Hello and welcome to the Monday, October 27th, 2025 Hillsboro Township Board of Education meeting. In accordance with the state's Sunshine Law of New Jersey, adequate notice of this meeting of the Hillsboro Township Board of Education was provided on January 8th, 2025 to the Hillsboro Beacon and the Courier News.
Mr. Eckert, if we could please take role. >> Mr. Davis, >> here. >> Miss Jackson >> here. >> Miss Craig >> here. Miss Laming Beater >> here. >> Mr. Lee >> here. >> Miss Nurse >> here. >> Miss Stats >> here. >> Mr. Hill >> here.
>> Mr. Davis. >> I'm sorry. Start with him. >> Yeah. Go back to me. Sorry. >> Thanks. We have a quorum. >> No, do that. >> All right. We'll take a motion to move into executive session. Whereas the open public meetings act chapter 231 laws in 1975 provide that a public body may exclude the public from the portion of
that meeting which the public body discusses certain matters which confidentialities confidentiality is required as permitted in section 7B of the act resolved by the board of education the township of Hillsboro the county of Somerset and the state of New Jersey as follows. Matters to be discussed are personnel matters. The matters discussed in executive session shall be disclosed to the public when
the need for confidentiality no longer exists. Can I get a motion in a second? >> Second. >> All right. All in favor? >> We'll be back around 7:30. Thank you. Follow me.
It's really about your colors though. Why do I always have a computer? I always have a computer. >> Wait, wait, wait. No, no, no. >> Put my computer off. >> Yeah. No. I don't
guess. >> Can I have your >> Sure. Hello and welcome back to the Monday, October 27, 2025 Hillsboro Township Board of Education meeting. We are back from executive session. Uh Mr. record. If we could please take role.
Mr. Davis >> here. >> Miss Jackson >> here. >> Miss Craig >> here. >> Miss Lanning Beater >> here. >> Mr. Lee >> here. >> Miss Nurse >> here. >> Miss Stats >> here. >> Mr. Trillo >> here. >> And Mr. Marin here. We have a quorum. We can stand for the pledge of
>> allegiance to the flag of the United States of America to the stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> I would like to acknowledge the
correspondents as listed and we'll move on with the board president's report. Um, we do have two recognitions. I think one we're going to be presenting tonight and uh, Mr. Boly will read the summary and I will present the certificate.
>> Sure. Uh, one of the things the board has wanted to do over the past couple of years is to recognize uh, outstanding staff members for achievements and accomplishments. And we have one of those staff members here tonight. Is Victoria Samanssky here? Come on up to the podium, please, Victoria.
And let me tell the public why she's coming up. It's with great pride that we share that Victoria, one of our outstanding second grade teachers, has been selected to join the NGSS teacher leader program. This highly regarded program supports the implementation of the New Jersey science standards through
rich professional development experiences and collaboration with experts in the field. Going into its 12th year, the NGSS teacher leader program is a partnership between the science education institute at Raritton Valley Community College leadership and science LLC and the Princeton University
teacher preparation program. As part of this program, Miss Samsky will join only 60 exceptional educators across the state. She will have opportunities to co-f facilitate professional development programs such as the NGSS summer institute, the schoolyear science
workshop series at RBCC, and Princeton's Quest program. Through these experiences, she will strengthen her leadership in science education and bring valuable strategies and insights back to our school district. Please join me congratulating Miss Samansky on this incredible accomplishment and continuing to inspire excellence in science
teaching and learning. Victoria, is there anything that you'd like to say at the podium quickly about this significant achievement? and they asked me to write and I was excited for it and then my friends keep saying like oh you're really down like
I'm not I don't have such a big deal to be a part of it. So thank you. >> Yeah that's great. There's only there's a lot of teachers throughout the entire state that teach science uh from K to 12 and you're only one of 60 who's a part of this. So congratulations to you and thank you so much.
And I have one other uh proclamation to read. Mike doesn't know about this. Whereas the Hillsboro Township Board of Education proudly recognizes the exemplary exemplary leadership and tireless commitment of its administrators in creating a safe and secure learning environment for our students. And whereas Michael J. Vulpi,
superintendent of schools for the Hillsboro Township Public School District, has demonstrated outstanding commitment and excellence in prioritizing the safety and security of all students and staff. And whereas the National Association of School Superintendent Excellence Award for School Safety and Security represents a
prestigious National Honor recognizing exemplary leadership in developing, implementing, and maintaining comprehensive school safety and security measures. And whereas Michael J. has been honored with the prestigious 2025 national national association of school superintendent excellence award
for school safety and security in recognition of his exemplary leadership his unwavering dedication to protecting the school community and his significant contributions to the field of school safety and whereas this esteemed national award underscores Mr. vision for a secure educational environment, his commitment to student well-being,
and his exceptional ability to implement proactive and effective uh security protocols. Now, therefore, be proclaimed that the Hillsbor Township Board of Education on this 27th day of October in the year 2025 does hereby extend its warmest congratulations and profound appreciation to Michael J. Bulby for his
outstanding achievement in receiving the National Association of School Superintendent 2025 Excellence Award for School Safety and Security be resolved that this proclamation be entered into the official records of Hillsbor Township Board of Education. Do you have any comments that you'd like
to make? Uh, thank you so much. I I didn't know that that was coming and I don't know if I turned red or not, but um I really appreciate the board's um recognition of that. And the only other thing that I want to say is school safety and security is everybody's job. So I want to thank every single staff
member who has heightened their awareness and made sure that things are the way that they're supposed to be. I want to thank our security staff, a couple of members who are here tonight. Um, I really just want to thank everybody who's been a part of the vision and I most especially want to thank uh David Stoko, our coordinator of
school safety operations, and Joel Handler, our director of technology, who have worked handinhand with me on many things. And I also want to thank my wife um who has been up with me many a night when I have been worried about safety and security issues and what can I do to make Hillsboro a better place and she
has certainly supported me. So um this was unnecessary but very much appreciated and I'll continue to do the best that I can for Hillsboro. So thank you. >> And then did you want to mention the other person? >> Oh yes. We also uh want to recognize Bob
Fster uh who also received the excellence in education award from the New Jersey Society of the Cincinnati. So he was unable to join us tonight, but we'd like to recognize him as well. >> And that concludes the board president's report. >> Thank you, Mr. President. There's a
couple of items under my superintendent report tonight. And the first one will be a presentation by uh Dr. Lisa Rabimus about the NJSLA and DLM statewide assessment results. So, I'll be putting that up on the big screen behind me. And
Lisa, if you just want to give me a little thumbs when I need to advance the slide. >> Good evening everyone. Tonight, I will present the Hillsboro Township Public Schools NJSLA and DLM results for the spring of 2025.
So we will begin first with the scores of the NJSLA which stands for the New Jersey Student Learning Assessment. This includes a district summary of all scores. This assessment covered English language arts or ELA for grades 3
through 9, mathematics for grades 3 through 8, and three higher level math courses along with science grades 5, 8, and 11. The corresponding NJSL proficiency levels are exceeding, meaning approaching, partially meeting,
and not meeting. Second, I will review the dynamic learning map scores, which is designed to assess students with severe cognitive differences. See that better? Sounded like a little robot.
The DLM is is designed to assess students with the most severe cognitive differences. Uh students are tested in literacy and math in grades three through eight and grade 11 and science in grades 5, 8, and 11. The DM proficiency levels are advanced, at
target, approaching target, and emerging. Looking at our participation numbers, a total of 3,913 students were tested on the NJSLA across grades 3 through nine. We can see specific participation numbers here,
such as 488 students in grade three and 555 students in grade 9. Please note that all the grade 11 students take the NJ GPA and those scores were presented separately in August um of 2025.
We will begin the data portion of the presentation with the English language arts scores. As you can see, the district continues to far exceed the state percentage of students meeting or exceeding expectations at each grade level. As a district, the um the grades
with the highest percentage of students meeting or exceeding expectations were grades four and seven, 73.2% 2% and 74.3% respectively. Here we will examine the ELA achievement
and growth by looking at the achievement level distribution for the same grade across the two most recent years. So 2023 to 2024 and 2024 to 25. This data involves different groups of students
each year. The achievement levels displayed are not meeting or partially meeting expectations. Those are in red and orange, approaching expectations which is in yellow, and meeting and exceeding expectations which
are in the light green and the green. We can observe the overall distribution for each grade from grades three through nine and the aggregate results across all grades. So every two bars is one grade level just as you're going across.
And the final two bars to my right as I'm facing the screen are for all grades. When you analyze the scores between the 24 administration and the 25 administration, you will see that in grades five, 6, 7,
and 8, the percentage of students meeting or exceeding expectations increased from one year to another. The darker green notes exceeding expectations as I said and the lighter green meeting expectations. It is important to remember that between
these grades there are different groups of students. This along with other data is used to internally begin our deeper analysis on individual students, grade level curriculum and intervention strategies.
Another way to view the data is um reviewing it and analyzing it by tracks or groups of students. So this slide shows two groups of students. Students in the cohort and students not in the
cohort. So they're grouped by um again comparing one year to another. The double bars are together. the current year that spring of 2025 is in the deeper purple. So students in the cohort tested with
Hillsboro in the spring of 24 and the students not in the cohort did not test or were not part of our system here in Hillsboro, meaning that they may be new to our schools. The ONC cohort data overall shows an
increase in percentage of students meeting or exceeding expectations. You can you can specifically see this increase in grades four, six, seven, and eight. Overall, the percentage of students meeting or exceeding expectations in the entire district
increase from the spring of 2024 to the spring of 2025. So that's when you're looking again at the screen, you look at the the from the right, if you come in, count in from the right, it's the third and fourth bars um that I'm talking
about. the students that are in our cohort. Moving now to mathematics. This slide represents the overall district proficiency for students grades three through eight, focusing on students meeting or exceeding expectations. Our district consistently demonstrates
proficiency rates higher than the state average. Grade grade grade four shows the highest district proficiency at 78.8 8 compared to the state's 46.7%. Even in grade 8 where 37% of the
students met or exceeded proficiency, this is nearly double the rate of the state which is 20.7%. Continuing with the mathematics proficiency, this slide highlights algebra 1, geometry, and algebra 2. The district proficiency for students
meeting or exceeding expectations in algebra 1 all grades was 69.4 far exceeding the state's 37.9. We saw strong performance in geometry for all grades at 84.6%.
Notably in algebra 2 for all grades we achieved 100% proficiency compared to the state 72.5%. It is important to note that students in grades seven and eight who qualify may participate in algebra 1 and students
who take algebra 1 and seventh grade take geometry in grade 8. Therefore, the presentation of the data for algebra 1, geometry, and algebra 2 includes students grades 7 through 12. Again, the district far exceeds the state
percentage. So this wonderful bar graph is is quite complicated and because there are more courses in math um it is it is a little bit more cumbersome than the literacy data. But the color coding is the same
with the red and the orange um not meeting expectations, the yellow approaching, the green meeting expectations, and the darker green exceeding expectations. Again, it gives a comparison of achievement distribution from the spring
2024 administration to the spring 2025 administration. Overall, the percentage of students meeting and exceeding expectation remains mathematically about the same from year to year. However, there's a slight increase in the percentage of
students exceeding expectations, the darker green. Again, I'd like to note that 100% of our algebra 2 students met expectations. Reviewing the data by cohort of the same students within Hillsboro from their
spring 2024 testing to the spring 2025 testing you will see the same percentage of meeting or exceeding expectations from the previous year again far exceeding the state average. I just want to highlight a couple of interesting points. When you look at the students
within the cohort, grade six to algebra 1, 100% of the students met or exceeded expectations. Algebra 1 middle school to geometry middle school, 100% of the students met or exceeded expectations.
Algebra 1 middle school to algebra 2 grade nine, 100% of the students met or exceeded expectations. geometry middle school to algebra 2 high school, the same cohort of students, 100% of students met expectations. Some
wonderful data there for our student achievement. Next, we'll look at science. Looking at the overall district proficiency for science for students meeting or exceeding um standards in grades five, eight, and 11, you will
see that for grade five, 50% of our students met or exceeded proficiency compared to 30.1% of the state in the statewide um assessment scores. And grade 11 showed the highest district proficiency at 56% compared to 31.3 in
the state. Similar to the other slides, this shows our achievement and growth by grade level for students tested in 23 24 school year and the 2425 school year. Different groups of students but still
comparing the each grade to itself. the science proficiency um levels are a little bit different than in ELA and in math where there is below proficiency, near proficiency, proficient and advanced proficiency. So this chart
compares the distribution by grade um as well as combined for all students. The color coding is the same where the the green the darker green tone exceeds expectations and the lighter green tone tone is for uh meeting expectations.
Overall, when you review the data for all grades, there was an increase in the students meeting, exceeding, and partially meeting expectations. Now, we'll move on to the demographic analysis of the testing results. The state requires the analysis of the data
segmented by race and by educational program. As review as we review the next few slides, please keep in mind a few important considerations. The data presented from year to year are generally not the same students and consequently the number of students in
the count in each c in each category will change from year to year. So we're not com comparing the same cohort of students one year to another. We're just comparing year to year to itself. So to provide a context for the data, here are the total number of students
who completed the NJSLA in the spring of 2024 and the spring of 2025 in each category. The first number in each row represents the number of students who completed the ELA assessment. The second is for those who completed the math assessment and the last is for those who
completed the science assessment. As with any grade band, there are fluctuations in enrollment, and that accounts for the change in number. The total number of students tested in all grades for the spring was 3,913 for ELA, 3,918 for math, and 1,776
for science. Here we see the proficiency by race for ELA displaying the achievement level distribution across all grades for d different racial groups. This data allows us to compare the percentages of students in the five achievement
categories not meeting through exceeding expectations within groups such as Asian, black, Hispanic, multiple, other, and white students for both the 23 and 23 24 and 2425 testing periods. As a
reminder, the colors represent the degree to which the students met the expectations. The percentage of students meeting or exceeding expectations ranges from 47% to 83%. Those students are represented by the light green and green colors. Overall,
although there are shifts up and down a few percentage points from one year to the next, we continue to be at similar levels. This slide represents proficiency by race for mathematics across all grades. The visual allows us to analyze the
distribution achievement levels for all of our students categorized by race over the past two years. As you look at the scores in math, you will see the students meeting or exceeding expectations range from 40% to 86% in each subgroup.
Moving to science again we are looking at the data proficiency by race using the four science achievement levels we can examine how different racial groups performed in the science assessment across all grades in both 23 24 and 2425
cycles. An interesting highlight in in this data is the increase of enrollment in the Hispanic population from 190 students in the spring of 2024 to 253 students the following year. In science, you will find the trend to
be a lower percentage of students meeting or exceeding expectations, but we are still over the state average um of exceeding and meeting expectation expectations. I'm almost done, I promise.
Now, we will look at the data um of proficiency by program for ELA across all grades. The programs examined include e um English language learners, free and reduced lunch, students with section 504 plans, special education students, and general education
students. This chart details the distribution of ELA achievement for each group across the two testing years. As I mentioned, the data may be analyzed in many different ways. Using this information, we are able to determine the curriculum and interventions
curriculum and intervention needs of the program and the students within each program. Although focused on two different groups of students, this data set provides another lens by which to analyze the information. Combining this with other information and instructional measures, we use this
to determine individual student needs alongside with programmatic implementation changes. For example, the data for the multilingual learners can be compared to access scores. Those were also presented in August. And um it
allows us to determine the intensity of intervention and supports needed for students. When the data is analyzed by title title one designation for example, we can also determine how the students in the title one program achieved with the interventions we provided there.
In special education staff is also able to combine this information with other measures to cater to individual student needs. Another important factor to consider when reviewing this data is the repetition of students in the counts. For example, a student could be a
multilingual learner on free or reduced lunch and receive special education services. So, they're counted in each of those subcategories. This slide shows the proficiency um by program for science in all grades. As you can see, um we continue to track the
proficiency at the levels described previously. And in science, the percentage of of special education students near proficiency is at 11%. And we continue to cater our program to meet the needs of those students. Finally, here we review the proficiency
by program for math. This chart um illustrates the achievement distribution again for math defined by those educational programs that I described. You will also see a slight increase for students in special education who are approaching meeting or exceeding
expectations from one year to another. And those students are bracketed in the looking at it from the right, the third and fourth bars. So what happens with all of this data? The district utilizes this data for
comprehensive followup. This includes data analysis with multiple measures using tools such as I Ready and Link. In the summer and early fall, the district administrative team reviews the data when it's released to identify strengths, areas of growth, curriculum
trends, and student needs. Furthermore, our district and school data teams, which are comprised of teachers and administrators, identify students in need of intervention and the specific skills to target in literacy, mathematics, and science as needed.
Our intervention frame framework aligns with the New Jersey multi-tered system of supports. Tier one represents the universal supports implemented across all classrooms and includes foundational practices such as flexible grouping, guided reading, explicit instruction,
and differentiation. Other cure key tier one best practices include cooperative learning, modeling, guided practice, enrichment, active responding, regular feedback, and positive behavioral supports. When students require more targeted support,
they move into tier two or tier three of the multi-tered system of supports. Tier two involves providing small groupoup interventions in addition to core instruction in tier one and tier three involves potentially an increase in the frequency and/or
duration of small group interventions. We continue to individualize in instruction for those students because they've been identified as needing the most need having the most needs. Now we'll move on to the DM. The DM
assessments dynamic learning map are designed for students with the most significant cognitive disabilities. These students have been identified as unable to take the general state assessments because they are not appropriate even with accommodations.
The assessments provide a crucial way for a group of students to demonstrate their knowledge and skills in English language arts, math, and science. DM assessments are also vital vital in helping parents and educators set high expectations for their students.
Students are tested in the same areas as the NJSLA. So that's ELA and math for grades three through 8 and grade 11, science for grades 5, 8, and 11. This slide details the DM scores by uh performance level. For ELA, a total of
67 students were were assessed with 27 students achieving advanced or at target level. For math, 69 students were assessed um with 22 students reaching the advanced or at target level and 32 students categorized as emerging. In
science, 32 students were assessed with 14 students at the advanced or at target level. For students assessed via the DM, we employ specific intervention strategies. Each student benefits from their IEP or IEP goals or individualized education
plan goals and we provide strategic instruction based on that IEP. We consistently monitor their progress throughout the um the IEP process and report that to the parents. Our instructional interventions include differentiation, multiensory reading and
mathematics programs, varied instructional groupings, and the use of adaptive technology as appropriate. In summary, we are pleased to report that based on the NJSLA and DM results for the spring 2025
administration, the district continues to outperform the state percentages in all tested areas. A few key highlights. Overall performance. The district continues to outperform the state in all areas with exceptional mathematics results.
100% advanced proficiency for students taking algebra 2 in all grades. Perfect cohort growth, meaning cohorts moving from geometry into specialized algebra 1. Pathways in grades six, I'm
sorry, in grades seven and eight and eight achieve 100 prof 100% proficiency in grade eight. Those are those cohorts that I described. high the highest grade achievement was in grade four with the over the highest overall proficiency rate in math at 78.8%.
Um we do have a um a couple of significant gaps that we are working on and we continue to look at our ELA scores and surpassing the state averages in 8th grade. our our our highlight is 75.3% passing
and um we have a high exceeding rate of exceeding expectations in ELA with uh 26% of our students achieving um that proficiency level. Just as a a small um thank you, I'd like to identify um
Sheila Cooper and Casey Dullah, our uh language arts, literacy, and mathematics supervisors who are here tonight to support me in my my first presentation um to the board for the NJSLA results. as um you know as a new assistant
superintendent um doing this I have hounded both of them and asked tons of questions and why do we do this and why do we that do that um teach me I want to learn more give me some understanding and I I think Casey has the patience of
of a saint to to answer all of my my leveling questions for middle school so I just want to publicly acknowledge them and thank them for their support um in these past couple of months as we work done on improving our outcomes for all of our students.
>> I may have a subset question. >> Yeah, I was just going to ask do any board members have any questions? Mr. Das >> jumping to go. >> That's okay. Uh, and it's more of an observation than a question per se, but uh, once again, and perhaps we could
even say as usual, we find in the racial examination that our Asian cohort outperforms every other group. And that's consistent year after year after year. and assuming that we don't endorse
the idea that somehow the Asian cohort is genetically superior or their DNA is better or stronger than anyone else. Uh it begs the question, why does the Asian cohort consistently outperform all the other groups in our
community? Um, first of all, that's good news for our community that we have such high performing folks, but it may have something to do with sociological and family structures, the kind of support that that is given outside of
school and those types of intangible things about which we can do probably nothing. But I think it can be important to recognize and acknowledge that certain behaviors and certain cultural
practices can result in better results on the performance end. We just focus on the performance end of you know where is each group getting to and is everybody performing well.
But that really doesn't address the issue. If there's a concern about one racial group or another racial group uh falling behind or not performing as well, it would beg the question, what could be done to help that group or make
changes, whatever the case may be, uh to improve on that. And >> those are the kind of questions that we discuss as an administrative team all the time. um and and you you examine the students and when I mentioned that students can be in multiple programs and categories, you examine them that way as
well. >> So, for example, multilingual learners and where are they in in the spectrum of of their time here in school? Um what is their English proficiency level and how
are they scoring? And and I think the the really great piece is not just how are they scoring this year, but how are they scoring over time, >> right? >> And analyzing the data that way is as as you're looking for response to intervention and supporting the students
over time to make sure that you see that growth year after year after year. And I think that's the the we were having a meeting today about the data analytics and um the the information that we're able to identify and hone in on with
some of the benchmark assessments we're doing in the district will help identify the needs of our students and um track that progress even for our students who are exceeding expectations. >> Yep. But here here for the Asian community
>> uh for uh math students in grades seven and eight that take um algebra 1 that are algebra 1 and geometry students. Do they take just the assessment in in algebra 1 and geometry or and also grade 8? >> They take the grade 8 ELA just like
everyone else, but in math they only take the subject that they're taking. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Mhm. >> That's why the percentage of eighth graders is is a little bit different than when you look at algebra 1 or geometry. >> So, quick question. Is this just based on the standardized test scores?
>> Correct. >> So, do we do any comparison of standardized test scores versus actual grades? Because some groups may take this more seriously than others in the test taking scheme. It it's interesting because um one of the platforms that we
have is link it and we're able to take these NJA NJSLA scores and various data points um districtmade benchmarks um the benchmarks from those those programs link it I Ready and the NJSLA scores and
do data analytics. So there there's some and Casey is my my guru for this. Um there there's a lot of data analytics that we can do and the elementary principles to start off our administrative workshop really dove into
the data in looking at the the last year's I Ready scores and the NJSLA scores. At that point, we only had the the high level scores and um analyze the information that we received to make some instructional professional development decisions and intervention
decisions. It's it's really high quality work. >> Okay, >> let's try this. I guess >> my question is on page page eight and nine where I was really impressed with the algebra 2 scores being 100%.
And then looking at the detailed on the next page on page nine, the proficient went from last year 27% to 60% or actually hang on the um page nine is the graph and so exceeding went
from last year was 27% or the year before to 60%. And then the meeting went from so that dropped but okay so we're looking at the exceeding so that's the five it doubled and I'm curious what I
mean that's significant so I'm curious what changed with the teaching curriculums I I can I yeah Casey can you come up to the microphone
and address that question. >> Algebra 2. >> For algebra 2, the the exceeding if you look at Yep. It went from 27% to 60% doubling. >> Yes. So those are all our students who
were freshman out of the two students. And in the past few years, we've been making changes in the middle school in various ways. And this year is a new change, too, to kind of help that. But we've been improving our our assessments that we've been giving and we're trying to model them in a way
where students are more they're more relevant for students. So when they take these word problem based tests, these literacy based questions, we're ready for them. So we're we're improving on that end and you can kind of see in the data. >> So you said that it's the this this
represents the freshman. What about the other students who take algebra 2? Do they take >> So the NJSLA is just through 9th grade. >> Oh, okay. That's fantastic. Okay, great. Thank you so much, >> Lisa. I do appreciate your your vision and the next steps that we're taking with this and thank you for your your
statemandated presentation, but I also want to thank the board members for their questions. And to follow up on on Mr. Marini's point, too, you and I think Mr. Davis, these are this is an outcomebased assessment. We are constantly looking at data and comparing it to and I really want to just send a
quick shout out to the uh fourth grade team at Amsterdam who invited me to their uh data analysis team today looking at some ELA data and what they could do with their books. There are these intricate long deep conversations that teachers have. Teachers don't ever show up in a room and wing it. Um they
have good instincts when it comes to their students but there's a lot of work uh before you get the results like we had right there. So, thank you, Lisa, and thank you to to our staff, also to Sheila and Casey for being here as well. U my superintendence report continues and at this point, I would like to
introduce Mr. Eert to briefly set up our fiscal year 2025 school year audit presentation. >> Thank you, Mr. Vulpi. Um, we have u Andrew Kachinsky from Nisabachi here tonight to present the audit to the board and to the public here. He has
also presented this last week to the operations committee. Um, so Mr. Kajinsky, if you wouldn't mind come on up and uh share the audit information with us. >> Would be my pleasure, Jerry. >> Good evening everyone. Uh, as Jerry had said, I'm here tonight to discuss the
results of the 2025 audit. Um, I just want to touch on something very briefly. Um, we're not able, normally when I come and present the audit, we accept the audit in the same night. We're not able to do that yet because we were subject to a federal single audit, meaning that we had over $750,000
of expenditures of federal grant money. And the compliance supplement for that has been released in draft, but I can't issue the report until it's finally approved. So, this won't change anything financial of what we're going to discuss this evening. Um, and as soon as that gets approved, uh, I'll get a copy of it
over to Jerry and you'll be able to accept the audit at your next meeting following that. So, I gave everyone a little handout prior to the meeting. Um, I'm just going to really go through the highlights of the financials for the year. Um,
starting at the top, this is just your general operating uh in your in your uh in your general fund. Um, so what you're going to see there is that we ended up the year with $18.15 million in overall fund balance, which was a decrease of about $4 million from
the previous year. Uh included in that balance of $18 million is about $3.2 million in your capital reserve account, $1,126,000 in your maintenance reserve account. Your excess surplus that was generated
in 2025 that is being used in your 2027 year uh is 4,533,000. And the amount that was generated in 2024 that's in the current budget that you're in now for 2026 was also $4.5
million. We had overall incumbrances at the end of the year of $1,72,000. And our unassigned fund balance, which is 2% of your expenditures for the year with certain adjustments, uh, as I've said to you in the past, it's as healthy
as the state of New Jersey will allow for you to be, is $3,54,000. And those are the components that make up your 18 uh $18,150,000 in fund balance. Moving on to the next section. Um if you don't know this about
auditors, we love consistency. And uh this really speaks to how hard that Jerry works to uh keep the budget in line for the district. Uh you'll see there that the $4,533,000 has remained consistent for the last three years running. Um which is great.
Um, we always like to see that that number stays consistent and that we're able to regenerate it year-over-year and keep that same number in there. Going down to the bottom, you'll see the activity that makes up the balance of your capital reserve and your maintenance reserves. For capital
reserve, we started with $6,357,000. We were able to return to capital reserve $91,000 from your capital projects fund, which wasn't used for projects. And through the budget, we took out $3,250,000 uh for for capital. Uh that left us with
a ending balance of $3,198,000. For our maintenance reserve, we started with $1.5 million. uh through the year-end transfer that we make uh when we do our June resolution for any amounts that are over that maximum unassigned amount, we were able to
transfer back $126,000 and we took out $500,000 in our budget last year. That left us with an ending balance of $1,126,000. On to the next page, uh I want to discuss the prop proprietary funds of the district. So, we'll start off with the food service. And you'll see there
in the middle column, it's the 630 20225 activity. In 2025, we had $2.2 million of operating revenues, which is all of our daily sales and whatnot. Uh we had $958,000 of nonoperating revenues.
That's comprised of the National School Lunch Program as well as interest earned. And then we had total operating expenses of $3,676,000 leading us to an overall decrease of $53,000. We had capital assets of $291,000
and unrestricted operating balance of $776,000 which left us with an overall balance in the food service of $1,68,000. In the next section, you'll see the summer enrichment program activity for the year. For the summer enrichment, we
had $271,000 of operating revenues and $242,000 of operating expenses, which led us to an overall increase of about $29,000, leaving us with an ending net position of $97,841. Down at the bottom, you're going to see
the long-term liabilities of the district. So, this year, we paid off $1.5 million of our serial bonds, leaving us with an ending balance of 30,870,000. our net pension liability, which is something that we're required on a GAP
basis to record within the audit, but it doesn't really have a budgetary impact on you. It's only on the gap basis that I have to account for that within the audit. Um, we had a decrease of $784,000, leaving us with a net pension liability of $21.6 million. Our compensated
absences, we had an increase of 74,659 for compensated absences which were acred. and we had payouts of 167,000 during the year which leaves us with an ending balance of $5,45,000. Uh just as a note there with the compensated absences. Um we don't
anticipate having to pay at any point $5 million in a given year. It's not something to be terribly worried about. It's something that Jerry monitors and tracks and and he's aware of upcoming retirements and payouts associated with that. more than likely much closer to that $167,000
than we will ever get to $5 million. Below that, you'll see our finance purchases payable where we had a new finance purchase of $1.1 million and we paid off $1.3 million, leaving us with about $9.8 million in finance purchases payable. And for leases payable, we paid
down $1,376,000, leaving us with $1,334,000. Um I just want to discuss really briefly uh within the report um what you're going to see is that there were three management suggestions two of which um
are I'm just going to really briefly go through. They're just presentation purposes um within the financial report. It's it's nothing for you to be concerned about at all. Uh it's just a change in the presentation. So, we always like to put these advisory notes
into the audit to make you aware of things that might be changing from year to year. When you're looking through the report, it might look a little bit different. Again, they're not really changing anything in the accounting per se. It's just the presentation that it'll wind up being in the audit. So those two literally the one was just
financial reporting model improvements which I always say this um a lot of times when they have these improvements that you'll see in another five years it'll be an improvement of undoing what they've already done but that's fine we'll we'll do it as we have to do it. Um and the other one was the way that
capital assets will be uh reflected within the audit. It's not going to really change any of your numbers at all. Uh especially because we operate on a budgetary basis. So this will only impact things on a gap basis and really they're already being taken into account for the gap basis financials within the
audit. Um it's just a matter of the way that they're going to get reflected within the notes and within the gap section of the audit itself. Um so again nothing really there. Um we did still include about the open investigation within the audit. Um, when I met with the operations committee, we felt that
for transparency purposes that it was best to probably keep this in until such a point that the investigation has been fully resolved. Um, so we're just going to keep it in the audit. Again, everyone's pretty well aware of what went on with that and what's been ongoing with that. So, um, we're just
going to keep it in here, but it's nothing really to worry about. We're just keeping it in there in case anything should happen that any type of liability develops, but we don't anticipate there to be one. Um, and then the last thing of course is our recommendations. Um, we had none this
year. Um, throughout all of our testing, every request that we make, uh, Jerry, Andrew, the rest of the staff in the business office. Um, they're really on top of things. They get us everything right away. They have their documentation available immediately. Um,
it goes really smoothly for us. you know, for for for a district of your size, we're able to get things done pretty quickly because of the job that they do. So, I did want to thank them for the job that they do and uh you know, making my life a little bit easier. And if anyone has any questions, I'm
more than happy to address them. >> Jerry, any followup from you right there? And I just wanted to thank Andrew and his team for their professionalism and um made it as comfortable as possible for our staff going through an audit. Um it's you know and in addition
to that I just like to thank all the business office staff because without their hard work and dedication um this would not be as would not have been as easy as an audit as it was. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. You don't often get rounds of applause for
>> I never get around there. >> So the uh the final item in my superintendence report first I wanted to thank uh all the community members that came out to Cafe Einado a week a week and a half ago to discuss redistricting and full day kindergarten. We had about 20 people there. I bought everybody a
few caffeinated drinks to help spark the conversation. Uh Dr. Rabimis, Mr. Handler, Mr. Lee and I were there to answer questions from the public and also get input. Um, you do have two more opportunities and I wanted to point that out as well. On November 13th, we'll be
back at 1:00 at Cafe Einado and then at 7 o'clock we'll be in the board of education conference room uh located in the municipal building. Again, if anybody needs a caffeinated drink at 1:00, the first five people will get that on me and we'll have some snacks for everybody there at the board of education conference uh in the board of
education conference room. Then the reason why we're trying to get this public input now is we have presented previously what our three options are for redistricting and both full day K um as a part of that and by November's board meeting I'm going to be discussing
and I'll be discussing with the board in advance at committees meeting at committee meetings which plan we are going through and then we will work hard on that to get everybody information about where the new sending zones are uh on or about spring break. So, please join us at Cafe Aminado at 1:00 on November 13th or in the Board of
Education conference room that same day at 7 PM. And uh if you want a link to a redistricting video, we have that on today's agenda as well. And Mr. President, that concludes my superintendent report. >> All right. Thank you very much. >> All right. We will move on to committee
reports. And Miss Jackson, would you like to start with So, education met on October 16th and um we um discussed the nursing services plan, the HMS grade 8 Hershey Gettysburg
trip, discussion of field trips for um for overall uh analysis and review. the 2425 NJSLA and DM testing results and um and we had initial conversations
on the 2627 district calendar >> and that's it. >> All right. Thank you very much. Uh Miss Nurse HR. >> Yep. Our committee met last Wednesday and we discussed a personnel matter. Um
a no cost position name change, possible unified robotics, a possible policy change that was declined. Um, we talked about the possible creation of new
teaching position within the special education program and we talk about all the great uh, staff that we could recognize for their achievements. >> All right. Thank you very much. And Mr. Davis, operations.
>> Thank you. Operations met on Friday and uh, we discussed a number of items. one is on the agenda tonight which is the uh comprehensive maintenance plan which is essentially just a long-term forecast of
the types of capital projects that will be undertaken. Uh we also talked a bit about uh land acquisition. Uh there's a long-term kind of a background conversation going on. that's been going on now for really a
couple of years of will we need a new high school someday and if we want to have a new high school where could we put it? Is there any land available? And so there was some discussion about u maybe contracting with someone in the
real estate industry who could advise on that and no real action uh was undertaken but it's been a long-term conversation. Uh we did review the audit uh prior to this evening and uh that was all in in
good standing. Uh we discussed uh a new clarifying a policy for budget preparation with some clarifying language just details. Uh there is discussion about uh creating
a transportation maintenance facility. Uh right now our school buses and other vehicles and other maintenance equipment uh is stored over on Amwell Road Bloomingdale School and there really is
no appropriate facility for make working on buses and and doing repairs and oil changes. And so there's conversation underway for what could we do to uh fix that uh to create a facility that would
be more than just a garage, maybe a place to meet and so on to conduct transportation business appropriately. And u that's going to take a while to talk through that and and get that all planned out. But that is underway.
And we did do a review uh quarterly. the board does get a report, the operations committee of uh overtime that's been accumulated and the intent is to just keep an eye on those activities. Does it
make sense? Is the overtime that's being paid uh productive and those types of things. And that was it. >> All right. Thank you very much. >> And I will cover the governance committee agenda. So the one action item
was an update to the organizational chart which had not been updated in over 10 years. So that'll be on the board's agenda tonight. Um then we had a lot of discussion items uh coming out of the um retreat that we had uh couple weeks
ago. Um couple little things that we discussed about. So for example, for anybody who does pay attention to these meetings, the seating of the deis is adjusted slightly. That was kind of one thing we're trying for these meetings. Uh the reason that um Mr. Eert mentioned
a name twice before because we were originally considering rotating the voting order so we're actually getting feedback from board members. That way the same people aren't always voting first, middle, and last and giving some options to people to kind of not feel like they're the last vote or the first vote every single time these things
happen. Um uh we do we are bringing back the sign-in sheet at the desk for people that want to speak. Um, so when folks come up, please uh sign there just so we have a record. It's sometimes hard to hear on the video when we ask you to state your name and where you're from.
Um, and then we're exploring the committee of the whole. So we're doing some research there and that would be instead of having committee meetings in small groups, maybe having one meeting a month that is committee meeting focused um, uh, more in a public meeting. So uh,
we're exploring that idea. Uh there was discussion about future meeting dates and if we want to switch the day of the week or or something like that. So that was just kind of discussed. No changes forthcoming. Um and then we talked about finalizing monthly recognitions.
All right. I think um that's really it for that. All right. We will show that as complete on the committee reports and now we move on to public comment. I very much welcome input from the public during boarding meetings two 30-minut periods of time. The meetings will be up for public comment. Members of the
public are invited to comment which they may do if they're attending in person. Uh there's a clipboard for all participants to write their name before commenting. Please state your name and address. There's a limit on public comment. Please understand that our public forums are not structured as question answer sessions but rather offers opportunities to share your thoughts with the board. Instance where the board believes misunderstanding or inaccuracy. The board president or
superintendent will address the comment. There may be times the member of the public makes a comment or ask a question about personnel or hiring decisions. kindly the public means act privates rights of public employees encompass their end do not permit the board to discuss personnel issues of public session. So again the first one is public input on the uh next year's
budget or the action agenda as well as any students uh if they would like to speak during the first session. Uh, we have to sign this. Do we have to sign this then? Good evening. Thanks in part to our your generous support, our team has proudly
represented Hills for 30 years. Last season, we advanced to worlds with both technical and outreach awards, launching new initiatives for countless students across the district, and had a successful year representing Hilfro with pride. to introduce ourselves. I'm Manu and this is Sel and we're both proud
members of the Hillsboro High School's award-winning varsity team robotics team 75, the Robo Raiders. This past season was incredibly successful as we were recognized at every competition. At Worlds, we won the Gracious Professionalism Award, which honors
exceptional sportsmanship, teamwork, respect, and high quality work. We also celebrated our teammate Nero, who was recognized for his achievements. But what we're most proud of is our time that the team has dedicated this season to inspiring the next generation of
innovators. Since June of 2025, we have spent over 2,000 hours volunteering, running hands-on steam sessions, and mentoring 10 new robotics teams across the district. One of our most meaningful events was our robotic summer camp at Amsterdam Elementary, where we
introduced robotics, teamwork, and problem solving to over a hundred students. We also led steam sessions at the all-day learning center engaging around 30 kids from the ages of 3 to six for each week for nine weeks. Another impactful event was Robocon NJ, a
massive public event that team 75 hosted where we hosted steam stations and mentored 14LL teams about the basics of robotics and first core values. We were especially thrilled to have Mr. Vulpi and Mrs. Stats join us and stop by our stations. It meant so much to see you
there supporting our students. Thank you for being a part of that moment. And that's not all. Our Boroblast tournament is just around the corner on November 23rd and we would love to see you all there. And we also would love love for you to visit our warehouse to meet the
team and see our projects as we continue to inspire curiosity, creativity, and a passion for steam together. Overall, we are incredibly proud of how our team continues to grow in skill and most importantly in our impact. Every robot we design, workshop we lead, and student
we mentor strengthens our district's steam community. This year, we focus on expanding opportunities for our students to engage in robotics and discover their curiosity. We're also deeply grateful to our mentors, volunteers, and sponsors for their continued support. The
encouragement helps us build more teams and inspire more young minds to think big. With your help, we recently expanded STEM opportunities by launching our unified robotics team, bringing neurode divergent and neurotypical students together to compete. Once again, thank you for your continued
support and for being part of our journey. We are team 75, the varsity robotics team dedicated to inspiring the next generation of thinkers, and we can't wait to make Hillsboro proud this season. On behalf of the team, please accept this sponsor plaque as a thank you for your continued support. We hope
you have a great evening. Okay. Uh we have no other public comment. We will close the first public comment session. We'll move on to the approval of minutes. Motion to approve regular meeting minutes. Uh I'm trying to look at the date. Uh on October 13,
2025 and motion to approve special meeting minutes October 14th, 2025. Can I get a motion in a second? Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> All right. We'll move on to the action agenda. >> Thank you, Mr. President. And as for the board's consideration to approve the
following motions in the area of education, travel and related expenses, the superintendent's HIV determinations for the attached cases, 2526 nursing services plan, stipens for staff teaching RBCZ concurrent enrollment courses, accepting funds from Special
Olympics Unified Champion Schools, reaccepting the teacher climate and culture expansion grant in the amount of 60,962, submission of a grant application to sustainable Jersey grants schools for the funding of a hydroponic greenhouse system and overnight trips.
>> I get a motion and second. >> Any discussion by the board? >> Miss Nurse, >> I just have a question. I know that the Hershey trip is back on. I was able to be informed about some of the discussion that happened. I just
if somebody can remind me who was there about what our plans are for the future. Did we decide like this is back on because we are going to approve it for one more year and then there is a halt to talking to the seventh grade about a
future trip. >> Can I can I clarify one thing and then the board members who are there can certainly do it. The um the motion uh 11.8 8. I think I'm expecting that to be separated out and discussed further about this year. Um, and then yes, there was discussion with Dr. Trabolski about
what are we doing in future years. And if anybody wants to look at that in detail when you have a moment, uh, the recording of that whole conversation was sent with you. But, um, yeah, this is on because it was a non-unanimous item. Some people wanted it to move forward, some people didn't. So, um, I know we
have a motion. They're asking for a motion, but I'm expecting that that be is probably going to be separated out and discussed further. >> Okay. >> I I waited for the polls and I didn't see the separation, which is why I asked because it goes >> I could I could be wrong. Yeah, I
>> I'd like to have it separated out 11.8 only the Hershey trip. >> Okay. So move. >> So >> second. >> Okay. Uh any discussion before we vote on that to split it out?
>> I guess >> it's just to split it out. Just to split it out. Okay. Uh can we take role? Mr. Davis? >> Yes. >> Miss Jackson? >> Yes. >> Miss Craig? >> Yes. >> Miss Lenny Beer?
>> Yeah. Yes. Sorry. >> Mr. Lee. Yes, >> Miss Nurse. >> Yes, >> Miss Stats. >> Sorry, if are we separating this? >> This is the motion to separate >> to separate it. >> To separate >> to separate. Yes. >> Yes. >> Mr. Hill.
>> Yes. >> And Mr. Marine? >> Yes. Motion passes. >> All right. So, on the everything else for now, um, is there any discussion or we can move to to roll on that one? >> Okay. Seeing no comments, we'll take role on everything but the Hershey trip.
>> Mr. Davis? >> Yes. Miss Jackson, >> yes. >> Miss Craig, >> yes. >> Miss Lanning Beater, >> yes. >> Mr. Lee, >> yes. >> Miss Nurse, >> yes. >> Miss Stats, >> yes. >> Mr. Trillo, >> yes. >> And Mr. Marin, >> yes. Motion passes. All right. So, if
there's any discussion on the uh Hershey trip, we can have discussion now. >> I'm just going to go back to my question. If somebody was at the committee meeting and can talk about like Are we this is
>> just this year >> just this year but there's going to be no discussion with the seventh graders >> until there's a decision. So I think at this point they're not starting any any uh financial collections or anything for next year and not promising the trip to anybody. They want to have the board's
approval before they begin any fundraising or any activities for for future years. >> Okay. And that will go and be discussed in committee and then to the full board again. >> Uh yes. So he had a presentation and there were a bunch of questions that he answered. You know, they kind of dug deeper and did some more surveys on
that. Uh the question was raised about parents being financially able to do this. And I think the comment he made was families that reach out that have issues. We have alternate ways of supporting those families as well. So we generally don't want to have families say I can't afford they don't go. So there is alternate funding that they
receive in special situations. So, I think he was trying to downplay a little bit the financial end of it that there are parents that don't want their kids to go to an overnight trip and don't want don't think that's appropriate or maybe don't think there's educational value in one piece or the other >> and there's there's other elements in there. So, they did a survey this that's
discussed in the presentation. So, you can listen to the recording. No, somebody's filled me in on that. But I I am still wondering what the process is going to be because I know it was an issue and regardless if se 30% of the class doesn't go regardless of the
issue, I think that we definitely need to explore >> other options and and and not have an overnight if that is a big reason and be able to have a whole class that can celebrate together. So, I was just wondering if that's going to then continue
to be discussed in education committee and because there's strong opinions to be brought to the full board before there's any discussion with any of the seventh graders. >> So, he basically said he's welcome to come back and chat and provide any other details that we're looking for at any point in time. So, if we want him to come to a different committee as well,
I'm sure he'd be amendable to that. we obviously don't want to take up every night of his week with committee meetings all the time, but he basically said anything you need, I'm happy to collect that data and give you other options. And he he did not seem vehemly opposed to saying, "No, this is our trip. We have to do it." Um, it was more
like, "Hey, it's at the board's discretion. We continue until there's another decision to do something otherwise." But for this, he said he's not starting anything until there's a decision from the board. >> Okay? >> He's heard he's heard the comments that it's not just go until we tell him stop.
It's now we'll make a decision on this. >> And if I could just add something, it wasn't discussed at the committee meeting, but Dr. Robimus and I had a discussion afterwards about what we're trying to do moving forward to help the board make well-informed decisions. And it's good to have outside eyes on some of the things we've done in Hillsboro, which we've done it in Hillsboro because
we've always done it that way in Hillsboro because that's how the previous people before us did it because that's how the previous people before them did it. So Lisa, I don't know if you want to just very globally um speak about what you're looking to do moving forward about class trips like kind of for an upcoming year about those ones
that we're aware of and know because right now they show up as you know singletons but you just want to talk about what your vision for that might be. >> Sure. So what what we've discussed is really having an analysis of what are the traditional field trips that are brought forward year after year between
the the regular day trips and the overnight trips like this eighth grade trip and come up with a system that um there well there's two parts. First forming a district-wide staff committee to look at our field trip process
looking at things like the cost when are they going? how much class is missed? Um, where are they going? How long are they out of school for? So, some big overarching questions. And then looking at some trips, for example, like the competitive trips that are done yearly,
so that they could be done as opposed to oneoffs as a a collective um approval from the board. um just like we do for those regular trips that happen year after year in the spring for the upcoming school year, do the same type of thing in in that regard for those
competitive type of trips so that um it doesn't just sneak up on the ed committee or on the board that there's some process to it and um a lot of I I'll use the word discussion and an analysis of why are we doing what we're
doing and is it is it worth the lost class time to go on some of the trips that we've been going on and and having those discussions with the staff. So then we can bring that to the ed committee um and and discuss it further with the board. That's some of the overarching ideas.
>> And I think you I think maybe you had mentioned in the call that there's a differentiation at times between this is a huge national event versus this is national championship or something like that. So, we don't need to go on every big event necessarily that is out there, but some things do have a higher level of importance to the group that's
performing um recognition versus actual like we qualify for nationals as opposed to we qualify for this big event that we're going to. >> We just want to do a thoughtful analysis so we don't inadvertently um not give students the opportunity to participate in some of the things that
are are important to our programs. Mr. Ho, >> in reading the attachments that Dr. Trabolski had shared with the with the board, what I was most surprised about was the I mean, so about 150 responses
for this survey and about half rated the value of Hershey Park as five on a one to five scale. If you count one, two, three, and four, that was 50%. I was a bit surprised about that in terms of the value of Hershey Park. Also seeing one
knowing that on the attachment it says it's $535 for this coming year and seeing in one of the survey responses that the cost was $700. But then thinking about it, I guess souvenirs, maybe getting um a
dress or an outfit for the dinner dance, um food. I mean, so I can kind of see how it would potentially be um higher than the list cost that's here. And so in reading the and I did also see that many parents were in favor, they said
that this was a great experience for their child. I think this kind of goes back to the um if 70% of the students are participating and 30% are not. Whether it's because of cost or for some other reason to me it seems like this is is
I I can't I'm not in favor of this. I mean my kids enjoyed the trip and I it was 350 at the time and that was still a lot of money. As the price keeps going up and the number of participants go down I don't see the value of this trip as being a bonding experience for the
entire eighth grade class. So thank you. >> Okay. Thank you. What I find disappointing is um a year ago I mentioned those specific numbers that I believe last year the for uh in uh spring of 2024
uh the cost was about 530 I believe and 70% of the class went and expressed concern at that time and it wasn't until recently that there was any movement made as far as exploring that. So, I just worry I'm glad that there has been
some exploration as far as alternatives and and delving into the data and and surveys. But, uh I like last year the reason that oh, oh no, we we should approve this trip because they already you know they're already counting on this etc etc. Well, that's happening again this year. So, I
I just worry about always having that as a reason. Um yes, it is a wonderful experience. It's brings back wonderful memories for those who participate in it. For those who participated in it, 30% do not
participate for whatever reason um that used to be 90% participation. Now it's down to 70%. So um it according to the survey there was no one certain reason. There was a significant number that uh
attributed to the cost. Uh but if we want to have this if if we're trying to serve all students, we should make sure we're providing opportunities for all students. It's still a wonderful experience. Again, they might be comparing it, but it's still going to be
a wonderful experience for that can be part of a whole class experience if we have it as a one-day less expensive experience. So, I I'll just make the point that he said they're not starting work on next
year's trip until there's a decision made. So, I know you said it continued again this year. It did. Um, but they're not moving forward with next year's until there's a a completion for that discussion. >> Oh, makes the point clear >> when you say decision made.
>> So, they're not announcing that the trip is happening. They're not starting fundraising for the trip at this point >> regardless of what our vote is correct tonight for >> this is just for this year's trip. >> They've already be they already spent the year doing correct. >> Okay. Just want to clarify
>> I I think I am I just wanted to not I want to represent myself uh correctly. So I am a big supporter of field trips. I think I find the value in them. This to me is a celebratory field trip that
we hit 8th grade. It's a milestone and I find it very different than anything academic. So I because what Miss Stat says, we somehow got into this whole we fundraised again, we're ready to go. The
expectation is there. But I think so I will vote yes to this field trip for this year, but I won't sit here again next year and be in the same predicament. So, I think that we have to be more um preventative instead of reactive moving forward and not just not
start fundraising, but maybe possibly give a clear message that please do not get any expectations up because this may be changed. Um, so I I think that needs to my recommend I mean I suggest that we
address that instead of just staying quiet so expectations aren't even set forth because sometimes even if the fundraising doesn't start if the expectation is set that this has been the trip for forever and how dare you change it
is a is a problem. So I would like to also get ahead of that. Um because like I said next year like some people feel um the pressure to do it just because is not going to sit with me. >> Yeah. >> Next year I'll one more year.
>> I think the message was provided that we're not communicating next trip unless the board >> is okay with us moving forward then. So um I'm sure Dr. Tbolski is awaiting our kind of feedback or next set of questions so that he can start preparing for whatever it is he can prepare for.
Yeah, but I guess just like there's a difference between not saying anything and proactively set readjusting expectations before they're too high to, you know, then you're negating things and, you know,
nobody wants to be in that predicament of disappointing children who are looking forward to something. So, I I just think that that seed probably needs to be planted that Hershey Park is no longer a a definite
um possibility or a definite thing that's happening. >> Yep. >> I I think though I'm sorry to that point, it's it's not inconceivable the trip gets broken apart that it's may not be an overnight. So it's not as though
Hershey's out of >> no >> consideration, but I I think that's really what starts driving the price up. Um, >> yeah. >> So for me, the the I feel the same way. Nobody wants to deny you something, but
I think the cost is gotten absor exorbitant at this point. >> That's a good point, M. Jackson. He did say like we still could do Hershey, we still could do a dance, we still could do a dinner, we could still do all the things and potentially in the future split those into two different events or just do them in two days, you know, that
without a hotel stay involved. >> No overnight. >> Yeah. Which is the primary driver of the increased cost, the overnight busing, the overnight >> everything that that you know majority more than half the cost is the fact that it's overnight. >> Yep. >> Yeah. >> So I think that that was well heard. I think he said listen, we have options.
We could change the location. we could do a bunch of things and let's work together to find something that the board is happy to support that >> I just want to make two points and also they could have if it is just a one-day trip not an overnight trip they can still have a dance right
>> but at the school and also um you know my experience with with our students is um you know if it ends up that there there is no overnight trip this year next year whatever Um, I can I could
would expect they might be disappointed, but I think we have very compassionate students who would, you know, uh, appreciate uh, wanting to take into consideration
their fellow students who um, who would be more likely to attend the trip and uh, hopefully that'll assuage their disappointment. >> Right. Okay. Any other comments before we vote? Mr. H. >> So, one thing in the document that's
attached, it says dinner, dance, and celebration of class of 2028. First of all, not sure what CLA are they talking about the eighth grade class of 2020. So, that would be wrong because that would be 2026. They don't mean the high school class
cuz that would I mean, unless I'm counting wrong. I'm not sure what you're referring to, but it sounds like it's probably a typo because yeah, we're not talking about 2028, >> right? Okay, that would be on the HMS Hershey SL-Getty trip page one. Um, the other thing that was interesting is that
when and I and I understand how people are going to vote the way they vote. What I thought was interesting was the comments about that the value at Hershe, she was not what they expected because of the lines were being so long that the kids basically got to ride three rides.
They were people were very disappointed about that. So it it seems like that we're making a big deal about this trip, but the actual experience seems like it's not quite what it was in years past. So
all right, thank everybody for your comments. Are we okay to move forward to vote? Does anybody have any other comments or questions? Okay, seeing none, we'll move to roll on the trip. I >> think we need an active motion. >> Oh. Oh, sorry. Yeah, we need to we did a motion second before we >> Well, separate. We did
>> We did one before the conversation on >> Okay. I didn't get up. >> I'll do another one. A motion to second to to vote on this one. >> I'll move. >> Second. >> Okay. >> Mr. Davis? >> Yes.
>> Miss Jackson? >> No. >> Miss Craig? >> Yes. >> Miss Lanny Beater? >> Yes. >> Mr. Lee? >> Yes. >> Miss Nurse? >> Yes. Miss Stats, >> no. >> Mr. Ho, >> no. >> And Mr. Marine, >> yes. Motion passes.
>> Thank you. We got through the board's consideration to approve the following motions in the area of human resources, resignations, appointments, resending an appointment, change in employment status, leaves of absence, revised science lab coverage, revised instructional assistance
stipend, sixth and seventh period coverage, student teachers, winter coaches, extra coverage, job description, and approving the suspension of a district employee. >> Can I get a motion second? So move >> second.
>> Move the role. >> Mr. Davis, >> yes. >> Miss Jackson, >> yes. >> Miss Craig, >> yes. >> Miss Lenny Beer, >> yes. >> Mr. Lee, >> yes. >> Miss Nurse, >> yes. >> Miss Stats, >> yes. >> Mr. Ho, >> yes. >> And Mr. Mine. Motion passes. Yes.
>> Thank you. In the area of operations, I'd ask for the board's consideration approve the following motions. monthly bills, monthly financial statement, financial status, line item transfers, the submission of the CMP and annual maintenance worksheet, out of district placements for the 2526 school year, and
approving the school district organizational chart. >> Can I get a motion in a second? >> So moved. Second. >> Any discussion by the board? Seeing none, we'll move to roll. Mr. Davis, >> yes. >> Miss Jackson, >> yes. >> Miss Craig, >> yes. >> Miss Lanning Beater,
>> yes. >> Mr. Lee, >> yes. Miss Nurse, >> yes. >> Miss Stats, >> yes. >> Mr. Ho, >> yes. >> And Mr. Murray, >> yes. Motion passes. >> Thank you. In the area of policies and regulations, I'd ask for the board's consideration to approve the following motions. Approving policy 6220 for first
reading. >> Can I get a motion a second? >> So moved. Second. >> Any discussion by the board? >> Seeing none, move to roll. >> Mr. Davis? >> Yes. >> Miss Jackson? >> Yes. >> Miss Craig? >> Yes. Miss Lanning beater.
>> Yes. >> Mr. Lee, >> yes. >> Miss Nurse, >> yes. >> Miss Stats, >> yes. >> Mr. Trillo, >> yes. >> And Mr. Murray, >> yes. Motion passes. Move on to the final public comment session. We very much welcome in the public. There's a clipboard for all participants to write
their names. Before commenting, please your name and address. There's a 30 minute public limit on public comment. Please understand that our public forms are not structured as question answer sessions, but rather offers opportunities to share your thoughts with the board. Instantly the board believes there's a misunderstanding or inaccuracy. The word president or superintendent will address the comment. There may be at times when the member of
the public makes a comment, ask a question about personnel or hiring decisions. Kindly note the public meetings act and the privacy rights of public employees encumbent the end do not per the board discuss personnel issues in public session. Good. Hi Amy Salinger, teacher at Auton Road and HA first vice president. I just
wanted a comment about what I think I heard about a possible um committee or evaluation for determining future field trips and things like that and I'm sure it's in the the works but I just wanted to add that hopefully all stakeholders will be included meaning students staff who run
the field trips things like that and I also heard a comment about like if it's a big national event then yes they should go but just as a as we're in the planning stage you know a lot of times they only get to those national events if they go to the regional one or the local one. So, just keeping all of that
in mind. I love the idea of a of a district-wide um look at it so that it's fair and consistent across. So, just keep in mind all the stakeholders when that sort of comes to fruition. Thank you. >> Thank you for coming. >> Hi, good evening, Henry. Good Hugh
Hillsboro Education Association. Um I just wanted to return to the conversation that took place about item 7.1 which was the statewide assessment results and I understand the district's having a conversation about it. They're looking at data and different points that are in there and I applaud board
members wanting to delve into that. I would encourage everyone and perhaps the administration can assist with supplying more information about issues with statewide testing and the fact that some statewide testing is based off of semidebunked or fully debunked
pseudoscientific ideas from the 1900s like 1916. Um, so as we're discussing demographics, I just want to caution the board against over reliance on tropes or stereotypes one way or another because even if we're doing a positive one, we
may inadvertently be reinforcing a deficit mindset within some of our students and discounting the fact that there are socioeconomic factors that come into play through test questions that are not reflected um, except for deficits within those demographics
information when viewed in isolation. There's a lot of information, a lot of research out there about this, but I strongly encourage the board to change the mindset from looking at demographics and consider perhaps that something is wrong with the test, not the child. Thank you.
>> Thank you for your comment. Hello, Felicia Gabrielis have a couple things. Um, so I wanted to thank all the volunteers who came out on Sunday for the Boroware municipal alliance adopt the highway uh which was uh on 206 you go and clean up trash. It's with New
Jersey clean communities. We had uh students from peer mentoring, women's wrestling, um I think other student groups as well as the police and other neighbors. It was awesome. I wasn't able to stay because I had to take my daughter to a class. Um but I was there to greet and make sure everyone knew that, you know, if you see a a needle,
don't pick it up. Have an adult make sure you look at it. If you see something that looks like a vape or, you know, USB drives, don't pick it up. It could be released with fentanyl. Just be careful. Um, so but we're very thankful for everyone for helping us keep uh Hillsboro beautiful. Also wanted to
mention again that uh the Hillsboro HSA is having a um a showing of Wicked 2 on Saturday, December 6 uh at 10:30. You can pre-order tickets for $13 online or $15 at the door and snacks are going to
be 20% um coming back to the HSA. Uh, also don't forget with red ribbon there is a poster contest and adults can join it too. Thanks. >> Thank you for your comments. >> Okay, seeing no others, I will close public comment. Uh, we will open it up to the board and Miss Montoya, you have
a comment you want to make? >> Hi, just some positive um updates from the high school. So, regarding extra extracurriculars, we had the 31st annual marching band festival where Hillsboro High School's marching band um showcased our strong performance acts and also the
HHS math team placed fourth in the Central Jersey math league competition on September 17th. Regarding athletics, um our football team beaten Central 33 to8 on the last regular season game this past Friday. So, our next game is on Saturday if you want to um consider
supporting. And there were also there's also been a lot of senior nights um in the various fall sports and there's been high attendance at all of those. So that's showcasing a lot of school spirit. Um there's also a penny and soda drive soda tab drive coming up. So the high school's competing with HMS and
AIS. So that'll bring in um various fundraising and promote more school spirit. And that's about it for the high school. >> All right. Appreciate the updates. Thank you. >> Any other board members? Mr. are here. >> I wanted to share that I was at workshop
last week and I wanted to give um some highlights. I'll be happy to share the documents that I took notes on as well as the some of the speakers gave um handouts. So the first one that I went to was or one of the ones that I went to was DEI under fire where we are how we
got here and what's new by David Rubin. I do not um expect that I'll be able to do hidden justice, but he covered DEI um the the the law, the what's going on at the federal government, what's going on at the state level. Um and he did it all
in 45 minutes. Um basically bottom line is New Jersey is doing a great job in terms of, you know, our what did he say? New Jersey law against discrimination is a far broader law than the federal government. And so um yeah, so basically
was very positive. Sorry that I'm not giving more details on it. I don't want to misspeak. The other talk that I went to that I thought was really interesting was life after chapter 44, what's next for benefits? And that was given by Brown and Brown. And one of the things that I thought was really interesting is
that when chapter 44 um is comp is I guess sunset and if there is no other um option, I guess that's December 31st, 2027. Um, one of the things that we were talking about in that in that presentation was about the high
deductible health insurance plan and how that can be a very positive option for individuals. It's currently in the um private sector, but bringing it into the public sector may be an option that would save the district as
well as employees money. So, um, I'm happy to share those notes with the team. >> Thank you very much. Miss Nurse, you look like you may want to make a comment. >> I I think I do. I'm just gonna try to
>> It's It's It's far away. Chapter 44 for sunsetting and and for us a little bit I think further because the contract I think expires after the sunset. Um but I I just caution about bringing some of
those types of plans in um for our you know for our staff. You know we are in a situation where it is very hard to find and recruit very good staff members and
we need to preserve what we can give our staff. Um so that's enough. I I don't know what else I want to say about that and hope thankfully it's a few years off but I I just caution against such such things.
>> Thank you Miss Nurse if I may just respond. I I guess I don't understand and that's okay. We can take this offline. The reason I bring it up is it was one of the things that was was talked about in the workshop and my personal experience may I mean I think the way high deductible savings plan
high deductible health plan so HDHP works um you may it sounds like you're aware of what those are. Yeah. And not fan of it. Um, in our in our particular case when we had the choice to go from a
I guess an HMO like a standard what is it called with the co-pay versus having this big deductible upfront. When we did the comparison of allin costs for the year, the cost of going with a high
deductible plan of the premiums was less than that of the HMO. And if you look at the worst case scenario where you actually need to use the the insurance like to the maximum,
the maximum out of pocket was comparable. So you weren't going to be like underwater, so to speak. In our particular case, the company gave us like an incentive to go with the high deductible plan. And so basically what I'm trying to say is if you don't use
the plan, like you don't use health insurance that much, you come in you come out ahead. If you do use a plan, you're not you're not like um significantly paying a lot more. It's just a matter of how you're paying it, whether you pay upfront or over the course of a year. Thank you.
>> I wouldn't deny that it's not good for some people, but I mean, we have to just make sure that we're very careful about what we're what we're doing and what we're offering um for the staff who
works incredibly hard. Um so options, yes, switching to something. >> Oh, no. I don't think anybody was ever saying switching. I think it would be an option. And I agree with you. there are some um individuals like I would say that if you're an individual who does
not use the medical system very much then a high deductible plan would be useful for you. If you are a family that does make more use of it then I would say that maybe that's not a good especially if you want to um balance out your what you pay over the course of the
year through paycheck deductions. Um they normally allow um they normally allow for health savings accounts as well and sometimes there's an employer match on the health savings account and that health savings account will carry you through you can take it through
retirement that's your account. So, >> oh that's actually something they did say too is that it's a tax shelter in a way that if you can or tax basically and I forget the amount of money you can put into an H a high um health savings account
basically that money is gets deducted off your salary so you don't pay taxes on it and then when you pull pre-tax deduction and then when you pull it out to use it for medical expenses it's also taxree you don't pay taxes on it so for those individual iduals who can put that
aside. It's a savings vehicle. >> Okay. Miss Dance, >> I also attended the uh workshop which is the New Jersey school board's uh convention. Um
I attended the uh uh a session on career and techn educ education immersive technologies which um can be a possibility considering our lack of space. um where uh students can experience uh career and technical
education courses uh through um virtual reality. Um also a session called all means all strengthening con connections with inclusive engagement and communication. And what I found really heartening was a
lot of the suggestions that they were uh giving were things that we're already doing especially the last few years. Um and uh but you know and some some of that we can add on to. Um Mr. Vulpi and I and uh
Mr. Patio we also went to one on teacher recruitment which was don't you agree was disappointing. We we thought we'd be getting um ideas for how to uh uh engage in teacher recruitment and um it I won't go into details. It was it was didn't
really give us much. I also went to one on tier support in the high school um which um was definitely of interest to me because Dr. Memphis you said that we are going to be uh starting that. So uh it was is interesting to see how uh
other districts are doing that. All right. >> I just like to make one last comment thanking the board for the the proclamation earlier. I was a little taken by surprise, so I don't remember everything that I said, but it's genuinely appreciated. Thank you.
>> We did our job then. >> All right. Um, there's no other comments. Go Dodgers. And, uh, take a motion to >> Those aren't Dodger colors. They're championship trophy colors.
Um, can I get a motion, a second to adjurnn? >> So, move second. >> All in favor? I >> see you soon.