful to um my parents, my family, u my coaches, and everyone who helped me achieve this amazing opportunity tonight. So, uh thank you everyone. >> Good. >> Thank you. Congratul Oh, you want to say something, coach? Go ahead. >> No. Okay. Congratulations on a great
season. Next, I'd like to bring up our entire girls swim team. First, I'd like to point out if you see on the uh the screen behind me, they have won the the Nisca Gold Scholar Team Award. That means the Varsity Girls average GPA was high and it was a an
average of 3.866. So, thank you for what you're doing in the classroom as well as the pool. They finished the year ranked number five by NJ.com in the top 20. And I did I know this is going to be like a sore. I I did I was there at the Y when we uh
were going against Bridgewwater. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, but I just I wanted to bring that up for a particular reason. I couldn't stay the entire time because see I'm old and how loud your fans are, how they support you, how loud you are
with each other, it kind of blew my eardrum. So I know we were on the the short end of the the pool uh at that point, but it was amazing to see what you guys uh inspire uh how your parents come out and support you and what you what you do for each other. So, I would
like the whole team to stay up there for a second because there are some of you that we do want to recognize as well for individuals. Um, if you look at the the four there, we have Olivia K, Tammy Lang, uh, Dylan Brionis, and Emily Sudall. They were 200 free relay, third team all state, and first in the
conference. 400 free relay, second team all state, and first in the conference. And Olivia was first team all conference in the 100 free. Uh Dylan was in first team all conference in the 200 individual medley and Emily Sudol was first conference 200 free and was also
the Skyland Conference free female swimmer of the year. So you ladies could step forward and be recognized by the board president and then coaches. I'm either going to ask you guys or your your uh athletes to say a couple words about what this
season meant and maybe some of the the outstanding accomplishments which we seem to do in the pool year after year after year. >> It's okay. It's okay. >> Thank you so much for the >> There you go. Thank you so much for everyone
supporting our team and like everyone on the team push each other and like all the coaches trust us and give us all the opportunity. Thank you. >> Um I would just like to say thank you for recognizing us and our season. Although it didn't end the way we hoped,
it's um a good start for next season and we're very excited. So thank you. coaches, would you like to say anything, too? >> Well, first of all, uh, to the board of ed and to our school administration, thank you again for this night. I know you mentioned it already earlier. We we
do look forward to it. I think it's a great thing, uh, to bring up our our student athletes and these accomplishments. And congrats to all the athletes who have been up here so far and that we'll be coming up in a in a few minutes to be recognized. Um, again, as a as a coach, I can't do it without uh some of the assistants who are also
here tonight, and that's uh coach Adele Morgan and Coach Jordan McZnney. So, they they do a lot of this uh to make it happen for both the boys and the girls swim team. So, as a head coach, I I am very lucky to surround myself with the talent that we have uh on a coaching
staff. And then to the girls that are that are here tonight representing the team. Um they had a fantastic season and uh so many of them were not just the first team all conference awards but even county champions that are standing up here uh conference champions as well.
So we were we had a a great season. Um we were very lucky once again. So thank you for again for the recognition. >> Thank you. I'm going to ask that the coaches stay and and ladies, you can have a seat. Thank you. Congratulations on a great season. And now I'd ask our boys swim
team to please come up and join your coaches. Now, coach, as as they're coming up here, I do want to note again that your boys swim team's not as smart as the girls team, cuz I'm looking at their Nisca Gold Scholar Team Award, and their
average GPA is only 3.79. But honestly, no, we know I'm joking because that's amazing talent. And and thank you for the work that you do in the classroom as well as the pool. And I want to make sure you were not only finished the year ranked number four in the state, but correct me if I'm wrong,
coach, backto backto back to backto backto back state sectional champions. Six in a row. Congratulations to you and the team. Some of you don't know what it's like to lose. That is and that's probably a good thing right now. Um, I'd like to point
out some of your outstanding swimmers as well. I'd like to point out Kevin Ward. Please step forward to the board president to uh for being first team all conference in the 200 free. John Yadiche who is first team all conference in the
500 free setting a new school record and was second team all state. And Gavin Growser, Somerset County Scholar Athlete of the Year. And then coach, the same thing if you'd like to or any of your boys would like to say a word or two.
>> Uh Gavin is on a college visit, I believe, at Purdue University. >> Well, he's the scholar athlete of the year. So, there you go. >> So, I wanted to mention Yes. So, that's where he is. Um so, for for the boys team, uh yes, it it's not uh something that's easy to do, get to the sectional
finals, and you know, to to be able to to do that six years in a row. Um, and I think 13 overall in the past 25 years is pretty impressive. And this year, again, they made it to the uh, state finals for the second year in a row, which is an accomplishment all in itself. So, much
like the girls team, very, very proud of what these boys were were able to do this this season. We have quite a few like the girls and boys going off to swim uh, some division one schools uh, and division three schools next year. And amongst these boys standing here are county champions and conference
champions as well. So, uh, like I said, very, very lucky as a coach and very, very proud to, um, to be able to do this year in and year out. So, and thank you once again for recognizing everyone. >> Congratulations, everyone. Thank you for all your efforts. Please, you if you
want to say a word or two, please feel free. >> Absolutely. Please. >> I wanted to thank everybody on the team and our coaches for their commitment to inclusion over the past four years that I've been on the team. Thank you. Um, I want to thank my teammates, my
coaches. Uh, all of them, uh, pushed me to my limits, helped me break my record. So, uh, yeah, thank you to them. >> Uh, I just want to thank the coaches and all the boys behind me and, uh, I'm excited to bring home a state title next year.
Thank you everyone for what you do in the pool and in the classroom. You make Hillsboro proud. Thank you. Next, I would like to bring up our girls track and field team and any of the coaches who are here as well. Congratulations to our girls track and
field team who is another dominant program throughout the county in the state. This year they were Skyland Conference champions and NJSIA group 4 sectional champions. And we have a couple of people we want to make sure uh that we point out specifically. Emma
Stibbitz uh was NJSIA National Women and Girls Sports recipient and Alexa Clling was Somerset County Athlete of the Year and NJSIA Scholar Athlete of the Year. Congratulations. There are some other people we want to recognize before and start thinking
about what you want to say too because I talked to Coach Reefy and he was like, "I don't know if I want to say anything." So, I'm like, "So, I'm sure one of your girls is going to say something." So, the pressure's on right there. But you got a minute because we also want to recognize uh the 4x400 first team all group four and first team
all Somerset County. That's Luciana Damiano, Stella Martinez, Emma Bird, and Emma Stibbitz who is also second team all group four. Congratulations. And actually, um, we also have for track and field, Daniel, we'll get you up here, too. Uh, we have Payton Wallace,
who is first team all Somerset County and third team all group four. And Daniel Tobaya, who's first team all Somerset County, second team all group four, and second team all state. Daniel, are you here too? Because I'd like to bring you up right now with the track
team. Not here. Okay, that's okay. Congratulations on all your work. Now, now, Coach Reefy, would you like to say a couple things about any of your athletes or would any of your athletes like to come up and perhaps thank anyone like your coaches, your parents, and your fellow teammates? >> Sure. Thank you for the recognition. Uh,
it's important to the kids that they get recognized for their efforts. Um, I don't know if any of you know there's not many winter track facilities around here, so it's very tough. We go on the road often, usually over an hour and a half on a lot of week nights. Um, so
thank you for recognizing their efforts. I want to thank the team. Uh, I feel honored to coach them. Uh, they're great runners, but they're even better people. >> Um, I want to say thank you to Coach Reefy because he dedicates a lot of time to us and I know like speaking for all
of us that it means a lot to us. So, thank you to Coach Reefy. Um, I want to say thank you to my parents, my coaches, my teammates, and my teachers for helping me get this amazing accomplishment. I think it's amazing when we have so much to recognize during the course of
one uh winter athletic season, but I want to make it clear, we couldn't list every single thing that everybody accomplished because there was so much. So, we wanted to point out some of the highlights, but I also wanted to point out how well our students do in the classroom. And coach Reefy, I I really
think I I really resonated me was the thing that you had said right there is in Hillsboro, we don't just make good athletes. We don't just make good students. Uh we have good people here as as individuals. And I think that speaks volumes about what my staff and what my coaches do, just the kind of athletes
that we produce and their characters. So, congratulations to all of you winter athletes. I know some of you are in spring sports right now, so I'll see you back here for the spring um the spring recognition. And then um congratulations everyone. Give everybody one more round
of applause if you could. And then I think Mr. President, you did want to take a a fivem minute recess uh just in case Yes. in case anybody wasn't staying for the full board meeting. That's going to continue after this. You have five minutes to chat and then sneak
out and he'll be banging the gavl and we'll be continuing business in five minutes. Thank you. That's three. Yeah. on the other side. >> We don't have to So let's just say for the sake of
conversation and the idea instead of so that to be discussed But if that were we could say with a straight
We're advisory. Yeah. >> So she was too But she had already said she's like a space. >> She's just for hours.
working back until she's cleared by decorator. like Hawaiian rules. We very much welcome input from the
public during board meetings. There will be two 30 minute periods of time that the meeting will be open for public comment where members of the public are invited to comment which they may do if
they are attending in person. There is a clipboard for all participants to write their name. Before commenting, please state your name and address. There is a threeinut limit on public comment. Please understand that
our public forums are not structured as question and answer sessions, but rather are offered as opportunities to share your thoughts with the board. In instances where the board believes that there is a misunderstanding or
inaccuracy, the board president or superintendent will address the comment. There may be times when a member of the public makes a comment or asks a question about personnel or hiring decisions. Kindly note that the open
public meetings act and the privacy rights of public employees encompass therein do not permit the board to discuss personnel issues in public session. So this is the public comment uh time
and we we can begin with you. We are going to use some of the public comment time for our own board interactive comments. So if you would like to speak prior to that, you're more than welcome to.
>> Uh good evening Thomas Zobelli uh Upper Nishanic Court Hillsboro. So, I'm here tonight because I was unable to make it last meeting and uh I was I'm just hopeful that uh since we've not yet
approved the tenative budget yet that um some on the board may reconsider how they voted for the tenative budget last uh meeting. Um I think at some point and I've I've said this at Nauseium previously that um
enough is enough in terms of uh you know if the answer is to raise taxes every time the state decides to um unfairly go after towns like Hillsboro um then you really are going to push more and more people out of this town, out of this
state. Um, and I think we need to do a better job of cultivating relationships with our assemblymen and senator. Um, it's convenient how we only see them at certain points in time here. They'll
come, they'll present a check here and there or they'll say how great we are and but in times like this, we don't ever really see them. And that's quite disappointing. and being that one lives here right in town. So I think we need to do a better job of cultivating
relationships. We need to do a better job as a community of uh working with the staff of the governor as well as the staff of these assemblymen uh assemblymen, women and our senator. Uh, we also need to do a better job of just
being aware of what's going on and just just being willing to say enough is enough. And again, quite frankly, I just I'm kind of astonished that every time I turn around, it's like the only solution we seem to have is,
well, we'll raise taxes. Well, um, I don't know. At some point, maybe we need to send this out to voter referendum. Not just when we want to thing want to uh see things be passed like the security and other things like this
actually, you know, when we're affecting raising taxes on folks and it's and there's nothing whether you agree with what you know something might happen or not. uh it's not like you're giving us any there's not there's really not a give and take and I feel like at some
point I think it's only fair that we send this out to vote a referendum um and see where the chips fall and I just hope and encourage folks on the board that voted in favor to maybe reconsider
or to maybe I don't know see about making it uh making it known known to more of the community members or or really going out and asking those in the community what it's like to live in this state or what
it's like to live paycheck to paycheck or or whatnot. And uh hopefully we can see change here, but I'm not too hopeful, but I hope that maybe some may reconsider. Thank you. >> Thank you. Good evening. Henry Goodwill, Hillsboro
Education Association, as well as a Hillsboro resident and parent. Um, I just want to correct the record on a couple of things. Um, as as I understand it, I believe um last week a number of dignitaries, including local politicians like the assembly person was present in
the high school to greet um the commissioner of education and talk about critical issues impacting Hillsboro. So, I just think it's important to put that on the record because, you know, there's work to be done. The formula is flawed. We need to fix the formula and we need to make sure that our town is taken care of. But I want to make sure that we
don't lose allies in that work or that we don't recognize when allies are present with us for doing that work. And as you prepare to discuss the budget moving forward, I just think it's important to keep in mind what we just did. We just celebrated countless student athletes and scholars who are
doing amazing things. That's part of the budget. That work does not exist without the support of the budget. And if we enter into a funding formula where we're flat, we're starting to undermine that work because we can remember last year where there was consideration of cutting
full sports programs at the middle school. And we can look to towns like Montlair that just eliminated their entire freshman sports because of budget issues and because of improper funding. We have the opportunity to fund responsibly. We have the opportunity through the budget that was presented to
return 5.6 million or not spend that. So, we're saving 5.6 million, which is something no board has ever done before. You should be proud of that. But we should make sure that we're we're budgeting appropriately and safely for the future. And we have to strike that
balance between surviving and thriving. We have a responsibility. Every single person in here, whether you're a parent, an educator, a board member, whosoever, we have a responsibility to help these students thrive. And if we flatten a budget, we are not meeting that responsibility. Thank you.
>> Thank you. Come on. Good evening. My name is Omgar Bharadwaj and we are the Hindu student in Congress. Over the past few months, our team has carefully reviewed the world history curriculum and we've observed a consistent pattern. While many civilizations are taught through the
contributions in progress, Indian history and Hinduism is often presented with a more limited lens with a strong focus on social structures such as the cast system. We respectfully request that the district apply consistent academic standards across all cultures,
ensuring that history is presented in a balanced and comprehensive way. This will help ensure that all students feel respected and that no one feels uncomfortable or mis misrepresented when um talking about their heritage. The first issue is a significant
timeline gap. The curriculum currently skips much of India's classical period. While we learn about the Renaissance, we missed the global origins of many of those same concepts such as the desol system and early medicine which de developed in India. We asked the board to begin addressing this gap so our
history classes better connect with what we are learning in our STEM courses. The second issue is the materials. Many current curriculum sources put a greater emphasis on social structures with less attention to intellectual and philosophical contributions. We
recommend integrating primary sources such as ancient texts on ethics and governance to bride a more complete picture. We have already gathered highquality academic resources and are ready to share them to support teachers in making these updates.
Uh the third area is alignment with state standards. Uh New Jerseys AAPI mandate requires the teaching of Asian-American history. We believe that understanding the broader civilization roots of these communities is essential to fulfilling that mandate effectively.
By strengthening these courses, Hillsboro can lead the state with a more complete and globally relevant perspective for all students. We appreciate the 2027 revision timeline and we also believe there are opportunities for meaningful interimm improvements. Many current students may
not benefit from those future updates. So, we encourage the board to consider implementing changes such as incorporating primary sources before the next school year. This would allow students entering these classrooms in this September to benefit from a more balanced curriculum. All right. We have recently met with Dr.
Rabimas and Mrs. Baxter and we're ready to serve as student stakeholders to create these changes that we so so that we talk about. We understand that these changes won't be made overnight and that we can't just do this immediately. But we're ready to roll up our sleeves and put the work in, provide the information needed so that we can bring these
changes because the benefit is not just for Hindu students. It's for everyone that understands their culture, the heritage, how it connects to the world. To close, a former Hillsborough High School valictorian, now at Stanford University, shared with us that while
Hillsbor gave him a strong academic foundation, there's an opportunity to move forward toward a more complete and nuanced understanding of history. We excited to work with the district on this effort. We would now like to invite uh parents and community leaders um who have seen the impact of these gaps firsthand to share their perspectives.
Thank you so much. >> Thank you. I would like just to offer a brief compliment to this group of young men who even though there are six of you, you only went over the time limit by 10 seconds.
Well done. Good evening everybody. My name is Shri Krishna Morti. I've been a Hillsboro resident for almost 30 years and I'm a parent of children in this district. I'm here to support the thoughtful proposal presented by the Hindu student congress and I'm speaking as a parent and as well
as a taxpayer. Like many parents here, we teach our students our children about our heritage and values at home and through many community programs as part of the development into well-rounded citizens with a global perspective. But at times when they come home from
school, we notice a gap, a mismatch between what is taught in class and a more complete understanding of our culture. When complex topics are presented without a broad broader context, it can unintentionally create a narrow picture. At the same time,
important contributions across areas like mathematics, science, and philosophy are not always equally represented. As a parent, what matters most is how this affects our children. No child should feel hesitant or uncomfortable when speaking about their
own heritage. Education should build confidence, curiosity, and mutual respect. We chose Hillsboro for its academic excellence and we continue to invest in that standard. To us, excellence also means accuracy and
balance in the curriculum. We are not asking for special treatment, just accuracy and academic rigor. We appreciate the district's openness to student input in the upcoming review cycle and we look forward to supporting this effort as partners. Thank you all.
Hello b hello hello board of ad and u the supervisor and the superintendent Dr. Uh Miss Walpie. Um my name is Anurra Agur Raman. I am one Cory Road Hillsboro. Uh my kids went through the school system and uh I'm still the
taxpayer of this of of this district. So um my piece here is um I've been involved in getting raising awareness of Hinduism around in the in the society and in the school and I did come here a
few times for Diwali holiday and um from the time my son was in um um Hillsbor Elementary School. I volunteered to talk about uh our holidays and bringing awareness into our culture. And come seventh grade, uh, I couldn't do that
anymore because parent volunteership was very limited. And I'm proud to say that my son went to the social studies teacher and said, "I would like to talk about it." And he did uh, do a presentation on Hinduism in the seventh grade and the teacher really appreciated
that he brought that to the class. But uh this may not be the case in every classroom in the seventh grade that a student comes and does and it should be responsibility of the school teachers and professionals who should be departing this education on the rest of
the class putting so much of pressure on these kids to come and uh to create a council which I'm very very proud of these kids who who are doing it now but um we as uh you know the school board and u and and the and the grown-ups
should put more effort into this to represent Hinduism and Indian history. There are some teachers here who are from Balviar. That's where the uh some of the kids here go learn about it. Yeah. Like proper classes which with curriculum every year about every text,
every scripture and what is the real value of it. And I have uh one person sitting here standing in front of Indu uh Bharat who does who's doing a phenomenal job this year teaching about uh introducing India to Indians. So am I right the topic and I have other
teachers who who talk about um uh discovering yourself like a self-foldment class from the Hindu religion first. So there is so much philosophical and history in our religion and in our country and the topic is so narrow that I remember my
daughter also was mad when she came after the class because one whole week one whole week five classes they just talk on one topic cast system it's like talking about feudalism or or or um the knights who went uh you know about
another religion for a whole week. We have never heard about that in other religions. So but this is being partially being you know uh uh focused on one particular thing when the religion is much larger, the country is much larger, the culture is much larger.
So um I really request that we all take a proactive uh effort to get this fixed um at the earliest and by the next year as the kids have asked. Thank you very much. Thank you very much for your time. Hi, my name is Britney Hamilton. Um, I'm
a Hillsboro resident, a treasurer of the HA, and a social studies teacher at the middle school. Speaking as an individual, I want to speak tonight in strong support of the students from the Hindu Student Congress. It is a sign of a healthy school district when students advocate for a more inclusive and
culturally responsive education. In the middle school, the students are right to point out the emission of the Moria and Gupta Empire. Specifically, these eras represent a golden age of global significance, and omitting them or oversimplifying Hindu culture through the sole lens of the cast system limits
the perspective of all our students. To be clear, these gaps are largely a result of the shift a few years ago from a 180day world history course to a 90-day model. At that time, many teachers expressed concern that cutting our world history instruction time in
half would force the removal of vital historical content. We are seeing just one real world impact of those cuts tonight. Any major changes should always be revisited to ensure they are having the intended impact. These students concerns raise an unintended consequence
of this decision. I welcome the students suggestions and look forward to the professional development and curriculum revisions that will hopefully allow us to represent Hindu culture with the depth and accuracy it deserves. Thank you. >> Good evening. Um I'm I don't live in
Hillsboro. I live in one of the neighboring towns in Bridgewater and I'm a volunteer teacher and some of some of the parents mentioned an Indian school in Branchburg. So we have a Sunday school. Uh we focus on values and service and and of course it's in school
most of the students are Indian and we cover topics in Hinduism. Uh my name is Enk Shankr. I have been you know researcher and educator most of my life and I've had I want to bring the perspective that I have observed many high school students over the past 10
years and undergraduate and graduate students at Predos University and I see the difference it makes when someone has a well-rounded perspective and appreciates different cultures and the reason I'm here is I I know some of the kids here and I said wow you're going to talk to the board of ed I I'll be there.
It takes courage to come and make a statement like that. Um this topic about curriculum and representing Indian culture and Hinduism has been going on in many school districts in the US. I'm thrilled. I'm thrilled the students are bringing it up and that the board is uh
giving them an audience and the teachers are supporting it. So I encourage them to the school district to work with the students and it'll just make the community richer and we we see um nuanced perspective about different
aspects of the culture and history and if that spreads to the to the greater population everybody will benefit. Thank you. >> Thank you. Sorry. >> Thank you. Namaste everybody. Respectable Mr. WP superintendent,
respectable board members, Mr. President and everybody here. You heard about students today. You heard about parents. I live in Hillsboro 1997. My wife been through school here to the
12th grade. My son born in here. He went to 12th grade also I'm V kra I'm a part of lot of community events as well as committees the interfaith committee in his word I'm
part of that members over the years this is what you're listening today Mr. Superintendent this is a voice when my son was in school one day he come with crying the teacher I
don't want to give name he said papa you telling me the holy river name is ganga and teacher was drilling the word in his mind Gangji really
and my son says papa we have so cast. We are so much God. What do you mean tell that five or six years old boy this is curriculum doing over the years
across the New Jersey not Hillsboro his still respectable for our culture I know wherever I go Mr. Wolfpie Mr. Mayor Mr. everybody who is willing to help us. But guess what?
When the drilling in a young mind, we only focus on casting system. India has a casting system. We have so much god. We have so much language. We have so much food. So what? Which
country don't have a casting system? You name it, I give you cast. Everybody has a cast systems. But why the hboro or across the New Jersey and other states is only feeding our new brain, new mind
only casting system. They talk about traffic. They talk about a dirtiness. They talk about dirty people. They talk about under educational. Sir to be honest with you, India is not
real name. India name is be master in tolerance. The tra they change our country name. We adapted the India has the most vitalized religious base there more than any other
country. Yet we respect everybody. None of this kid unrespect everybody. We teach everybody's one family who was come to a guest. But this is the voice. This is beginning
five more seconds from here. I want to tell our new governor also please focus on curriculum in school. They're teaching a wrong way which is every country has India provide more doctor more lawyers more business people more
scientists everybody in US more IT people mathematics master spelling be we are the number one yet you're talking about our kids only casting system thank you for hearing thank you namaste all
thank you very If there are no more comments uh from the audience, I would like to open this time for discussion among the board about uh budget items and where we're going in
the future. Uh I will allow myself the privilege of reading a statement. This is from uh an email that I sent to the board members earlier today. This is my own statement. This is
not a board statement per se. Um but it is my own personal statement and it says uh in this statement that we'll have this discussion tonight and as follows.
There is a reason why the process allows for a vote on a proposed budget with a final budget to be voted on at some point later. The reason
is to allow for evaluation, review, and reconsideration before there is a final vote. Let's take advantage of that.
Speaking personally, I regret my vote to approve the 2% levy suggested in the proposed budget. I voted yes. And the more I think about it, the more
I regret my vote because it deprived the board of the opportunity to review the proposed budget more deeply at that time. I believe had I voted no on the proposed
2% levy, we could have discussed alternatives more thoroughly, including a 0% option or even a 1% compromise or or something.
Mr. Vulby sent out a questionnaire by email to the board members regarding specific budget proposals, specific budget line items
to which all of the board members have responded and I will touch upon that in a moment or two. Interestingly, most of the items on that list and and this voting, if you will, is
really just an opinion survey was anonymous from the point of view of the individual board members. They didn't know how anyone else was commenting. Uh and yet most of the items on that list were approved.
But many of the items on that list were approved by a similar 5 to 4, 6 to three. There were there were only a small handful of items on the list that really were approved unanimously, but they were really obligatory items like
position changes and so on. Uh nevertheless, as Mr. Vulpi has previously indicated, approving or disapproving certain budget proposals does not in and of itself uh suggest agreeing on what the
suggested tax levy is. We can still discuss that. The enormous increase in the tax levy approved last year by the board at that time
was made in good conscience and in good faith. Each member who voted yes on that tax increase did so for the good of the schools and the kids.
Yet the town is reeling. Many people are affected emotionally by the state of affairs. Last year, I was a no vote. I didn't
vote for that large increase. And even though I voted no last year, I held out hope that by imposing that huge tax increase would result in Hillsboro's
state funding seeing some improvement. You know, there were some things banded about about paying our fair share and filling out the formula. So perhaps that huge increase last year
would get us on an even keel with the state. I thought this year I see in my opinion my words I see that we have been betrayed again
with a $500,000 cut in state funding. So I've laid down my hope. there's there's no hope with the state. But it is my hope that by opening the discussion prior to the final vote on
April 30th, by considering adjustments or even defending the levy that has been approved, whatever the individual opinions are, I want to and I believe we are displaying to the community that the
board recognizes the gravity of these decisions. Nothing can be voted on this evening that is actually binding. The the binding vote on the budget will
take place on April 30th. But in the meantime, if there are serious questions and if there begins to develop a
consensus to suggest a change, we will be informing Mr. Vulpi and Mr. Eert ahead of time so that appropriate provisions can be made
because the proposed budget was approved in order to amend that if that were to end up being the desire of the board. Notwithstanding any individual feelings, uh
there's a legal process that the township would need to go through, primarily getting the permission from the county superintendent and even determining what the appropriate legal procedure would be.
But that's really just a if you will, that's just a detail. That's not an impediment. If some change were to be recommended by the board prior to April 30th, uh
appropriate actions can be taken to make that an actual change. this survey that had been issued to the board. And now again, this was issue, if you will, anonymously. No
board member knew who how anyone else was voting. And there are a few items that were on this list that uh were only three items that were,
if you will, disapproved. Many of the items on this list in this blind survey were improved, but by very narrow margins. I'm going to read the list uh without going into a lot of detail, but just to
give you an idea of the kinds of conversations that go on. These are some of the things Mr. Vulpi and the administration are proposing for the new budget. That would include uh a Kto6 literacy
supervisor. Say why do we need supervisors? The teachers in essence need oversight. They need supervision, direction and uh counsel.
some of our supervisors now I think one of them is overseeing 150 teachers plus or minus hence the the need for bringing on an additional supervisor we also there's a
proposal for a K to6 math supervisor uh a proposal for uh Hillsboro Middle School an additional Hillsboro middle school building monitor a proposal for ARIS building monitor,
a proposal for ARIS autism teacher and two aids, seven kindergarten teachers. In the original proposal, Mr. Vulpi was proposing 12 kindergarten teachers in
anticipation of the burden imposed by all day kindergarten. Mr. Vulpi has whittleled that down to seven in terms of immediate need, 10 lunch aids, but there are independent
proposals for each of the additional five kindergarten teachers and the board in various combinations voted to bring some on and and to not bring them all on.
A special services administration assistant changing from 10 months to 12 months. That's just an administrative change. A nursing clerk becoming a secretary. An automated license plate reading
system, which is a security measure at the high school. a weapons detection system for I guess the high school, right? No, for the whole district. Was the automated license plate reading
for the whole district? >> High school, middle school, >> high school, middle school, and art road school. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Upgrades to the security cameras. Uh AMS exterior door swipe access
locking system. Hillsboro Elementary School exterior speaker in the back of the building. Hillsboro High School football field poleb barn lock access. Better security. Hillsboro High School football field
house swipe access. Hillsboro High School football field concession stand, swipe access, lock upgrade, the transportation and maintenance facility
which has been discussed here and an upgrade to the Hillsboro Medical School uh family and right family in consumer science for we used to call that home when why when I
was a boy right uh that's a significant list and uh the the big item on that list is the transportation and maintenance facility which is estimated at $7 million. That's that's just a a
parameter. It's there's no final quotes or anything like that. If we were to discuss changing the levy that was approved
as part of the uh proposed budget, some of the items on this list, Mr. Eard advises me some of the items on this list would have to be whittleled down in order to accommodate
the change in proposed income, which just makes sense. There's lots of different emotions. There's lots of different feelings. There is no argument that the more we can spend and not just
haphazardly and not just indulgently, the athletes we had up here tonight were a remarkable testimony to our program, the good job of the coaches.
So, no one is suggesting that there's indulgence or overindulgence or any of those kinds of things. But as some people have said, there is a point at which any household, any economy, any given
family has to make tough decisions and find out how to balance what would be the best with what we can afford. I've read somewhere and this is I have
no idea if this is still true but years and years ago after much analysis it was pointed out that the least expensive automobile to operate over a lifetime is a Rolls-Royce.
That's because they last so long and they're built so well that the cost per mile is lower than anything else. That might be antiquated, but but you get the point. At some point,
you say, "Well, I'm sorry, but I can't spend $500,000 on a Rolls-Royce so that over the next 80 years, I can save two cents a mile." And we've all been not I can't say we all I' I've
been hearing from neighbors and you know I'm one of those neighbors actually personally I'm I'm willing to lay aside my personal situation for the good of the community but I'm one of those folks that's on a fixed income.
I'm technically retired, although I still do things. And my income isn't going up. And the increase I'm experiencing from last year's tax increase is substantial.
I do not live in a large house in a fancy community. And even though a 2% increase might only come to 40 bucks a month or you know what whatever it comes down to
for me. I'm already at the point where it it has had an impact and a substantial impact and there's a lot of people who are in that position. So I would like this board to take the opportunity
to do that balancing that was mentioned at the podium. We can see good results. Nobody is suggesting that that the programs at work here in Hillsboro and the people who are on staff, the
coaches, the teachers aren't doing their best or giving their best and going beyond their best. If we were to determine that we could cut back on the levy, even though it might seem like only
nickels and dimes in general, I think there would be a tremendous emotional uh benefit in terms of the community and in terms of our relationship with the community
through what lens we are viewed. So that's my opening statement. There you go. That and two bucks will get me a cup of coffee. >> Not anymore. >> Not anymore. That's right. That expression used to be that and the dime
will get your cup of coffee. Are there any comments? or ideas or suggestions. Mr. Erin Kratz, thank you. >> Yes. Um, I would like to address the the home room renovation. Um,
>> the home room renovation. >> Yeah. Now, that's 750,000. >> Yeah. It's earmarked for $750,000. Uh, I I went and um visited the site. It's a big room, 50 by 100, and
essentially they want to get rid of the uh the sewing department and double the size of the the kitchen facility. At least that's what the uh the principal told me. Um what I have not seen is any plans. I see no plans. I see no
architecturals. I see no estimates. It may be a good idea, but I I can't greenlight threequarters of a million dollars for something that I it's not in front of me. And if you know the the board wants to present uh these
details, I'm certainly willing to to consider that at at a future time. But right now, it's threequarters of a million dollars is a lot of money based on no evidence. So I would vote against the home at this
time. >> There were three items on the list that in this anonymous survey, nobody knew how anyone else voted. There were three items on the list that were not approved, for lack of a better word.
Um, and those three items uh came to about $300,000 if you will. If for example
the family upgrade for the home class were to be postponed for a year say that would be 750,000
and as you say Mr. Aaron CR, we have no idea how much it actually would cost. It may be substantially less than that. This is just a budget number, but if we were to say, let's hold off on that, that would be a at that point
would be a savings of about a million50. >> Can I Mr. The the thing that I wanted to to bring to your attention and you know, we collaboratively came up with that list that we wanted to put out. >> Yeah. the family consumer science room. I understand that we don't have any
plans yet, but that's going to be relevant to what I'm about to say. Last year when the board decided to go through with the tax levy incentive in about 10 days time, I had to come up with what were we going to do with those funds if we had them. So, we decided to
put a lot of money into nonrecurring expenses into this year's budget and anything that we didn't have uh that was able to be spent out of cap reserve um will be going into cap reserve next year. So, I just want to be very clear
that if the board decides not to go with the budgeted amount, you're right, we don't know how much it is that is currently in cap reserve. So, we are not going to be reducing the tax levy by not funding that project. We would not fund
that project and have that additional $750,000 in cap reserve for something else that the board is willing to spend that on um that and and partially with the transportation facility to Mr. Record. Is that correct? I think about five million that's in cap reserve.
>> That's correct. >> So, that you could reduce two million. So, the board can fund what it wants. the board can spend what it wants. I just want to make it clear that that one particular item is not going to reduce the tax. You would just be putting that somewhere else. >> So, we would ultimately we would need
more information to identify what would have an impact on uh the levy and what would not. I think as far as as far as the levia the list that you're looking at that we put together the only two capital uh
projects on there are the fax room >> and uh5 million from that $7 million of the transportation facility. So there's another $2 million that is being budgeted correct Mr. Record in that transportation facility and everything else you mentioned on that list
>> could be something that is reducing the tax levy. I didn't want to interfere with the board's discussion. I just wanted to make that clear. >> Please do >> Mr. Did I say anything incorrectly there? >> No, you covered everything I was going to say. >> May May I clarify something? So, >> Miss Jackson,
>> so the 2 million over the 5 million for transportation, this is what I tried to clarify in going through this. Is that part of the levy? >> The 2 million would be part of the levy. >> It's part of all the all of our funding. So, you know, you could say it's part of levy, part of state aid. that really
doesn't matter what you classify but it's money that if you chose to reduce that yes that could be reduced from the levy >> question of so at 2% I believe the projected revenue
would be 2.9 million >> at 2%. So for example, if therefore if we wanted to reduce the levy to 1%. In a sense having the tail wag the dog, why
reduce the levy? Well, because of the pain that we're hearing from the town, even though it wouldn't be hundreds of dollars for each person, but if we wanted to reduce the levy to 1%, we
would need to find a million5 or a million450 from this list. Is that correct? You could really you can find it from anywhere. Um this
wasn't the you know we have many many line items when we had come up with that that was a list of items that seemed to have been tangible things that the board could could grab on to. But you can honestly if you're talking about reducing, you can reduce from anywhere. Uh we'll we'll make it we'll have to
make it work. That's what we do. You guys vote on the budget, tell us what the budget is, and we execute based on that. So this is I don't think we could have put together like 10,000 lines for everybody to go. Absolutely. So we put some bigger ticket things on there. We put some tangible things that people
understand as far as staffing, some security things, some and all of these things I think um are are being added. So that was one thing that we wanted to focus on too like what are some of the things that are being added from here, right? >> Example, you could I'm not suggesting
this. You could decide, hey, we're not teaching first grade next year. I I know you can't really do that, but you could eliminate all of first grade and there's savings found there. But we didn't want I didn't want to give too many options of things that are currently existing. But you certainly could look at things that are currently too.
>> I think I mean part of the struggle is could we reduce the levy uh without doing something like that? Are there things that are being proposed to be added that well maybe they could be postponed? You know, like the the new
car. Well, we we'll have to wait till next year for that new car. Miss Jackson, >> I I guess I'm I'm I'm having a a little is a little issue following this. So, the total levy was 2.9 million at the
>> at 2% >> and then this is a list of options. Does this does this list I'm sorry to cut you off. I'm just trying to understand. Does this list constitute $2.9 million? >> I honestly don't I didn't add them all
up there. I don't believe so. I don't think so >> because I think, you know, we have $7 million for the transportation facility. Two million of that's out of this budget. So, you're already over 2, >> whatever million pretty easily. There's much more than 2.8 million here.
>> Some of the items on this list are arguably non-negotiable. You know, the seven kindergarten teachers, >> right? Un understood. And okay, >> so this entire list is over the 2.9 million.
So, >> I'm try I'm trying to figure out how to ask a question here or make a comment, but um I found it terribly confusing. Okay. Because it was a yes or no. It was an all or nothing.
Um and I I think it it doesn't for me necessarily say for that 2.9 million what were considered the priorities for the budget.
And I think that um probably would have been an easier way to comprehend at least for me what was being asked of within that levy.
Um, and I find some things on this list, um, you know, I I am not comfortable hiring more than the number of kindergarten teachers you need.
I understand what you're trying to do, but by the same token, I don't find it a balance in the best interest of people's tax money. It's just it's um
to me excessive because we really shouldn't go be going beyond what we need, especially considering we we get defunded by the state and there's no money that seems to be coming anytime soon. So, um, I guess
I I struggled with it because it was just a yes or no, but it did not necessarily reflect what the priorities were for the district and it didn't reflect coming up to that 2.9 uh million dollar
levy. So, I'm not sure what our next steps are, but um >> okay. >> I I personally would like to see some more clarity. >> Okay. Miss Stats, >> I have I have a lot to say here. First of all, I I took this as um being an
opportunity for us even to go beyond uh what would equal up to $2.9 million. And I think there um previously uh we were there was a distinction between what would was be what was beyond a 0%.
uh there was a set of items that constituted am I correct Mr. will be that that you had submitted to us previously >> there in in my opinion yes however I just want to like one thing that I've always said once once it's here it's it becomes the board members budget so
while you're saying that yes but >> you guys may have different opinions as to what's a priority and what's not >> right and and that's I guess that's sort of my point I do app that's why I appreciate that there's this longer list that's certainly more than adding up to 2.9 million to give us the the latitude
And that was the president, that was Mr. Davis's intent in in crafting this list. Yes. >> Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Davis. Um, but even that um see I on the one hand, yes, I did vote uh
against the 2%. But where I want to come from is where are our needs? And um I still think uh our highest priority is to reduce class sizes. we have uh quite a few that are too high. Um in 2019 we
raised the maximum for the elementary school class sizes. So yes, maybe with a new maximum they're below that, but there's they're still too high and as far as what's best for the students. I'm not sure though if there will be room for them when we're adding these kindergarten classes. But there's
definitely uh class size that much too high in the other buildings um that I'd like us to consider reducing those um beyond whatever the leftover amount of those 12 that were originally um focused on for the kindergarten classes. Um I am
still against uh the $7 million transportation complex. I think we can upgrade the current uh facility at Bloomingdale and there's even room to expand it. Um uh that I've heard different amounts for
that. I haven't I don't think there's been any specific architectural plan, but I ranging from four to 5 million. Um but no matter what, whether we um upgrade Bloomingdale, don't upgrade it,
or uh have a new transportation complex at Aris, which would take a couple years. There is a mechanic there that works in has to work outside because I think the uh the bays are were meant for
uh the smaller buses. So that's and so they're they're working in really not so great conditions when the weather is bad. So I think for their health and safety that should be a priority as as quickly as possible as much as that
could be annoying. Too bad. I mean uh this is someone who's a staff member that I think we should watch out for. Um, and going off the map, um, there are things that I would like to add that
could be accommodated, um, especially, uh, if we did not have that seven. Oh, I another uh, value was 7.7 million or whatever that amount is, um, we could, uh, save there. But I also
worry about, um, that we're funding whether or not we're funding things equitably. Um the Robo Raiders have a lot of expenses um like they have to lease a place um offsite. Um they have to pay a lot of registration fees. I
think um the students pay a dues of some sort. So if we can uh provide some more funding. Yes, they do get some grants but it doesn't uh satisfy all their their uh expenses. Um and also we have
to pay for supplies and also um as was discussed at the municipal alliance um how the vape detectors can be very valuable. I I I saw that there are um investigating that at the middle school.
Um but other districts uh say that they have seen a change and uh there has been a deterrent and uh vaping is a serious issue um that has been observed by our district as well as uh other people and for the sake uh for
the health of our students I think that's very important. Um now having said all that um Mr. phobia, Could you please remind us we're not we are not using the healthcare way, right? And how much is that?
>> Yeah, the the healthcare we 5.6 million, Andrew, is that about right? 5 >> About 5.7 million. >> About 5.7 million. Yeah. So, you have the taxing authority to to raise an additional 5.7 million, >> which in the past when we've had that opportunity, we have done that, right?
>> I I believe for for a long time. Yes. >> Right. So I I I mean I think it's I think we need to emphasize that at least we didn't use that cuz that's a significant amount of money >> that we did not uh have as an additional burden on on the on our taxpayers.
Now having said that um yes the increase this year especially compared to last year is is smaller but um there's a saying um uh you know that's the straw that broke the camel's back back but sometimes that last straw isn't
necessarily a heavy one. It's just the one that really is the one that really uh puts people over the edge. So I I I want us to look at this with several lenses, you know, for the sake
of um uh people who are really uh stretched thin, our our residents um but also without hurting our students. Um, and I think that can both be done that we can accommodate and do what's best
for our students and also to the future by if we do have a less than 2% uh increase to the tax levy um we can uh have residents that may be more amendable to approving a referendum in
the future for perhaps a new high school. >> Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. Erin Kratz. >> This isn't a big budget item, but I find it exceptionally creepy, and that's the weapons detection system. >> Weapons detection.
>> I would, if um we're going to speak about anything security, I'm okay with everybody expressing their opinion. I prefer not to go into details about anything security related in public and and discuss that further in committee. I wouldn't want to >> wouldn't want to expose practices and
procedures and that kind of thing. >> I think it's fair to talk about the price. It's fair to talk about what you like. I just don't you're going to ask me for specific details. What does it do? What does it not do? I don't want to put that information out. >> It just strikes me as very 1984 and that's what that's my objection. >> Well, and that system, as I understand
it, it's not a one-time cost. >> Yeah. It's a recurring expense. >> It's a recurring expense because >> we have to pay for it this year, next year, and every year thereafter. That's correct. If it was one and done, okay, but it's not. >> Mhm.
>> Miss Nurse, >> I keep coming back to what am I representing up here? Um, I am a taxpayer. Um, I understand the needs of the taxpayers. I'm a taxpayer who has had to
adjust my budget because of the increase in taxes and everything else because everything is going up exponentially. Um, unfortunately, but when I I just come back and I know that many people have heard me said it
over and over again. I am a board of education representative. My I feel that my duty is to make the schools as best as they can be and that is my duty to the community as well. That is the promise
that I made. I look at this list and you know in reality unless we had our whole binder here right of every single thing that was in the budget it's really hard to say what we can and can't cut right now. My understanding or I I'm thinking
that these things are on the list if and please let me know is because they are the new things that we are >> hoping for for the district. Is that correct? Okay. So, and when I look at this all I see is safety,
staff development, teachers, and a functional transportation and maintenance facility. And and I have to say like some other people, I'm like, do we really need to invest $7 million there? But when I heard the reality of
the conditions there um and what we can't do because of that and the other problems that it has in trying to make that building better as opposed to just having a facility that
can handle what we need at this point. Um I I don't see we can debate whether only seven kindergarten teachers versus if we have the ability you know I don't want
us to go backwards into uh what can we get to make do and I I feel that that's where we might be going and it scares me. Um we made hard decisions in the past. They were hard decisions. Like I
said, you know, the people who voted yes last year are also dealing with those hard decisions and the financial ramifications because of that. But as mentioned before, we didn't take the healthc care waiver. And in any other year, if we didn't have to do what we
did last year, right? 2% is is the norm. 2% allows us to function in next year's prices really and offers I think very little else. I I mean I
could be wrong with that statement. No, two 2% it it helps you function. It doesn't it doesn't 2% does not cover all the salary increases, healthcare increases, and any other increases if that's what you're
asking. It does not it does not cover that. >> So if this wasn't on the and I might be assuming wrong, but my assumption would be this would not this would be a non-issue if last year didn't happen.
And like I said, you know, there's differences for me. I guess I'm for me, I'm also in a different situation because I live it. I live this every day. And we have what I feel is very good leadership. Okay, that
has brought us some stabil stability here. And what I'm looking for is are they asking for anything crazy? No. Do we have the ability to be at the forefront of a couple things that were mostly safety? Yes. And that's exciting
because years ago we talked about the need for safety. I continue to think it's, you know, a priority that we send our kids to safe schools. Um, if we can be a leader, that's to me even even
better. Um, would I be willing to swipe out something so the robotics can have a storage space? I'd be willing to to talk about that. you know, I have questions about, you know, some of the more uh
new newer security systems here, but in terms, you know, very few people, I think, really understand unless you're in those buildings every day. I rely on professional development to make me better each year. And and I'm saying
that as a person with 29 years of experience, knowing that I can still do better if I have the support that I need. And I look towards my supervisors for that support. Um we don't have
enough people in the supervisor role. And I joke about this, but it is true. If you saw my reactions in other districts about what they're asking for, how many supervisors they have, you know, it's a big joke. But here it is so sparse and I've asked that question for
years. So to me it is exciting that we can finally give the teachers at these levels these K to6 teachers the support that they need. You know we talk about the building monitors this new advanced technology for safety. Those are wins as
far as I'm considered. Miss Stats, if I'm allowed to say, brought up about needing more teachers so we can really reduce class sizes. So, if we have the ability to bring three or four extra teachers on because we don't need them
all for kindergarten, we still need them, right? We have done without for a very long time. Um, so if we are in a situation where we don't have to just get by,
that is really where I hope that we go. Um, you know, there's things that we have to we can't say no to special education needs. You that's that's a have to. >> Um, and then we're back to more safety
things. So when I look at this, I put my trust in Mr. Vulpi and Mr. Eert who I think do a phenomenal job along with the other leadership here and living this life for 29 years, I do not
think anything is in excess. Um, and to continue on that trajectory of stability, I think would be a very big mistake if
we did anything less than 2%. Because I do worry, right? Yes, we could save I don't even remember. I think at one point somebody's example was $97 for the year, I think, if I'm remembering correctly. Yes. Okay.
um about that. And I know that $97 means a lot of different things, but if I have to say, you know, if I have to sit up here and say, "I'm sorry, I can't give you $97 back." But I can really, really hope that this will not make me come
knock on your door and ask for $2,000 in a year or two because now we're going to go back and if we go from 2% to 1%, well, now I have a bank. Now I have that 1% from somewhere else. And if we continue to, you know, I want to stop
the ED the spikes, okay? We we need to stop the peaks here. And I think the most that we can do as a board to help stabilize is to continue to build what we need to
so we don't have to go dive deeper into pockets. >> Y >> can I can I add one point of clarification because I even know that that I heard something to people saying, "Oh, this was misleading. That's misleading and we're just talking facts. What was being referenced here about the
94 or the $97, I want to make just very clear that that's the difference between zero and 2%. Yeah. Not that there was any intent that Mr. Eert's uh analysis last time showed, I believe, the average house the taxes are going up about $800
and then if the board decides between that zero and 2% there's that differential of that $90. So, I don't want anybody walking away from here saying taxes next year are only going up $90. No, the $90 number is the
difference between 0% and and 2%. >> Thank you, Mr. Vulti. And this is really just open conversation at this point. I would like to just share something briefly um along the lines of wanting to have
stability and not having to come back in two years and do another 2% or another 8% or whatever it is. And uh another common lament that uh I hear not just in my
neighborhood but all about as on the on the other side of the township is the issue of uh home assessments and and the homes are assessed every year and it's up up up you know uh I live in a home
now that I could not afford to buy. Uh but in speaking with someone and this again is off the record not quoting anyone but uh why don't we forego assessing the houses every year. Why don't we just
>> take do every five years or whatever like that just so it isn't this constant thing. And the comment was along the lines of well then that way we avoid big swings. We just raise everybody's taxes a little bit every year. we stay stable
and if we were to not do the assessments every year, well then we'd have to catch up every five years. And so it's the same argument of well, we have to do it all the time. We're really doing it to save you from big swings and big hits
and uh and that looks good on paper and I you know, but at some point I don't know, Mr. Erin. Yeah, I wanted to address the uh the issue of safety. Uh
I reviewed a presentation from Mr. Vulpi on a very robust enhancements to our security. It was very impressive and if I'm not mistaken, you actually got national recognition for it. Correct. Yes. Okay. So, when it comes to safety,
that's one of those issues where um when is it enough? We could have drones overhead 20 247. We could have 10 foot wall around all the all the properties. We could have a cop in every classroom. When is it sufficient?
>> Can I >> I was happy I'm sorry. I was happy >> in regards to that if I'm correct. Weren't the suggestions from at the recommendation of the uh security
supervisor the head that there were these were needed >> the yeah the the items that made it into the security budget which you do see from you were the recommendations of Dave Stoko our security director who's been you know constantly assessing since
we've been here. Um so that's how they got in there. Yes. By the way, as a complete side note, I was happy to be part of the meeting on Friday with the new commissioner of education and we toured the high school
and uh there were several students that were part of the party that were escorting folks around and I act I asked them just for myself, how do you feel about the security about
the uh security monitors? being in the building. Uh, and there was three young ladies. So, this is not an exhaustive survey, but they were all very positive. Uh, they felt safer. They felt that the,
uh, hall monitors or the security monitors that are at the high school were a positive influence, were friendly, uh, and really helped to improve the situation. That doesn't mean more is better, you know, but it does
mean that those that are there now are being very helpful. If we were to decide to reduce the levy, um, basically we would want to find
1.5 million if we were going to reduce it to 1%. instead of 2%. And someone might say, well, you're talking 50 cents instead of 75 cents. But I believe that there's an emotional component.
Sometimes symbolism matters. Um, and if we uh wanted to do that, we'd have to find a way to come to that agreement among ourselves. majority rules, right? And so if five
people want to do that or four five people don't want to do that, uh that matters. But I really do appreciate uh your responses to the survey that Mr. Vulpi sent out. I found it very enlightening
and I appreciate the range of views on these things because what is apparent to me and I hope to the community is that there is a love for the schools and a love for the kids and a desire to make
sure that what we deliver for them is uh beyond adequate. So Miss Nurse >> I just have a question because we you know our next meeting I know we have committee meeting right most committees are all committees meeting between now
okay so everybody has at least one committee meeting and then we're back here right >> we voted yes to 2% >> correct >> right people have all different feelings you know as you stated and your reflection so I'm just wondering what
the process process is going to look like at our next board meeting because we already voted yes. So does that mean what is what does that mean for us? On April 30th, when we are presented
with the budget, the final form of the budget, we will vote on the budget. And if the vote is five to four or some majority number, the budget passes and we all go home. If the budget is voted
down, if it's five against, we could then embark upon conversations and negotiations and those types of things to figure out where we wanted it to land. If we were to determine uh that we would want to land, let's say
1%, I'm just pulling that out of the year. If we want it to be there, Mr. Eert, according to what I asked him previously, Mr. Eert would need to contact the
county superintendent to find out what the actual procedure would be to execute that change. Um does that answer mostly? Yes. Generally I would add is is if it gets to the
point that the budget is changed from the tenative anything that is changed must be stated at like during the public hearing on the budget which is the 30th. Um so that way it's clearly clearly reflected in the minutes. It would need to be as Mr. Davis stated earlier um not
just here's our revenue number. who would also need to give corresponding cuts to items that would be cut because Andrew and I would then need to submit by by the line item what's being reduced and send that to the county office as part of our final budget submission. >> So, does that mean
just because I I've never I mean I think I can look around and say I'm actually one of the the older people on this board now. Um which isn't too old. I think this is only my second term, right? So, I don't know how >> experienced. Experienced. Yes. >> How about how many people have been
through where we are right now? Does that I mean these are things on the list that we, you know, wanted to see happen, but there's a whole binder full of stuff that's already in there. Like how are people waiting through this?
Like I I just want to be prepared for discussions and what I should be bringing. I mean because that's a lot of pages. I don't know how many pages that >> may I ask a question of you. So what if um
a company of gremlins could be enlisted between now and the next meeting to aggregate uh information that might delineate choice A and choice B. And here are the implications that could be provided to
you prior to April 30th. I guess my question would be who are those gremlins, right? >> And and I listen the binder's big so many I mean I'm going to be very
transparent. It's going to I I mean I am a hard 2enter, right? Um so I don't like the situation we're in, but people who are not are hard the other way probably also don't like the situation we're in. So even if we have
choice one, choice two, choice three, there's about 10 million things there that people have all different, you know, if I I hope I'm not misspeaking, but I believe Miss Stats last time said that if there were
different things, it might mean have a different meaning for her. I'm so sorry if I'm misspeaking. Did I understand that correctly? >> Could I'm not sure what you mean? >> Sure. Like if there were, you know, you I believe am I allowed to do this? Okay.
If um there were if teachers positions were a priority and there were more or more student impact on this, you might feel different about 1% versus 2% versus 0%. Did I hear that correctly or
misunderstand what you were saying? >> Yeah, I I am coming from what uh best affects the students. Um, and let's say we're definitely doing 2%. That doesn't mean I like what's in it. Like I propose some some things that I I would want to
be in there. Now, even with 2%, that would mean something would have to be taken out. >> Yes. Yes. So I I >> I just I think what you're trying to say, Miss Nurse, is not only and Jerry, please correct me if I'm wrong, not only would you need to come with the corresponding number you want to reduce
the levy by, you have to agree on what's being reduced andor added. So you could all agree on reducing by X amount, but you want that out, you want that out, and you want this, and you So there when you said there are infinite possibilities, there there really are.
You will need to find five people to coalesce on a budget number and what's in the budget. I think that's what you were trying to ask. >> I guess so. And I think to become fully prepared, I need to bring this list. I need to bring my B. Like I'm I'm all serious because I want to show up here
next meeting and I want to make sure I have everything and I'll probably bring the same thing to the committee meeting, right? Because we have it April 30th. That's it. We have to have an answer. So, you know, besides my binder in this and probably a tent and sleeping bag,
um, is there anything else that we can do to to prepare ourselves for April 30th and the discussions that are going to come with it? >> $5 coffee. >> There we go. >> There we go. A box of Joe.
>> There's a lot here, obviously. And again, this is why boards of education have nine members, so that the mix and the amalgam of these different concerns hopefully can arrive
at a democratically determined answer. Uh Mr. Marini once said to me that his definition of a good negotiation is everybody's unhappy. I don't agree with that necessarily, but you know, as a tongue andcheek point of
view, I get what he's after. Thank you. Um, for what it's worth, I feel better having been able to express my regretful and my concern. So, we will now close
public comments and actually maybe get some work done. Thank you, Mr. Fton. We have the approval of uh last executive session minutes and the approval of public meeting minutes. Do I
have a motion? >> So moved. >> Second. >> All in favor or do we take a rule? >> It's all in favor. You can actually do both sets of minutes together. >> All in favor? I I
Mr. Vulpi. >> Thank you. After the board's consideration to approve the following motions in the area of education, professional travel related expenses, the superintendent's HIV determinations, overnight trip, staff for title three wraparound program, and the long-term
suspension of the student whose name is on file in the office of the superintendent. >> Do I have a motion? >> So moved. discussion. Do >> you have a second? >> Did somebody second? >> I did not hear a second.
>> Second, >> Mr. Hugh >> wanted to make a comment about the summer trip FBLA. Um, so I was happy to see that it's during the summer. Um, that's promising to after school is closed. Um, I am
still concerned though at $1,500 per student it looked like um for the students to participate, which still seems like a lot of money um if the students and the families so choose. Um but I still am concerned about allowing
trips. It's like it's like um on the one hand I'm glad that it's in the summer so like it's not a they're not missing out of school but on the other hand it is I believe a burden on students and their families to participate in such an honor. So
>> thank you >> Mr. Ecker Mr. Yes, Miss Jackson. >> Yes, >> Miss Lanning Beater. >> Yes, >> Miss Nurse. >> Yes, >> Miss Stats.
>> Yes, >> Mr. Ho. >> Yes. >> And Mr. Davis? >> Yes. >> Thank you. In the area of human resources, I ask for board's consideration to approve the following motions. Retirements and resignations, leaves of absence, change in employment, appointments for the current school
year, appointments for the 2627 school year, approving a buddy, student teacher, new and revised seventh period coverage, extra coverage, and summer athletic camps for 2026. Do >> I have a motion? Some move.
>> Second. >> Any comments? Mr. Rucker, >> Mr. Aaron CR, >> yes. >> Miss Jackson, >> yes. >> Miss Lenny Beater, >> yes. >> Miss Nurse, >> yes. >> Miss Stats, >> yes. >> Mr. Ho, >> yes.
>> And Mr. Davis, >> yes. >> Thank you. In the area of operations, I'd ask for the board's consideration approve following motions. Monthly bills, monthly financials, financial status, line item transfers, proposal for applied behavioral analysis services, approving the service order
with effective school solutions for the 2627 school year, approving addition placements for 2526, and accepting donations. >> Do I have a motion? >> So moved. >> Second, >> Mr. Ecker, >> wait.
>> Oh, I'm sorry. Comments. Um I just wanted to comment on and appreciate um the donations from the various organizations the HMS home and school association ha children's philanthropic fund Hillsboro Rotary Club and all
aboard tours for their generous donations to support the Getty Gettysburg Hershey trip for the eighth graders. I think that's >> you know just from all the things that we've talked about in the past this is >> really for me um moving and touching.
So, I wanted to acknowledge them. >> Yeah, thank you for acknowledging that. Thank you. And I want to just make sure to Dr. Shbolski after having heard from uh everyone about the trip really did a lot of work in in trying to do that. So, thank you to both Dr. Trabolski as well as all the sponsors that Mr. Ho pointed out.
>> Yeah, I I appreciate his responsiveness like that that and his concern for those students who might not have been able to go because these are significant contributions that have really helped more students go. Mr. Records, >> Mr. Errance,
uh, no on 135. >> There's yes on everything else. >> That's all I'm aware of right now. >> Yes, sir. >> Do you mean yes? >> Yes. On everything else? Yeah. >> Uh, Miss Jackson? >> Yes. >> Miss Lanning Peter? >> Yes. >> Miss Nurse?
>> Yes. >> Miss Stats? >> Yes. >> Mr. Ho? >> Yes. >> And Mr. Davis? Yes. >> This is now our second period for public comments. There is a clipboard for all participants to write their name. Before
commenting, please state your name and address. There is a threeinut limit on public comment. Please understand that our public forums are not structured as question and answer sessions, but rather are offered as opportunities to share
your thoughts with the board. In instances where the board believes that there is a misunderstanding or inaccuracy, the board president or superintendent will address the comment. There may be times when a member of the public makes a comment or asks a
question about personnel or hiring decisions. Kindly note that the open public meetings act and the privacy rights of public employees encompass therein do not permit the board to discuss personnel issues in public
session. Thank you. >> Hi. Uh my name is Rahul Sharma. I'm a resident of Hillsboro since 1999. So thank you very much for uh allowing us to listen all the the boots um board
of education was discussing some of the challenges but you know challenges always going to come the only thing is what we are doing to do the invention point of view what we are doing to make sure our expenses are going to stay same
or going more and more what we are doing in how we going to cut down those expenses are we doing some innovation All the auto fee which is being awarded for doing XYZ work is it going a pattern going on like for 3 years down the road
we are spending X amount of money in the buses Y amount of money in the stationary X amount of money we spending there what extra efforts we have done to reduce or to revisit those expenses which is coming on a yearly by yearly
basis if I have a money I take a paycheck of $1,500 $1 and my money is not growing. I'm not getting increment but my pocket is limited. I have to go out and do the some shopping. So what I do I cut down something or I do a better
shopping. So my question is I work for also the similar kind of department where we have a limited funding. We have funding coming from the different capital funding coming uh healthcare funding coming but what else we are doing to
acquire or accommodate that fund. Do we have a people who are applying for those fundings? Is any way we are cutting down and seeing okay now the RFP is being awarded can we make it more competitive or we have some pattern going on okay this is costing us x amount let's continue doing
spending that money are we making those bids more competitive are we making sure our expenses being cut down from those sources so this is what I would like to see like know everybody's saying yes yes yes there's no point but only I I heard
like few people were saying yes how we can make sure we can cut down the expenses. It's very easy to spend more but when you have money in the pocket but it's not worthwhile to spend the money taking from somebody else pocket. So this is my closing comment. Please
take a look. We have many ways because other Montgomery, Bridgewater, other township, board of education, they also have the right sources who apply the all the fundings whether it could be a federal grant, it could be a state grant, it could be capital funding, but
they have the right people to apply on the right time. We're missing the boat every time because we don't have the right people. We don't have full-time people who who know the timeline and will apply the things online. Thank you.
>> Thank you. >> Good evening. a shorter one. Good evening. Amy Salinger, teacher at Autton Road Intermediate School and HA first vice president. Um I think I stood here about a year ago and gave you some similar stats and based on some of the discussion that I heard tonight, I did
some quick research again. So um don't quote me on it 100%. They're all quick Google searches, but um I actually am a resident of Bridgewater Raritin. So I just want and I just did a couple surrounding districts to give a little bit of a comparison in regards to some of the items you were talking about
earlier. So for example in Bridgewater Raritin which is similar to us or a little bit bigger but similar they have um three ELA supervisors they have two math supervisors they have three social studies science supervisors. So between those two subjects they have three
supervisors. They have three special ed supervisors. two guidance supervisors and I think that's where that list cuts off. They also um increased their budget this year by about 3.23% and they did take the healthcare waiver going down the road to Montgomery.
They're a little bit smaller than us. They have um oh shoot now I can't see what I wrote. uh I think two or three ELA supervisors. Um oh I know it's they have it's either two or three English and math and also like a shared math science but either way they have more
supervisors than we do for those subjects and a much smaller student population. Um and they have a different structure throughout. So they have a couple of shared supervisors but overall they have more supervisors than we do. They're a smaller district than us. They increased their budget um by about 5%
and no I'm sorry 2% and they also did take the healthcare waiver in Franklin Township which I think is the largest one in our county. Theirs is always hard to read. I remember this from last year. So their budget either went up by 5ish% or 8% depending on which number you look
at. They have two ELA supervisors and two math supervisors. And then um I I was trying to get some information on Burdens and I ran out a little bit of time, but they did increase their budget by about 4% and also took the healthcare waiver. So if you just look in our
Somerset County surrounding area, some similar districts, some bigger, some smaller, it does seem like many of our um closed districts are, you know, making increased budgets because that's what the times sort of call for. They are using some foresight. I mean some
are a little more than actually all of them are more than what what Mr. Vulpi has proposed um because even though Montgomery did only the 2% they also took the waiver we are not that's not what's proposed here. So just something to think about as you move forward with this process. Thank you.
>> Thank you. >> Seeing that there are no more comments we will close the public comments section. And are there any comments from the board?
>> Miss Stats, >> just quickly um uh Mr. Erin CR and I went to the ro the robotics competition at at Montgomery High School and as usual was very very exciting. um the saw a couple matches and they gave us a tour
of the pit and uh Jay and Becky were very informative and uh uh enthusiastic about about the program and they they have quite an outreach um even internationally and uh they do a lot of good work and and um they're so
supportive of one another and I can't I I've mentioned this before but I love how they have this gracious professionalism where they even help com their competitions the other teams if someone you you know, if they're they're robot some is broken in some way, they other teams
will help that that team. And uh also yesterday I went to see um the Lion King Jr. at the middle school and it was very entertaining. So much talent and uh it was nice to see um there are high school um theater students that also helped out
with the tech and also uh I think choreography. So it was nice to have them sort of mentor the the middle school students. Thank you, >> Miss Jackson. >> I um I'm just wondering if at some
future point we could show a comparison between Hillsboro um Montgomery and Bridgewater just to see, you know, some of the statistics of what I've um >> Yeah. What would you like to I I know I've shared some of that before.
>> Yeah. Well, we can talk about that at committee if you want, but we can certainly make some comparison. >> We can do that then because I just want to make sure it's apples and apples versus apples and oranges. >> Yeah, I think at any of the committee meetings if anybody has certain things they want me to look at because it might be difficult to think of it on the spur of the moment right now. You can
certainly tell me what you'd like to compare and I can come up with those comparisons for you. >> Mr. H. So, I've been thinking a lot about just this, you know, the whole tax and I and I think I understand that when we talk
about the budget, we all have different points of view and I think that that's it's it's a very personal situation where I feel troubled about this. I was listening to a finance webinar the other day and the
speaker said, you know, we're talking about what was it? Net worth calculation and it was assets minus liabilities. Then they were talking about like um you know the expenses that we have to pay. So I could have this exact like a little bit wrong but but the point of the
speaker what they said is that well property taxes are a fixed expense. you know, other things like shopping, like food expenses, eating out, those are going to be more variable depending on I was actually surprised to hear that
that they they b this is and this is like nationwide. This webinar was like nationwide personal finance and they said that property taxes were fixed, meaning that from year to year they're not going to increase that much. So then I looked at my and you know because we
had a letter from the public, I looked at my personal taxes. So, not and I'm not talking just the um the portion of school taxes, but as a result, and I think I understand like for um February's tax and May's tax that
those are estimates. I don't know if Mr. Heckard if that is a true statement or Andrew that's a true statement because it it looks like it's to be half of the previous years. So, maybe an estimate. >> I mean, they're definitely estimates. I you know, I don't without seeing them, I wouldn't know exactly what it was based on, but
>> Okay. But let's but but the point here that I'm trying to make is that when I'm looking at my taxes, my personal overall taxes for the tax increase of last year, which was a combination of school, township, county, fire, all that stuff.
I'd come up with 2,700 extra dollars between July 1st, 2025 and June 30th, 2026. For me personally, 27. So look, round up $3,000. That's a lot of money >> like for someone to just, you know, if
my money is is allocated for me to come up with an extra $3,000 unexpectedly and that's going forward. So, and and I'm not saying that that's like a reason not to increase taxes, but what I'm trying to say is that that's what I
think the community is in shock over is that something that was supposed to be fixed when when we're budgeting, property taxes aren't really supposed to go up that much. That was the whole point of 2%. So when $3,000 in one year,
where am I finding the money for it, you know? So it so it's so that and that's just my personal situation. I don't know what other other people's situations are, but I think part of it too is that people may say like, well, you know, well, your house is worth x amount of money and Mr. Davis, you said
like you you probably couldn't afford to purchase your house. That's part of the issue is like my house might be worth x hundreds of thousands of dollars, but I can't access that money. So, I'm looking at my cash flow as to how am I going to
to pay for this? And that's stressful. And I think that that's what we heard from some of the community members. It's like, yes, I understand like, you know, we want we want the students to have um we want them to have a great education. And I forget who said what's enough.
Maybe Mr. parents. It's like I don't I don't I don't necessarily believe that spending more money means a better education. And I'll say that within our in the great state of New Jersey, we have lots of different higher institutions of higher education
that you could spend, you know, and even across the across the nation. I forget what the I think I saw a statistic like what is it 97,000 highest um it's Cornell or some from some university. Is that is that university's tuition or
cost of cost of enrollment that much better than say Ruckers University which I think is a fantastic institution state of New Jersey you know instate tuition don't remember how much I'm paying but it's but it's but it's but it's instate
tuition and it's each school is different as I discovered school of arts and sciences is less than school of engineering school of farming pharmacy. So, different prices, but the point is Ruckers University is a great education. It's definitely not 90 97,000. It's probably on the order of
less than it's like around 15,000, maybe 17, but then there's fees and they add all that. But the point is I think from and we don't have many people in the audience. In fact, pretty much nobody. Sorry. I mean, there are some people in the audience, but like when people look at our board of education and they
think, "Wow, you know, just like the taxes just got raised and and that's the average home, $2,700 because my house is actually close to the average." $2,700. I have to just come up with like with almost like no warning. So,
that's my comment. I don't have a solution to this matter, but that is why I am really um I think Miss Stats had said that the Stravik broke the camel's back. It's not the $97 that this 2% tax
increase would mean. It's the And it's not apples to apples because I know 97 was only school tax portion, but I'm just talking about what I actually have to pay. $2,700. It's it's a burden. Yeah.
Yes, Mr. Eron CR. >> Yeah, I believe it was Elaine that last time said that uh the family economic condition is also a factor in education. >> And that's that is a big increase. My taxes as well went up $3,000 last year, >> right? >> And for my neighbor who gets social
security, where's she going to come up with that? That's about when she gets paid social security. So, she's got to we take it first and she's got to figure out how to make ends meet. she's she's in her 80s. Where's she going to get the money?
>> I think part of what we see demonstrated here, you know, the the definition of a dilemma or the definition of a conflict at times is that both sides are right. You know, if there was a clear right and
wrong, it would be easy just to come down on one side or the other. And what you see is people struggling with these nine people called the board with weighing these priorities. You know what we'd love to do for the
students and for the schools and and for all that uh versus what people can bear and we don't want to penalize but we have to be able to bear. So all that having been said, are there
any further comments? Do we have a motion to adjurnn? >> Second. >> All in favor? >> Thank you all.