All right. Good evening everyone. Welcome to a meeting of the Hunter Central High School Board of Education. Please be advised that this and all meetings of the board are open to the public and media consistent with the open public meetings act and that advanced notice required has been
provided. Meeting notice was also posted in the district website in the boardroom on the upper school campus sent to the courier news tap into and sent to the clerks of Delaware township, East Amwell Township, Flemington Burough, Rariton Township and Readington Township. The
public will have the opportunity to be heard as shown on the agenda. Roll call. Mrs. Spitzer. >> Miss Bryce >> here. >> Miss Gong >> here. >> Dr. Halpern >> here. >> Miss Lacosta >> here. >> Sorry. Mrs. Rothell.
>> Mrs. Santangelo >> here. >> Miss Wallace >> here. >> Uh, Reverend Williams >> here. >> And Mrs. Kellogg >> here. >> All rise for the flag salute. 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. >> Miss Gong, would you please read the district mission statement? >> My pleasure.
Hunted and Central is an innovative educational community dedicated to the intellectual, social, and emotional safety and growth of all students. While fostering curiosity and promoting wellness, we aspire to create powerful learning experiences, establish strong
partnerships, and serve as contributing members of society. Thank you. Um, do I have a motion to approve the minutes? and also to correct the record. Um, item six on the agenda is a motion to correct the minutes of
the January 2026 meeting to reflect that organizational item number three, the HIB report um, was passed. So, may I have a a motion to pass items four, five, and six, please? >> There's a motion. Second. Am I doing it
the first time? >> I think. Yeah. >> Sorry. >> You're the first. Is there a second? >> There's a motion. >> Second. Okay, thank you. Um, Mrs. Spitzer, roll call. >> Miss Bryce, >> yes. >> Miss Gong, >> yes. >> Dr. Halpern,
>> yes. >> Miss Laccasta, >> yes. >> Mrs. Rothell, >> oh, I'm so sorry. Goodness, she wasn't here the first time either. Uh, Mrs. Santangelo, >> yes. >> Miss Wallace, >> yes. >> M. Uh, Reverend Williams, >> yes. >> And Mrs. Kellogg, >> yes.
>> Oh, yes. Motion carries. >> Thank you. Can I I'm sorry. Can I just mention one quick thing? I don't think Miss Swalls was in the executive session portion of the minutes. Right. Just to correct that. Yeah. I thank Thank you for the
correction. I think it's it's all one motion. So, I'm I'm not sure how we handle that, but I guess you could abstain from the whole thing or just abstain from the executive session, whichever your preference is. >> I abain. >> Okay. >> From both or
>> uh No, but um I do want to record that we have uh correspondence received that will be on on um file with the board secretary and I do have a president's report for this evening. I'd just like to thank
everyone. I know with the snow on Monday um the structure of this meeting is not exactly what everyone would have hoped for. It is it is again not not the ideal. Um the the approach that we're planning to take is we will be doing the board budget retreat which is intended
to be a highlevel review of the budget to give everyone an understanding of what the priorities and goals are. Um and then we'll be moving into the um the full board meeting. Um I would also like to thank everyone who participated in our strategic
planning session last week. The success of our students is deeply connected to the commitment and engagement of our community and it was inspiring to see nearly a hundred individuals share their insights, perspectives, and hopes for our district. The thoughtful work contributed by our community provides a
strong foundation as we move forward in developing a clear vision and meaningful goals for our future. One message resonated throughout the evening. We want more for our students, not less. That shared commitment guides us towards higher expectations, broader
opportunities, and personalized learning experiences that help every student thrive. As a board, our responsibility is to provide thoughtful oversight while respecting the complexity of the district and the professional expertise required to operate it effectively. When
we focus on clarity, trust, and open communication, we strengthen our ability to support the administration and advance the district's mission. By centering our work on shared goals, we can ensure that our collective energy remains focused on what matters most,
the student success. With the possibility of rising costs now and in the years ahead, we are called to think collectively and collaboratively, exploring solutions that are both innovative and responsible. Collaboration takes courage. It requires
listening with openness, learning from another one another, welcoming ideas that challenge us to grow. I encourage all the board members to build on our shared strengths, bring out the best in one another, and approach differences as
opportunities to refine and strengthen our solutions. While this work is not always easy, solutions shaped through collaboration and diverse perspectives are more durable, inclusive, and responsive to real world challenges. I
invite everyone to enjoy uh to join us for the next strategic planning sessions on Wednesday, March 11th and Tuesday, April 14th. Together, our voices and ideas will help shape strong and promising future for the district.
Also, on a personal note, at the December 15, 2025 meeting, while approving the district's obligations on the monthly bill list, I inadvertently voted to approve check 84349 for 1 15 for Gorman, Danella, and Morlock. In
previous and subsequent meetings, I have abstained from payments related to GDM. I appreciate Mrs. Peterson for bringing this oversight to my attention. I will hand it over to Miss Kangelosi Hay. Thank you, Mrs. Kellogg. Um, I want to
also thank everybody for their flexibility in us moving our action meeting to tonight in combination with this already planned um budget retreat for tonight. And I wanted to follow up on Mrs. Kellogg's comments about strategic planning. Um, I want to sincerely thank you all again, um, as
well as our school community for a productive and inspiring first strategic planning meeting. As Mrs. Kellogg noted, we were pleased to welcome 83 parti uh, participants representing students, staff, board members, parents, community stakeholders. Facilitated by the New
Jersey School Boards Association, the session focused on identifying district strengths and challenges through a collaborative consensus process. Participants worked in small mixed stakeholder groups to share perspectives and then identified common themes across the district. Several clear strengths
emerged, including the strong sense of community, the dedication and expertise of our faculty and staff, the breadth of academic and extracurricular opportunities available to students, and the district's commitment to innovation and student voice. Our facilities,
technology resources, and diverse pathways such as advanced placement, dual enrollment, and career focused programming were also consistently highlighted. Common areas for continued focus included supporting student emotional wellness and belonging,
expanding engagement opportunities for all students, addressing the evolving role of technology and artificial intelligence, managing increasing operational costs, and reviewing structures such as unit lunch, communication practices, and safety
considerations. I thought the session was highly positive and productive, reflecting our strong community engagement and a shared commitment to the district's future. The next session on March 11th, March 11th, excuse me, will focus on developing a
collective vision to guide the strategic planning process moving forward. And it is not too late to RSVP for our March 11th session. I wanted to keep my report brief tonight as we have our budget retreat as well, but please be sure to continue to check our calendar as well as our newsletter and social media about
our upcoming events and our students accomplishments. I'm now going to hand it over to our student representatives Brwin and Alexis to give their report and then they will also have a midyear progress report to share in a formal presentation. >> Good evening everyone. Our names are
Rwan Downey and Alexis Chen and we are your student representatives on this board of education. Tonight we'll be going over student news going into February. We kicked off February strong with the beginning of the second semester for all students. As teachers scrambled to submit final grades, many students
enjoyed new semester elective classes, including public speaking and introduction to the culinary arts. While taking in these new classes, freshman, sophomores, and juniors all selected their classes for the 2026 2027 school year with guidance from their academic counselors and recommendations from
their core class teachers. As for new clubs, interested students were able to explore what Central has to offer and extracurricular activities at our winter activities fair on January 30th during unit lunch. Clubs like our very successful mock trial team who are county filed champions were able to
advertise their initiatives and increase their membership at this fair. On February 17th, Central hosted our first strategic planning meeting, as you've heard, with many brave student attendees choosing to present their group's ideas on Central's strengths and challenges. Any students with ideas about their
classes, clubs, or otherwise are welcome to attend the second strategic planning meeting on the evening of March 11th. Last week, our HCRS counseling team held a virtual college admissions panel on February 19th for students and families preparing to apply for college who
wanted to understand the admissions process with perspectives from far away and local colleges. For students considering supporting their communities through emergency response work, there will be a first response panel for students on March 5th during the school day to get their questions answered. And
while our arts, theater, and music departments will mostly begin kicking up their events and showcases again leading into the spring, I would be remiss if I didn't mention the upcoming spring musical, which is a wonderful town. In the 1953 musical by Westside Story composer Leonard Bernstein, two sisters,
Ruth and Eileen, navigate Love and their respective careers as a writer and actress in New York City. Tickets are available online now and of course are selling out fast for three shows on March 5th, 6th, and 7th at 7 p.m. And local senior citizens can watch the dress rehearsal for free on Wednesday,
March 4th at 3:30 p.m. We encourage you all to support our amazing cast, crew, and pit orchestra as they perform this Broadway caliber comedy musical this March. Our Red Devil athletes have also been very busy as they enter into the home stretch of their regular season and
for many now their um competition season. This month, boys basketball advanced to the championship game on Friday, February 20th, facing against Delaware Valley in the 101 Sussex tournament and the girls advancing all the way to the semifinals where they where they played against Pope John.
Additionally, the girls basketball team have proven particularly successful with senior Bethany Ramos joining the 10,000 point club in their win against North Hunan on February 7th to advance in the Hundred Warren Sussex finals. While the girls did fall to Pope John in the
semi-finals in the tournament, we are wishing them the best of luck as they take on Trenton in the first round of states as we speak. Looking forward, the Shannon Daily Memorial Memorial Foundation will be hosting its 25th annual charity basketball event on March 3rd. Anyone in
interested in seeing the worldrenowned Harlem Wizards compete against their block three algebra teacher are highly encouraged to attend. All proceeds of the event will go to the memorial fund, which assists local families facing financial hardship due due to a child battling a serious
illness. And in even more fun basketball news, Hunton Central's Black Student Union will also be hosting its annual basketball tournament on March 6th, where students and staff can compete in their own fun and competitive environment. And in bowling news, on February 17th, last week, senior Lucas
Reed scored a perfect 300 against Warren Hills, meaning that Lucas rolled seven consecutive strikes in a single game. Lastly, I'd be remiss if I also didn't mention our cheer and dance teams. Earlier this month, our competitive cheer team competed in the UCA National
High School Cheerleading Championship at the ESPN Wide World in Walt Disney. Similarly, HCD also competed in the UDA National Dance Team Championship at the same place where they enjoyed the 70°ree weather and probably some Mickeyshaped waffles.
More recently, our dance teams also competed in the NJCAA state championships where they became varsity jazz state champions, earning first in the division as well as third in varsity hiphop and second in JV Jazz and JB Hiphop.
>> Thank you to all for listening to our report tonight. We hope everyone is staying warm and we're excited to continue sharing the passion students have for Central throughout the rest of the winter. Thank you. You know what I'm going to say, right? It's here. I put a little dash
this so you can It's coming. Okay, good. We did it. Okay, slideshow. You're good. You don't need me here. >> All right. Now, we're going to be giving some updates. This is pretty much what we've been doing as student reps in
school in order to represent student life at Central. >> All right. So, in this update, we're going to be going over the things that we've been doing as student reps in order to outreach with more of the student body so that we can have as many voices represented as possible. We'll
also be going over the two poll surveys that were sent out in November and January and going over um the uh pattern with that as well as our continued goals um the new climate and culture survey that we recently had with a group of students and different survey respondent
discussions. All right. So, we're happy to report that our morning announcement segments have continued into the new into the new year and students are more bored yet than ever before. During a traditional segment, we would introduce a board member. So, we just introduced Miss
Kellogg recently. Um, we would give meeting highlights and then encourage our peers to check out the lamp, which is the student newspaper where we have student writers who will give a full update on the meeting. We're also continuing to update students through emails uh alongside the morning
announcements. So, what these emails entail is that we're sending them out after the board of ed meetings, and they're going to have a link to the live stream, um, a link to the upcoming, um, meeting, um, YouTube link, and then
we're going to have a section where they can first read about what happened at the meeting and then give uh, their response to it, their ideas, their feedback through a feedback form that we've been having. And one thing we really want to emphasize with these emails first and foremost is that that
meetings are open to the public and that includes students and students can also speak in the public comment section at this very podium. I think that's really important because not every student realizes that this is something that is accessible to them. And we want to make sure that board meetings are for all and
not just us too. And I'm extremely happy to report that our respondent counts on our feedback form and have increased by 30% so far this year. Um 30% sounds really good, but this is what we're looking at. Um we're not done with the school year yet, so there is an
improvement. Um maybe we could get to 50, but you know, this is 2% of the student body. Um so we want to keep improving that. And the work that we've been doing so far to do so besides just telling people to fill out the form in our email is actually having the
respondents who choose to share their name. So it can be anonymous if they wish, but if they do share their name, we're now including them in our student lunches. Um, and that will include uh student council and class council representatives as well. So now they're in this group, they can share their ideas and hopefully doing so uh if their
friends ask about it, they can say, "Oh, I did this for them and now administration is listening to my ideas." It's really cool. Forgot we added that. All right. And then at these actual lunch meetings, we've now had three meetings with these
feedback form responders. And now we're having them give us inperson feedback, which has been really cool. So at our first meeting, which was December 18th, all the way back last year, we discussed the most pressing topics that they brought up pretty much in their responses, and we came up with a few
ideas. Um, spec specifically talking about bathrooms, of course. Um, we talked about having perhaps a simplified map um, in every classroom to show where the nearest bathroom is, like you would have with like the fire exits um, during a fire drill. Another idea we had was to
have Mr. Brandt go on the announcements and share what bathrooms are now open during unit lunch. And we're also going to have him be on the morning announcements as well, so you get the audio and you get the visual as well. At our second meeting, we went through the proposed second poll survey whose
results we will go through in the next couple slides. And then we made some changes to the questions. So, first we wanted to ask how many students received cross-campus passes, what proportion did and then from that proportion who do have cross-campus passes. Um, we wanted
to see are they able to still get to class on time? Um, is that working out for them? And then also another system that we've been kind of asking about is the phone policy that students would prefer. So this would be a multiple choice question. Of course there's an other option, but it would be like
putting phones away in backpacks or having teachers take the phones or putting them in the back of the class, that kind of thing. And I know that'll be super important going into next year with the new state law about phones. And then finally, we invited them to come to our February 5th student lunch meeting.
This was going to be a big group. We had an extended lunch. So we started during block two, ended during block three. And then at this meeting, we looked at the different different aspects of the climate and culture survey. All the sections, each group did a section, talked about what they wanted to keep,
remove or edit. We had a lot of edits, a lot of cool ideas from the students, which we'll share later on. And then we're going to keep going with the pulse survey changes that we saw with the second one. >> All right. So, as Brahman mentioned before, back in November, we sent out a
first poll survey. And the goal with this was instead of just having like one giant climate and culture survey once during the year, we would have multiple small ones throughout the year so that we could see any like change or continuities that were happening and then also so that we could actively provide feedback throughout the year and
make those changes. So for the first SER survey that we sent out in November asking about cross-campus passes, uh we can see that about 36.7% of people somewhat agreed and then about 26% of people strongly agreed that they had enough time to go from block 2 to 4.
But then when we had discussions with uh students during these student lunches, we kind of realized that a lot of these people aren't even don't even have cross-campus passes. And so we didn't know if that number was gonna was over representing like the people that like are going from like the 300s to like the
100s, right? So we wanted to add a condition on that. So as Bronwin mentioned, if you can see here for the second um poll survey question, there's only 89 responses. And the reason because of that is as she said is we added the condition of if you selected
yes to having a cross-campus pass now, do you have enough time? And so we can see with this, it's still pretty similar, but there is a bit of a jump in people that mentioned that they had enough time to pass between block two and four um which is a really great um
start. And then the next question that we touched upon was student activities. So this question was there are enough opportunities for someone to get involved in student life beyond my classes, clubs such as clubs, athletic activities, etc. And so here we can see
a bit of a jump and we're very satisfied that overwhelmingly most students strongly agree or somewhat agree that there are enough activities to participate in central. But I would also like to note that if we can see here in our first poll survey we had 439
responses and in our second one we only had 225. So, just for a little bit of context, one of the reasons that there might be this significant drop is because the people that are filling out the first
poll survey may be less um or the people that are filling out the second one are more engaged and they're more likely to respond to another one in addition to the first one. And so because you kind of have that like have less of representation of the entire student
population, you're not it we may have an over representation of like students that are really engaged. So that could explain our slight increase. Um maybe in statistics we can calculate the statistical significance of the 4.9 increase. Um but overall this is what we
have. And then what we also talked about in our student lunch discussions um was that a lot of people mentioned that Uh the reason that they feel like some people may not get as involved is because of like the is because of time commitment. So one thing that they
mentioned is um adding like potential tags to the club list by by noting like how much of a commitment it is. Um because one thing that our student leaders talked about was because when they were trying to like recruit for other students, a lot of them mentioned that like they they didn't feel like
they had the time commitment for their club. And so just mentioning that either some clubs are less um time commitment than others can help to increase our engagement. Okay. So bathroom locations. So again this was one of the biggest um issues
that students talked about during our lunch meetings and this was one of the ones that was consistently brought up in the uh survey response or in the survey that Braman talked about previously. So we can see here again in the first uh
survey that about 42% of people somewhat agree and then about 30% strongly agree that it's not difficult to find a lavatory and then we can see we have about a 7.9% increase um with the second survey. So this also could be as a
result of people simply becoming more familiar with the school as the school year has come on um as well as the initiatives that we're doing like having Mr. rant over the morning announcements. Okay. And so now l lab lavatory availability during unit lunch.
Similarly, we can see a slight increase in here um with people being able to find it. And we wanted to specifically ask about unit lunch since um that was a time when people were less structured and so it might be harder for them to know what bathrooms were available. One
thing that was brought up was um during lunchtime when we have bathrooms open, we need like staff obviously to man the bathrooms to make sure that people are like doing what they're supposed to and whatnot. Um but one thing that Mr. Bram brought up was maybe having like Mr.
Brandt stand in front of the bathrooms was a little intimidating for like the underassman. So, we mentioned u potentially uh changing some things about that in order to make sure the underclassman feel comfortable going to the bathroom and that they're not going to be like
criminalized for going. Okay. And lunch food options. So, similarly with this one, we added an extra option for people that don't buy food lunch since we didn't have that with the first one. Um, so it looks like
a big jump for the for the somewhat agree category, but as you can see, we we added an option that says not applicable to me, which is why you see that over um or about a quarter of students don't even buy food lunch, which is why we kind of see this uh discrepancy. But amongst students that
do buy lunch, about 77% agree that there are good food options, which is awesome to hear. And moving on to block style learning. So um with this one we see about a 5.7%age increase in students that um say that
block style learning is good for them. Again the statistical significance of this we would have to calculate but um it is it's it's keeping about the same and we see that a majority of students are satisfied with the block style um
learning uh structure. But one of the things that we talked about in our student lunches was that a lot of students brought up the concern that for some classes like their higher level like math or STEM classes are running like right up to the bell and that and
sometimes it is harder to kind of um pay attention. But then for other classes like uh lighter electives that they found that teachers are often like struggling to fill the time and it kind of just feels like a waste. Um, and so one of the things we also talked about
was for these longer blocks, having purposeful brain breaks and making sure that teachers are implementing those, especially with these long block styles. Um, but one student also brought up that this was really important because these 82 minutes are often reflective
reflective of what college lectures would be like. And so that would help prepare students for um, higher education after central. All right, I'm almost done. I promise. So, moving on to the new climate and culture survey that Braman talked about
with the um extended meeting. Um so, what we did with this was we took all the questions from last year's climate and culture survey and then broke them down by district goals. And so, as Bronin mentioned, we broke off students into different groups based on these different goals. And each of them looked
at questions from those uh subsequent goals and just kind of um gave feedback on whether they thought that the questions were either clear or whether they felt like the question should even be asked or whether they they felt like the question should be changed for any
other reasons. Um so this was really successful. So um we were able to kind of get a lot of feedback about the questions and so so for example some of the things that we changed were um some things with just clarity um but other
things we also added were um additional questions like follow-ups like if there was a question that could be u broadly interpreted we might have added like a subsequent question to be like okay if you said blank to this what about this right sort of like what we did with the
uh whole survey. Um, we also rewarded to make sure that we were actually getting the response that we wanted from the from the student from the question and then also just things with specific that word specificity. Um, and making
sure again that students are understanding what we're trying to ask of them. >> Hey, look, we made it to the last slide. All right, last one, I promise. So, these are our continuing goals for the rest of the school year. Um once we get back to above freezing temperature- wise
on the 10 central campus, uh we will be once again venturing out into the freshman sophomore building. And we what we do at uh these check-ins when we start them up again in the spring is we go around to lunch groups of underassmen, so not just in the
cafeterias, we'll go through the hallways as well where people sit and we ask them, if you could change one thing about Central, what would it be? And this has been a great question because it's simple. Most people have something that pops right into their brain and we end up getting every grade's perspective
really because their responses will inform what our student lunches are about and what our reports are on. So then we can get everything from juniors and seniors as well and all input from the student body. And then of course we want to represent Central to the best of
our ability. Obviously, Alexis and I are continuing to do so in our reports. I think we're hopefully staying updated with all the sports news. Um, considering we're not athletes ourselves at Central, we definitely are focusing on making sure that we're getting news
from our friends, um, and news from the student Instagram, for example, and making sure that we can represent everyone in our reports and in our slides and all of that. So, thank you guys. Does anyone have any questions? That's what I like to hear.
Thank you. >> Thank you so much, Alexis and Bronnwin. Um, you could the collective pride that I think this room felt was incredible, but no one more than the AP research and seminar teacher sitting over there. I could see it on their faces. And you
know, you referenced the February 5th meeting where we where we really dug into the climate and culture survey and I told them and I want to tell you all that was the best meeting I attended um maybe ever. It was so powerful to hear the students our students are so smart
and so talented and bright in the way they think about things. Um it was just it's something I will never forget and you two led that and I it was it was amazing. So thank you for that. Um, okay. Switching to back to the agenda. I just wanted to make sure you all know we
have three organizational items tonight. Um, first we have the revision of our current school year calendar due to the use of an emergency closing day this past Monday. Um, as well as the one that we used in January. I do want to note that this was the second of two
emergency closing days this past Monday. Um, those are the two that were built into our school calendar. And if we need to use any additional emergency closing days, we will have to take away time from spring break. So, knock on wood and do whatever we have to do so we don't have to go into that. Um, you will also
see approval for a law enforcement unit. This is a term used as part of our memorandum of agreement with our local law enforcement. It does not mean that we are forming our own recognized law enforcement group at Hunter Central. We are continuing to partner with the Ryan Township Police Department and we also
have our own security staff members here. And lastly, you will see the Hibb and suspension report on the agenda. The HIP cases you are voting on tonight were presented in the January executive session. Um, so that concludes my report tonight and I will pass it back over to you, Mrs. Kellogg.
>> Uh, before we go there, I just want to make a correction because I'm confused now. Um, on Mrs. Santangelo's correction of our approval for executive session. That was January's executive session, not February's executive session. Am I
correct? So, I think you were there. >> No, you were not there for either one. >> No, I wasn't there. >> Okay. >> All right. Got it. Then you were not there. My apologies. >> Thank you for clarifying.
>> You were All right. So, um I guess moving into our residence forum. And again, I'd like to think they're on the agenda after the budget retreat. No, no, no. It It's okay. We're we're
definitely I think we can use all the help we can get tonight. So, I I really do appreciate um everybody. Yes. it it well it it so um moving into the residence forum. The intention of I because this is a hybrid meeting and we have two different residence forums. Um
the intention of this one is to be for action items that are on the agenda following the budget retreat. But if there are um I I would certainly ask for a motion from the board to expand public comment to include the budget retreat as well. Uh it was pointed out that that
isn't technically an action item, but the intention really is to have um this public comment folks be able to ask questions that are going to be covered in the budget retreat. So I guess I move to add the budget retreat to the first
uh public comment. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Okay. All in favor? >> Yes. >> I >> Okay. Any opposed? Okay. So on that note, um is there anyone that would like to rise and and have public comment? You'll be
recognized to speak for five minutes. This is on any topics associated with the budget retreat or on action items. There will be a second um public forum after the the meeting for items that are not on the agenda.
gonna please sign in and say your name and where you're from. >> Oh, and we're waiting on a timer. >> No, I have it. >> Oh, you have it. Okay, >> thank Mrs. Peterson. I'm sorry. Can you see the the screen? >> I don't know if you can see that.
>> Um, I can see it. I I'll raise my hand while >> I will probably not go the full time, but you know, thank you. >> Thank you. >> Um I wanted to Rebecca Peterson, Meritton Township. >> Um I wanted Is this on? I don't know. Can you hear me? >> Yes. Thank you. I guess them.
>> Um I wanted to talk about a couple of the policy and regulation that are on the agenda for first read tonight. Um, I'm first looking at the uh professional services policy and I'm wondering why it's not a redline version. Um, this is
uh not a red line from our current version and I don't understand why that would be different than every other update that's ever been done. Um, this doesn't show what you're trying to change. And it's ironic because a lot of
the members of the policy committee um raged against what they called lack of transparency last year. But ironically, by failing to redline this policy, you are removing transparency about the fact that you're removing transparency. You have not redlined in a way to show
that you are taking out that the board shall adopt by resolution the uh final before the final budget the uh maximum amount for each service. That's just a public notice issue that allows the
public to be aware of what you what the board is doing. And so I'm not understanding why a you would remove transparency from a policy uh by law, but actually uh why you're hiding the fact that you're planning on hiding things. So uh that's the first one. The
other one which is also not a redline version which is also um these are the two I think that are probably not Strauss Esme given what their website says but this is regulation 5530 which is the substance abuse regulation not a red line not
transparent but it is a big change these are significant changes that are actually a good thing because the current substance abuse regulation is a legal time bomb. Um, this hadn't come up before the board in the last few years,
but uh, the changes are for the most part good, but there's still a lot in here that is an overstep of the, uh, school district's really any legal authority. Um, starting off with the definition of
policy violation. Most policies don't need a definition of what is a violation. that in itself you're you're expanding it beyond what is actually in this policy and calling it a violation which is a problem. Um you have a couple of situations in here where uh if there's a positive diagnosis from the
physician examining examination diagnosing chemical use. I'm assuming you're talking about an examination of a student sent out on an emergency clearance and if that is the if that is the reason then that is more supportable. But if you're talking about any examination
finding, um if you're talking about, you know, random drug testing or any other um policy uh situation that would lead to a examination, that would be beyond the school's authority to call that a policy violation because you don't necessarily know when that substance use
occurred. It has to be substance use that is during school time, on school grounds, during act activities, after school, things like that. Um, same thing with the results of a drug, a chemical screen. If it's a chemical screen, like in the random drug testing, um, that doesn't show that the student was under
the influence at the time here in school, and that's a problem to, um, call that a violation of the substance abuse policy. Um, the discipline is really though where there's a lot of problems. Um, I'm going to hope that the part two of the first offense, including
recommendations for preventative support from student coordinator, I'm assuming that's going to be in school support because the school doesn't have the authority uh, barring very narrow circumstances to send any students out for required outside counseling and support. Um there are very strict steps
they have to take in order to get to a point where they can refer and expect requirement for that referral to be outside of school. Um and that's a long, you know, that's a long path that has to get there. Um in the second uh offense,
uh you've got a black line requirement in here to get a certified alcohol and drug counselor evaluation. There's no basis for that in the law. If you're talking about a medical clearance for a uh belief that a student is under the influence, then that is the kind of
clearance you can do. There is a process where the uh SACE can maybe find do an investigation and find that a student is needed does need further evaluation and can recommend that they go out to a evaluation. But that is not a uh that's
again another long process that can't just be part of a black line um policy and regulation. That can't be just part of discipline. And uh so uh the compulsory education act and this is the last thing I see my time is up. Um
that's for medical clearance. Again, this is conflating the the CADC with the medical clearance. And so there's a whole lot in here that I'm recommending you get reviewed by an attorney. Thank you. Is there anyone else? >> If not, I'm gonna ask Miss Rothell who
won the basketball game and then we'll go into the >> tell by your face. >> That's Woohoo. That's awesome. And the next game is >> Oh, after wrestling. >> Okay.
>> Well, it's a good problem to have, I think. >> All right. So, >> awesome, >> Miss Cantaliz. I'll turn it over to you and your you and your team. Chuck, you're going to do it again. Windows. Okay.
It's just a little slow. We got it. Oh, look at that pin. That's our year. That's so fun. >> I was going to say that was where the 202 strange. Okay, we're good. >> Okay,
>> can is this microphone on? And can people hear me? Okay, thank you. Um, okay. Good evening and thank you for this opportunity to begin our budget retreat discussion. Um, tonight's budget retreat is intended to provide a
high-level overview of the budget development process, major cost drivers, revenue assumptions, and how the proposed financial analysis um, excuse me, propos financial plan aligns with district goals. I know there has been some confusion, and I would like to
publicly clarify this is not our preliminary budget presentation. Um, as we do not yet have our state aid numbers, we do not yet have our preliminary budget completed. However, as you know from our budget calendar, we have been in the process of developing
the 2026 2027 budget for a few months now. So, as we open the conversation on the budget retreat, I want to ground our work in both fiscal reality and our educational purpose. The development of the 2026 2027 budget is aligned with the
New Jersey administrative code. all applicable mandates of the New Jersey Department of Education and the statutory framework established by the state of New Jersey. At the same time, our work is local. Coming off the first strategic planning session, I can say that it reflects it reflects the
strengths of our district community as well as the challenges identified through our first strategic planning session. Across New Jersey, um, school districts are operating in a period of sustained structural fiscal pressure. We are experiencing this locally as you all
are as well through rising health benefit costs, continued growth in special education services, transportation costs, and in inflationary impacts on operations and facilities. These recurring cost drivers are increasing at a pace that exceeds
recurring revenue growth, requiring discipline planning and clear prioritization. So while we face financial constraints, we also have strong foundational assets to build upon. So remember the strengths that I had just mentioned in my report.
They include strong academic programming and high levels of student achievement, broad extracurricular and co-curricular opportunities that support our whole student, dedicated and highly skilled staff, strong community support and pride in the district. And at the same
time, our stakeholders identified several key challenges, including increasing and evolving student mental health needs, scheduling and course access pressures as student interests expand, communication consistency across stakeholder groups, aging facility needs
and long-range infrastructure planning, continued alignment of resources to emergent student needs. So these themes directly inform the budget objectives guiding our work. So listed here and also on the agenda on
item J5 for your viewing pleasure because it's a little more detailed. Our are our budget objectives for FY2027. So our first objective is on educational program. It's to sustain a comprehensive
and innovative educational program that advances student achievement and post-secary readiness. at Hunter and Central. This includes continuing to support expanded pathways in focused areas of passion and dual enrollment opportunities. This includes our magnet
programs, our expansion of our AP course offerings. This also includes ensuring our program of studies is robust and diverse so they are courses where each student can thrive and succeed. We want to continue to support ongoing curriculum alignment and instructional
innovation as well as resources that support literacy, mathematics, and evolving instructional technologies that aligns directly with our stakeholder feedback highlighting the importance of maintaining strong academic programming while continuing to evolve opportunities
for students. Next is student access and opportunity. This focuses on ensuring that every student can access the opportunities aligned to their aspirations. Examples that are already underway include continued investment in school
climate and culture initiatives. And you just heard from our student representatives, which is a a perfect example, expansion of our inclusive practices and supports. And you all have seen some of that through our work and presentations on the multi-tered system of supports or MTSS as you sometimes
hear it, and strengthening student voice, something clearly emphasized during the strategic planning session. Um stakeholders also noted the importance of belonging and access particularly as our student interests diversify. Next in budget objectives is staff
capacity. We saw this as a consistent theme from our strategic planning sessions and we also identified it as an important piece of our budget process. The strength of our staff and the importance of sustaining that capacity. So budget planning in this area includes
strategic staffing to maintain program quality, professional development aligned to instructional priorities and student needs, careful management of contractual and statutory cost drivers, staff capacity includes strategic
decisions about hiring new staff. For instance, due to our large increase in dual enrollment course offerings, we know that in some areas we need to hire teachers who have master's degrees in their fields so that they can be approved as adjunct professors at our
partner colleges. But as we know, staff represent both our greatest asset and our most significant recurring investment. So this is a worthwhile investment. We also have facilities and long range planning. uh facilities is something our
board and district have been focused on and it also emerg as a clear theme in strategic planning. While our campus continues to provide outstanding learning environments, we are seeing increasing maintenance and infrastructure needs that require proactive planning to avoid larger
future costs. So, some examples include ongoing HVAC and building systems maintenance, and you've seen that on our long-range facilities plan. Um security and safety upgrades, which we have been doing each year. and then multi-year capital planning to reduce deferred
maintenance risk. So, as you know, we have approved a revision to our five-year long-range facilities plan as well as upcoming capital projects. And thank you all for your support in that. Some of these projects like the TED lab and class renovations work in tandem
with our objective on innovation, innovative, excuse me, innovative educational programming. This facilities and long range planning objective reflects both fiscal responsibility and community expectations for safe modern learning environments.
And finally, fiscal responsibility and structural sustainability. All of this work must occur within a disciplined fiscal framework. So, our approach for the 2026 2027 budget includes preserving structural balance, limiting reliance on one-time revenues,
conducting multi-year projections, which you'll some of which you'll see tonight, and implementing continued expenditure review and cost containment strategies. This is particularly important given the structural pressures affecting districts statewide. And I wanted to now pass it over to Mrs. Heather Spitzer, our
business administrator, to talk more about the fiscal climate and landscape. Thank you. I think one of the first things I want to talk about is um why New Jersey is in the position that
it's in. It's not 100 Central. It's not Montlair. It's not any particular school district. Um but it's a a a position based on the climate of the state of New Jersey. Um, school districts right now are operating in one of the most
fiscally um con constrained fiscal environments that we've seen in a very, very long time. And it's been building. This didn't happen last year. It's been happening over the last 10 years. Um, the revenue structure is broken in New Jersey. I mean, I know you've all heard about, you know, state aid has declined.
They're not funding school districts. They're not funding the formula. They changed the formula. Nobody really knows how the formula works. uh we just wait for our state aid numbers and really hope for the best. So what that does is that puts the pressure on the taxpayer. Um that's not where any of us want to
be, but that's unfortunately where where we are. Um we have um limited uh tax levy uh mobility, if you will. Um the the law says that we need we cannot exceed a 2% cap. Um there are some tools
that we can use to exceed that cap, but you need to be really mindful of how you use them and when you use them and um what they're actually supporting. And the best way to do it is is is long term. Um so specifically in New Jersey
with the broken revenue structure and the expanding costs, um it's not even really possible to to balance a budget. Um if you look at at currently most uh the biggest cost in our our our budget
is 70 to 75% of total uh budgets are are salaries and benefits that's not just 100 central that's probably about what most of the school districts are comparably you know ours is a bigger budget so it's a bigger number a smaller school district's probably still the same percentage but it's a smaller
number um and this year and those are mandated those are mandated contraction actually there's contractual growth that's automatically built into that based on what's um uh agreed to when we go through the negotiation process. You hear a lot this year. Um I mean I I
we've been lucky here over the last five years or so. Um but health benefits have also been extremely um have had a very ex extremely sorry. What do I do? Just hit enter. >> Huh? Just hit enter. I hit the arrow. >> Arrow. Okay. Arrow. Sorry. I'm ready
now. Um, I'm winging it. Sorry. >> Nice looking slide. >> I got it. I can't see it, so I'll just I'll take your word for it. Um, health benefits have been increasing uh exponentially year-over-year over year. Um, in 2021, we did make a change uh and
and uh went to a school health insurance fund, which is more of a a pulled resource. At the time that we did that, we we actually saved 9% year-over-year on all of our rates. That was in 2021. However, it's catching up. So, year-over-year
begins. We've we've been we've been um pretty strong in that area. This is our first double-digit increase in the last 5 years. Um and it's approximately 18.6% which is about $2.6 million to our budget. So, we'll talk more specifically
about about where we are in our our stable year or our sustained year, which is where we are. we've got a balanced budget today and how it's going to look going forward over the next five years. Um, one of the reasons another reason New Jersey is in this pickle is because um, as funding was decreasing, right,
people you can only do so much at the local level to cut expenses. You can only cut so many pencils and the the discretionary things, right? So, what happened is the state since the COVID era, uh, the state has been giving us temporary funding. So what that has done
is is uh districts have had to use that temporary funding to basically run their schools with permanent expenditures. So that's one of those things that's that helped uh to cause this problem. Also during the pandemic the state of New Jersey allowed us to increase our
surplus um from 2% or four to 4% which is basically allowed us to double it what we were allowed to keep for rainy day or anything that might happen. But that was only good for a certain number of years and then they took it all back at one fell swoop if you didn't plan for it. So that was something. So if you
were a school district that were really struggling with your revenue streams, you took advantage of anything you possibly could. All of these things now are gone. So what's happening is people are sitting with this 2% cap and we don't have any other way to
manage it. So it's something that you've probably heard and I'll talk more about it. It's it's basically a fiscal cliff. I'll talk more about what that means, what that's meant to school districts in New Jersey, what that's meant to Hunton Central, and how we've been able to be successful, and what we might be looking
for in the future, and how we can manage it long term. Okay. So, what's a fiscal cliff? Basically, what happens is you're taking temporary revenues to support recurring costs. So what happens when the temporary
revenue goes away and your recurring costs don't? You've got to find a place to put those recurring costs or you have to eliminate them. Okay, which is very hard to do because all of those other revenue streams have also disappeared. Um
so what it does is it um it's it's by all of those things going away, we're expanding our our our gap between our revenue and our expenditures every year. If our revenues are only going up 2% and our expenditures are going up four, five or even higher percent, you've got a
wider gap and that's causing a a a big issue right now in the state of New Jersey. So between the allowable revenue growth and the recurring expend uh expenditure growth, the gaps are widening. This isn't a sudden collapse. This isn't a surprise. We've seen it
coming for a long time. Um this didn't happen overnight. It's just not getting a correction that it needs and we need help from the state of New Jersey. This isn't something that can happen at the local level. Um, we've been able to predict it. State aid's been going down
for the last 10 years. Um, temporary revenues, we we enjoyed them for a short period of time, but now they're gone. And the surplus increase, as I've discussed, has expired. So, we're we're we're right now in an okay place in
fiscal year uh 26, which is the the budget year we're living in. But these are all things that are really taking a toll um on where we're going in the future. So Hunton Central has done a really good job managing the
fiscal cliff for a lot of reasons because we had a lot of resources in place long term that allowed us to kind of get over some of these humps. Um but we're now climbing the cliff. We are at a point in our budgetary process where
we are climbing climbing the cliff. Some of the things that we were able to do um because we had the financial resources already built into long-term budget planning is we didn't supplant any permanent expenditures by using temporary revenue.
um we didn't um we used our money for uh piloting programs um and using doing short-term or doing um projects that were structural one-time projects. So, what that did for
us is it allowed us to kind of continue to go along even though that funding went away. So the funding that we did have available to us, we used and we used well we put in um specifically we
we piloted PSAT uh PAT PSAT testing for grades 9 through 11. Um we've put in linked it data warehousing intervention platforms behavioral health expansions and programs evaluated and intent. So what we did is once we put those
programs piloted them and we evaluated them and they were successful there were others that we didn't necessarily roll forward with but these were some of the programs that were had a lot of value added we rolled them into the budget in a year that we were able to absorb them they are still in the budget they have
not been cut from any budget and this was in 2223 I believe some of the non-recurring expenditures that we were able to do were we updated our pneumatic heating system so that was a onceanddone expenditure that helped with our overall
um heating environment and HVAC system. We implemented a an HR program for it's called Frontline Central that helped to to streamline uh some sources. HR payroll and accounting uh programs were modernized. We went actually uh online which was a beautiful thing and we
focused on operational efficiencies. So this money was either used for a pilot that we either did or didn't do. if it was a successful pilot, it has been rolled into our our budget and those were the things that we rolled into our budget and we are still using today or
we used one-time costs um to do structural improvements or other improvements in the building. What that did for us is when it went away it was okay because we had already planned on what we were going to do going forward. So, it didn't hurt us as much. One of the other things we did, remember I told
you we could keep 2%. We could keep an additional 2%. I said, "No, thank you." Um my auditor said, "Why don't you want to keep it?" I didn't need to keep it. So, I didn't have that extra cliff. Um we were okay with where we were from a sur uh surplus perspective and what we
had in reserves that I didn't have a financial or cash flow problem. So, that saved us an additional uh cliff, if you will, having to give back 2% in one year. So, I'm going to kind of show you
taking our fiscal year 26 and kind of forecasting and rolling out. I'm going to use specifically health benefits and salaries because that's the biggest piece of our our budget. There's a lot more that go to it, but you'll see how um impactful this looks as we go forward
if we just do the 2% increase year-over-year. So, our baseline budget, what I also did here is I took out the capital projects and capital improvements because they're not funded through they're funded through a different revenue stream. That's our capital reserves or our maintenance reserves. So, I took them
out. So, this is our operating budget basic um for fiscal year 2526, the budget we're living in right now. Of that budget, 61.2 million is raised by taxpayer dollars. That's about 85% of
the total budget. That's not unusual in the state of New Jersey, sadly. Um, and of that number, of the total budget, 7671.6 million, 52.9 million or 73.9%
is salaries and benefits for staff. It's not just the teachers, it's all staff. Okay? So, just to give you a, you know, a quick overview, we don't have a lot of money to to work with. That's just staffing. And that doesn't count special
ed or transportation or all of the other mandatory things we're required to do by law. That's just staffing. So you can see already we have a problem. So what what I did is I did a a forecast um of the salaries for fiscal year uh 26
and the benefits and a total. Okay. So by looking at this the salaries are increasing by contractual obligation and step movement either down the guide or across the guide. >> Can I ask one quick question? >> Sure. >> This was based on current standing. No
leavings coming. >> No, I just I did a a flash of where we are right now. Yes, there's no changes. This is no changes. Um the health benefits are modeled after where we are today and increased in your fiscal year 27 uh by 18.6. 6%. And then
I for I continue to forecast it at 15%. Is that aggressive? Maybe. I have a funny feeling it's not. So it it could be worse than this. Right now given our current situation in our past history, um we're hopeful that
it'll it'll catch up a little bit kind of kind of but maybe that's just me being optimistic. So what you see here is the total growth just in personnel expenditures, salaries and benefits is an increase of 7.8 million or 17.8 million over the next 5
years. Okay, that doesn't include any adding any staff right now. That's just a flash of where we are right now. The next one shows our tax levy increase by just increasing
it to cap. So, what this is doing is it's saying, okay, our fiscal year 27 or I'm sorry, fiscical year 26 tax levy is 61.19 million. Okay, increasing at 2% each year. Um, total over the next 5
years, it's going up 6.37 million. So, you could see we already have a problem, right? Our our our salaries and benefits are going up 17.8 million. Thank you. and our cap growth is going up $6.37
million. There's a problem, right? What this is called, this is a structural compression of our budget. This isn't something that that um there are some things we can do that we've been successful for with in the past. Um, and
I'll talk about those, but when you see the the extreme difference, um, you'll realize that we can't just do it with with minor efficiencies. Okay? Clearly, there's a misalignment between our revenue growth and what we're allowed to increase and our cost
growth that we're obligated to contractually. And again, this is just one piece of our cost cost side. This is this this is a very interesting slide and and as we were putting this together I was kind of like wow. Um what you see in the bottom on the bars
the dark blue is the salaries the light blue is the the benefits. So the total bar is the whole personnel cost that we just talked about and what the yellow line represents is our tax levy. So, as you can see, there's in in
fiscal year 26, there's there's a little tiny difference between our and and we talked about that. We talked about 73% of our our budget being aligned and it's 85% or actually it's higher than the tax levy. But look what happens by the time we get in year four and year five.
Our our personnel costs exceed our tax levy. This graph shows you specifically what gaps are being created year-over-year. So what the first fiscal year 27 says is if we go back to the two grid slides
that I showed, health benefit or the the benefits and salary costs are increasing $3.5 million where the 2% cap is only increasing $1.223 223 million, giving us an automatic gap of $2.348 million. That's
just in year one. As you continue to go down fiscal year 28, our our our salaries and benefits are increasing 3 another $3.5 million. Our our cap is only going up 1.28. So that's creating a a gap of 2.25 million
or 2.56 million. Cumulative gap is $4.6 million. And you can see how this is going. And this is representing the total um gap of the 11.4 million that we have between the three and the 17. Okay,
this is the the framework we work within in the state of New Jersey from a funding and a revenue perspective. Now, there are other things and we'll talk about that a little later, how we've been successful here, but how also those some of those tools that we've had available to us are starting to expire and exhaust. We're running out of our
batteries, actually. So, the law states we can only increase our tax levy 2%. That law went into effect when we moved our elections to November. Um, there are two uh system
pieces in place that we would be eligible for. There are others, but these are two that would um possibly work in and for us that we could use. The first one is a health benefit adjustment. And what the definition of that is is it takes our prior year. So
we're working in 56. We're we're doing a 67 budget. It takes what our actual expenditures are in 56. It inflates it 2%. And anything over the 2% to where we actually are, they give back to us in a health benefit adjustment. What that
means is you can use that to support your budget, but we can't do that. And we'll talk about that too. The other thing that we have is called a bank cap. And what bank cap is and and if you've heard me speak before I I talk about this often. Bank cap is comes into
play if you do not budget in any particular year up to your 2%. So I think in 23 24 um we budgeted 1.75%. So I have $115,000 in bank cap that I have three years to
use. So theoretically that could also it that could cause me to go over the 2% by that amount of money. Okay. But there's tricks to this. What the state of New Jersey says, the law says that I have to use my health benefit adjustment first.
I can't use my bank cap that's about to expire because I have all this health benefit adjustment. The reason for that is that's a temporary fixed based on something that happened specifically in that current year budget. So we could take any portion of that
um and if what if we don't the balance will then roll to bank cap and will behave like bank cap going forward. So those are some of the tools that we have available to us and what that would do. >> Yes. >> Sorry just so I'm clear when you say like the health benefit the HBA that's
not money we get from the state. >> No >> that's it's added to the 2% >> increase our cap. It's it's a it's a cap levy adjustment there. Other ones are like for enrollment which we wouldn't qualify. There are specific ones within
the code that we're allowed um to take and it's calculated through the budget software. Enrollment we wouldn't qualify for because we do have some declining enrollment. Um this is another one. Um I don't remember all of them off the top of my head because they don't really apply and actually they haven't applied
to us because we have not been our our rates have been really um low and reasonable since we went to this the the shift. Um last year was the very first time we generated cap and we went up 9.2%. It created a health benefit uh
adjustment of $173,000. It could have been 75. And um but since we didn't use it, it's now part of bank cap. So what this means is when you used bank cap or a health benefit adjustment,
it increases your base. So if you have a 60 million tax levy and we and I'm just going to make up a number, please. It's just it's just a number because I can't do math very well in my head. Um and I want to So I have a $60 million budget and I I have a 1.2 I don't know $1.2 $2
million 2% cap and I want to I want to put in an extra half a million dollars. Okay, I that extra half a million dollars if I go over the 2% in the current year that gives me a new base to calculate the 2% on going forward.
So one of the ways to look at this and one of the things to to think about as as we look we look at these things I went back in in the last I went back to 1516 we used bank cap three times every other time we've budgeted to 2% and um
two years we budgeted to 1.75 and 1.8 So, we've we we've been very cautious with what we've done here. Um, but we we have left some some money on the table, which hurts you long term. And again, when we're talking about that fiscal cliff, if you're not building your base,
right, that 2% doesn't accelerate as fast. And what you want to look at, too, is it's a lot easier if you do it over time rather than saying, "Oh my gosh, I've got a $5 million hole. I've got a, you know, a $6 million health benefit.
Let's just take it all. We shouldn't do that. We should plan it over the next five years for when we need it based on revenue streams we have available to us. We we are not there yet in our budget because we don't have state aid numbers.
And um that's going to kind of give us an idea of of of where we're going to be. We don't have all of our our counts. So, we're still looking on the expense size and the revenue side, but this is how you you you I don't want to say this is how you combat that fiscal cliff. It
slows it down. It slows it down. Sorry, I talked too much on that one. I I I really just explained this. So, basically, you're required to take the health benefit adjustment first. Um, so what you want to do is you want to take a look at and be disciplined in how you're using that. We do that very well
here. Um we try really hard to manage it um structurally on the inside. Um with declining enrollment, we've been successful in not replacing retired positions. Um so we've taken taken advantage of some efficiencies there. Um we because we have a strong capital
reserve fund. Um we don't have a debt service. So you don't have a debt service or or any referendum. I don't see us going out to referendum anytime soon because we have a very strong reserve. What does that reserve do? It gives us a really strong uh savings account, if you will. The interest rates are are relatively high now. So, we've
been able to fund our budget in other ways to combat some of these things that we haven't had to really have this discussion. We're exhausting those expenditures. So, that's kind of how I got lost. Sorry.
So, I just want to talk a little bit about or kind of pull it all together with with what I just said. During my budget presentations, I have always talked about how we've been successful in balancing the big
increases with the not so big increases on the revenue side. Um, a lot of it, like I said, has been through through staffing. Uh, people retiring, not necessarily eliminating positions, but people retiring. We've done restructurings when people have left the
district. Um, and a big piece of that has been our our interest income. Um, what this is telling us is the goal is to gradually do this. Don't all of a sudden in in year three go, "Oh my gosh,
I can't stay under the cap this year. There's absolutely no way, you know, or we're going to have a huge impact on programming or staffing or or some of those types of things." You want to do it gradually so that when you get to year three, you could say, "Okay, ouch, but this is what we can do to fix it."
So, at the same time, you want to be able to continue to generate surplus because that's funding your future. We haven't had to go to referendum. We use that surplus money to go back into capital reserves so that we can continue to do all of the things in the district
that we've been planning to do that's on our long-range facility plan. And they're very robust. Another thing that we did is um we have a lot of uh roofing and HVAC projects and I' I've talked about this as well. 40% of that is being I should say 40% of the eligible costs are being funded by the state. That's
what's a rod grant. So these are things that we try to really do internally but the state of New Jersey isn't helping us with the standards. So basically what's happening and this is this is the concern two three years from now is we're using
capital reserve money if we're not able to generate reserves. It doesn't have to be at the same level but it should be something that we can continue to bank. Interest rates are going down right we got we we took advantage of a high time and we've been living that. So now they're starting to go down. we have
positioned ourselves that our investments are um coming due staggered over the next couple of years. So we have you know investments 6 months, 18 months, 12 months. So that that's going to help a little bit. But what's happening is we're we're we're running
out of of these of these resources. So the goal of all of this is we still want to be able to we know that about 734% was it 73.9% of our our is staffing and and benefits. We want to make kind of control how the structural imbalance
impacts the staff and impacts programming. We want to do incremental alignment supports like we just talked about. Do it over time. Don't all of a sudden go oh my goodness. Um because you can do that. Um I don't know that that's the best the best way to do it. I think
it's it's it makes it much more difficult for for everyone. And you want to be able to still protect the instructional quality of our school, which I think is a huge huge um asset here. I'm not an educator, but that's what they tell me.
Actually, I watch I watch the students and I'm I'm in awe. Um so, this is what we're talking about being consumed. We're not out of battery yet, but what what my goal is is for um
us to think about is that we need to plan as our costs continue to go up. Some of the tools that we've had available to us are being consumed and absorbed into other other costs. So, this is something that we need to
continue to look forward as we as we move out. Um, so in closing our closing perspective, we want to avoid the fiscal cliff, right? We've I don't want to say we've avoided it so far. We've managed it, right? We're in it. We're living it. Um,
we've managed it. I I'm not as confident going forward with the forecasting that we're seeing. Um, and and you'll hear from the rest of of the administrators in terms of what's happening at each of the departmental levels. Um, I'm just talking top level because those are the things that are really visual. Um, so
we've been able to do it through discipline. We've been able to be structured. We've been able to plan. We've been able to do the things that we wanted to do without having to be um too too drastic in what we're doing. Uh, from the educational perspective, um, the next phase requires the same stewardship. We need to keep doing what
we're doing and hopefully New Jersey will figure out how to fund the formula or fix the formula or whatever it is that they need to do. But something has to has to happen because it's it's not only not sustainable at Hunter Central, it's not sustainable anywhere in the state of New Jersey. We we have
districts selling schools and trees trying to educate children. That's very scary to me. Um so the goal is is sustainability, stability, and predictability. The way we do that is to continue to have a conversation and continue to plan going forward. What
that really means is the planning process shifts. We're no longer looking at one year at a time. We're no longer trying to say, okay, we got through another budget, right? We need to start asking our question, not can we balance this year, but can we sustain over the
next five years and what does that look like? So, that's really top level. Um, I don't mean to to to cause alarm. Um, but it's the reason that the school you're reading in the paper what you're reading
in the paper. Um it didn't happen overnight. Um it's not necessarily mismanagement of funds. Um it's just the culture of what's gone on in the state of New Jersey and it's been happening over the last 10 years. And then with COVID and all the extra funding we had,
it kind of just made the situation worse and districts were doing what they could to get by. So they survived and now it's gone. We don't have that situation here. That's the good news yet. So any questions?
So the reserves that you um call our sort of bank account, the bank account really is spent in some respect because we're fixing the roof or doing some other long range stuff. >> Um and I've I've explained I've talked
about this in many other presentations. Once the money goes into capital reserve or maintenance reserve, that's where it stays. we can never use it for anything else, right? So, if you want to call it a bank account, you can. You could you could call it a referendum that we got paid in advance on and we're collecting the interest, right? You could call it
whatever you want. If we do a capital project, um, and we do have many, you'll see with the budget process we're going, we met with the architects again today. It's exciting stuff, but it's it's fast moving. Um, we will do a motion after we bid it to
take it out of capital reserve. There's always contingencies in there. If we don't use it, it goes back to capital reserve. It cannot roll to the bottom line. It cannot roll into surplus. You will see, I think on tonight's agenda, there's a capital refund um on I think I don't know even what month it is. Maybe
we did it already. I I'm not sure. >> It's little, but that's basically what it is. It's saying, okay, we did a a motion to take it out of capital reserve for X project. We didn't use it all. If I don't get it off that line and put it back into capital reserve, it naturally
rolls to surplus and we can't do that. So when you talk about the reserves, once they're there, they're always there. >> Heather, the capital reserves has to match our long range uh planning facilities planning. Um >> it doesn't match, but it has to be less
than the bottom line. So the planning document for that is our long range facility plan. and and Miss Kangalloi Hay just explained we just did a major amendment to that because we were at the end of our fiveyear cycle. So what happens is the total amount of the cost of the plan is X amount of dollars. We
cannot exceed that in capital reserve. The state of New Jersey says okay you can reserve capital month you know funding but you better have a plan for it. So that's what the long range facility plan is. The other piece of that is the maintenance reserve piece we
do. It's it's called an M1 And what that is, it says we're allowed so many dollars per square foot for maintenance each year and we approve it in October every year and we can't exceed that. I think it's $2.9 million.
So what happens is if we have a maintenance project, we have, you know, a a boiler go or we have something that's a maintenance project, I will do a motion and ask the board to take it out of maintenance reserve. we can take we can um do the project when it's complete put back what's not used and
then when we're reviewing things at the end of the year I would do a motion to put it back if we have it okay we can't exceed the bottom line on the M1 so it can never be higher than that so that's our planning document for maintenance so there are tools in place that we can't
just put all this extra money in there but they're all planning tools as well >> I just have a quick question. >> Sorry, I don't know why I looked over there. >> You might you might have mentioned this. Um, but just with regard to the health insurance, >> so the trend um of enrollies has gone
down. Correct. >> So they have but not at this not >> significant. No, right. No. >> And so is that the estimate? Can are you estimating that's going to continue? >> 18.6. Actually, our original estimate was 17.2. Um the meeting for shift was
last week and our experience rating is a little high compared to what um and I'll be able to explain all that stuff when we get all the documentation together when we really get to the real real numbers. Um we we've had some experience rating where we've our our contribution
or our premiums are X and our experience is out is this and we're at a deficit. So ours has been a little higher. Um so it is still an estimate. I believe their official meeting to adopt it is next Wednesday or Thursday. I don't expect it to go down. I hope it doesn't go up. And
what I do is I tie that number to plans that we we have to do a report for chapter 44 and I tie that number back to that report. So yes, it is declining but not enough. And uh Maryann did an analysis for me where
we started with our number in um 2021. We started with Etna No, we were private and it was X amount of dollars 1121. We went to the shift. We had a 9% decrease from that date when we went to
the shift from that date to um the and it's a 17.2. We didn't redo the analysis. I have only, and this is going to sound crazy, I have only had a compounded 34% increase in my health benefits, medical
only over that period of time. State health has gone up 34.1% this year. >> So, we've done really well, just not this year. Now, prescriptions is another story. So, that same time period, our
prescriptions have gone up 74%. So that's all that 18.6 is a melded rate between those two things. So we do we we've done well. >> It's just not this year.
Any other questions? Thank you. I don't know how to transition to the junior transition. >> Okay. Go ahead. Go ahead. They they know it all. They know more. >> Okay. So the next I I don't even know if it's worth going back to this slide, but you know, we wanted to lay out the
budget objectives. We wanted to really spend some time on the fiscal scenario because it is different. I think you can hear that. I think the public can hear that whether it's here or in other districts or in the news. You can hear that the fiscal situation is certainly
different. Now, um what we also wanted to do is spend some time going over um the smaller percentage of our budget. Right? So Heather talked about like staff and and benefits is 75% roughly. You know, there's department budgets and
the budgets are small, but there are important items in there. And we wanted to get um get give you the opportunity to sort of understand what are the large purchases, what are the changes going on year-over-year, are there new things
we're bringing in? Um, and so some of our department heads are here to speak about their budgets. I have it up, so we'll just go on my computer. Is that okay? Okay. So, first we'll have Mr. Brandt come up. >> That's right. Right. >> Okay. >> Go ahead.
>> All right. Thank you. Good evening all. Uh, so, uh, the principal's office budget, if you would, covers a number of areas. Um, little slices here and there and also some some big nuggets. Um, and I was putting putting this together, I
was trying to think of like what does it cover and in in in general when I look at it, it's basically this to make sure that the building is run efficiently um and safely and that our students um besides what they're learning in the
classroom are also, you know, mentally, physically safe here. Um so my kind of umbrella of under the principles area is the house office system day-to-day operations of the building um the safety
and security you know um in total uh so our security staff um you know what they use day-to-day and such uh the counseling services is under the umbrella of the principal's office um and athletics and co-curricular
activities. So each of them have have definitely an area um overall and you know with the full understanding too of what um Heather just explained to us we realize the situation also. So, we're
not looking for any um major changes if you would, but I thought I would walk through a few of the slides here of kind of um areas that we had either significant but significance somewhat relative also
either decreases or increases. So, for example, under the umbrella of principles and house office, one of the items is graduation. So, the actual cost of running a graduation day, which is probably one of the best days of the year here, um, and I I I think it's
fantastic, but, uh, we were able to, uh, decrease, we're proposing a decrease of a little over $4,000, which comes out to 22% of that whole graduation, um, cost in the equipment, rentals, and some other services that we've had. So, that's an area that we can see that we
can cut. Um, one of the facts is there's less students graduating right now with the class sizes smaller than, you know, eight to 10 years ago where we had, you know, close to 800 graduating each year. So, just the rental services of chairs, things like that are down. And there's
some things over time that we purchased that replace things that we had to rent before. So, the rental costs are down. Um, we dropped one of the fall back to school nights. So, that it wasn't a big cost to have that, but that's an area we
were able to decrease 6.82% of that fees also for orientation and back to school night. Counseling services is another area. It's probably the it's it's by far the largest area under the principal's
umbrella. And um it's sliced into four categories here. They're not sliced evenly as far as finances. The largest one is the basic services. That's all the counseling services themselves, the individuals um and the programs they
have. And from last year, from this year's budget and then moving into next year, um we have a proposal decrease of 8.74% of that total of that bucket, if you
would. Um which comes out to $25,000 uh reduction. And that that's mainly due to two areas. One is the reduction in purchase services, services that were being paid outside. we were able to consume some of them with within and
also summer salaries. Um so we have counselors working in the summers they're 10-month employees so their summer work um is very valuable but the transition from last year to this year we had a large bucket there larger than a little bit larger than normal because
of our transition with uh Genesis and the scheduling and things like that. So um all the work we're doing right now and and Dr. Dr. Hall is definitely a big part of that uh with the scheduling moving some of those things forward to
now. Uh so we we will need less time of counselors in the summer u finishing up some of those. Another area very simple one but um that you may have not realized is like for example if students are transferring from or coming into nth
grade next year hopefully from schools other than our sending districts. that was something that their intake, if you would, in scheduling was done in the summer. Uh so we're rolling that in now as they as they register instead of waiting until the summer. So that's an
area that we're able to save some money um for the staffing in the summer. Um the three other areas there are not nearly as large as the basic services. One is the college and career um counseling not the counselor herself but
some of the programs that take place. Um we are looking for an increase of 4.35% which is $250 to give you a sense of it's not a huge category and that's because of increased in cost of workshops. U some of the workshops um
that she goes to uh are very valuable bringing back um to the students and families here. student assistance counselors. Um we have a a a bit of a decrease right there, $125 in supplies. And then also testing um and that's due
to reduction in equipment rentals. Some of the changes that we made with our testing uh specifically with AP um when we had testing, we we needed to rent uh tables and chairs to come in to take place that so we've been able to um push
that into other areas. So that's a decrease as well. Athletics and co-curricular activities. This is an area where um you know definitely with that I don't want to say mandate but challenge for sure to stay
under um 2%. The entire athletics program for the vast majority of things maintaining a flat um budget. However, the couple of the increases that we just can't control um internally are the increased costs for officials
um some of the supplies and we were able to decrease some of the external services, but the event the fees for some of the events and for the officials has increased um and that's the biggest area that we've seen. So, uh, Jesse and I worked and Jesse, you know, did a
great job of keeping everything else flat, but that increase ended up being a 1% overall increase we're looking at. And then co-curriculars, um, and that's for basically all the activities. The one area that we're really looking to um, propose to increase a bit, and it
says 66.67%. That jumps out of you like, what? But it's a total of $4,000. Um, so we're looking to increase that and that's for we have a lot of clubs and activities here that compete against other schools and there's fees for those competitions
and those fees are increasing. Um, so we're looking to not rely totally on fundraising u for those clubs. I think of for example Mark Trial today um they were competing in the counties after winning this um winning the county title and they're I think they were in
Bridgewater today. Um but that there's a fee there. So that was an increase. Um and then my la my last slide, this is the one area that I'm looking to request an increase. I think not I think I know
again under the whole umbrella of the principal's office. Um we're well below the 2% if not less than and actually a reduction from this past year. But the one area is with security and a couple of the areas that we're looking um to
increase are from this past year's budget mind you u the increase in contracted services and that's for example if NYPD I just said NYPD >> we don't ask them to come that far um we're if we're in township police is
asked to help with an event in the evening or meeting um that is a cost class 3 officers during the school day um they're fine to cover things up until about 5:00 but an evening event for example um that increased and also um
there's a wind there's two windows of time where supervision um based on the contracts full-time employees here there's a window of time where I'll use the example in the morning the buses drop the students off about 7:10 7:15 but by contract
vast majority of the employees don't need to be here till 7:30. So you're talking about a lot of students throughout campus and we need to um increase the supervision there and that's one of the areas too. Um, same thing in the afternoon. We have a number
of students and it's like let I'll put it this way a great problem of students who aren't going home right away after school and they might not have an activity but they're looking for something to do or something to watch or a game to watch. But that increases the number of students who are here uh from
3:00 to 5:00. So that's an area also that when I have the AM and PM supervision, that's what that means. So I'm looking to increase that a bit. Um, and then supplies. That's an area again on paper look statistically it jumps out
38% increase but it's an increase of $4,600 and that's supplies in safety in security area. We don't have any large investments like a couple years ago we had to get a new van um and stuff like that. But this one of the areas that
we're looking at is um in the event we have to relocate students from this campus to somewhere else if something were to take place here. For example, if there was a significant fire, um we we're looking at these safety boxes that basically all the equipment that we
would need to bring to then house the students there and effectively get them home. We have kind of handbags if you would. So, we're looking to uh improve the security and then also um the staff the security staff and DRAAS who work
outside especially um reflective gear coats. It's been pretty cold the last few months and we're asking them to help out with transportation outside. So, um we'd like to get them jackets. So, those are my my main areas. I don't if you were going to just wait till we're all
done for questions. >> Is that correct? wait. >> So, I'm gonna pass it over to Dr. Hall who's going to deal with curriculum and instruction. All right. Thanks. >> Thank you, Mr. Brandt. Good evening, everybody. Uh, I get to talk about the
instructional program. So, this is all the fun stuff. Um, so as I go through uh sort of an overlook of our academic departments in the budget and how that works, um, I just want to emphasize I'm going to be
focused um, primarily on the discretionary parts of that budget. Uh, Miss Spitzer talked about the the staffing and the benefits and all of those parts. Um, what I will be talking about is that other side. So, we're talking about supplies, books,
professional development, um those types of things, not the necessarily the staff part of it. So, the process, the way the process works for curriculum and instruction is our academic departments
are all led by um supervisors who work closely with the teachers. So, in the earliest stages of our budget development process, um we all met with Miss Spitzer who went through the process and talked about um really just
our responsibility that charge to be really critical um with wherever we um are asking to spend money. Um and you know the the term that we were using all the time is zerobased. So you start with zero and then have to rationalize every
dollar that you add to the ask pile, right? And so I met with all of the supervisors and we went through their department, the goals, the academic program, what they were trying to do and how the budget itself would support that
work. So that's the really the basis and our key uh focuses were really to continue to to implement the innovative instructional program that we are so proud of here, right? Um
there's a reality of increasing costs. So there's this tug-of-war um where we are constantly looking for efficiencies. We're looking for places to save money. We're looking for those places where we've over um sort of, you know, guessed
at what we um needed last year. So, we're going to pull back a little bit here, but the costs of everything are rising. We're feeling the same kinds of costs that you are all feeling at home, right? Um anything that you're ordering in terms of supplies, particularly those
things that aren't made in the United States, the costs are going up. transportation costs, anything related to field trip, those are going up. Um, when we're talking about our um our family and consumer science classes, the food costs, that sorts of stuff, those
costs are going up. Um, our TED courses and the costs of building supplies and lumber, those things have really been going up. And so there's this tug-of-war. So, as you go through, similarly to what we saw with Mr. grants budget is um there are I'll I'll talk
about the places where we're anticipating a little bit of an increase a little bit of a decrease and a lot of those places um there's you know we're not talking about big dollar amounts but recognizing that they can add up and snowball and we have this you know as as
um I mean Heather did a great job of describing the how important it is for us to be really really careful with our planning. Um the other big piece um that you will see within my budget is uh professional
development for staff. And that's one of those things that you know we talked about, Miss Kangelo talked about that really jumped out at the strategic planning meeting is how strong a staff we are and how important it is for us to invest in that. And so we wanted to make
sure that um that we maintain that support for staff development as we go through that. So let's start um with art uh visual and performing arts. So we're anticipating
um an increase in the art budget as I mentioned uh primarily driven by the cost of art supplies. Um, and so we're looking at about a 10% increase, um, which equates to, uh, about $4,800
with that. Um, in music, I've divided it into instrumental music and vocal. Um the instrumental music uh we're anticipating a little bit of a decrease trying to find um some efficiencies
there and a slight increase in the vocal costs um along the lines of $500. Um the vocal music budget is is very small compared to the instrumental music in the in the art budget. Um now the those
costs the um are really being pushed by uh transportation for field trips. So you see that also in both of these places. Um you know the cost for field trips cost for um admissions rising emission costs and consumable costs.
um there's been a little bit of a cost increase uh for equip musical equipment um purchase and repair um but you don't we found places to sort of cut funds other places. So that's why you see
instrumental music even though those costs are really going up. We're we're going to we're anticipating a decrease or and asking for a decrease there. Okay. The next area we'll talk about is um our Aspire and basic skills programs.
These are both um not not hugely expensive departments, right? And we're um we're anticipating a decrease in costs in both of those areas as as well. Um the primary costs here
are uh staffing costs. So they're not reflected in this. um you're really talking about mostly uh professional development support costs and some of that we are uh capturing with in-house expertise versus having to
to pay for it outside. The next department we'll talk about is broadcast tech. Um and I' I've sort of put our career um departments here. So broadcast technology, business, and design tech.
And these are each we're anticipating some increases here. Uh the primary drivers being um we are ex for broadcast tech that's where the largest increase is and it's much of associated with
outfitting a podcast studio. So equipment associated with that podcast studio. Um but again we're seeing the uh the pressures of rising transportation and admission costs related to field trips and software licenses um are
increasing as well. Um software licenses associated um specifically with the architecture and engineering classes. So broadcast tech uh we're anticipating about a $3,700 increase. business a
$1,200 increase in design tech. Um, I see a typo there. It's not a $30,000 increase. It's a $3,000 increase. So, don't panic, Heather. Don't throw anything at me, please. You You think I would have caught that. I have looked at this slide a hundred
times. Okay. Um, family and consumer science. So, I talked earlier about the rising cost of food and that really has, you know, as we started building this
budget, it was getting a little bit scary and we actually went through and have changed some of the the recipes and things like that to try and find um way more efficiencies and at this point we're actually looking at um a decrease.
So, um this is this is one of those places where um you know we have gone back and back and and Becky's done a really great job with that and with this um zerobased budgeting um charge that that we had health and PE um pretty much flat. Um
we're looking at a little bit of a decrease here about $2,300 um mostly associated with a reduction in professional development costs and um and we reduced the um the budgeted amount for maintenance of project
adventure equipment um after noting that you know we weren't spending as much as had been budgeted for in the past. So that was a a a tightening up of that line there. Now we'll transition into our core academic areas.
So English and drama um I've connected there. Um and then we have math. So for English and drama, I I would describe this. You're seeing a little bit of a decrease in these areas, but they're both pretty much flat. Um we're
those are not places where we're seeing a lot of um increases in costs. and the costs that have been budgeted in those areas have been pretty pretty much right on with what we need. You will see um you will see an increase in the math uh
the projected math budget mostly associated um with um the expansion of a of a software platform called that we use for mathematics support. Um and that is um the prices of that
software have been going up and we've been expanding the use of that um and it's becoming more and more uh of a tool that we're using for supporting um our our students who need additional support in in in mathematics our intervention in
MTSS program. So, that is an area where we probably see our biggest um increase so far of a approximately um $10,500 there. Um the other thing that we are
looking to do with math is um is refresh some of the calculators um calculator sets in classrooms and we are working Bob has been leading an effort to standardize the math classroom um to make it more flexible for classes moving
between um those rooms. So, making sure every math classroom is equipped with um with a set of calculators. Um they they're putting a a podium in each one of the rooms that they've been expanding. And this will sort of round
out that standard math classroom um practice that they have been putting into place there. The next core academic areas are science and social studies. Social studies is pretty much flat as
you would expect. There's a slight increase anticipated as we round out um our um we're putting um maps into all the classrooms, updated maps. And so um the additional cost you see there will
finish off um the map um supply I guess in the 910 social studies rooms. So um that was started last year. Oop skipped ahead. um in science um this is an area
um where we're seeing a lot of supply cost increases but this is another area where we have um you know we have worked hard to to trim out um supplies that we don't need. So, um this is this is
another one of those uh that I would really uh chalk up as a success story. Um especially with the expanding ummies. Um one of the biggest supply expenses in the science rooms are specimens for anatomy and physiology which is just
hugely um successful in in terms of attracting students for enrollment. um and that cost has just skyrocketed for uh those specimens. So there are lots of other places where we're um where we're reducing um supplies and things like
that or are moving to more u models that can be reused or um or digitalbased models in some cases. So, in science, you're seeing a a pretty much a flat budget. Um, and social studies
is it's I would call that flat as well, although it's a a $1,200 or $1,300 increase there. Okay. World language and bilingual um classes. So, we're seeing a little bit of an
increase in um in the ask for our world language budget um of about $1,200. Bilingual um is pretty much flat with a a decrease anticipated of about $300. Um the the primary driver of the
increase in world language is um is we're anticipating a need to send additional teachers to AP training um to so there's a cost associated with that um and then we move into um the CNI office
um budget itself. So this is the largest area um of the budget when we talk about the CNI office overall and this is this is one of those areas where we are seeing a lot of increases
associated with um with software and this is where um you're going to see an increase in costs associated with curriculum development to support our magnet program expansion. So, uh, in this area, I'm requesting an
increase of about $10,000, uh, which equates to just under 8% there. Um, the big ticket items here are our data warehousing and benchmark assessment platform, Linkit, um, which is a big one. Um and this is also where the
software um our frontline software that we use to um to conduct our staff evaluations and to uh track staff professional development where those costs live as well. Um the increase in in um I mentioned an increase in
curriculum development. Um, we're anticipating additional hours needed to um to develop the first courses for the um the fine and performing arts academy and the um education academy programs. Um we're also been told by the staff to
expect um updates to New New Jersey student learning standards in some key areas. And so we need to plan for um you know curriculum revisions uh in order to make sure that our curriculum is aligned to the the most recent standards and and
state mandates. Okay. All right. So I think we're saving questions till the end. I'm going to pass it over to Mr. Roberto next to talk about our technology budget. Okay. Uh, so I'm the supervisor of
technology for 100 central. U Mr. Brandt talked to you about physical security. Uh, in the technology department, we're in charge of of the digital security, the cyber security. Uh, so there's there's some costs that are associated with that that are going to drive drive my budget. Uh, I'm also in charge of all
of the devices uh for students, for staff, all the printers, uh, you know, everything. Uh, basically has a plug. uh you know it it it falls under under my department. So um I have three three I'm also in charge of the IMC. Uh so I have three major
buckets uh that I'll talk to you about uh really quickly. One's one's a pretty small bucket um and it's the admin information technology and this is really it's a bucket that just has money for some professional development for some supplies and things like that and uh again tracking things over over
years. this hasn't been fully utilized, so there's no reason to budget for it uh in here. So, um so in this in this bucket, we're looking for a decrease of about $4,500. Uh with the IMC, uh this is where uh the
money from this pays for the databases that our students use for doing their research uh projects, pays for the books that you see on the shelves, uh and pays for the uh supplies for the maker space. So, uh, in all this, uh, even even looking at that, we're looking at the
projects that are being done in the maker space and seeing where we can get some efficiencies with, um, let me back up. A couple years ago, we we started using a Glow Forge in the maker space. Uh, so we we were using 3D printers uh, and using filament, and filament's very
expensive. Uh, and then we got our Glow Forge and we're able to to do some different projects uh that are using some less expensive materials. So, in balancing that out with the IMC overall, we're looking for a decrease of about $700 uh in in that budget uh to go with
that. Uh, and then comes the biggest piece of my budget uh which is the information technology. Uh and here this this pays for yeah like like I said it pays for the uh all the the backend systems for cyber security. This pays for uh
a lot of the the um platforms that that teachers use for teaching in the classrooms. And again going back to co uh there were a lot of great things that that came out of co I think um as far as technology in classrooms uh where we had
you know things like Edpuzzle we had things like uh you know there's a lot of platforms that that teachers began using because the companies offered them for free uh during during covid right uh so then we came back to school and then they started charging everyone uh and so
we we we started paying we select effectively um paid for for some of these services and over time uh they started improving what they were offering. You know they they saw you know hey this company is doing this with with what they're offering. So they they included some features from from that
and you know so now when you look at some of the services that we're paying for there's a lot of overlap and so we we sat down and we looked at where the overlaps uh are and where are some places where we can start to like where the usage and where are some places
where we can migrate some teachers from one platform to another without them losing the the features that they're using with the students. Uh and so when we're going through all all of that process, um you know, we're also looking built into my my um my budget is a
refresh cycle for all the hardware, all of the student Chromebooks, the uh staff laptops. We have laptop carts that are in in certain classrooms. We have uh desktops that are in other classrooms. You know, we're starting to look at there's there are some web- based
solutions uh instead of having them be Windows-based solutions for some things. We're starting to look at, you know, can we move away from windows in certain situations uh and not replace those in the next refresh cycle. You know, looking at can we sustain things in five
years instead of just looking at next year's budget. Uh we we are starting to look at at things like that as well. Um but it this year I don't think we're quite there yet but but things are are moving along and we can start to migrate some teachers to start using those those web-based solutions uh now so that it's
less painful when we don't replace the uh the Windows uh you know Windows uh devices uh when when that time comes. So right now we're looking at uh oh and I forgot to say in here a lot more information on on the next slide. Um we
were looking there was a request from uh from a couple of departments for us to have a large format printer um and uh I I think it's going to be a very useful uh device for for our school uh for our district uh for um for for for the AP uh
classes in particular for their final uh final projects. Uh also I was talking to some of the uh teachers that are going to be using uh in the magnet programs looking for their their culminating projects to to include usage of this printer, but we could also use it just as a district for signage and and other
things. I think this is going to be something that's going to get a lot of use. Uh it's it's a $10,000 device. Uh you know, and u there will be supplies that we'll need to continually refresh with that, but I think it's something that that uh that will be sustainable. Uh it's something that that I think we
could we will you know make good use of uh in the district and it's a worthwhile um worthwhile investment. Um in addition, you know, people always ask, you know, do we need as many Chromebooks as as as we buy and things like that? Um right now we're looking at 603
pre-registered students. Um and we have about 500 Do I have it on there? I think it's 540ome seniors that are leaving. Um, now not all 63 of those students are going to end up here. Uh, and we know that we're hoping the magnet programs
will will attract more people here than losing to the Polytex. But to give you some um some some background, last year we had 613 students pre-registered and we currently have 524 freshmen. So,
there was a a big decrease between what was pre-registered and what's here. I'm hoping we don't lose that many. So, when I'm kind of planning how many Chromebooks we're going to be buying, I'm kind of thinking we're going to be flat based on the seniors that are leaving and and the uh hopefully you'll get that many freshmen that that uh that
do do come here. Um hardware uh vendors are are advising me that anything we do buy uh expect anywhere between 10 and 25% uh of an increase in the prices. And that's mainly due to I don't know if you look at the news AIS you know all over
the place and there are certain vendors who make memory and uh solid state drives that are only manufacturing these now for these AI companies and so the uh the rest of us are paying more because there are fewer manufacturers that are
actually making those those pieces. So, uh, so I am expecting some some increases with those. But even with that, like I said, I'm I'm looking for about a $5,400 increase in the budget for, uh, for the for the bigger, uh, information techn technology piece of my
budget. Uh, I already talked about, you know, scrutinizing like what we're offering with with those things. Uh and oh the other thing we're we're we're doing this year we moved to uh we outsourced uh the printer management uh for for the
district. Same company that's doing our copers and has been doing our copies for years. They do a great job with the copers and what what they are providing as part of the service is actual usage of every printer that's connected to our network in here. So, what we've been doing in my
department, we haven't moved on this yet, but we have plans to, is looking at the underutilized printers, uh, and kind of moving them out of places where they're not being used so that we can kind of hold them for when other
printers die. Instead of having to purchase new new printers, we just use the ones that weren't being utilized very much uh, in the first place. It was we didn't have that data beforehand. So uh you know even though this this external uh company is it it does cost
us uh in the end I think it's going to save us uh in the long run in the hardware that we're not going to have to purchase because now we know what you know where where the usage actually is. Okay. And that that's all I have. So
next I will turn it over to um to >> last but not le here you um the ending closing story here. So good evening everyone. Um I'm DD Dra. I'm the director of special services. Um under special services falls all the special education supports and our nursing
services that we offer um in school and out of school services. Um this is a little bit of a broad overview of our staffing. Um we have a very large um staffing pool because we have a lot of needs that we need to cover. Um looking
at our proposed budget, that's a big number. Um but it's really based on current needs. So a special education budget is never a fixed cost. It fluctuates because it's really based on student needs and the mandates that are driven in a student's IEP in their individual educational program. So, please know that there's a lot of um
ways that we'll kind of unpack this and try to break it down, but I'm not going to go into too deep too much detail because this is supposed to be just an overview and we'll go into more detail at the other end. The way we do our budget process is very detailed as everyone's talked about. We do do a zerobased budget, but we also get a lot
of input and collaboration from our sending districts. I only as good as what I have and how can I build programs if I don't know about the rising. So, we've done a really great job. have my child study team goes down to all the child study team um meetings down for the eighth graders to help transition them, learn more about their needs so
that we could best plan moving forward. Um this is what a little bit of our snapshot looks like. Um you could see that um we are graduating or aging out. Students can stay with us from the a till the age of 21. So the year you turn 21 that June um you are exiting our
system. So, if you have a birthday, it's dependent on how long you're going to be staying with us. So, that number of of 94 encompasses our graduating 12th graders as well as those students that are 21 years old and going to be aging out of our system. Next year, we are projected to have 20 more special
education students than we do have this year, which does come with um a lot of um needs and cost built into it. We are really really lucky that we have a very robust and wonderful continuum of special education services. So what that means is we can really support all of
our special education students where they're at in the least restrictive environment which is the mandate from the state. We really look to see how we can build independence and foster our children to be independent adults as they leave us moving forward. So our programs go from in-class resource, we
have two co-teers go in the classroom together, a resource center, we have a pullout model, our learning center, our project trust is our ERRI program for our students with emotional regulation issues. Our able program supports our autism students. Our equip and achieve program. Our equip program is our
multiply disabled program which is a really a life skillbased program. And our achieve program supports our 12 plus students. So those students that I talked about that have already met their graduation requirements but are staying with us because they still have skills and goals that they need to meet. Um, and our achieve program is a work-based
learning program where our students are really getting out into the community following the state mandates for community- based instruction, work-based learning where they're getting really hands-on experiences in the community. Um, all those great in district programs cost money. Um, and we have to continue
to build them because our out of district cost is really what drives our budget. So, um, our out of district tuition is a really big number. Um, and it's because the needs of our students can't be met here in our district even with the vast array
of services we do have. Um, coming up from our eighth grade, we are going to have seven additional students that are just placed in out of district schools. So, that is a cost of about over $700,000 that we're going to be including last year that we did not have this year. We're only graduating one out of district student, but we're getting
seven. So again, th this is our biggest ticket item that we have um for our special education students. There's a lot of more nuance that goes into special education, but I'm just hitting the top items. Um nursing services. Um under nursing services, we
have basic nursing supplies, which is to supply our offices in our nursing house, sorry, our house offices. Um our AED machines, one-to-one nurses for students that need that level. We have a few medically fragile students and you could see that um we do provide
one-to-one services nurses for them and those are contracted out services. Those range in price from about $72 to $95. So it is a little bit of a variable cost um depending on which agency we can contract with for our students. Um and our school physician um we do contract
out um with the school physician um and that is an annual cost that we have built into our budget. So, our big cost this year is that um we have 28 AD machines in this district. This year, we replaced four of them. Next year, due to
the age and the functional level of those machines, we're going to have to be replacing about 15 of those machines. They run about $1,800 each. If you include the um kits that they need and the different pieces that they need, it comes to about $2,100 per ad machine. Um
those AEDs support athletics that Mr. Grant talked about and all of the um security vehicles. So, it's a district-wide initiative with the AD. So, it's not just within the nurses offices. So, it's a a district-wide initiative with the AD machines.
That's all I got. I I am the closing act here for you tonight. So, really, thank you for all your support. Thank you for the community support. I know we have unique um students and it really means a lot to know that we have the community behind us as we move forward. >> Questions? Question.
>> Do you want to I would love I >> was gonna say are there >> you know I love a microphone I don't if you don't know me uh questions and we can have them I can filter through go ahead Jess >> okay so my first question I was sort of
surprised to hear the busing for the curricular part does that not go through that's a it doesn't go through our busing that's a separate >> it sometimes goes through our district it depends on the time of the trip. So,
and if we have drivers available. So, um it's cheaper if we can run the trip in between the arrival times and not just for us for the routes that we also you do for East Hamill and Delaware Township and all that. And then if they can come back before dismissal, but that's a
short window, right? So, if we can't do that, then they have to go to contract out with with other companies and that is significantly more expensive. So that number was based on if we have to contract out within the right not >> it's still
>> because we're that's an additional cost for us in district. So essentially what happens in the departments is they're hoping they're really trying to organize those trips so we can use our drivers. Um but then if we can't they may have to cut a trip that they had planned
otherwise because they only have a certain amount in the budget. And then I have one other really interesting or maybe not a string just curiosity. Do we know if there's any grants out there for AED machines for the school? >> Great question. One of those just ask me
about that today. >> Yeah, that's a lot of AEDs. >> Yeah. Yeah. And if we can get a grant for it, why not? Yeah, that's a good question. Thank you. >> Other questions, Sandra? >> I just wanted to follow up on Mrs. Rel's question. So, I was also surprised. So
the out of district tuition because we have always talked about it at at the committee. So it really goes to DED's department, not to this magical transportation >> budget. I was just curious where it's all
>> not hiding, but where where it sits. >> Yes, I mean most of the tuition goes to the schools. Um but there is a transportation cost associated with that as well. And then we have a few students out of district um that are not special
education. They're general education. That's also out of district tuition. Still costly, but usually less than special education out of district. >> Yeah, it's a large bucket of out of district tuition.
Anybody else? I know it was a lot. So we know there's there's future question, you know, and we can as you're absorbing it, we can find a way to to collect your questions. Um to sort of wrap it up, you know, you what our budget objectives are. And I
think like the perfect example is our students who are here presenting, right? This is why we do what we do and we want to be able to keep doing it. We want to make sure that we're offering highquality programs to our students, that they have the best of the best available to them. Um, and you can see
we're really trying to condense the budgets as much as we can, but decreasing $200 in family and consumer supplies is not going to get us to Where's that slide that really struck me? This is the one that sticks with me
the most right here. $200 is not going to to really help this. Um, so I know the big question is like, what are you saying to us? And we don't know what the percentage is going to be, but I I do know I'm not
recommending just 2%. I do know we will be recommending over the 2%. We don't know yet what that is because we have to see what our state aid is. We have to go through again. We just keep going through. We've been going through since December. We're going to keep going
through. But I think Heather said it perfectly and beautifully in that we don't want to wait until it's really an issue and then we're having to do 10% or whatever it may be. We want to gradually go up so that we can sustain our
programs but in a respectful way and in a fiscally responsible way. So that's kind of where we are for tonight. I don't know if there's any other remaining questions. Um, again, this was not a preliminary budget presentation. That's coming in March. And by the way,
we do believe we have to postpone uh the March meeting by a week because of the because there's a new governor. She's doing her address late, which means our state aid numbers will be late, which finally the state just told us that they will uh extend the deadline for for our
preliminary budget. So, we believe that will be March 23rd for our meeting. So, can I ask just a quick question? Sure, Lisa. >> So, if you're anticipating going over the 2% cap and maybe this is something Heather, you I'm referring to this in a
different way, but so there's the option of banked cap, the healthc care cost allowance. Is that what you were referring to? It's called something different. >> Yes. >> Okay. And do we qualify for that? >> Yes. Okay. >> So, this year it's substantial. um
because there's because our rates went up 18.6% and and again that's a preliminary number. It's not exact probably but um that's what it's projected right now. What we do or what the budget software does is it says okay what are the
current year expenditures? It inflates it by the 2%. And then the difference between that number and what 18.6 gets us is all a health benefit adjustment. It's like $2.6 million >> that we're not we're not even talking
about that because what will happen is that will if we use any of it and we have to use that before we use any banked cap. So what you don't use will roll into banked cap next year and then you can you have another three years to smoothly spread it out.
>> So that's kind of how the health benefit adjustment works. And then the last option was is enrollment increases, which we don't have. >> Yeah, we Yeah, there's an enrollment adjustment. There's and I think there's a couple of other ones and health actually um my first time that I've ever
qualified for the health benefit adjustment was last year and it was 173,000 and we didn't even >> we didn't need it. >> Yeah, it was a we didn't need it. So, that right now is sitting in bed cap as well, but we have to use the current year first. >> All right. Thank you. >> Thank you.
>> Okay. Okay, thank thank you. Thank you everybody for hanging in. Uh we will resume. >> How does the would the board like a five minute recess to stretch and have a bio break or do we just want to keep rolling?
>> Okay, if we're all good then >> just >> Thank you all very much. All right. So, going back into our agenda, we are under item H if anyone's following along. Um, so I would like these are the organizational items. I
would like to move items H1 through H3. Do I have a second? >> Second. Okay. >> Roll call. Mrs. Spitzer. >> Miss Bryce. >> Yes. >> Miss Gong. Yes, >> Dr. Halpern.
>> Yes, >> Miss Lacosta. >> Yes, >> Mrs. Rothell. >> Yes, >> Mrs. Santangelo. >> Yes, >> Miss Wallace. >> Yes, >> Reverend Williams. >> Yes. >> And Mrs. Kellogg? >> Yes. All yes. Motion carries. Okay.
>> Dr. Halpern, would you report out for the student life and program committee, please? >> We have two We have two action items on the agenda for student life and program. One of them is a tuition and transportation
um for a student and the other one is an overnight field trip for the uh wrestling. Uh the details are provided um and so we would like to mo I'd like to move to vote for these two items.
>> Is there a second? >> Second. Any discussion, questions? Roll call. Mrs. Spitzer. >> Miss Gong. >> Yes. >> Dr. Halpern. >> Yes. >> Miss Lacosta. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Roth.
>> Uh, yes to I1 and I will recuse myself from I2. >> Mrs. Santangelo. >> Yes. >> Uh, Miss Wallace. >> Yes. >> Reverend Williams. Yes. >> M. Bryce. >> Yes. >> And Mrs. Kellogg. >> Yes. >> Oh, yes. Motion carries. Okay.
>> Reverend Williams, will you report out uh items J? >> So, we have uh 11 items to move on items J. One and three are standard organizational items. Item four is a $2,400 grant for math education trust grant. Item five is the budget uh board
budget objectives. Item six is an amendment to the agreement for Shink Price uh Smith and King. Uh item seven is uh approval for board attorney RFP
effective uh July 1st. Item eight is appointment for um messes and uh WBLE uh provide pres representation and e ethics complaint for a board member. Item nine, award professional uh services contract for
demographic studies recommended by the superintendent uh comprehensive uh demographic study. Item 10 um uh as Heather mentioned moving unused contingency back to capital reserve fund. And item 11 is uh withdrawal of
the reserve uh from the reserve capital reserve for removal and disposal of floor tiles in the wait room. I move to u um move items 1 through 11. >> Thank you. Is there a second? >> Second.
Any discussion? >> So I I do have a couple questions. Um I noticed so I had asked a question about the rates. So, I did a little research and I went back to um invoices and dates
that we approved and what was listed on the agenda for the approval and the numbers don't match. So, there's discriminations in what we approved the contract to be, the rate that was on the contract and what was being built. There's a lot of differences and you
could go back and check them. But one of the things is in doing that I also found that we're getting the bill the invoices for the discrimination case and that rate is really high. So I was curious what that
was. I'm there's a there's a legal case that the rate is very very high and I'm not sure how that happened. >> That's likely going through the insurance company. I I don't want to discuss the case publicly. Exactly.
>> But we only see those. Correct. >> Oh. Um you would if we pay it and then it's >> reimbured. Yep. But I'll I'll talk to you about it as well. I just don't want to publicly discuss. Yep. Thank you. >> Um
so then I just am curious like how we got to um a request to increase shank in the email. I was told it was only $5 increase, but when you go back and look at the contracts and you look at what the board voted on, it's really a $20
increase. I'm not sure I know what email you're talking about. Um, but I do know the different attorneys have different hourly rates. So, that is the case here that the one attorney is I believe $180 an hour and the other one is $200 an
hour. So, I think that what I think is maybe what somebody might have >> we had a different number than what is being presented now. So, the number we voted on in meeting is different than what is in the contract. the number and
>> and when you're saying when you voted on that last year >> in June of 2025 >> the number which number >> the hourly rate number >> so there are two hourly rates we are
adding so the let me so there are like three buckets for legal right there's a special education bucket which we already had with skank price. That's at $180 an hour. Then there's general
counsel bucket and then there's um labor and personnel. We're adding labor and personnel. That's a different rate. That's $200 an hour. We previously approved, I believe, the rate of $180 an
hour for special education. Correct. >> So, I'm not going by the buckets. I'm going about by the contract of the law firm with which we are contracted with. So we contract at a rate. We voted on a rate that is different than the contract
was signed for and billing for. >> I'm I I don't mean to be dense. I just don't think I understand. >> Can I can I try to clarify? >> Okay. Thank you. >> So I understand you're saying they are for special education at 180 bucks an hour >> currently. Yes.
>> Correct. the services you're asking to expand them to, they charge more for those services. >> Correct. >> All acknowledged. >> So, it would it's fair to say that up to this point, they have only provided legal guidance on the bucket in which they are contracted at at $180.
>> Correct. And I believe Jess, what you're saying is when you go back and look at invoices for work they have performed since we approved the $180, we are paying invoices at higher than $180 an hour, which is not a rate at which we ever approved. So that's the call out is
that >> okay, >> June 2025, we approved 180 for the services they do for special education and invoices between that date and today have us paying them at a higher rate than $180 an hour. >> Yeah, I would. Do you know? >> Yeah, that's essentially I I mean I have
a I have a because I just went a little legal crazy and so I have stuff. Um but the other thing to point out is up until June of 2025, we when we voted were given the rate we're voting on and in June the documentation, the board agenda
only says on file. So we could have all made the assumption that we were voting on a number that we had already known and not a number that was higher than that number. Does that make sense? >> Yes. So in 2024 we voted 180 and then in 2025 we weren't given the price and it
went up to 195 but we didn't know that that price was going up. >> So to say that it's only a $5 increase to us is more than that. >> I no I understand what you're saying. I think what and I don't know cuz I don't I'm I don't know which if that was an
email but I'm guessing what people were referencing is currently general counsel is $195 per hour and we're this one we're adding $200 an hour for general counsel that may be I mean I don't want to
>> but I think the question is right like if there's >> how did that happen >> right because if there's a motion for like we're doing tonight right with >> that is the motion for tonight. >> But I'm saying previous, right? How do we get from the last motion which was at
180 in 2024 to this motion because there's no motions in between. That's I think what you're saying, right? >> But this will be the first time that we're using this this >> but it's not a but but the point is it's not a a $5 increase. It's a $20 increase. >> Correct. For this firm.
>> Yes. I think the $5 increase in my mind when I'm thinking whoever said $5 increase is for the bucket of general counsel but not the same firm >> which actually if you're going by what is listed it's a $10 increase. >> You're going and
>> so general counsel was 190 >> currently. Okay. >> Yeah. I don't I mean >> but prior to that without us knowing the rate increased was 175. >> So in 2024 we voted 175. In 2025 we
voted on file not 195. We didn't know it wasn't there. >> Yeah. >> So I guess I'm trying to figure out what the question is. Are you saying >> I think the question is how did we get from having the information on what we
were voting on with a clear understanding of what their rate was by looking at what I went from 21 22 23 24 20 25 of March we got the number and then in June we didn't. Now, maybe that was all of our error, but again, I just
started doing this research, but we we had an increase in that without being told there's an increase. And additionally, now we're being asked to change it. >> Change who does our general counsel with an increased rate. And if we go by the
general counsel's rate, it's a $10 increase rate, not a $5 increase rate. >> D just found it. >> Yeah. in in April. It's 195 for our current G general counsel for appris. So we voted on that in April and we voted again on it in in June. >> That's that's our board council. That's
not district general. >> Right. That's not shank though. Shank and Price we're talking about. >> I thought it was the same. >> I guess I'm I think we might be referring to different. >> So I can tell you we've been billing 195 185 190 and 190 depending on who the
contract is for. You're saying at that particular firm or just in general? In >> general firms, say out the firms if you want. >> Oh yeah, that's that's >> board board 195, Gio 185, Padulla 190,
shank price 190. But the number we voted in our May meeting of 2024 was Danella 175, Parker McKay 185, Gio Kobe 175, Danella 175, Shank 185.
>> So you're just saying there wasn't a number there this past June. Yep. >> We didn't necessarily know that our lawyer rates went up. And I get it. They raised the rates, but we probably should have known that we were voting on a higher rate. >> I think it just like You all didn't notice it. You didn't notice it either.
>> Yeah. >> So, I think the proper process, right, is a motion for that to ask the board to increase the uh legal rate. Correct. Like you're doing right now, which is what we did in 2024. I'm just asking. >> Well, I don't know if we need to do that
because it said on file in June and >> But if the file is I'm I'm just asking, right? If the file is more money, but we weren't aware of it, then you know what I mean? There's a >> I do know what you mean. I think it because we already voted, we don't need
to do that. But if it makes everyone feel comfortable, we can ensure we give everybody the rates now. It doesn't negate the fact that we voted on it in June, though, and it it got I believe the motion passed and then moving forward, we'll make sure the costs are there. I don't know why it wasn't there
in June. Well, I think especially if it's an increase, right? Because we're thinking it's one number and we're approving something that's a higher number and we're not aware of it. That's I think confusion is coming. >> Yeah, I agree with you.
>> So then the other question I actually had, sorry, is does it make sense to increase the rate when we're going out for an RFP? I think it's it's temporary, but yet in my mi in my mind it does make sense.
>> I guess the question is if we have two council at a lower rate that provide those services, why do we have to add a third for duplicative? It feels like we're circumventing the RFP slightly by just
doing it anyway. >> We we are not. So you actually for legal you don't even have to go out to RFP. So um but it's good to do that in my opinion which is why we did it last year. Um and last year similarly we expanded our services with one of our
attorneys in the interim while we we did the RFP process. Now in that case we didn't have to re we didn't have to expand the contract because the contract language was broad that we could use that attorney for those additional services. In this case, this firm
specified uh special education and 504 plans. So, we do have to expand the contract. >> I think I asked similar questions last year when we had approise and then we used Padulla for something very similar. So, we have a roster of attorneys for
different buckets of action items. >> What I'm not sure was there a question or just It was a statement about what we voted on last year where we had a roster of attorneys. We were using approise predominantly, but we also then reached
out to Badulla and I asked why do we reach out to Bedulla if it's sort of the same question, right? So again, we're kind of shopping around for um expertise, >> right? But the rate didn't increase. It was the same rate. Actually, it was a cheaper rate, I think.
>> Right. So then why didn't we use Padulla? I think that was possibly explained at that particular meeting, but I don't know for sure. >> So, are there are there any additional comments before we um vote on this? Because I I'm not sure that um that this
is is I I guess is there anything else that anyone needs to add before we vote? It seems like there is additional work that needs to be done to align um you our understanding of the the rates with the the invoices that we're reviewing.
Um, but in in the interest of moving things forward, is there anything else that that people want to share before we vote? >> I just wanted to ask who initiated the increase, where did the increase initiation come from who requested that?
>> I think it was a a team decision. >> Okay. >> Board leadership with the administration. >> Yeah. And and I believe that it was um the attorney that provided the rate. >> Oh, yeah. We don't determine the rate. We ask what the rate is. >> Okay. So, do you were involved in the
increase discussion? Is that what you're saying? >> I was involved in the discussion of um getting the district the legal support that it needs um while we go back out for RFP. So my I don't want to speak for Miss Kangalosi Hay and her staff, but my
understanding is that in in an attempt to be more efficient with our legal services, part of what we were looking for um going out for RFP is to have attorneys, a larger firm with a deeper bench as well as attorneys that can
handle multiple different types of um of of matters for us because we've seen a lot of redundancy. in the last year um with multiple attorneys needing to to work on the same matter because of of the way it's structured. So the the request from the
district is to um move forward with this attorney so that we have again efficiency moving forward. >> So are you planning on terminating the other two attorneys that are doing this work meaning Matt Gobe and Kyle Trent to
avoid duplicating? Well, I I think like you know it it comes down to asking those attorneys to so just because we're contracted with them does not mean that we give them work. Um so it will be up to the district and the superintendent to
decide um what the most efficient use of those attorneys will be. >> Okay. So I guess my concern I guess optically right. So you're involved in shank price with regard to the increase in expansion of services. Shank price is
representing the board in a Peterson in the Peterson case. Shank Price is also representing you personally in a school ethics complaint. Shank Price is listed in the public torque notice that they're on notice that they're going to be involved in a case which I think is
coming very soon. So I don't even know how they would represent us with that conflict. So, I have serious concerns about that with a conflict of interest and just the perception of it in the public. Um, we're talking about May here. So, I
don't I don't understand that. >> I'm just going to add that I agree and then I guess, you know, we kicked off the year talking about how to control legal expenses, not have a lawyer at the table, and then we're serving up people that are a higher cost per hour. So, it's just the questions are kind of
really rooted in where did it come from? We're setting ourselves up to spend more money despite what we've been done doing in the last couple months. So, it just feels inconsistent. >> I mean, I I remember last last year we had people in the audience with signs that literally made complaints about our
legal and you're asking us to increase our rates clearly probably moving a majority of the work to this person at to this law firm at an increased rate. So, how are we supporting decreasing our legal fees that way? >> And I also think it's a bad look, right?
And so, again, we could be in this predicament in a few weeks. Um, because this law firm, Shank Price, will not be able to represent us. So, I don't know why we would do that now. I don't know why I I would actually think we should table this because I don't think we've
worked out all the discrepancies with regard to where the rates came from and the things that you know Jessica maybe can share right your spreadsheet or whatever it is um to work that out because we don't have enough information. It seems very confusing to just barrel through with a vote right
now. >> So correct me if I'm wrong but Shank Price has been defending the district on that case for a while now. Right. It's not like we just gave them the case. >> I I don't think we should be talking
about litigation um in in public. Um I detailed, but I mean it's it's it's something that >> I mean it's something that needs to be raised, right? Because it it causes not just financial um concerns, but it's also I think a public trust and optic
concern as well. So I think that should be discussed. So I I certainly can can say that that Shank Price has gone through their due diligence process to make sure that they are not conflicted out of any of these matters. I will also
say that they are not counsel for me on any ethics complaints. So I I I'm not sure why you believe that they currently are. And I know that you and I have never had a conversation about that. So
inaccurate in that statement bills. >> That's all. I'm just going off the bills >> which >> yes I I are are is not the current situation. >> Okay. So if it changed that's good to know but that's that's all the information I have is what I saw in the
bills. >> I I understand but perhaps you could have I don't know asked that. Well again communication is helpful across. So, would you like to make a motion to table this? >> I think it would be a good idea to table
it until we reconcile all the information. So, I'll make a motion. >> Okay. Is there a second? >> I second. >> Okay. Can we have a vote on that motion? >> Yes. Dr. Halpern. >> Yes.
Miss Laccasta, >> yes. >> Miss Rothell, >> yes. >> Miss Santangelo, >> yes. >> Miss Wallace, >> no. >> Reverend Williams, >> no. >> Miss Bryce, >> yes.
>> Miss Gong, >> yes. >> And Miss Kellogg, >> no. So it's tabled >> six yes, three no. Uh motion's been tabled. >> Okay. >> So we will have action then after
>> Okay. So there will be action after executive session to revisit um this motion. >> I'll just say I mean so we're not going to have any are we going to have time to work that out? >> We we can have a discussion in executive
session. Um but my >> we can only table till >> yeah we can only table to the end of a meeting. >> I'm just trying to figure out right how are we supposed to uncover and reconcile all that information though question >> I mean Jessica has I guess a lot of
information to share but do we want to validate that? Do we want to look through it? I don't know. >> Again we'll we'll come back and vote on that motion up or down after executive session. >> Okay. Thank you. So, um, so is there any
other discussion or can we >> if I could just ask, um, it seems like you put a lot of time into it, which I appreciate because I know you take this role very seriously, all of you. Um, if you've gathered that information, I would have loved to have it in advance
so I could bring it to you all. You know, we could >> I will be honest, it literally was until I left my office today to go to the basketball game that I was putting it all together. But I I do agree and I'm happy to share it. >> Okay. Yeah. No, I would appreciate that. Thank you. >> Can I just ask like did this come up in
committee? Leslie, you're in that committee, right? Was it discussed at great length or >> um similar >> I think after the motion we actually can't continue this discussion. We're we're done until >> executive session or afterwards. So, I
think we now need to go back and vote on the other items under operations and transportation. >> So, roll call vote, please. >> And that's still with Vernon and we're still good. >> Yes.
>> Well, I think Yeah, it was moved. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Yes. >> Miss Losta, >> I've got a list. So yes for one based on the information Jessica shared I'm abstaining from
number two yes for three and four uh yes for five I'm skipping obviously number six and then yes for 7 through 11 >> um I am going to abstain on two
And I'm going to we're skipping six so I will accept the rest. Yes. >> So the rest are Yes. >> Yes. Sorry about that. >> Mrs. Santangelo. >> So I am Boy, this is confusing. Okay. So I'm
going to I'm going to say yes to everything. Six is off the table and abstain for number two. Miss Wallace. >> Yes. >> Reverend >> Williams. >> Yes.
>> Miss Bryce. On item J2, uh, check numbers 84734 and 84831. I will abstain because those are reimbursements to me for my fingerprinting and background check
respectively. And yes to all the other items, >> Miss B. >> Yes to everything except what was tabled. Um, yes, except for checks number 84827 and 84828 under item two.
Apologies. Can I ask a question? This is for um I guess my education is in terms of um appointing an attorney for
ethics. >> Um can the individual >> Oh, very good point. I should um I will abstain on number eight. Thank you for for that. Very good point. It was also for me understanding even in my role in the future.
>> No, I I appreciate that. Good catch. >> Okay. So, the person just so we're clear, right? So, the person who has an ethics complaint against them cannot vote for their attorney. Is that correct? I just want to clarify. >> Yes, that is correct. >> All right. Um, personnel committee, Miss
Gong, >> personnel has 22 action items that are recommended by the superintendent. While we have many standard personnel actions on the agenda, I'd like to highlight several key items. For item one, we have separations. There are three retirements, one resignation.
Uh William Brokhaw, 10 years of service, Linda Smith with 12 years of service, and Heather Spitzer with eight years of service. I'd like to wish these three well in their retirement and thank them for their dedication and service. I do read the letters submitted by those resigning and retiring. And to a person
so far this year, the letters are heartfelt and include words of gratitude for what these folks have experienced while working at the district. So, I'd like to highlight the retirement of Heather Spitzer, who has held the very important position of business administrator and board secretary. She
has worked for the district for eight years, handling responsibilities, ensuring that Hunton Central has maintained its fiscal integrity. and we just observed all the work she puts in for our budget preparation year after year. I'd like to wish Heather in the
next chapter of her um postunded in central life all good health and much deserved family time in her retirement. Uh and I believe that our HR director, Mr. Bailey, has begun the process of posting for this very key position. So, good luck, Heather. But you're with
us until June. Items 2 through eight include position change, a contractual salary change, appointments to an hourly position, a substitute position, after school security. Uh we talked, we heard a little bit about that with Mr. Brand's presentation, home instructors, and to a
six block stipen. Item nine lists 43 staff members for professional development and two board members. I will be abstaining on one of those items. Spring is here despite the snow. So we have for items 10 through 11 schedule D coaches and athletic
volunteers listed softball, baseball, golf. Welcome please. We have salary guide advancements and stipens for 12 and 13. Items 14 and 15 relate to our very important bus drivers. And continuing on, we have leaves of
absences. Um finally, and again I'd like to highlight that we have three student teachers who will observe our staff. two from TCJ and one from Rutgers. With that, I'd like to move items one through 22 for the personnel committee.
>> Is there a second? >> Second. >> Any discussion on any of the items? >> So, I just wanted to raise an issue with regard to um items five and seven. I guess apparently there was interim approval
initially regarding those um items and um I did not hear about those items at all and so I get received actually an email from Jessica Rothell asking me about it because I'm in the personnel committee and I did not get contacted on
those items. So again, I know I notified UD that I only want to receive board communication, which I think is completely acceptable and supports the guidelines that our superintendent recently distributed. I do not want to
use my personal devices for this and so I'm not sure why I wasn't contacted or notified or received an email about it. >> So you did receive an email. Um, we had a a conversation or I guess a back and forth with board the board attorney Kyle Trent. Um, specifically related to
interimm approvals and that was detailed out in that email that was sent to the entire board. Miss Kangalosi Hay is putting interimm approvals in her weekly reports now. They are not being um discussed with the board individually as she as she does them.
>> Okay. And so we will receive board email going forward. Correct. >> They they will be in the weekly report. phone or text. Correct. >> Correct. Not by phone or text. >> All right. >> Any other questions? >> All right. Um, roll call. Miss Spitzer.
Miss Lacosta. >> Yes. >> Miss Rothell, >> yes. >> Mrs. Santangelo, >> yes. >> Miss Wallace, >> yes. >> Reverend Williams, >> yes. >> Miss Bryce, >> yes. >> Miss Gong,
>> yes. except for um abstain on item number nine number 33 where I'm listed. >> Dr. Halpern. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Kellogg. >> Uh yes, except for item number nine um
number third item nine number 34 um where I'm listed. >> Thank you. All yes. Motion carries. Thank you. Sorry, too many pages in uh so so many pages in this section.
All right. Um is there any additional board Oh, wait. Policy Nikki, I'm sorry, Miss Bryce. Thank you. Um the policy committee met on February 9th. In attendance were Jessica Rothell, Vernon
Williams, Dellog, Jessica Canalosi, Hayade, and myself. Ed Brandt also joined for the beginning of the meeting to discuss regulation 5530, substance abuse. I'd like to thank all committee members and other board members who reached out for their thoughtful review.
The committee has nine items for approval on first reading. Uh number one is bylaw 0142.1 nepotism. It's been revised by Strauss Esme to reorganize the policy language. Uh number two, bylaw 0176,
collective bargaining and contract approval and ratification is added by recommendation of the superintendent. The board previously approved the revision of the nepotism of uh nepotism policy to align with the NJSBA version
which incorporated collective bargaining and thus the board had previously abolished bylaw 0176. Now that the board is considering the recommended Strauss Esme version of bylaw 0142.1 nepotism, we need to adopt a collective bargaining policy for
fiscal uh fiscal accountability. Number three, bylaw 0177 professional services is added by recommendation of the superintendent. The proposed revision to the Strauss Esme version seeks to balance administrative efficiency with transparency and
incorporates that the superintendent will notify the board prior to going out for RFP and ensure the board receives the vendor's proposal. Uh item four, policy 1220, employment of chief school administrator has been revised by
Strauss Esme to update the legal citations. Number five, policy and regulation 1552 sexual harassment staff is a new policy and regulation from Strauss Esme to ensure compliance with both title 7 and
title 9 complaints and investigations. Strauss Esme worked with the federal office of civil rights on this policy and regulation. As this is a new policy, Strauss Esme is recommending abolishment of the prior sexual harassment policies
and regulations 3362 and 4452 which you'll see on item L2 of this agenda. Uh number six, policy 2530 resource materials has been revised by Strauss Esme to clearly delineate between
library material and resource materials. Number seven, policy and regulation 2535. Library material is a new policy and regulation from Straussesme in response to New Jerseys freedom to read act. The policy addresses how library
material is curated and the regulation addresses how library material can be challenged and the process districts must follow for book challenges. Uh item 8, regulation 5530, substance abuse has been revised by district
administration as this is a regulation that is reviewed annually. The proposed version aligns with the current code of conduct and has been reviewed by the board attorney. Item nine, policy 9130, public complaints, has been revised by
Strauss Esme to remove any reference to library material as this is now addressed in the new policy and regulation 2535. Um, as I just mentioned, the committee has four items to abolish on first reading as these have been replaced by Strauss Esme's policy and regulation
1552, sexual harassment staff. Um those four policies and regulations for abolishment are uh policy 3362 sexual harassment regulation 3362 sexual harassment of teaching staff members
complaint procedure policy 4352 sexual harassment and uh regulation 4352 sexual harassment of support staff members complaint procedure and I'd like to make a motion to approve approve L1 and L2
and thank you for bearing with me through all that. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> Any discussion? >> So, I just wanted to I just wanted to comment on the tracking that we used last year. just briefly mentioned that
the sandbox that we used um there was some I guess inconsistencies around that but that was um instituted back when Alicia Danelloo was the lawyer and she approved that process right so that is a lawful process because essentially it's
kind of like a virtual committee meeting whereby um anybody that has access to that is has to go through it right and through the superintendent so I just want to make that clear if there was any misunderstandings about that. We used it for 2 years. We had zero issues with it.
If you choose to do something else, that's up to you, but I just wanted to make sure that we sought in our rights to do that. Um, and many districts do do it. Um, but again, if you want to choose to do something else, that's fine. Um, my other >> Could you say more about what the
sandbox was because I don't know. So the sandbox was a repository basically for all the policies that were discussed or things that we or policies we wanted to bring up and so we would put them in there and we would be able to comment on them, ask questions and and do almost like a a virtual committee meeting. So
it just made it >> so so a web- based place that we would go to as opposed to something coming to us through an agenda. >> Correct. And well this >> I don't know if I knew about that. >> Yeah, this wasn't for it was only for the committee members. That's probably why you didn't know. It was only for the policy
>> only people on policy could >> Yes. And so um there was just some discrepancy about it but we did go through legal to make sure that that was um appropriate and a legal way to uh sort of get more work done not just
meeting in person. So that's that. The other thing I wanted to just address was with regard to policy 2535. So, the policies related to the Freedom to Read Act and I respectfully ask that you consider adding language to the
regulation section two specifically that affirms the board's authority and responsibility to exercise oversight when curating materials for inclusion in the school library. The law permits such oversight and thoughtful review of materials. They should not be characterized as censorship or book
banning. These books remain widely available for purchase and are often accessible through public libraries. The question before us is not access in general, but whether materials are appropriate and of genuine educational value for minors within a school setting. So, just as an example, just to
give you an example of what I'm thinking about is the book, Let's Talk About It, right? It has its own disclaimer in there advising readers to seek medical guidance before attempting activities, including references to viewing pornographic material. And the suggestion that sexually transmitted
diseases are no biggie because they can be treated with medication is concerning to me. Many medications carry side effects and some sexually transmitted infections are not curable, only manageable. So presenting such issues in an overly casual manner risks minimizing
real health consequences. We already hear stories of psychosexual issues and kids simulating sex acts on one another. The very fact that these authors felt the need to put this disclaimer in the book underscores the potentially sensitive and complex nature of the
contact content. They are often brief and easily overlooked. It is unrealistic to expect adolesccents and young adults to consistently read and follow that guidance before acting on what they encounter in the book. We know that the teenage brain is still developing, particularly in areas related to impulse
control, risk assessment, and long-term decision-making. Adolescence are more vulnerable to acting impulsively and may lack the maturity to fully evaluate um potential consequences. So, for that reason, materials selected for school libraries should be carefully evaluated
to ensure they provide clear educational value and are developmentally appropriate. So in my view, this book and others like it do not meet that standard. So I would like to see an addition additional language to that regulation.
>> Um do you mind if I ask Lisa um you're talking about the regulation or the policy? The policy is really speaks more to like curating the materials that come in the library and then the regulation is more about materials that like how a material would be banned for lack of a
better word from the library. >> Again, right? I don't I I guess I take issue with I don't see it as a ban because I mean I bought the book off of Amazon, right? So, it's available. I'm just saying I think we should take a look at um evaluating it for its
educational value. That particular book is concerning to me because it has a very big disclaimer in there. Seek medical advice. What kid is going to do that? And and the stuff in there encouraging pornography when we know it's highly addictive and then the book says, well, if it's too much, just scale back. That's the thing like kids don't
do that on their own. >> Point of order. Are we evaluating the book now or you know >> my question was more I think I'm what I'm hearing you talk about is curating materials which is more the policy. The
reggg is about removing materials. Um and so if we can just like if you could summarize and you don't have to do it right now I don't want to put you on the spot suggestion. Yeah, for language that would be that I think that would be most helpful to us. >> Yes. >> Thank you.
>> Okay. >> And then the last thing, I'm sorry it's so long. Um is the professional services, right? So I would agree with Mrs. Peterson's um take on these on this policy. So, the reason why we did this policy and we did work with Kyle on this
is because of the RFP process that we went through uh during the whole care plus thing and there was a lot of um I guess the process for including the board was not there. And so again, you're the whole point of professional
services is you're seeking approval for something that you are saying you can't do inhouse. And so there's a fact determination that needs to be made and um an RFP process that can follow. And with that is we would get the opportunity to actually just like we did
with legal interview, see presentations and really assess the situation, right? Especially if it's it's a large expenditure of several hundred. So I think um and and again the red line issue is the policy that we approved was in
November of 2025. That's the policy that version that we should be using. And again, I think a bylaw which is in so my other concern is so the bylaw is owned by the board right and so if the superintendent is recommending that it really the ownership is uh is with the
board the board is the policymaking body right we ensure that the school is run well and so that's our component of it but it seems like now it's it's venturing off into the administrative world and I think that's blurring lines and I think that's problematic um and again it is removing
the transparency that we just put in under legal guidance. So, I'm I'm very concerned about that. >> So, I I did have a conversation with board counsel about this. Um the feedback that I got was that he didn't
have a memory of reviewing this previously. Um I don't think I I think we it's emails between you and him have been requested. I don't believe that they've been provided. Um but his his understanding was that we were using the
standard Strauss Esme language um and that the vast majority of districts used the standard Strauss Esme language. Um so that what we had was particularly unique. Um
so I I I don't know if you have anything you wanted to add. >> I just want to say I think I shared with Nikki, right? It was like September 5th or something. I sent Kyle that policy to take a look at in my that's one of the emails and I have it in my notes when I email him and we had discussion because
I had to validate that on the legal bills. Um I have notes of discussion with him. So again, I don't know what information you gave him and then he spoke off of that, but we had discussions about this to ensure that it was legally okay to do. And the reason why it came up is we identified a gap
with regard to transparency. And we wanted to close that gap because I think when we do things like that, it just strengthens both relationships, right? The board and the district. But if one doesn't know what the other one is doing or we're asked to approve something at
such a high expenditure last minute and we don't have the proper information, which was the case of what happened last year, um this would prevent that from happening. So, >> well, you know, I was on last year and as Mrs. Rothell has done a deep dive on
bills, I also did a deep dive in bills um last year. And so, one of the things that I thought was interesting was that I didn't see any bills from Appraise or Kyle related to policy questions. So if he did go through that particular
policy, we should actually look and see that he actually build a district for that because I didn't see any time allotted for that. >> So it might have been under governance perhaps. Um I'm not sure how he labeled it, but >> yeah, most of his bills >> and we have emails back from him that
actually comment on some of the portions of the policy. So, I mean, >> and again, those would be great to share with the policy committee. >> And just to confirm, Lisa, thank you. You had mentioned um that you mentioned to me sending the email to Kyle about
that um policy 01 or bylaw 0177 in September of last year. Um I understand that. I don't know what his response was. Anything from he reviewed it, he's on board with it. He no response. He didn't review it. He had other
suggestions. So, in response to the September 7th, 2025 email that you sent to Kyle, his response to that, if that is communication that you can share, that would be very helpful, I think.
>> So, we had a verbal conversation as a follow-up and then that was shared with the policy chair um to just approve all the changes that we had proposed. So that's the way the process went. I mean, I'm sure Kyle
can verify that. So I'm just going to follow up a little bit on the transparency part. We got a lot of push back last year on the fact that the board was not considered to be transparent and we are now taking out verbiage that makes us transparent and
I'm also slightly concerned or wondering how the change is admin driven rather than board driven. Um and then I also just have a question for clarification. So for full
understanding, if we approve this on first read and we realize that we want to make changes, it goes back to first read. >> Like how does this work? >> That was something I was going to point out. Um and I know we did discuss transparency. So one of the things I'm
trying to do, I make recommendations, right? But you are the policymaking body. So it's your decision ultimately. um looking at policies, bylaws, regulations that were significantly edited last year or frankly before then. And you're going to see that in future
meetings, there's a lot of homegrown things that we don't need. So my goal is to ensure that we're legally compliant and legally protected. So going back to the stress SMA versions now when we were in policy committee we did talk about
transparency and I know you had brought up you know you want to make sure the board is notified um and so we put that language in there. You wanted to make sure we received the accompanying documentation when I spoke with Mr. Trent um about this. He didn't recall
prior conversations, but what he he gave me that specific language if you recall specifically that I would notify before the RFP and that um in I think we had used the word documentation in the committee and he said no you should go
for the um actual vendor proposal. So that's what we changed the language to be. Now you bring up a good point and that's what I was going to bring up here. If there are questions between, if it's a small change, it can still go to second read. If it's something more significant, it will go back to first read.
And I we've did that a couple times last year. >> So, are we suggesting that if we just because this is my first time on policy, um that we do approve it as first read and we go to our committee meeting in March, we're redising it.
>> Yeah, we can. We can. Yes. Just want to add one more thing too with regard to the professional services. The other conversation um that Kyle and I had and he shared um documents was the maximum budgeted amounts, right? That also coordinated with that piece. And so
by law, the board is supposed to know what the maximum budgeted amount is. And so a lot of districts and Kyle shared this was that they'll say, you know, legal services X, right? Or mental health services X. And we should know what that is because if you're asking us
to approve it, how would we know if it's even budgeted or how do we know it's not above the maximum budgeted amount? So by law, right, and that's in the So that's the other thing, right? If you take out some of that information, there's statute in there, but not everybody knows what it is. And so if you get new
members or a new board, it's like they're not going to know to ask for that, right? So if it's clearly stated, it's transparent. So I don't know what the downside would be to have that verbiage in there because it's just very clear right what you're expect we need a fact determination we need to know what
the back maximum number amount uh budgeted amount is and we need to know um supporting information right and we can do that through an RFP process so I'm not sure what the downside is to taking that information >> yep well Mr. Trent is going to be
joining us in executive session. Um, and the board certainly can ask him all of these legal questions. >> And so why I suggested he we meet with him prior to this is because we're asked to be to vote on this, right? And so it would have been nice to clarify that before we're now asked to vote for it.
So I don't know if we want to table this until that conversation and have a conversation with him. >> You're again welcome to make that motion if you'd like to. So, I'll make a motion to table
professional services until after executive session. Can I get a second? >> Second. >> Second. >> Yeah, we're getting close. >> Which which one? >> Okay. Uh,
number three. Thank you. Yes, please. Miss Rothell, >> this is a motion to table. Sorry. To be clear, I was >> Yes. Thank you, >> Mrs. Santangelo. >> Yes, >> Miss Wallace. >> Yes.
>> Reverend Williams. No, >> Miss Bryce. >> No, >> Miss Gong. >> No, >> Dr. Halpern. >> Yes, >> Miss Lacosta. >> Yes. >> And Miss Kellogg? >> No.
I have five. Yes. Motion to table is approved. >> Okay. I think >> so. We will have action on that after executive session as well. Is are there any other comments before we move on to voting on the rest of the items?
>> Can I just add one more thing? Um you said something about the homegrown language and this just reminded me of something that um New Jersey school boards association said during the new board member orientation weekend which I
attended last month. Um I think Reverend Williams and uh Miss Wallace just attended this past weekend. Um, and when they talked about school policy, they said homegrown language is allowed,
but it's not necessarily encouraged or they suggest at least limiting it because the more homegrown language that you have, the more risk there is that you are not compliant with
the law and that homegrown language can just potentially open the district to additional risk and additional liability. So, just I just want to make mention of that because this is one of those bylaws where it looks like there
is some homegrown language that was added last year and now we're proposing mostly to go back to the Strauss Esme language with the couple of additional
caveats that we worked out um after discussion in committee and hearing. from board members and working with the board council as well. >> So just to be clear, right? So I agree with that and we should use it prudently
and we did and and that is why we sought legal advice because we're not lawyers, right? And we want to make sure it's it's within those parameters. And again, so sometimes that is the case when there's exposure or a liability. And so when something isn't being followed or
clear um that enhanced policy and that language could help the district, right? And so and to guide it in terms of what information they are to provide to the board when they're seeking external services. So in this case, it actually helped not hurt the district by
expanding that language a little bit per the legal guidance. Great. >> Any other comments? Go for it, Miss Rothell. >> I'm hoping I have a can of worms here, but um so not to put my vote before my
vote, but I still have a lot of concerns with our substance abuse policy. I we had a very lengthy discussion at committee. I sent a few more emails. Um I'm still feeling like we need to work on it a little bit. And I'm maybe some
of it is mostly from the perspective of a parent. Um but I think that's the perspective we should probably be looking at a little bit more closely. Um so that's my thoughts on that and and I guess just to add to that um
like was the committee will discuss what's for first and second read. That's always on the committee agenda. So um there there certainly is the opportunity to have additional discussion in committee. Any other?
Okay. Roll call. Miss Spitzer. Miss Rothal. >> This is going to be confusing. Okay. Um I am going to vote no on six,
seven, and eight. We've tabled three and yes on everything else. >> Okay, I'm gonna have to do it off of this. >> So, please say that again. No on
>> um six, seven, and eight. We've tabled three. And yes on everything else. >> Mrs. Santangelo. >> Can I say ditto or no? >> I'll say I think I got it. No to six,
seven, and eight. We tabled three and yes to everything else. You >> Miss Wallace. >> Yes. >> Reverend Williams. >> Yes to all. We table three. Miss Price.
>> Yes. With the tableabling of three. >> Miss Gone. >> Yes, except for the item that we tabled. >> Dr. Halpern. >> Yes to everything except what we tabled which was number three. >> Miss Lacosta.
No for 678. Yes to everything else except for table number three. >> And Miss Kellogg, >> uh, yes to everything except the item we tabled. >> And is L2 yeses for everybody? I
>> Yes. >> Thank you. >> All right. Is there any uh are there any committee or liaison reports? I have a a few things. Um, as the
representative to the Hunter County School Boards Association, uh, at the end of January, there was a virtual meeting that I attended. The topic was HIB and mental health supporting safe and healthy schools. Um,
actually, Miss Gong and Dr. Halpern were at that same virtual meeting as well. So, please feel free to add if you have anything else, but I'll just say I thought it was a good overview of um key legal considerations and protocols um related to addressing mental health
needs of students that are involved in HIP incidents. Um and there was a good discussion of proactive practices as well. Um, and one of the other things I've learned from New Jersey School Boards Associations is a lot of the
county meetings are virtual and so they encourage attending other county meetings outside of your own county. Um, if there's a topic of interest or that's relevant. So, actually, I just attended a virtual meeting last night, the uh
Hudson County uh school boards association, and that topic was schoolboard policy essentials, a guide to policy, regulation, and oversight. Thought that would be uh quite helpful. Yes. Um and that was it was a great
presentation of the board's role in policy. Um they covered what effective policies accomplish, some best practices, um focusing on student achievement, and just a a good reminder to macromanage and not micromanage.
Um and then I'm also the representative for Central's parent engagement committee and the last meeting was on February 11th. There were about seven parents in attendance. Um it was led by principal Brandt and our communications
officer Marin Smaggala was there as well. And as a group we reviewed the um latest draft of the questions and the prompts of the parent version of the climate and culture survey. Um there's
about 35 questions and prompts that the group reviewed. We did it as a large group. Um, they're all organized by the themes of school environment, communication, learning environment, and wellness. Um, and there's a handful of
open-ended prompts on there as well. Um, they're all aligned with the four district goals and then an additional uh, goal or category of respect. And the group discussed whether to keep, remove,
or edit um, on each of the line items. and uh we discussed uh meeting topics for upcoming meetings for the remainder of the year for parent engagement committee. Um I'll put a plug in for the group. The next meeting is March 25th
and uh the topic for that meeting is to process the survey results from that climate and culture survey. um do some goal setting, have a general session, and then as requested by the attendees of the February meeting, just based on
the discussion that was had um we're planning for a presentation by prevention resources as well. So, the more parents and guardians that attend that group, the better, I think. So, that's it. Thank you.
>> Nikki, can I ask you a quick question? How many how many parents were there? or is this did you mention >> that was uh there were about seven there that I um I was just trying to think back and count so plus or minus and I've been attending these meetings for
probably two years now just as a parent myself and there have been some meetings where there's been three parents in the room. There's been others where there's been 15. So, it really varies, I think, maybe depending on the topic or the time
of year, what um what things people have going on, but um like any other group meeting like that, I think the more participants just the more valuable the whole thing is. >> Yep. Any other um committee or leazison
reports? I just wanted to thank Nikki for reminding me about that HIV um course because it seems like months ago, but it was really only January. But one of the things that they emphasized was actually
working with student leaders uh in terms of the issues that one has in a high school. And uh you know, I think we're trying to do that with our two student reps. So that was that was a good session. All right. I think we've talked a lot
about additional board business and had identified things to go back to committees, but is there anything else that that anyone would like to have the committees consider? >> I would actually like to make a motion for the board to seek a neutral independent liability analysis in the
matter coming to trial in March that was discussed in executive session for on February 17th. Can I get a second? I'll second that. >> Thank you. >> I I know that there's limited discussion that can happen in public related to
that. Um would we can either vote or we can vote to table that until after executive session. >> I would like to see it go to a vote. We've already discussed it at length in
executive on numerous times, many emails back and forth. So, I think I personally would like to see a vote. >> Okay. >> Mrs. Spitzer. >> Miss Rothell, >> yes. >> Miss Santangelo, >> yes.
>> Miss Wallace, >> no. >> Reverend Williams, >> no. >> Miss Bryce, >> no. >> Miss Gong, >> no. >> Dr. Halpern, >> no. >> Miss Lacosta, >> yes. >> Miss Kellock, >> no.
>> Motion fails. Okay. So, I think with that we move into our last residence forum. This is for any topic that anyone would like to discuss and as we get the timer um we're asking
>> I'm sorry to interrupt you. Do we have board comments or no? >> Uh board comments comes after uh >> after public. >> Yes. >> Oh, okay. >> At least that's what it says on my agenda. So am I am I missing something? >> Okay. >> Okay. >> Sorry. >> Okay. Um so um members of the public are
invited to speak. You have five minutes. Uh Miss Kangalissi Hade will set a timer. Um >> I was going to say if you can't see it, she'll wave at you. Uh please, you know, share your name. Please sign in. What's >> Oh, maybe.
>> There you go. Thank you. >> Give it the best try I can right now. Please go ahead and sign in and we'll uh we'll get it get it going for you. >> It's a lot of pressure. It's not I'm not terribly long. >> There should be a um Yep. >> Okay. You got it.
>> Yes. So, my name is Leah Klene. I am a Flemington Burough resident. I am also a teacher at one of the ascending districts. And um I came here tonight specifically to congratulate one of your staff members to let you know a great thing that's happening in this school
environment. I wanted to speak to um one she's gone I think uh one of the special ed teachers um who's literally one of the most amazing people um I am done my six years in June at not my personal mine were four I did not take six years
to get through central um my children my family has been here for the last six years and received the most phenomenal education for both of my completely different children um I have one who is at King's College right now and took
advantage of all of the science and opportunities that you had here. He was an he was an athlete. He got so much out of it. And when my second child came, he's a very different student. He ta he was definitely in need of some of the
other supports for mental health services and other things. He's in your special ed department. And I was not prepared for the amazingness. I mean, I knew people would love him, right? You because they're teachers and I'm a teacher and I love my kids. Um,
but I was not prepared for the absolute diligence and the the way that coach Josh Cassella, who teaches my son language arts, but also as a wrestling coach, the absolute dedication to the students of this
district that he has. He mentors them in the summer when they competed at his own time, on his own dime. he would come and coach them all while waiting to see if he even had a like a coaching job. Like I cannot say enough about his dedication to your students and how lucky you are
to have him. So just on behalf of a family, thank you for the work that you're doing. Thank you for the opportunities that you're providing our students. Um my son had 19 credits and he's a I don't mean to generalist. He's
a boy. So like a lot of the things like that he could there was probably a hundred things that he was just like yeah could take advantage of that. Um because that's him but he went with 19 credits. He's so far ahead of the game and what it has allowed him to do and what your college and career Jen
Nectarline did really um solidified his ability to make good choices academically. your kids. I I think the young people that we hear referenced how your classes like very much model a college experience. That is exactly what we found. Um I know that he's taken his
anatomy binders and his other things to college with him because he's a nursing major. Um and everything that he got out of your school was phenomenal. But when I see my next child coming through, I almost feel like he got more. like he got the things that I worry when kids
move from elementary to high school whether they'll get he got in spades and I and I I also see my former students I know them still he coach Cassella is mentoring so many kids just deserve so much congratulations and thanks. So, on
behalf of parents, thank you so much for all you do and thank you for your staff. >> And I didn't fill this out ahead of time. >> That's why we do it, right? >> Exactly. >> That's right. >> Thank you. >> Basketball, by the way, wrestling is on
your team. We'll make sure it's nice and clean for you when we're done. Okay. Uh, Rachel White, Ryan Township. First, I want to thank you for doing this. Uh, it's good to be able to kind of see what the process is. That's definitely been helpful. Um, so heading
into this school year, uh, the previous board of ed voted not to renew its contract with Care Plus for tier three support services, citing fiscal responsibility. This was done despite the superintendent's clear warning that the district would still need to secure those services elsewhere. At the time,
unresolved contract issues tied to grant-f funded tier 2 services resulted in the loss of two fully funded on-site mental health counselors through the Department of Children and Families. So, that's two counselors in our school at no cost to the district taxpayers that
are gone. At one meeting, the board turned the microphone off on a parent who was sharing that these programs were the only lifeline available when their child was at risk of suicide whose local counseling centers had no openings. These decisions were made just before the start of the school year, leaving
many students without critical support and the entire student body without a functioning tiered system to identify and address students in need. With fewer counselors on site, there are simply fewer trained professionals available to identify students who may be struggling quietly, the ones who don't raise their
hands, who don't cause disruptions, and who can easily fly under the radar until a situation becomes urgent. What does this look like in practice? So instead of immediate on-site risk assessments, staff now wait with students until someone from High Focus arrives. In some cases, families must remove students
from school for services. After hours counseling is not available through Care Plus, and coordination with outside providers, which was also handled by Care Plus, now falls on already stretched school staff. The services we lost supported Aspire students, students with IEPs, and
students with other significant support needs. Some students now require out of district placements, taking them away from their friends and community because we can no longer meet their needs. Now, let's talk about cost. From September through February, the board approved a little over $672,000
in general education out of district placements. If only three of those placements resulted from the loss of these services at $62,000 each, that's $186,000 of that total. Add the social worker position, which with benefits is
probably about $110,000, and we're already at roughly $296,000. That exceeds the $278,512 in annual funding that would have it would have cost to have Care Plus, and
that does not include what we're paying high focus. The bottom line is we have fewer counselors on site, fewer services available, and no clear savings for taxpayers. In fact, it appears that we're spending more. If fiscal responsibility was the justification,
the outcome does not reflect it, and it certainly does not reflect our ethical responsibility to students. I ask that the board reconsider Care Plus and the grant funds from DCF that cover the counselors on site at no additional cost
to the taxpayers. Thank you. Good evening. Scott Cohen, Raron Township. Uh there's actually two things I want to talk about. One is policy 2535. I strongly suggest this board and administration pay careful attention to
this as it moves forward in first and second readings. This was exactly the policy that Readington, one of our sending districts, just confronted with second read at their board of ed meeting two weeks ago. The union president
representing the staff was adamantly opposed to the changing of the language that supports the freedom of read freedom to read act. Let's let the media specialists and librarians do their job. That's what they're hired for. That's
their expertise. The Freedom to Read Act defines what's required. the librarians and and media specialists have the expertise and are qualified personnel and are already going through the processes that are
already defined. So, please, if you're going to move forward with any language modifications, consult your staff, get input from the team, and make sure their voices are heard. Our librarians and media specialists play a vital and
critical role to our students. So, that's item one. Item two, this school does a phenomenal job with special education. I know my daughter was a recipient of the Equips program and the Achieve program and we wouldn't have wanted her
to go anywhere else other than Hunton Central for these services. As a statewide disability advocate for over 20 years, I would strongly encourage the district, as you have in the past, when you've seen needs for
inclusive education like the ABA program and other things that have been instituted, that you continue to look and press and challenge yourselves on the spend for out of district placement. Because just like in school suspension where we're looking to keep our kids in
our community with other students that are neurodeiverse, we want to keep our kids here. The the richness of what this school offers versus the cost of sending students out of district is night and day when you look at staffing and
supports that can be provided. So I would just ask that we continue to challenge ourselves at looking at those out of district placement costs and what we can do to provide the opportunities that we afford to so many of our other students. Thank you.
I'm not going to write my name again. I don't have to. Right. We're good. Okay. Rebecca Peterson, Raron Township. I raised concerns last month about the vape searches and uh the the numbers. I opened the school search records and it's not good. Um vaping is a real
concern, but the district's response to these vape sensor alerts has created an even bigger problem in my opinion. One that affects students who have done nothing wrong. And the issue is not just the sensors. The issue is what happens when the students to the students when a sensor
goes off and what the district's own data reveals about that response. Over the past three years, actually two and a half years, vape sensor alerts have led to 396 student searches in this district. Only 45 of those vape searches
found contraband related to vape. 45 out of 396 searches. That means nearly 89% of students searched after a sensor alert were found with nothing. In contrast, when searches are initiated based on teacher observation and
individualized suspicion, the results are very different. Suspicion-based searches have a success rate of roughly 34%. Which is about three times higher than the sensor triggered searches. That contrast matters. We have well-trained teachers and staff. They are observant,
responsive, and capable of articulating when something is off with the student. Teacher observation and suspicion is individualized. It's based on behavior, odor, or visible evidence, the kinds of specific indicators that the law contemplates when allowing student searches. A vape sensor, by contrast,
identifies a location. It detects particle particles in the air. It can't identify a specific student. It cannot indicate possession, and it cannot tell when a substance was used. Yet, when the sensor fires, students in the vicinity are routinely removed from
class and learning time, questioned, and searched, their persons, their backpacks, and their belongings. If the search finds nothing, the process does not end. Students are sent to the nurse for a vitals check, a health assessment intended to detect possible
substance use, even though no individualized signs of impairment were observed. and the search itself found nothing. A clean search should resolve suspicion. Instead, it triggers another investigative step. The district's own written records use the phrase search
clean vitals back to class. This raises an important question. If the search eliminates the basis for suspicion, what medical basis remains for a substance related health assessment? If there was a genuine concern of or suspicion of impairment, then a medical assessment
would come first, not after a search. The impact that this is having on students is not abstract. There's a quieter consequence that we've been trying to raise the alarm on for a while. Students report avoiding bathrooms altogether because of the fear of being caught up in a search when a
sensor activates. When students feel that they can't use the restroom safely during the school day, that becomes a health concern, not a disciplinary one. Policies intended to deter vaping should not create conditions that discourage basic bodily needs or make students feel
that ordinary behaviors could subject them to an investigation. And for one subset of students, the consequences are even more serious. When a vape alert occurs in a single occupancy bathroom, some students, even
after a clean search and even after they have normal vitals, have been sent out of school to obtain a medical clearance. That means a parent must pull a child from the school midday, arrange and pay for a doctor's appointment, and the student loses an additional instruction
time all because they were in the bathroom. That has happened to 23 students in the last two and a half years. And I'll remind you that there were only 45 searches that resulted in finding anything. 23 searches resulted in unauthorized clearance requirements. To send a child
out for medical clearance, you have to have reasonable suspicion to believe that that student is under the influence. And that is physical. That is not just they were in the bathroom when a ver a search a vape went off. These are students for whom no contraband was
found, no signs of appear of impairment were documented, and no individualized suspicion existed beyond their presence in the bathroom. Deterrence is a legitimate goal, but deterrence does not suspend constitutional protections, medical privacy standards, or the requirement for individualized
suspicion. So, I'm asking the board to take concrete steps. First, review your policies, regulations, code of conduct. Second, the protocols for what happens when a sensor activates must be written down, made public, and approved by this board. Not an informal chain of events
that varies by administrator or by day. A written protocol publicly available the parents can read and understand themselves before they walk into it. And third, there has to be a written record for suspicion for sending a student out for a clearance or a drug test. Thank
you. Anybody else? >> Uh, Ever Brandt, uh, principal. Um, just a public shout out and thank you to the operations department and transportation for the amazing work over the last few months. It's been a
difficult winter and I'm not jinxing it at all. Um, that they probably are going to be needed again. Um, but they it's been amazing. Um, and even, you know, being able to get here on campus, you know, on time and just seeing it's so clear in so many spaces um, in so many
places. Um, they've been amazing. And same thing with the bus. Um they've been amazing getting their buses ready to go um out out there and um all the kids here safe. So I just want to pass that on to you and say thank you very much for your support of them. Thanks.
Any other public comment? If not, I will close public comment and ask if there are any board comments this evening. I have board comments. Um, so I I took a lot of notes. Uh, at the January uh 5th meeting, I out of respect
um of our superintendent um and a statement that she made decided not to speak. Um however based on some subsequent interactions and business processes I think it's important um in the interest of transparency to share my
concerns publicly. Um first I have concerns regarding board governance and collaboration. We're not operating in a manner that reflects improved governance. We're not doing better. Leadership requires inclusion, transparency, and collaboration. This
year's committee assignments and meeting schedule were conducted without full involvement of all board members as they have been done in the past. In addition, last minute changes to the January 12th meeting disrupted preparation and and undermined effective governance. These
patterns do not reflect a collaborative or organized approach. I have also observed instances where our current committee chairs in their defense they are new have provided inconsistent and I might say inaccurate information when responding to questions. When responses to board
questions are inconsistent, it singles a lack of independent review and due diligence. As elected officials, it's our responsibility to verify information to ensure that information shared publicly and internally is accurate and well researched.
Regarding board comments, our board super board president feels communicating via personal text or phone calls to board members is an appropriate method of board business communications. I was actually told if I only wanted my emails my communication in email, I may
not get it in a timely manner. I believe we must adhere strictly to both the spirit and letter of our policies. Our board handbook states that members should not use personal email accounts for district related business. I believe this guidance should extend to other forms of personal communication,
including text messages and phone calls when conducting board business. Transparency and compliance with OPER requirements are essential to maintaining public trust, and our communication method should reflect that commitment. I also want to address concerns regarding tone and communications and behavior in public.
Tone can be subjective and often depends on interpretation, usually by the reader. Asking questions fulfills our duty as board members to seek clarification and ensure informed decision-making. Healthy governance includes respectful questioning and open dialogue. I believe all board members
should feel empowered to ask questions without concern that their communication style will be characterized in a negative light. No board president has unilateral authority to dictate how elected members communicates with administration or the board so long as that communication remains professional.
Lastly, our board president approached me at a sporting event, not once but twice, and quite directly told me to go and speak to staff and administration that were in attendance. Not sure why, as in terms of board ms, that would be highly inappropriate. And if you were
suggesting that I be cordial, that is wildly condescending, to advise one adult of how to act with another. I have always been capable of proceeding with appropriate pleasantries with school staff at any event I see them at. Collegiality is demonstrated through mutual respect and inclusion. If you're
serious about doing better, then your actions must reflect those principles. We are an academic institution and our focus must return to asking one essential question. How does this support our students? Our responsibility is to serve students and the district,
not to control narratives or consolidate authority. And to end on a lighter note, um I want to echo Mr. Brandt in terms of um getting the school ready for everyone to be back on Tuesday. I think it there was a lot a lot of schools delayed and
we were able to get going. So that's great because I want my kids here. And just another shout out, come to the get basketball game on Saturday. >> Any other board comments? I also have board comments. I wanted to address what I've been
seeing as a concerning shift in board culture and focus. Too often, energy is directed towards individual board members rather than on district priorities and most importantly student outcomes. When attention is spent challenging colleagues who are focused
on governance, time and resources, we are diverting from the work we were elected to do, ensuring the district serves its students effectively. Our role is to provide oversight and set policy. Administration implements those policies. Strong governance depends on
maintaining that distinction. If the administration begins making its own rules and the board defers those actions without review, we undermine the very oversight role we are tasked with. This is not micromanaging and not about questioning motives. It is about ensuring that the board fulfills its
legal and ethical responsibilities. Last year when we exercised proper oversight, we identified and addressed critical gaps that were not serving students well. That work was transparent, productive, and student centered. There is still more work to do, but our current focus on internal disputes
rather than strategic priorities risk repeating the same mistakes and ultimately harm students. We have heard directly from students about concerns regarding bathrooms, school climate, and the impact of policies on their daily lives. Some students report avoiding restrooms out of fear of being in a
bathroom with someone who is vaping and being searched for simply needing to use the bathroom. And survey feedback reflects real health and comfort concerns, which by the way, I have been told by numerous parents that their ninth graders are also not using the
bathrooms. And it is not because they can't locate them, but it's because they are intentionally avoiding them. And this is a very dangerous pattern. When these issues are raised, they deserve thoughtful review, collaboration, and action, not resistance. Academics must remain our top strategy, sorry,
strategic priority. We've seen declines in English language arts, algebra 1, below state averages, alongside long-term trends of declining enrollment and rising budgets. These indicators demand solution focused attention, not personal attacks. The only thing personal to me is the well-being and
future of our students. Thank you. Anyone else? >> I know that um you know now that we have board comments that I wasn't actually prepared to make board comments of all people. Um but you know I sit here and uh I won't actually criticize today's
meeting. You know I actually think it was helpful because we all had a chance to say something if you wanted to say something whatever was on your mind. Um, you know, I could say the past is the past and you're right, we have in our hands the future of this district and
the future of the students in this school. And so I hope we hold on to that and think about that. I just have to say um last year when members of the board wanted to ask a question that we were shut down. We were told send an email.
So I actually think while the conversation is not always pleasant at the board meetings that we are at least speaking out. Thank you. >> I did prepare some board comments but um they're on a much different matter. Um,
I'll just say as a new board member, I've been trying to experience various and additional aspects of the school and our students and trying to attend different things and uh, show support of
our students in different ways. And um so I just reflected on the last month since our last board meeting and um I kind of noticed like the uh two student reps said during their midyear presentation
um they're trying to represent all students. They themselves are not athletes and so they kind of rely on their friends to get those sports updates. Um my kids are not athletes either. We're a fine arts family, but um
I reflected back and I just want to give some shoutouts to the phenomenal work that I have seen from our students in this past month. Um the entire gallery at the Hunteran County headquarters
library was filled with work from um our fine arts students studying under seven of our fine arts teachers. Um there were drawings and paintings and digital photography and ceramics and upcycled
jewelry and just how exciting for these kids to have their passion and their talent and their hard work and these creations displayed in such a public space. So that was really cool to see
them. Um and then there were um six of our students. I know it's a much smaller number um but their work was selected to be displayed at the um historic Phillips Mill in New Hope, Pennsylvania, the uh
youth art exhibition. I think this may have been done completely under uh Mrs. Rudy, the art teacher, or at least some of her students. Um but I dragged my family out
and we spent an afternoon. We went and saw there were um 25 schools that exhibited works including Hunter and Central and like I said it was half a dozen of our students and two of them were actually awarded second place in um
their respective categories. One was works on paper and one was digital art. So congratulations to those two students. I think that's really incredible accomplishments. Um, on the music side, February 1st, it
was kind of a back-to-back um, crossing the state going to Monroe Township High School where we had eight of our students that were selected um, after a highly competitive audition process for um, the Central Jersey Music
Educators Association, their uh, region 2 choir. Our students were in a treble choir and a mixed choir and um their performance was so moving. They I mean I'm kind of I cry at all these
things anyway because I'm just it doesn't even have to be my kids. I'm so proud of all the kids and the hard work that they put in. Um but I just thought that the the music that they sang was particularly moving. So congratulations to those eight students. Um then it was
immediately over to TCJ where they had a brass summit. Four of our students were there. Um I know there were freshman through seniors and since it was a brass summit um they were on trumpet, trombone, French horn, at least
our students that I I knew and I saw there and they had this full day of working with professionals at the college. um they performed for each other, they rehearsed with each other, and then they performed a public concert at the end. Um, and then the last thing
on the the music front on um I guess it was a couple Fridays ago, our jazz ensemble um participated in the Bridgewater Ritton Jazz Festival and it's either the first time our jazz
group has participated in a competition like that or the first time in a very long time. I I mean none of those students um have had that kind of opportunity. None of our current students and that was really really exciting for them. Um they got a silver
rating. They were awarded outstanding rhythm section and one of our drummers won um an outstanding rhythm soloist award. So congratulations to our jazz musicians as well. And then um one more thing. I'm sorry I feel like I'm talking
a lot tonight. Um I just happened early in February I happened to catch the senior ceremony at um after a fencing tournament and um I don't have fencers but we have a lot of um friends that are
fencers and it was really cool. It was really uplifting to see all of the fencers from all grades supporting these seniors. And they did this cool thing where they took all their swords and they kind of created this arch and all
the seniors ran through one at a time as Jesse Spencer announced them and their accomplishments over the years, their involvement in fencing, what their plans are post when they graduate. Um, and I just
thought it was a really nice event for those fencing seniors. So, just some public shoutouts. Can I do a You might not like me doing this shout out, but um I'm going to do it anyway. Uh, Miss Candalucihade,
Mr. Brandt. I don't know where he went. um our football coach, our flag football coach, and our freshman um girls basketball coaches are going to play against the Wizards on Tuesday as a
fundraiser for a scholarship that is given out every year here at Central. So, uh they raise a lot of money. Get your tickets and come watch >> your tickets. Keep your your >> keep your hopes in check and your
realities expectations of me low. I told them, don't pass me the ball. >> It's just supposed to be great fun. Now, I do have to put a little caveat. If the girls win Saturday, I'm out because I play again Tuesday. I was going to say just to wrap up, I
would like like to say how much I appreciate everyone for sitting here for all of this time um and the staff for all of the information. I think the bud for me the budget um presentation was incredibly useful and I thought the information you guys put together was
amazing. And I also want to say how incredibly um honored I am to have gotten to work with Mrs. Spitzer for as many years as I have. Um the work that you do, the work that your team does is extraordinary and and the way you have
kept our um district fiscally responsible. Um you will be incredibly missed. I know we get to keep you until June and we're going to hold on as tight as we can. Um but um again, thank you very very very much for everything you've done
and I was going to say and with that >> you think okay um we are going to I need a motion to move into executive session. We will be discussing um HIP cases and pending litigation and
there will be action >> attorney client privilege. You should have >> an attorney client privilege and there will be action taken after executive session. So we think it'll be about 90 minutes says Miss Kangallosi Hade. >> Motion to adjourn to executive session.
Second. >> All in favor? I. >> Any opposed? Okay. All right. Who are we missing? >> Um, can I have a motion to return to public session? >> Motion. >> Oh, we did that already. Okay,
>> we did. All right, >> we're good. >> Never mind. >> Okay, so we have two motions that were tabled. Um, let me find them. to amend the agreement between shank and
>> okay77 professional services. >> Thank you. So do I have a motion to bring um is it J6 up for a vote?
>> So would someone move item J6? >> So move. >> So move. >> Is there a second? >> Can I just ask a question because I'm confused. What if we wanted to suggest to put it back in committee? What would we do? >> So, I think we make the motion and second it and then again you have the
chance to have a discussion where you can recommend sending it back to committee. >> Okay. >> But I believe that to do that we would have to vote it down for then to it to go back to committee because there's really no way to get it there without that. So
>> J6 J6 >> So J6 is um expanding the services for shank price. >> Okay, that's J6. >> So Vernon, >> I don't think we got a second. >> Yeah, >> I think Sandra second.
>> So are contra So can we talk now? >> Yeah. >> Okay. So contracts are they are they typically expanded or is it usually just a general thing because you know when we when we were when we didn't have a board counsel
and Matt was already our attorney for other things um that scope was already in there right so he provided an interim uh while we were looking for a new board council so we didn't have to expand his role it was just inclusive right so is
that the same thing a shank price because they're doing a bunch of different things. >> They are they I guess to expand on her question. Are they increasing their rate regardless of what type of services they're providing or are they bucketed 180 over here and 200 over here?
>> Yes, it says to add >> what my second >> and that's what I thought. I just wanted to make sure. I thought whatever they're currently specialized in that they're currently contracted for would remain at 180. And then if they chose if you chose to give them work in whatever the other
two buckets are, that's what gets charged at the higher rate. >> So that's a $20 increase >> in comparison to their 180. Correct. >> In comparison to the 180 or $5 increase compared to what we're doing those different tasks. That's and we're not
letting go of anyone else. So it seems like it's excessive to me. And I think we should really reconcile some of those rates, right? because you're saying the rates that you got through Vernon were incorrect. >> It was really confusing. That's that's
where I'm going to put it first. So, I I I went back a full year of legal bills and I could see what we were getting charged per rate >> and then I said, "Wait a second, this doesn't actually match what we thought
we voted on." So then that's when I opred the um contracts for the last two years and then and then it got even a little more confusing because I was like oh well on this bill they charge this but on that and then you then you figure
out that what it really is is whether some of them are >> some some law firms we do partners and some we don't and if they do partners then they also just have regular associates anyway. So, it was it was a lengthy process. Um, but what I wanted
to add is really then the motion shouldn't actually read the way it reads. It really should read add Shank Price as an additional firm for this legal service at this rate, not increase their rate.
>> Well, it's not saying it's saying amending the retainer agreement. >> Yeah. >> To add general and labor council services. So, the They have an agreement >> at the rate of 200. >> So at this rate, they're not saying
they're increasing the rate for anything else. >> That's not what that says, >> right? >> At least that's how I >> Yeah, maybe I just not money related. Genuine question. So with whatever however many tort claims
are out there, right? If they if all that comes to life >> and then all of a sudden they are codefendants with us and can't represent us. What I'm just trying to
figure out is in the next 90 days spending effort to give someone work that they might have to be pulled off of that now I have to bring someone else up to speed. Like there's just some of the >> that timing is giving me pause on the
whole are we going to end up doing duplicative work? >> You get where I'm going? >> Continuity of services too. Right. >> Correct. It's it's just >> and a lot more money. >> It doesn't affect any of the current cases.
>> It doesn't this thing doesn't affect any current. >> This came back to your feedback on efficiencies. Correct. >> So >> there is a future a potential future case that they will be named in
>> of course named in as >> a defendant. >> Why would they? >> So we we received that public tort claim from I don't know that I got it but >> yeah we all got >> yeah we all got it. >> Sh price is going to get another law
firm to defend them. Yeah, but they're still the defendant. >> They're not they're not they still have all the information. >> Have conflicts of interest constantly and they put up what's called a Chinese wall. So if we're in the same firm and you're being sued by my husband, I will
know nothing about that. >> Well, that was that was your issue Vernon with Rebecca, right? I mean, >> she didn't have a conflict, but you thought there was. That's that's not you know um what what we're discussing here.
We're discussing this. >> Okay. So I'll rephrase it. >> The perception of the conflict >> I don't have a conflict. >> The perception of the conflict to the community will be that. >> Yeah. >> So it appears that we need to vote at this point. I don't I don't think that
there's I don't think that there's anything else that's going to be accomplished this evening with with discussion. I just want to say though it's contradictory to everything that we talked about all the scrutiny we were under last year right for the legal bills and the charges etc and then the
conflict of interest I I even if that's true right mural it's still public trust right is going to be an issue if people don't understand that and that's why I brought up Vernon didn't understand that even though Rebecca could sit on a legal ad hoc committee he to his point it
didn't look good right it felt like a conflict of interest even though it wasn't and that gave you concern >> because a person who had an ethics complaint against the board I mean um >> right I know well two attorney >> ethics board listen the law is not always
logical and so we checked with two lawyers and they told us there wasn't a conflict so I'm just saying you're making my point the public trust was affected and that is and that's a smaller thing compared to this >> at this point this this firm does not have a conflict of interest
>> right but they are named in a tour claim that's going to coming down the pike in May. >> You don't you don't know that. I'm probably put money on it. Okay. >> Okay. So, all right. But Mrs. Peterson works for the law firm >> Peterson >> that is suing the district. So, how how
is that not a conflict? >> Sandra, I'm not a lawyer. All I did was ask the question because it was brought up and and I was told by two. I agree. Listen, the law doesn't always make sense, but that's why we ask the attorneys. And I'm saying going to close discussion and we're going to have a
>> if if we're going to discuss what what the optics to the public and then you're going to bring up last year. You didn't change anything based on the optics of the public. So I don't really understand what >> what we did do was we shared with the public that we checked and there wasn't
a conflict of interest and it was a minor issue because it was just a legal ad hoc committee. This is like a major we're talking about lawsuits now and people defending the uh district. So I think there's going to be a little bit of a challenge with regard to confidence.
>> I know. But back to my point though, Shank Price is not going to defend themselves. >> They're defending us in other cases, right? >> Is a separate issue. That's their job. They're attorneys. >> Okay. Can we have a roll call vote,
please, Mrs. Spitzer? Mrs. Santangelo, >> no. >> Miss Wallace, >> yes. >> Reverend Williams, >> yes. >> Miss Bryce, >> yes. >> Miss Gong,
>> yes. >> Dr. Halpern, >> yes. >> Miss Lacosta, >> no. >> Miss Rothal, >> no. >> Mrs. Kellogg, >> abstain. Motion carries. Okay, we got one more.
>> Will someone please move item >> under policy L? >> It's bylaw 0177 professional services. It's L1 number three. >> Thank you. >> So will someone make a motion to move
item L1 number three? So moved >> and second. >> Thank you, Ellen. >> All right. Is there any additional discussion on this item? >> This was I guess I think same thing as
far as uh I mean listen, it's in what first read, right? As far as going back to the committee and narrowing down the the conversations we started having, right? You asked me in that room like did I really need to ask a lawyer? where I asked my one question and then I was
like okay it's really about us having the conversation of take people out of it and just rolls right like it's not about you it's about you have a superintendent who wants to go after certain professional services for a variety of reasons so what are how
are we documenting this in a way that has longevity to say how is there the correct oversight that the superintendent comes back to this body and says, "I want to do this. This is why. This is the dollar range we're
going to be in. Whatever those max budget amounts are, right?" And all the things like, I think it's on its way to where it needs to be. I just feel like there's more work to be done that if we take people out of it and just look at roles and say where where is the
superintendent empowered and where's the accountability to the board and where is the right check-in points. That's I guess I I guess I'm confused too because last year I mean it was only in November, right? We didn't hear any objections in policy about the the
policy that we approved. >> Excuse me, but I sent Rebecca an email with several questions and some of them got answered and some of them didn't because we couldn't have a discussion in public because we were told to send an email to the chair.
Okay. And then when it comes for a first read and there's any comments on the action items, then there's discussion. Did you talk about it then? >> Yes, I did at the board. You can go back to the >> Yeah, no, I'm sure you did. I'm just asking. Okay.
Saying in policy committee, right? So, were there any objections to I don't remember you objecting to it. >> I had those conversations separately and I said the same essentially the same thing. I can only make the recommendations because I don't develop
the policy. That's for you all to do. So, same thing. I would just say too that some time has passed since you you all passed that policy. Not you all, but the board passed that policy last year. And when you look at the the way it's written now, it's quite restrictive. It
will it will change how we do the RFP for legal services. Like it it is very restrictive. Um, and so that is what we were talking about in policy committee this past month is how to balance going back to the stress SMA
version but satisfying that transparency piece so that everyone could feel comfortable knowing when we're going to RFP having that supporting documentation and that's kind of where the policy committee landed >> right and I think the issue is though we weren't getting the supporting
documentation or um the information in a timely manner to be able to process it in order to vote on it. That was the issue and there was resistance on that. So that's where that came from. >> The board last year, and I'm not going to rehash anything. The board last year received supporting documentation,
>> but not all of it. That's the >> absolutely you. >> Okay. Well, I mean, we have that in our folder, right? We have some unanswered questions about we >> that's not supporting documentation. Supporting documentation is the proposal. That's the supporting. So you're saying
the vendor uh documentation? >> Yeah. And that's what and that is what our attorney suggested when I just spoke to him two weeks ago on February 11th. And that is what is captured now in the proposed policy. >> So when you're doing that though and you're referring to it supporting a
specific program. I think that's what I'm referring to, right? Because all of a sudden nobody knew what the program was and that's where we had issues, right? We >> So that might be a pre piece then to what your question is >> because that's not necessarily vendor
documentation. You're talking more about programmatic documentation. I think that's what I'm hearing. That's a piece of it. That's true. And so I think um but I think it's I I'm thinking about it in terms of like what we did with legal. We got to meet
them. We got to talk to them and assess. So there's that piece which I think is important if the board chooses that they want to do that especially with a very large several hundred,000 expenditure. And then there's the piece yes what what do we what is the information that we
need to do that in order to support it because we don't have in-house resources to do that. That's another piece, right, for the board to understand um why that is and what is it what is it all-encompassing, right? Because that then that helps. That's like even like
we and I I probably can't talk about this, right? Like a new hire, we had difficulty with certain things and we asked for more supporting information, right? So >> the position >> Yeah. So and and that was helpful, right? That pushed it over the edge for us. Like we just needed more information. We were struggling with
that. So again, it's not to harm or hurt. It's actually to strengthen and help. So that's how I'm I was viewing it. >> Okay. >> You're sweet. >> You're in the policy committee, correct? >> Yes.
>> Cuz I realize as I'm like mapping out in my brain, perfect world. I'm mapping it out from a accountable to the financial decisions we make as a board member, also as a parent, right? you would then contribute as someone who has to be held accountable to this policy. Correct. Can
you execute your job the way you need to? And listen, there's a chance you're going to be on North and I'm going to be on South and we need to have that productive conversation in the committee and then figure out how do we write this in a way that there's visibility,
accountability, but also an ability to execute without handcuffs and a weight around you at the same time. >> Yeah. I the way the way you just said that is perfect. >> I know. But there and so that's my perspective. I'm I know I'm one and we're going to vote, but like it feels
like it's not there yet and I understand it's only first read, but I think it just needs more work, which is why we pushed. >> So if we were to vote it down, it would go back to committee. >> It could go back to committee. >> Yeah.
>> So if if you vote I was So if you vote if we vote it down, it reverts back to the current form, the current version that we have. Um, and then the committee can choose whether or not to take it up again or or not.
>> Committee chooses that whether to take it up again. >> Well, the committee or at the recommendation of of the administration, >> but the if we pass it, I would say that it goes back to the committee for second read. there can be additional discussions and if there are significant
changes made it comes back as first read again next month for everybody to look at. >> So either way it could end up getting discussed in committee again whether we say yes or no. >> Correct. >> Well if we say yes it will definitely be discussed in committee again.
>> If we say no it just >> unless >> or yeah not reverts. It stays because the policy we have now is the Yes. It's the current. It's not the proposed. >> Exactly. >> But even if even if we say yes to the proposed, it's still this the current policy.
>> That's correct. The current policy is still in place and that's what we will follow because I believe the board approved the RFP for legal services. So that's we're under those timelines and those parameters right now with that with that
vote. >> Yep. >> That was helpful. >> All right. It was. >> Can we have a roll call vote? Mrs. Spitzer. >> Miss Wallace? >> Yes.
>> Reverend Williams? >> Yes. >> Miss Bryce? >> Yes. >> Miss Gong? >> Yes. >> Dr. Halpern? >> Yes. >> Miss Lacosta? >> No. >> Miss Rothell? >> No. >> Miss Santangelo? >> No.
>> And Mrs. Kellogg? >> Yes. Motion carries. >> Okay. Can I can I ask a clarification question? I I'm confused. The previous vote you abstained, but you said there's no conflict of interest. Why would you abstain then?
>> Because they were my attorney on a an ethics complaint and they have now transitioned that to another attorney. So, out of an abundance of caution, um, I chose to abstain.
>> Is that the same same law firm? >> Uh, what do you mean? >> Like Shank Price, a different attorney with Shank Price? >> No. >> Oh, completely different law firm. >> Correct. >> Okay. So, would we vote on that like we
did with Myth Vessel? >> Yes, >> we Okay. >> Yeah. >> All right. So, do I have a motion to adjurnn? >> Motion. >> Motion to adjurnn. >> All right. And >> second. Yeah. Second. >> I was going to say all in favor.
>> All right. Any opposed?