Welcome. Thank you for coming. Calling the meeting to order. Can we have a roll call, please? Mr. Kita. Dr. Genevacy here. Mr. Kapatia here. Mr.
Peters here. Mr. Slottman here. Dr. Stilliano here. Miss Williams Galliano here. Dr. Wilson here. We have a quorum. Wonderful. The New Jersey open public meeting law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced
notice of and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon. In accordance with the provisions of the act, the Hopewell Valley Regional Board of Education has caused notice of this meeting to be published by having the date, time, and
place thereof communicated to the Hopewell Valley News and the Times on January 4th, 2024. This meeting notice was also sent to Comcast Cable and Verizon FiOS. The board reserves the right to enter into executive session during all
meetings of the board of education. The meeting is being recorded for the purposes of board review, future reference, preparation of the minutes, and viewing on YouTube, Bulldog TV, and the school district website, www.hvrsd.org.
The members of the public who intend to participate in public comment, we ask that you sign in prior to speaking at the deis. This will assist us with our board uh our recordkeeping. Please join me in the flag salute and also remain standing
following the flag salute for the star spangle banner. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation
under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Get your [Music] Say by the dawn
early so proudly we held at the twilight last [Music] were so gallently streaming and the rock is
red. The bombs bursting in gave proof through the night that our flag was still there. Oh, say just as ours
faithful yet for the land of the free and the home of the brave. Thank you. Thank you. We we I think we want the audience to remain standing for this next song. Wouldn't we agree, fifth graders, we have to remain standing for
this song. So, uh I'm not going to talk any longer, but this is the next song that you're about to hear is I think one of my favorites that I've learned very quickly. Um that I think you're going to learn, too. Uh and it's something that makes me uh teary eye, especially at graduation when I get to hear the fifth graders say one more time. But I'm going
to let these fifth graders say it a couple more times before they they graduate. So, take it away, Miss Der. Oh, hope well. Oh, hope well. You gave us a scar. Oh, hope well. Oh, hope well. We'll be sad to
depart. We made learning. Stay in our hearts. Oh, hope well. Oh, hope well. You're tried and true. Freddy Frog is our mascot. Colors are gold and blue. We
love our school is cool. And I think Miss Dary, you said this is a throwback, this song. It's a throwback. All right, let's do it. Miss Dar. Oh, you don't you don't have to stand, Mr. D. You don't want You know
[Music] Why don't you build me a butter baby down mess around baby when you say you will say
you will I love you still I [Music] you darling from the start. So me don't break my heart.
[Music] I'll be home. I'll be beside the phone waiting
for you. [Music] Just let me down. Let me down. Mess me around. And then worst of all, worst of all, you never go, baby, when you say
you will say hello. But I love you still. I need you. I need you more than anything, darling. You know that I have from the start. So me, don't break my
[Music] heart. Darling, you know that I have from the start. So build me a butter. Don't break my heart. [Applause]
Thank you, Miss Dower. Thank you to our fifth grade vocal ensemble. They meet every Wednesday morning at 8:00 a.m. How about another round of applause for our vocal ensemble? I thought when we were asked to stand, we were going to get to dance. Anybody else?
Was great. It was great, Lee. Thank you so much. Okay. Um moving on, we are going to um need a first and a second to approve the minutes for the March 17th meeting. Second. All in favor?
I. Any opposed or abstaining? Seeing none, the minutes are passed. Um, we are going to Well, according to the agenda, we already had our vocal ensem. Scott, just stay up there.
So, thank thank you again. Um, good evening, members of the board of education. Um, certainly welcome to Hopewell Elementary School. Uh again, we're honored here to be we're honored to host you this evening. Uh certainly you got a little glimpse of just some of the small um talent that we have in this
building. Um we're very thankful for that. Um certainly appreciative of uh of that. Um this evening we also have another special quick presentation that I would love to call up uh two of our amazing fifth graders you probably saw earlier. Uh so Jacqueline and Michaela, if you would join me at the podium. Um
they're also going to be joined by uh Mr. John Haney, the executive director of the Chubbies project, uh, just to share a few words about our important partnership with HS. So, please join me in welcoming [Applause]
them. Scott, Scott, pull it down. We would like to take a moment to thank the Chubbies Project for their partnership. Throughout the year, we have collected various items, including gloves and scarves. In the winter, we filled the pantry with our Super Bowl
collection in February, collected hygiene items, and created hygiene kits for our day of collaboration. And this month, we collected tuna and chicken. Thank you to the Chubbies Project for supporting so many in our community. At this time, we would like to present Mr. Haney with April's
collection. We gave you the lighter bags, Mr. Haney. All right. Microphone. So, I just want to got to record me. I'm not that important. All right. So, um I want to greet the board, Superintendent Trice, the board of ed, and of course,
Principal Brattell. Um Chubbies is a local neighborhood institution. It's about building community. Um, and it does it quite well. I'm a retired school administrator. When I started as a school administrator, I was a brunette. So, you can tell I was at it a long time
and went through I I hear you. In any case, I just wanted to thank the school. You know, it's it's one thing to do good things, but it's another to do it with such joy and positivity and compassion for people. Um, life hasn't always been fair to all
members of our community. Um, and the students here, the parents here, the staff here, uh, Mr. Patel have been just so amazing to work with and so so kind, uh, to the people that we serve in need. So, I just wanted to thank you for that.
It is a 247 food pantry. We deliver groceries and we deliver prepared meals as well and provide companionship. So, I don't want to go on too long, but in any case, I want to assure parents that, uh, you're in a really good school. My daughter actually graduated from here a
while ago. Um, very well-run. Uh, it's extremely a great atmosphere. I've been an administrator for 26 years. I know a good place when I see it. So, congratulations to Mr. Patel. Board of Ed, you I'm glad you get to hear this as a community member. What a fine
educational institution this is. And I just want to thank everybody for helping Chubbies and uh being great community members and great neighbors. Thank you. Thank you. It's wonderful organization and I'm glad our kid kids here in the um school
district get to participate in serving their neighbors. With that, I'm going to invite Miss Aaron Lee to give us our student representative uh update. Um, as spring approaches at
HBCS, many events have celebrated the achievements of our students and staff. This month, we honored our senior athletes with senior day for girls lacrosse and track and field teams. These events recognized the dedication and accomplishments of our graduating senior athletes. We also celebrated our
two wonderful vice principles, Mr. Smith and Dr. Quinn during National Assistant Principal Week. Activities included a sticker scavenger hunt and fortune cookie prize wheels. We are so grateful for their leadership and commitment to our school community. And last Thursday, we welcomed over 50 students for Take
Your Child to Work Day. Students enjoyed various activities including scavenger hunts, arts and crafts, and games on the turf. And finally, the HBCS Youth Environmental Society hosted a successful green week. Throughout the week, students were able to to participate in eco lunch and learn
sessions which featured guest speakers and workshops focusing on sustainability and environmental stewardship. We are proud of all the hard work shown by our students this spring. Thank you. Thank you, Aaron. Uh, anyone from the
board with questions? Okay, seeing none, thank you, Miss Lee. And of course, you know, you're always welcome to stay with us as long as you're able. With that, we're going to go ahead and move on. Um, I do not have a report. I always comment throughout the meeting as
opposed to holding a long um comment in the beginning, but I will offer the time to Dr. Trees. Thank you. I just have a few words because I want to be able to jump right into the tenative budget adoption tonight. Uh, I do want to give a quick shout out also to our color guard. Um, they were they really kicked
butt I heard in some competitions. We're going to have them at the next board meeting so we can recognize them fully. I'm working with Mr. Smith to get them here. But I heard that they really did a phenomenal job. Uh the indoor color guard. So we'll be seeing them next month on uh May 19th. That meeting will
be at Timberlane Middle School at 5:30. We will start with the tour and then afterwards we will start with student recognitions before we jump into our board meeting. We really have been trying to to uh make sure that we feature our students. That that is our best work. And I love when folks reach
out and tell us about those great things that are going on in their schools because sometimes the teachers don't tell us. Uh so we you know they they're very modest and we want to really highlight their great work. So we're going to be inviting some of our high schoolers to Timberlane to celebrate their work on indoor color guard. Um
that being said, I'm going to go ahead and pass it off to um Mr. Kaduda for our uh tenative budget discussion. It's actually the final budget. This is it. Well, I guess when they they got to vote still.
As Dr. Plitz has reminded me at lunch today, this is the uh a lot of the time eenth time that we've seen this. Had to do it. But um as we do with every all of our budget presentations, we like to start with the mission statement because this
is what guides um the administration and the board uh in putting forward um a budget each year. We've come a long way. Um the first public budget presentation we had was, believe it or not, in September. Um we actually started a little bit sooner
than that uh with the superintendent's cabinet uh starting to discuss budget. And believe it or not, I'll start to to work on building next year's budget right after we strike uh this budget. But we did uh spend a good part of the fall discussing some of the major
drivers uh to our budget. Um we've been meeting with various stakeholders within district from our principles to our supervisors um the cabinet members and and board members as well discussing what are the components of the budget going to be this year. We had board
discussions in both January and February and into March um when we received our state aid application. Uh we actually did get $400,000 more this year than we had in the past which is a positive sign. Um, what I wanted to note to the
members of the community, I know it's a it's a it's a it's a bigger tax increase than the 2% that were allowed. We did have waiverss, and we'll get into that later, but we were actually shorted this year um about a million dollars by the state. The state runs a formula, and the formula stated that we should have
gotten over a million dollars more than we did. They just didn't have the revenue to support giving us all the money that we should have gotten. So, I I wanted the public to understand that we're doing everything we can with what might be considered a broken state formula. There's they don't have a way
to fund the formula completely. We got what we were supposed to get based upon that formula, but not all of it. So, you know, hopefully in future years, we'll be able to be fully funded, fully truly fully funded by what we're entitled to. Okay. Uh about a month ago, we approved
our tenative budget. That budget went to the county um without incident. It was approved within two or three days. Um it's been advertised in the local paper and we are here tonight to present the final budget that um hopefully will be adopted by the board at the end of the
presentation and will be implemented uh within the next few days uh pending a successful approval. All right. And again, we um focused on um priorities that we want to make sure that we're we're doing in our budget. again to reflect our mission
statement um and to continue and maintain as many of the great programs and services we have as possible. Um we weren't able to maintain everything this year the way we might have wanted but we we were able to maintain everything every kid's going to get the same
experiences that they had might be delivered a little bit differently and Dr. Ch will go into more of that later on. Again, we are here to provide a great academic program to all the students who attend our schools. Um, we want to make sure that our curriculum
reflects what we do. Um, we are governed by the state of New Jersey who dictates some of that, but we want to make sure that we're doing what we want as well. We need to meet all of our contractual salary obligations. We are um again, we are an operation that f functions mostly
on um human resources. we have, you know, um 80% of our budget is is staffing. Um we want to continue to evaluate our programs. If we have programs that are underserved, um we're going to remove those programs. And if there's programs that we see that we
need to implement to reflect a changing society, we're going to do that as well. And again, we want to prepare we want to prepare a budget that allows us to change as the future changes. Dr. Trice, anything else on that? Um I would just like to add that as we
um really looked at ways to to cut from our budget. Um Bob already shared that we made wanted to make sure that kids had generally the same experience that they have now. We might have to do things a less with less frequency but we wanted students to have the experience of of having steam of having uh
extracurricular sports all the in extracurricular activities all the things that we've always had to do we've always wanted to do for our kids. We lost autoshop as a result of not being able to hire. So, it was a it was a way through natural attrition to make a cut
because we couldn't fill the position. And we tried to avail ourselves of that as much as possible, non-renewals, resignations, and retirements to kind of absorb some of that so we can keep our people that do work for us that we do care about um that we do want to keep on our staff as whole as possible.
Okay. So, some of the things that helped um push us in a different direction um this year, we do have a 2% levy cap. That's on the the money we're allowed to raise on our own uh through the state. We were able to take advantage this year
of a health benefit waiver. Due to the rising cost of health benefit care, um we were able to to get a waiver of almost $1.8 million uh to help offset that that hit to our budget. We are growing. For the first time in a long
time, um, Hope Oil Valley is growing in enrollment. That was about a $250,000 adjustment due to the enrollment that happened over the past year. We did receive, as I mentioned, the additional 400,000 in state aid. Federal aid, we have not been notified yet. This is the time of year where
we're notified about our IDEA and title grant fundings. Um our idea monies this year were somewhere in the area of 900,000 and our title monies uh somewhere in the area of 150,000 give or take. Um but those are pockets of money
designed for very specific populations. IDA uh in HOP goes directly to special education tuition helps offset that cost. Title one money goes directly towards our most needy students um as uh in uh support work, additional supports.
Um, it also provides some character ed monies and also some training for our teaching staff. Um, we are waiting to see what's going to come. We've been in told to anticipate um around 75% of what we got this year. I'm hoping for better than that, but we were told to
anticipate no more than 75%. We are also able to generate money locally. Um, we do sell some seats uh here to our both our regular ed programs and our special ed programs that help offset the cost of the programs. Um, we
do rent our facilities out. Most of our facilities are used on a daily basis, our high school and middle school through the weekend a lot, but we do charge um some fees for outside folks to use those to help offset the cost. As we've talked throughout the the uh
winter and the early spring, we are reimplementing uh athletic and co-curricular fees this year again to help defay defay some of the cost. It won't cover everything. It'll help us to maintain those programs that we might otherwise have had to cut. Um, you may
have read in the papers over the past several weeks, districts all over New Jersey, um, beginning to implement fees again. Some re re-implementing them as we are, some bringing them in new, some increasing the fees they've been charging, and unfortunately others
eliminating their athletic programs altogether. There's an article about Lacy Township um, that they're eliminating their entire athletic program. We don't want to do that here. And again, something else that we've implemented or are going to increase this year are transportation fees um
just to to maintain to be able to maintain that program for folks. Um the things that are driving our budget, as probably with most of your own home budgets, inflation continues to to be a a problem in in most of the
areas that we need. health benefits. Energy energy is has gone up uh probably 20% already and we're in told to anticipate another increase in June. Um believe it or not, driven by AI. All these AI sub centers and and server
centers are driving the cost of energy uh skyhigh right now. Um we need to maintain our curriculum and instruction. That's what we do. We teach children what they need to know. And and from what I saw of the kids walking through the building with Mr. Battel today. I think we're doing a pretty good job with
that. Um, transportation continues to to go up. This year, transportation increases is 3.57% on top of what we were paying this year. So, again, not a whole lot of area for savings there. insurance, not only property and casualty insurance. If
you've seen the disasters that have been happening around the country from floods and hurricanes and the fires in California, believe it or not, all have an impact on our premiums. Okay. Um facility and maintenance costs continue
to rise. Um we showed the folks tonight during the tour some of the things we've already done and some of the things that we're going to have to keep doing. Um things just don't last as long as they used to. uh in the envir in a disposal environment. Unfortunately, that's where we are today. Again, we like to maintain
um our least restrictive environment for special education. We feel that we have a great uh program here in district and when we can bring students back to our facilities and our programs. Uh we try to do that as best we can. As I mentioned, staffing is a huge part of our budget. Salary and benefits for all
of our staff members is about 80% of our budget. All right. to to make big dents in our budget. Unfortunately, it's human resources. It's not where we want to go. If we could save it, if we could get a great year in our insurance renewals, unfortunately, we can't. A lot
of our insurance is is governed by the state. The state tells us what we have to offer and how we have to offer it. Technology, as you can see, everywhere in this building, in this room, for example, we've got heat detectors. All are addressable. Um, cameras
uh cameras, projectors, all the stuff requires servers. Now it's all it's all addressable and into our technology. And again, we continue to experience growth in in Hope Valley. There are children moving in uh down in in the area around Shopright and the old Meil Lynch
complex, but also uh in the area behind um uh Stonybrook over on Federal City Road and on uh Bull Run Road. There are students moving in um all the time and we're trying to do the best we can to mitigate
that. We have done as much as we can. We try to continue to look for ways to save money. We are a self-insured health benefit uh operation which means that I don't have to pay u premiums and get nothing back. When we pay we pay out our claims. If we have a good year, we have
people let people using less insurance um in a given year. We reap the savings and we can put it back into our budget. Unfortunately, um we are seeing huge increases in health benefits this year, but we continue to run um more than a million dollars better than the state program. So, we feel fortunate with
that. I already spoke about special education, what we're doing to to control costs there. We do participate in the school choice program at our high school. We have a a fine arts program where we bring in, I believe it's 13 students from uh outside the district.
That brings uh to us about $300,000. Um technology, we've done everything uh we can as far as maintaining a Google environment, which saves us money on uh Microsoft licensing fees. Um we've gone to a Google environment with email that saves us
again more on those licensing fees. And we've moved to a Google um Chromebook platform away from at the elementary schools the the Apple computers that we were using uh probably 10 years ago at this point. We cooperatively purchase nearly
everything we do. Um we enhance our buying power by merging with the over 600 school districts in New Jersey uh to leverage the bidding that is done by uh cooperatives including Mercer County Special Services School District, Ed Services Commission of New Jersey, of which we're free members. There's no
charge to join them, but we get to, you know, join in on the bids that they do at a savings. Again, we're doing the best we can with our facilities. when we do uh put new facility or new pieces to our facilities in, we try to do it uh so that our buildings run very efficiently
um and as possible. Okay. And we also have um we had our head custodian tonight uh walking us around our building. our uh head custodian and maintenance facility team is able to do a lot of repairs and maintenance in-house, saving us the uh hardship of
having to go out uh to a general contractor to get things done when our guys can get it done uh for just time and materials. It helps save the district hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. And just a breakdown of how our money uh is used. If you take from the
very top at 12:00 and work your way around to about nine, um it's just our that's our staff and benefits showing you, you know, that piece of the pie that's that's a little more than almost 80% of our budget. Um it's a pretty telling symbol. That's where our our
money goes. One might argue that if you add the green slice, the transportation, again, that's a mandated service that we're required to provide those students who live further away from our buildings, uh, and they can't walk. So again, um, the majority of the money that we have goes directly into the
education, uh, of our students. This just gives a breakdown that our total appropriation budget uh is increasing about 3.1% this year. Um, we were able to, um, the reason why we need a four point, we're going to get
into that, but over a 4% increase in tax levy is because we're trying to reduce, and I'll show you on this page, we're trying to reduce the amount of fund balance. As you can see, we've reduced our fund balance by 30%. Fund balance is your savings. All right? And we using savings to fund
recurring expenses can catch up to you. All right? If you're using your savings to pay your mortgage each month, if you had lost your job or something like that and you start to use your savings, eventually that savings is going to go away and you're not going to be able to pay your mortgage once that savings is
gone. We want to be less reliant on savings. We want to try to do a a better job budgeting um so that we don't need savings in our budget. Savings um should be used, best practice should be used for one-time expenses. we're going to repair a roof, if we're going to
implement a program that we can fund in the following year with regular monies, um that's what you want to use it for because you don't need to replace that money. Okay. Where does our money come from? Local funding is 92% of our budget. 87%
from property taxes. 2% of the money comes from monies that we can raise on our own. that those those revenues, tuition, transportation fees, facility use fees, monies that we can generate. The more money we can generate, the less money that we have to rely on for property tax money and use of surplus.
And again, use of surplus, you might add it to the that use of surplus comes from unexpended monies that came from the year before. So, one might say that that's that comes from our property taxes as well. But we are 92% funded with local resources. 7% funding comes
from the state and that's actually less than 1% funding rounding it up, but less than 1% comes from our federal funding. And again, federal funding doesn't really help with our our regular um programming. It's it's designed for a specific purpose. Um but it does provide
some some um help for us. But again, other unlike some districts in the state um that are funded more than 50% 60 70 80% by the state, we're funding 92% with our local funds. So, a lot of folks ask a
question, Bob, that if we lose federal funding, right, well, how much does that mean to the district? Uh it's it's over a million dollars. And again, um the the biggest piece of it is that IDEIDA grant. And that is um we need that money. That is money use it for placements out of district and things
like that. So, that's money we would have to find in our in our current budget to replace. Okay. And this gives us an overall um look at where how our spending goes this year. Again, um I'll reiterate it again. Our our general fund, the top number,
the 4.3 is capped at 2%. But we also had waivers for it. There are waivers that are granted by the the commissioner of education. One waiver was for health benefits as I said and one was for an enrollment increase. Um I am fortunate we are fortunate to have a board that
was willing to address this issue. There were many boards in the state who um had catastrophic without a better term catastrophic cuts their budget because their boards didn't want to rate go over the 2%. Um you can read about Montgomery who cut 30 some odd teachers. uh
Middletown who cut 50 teachers and is closing two buildings. I believe Jackson is closing their their um legacy high school. Um I know it's not a popular decision to increase taxes more uh than the 2% but to maintain the programs that
everybody that we've heard tell us that are near and dear to them. taking those waiverss was a way to per to preserve um what we've built over the last uh you know 50 60 years. what that means to the local
taxpayer. Um it's seven cents on their current rate uh across the board means that the increase uh for the average home and the average home in the three municipalities is around 500,000 a little under for hope a little above for Pennington Burough but around 500,000.
And so if your home is valued in the $500,000 area, it doesn't mean the set the sales price. It means the valuation of it be a two about a $281 increase for that for Popel Burrow, 295 for Hope Township, and 343 uh for Pennington
Burough. And that brings us to the end of the presentation. I know we went kind of quickly through it, but we have seen it before. I wanted to open up uh for any comments from the board or superintendent at this point before we move ahead to the public. I was just curious
um so I know that electricity prices are going up 20 to 30% for uh homeowners in in the state, but what's the effect for our district's budget? And I know we're in a bit of a unique predicament because we're a school. We have to leave the lights on 247 in in certain capacities.
So I'm just curious what the effect is. We I anticipated somewhat of an increase uh in in electricity this year. Um probably put an additional 300,000 in. Um based upon the the rumors we're hearing right now, um we are looking
probably right off the bat probably another two to $300,000 short for next year. Um we are uh trying to make a plan. Tom Quinn and I are trying to make a plan. Um we may be moving our set points back a little bit this year. We're not running the buildings at 70 71
degrees. We may be going down a degree in the in the winter and and increasing the air conditioning, making it a higher level in the summertime. Um and doing the best we can with that. Um hopefully um we're waiting for our bid. We're in a consortium again with energy. We're
looking for uh to see what our bids come in at right year uh for the coming year. And that the bids is on the delivery. The commodity itself is we we pay whatever the utility says. it's the delivery that we may be able to save some money on. So, um, our consortium goes out to bid over the summer and
we're hoping that that we might see some some relief there, but yeah, it's it keeps changing. The number for energy keeps changing. Anyone else? Okay. Any comments, Dr. Dre? Public
public comment on just the budget. Okay. All right. With that said, we are going to move on to our um public comment specifically on the budget. Members of the public are invited to address the board on the budget for a maximum of three minutes
during this portion of the meeting. You're asked to state your name, address, and municipality. In response to your comments, the board of education may respond or direct the superintendent to do so. The board may also opt to take the matter up at at a future meeting so
that the matter is researched by the district administration. Any comments for our timekeeper? Hi, I'm your friendly timekeeper. Um, when there are 30 seconds left, you will see the yellow and when your three
minutes are up, you will see the red. Public comments are now open on the budget. Okay, seeing none, public comments closed and we'll move on to motion. Motion and second adopting the budget.
Can I get a first and second for moving the budget? Motion. Second. Roll call vote, please. Yep. Dr. Genevacy. Yes, Mr. Kapadia. Yes, Mr.
Peters. Yes, Mr. Slottman. I Dr. Stilliano. Yes, Dr. Wilson. Yes, Miss Williams Galliano. Yes. Motion carries. Thank you. Wonderful. Thank you
for that. I just want to acknowledge the entire board um and the administration. It's been certainly since um Mr. Calvita mentioned since before September. Um, but there's been a lot of pencil sharpening, a lot of going back and
forth and making sure we're doing the right thing uh things for our children and having internal conversations to make sure we all understand um what we're up against, but also what we're committing in the community to. So, I just want to again thank everybody here
for the homework that's been um put in to move the budget forward. Um, okay. Were any old business items? That felt antilimactic. Where are the balloons? I do need to say a little something though. Um, when we went
through and talked about the activity fees and I'm going to say this because my parents were those parents that would not ask for help and probably should have a lot of times. And I worked and I braided hair and I did babysat and I did all the things, right? If you need support, you don't have to be on free and reduced lunch to tell us that you
need a little extra help. and we would keep that very confidential and handle that. We have handled it for years. Um so please let us know if you need support on this. We don't want kids not participating because folks can't afford it. I know this is a challenging financial time. Um you know folks may
get laid off or things happen. Please let us know if you need that support and we will make sure that every kid that wants to to play they shouldn't be sport money shouldn't be a reason why they're not. So let us know. Also just to add and correct me if I'm wrong, but we are planning to send
letters to families proactively. Yes. Who do qualify for free? Absolutely. To remind them that that's the case and we always tap those kids. We we handle that. Wonderful. Thank you for uh that reminder. Okay. Um any old business
items? Seeing none, um I need a first and second to move the consent public comment. We skip you skip the real so move. Oh yeah. All right. Can I get a second?
Second. All in favor? I I I. Any opposed or abstaining? Okay. Seeing none, the consent agenda items are passed. It was down at the bottom. Oh, I see. I see. Okay. We actually have another
public comment. I hopped over it. So, this is um a public comment on any particular item. So, members of the public are invited to address the board of uh on any matter for a maximum of three minutes during this portion of the
meeting. You're asked to state your name, address, and municipality. In response to uh your comments, the board of ed may respond or direct the superintendent to do so. The board may also opt to take the matter up at a future meeting so that the matter is researched by the district
administration. Public comment is now open. Good evening. Um, Madam President, uh, members of the board, Dr. Trice, um, Ryan Kennedy, uh, 104 West Broad Street in Hopewell Burough. Uh, just a couple very quick comments. First, I really
want to thank the board and the administration for having your meeting here tonight in Hopeboro and your program of kind of distributing them out to the community. Um, it is very much appreciated making them accessible like
this. um and very much appreciate um you doing them um this way. Um I want to echo very briefly as a proud parent the comments that Dr. Trice made uh earlier um foreshadowing the upcoming presentation that might be next month on
behalf of the color guard. I can confirm as a proud parent they did a great job this year and appreciate your support of of them. I know there's some other parents here as well that would say the same thing. Uh finally I want to thank Dr. Patell um Oh, there he is. Um, this past week was
walk and roll to school. Um, here in the burrow and hopeull elementary, we really pride ourselves as a community as being a walkable, bikable place. It was just really heartening to see the outpouring of support from our community from this
school with everyone walking and biking school together. So, I want to thank uh everyone here at Hopewell Elementary. I want to give a shout out to our public works department at Hope Burough, Hopewell Township Police Department, uh, and our first responders at Hope Fire Department for jumping in for just an
amazing program. So again, uh, Dr. Patel, thank you so much for doing that, um, and and highlighting that here in our community. So again, thank you so much. Any other comments? Um Marian Labos 10 model Avenue Hopewell
Burough. Um so good evening president board and Dr. Trice. I just would like to express my gratitude for all the efforts for the successful green week we just completed. In particular to Dr. Bertell and facilities in all of HS this year. We started the first native plant
pollinator meadow on HS property. It's located behind the parking lot. So, straight that way. It doesn't look like very much right now. It looks like a pile of mulch, but the thing about native plants is you give it a year or two and it's bursting full with life.
Um, it contains a vernal pond and it stays a bit wet. So, it's going to be a really neat ecosystem in a few years. I had the honor of helping out on Friday and I look forward to seeing HS continue planting, caring for, and learning from nature. the students are creating a vibrant ecosystem and that will nurture
the spring peepers and the woodf frogs because we are Freddy the frogs um who make hope elementary school their home. So, thank you. Anyone else? Uh, good good evening everyone. My name is Kristen Brderick. I live um on
Crusher Road in Hopewell Township and I have three children. and my oldest is a first grader here at Hopewell Elementary. And um a little bit simil similarly to Marian, I just want to um
express thanks and gratitude for uh all that happened throughout the green week. I really only know a small portion of it. Um, but there is one particular project that I want to speak on because it felt so meaningful and
significant to me that I want to uh shout it from the rooftops and make sure that everyone knows about it. Um, and that is uh the tree ceremony. So, this is a project that I believe was
spearheaded by Dr. Trice and um the Hopewell Valley Gardens for Wildlife. Correct me if I'm wrong. Um, the project entailed one donation per school for a New Jersey state tree. And if anyone
doesn't know what that is, it's the northern red oak. Um, to my knowledge, all six schools participated and all uh had a very unique tree ceremony. I'm gonna just talk for a minute specifically
about hope um HS because that's the one I was part of. So uh with the help of Dr. Patel, we coined the first ever tree jubilee and I felt like it was a party.
Uh as a parent and a licensed mental health professional, it left a lasting impact on me as to how nature and being outdoors and being together in nature and
outdoors is so significant for our mental health. This included, our jubilee included a land acknowledgement recognizing the role that our ancestors have played in taking care of this very same land that we were standing
on. We took deep breaths together that fifth grade green team students led. We practiced outdoor mindfulness. We learned some of the science behind the role that a tree can play in clean
air and oxygen. We took a moment of silence to send a good wish to the tree to help it succeed. And lastly, we made sure that all students know that trees can also be friends. Not only do they help us physically, but they can even provide
emotional support when you're having a bad day or feeling lonely. We ended the jubilee with actually planting the tree, cheering, clapping, and celebrating our new friend. My time is up. Any other comments?
Do you have any comments? Seeing none, we'll go ahead and respond. Yeah, just real quickly, I just wanted to say um thank you um for your help with the native the native plant garden. I'm very proud of of that work that we're doing. I'm entertaining
conversations with FOV to see what we can do between the high school and the middle school. It is a work in progress. I know it's ugly for a while, but it's going to be worth the wait. And to have the kids to be able to come back and see it once it's in full glory, that's amazing. And I also want to thank um it was not my thunder. I was just called
and said, "Could we plant trees?" And I'm like, "Oh, yeah." And then Mr. Quinn said, "Not near my building." We said, "We got this. How far away?" You know, we're not going to put a red a red uh what do we have? Redwood redwood tree in the middle of the the school. We're not doing that this time. Um so I want to
say thank you to Hopewell Valley Gardens and Wildlife. Um specifically uh Chrissy um I think it's uh Basin is how she pronounced her last name. Kirsty. Kersy is her last name. She had something different here. We're going to release a press release about it and hopefully include some pictures to the newspapers
so that that can um so everyone can hear about the great work. But she's not just encouraging us to do this on our campuses, but she's encouraging as you think about your landscaping in your own homes over the summer to start thinking about planting native uh plants. I know I'm looking at that myself. Maybe something will actually live now and
grow in my yard because I keep planting things that are bad for the environment and they die anyway. So, um, thank you for your expertise and, um, working with us to make sure that we're we're we're creating these ecosystems for our our community and the wildlife that's out there.
And I want to just um throw an acknowled extra acknowledgement in there. I understand that we acknowledge indoor color guard, but we may have missed the percussion. So, just wanted to to give a hurray to both um of the parts of the
marching band. They're coming. They're coming next board meeting. Yes, they will definitely be here, but I happen to know we might have someone here. Well done. Okay, moving on. We're going to do committee um notes and minutes and
comments. All right, I'll start with finance. How about that? How about that? All right. Good evening, everybody. So, I'm going to report back on our finance committee meeting that we had uh middle of this month like we normally do. Um I'm just reading some notes off of the notes on
my phone here, so bear with me. So, I think a lot of the discussion revolved primarily around the continued dialogue on the budget that we just passed, as well as uh the ongoing referendum discussions that we're having uh throughout the district. Um we had some discussions internally about some of the areas of the budget which we again
talked about uh adnauseium over the past couple months and then uh continue to speak more about um some of the ongoing litigation between the towns and how the impact that has on our referendum. I I know many of us uh on the board and uh in the community are aware of what's
going on there. As far as some facilities updates, which I think are important for the public to know and the rest of the board to know, um, you know, we talked a lot about some of the ongoing issues on some of the uh related expenses that we are putting in the referendum um at the individual schools. Um, we talked about the high school with
the continued boiler issue. We talked about Bear Tavern with the holding tank issue. Uh, and then as always, our friends and facilities update us on all the new fun stuff that they're dealing with. Uh, so we heard about some of the pipe failures at Bear Tavern. Uh we hear heard more about some of the leaks in one of the gym areas and having needing
to shut off water valves permanently or for a long period of time at the high school. Um sewer issues at Hope help elementary uh Stonybrook and the high school, pack lighting issues as well as fire alarm issues at all of the schools. So, I think I say it in this fashion
because this continues just to reiterate the need for us to uh make sure that we're being really really forward and forefront with the community about the ongoing needs for uh added costs to help get this done once and for all. Uh while Tom and the team in facilities do a tremendous job, uh we know we just can't
keep up anymore. And these are just more of those same sentiments that we hear about every single month. That's all I got. Thank you. We do have one agenda item. We have one agenda item. That's right. Sorry about that.
We are going to be accepting a donation tonight uh of a enclosed trailer from the Music Theater Parent Association for Indoor Percussion, which is fantastic. So, thank you very much for that. Do we have to do anything to accept that? Motion. A motion. Okay. Can I get
a motion and a second to accept that donation? Motion. Second. All in favor? I I I. Any opposer abstaining? All right, moving on.
We have round two. Here we go. All right. So, uh, the personnel committee, for a reminder for the public, we meet prior to all board meetings right before this meeting. Uh, so we had a chance to meet to talk about a few items. I'm just going to go
through a couple of them. Um, as always, it's kind of one of those bittersweet moments where we accept uh retirement resignations and we talk about it, but we want to be able to talk about the great work that many of these folks have put into the community. So, we do have four retirements up on the agenda. One from Pamela Edwards, who's been at the
district since 1991. Uh, one from Britt Marie Dominic who's been with the district since 1997. Another from Yvon Vasquez who's been with the district since 2002 and another one from Barry Friedman Freriedman, sorry. Uh, who's been with the district
since 2007. So, uh, again, we are just so grateful for the work that they've put in over the years to help make this school what it is. And, uh, they're going to have some big shoes to have to fill here with administration with many of them. So, thank you very much for that. Uh, a couple additional things that we talked about. There's two big
searches going on by administration. Um, that one is ongoing and another one we're really really happy to talk about that we did find a steam and stem supervisor uh Matthew Orin who's going to be starting July 7th, 2025. So, we're very excited about that. Uh, I know that
uh someone in the administration did a lot of work to find that. So, thank you for that. Um, and there is another search happening right now and we're going to have some more news on that search uh in the coming days ahead. So, uh, very much appreciated. As far as anything else, am I missing anything, Tana? I don't think I
am. Yeah, we'll just go right into the approval. So, can I just get a motion? First and second. Is that what that is for approval? Great. So, move. Second. Roll call, please. Mr. Kapatia, yes. Mr. Peters, yes. Mr.
Slottman I. Dr. Stillanu. Yes. Dr. Wilson. Yes. Dr. Genevacy. Yes. Miss Williams Galliano. Yes. Motion carries. Wonderful. Okay. Moving on to Ed Prom. I
think that's me. I think I'm the last committee member standing or at least at the meeting anyway. So, very briefly, we met last Monday the 21st. had a terrific discussion on a number of issues. We had Dr. Darren
Leuen join us to provide an overview of our social studies curriculum. Specifically, as it relates to connecting with the community, and we discussed various ways to continue improving how civics is being taught consistently here in the school district, we had principal Riley provide
an overview of the activity fees, the extracurricular fees that were mentioned earlier. And we also had Jeff Lash who is our educational techn technology technological administrator ed tech supervisor. I think that's his official
title. I want to make sure I do justice to that. He provided the committee with an overview of the of AI use in the district and the evolving district AI use plan as well as detailed policies and supporting materials for classroom use training best practices best
practices etc. and we you know had a good discussion about that provided some additional feedback and then learned that some of these activities will be uh rolled out fully starting in the coming academic year and we expect to have Dr. or Mr. Lush back in September to to
provide additional information on how the AI training and policy rollout has been going in the school district. Lastly, we had Beth Hoffman and George Nem who I I believe are our K to2 and our PK to5 special education supervisors here in the district and preK to if I if
I said something but 6 to 12 and PK to5 special education administrators here in the district that to provide an overview of of our special education and we discussed the possibility of extending executive function training to the general student population on a voluntary basis and we'll hear more
about that as we move forward And I would invite Dr. Blitz to add anything else I I might have missed from the meeting. Great. Wonderful. Thank you. Well done. Thank you. You're welcome. We're going back to
you anyway. Community relations. I'm ready to talk. Um community relations committee. We met on April 17th and I know uh Mr. Kapadia and Dr. Jvesi are here. So please feel free to add in anything that I might have
missed. But we principal Riley has been making the rounds. So we also heard from her on the various activity fees discussion and had a really good discussion about the activity fees and what to expect in the fall when they're sort of rolled out to to the uh to
families who participate in different extracurricular extracurricular activities. also heard a little bit about the timing of parent communication on this which I expect we'll hear about more in the in the near future. We also talked a little bit about Dr. Trice as we know was put together a communications committee to discuss
future referendum issues and at the time that committee had not yet met but we did in fact meet on April 23rd last Wednesday I guess it was we had a pretty good turnout too we had a great turnout had a really terrific discussion Mr.
Kapatia was also there for that and we had a really great turnout, great discussion with a whole bunch of really good ideas on referendum and looking forward to continue to engage those members of the community as we get closer to the November referendum. I
think it's November 4th this year. I I Drew is is nodding yes, but that means I've gotten the correct date. So that uh more to come on that as we get closer obviously and those plans start to be finalized. And other than that, we also had a very brief discussion on u some of
the things Mark had mentioned, the sort of hopeful township update, a very brief discussion on that as well and the terrific work that our board president and Dr. Trice are are doing on that topic. So that is the the uh gist of the community relations committee meeting from a couple weeks ago. Thank you.
Awesome. Any questions? Do you want me to just keep doing the rest of them even though? No. Okay, keep it rolling. Yeah, if you want to do seal, um, passing passing the torch. Okay. So, um, we had a short seal meeting. The the
year is winding down, although they're still doing a lot of amazing things. Um there was a wellness day at the high school on March 18th March 18th. Um and then we have some SEAL April celebrations of
inclusivity in diverse learners. Uh we still have three more 90inut sessions in May um training on our nurtured heart. So anyone who's interested is that the first round of sessions. So anyone who's
interested in uh the nurtured heart um we encourage you to come out for those sessions in May. Um we also are piloting our character strong tier 2 interventions um at the elementary schools. Um so some
exciting things happening there. Any questions? Okay, seeing none, we'll move on to government relations.
All right. Uh Bob, would it be possible to put up the PDF in the background? I know you got to re restart it. I can I can get into it. It'll take me some time to get there. Uh uh the government relations committee
met on April 9th to continue advancing its mission of enhancing engagement with government leaders, advocating for state funding and policy solutions, and exploring sustainable structures for long-term government relations efforts. Uh the committee has taken several
actions to advance local government engagement since its creation. As a reminder, invitations have been extended to mayors, township committee members, and town council members in Hopewell Township, Hopewell Burough, and Pennington Burough for the remaining school building tours. Um, I know Mayor
Kennedy had to step out, but we appreciate him taking the time out of his schedule to come and tour Burough as well as attend some of the the other tours that we've had. Um, following up on last month's update, we successfully reached out and scheduled a meeting with Mercer County Executive Dan Benson to
discuss opportunities for cross-dist collaboration aimed at combating segregation. Mercer County is one of the most segregated counties in the state along racial and socioeconomic lines. Uh, it's a pervasive systemic issue that affects all of our students development,
socialization, and success. Um, and so this presents us uh a unique opport opportunity for joint initiatives such as a countywide field day or coordinated curriculum programming to help foster integration. Uh so the committee looks forward to meeting with county executive
Benson uh at the end of next month. So we're very excited about that. Um in terms of state level advocacy, the committee has officially submitted an FY26 budget request to the 15th legislative district delegation. the proposal which oh it's not on screen.
It's okay. Um it's uh requesting Oh, you can see it right there. Um so the the request is uh requesting the state legislature to appropriate $125,000 for an ADA accessible playground at Bear Tavern. Um if you can
just scroll down, uh the the current playground is not ADA compliant due to the wood fiber surface and the lack of ground uh level activities. Um, so it's going to it's going to have to be replaced and whether that's a result of the planned expansion to Bear Tavern
from the referendum or from township committee dollars, um, it's going to have to get demolished and replaced with an ADA compliant pre playground. Uh, the total cost for that is going to be $250,000. So, we're requesting from the state legislature half of that and we
would be funding the other half. Uh this is the first time Hopewell has ever gone to the state legislature requesting uh a line item. So we're hoping to to get some positive reception. Um we do need a senator and an assembly member to
sponsor and introduce the budget resolution on our behalf and we actually did already receive a response from Assemblyman Varlli's office. Um and they were extremely receptive to the proposal. So, uh, no promises were made yet and the budget process is in the we're in the middle of it right now at
the state level. So, we're excited to see where this might go and and potentially getting some significant dollars back from the state into Hopewell to make sure that our littlest learners are are able to enjoy some some outdoor play. Um, and like I said, I I I caution that this year's state budget is
extremely tight. So, there may be no legislative add-ons, but you can't get what you don't ask for. So, that's that's what we're that's what we're going to do. And uh for for any interested community members, especially our Bear Tavern parents, I'd be happy to share a template uh of an email to send
to our legislators advocating for them to sponsor a budget resolution for the playground. Um it's just, you know, we we can operate on on both sides, from the top down and also from the bottom up. Um so, that that's the major update that we have. Uh they don't have to be Bear Tavern parents. I'm sorry. They
don't have to be Bear Tavern. They don't have to be bare teddy. We're all one community. Yes, that's that's true. That's true. Um, so yeah, you're you're good, Bob. Thank you for for putting that up. Uh, and then also to explore sustainable models for government relations for for our board. The committee has initiated outreach to our
board attorney to gain insight into the legal guidelines and feasibility of establishing a standing committee rather than this being an ad hoc committee. Um, and previous agenda items were also discussed further. The committee reviewed the recent resolution adopted by the West Windsor Plainsboro Board of Education reaffirming its commitment to
DEI in response to federal executive orders. Garden State Equality and other grassroots advocacy organizations across the state have been encouraging other public districts to pass similar resolutions. So, the committee considered whether adopting a a similar resolution would be a meaningful step
for HVRs and we plan to introduce a resolution at next month's meeting and and having board members review the language. Um, the committee also discussed potentially endorsing the policy to allow 16 and 17 year olds to vote in schoolboard elections. To be clear, this decision ultimately falls
under municipal jurisdiction, but our board can endorse, support, and advocate for the initiative if we choose to do so. Uh, for background, Newark is the first municipality in the state to adopt this policy, which took effect during this past month's schoolboard elections.
The committee plans to engage with the full board in the coming weeks to gauge members positions and to gather input from local elected officials. Uh so future steps may involve discussions with municipal governments and considering a formal resolution uh based on the committee feedback. So, our next
steps include following up with the LD-15 legislators on our FY26 budget request, meeting with County Executive Benson to discuss school segregation in Mercer County, seeking legal insight on establishing a standing government relations committee, and advancing discussions on pursuing the lowering the
voting age for schoolboard elections to 16. Wow. Well done. Any questions? Is that it? Wonderful. Um, exciting stuff. going on. I mean, this is a new area for us and we
thank you um Mr. Kapadia for your leadership and passion. Um it's it's felt like a nice uh foot forward for the district to to be engaging um at the legislative level.
Um, I also want to um interject regarding the um conversation that we'll be having over the next month regarding the the resolution on the DEI. Um, so kind of keep your ears open for that
conversation so we can um move forward um with uh as a as a board collective board. And then also just the last note around um it just slipped my mind. Well, we'll
hold on to that for next time. Happens to the best of us. Okay. Thank you. Um moving on. I'm I'm still on the mic. Oh, you're still Oh, still. Oh, I have you. I have you. I got you. We are
doing a lot of sharing. I was like, what do you mean you're taking the mic back? Thank you, Mr. Kabadia for taking Mark had two, John had two, now I have two. It's that's a it's a trend. Um, all right. The the policy committee met on April 14th. Um, I'll be doing the
report out um in in place of Dr. Lil who couldn't be here tonight. Uh, we have three new policies up for first reading today and one policy in regulation up for second reading. Uh so with that, can I have a motion and a second to bring policy
4421.13 postnatal accommodations and policy 3421.13 postnatal accommodations for teaching staff members and policy 2416.01 postnatal accommodations for students for first reading.
So moved. Second. Great. Um all right. So for policy 4421 and 3421, uh these are new policies to HBRSD. They address the school district's
responsibility to provide reasonable accommodations for staff who are returning to school after the birth of a child and may need to express milk during the school day. The policies state that nursing parents need to be permitted reasonable break times and provided with a private location to
express breast milk. The policy lays out expectations for the lactation room around availability and physical accommodations like a chair, electrical outlet, and running water nearby. It also lays out expectations around compensation during lactation breaks and coordination with the staff member's
supervisor. Policy 4421.13 is specific to support staff whereas policy 3421.13 pertains to teaching staff members. Uh after review of the policies, the policy committee is recommending the language provided by
Strauss Esme with two additions. The committee would like to remove the language indicating the school district will provide these accommodations for one year after the the child's birth. We've added language that the school district will provide these accommodations to nursing parents for as long as the staff member requires them.
Uh and this edit aligns with the current APA guidelines which recommend breastfeeding for two years or beyond. The committee also added language indicating that expressed milk may be stored in the school refrigerator or the staff member's personal cooler. So all
in favor say I. I. I. Any opposed or abstaining. Great. Moving on to policy 2416.01 postnatal accommodations for students. Uh again this is a new policy for HBRSD. This policy addresses the
school district's responsibility to provide reasonable accommodations for students who return to school after the birth of a child and may need to express breast milk during the day. Similar to the previous two policies, the uh this policy lays out expectations around breaks um for breastfeeding as well as
physical accommodations including a lactation room and it also indicates that the student should coordinate with the school nurse and principal around these accommodations. Lastly, the policy makes clear that students should not incur any academic penalties for using these accommodations uh and shall be
provided for shall be provided the opportunity to make up any work missed as a result of them. Um so different from the previous two policies, uh policy 2416 indicates that accommodations should be provided not just for expressing milk but also for breastfeeding if the student desires. Uh
a question was raised as to whether the delivery of the child for breastfeeding should require special approval from the principal upon further review and uh citing a federal regulation. It indicates that and I quote the recipient must ensure that the student can access
a lactation space which must be a space other than a bathroom that is clean, shielded from view, free from intrusion from others and may be used by a student for expressing breast milk or breastfeeding as needed. Therefore, we recommend that the language remains as is. So, can I have a motion and a second
to bring policy and regulation at do them at the end? At the end. Yeah. Okay. All right. So, well, now moving on to second reading. Now moving on to second reading for next month. You done with all the firsts? Yeah. Yeah. Now vote all the first because you Oh, we vote all the firsts.
Okay. Yeah. Okay. Got it. So, is that uh All in favor say I. Yep. I I I I Any oppose or abstaining? Great. Now, um can I have a motion and a second reading to to bring policy and
regulation 2423 bilingual education for second reading? Motion. Second. Great. Um policy and regulation 2423 bilingual education uh lays out the expectations and process by which the
district will identify multilingual learners and provide bilingual education, English as a second language and culturally and linguistic linguistically responsive language instruction educational programs. The policy committee received no comments from the board on this policy and
regulation during first reading. So we can do a roll call vote now. Mr. Peters, yes. Mr. Slottman, hi. Dr. Stilliano, yes. Dr. Wilson,
yes. Dr. Jenny, yes. Mr. Kapadia, yes. Miss Williams Galliano, yes. Motion carries. Wonderful. Thank you all for your committee um reports. Appreciate that. Um, now we are going
to move on to calendars. I know. Don't forget. She's giggling. So I we need a first and second to accept the calendars
for May, April, May. So moved. Second second. Please proceed, sir. What's up? We're ready. All right. Since Alex and Pam are here, we'll let's try to schedule finance facilities offline.
What? You want Okay, we'll do it. Uh, I lost my calendar. He's speaking for them. the 12th, May 12th. Okay. 10 is easy on the uh personnel will be on the 19th at
6:00. Good. Vicki evening. Okay. How about I think you're probably better off 8:30. 8:30 on the 15th. Okay. Um,
Wednesday, May 14th. No, that doesn't work. You can you can meet without me, but that doesn't work for me. Doesn't work. I'm sorry. This later in the morning works. Well, I No, I'm going to be out of out of the country in that day. I can try and get online.
When are you returning? Pardon me. When are you returning? I can't hear you. When are you coming back? Who's your question? When am I Oh, when I'm coming back. Yes. Uh I'm coming back on the 20th. I could 21st would work. Yeah.
I think we're gonna have to meet you. Sure. It's 8:00 on what day? Okay. Drew government. Uh, how does Friday, May 9th work for folks? No.
Okay. 8th through the 12th. What about Okay, we could do in the evening on Oh, you said you're gone on the 12th. Yeah. Like f Does five o'clock on May 12th work? Okay. So, what is it? Uh, five o'clock
May 12th, Monday. Five o'clock May 12th. I'm not going to be here, but I'll try and get on. Okay. All right. I think policies next or last community relations. I don't think it does. Well, what time you saying?
Yeah, I'm doing it after that. Anytime after that I want I'm available after the week of the 12th. What I Yeah, that's
community relations. What did you say? I said no to the 13. Done and done. Okay. All those in favor? All in favor?
I. Any opposed or abstaining? Okay. Well, with that last any new business items. All right. Seeing none, um we will move into our final public comment.
Members of the public are invited to address the board on any matter for a maximum of three minutes during this portion of the meeting. You're asked to take uh state your name, address, and municipality. The in response to your comments, the board of education may respond or direct the superintendent to
do so. The board may also opt to take the matter up at a future meeting so that the matter is researched by the district administration. Public comment is now open. Good evening board members and superintendent trice. I wanted to say
thank you for this board meeting and I was especially pleased hearing all of the committees but especially yours Mr. Capodia and look forward to the conversation on DEI. And I will just say that I find myself in this time of chaos
in the nation coming back to your letter Dr. Trice in February where you affirmed your commitment to really ensuring that every person and family no matter what you look like, no matter how much money you make, no matter what your political
persuasion, who you pray to, what your status is, that you have a place in Hopewell and in this school district. and just gratitude. Um because it's not just the words, it's the actions. And I'm really proud as a gay parent with
two biracial kids um that I made the right choice of coming to this town. So, thank you very much. Oh, could I ask you to share your name? I missed that. I'm sorry. Marjorie Paloma, 143 Lambertville Hopewell Road
in Hopewell Township. Thank you. Thank you. Any other public comments? Seeing none, we will close public comments. Okay. Well, I am going to thank the public for joining us this evening and also for those of you who
came to take the tour. Um, at this time I need a first and second to move into executive session for the board for HIB. Motion second and I need to officially say that this is regarding HIV and no
action will be taken at this time. So I'm sorry we have a first and second. All in favor? Any opposed or abstaining? Thank you again to the community and uh we're moving into executive session.