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>> [laughter] >> Keep it off. [music] >> Yeah. >> [music] [music] >> I don't We're [music] sorry. Heat. Heat.
[music] [music] >> [music] >> square. [music] Yeah. See where they are? [music]
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it? It's hard to say. I call the meeting to order. Please stand and salute the flag. 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. >> This meeting is in compliance with the open public meeting law and has been duly advertised in the newspaper as an official meeting. Roll call. >> Mrs. Baroas, >> present. >> Mrs. Cass, >> present.
>> Dr. Rossman, >> Mr. Walsh, >> present. >> Mrs. Rivera, >> present. >> Mr. McCarron, >> present. >> Mrs. Gardella, >> present. >> I need a motion for the approv approval of the agenda. >> Motion.
>> Second. >> Discussion. Roll call. >> Mrs. Baroas. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Cass. >> Yes. >> Mr. Walsh. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Rivera. >> Yes. Mr. McCarron. >> Yes. Mrs. Gardella.
>> Yes. I now turn the meeting over to Miss Permilly for her superintendence report. >> Well, thank you, Miss Gardella. And uh as we always do every board meeting, first of all, welcome everyone. And we always start with the most exciting part, I think, of my superintendent
report, which is our high school board reps with their reports of all the happenings at the high school. So, Payton, Colin, can you come to the podium? Good evening, Superintendent Permilly, members of the board of education, and honored guests. Thank you for allowing us to speak on behalf of Jackson
Township High School. As we move further into the second semester, our students continue to excel in athletics, academics, the arts, and community involvement. We are proud to share some of the many accomplishments and events happening throughout our school community. In athletics, both our girls
and boys wrestling teams have continued to demonstrate hard work and dedication throughout the winter season. We are thrilled to celebrate that the girls wrestling team has won the first ever New Jersey state championship to cap off their undefeated season. This success marks an impressive milestone for the
program. Additionally, seven of our wrestlers between the girls and boys team finished in the top eight in New Jersey at states, showcasing the talent and perseverance of our athletes. Both wrestling coaches were also named coaches of the year for their divisions, while coach Lemi earned the prestigious
title for the state. Congratulations on a truly remarkable award. The boys bowling team imprinted their names on the record books of JTHs by winning the group four state sections. Our basketball programs also had great seasons, winning their divisions and
making a run at states. Coach Goodall and Coach Holmes were also named coach of the year for their divisions. Our winter track runners were competitive all year and earned the right to race at both the Nike and New Balance Nationals, representing our school at the highest levels of competition. As you can see,
there were many athletes that earned accolades throughout this winter, but Marlo Donado and Yier Johnson were recognized as our athletes of the month for their outstanding performances and commitment to their teams. Our clubs and activities remain an important part of the student life at JTHs. The annual
JTHs volleyball tournament was a huge success and brought students together from across different grades for a fun and competitive event that helped build school spirit. Jackson Idol was also a great success, showcasing the incredible talent of our school and students,
providing an entertaining night for the entire school community. >> In the performing arts, the drama department recently held an amazing three-ight run of Mamma Mia. The cast, crew, and directors put on an incredible performance, and it was heartwarming to see so many students and families come
out to support the show. The disco ball dance party was a nice bonus and helped the show stand out as an experience unlike any other. Members of the National Honor Society have also continued their commitment to community service. Students recently visit visited our elementary schools including Holman
where they spent time reading to classrooms and participating in Dr. Seuss's ReadAcross America events alongside students from Holman and Elms. Academically, we were proud to recognize our seniors of the month, Ethan Pulk and Angelina Nuen, for their hard work, leadership, and dedication to their
studies. Students have also had the opportunity to represent JTHs through several education trips and competitions. Members of FBLA competed at the state competition where six students earned top 10 rankings in their categories. Our DECA students also competed at the state career development
conference. And we would like to congratulate Emily Hirs, Sadie Hirs, and Caitlyn Graiola for qualifying for the International Career Development Conference in Atlanta. Additionally, many students participated in the Teen Arts trip to Ocean County College, showcasing all aspects of the arts.
Finally, our band represented Jackson Township High School by performing in the New York City St. Patrick's Day parade, which is a great honor and an exciting opportunity for our student musicians. Thank you for your continued support of the students and staff at Jackson Township High School. We look forward to sharing even more
accomplishments in the months ahead. Have a wonderful evening and as always, go Jacks. [applause] As always, thank you both for the comprehensive uh report of everything that's been happening at the high school. We have um actually some pictures we're going to show in a few minutes to support a lot of what both
Colin and Payton just reported on. Uh but I also want to say congratulations to you both. I just learned they both are um going to be accepting some college opportunities um within the next few days. So, congratulations to you both. Um but we are very excited that you will still be with us for a few more
months uh to continue to report. So, we look forward to hearing more from you. I am going to keep my superintendent report relatively short this evening because we have several presentations. But I do want to just point out uh some of the wonderful things that have been happening across the district. Actually,
like I said, that Colin and Payton just uh mentioned. So board members, if you want to just turn around and see some of the slides that Miss Irwin put together for some of the wonderful things that have been happening um you know we did have um you know read across America's in the beginning of March and it is just such a wonderful time and it is actually
near and dear to my heart being you know a literacy teacher at heart. I was able to read to several classrooms this year um at both Elms and Switlick and it is just a joy. It is such a wonderful week of celebration of literature um and the excitement for students across the board
at every level um for reading is just it's contagious and it's wonderful. So you see some pictures um throughout this slide presentation. You'll see them as I as I speak to uh some of the other slides. You heard about the marching band. What an incredible showing yesterday. They had such a great spot in
the parade itself that they got a really really good airtime and they looked fantastic. professional um just always impressive uh you know so that was fabulous. You heard about some of the wonderful acknowledgements of the hard work of some of our clubs, our DECA
club. We have people who are going to uh nationals in Atlanta. Uh we have staff that's been recognized both um coaches and advisors. Laura Fcac advisi um you know received a service award for DECA.
Uh we have the coaches that both uh Payton and Colin mentioned in wrestling and in basketball that have been recognized for their hard work. We have students winning art contests at our 56 building. We have um again the the
National Honor Society students. How wonderful is that when you have your older students going down with the younger students and really celebrating uh literature and our younger students looking up to those older students wanting to be just like them. Such a wonderful activity. Uh really cute. Some
of the things we saw during Read Across America are Switzereers or superheroes. They all had capes on and they were super readers and they were all learning uh sounds together in the cafeteria there. It was just fantastic. The I'm sure many of you seen
the masked singer on TV. We had at home and over there um we had masked readers, mystery readers, and then they revealed who those mystery readers were and they were all staff in the building. to see these inflatable costumes. Uh just wonderful things to celebrate literature. Um you know I read we had uh
Dr. Ladleski read, Mr. Atanti read, some of you read in in the schools and our teachers getting really invested too in uh dressing as some storybook characters. Um give a mouse a cookie, one of my favorite books. Uh so like I said, just wonderful things happening across the
district. I don't want to spend a ton of time um on all of this because it's all been said, but I I think it's important for everybody to see just some of these great photos and great things happening across the district. Uh bowling champions, our girls wrestling. Oh my goodness, what a way to go. Um on the
record for the first uh high school wins. Uh the winter season was just incredible for athletics. I'm just so proud of this district, of our students, of our staff who have demonstrated what it means to come together and be unified
as one community. It just I literally have goosebumps right now. I just think I'm just so impressed with so much Mama Me at the high school. I was able to see the number of students that were involved in that show. At one point there must have been 50 students dancing. um just again wonderful things
to engage our our children and our students in learning experiences beyond the classroom and then the wonderful instruction happening um as well on a daily basis. So thank you to our students and thank you to our staff for all these wonderful things. I just want
to mention a little advertisement here Mr. Palumbo our trade and job fair March 25th from 6:00 to 8 at the high school. It's always amazing event, an opportunity for people to come out uh and learn about uh all sorts of trades and what it means to um be part of that
trade. Uh trades are um incredible. I have family members who are in the trades. It has been treating us well. It is an excellent career. So, if you're interested, please come out and to the trade and fair um show, job fair.
With that, we're going to move on with our presentations uh for this evening. Like I said, we have quite a few. So, I wanted to uh move us quickly there. Um we're going to start this evening. We have the semianual violence and vandalism report and the semiannual harassment, intimidation, and bullying report. Our
director of security, uh Mr. Bowski, will be presenting those two reports to the board of education this evening, and we're going to begin with him tonight. Thank you. There are slides behind you, board members. Uh good evening everyone. U thank you
for coming tonight. Uh members of the board and our administration of the Jackson School District. My name is John Pajoski. I'm the director of school security. And tonight uh we'll be doing the uh semiannual report uh report period one September through December
2025 uh for both uh the violence and vandalism substance abuse and weapons offenses in the Jackson school district and as well as the semiannual report for harassment, intimidation and bullying. So just a background and overview, state of New Jersey, as you can see, began
collecting this data back in March of 20 of 2002. And the objective is to collect and report incidents data concerning serious student misconduct in the areas of violence, vandalism, hib, weapons, and substance abuses. And to the right's a chart, a breakdown of the last three
periods uh starting September, December 2024, uh January, June of 2025, and of course the most recent one, September through December of 2025. And these are the numbers for those areas.
The next slide is the violence reports at the elementary levels. Um this uh includes fights, assaults, threats, sexual offense, HIP, alleged and confirmed um at all our elementary schools to include the Jackson Township 56 school. And these are the numbers for
that. So this is the vines reports for the secondary schools. Uh again same categories and this is for the Jackson Township Middle School and the Jackson Township High School. And these are the numbers. This slide is a vandalism and substance
abuse uh vandal vandalism incidents. Again, it's the uh previous two report periods to include this one uh both at the Jackson Township 5 school uh the Jackson Township Middle School and then Jackson Township High School. And just for context, the previous two obviously
we had uh get some McAlliff uh Liberty and Memorial um those are the numbers for when we had that and the most the section to the right category is for this year substance abuse September through December 2025. These are substances
under the influence uh the different categories again the pre the previous two mark uh report periods and to include this one and that's the top section and the bottom section is substances possession of uh the different
categories and again the previous two report periods and to include this most recent one and those are the numbers for Uh these are the weapons offenses for all schools and just to a definition of a weapon included any instrument readily capable of lethal use or of inflicting
bodily injury. Uh but the category is not limited to handguns, rifles, knives, clubs, chains, slingshots, leather bands, studded with metal fillings, razor blades, stun guns, and any other device that projects, releases, or emits tear gas or any other substance, eg pepper spray, that is intended to
produce temporary discomfort or permanent injury through being vaporized or otherwise dispensed in the air. And some examples are toy gun um and also an imitation firearm. Um and those are the previous two report periods. And the
third is this year's report period. Okay. Action taken by school district. So these are the actions subcategories. Police filed complaint. Um that means where the police were notified and there was actual charges signed against um in school suspension and out of school
suspension. And then the again previous two report periods to include the third one which is the current one. And those are the numbers. And we will continue to strive to ensure a safe district and school environment by bringing school district safety teams and school anti-bulling specialists
together to review data using this data to plan programs and inform practices, approaches, and curriculum. Building strong partnerships with the Jackson Police Department, specifically the school resource officers. Providing training for school administrators on the effect prevent effective prevention
and response to violence, vandalism, and substance use. Educating all stakeholders on how they can make Jackson school safer and providing community events to educate parents, guardians about school safety. So this is the semiannual report for
harassment, intimidation, and bullying. Again, report period 1 is September through December of 2025. Jackson School District's commitment. The Jackson School District is committed to creating a safe learning environment for all our students, investigating all
complaints of harassment, intimidation, and bullying, and preventing all acts of harassment, intimidation, and bullying. So, we are committed to being proactive and prepared uh by having behavioral threat assessment training for staff. Um
we have behavioral threat assessment teams training district and school understanding school violence training uh district training for all school and ABS policies and procedures for addressing and reporting HIP violence and vandalism and substance abuse and our anti-bullying coordinator with our
anti-bullying specialist meetings uh reviewing HIP policies and data review HIP investigation procedures. All right. So on this slide to the left um it's the these are our schools in that column with the respective anti-bullying specialists that work
within that school. And to the right are the different events and initiatives that uh each school does uh through the first market period but also throughout the school year. So our hib investigations in the elementary level uh to include the
Jackson Township 5 school um this was last year the the column to the left as a total for September to December of 2025 um I apologize it's 2026 20 2526 school year uh this is the first report period
and those were the total number of investigations looked into and then the column to the right for this report marking period too is the founded hits. So this is the secondary. So these are our middle school, high school. Again,
current report period one. Uh the left column is the total number of incidents that were looked into and the column to the right are the founded incidents. So this is a comparison of the same time period. Um I apologize. So this is from
se September December of 2024 the total number and then how many were founded for that period and compared to the current uh total se September through December of 2025 and the founded ones as well. If you could notice that those numbers were definitely a little bit lower
compared to the last report period. So this slide is the motivation of founded hibs. This is within our school district. Um these are the different categories that first bar of the different uh reasons why there's motivation u for that. The outcomes is
the middle section of the investigated hip incidents uh with the consequences and remedial measures and the bottom section is the location of these hibs uh that we had to investigate and that column to the right is the
classification of actions investigated uh during the hib incident. These are um classification as to why or what the uh uh the reason was for the hip. So in conclusion with our HIP complaints, we investigate everything. Uh HIPS sub complaint submissions uh
complaints received in person, telephone, email or via links located on our district website. There is a HIP form 338 which provides a means for students, parents, guardians or a school staff member to report an incident of HIB in a confidential manner uh 24 hours
a day, seven days a week. All hip complaints are promptly investigated in accordance with district policy 5512 and that's our harassment, intimidation, and bullying students. >> Thank you. Thank you very much for the comprehensive report. Does the board
have any questions? Okay, >> thank you. >> Thank you. Have a good evening. >> Thank you. >> So, moving forward with the next report, we have our annual food service department report. Uh, and we have the director of food service, Gary Hadad, here to pro provide us with
[clears throat] that annual report. So, Mr. Hadad, thank you. And again, board members, I'm sorry, but please turn around for slides [laughter] or not. Good evening. Thank you for having me. Uh it's a pleasure to serve you at uh
Jackson Township. Been with district for about a year and a half. So uh it's been a pleasure. Uh so my again my name is Gary Hadad and uh so we've had a pretty uh pretty productive year this this past
year. We've uh increased our our participation throughout the district by 4% even though we had a district enrollment drop of about uh almost 7%. So uh it's been productive. staff's been
very busy with all the redistricting and everything going on. Um it's been been an interesting six months. So, um and our free and reduced meals have have increased to uh 48% meaning
that 48% of our student population are eligible to receive free and reduced meals through the district. Uh part of that reason is the uh they expanded Medicare uh opened up Medicare for students to be eligible. So if they're
on any kind of Medicare, the family's on any kind of Medicare assistance, Medicaid, sorry. Yes. Um they can get um meals through the district at no charge. So that we were prior to 24 we were at
uh 36% and now we're up to about 48% free and reduced uh with with the expansions. Next slide please. And some of the infrastructure improvements we made over the last uh school year. We added a large walk-in
freezer to accommodate the added enrollment over at the high school. Um, we put in some equipment so that we could service those 2,300 students in the time frame that we need to serve. And we had to do some uh
restructuring with Crawford with the walk-in box. Uh, it was the structure itself, the shell itself was was uh compromised and we had to replace that. So in total we spent uh $286,000
uh plus minus uh with some other structural and some other frameworks. So all that to help and we put some points of services in with kiosk because uh the high school was going to be a one-hour block lunch when we first
opened up and that was allowing us to service all those those students in that one hour. Next slide please. So it's just some comparative statistics. Uh we had again a 7% change.
Uh our lunch particip participation increased by 4%. And our daily average breakfast unfortunately has decreased uh by uh 2 two. 28%. Um,
part of that is the restructuring, drop in enrollment, but we've done several things to uh help improve that, and you'll see that as we we go along. So, points of service and and uh innovative renov revenue generators
we've we've we've uh have done in the district. So, we've did uh breakfast kiosk. We launched those over at the middle school and they've been very successful and as well as the uh 56 building
and we introduced a afternoon snack uh bar for our students at the high school so that they can stay within the district don't have to go out to Waw Wa or Quick Check to get something to eat. Um, as it and as you probably may know,
the breakfast the lunch ends basically at at 11:30. So those students that are going to be here from 2:00 on, they usually are looking for something to get to eat and sustain them for those activities they have after school.
[cough] [clears throat] It's just a picture of our kiosk that we have set up at the middle school 56 building as well. similar uh students have 10 minutes to get through the line. So, we try to be as quick as possible and have them come expedite through
their they grab a a uh s breakfast sandwich and a a fruit or juice, makes it a complete meal, and then they put their pin number in, and they're on their way. And then over at uh the high school, we
turned our concession stand into a cafeteria. Uh and our concession stand is now a kitchen. We've put some equipment in there. Uh that was part of our improvements. Um we are looking to do some more expansion there because
we're currently servicing about 400 uh meals a day just for lunch out of there. uh it's a very small area. So this is what we kind of our tray line that our we kind of improvised as we often do in
school food services. So and that's one of the things that we and then we do uh holiday caterings. We do outside cater we provide services for the district uh internally. Um this is
uh some ex uh holiday catering service we performed for uh the administration. And uh this we also created a dinner menu for for for uh the district so that if anything outside when we rent out the
buildings they can order from us instead of going out to the local restaurants and and provide and we can capture those sales. Then we do some theme bars. Uh we do Mediterranean Day here. We just recently
did a uh uh Chinese New Year celebration. We had egg rolls and unfortunately fortune cookies weren't available, but giant sub day. High school kids usually seem to like that pretty pretty pretty well. And that was actually we did that
throughout the district. and we partnered with uh the workbased learning uh team and the students that are in that program have gone out to um help in some of the schools. We started out with Crawford, I'm sorry, uh with
Switlick first to do some uh help with putting together some uh fruits and vegetables and and traying up some items. Um and it worked out very well. So then we expanded it. Now we do Crawford, Clayton Kitchen, and Memorial
Kitchen. So, and we have about three students that have some interest in pursuing careers in food in the food service industry or with the Jackson Township Schools. [clears throat] So, some of the efficiencies we have in
here in in the district, um the goal for the industry for meals per labor hour, it's uh an equates to every hour of paid labor for every meal served. So, just a reference point, uh, your Burger Kings,
your McDonald's, your quick service restaurants typically do about 80 to 100 meals uh, per hour for lunch at a busy at the busy time frame. We we service somewhere between
200 and 300 meals per hour depending on on the district on the school and whatnot. Uh right now we're averaging about 3,400 meals per day for lunch and there's 11 sites uh with kitchens
but six schools. So um and we're elementary schools are about a 24 to6 meal per labor hour. Um it's a high performance. The standard is 20 to 25 for elementary schools.
Your middle schools and high middle schools about the same 20 to 25 and then your high schools usually about uh 15 to 20 meals per hour. and our food costs for [clears throat] the uh last for year to date uh as of
January end of January we're at 39%. But that actually was September and October really were were high high cost. Uh we had a lot of figuring out to do because of the new
new configuration of the schools, new configuration of uh buildings, you know. So the whole dis it was a big learning curve for myself and staff to get uh those underhandled. The last four months we've averaged about 37% food cost. So
we're being consistent with that. Uh our paper and uh cleaning supplies has been on target. Our [clears throat] labor fringe is is a little bit on the high side, but it also shows our commitment to uh keeping things trying
to keep things fresh, trying to keep things uh as scratchbased as poss as much as possible. And [clears throat] so lunch balances, this is a nationwide uh issue. every
district you talk to that you they meal debt is a big big issue and in this district we're right now at 178,000. We don't in Jackson um we don't dissolve debt so that debt has been carried since
you know the last several years. I believe it might have gotten uh downsized back during COVID but I'm not that I not sure about. Um, some districts do absolve it, but it can't come from the food service funds.
That has to come through the uh the general fun general fund. Um, we do send out monthly monthly reminders towards the end of the school year. I start sending them out uh probably twice twice a month. We are reconfiguring our letter
so that we can kind of uh get a little bit more exposure, I guess you would say. Um, and we utilize the parent liaison in in the district. So, especially with those bilingual families that uh we can't communicate. The letter is in Spanish,
the letter is in English. Uh, but again, sometimes we need a little help reaching out to those families. Um, some of the misnomers that we're [clears throat] working on educating families with is that they believe that they once they
submit an application that absolves of them any of any debt they had previously. Unfortunately, that's not the case. If they once they acred that that money, it has to be paid off. Um, if there's a student that is listed
as direct certified because of Medicaid, they and and that other family member in the household is not um on that list, they need to notify us so that we can get them on that list. Um, [clears throat] wellness report. Uh,
we this is something we we do diligently in the district. We have a food advisory committee that encompasses some of this information and we [clears throat] meet uh twice a year at each district uh
each school each school, excuse me, and we have discussions about uh what the child's likes and dislikes are. We invite family members through that as well. We also um get some feedback on items that we're
thinking of trying to bring into the district. Uh we take their suggestions on theme days. Um make it so that they are have a buy in to the program. So, we also are we've been awarded a
grant for uh $5,000 to for sustainability and nutrition education. And this is a example of our Elms school where they started the food share program and we're looking to expand that
throughout the district. Um, and you look, there's uh when when a child does not want something that they have on their tray, for example, the the fresh apples that are in there, they can put that in the the share zone and someone else can come and take that. At
the end of the day, we we take those fruits and vegetables and we bring them to uh either we pack them up and bring them to the uh the nurses station sometimes or we'll donate them to the local food bank.
And then we also adhere to offer versus serve in the district. So what that means is that we offer five components. We offer the the fruit, the vegetable, the grain, the meat, meat alternative, and the milk. Students need to take
three of those components in order to be considered a meal. And half a cup of that, one of those components has to be a half cup of fruit or vegetable. We also on the line we just don't offer the broccoli and that's it. We offer you
know a hot vegetable. We offer a cold carrot packs, celery. I try to tell my staff that uh want it to look like the rainbow. So when students come through the line, they see multiple colors out there. There's, you know, fresh fruit,
canned fruit, juice. So they have an assortment of items to take. There's sign signage that tell them the students that they can take two fruits and two vegetables per per ser per meal. Often I get, you know, comments from the
students in my food advisories that, you know, we're hungry. We want more food. Well, I can't unfortunately give them 20 chicken nuggets. I can give them the five chicken nuggets and then they could take as much fruit and vegetables as they like. No, no, no cashier is ever going to tell them you have too much
fruit and vegetable on your tray. So, and then uh we try to work with parents as well as with the children and limiting their their snack intake. We do follow the
smart snack guidelines at the elementary schools and the middle school. So they they have the opportunity to purchase lowfat, low sugar, and uh whole grain snack items. And we usually try to put those behind
the cashier so that the uh this child has to ask for the those those alternate snacks. Um, and then we do a couple different things trying to limit uh access to those things as well as
help with uh if the child owes money on their account, we we use that to hopefully get them to pay their balance off so they can buy snacks. Um, parents do have the ability to communicate to us if they want to block certain items from
their their child's account. um spending limits and our cashiers are usually pretty good in trying to assist those students with making smart choices.
[clears throat] So, the report on the uh school wellness policy. So we're we're in compliance with the district wellness coordinator ensures compliance with healthy hungry free kids act and other district wellness goals and
provides an assessment of our wellness policy and board of education at a public meeting. So we're in compliance with all regulations districtwide. We continually improve upon the advanced knowledge of healthy menu options and
smart snack options at all levels. We display promotion signage and theme days that will encourage breakfast and lunch participation. And we feature new nutritional alternatives, menu items,
and place healthier foods first in the service line where students are most likely to choose them. So, we also follow a uh we go in and do an audit on each school. It's called the
smart lunchroom, smarter lunchroom. And that's something that my staff and myself will go through and we'll look and it's a Cornell study that was established in 2019. Um, so that we can make sure that we're we're following the guidelines as well as off making it more
accessible for the students to take the healthier items. Then on the district website, we have um our menu and parents can block off the allergens to see what the that they may
contain, if they have any allergens in the in the district. [clears throat] So our pricing for next year, we're doing a lunch increase of 15 cents. So, elementary school will be 30 375, the
middle school will be $4 and the high school will be 425. Um, and then breakfast will increase by 10 cents. Some of the one of the some of the reasoning behind that is uh yes, inflation's been been at 2.5%
or 4%. However, uh we're seeing a lot of increases in aven flu is back. They're talking somewhere up as from the processors close to 80 80% increase in that price for the processing and then
uh beef is also going up as well. So hopefully uh we can stem off those costs. Any questions? Thank you very much for your time. Thank you so much, Mr. Haden. We appreciate it.
Okay, so one more presentation this evening. Um, and it is a big one. It is our tenative budget. Um, and I'm sure some of you have already, um, seen, uh, the state aid numbers were released for the 2627
school year. And as Mr. Mr. Beginsky will outline in his presentation with the tenative budget. Once again, we have been reduced by state aid with a um 3% decrease in our state aid, which was uh one of the parameters that was put into place. But I'm going to turn that over
to Mr. Beginsky who has a very comprehensive um presentation to the board and the public on our tentative budget. So, Mr. Beginsky and board members, you will also again need to to turn for this live presentation. >> Okay. Well, thank you. Um, I'll start by
just acknowledging the work of the business department who works on budget 365 days a year. Um, this is our opportunity to present it, but we literally start working on next year's budget the day after this budget gets struck. So, um, I'll start by talking a little bit about the budget development
timeline. Uh this is a process that involves a large number of people ranging from our board of education members, our budget and finance committee, the superintendent, central administration, uh our building administrators, many of whom are here in the audience here tonight, uh department leaders, as I mentioned, the business
office, human resources, payroll, transportation. So a huge amount of people involved in this budget development. And for us, it really ramps up in September and October where we gather together these stakeholders, start to assess the needs and what their needs are and what their needs of the
department are. And then we we also take a close look at what enrollment is doing uh where is it growing um and where where do we need to kind of allocate our resources for the next year. So we combine that with uh whatever the central offices initiatives are and we
create a tenative budget and that's where we are tonight. Um, one of the big drivers with the budget is enrollment. And so what you're looking at here is a 10-year history of K12 enrollment in our school district. And as you see in the two columns, I included both the public
school student enrollment and the non-public school student enrollment. And the public school student enrollment has been uh a slight decrease every year over these 10 years uh with a total that led to 22.52%
decrease over that 10-year period. Uh still a large school district with 6345 public school K12 students. Um but when you look at the non-public growth of the non-public students is really remarkable. Uh and in fact this past school year uh the number of non-public
students in the Jackson Township eclipsed the number of public school students for the first time. And our public non-public uh projections for enrollment are at 8,534. And when you put those two numbers together, it is uh over 14,000 school
age children uh residing in Jackson. And that non-public school student population in the 10-year period has grown over 1,164%. This is something that is unique to Jackson. And when you talk to other districts, uh even districts that are
not that far away, with the exception of Lakewood and the starting at Tom's River, no one can relate to this. And so it is it is a unique a unique circumstance. The other driving factor in this is the rising growth of our uh
percentage of economically disadvantaged students. And you saw it in Mr. Hadad's presentation. 48% of our public school student population is identified as economically disadvantaged. And so that comes with its own uh challenges uh in terms of budgeting.
One of the uh apples to apples comparisons that the state does is uh what's called the taxpayers guide to education spending. used to be called the comparative spending guide. The state puts this out every year. It publishes it in December. And so this is the opportunity for school districts to
look and see how is your our district spending versus other comparable school districts. And when we get compared to other districts, we are in the category of large K12 districts. So school school districts that service a K12 population and that also have more than 3,500
students. And there are 96 comparable districts that fit that category of large K12 districts. In out of those 96 districts, our school district was the fourth lowest budgetary cost per pupil in the state. And when you look at some
of the other indicators there, and I listed them, we're in the really in the lower 10th percentile or 20th percentile in almost every single indicator for the state. [snorts] that is indicative of what has really been austerity measures that our school
district has taken on in the last couple years. Um when you look at us versus other this is just this is district this is statewide but just in our immediate area there are really no school districts that with the exception of Tom's River that also uh spends at at a
low level that uh spends at this low level and it's not necessarily something to be totally proud of but I could tell you it's in it's representative of where we've been and where we forced to have been with regard to the state funding issue that we've been we've been faced
with. Uh I'll just note there the total administration and administration salaries and benefits 16th lowest and 11th lowest. Sometimes you hear that narrative, oh that school district's top head, you know, look, you know, they got so many administrators. That is not the case in the Jackson Township School
District. Uh the data does not support that. And when you compare us statewide, it certainly doesn't support it. Um, one of the other, um, considerations, and this is not a slide that's unique to this year, um, is where
we spend versus what's called the adequacy budget set forth by the state and the state, uh, and the and the two links there are to the actual New Jersey educ educational adequacy report, which talks about how the state calculates this. And basically what it is is is the
state says based on all of the factors that we have, they determine what Jackson Township should be spending to provide a thorough and efficient education for the students of Jackson. We fell below adequacy in 2223 and and we were $1.1 million below that
threshold. You could see where we were every year after that. Last year, this our current budget season, we're spending we were spending $32.4 $4 million below what the state says Jackson Township should be spending to provide a thorough and efficient
education. We just ran the numbers based on the new state aid calculation and we're still $29.65 million below on the projection for next year. This is after closing two schools, redistricting, restructuring, and we're still there.
And that's the state's own calculation. So, taking a look at how we're spending our money, uh, I'm going to talk a little bit of detail about each of these subcategories. And each of these subcategories makes up our entire spending plan, which you could see there
for 2627 is 160,734,000 worth of spending. So the first topic salaries um our salaries line item uh this incorporates all general fund salaries is going up by 740,000 which is less
than 1% for next year. All right. So when you look at a 10-year history of our salaries it's really remarkable of what this school district has been able to do to contain the costs associated with salaries. And in fact, we're
spending we're projected to spend less in salaries next year than we were spent in 2017 2018. You know, that came at a cost. It came at a cost of eliminating 376 positions during that S2 time period.
But I will tell you, it has not compromised the level of education that we provided. You know, we have hardworking people. The salaries make up the lifeblood of the school district, the people who work every day to make sure that the students have the education, the quality education that they deserve. We're just able to do it
in a very frugal manner. I can tell you, and this is an important note, if you just go back to Allison on the next, the in in red there, any personnel reductions for 2627 will be accomplished through attrition
or breakage. So I want that message to be clear because you know when we have what attrition and breakage is means when we have a retirement or a resignation all right the person who replaces them looking at what their the new person comes in at that's considered
breakage and so no staff member is going to be uh to lose their job because of a budgetary reason. All right if we do that it's going to be through resignations and retirements. So, the other piece of the salaries uh line item is health benefits. And health
benefits, I think I um not so jokingly refer to this as the gigantic asteroid heading toward the school district, but really it's not just our school district, it's the entire state of New Jersey. And when you look at the state of New Jersey and if you go to the next slide, Allison,
everyone is in facing these same cost drivers which include highcost prescription drugs, specifically those GLP-1 meds that are very expensive. Uh out outpatient care uh and the increase of uh utilization of it. Um economic
inflation uh with regard to prescription drug costs is a big factor and the post-pandemic care rebound where people didn't go to the doctor, they didn't do screenings, and now all of that comes roaring back um with higher medical bills and higher prescription costs. And
so we've been able to keep a lid on it, but like the rest of the state, uh that number is going up uh rather large, more than 25%. comparably to the state and this is on the on January 1st the state school employees health benefits program
experienced an increase in their rates of 31.9%. So we're doing better than the state but it's still a major obstacle for for this budget. The next two line items school budgets uh and facility and capital non salary.
So, both of these budgetary line items are going up for next year. Um, and I can tell you that both of these budgetary line items tied directly to the experience that students have in the classroom. All right. With regard to school budgets, um, are our school
budgets are going up by about 25% next year. Um, and this is something that's sorely needed. They've gone through a period of uh frugal austerity that has uh forced them to utilize every resource they had to the to the greatest extent
and they will continue to do that but now they'll have some some room in the budget to do the things that they haven't been able to do. Uh those kinds of things are technology, textbooks, classroom instructional supplies, uh including professional development which needs uh is something that is is
critically important in the field of education. Um, with regard to facility and capital, we're kind of tied to energy costs. Uh, I think we've we've experienced the worst of it as far as increases I go, I hope. Um, but we also have uh aging uh buildings that need
maintenance and so um we are spending more money and project to spend more money on maintaining those facilities uh and capital projects, specifically HVAC projects and paving. These two numbers are very tied to inflation. And on the left hand side of the screen, you see
the 5-year history of inflation for our Mid-Atlantic region. And those numbers drive a lot of those costs. So um so it's difficult to keep up with regard to administrative uh and instructional support spending. Um
there's the number for 2526 looks a little out of whack. It's because uh when we sold the Rosenhour school in May 2025, we received a a loan from the state to carry us over through the closing. So, they gave us the money in
20 in May 2025 and we're paying it back during the school year. So, it's showing up as an expense. So, really that 14.5 million, 9.4 million of it is that money that just came in and went out. Um but in 2627,
that $5.8 8 million does include it it includes a $600,000 payment back of our original advanced state aid loan to the state and it also includes the annual cost of the state assigned fiscal monitor. Two things that you know don't
tie to direct instruction but we're saddled with because of the of what happened when we had to take that loan. Out of district tuition is another budgetary uh stressor for most school districts in most public school
districts in the state of New Jersey. Uh we have done a tremendous job creating programs in our district to service the needs of our students to keep as many students in district. But it is a difficult challenge and we are projecting 50 out of district placements for next year. And you can see the
history here, which is really a rather remarkable history. Um, going from 92 in 2019 to 2020 all the way down to a low of 44 during the 25 26 school year. Um, but there is only so much you can do. You have to meet the needs of these
students. And uh, and when a student does go to an out of district placement, the average cost for that right now for a student going out of district in Jackson is $149,000 per year. And so those are costs that um you know those
those schools that set those tuition they're not tied to the 2% cap. All right the tuition rate increases get set at a much higher rate and it's a challenge to to keep these costs down. Um the next category aid in lie of
transportation for non-public students. This is a number that is increasing again by a very large number by 1.5 million. It's a more than an 18% increase in our budget and it's another one of those numbers that other school
districts don't have to have in their budget. In fact, when you look at our aid and loot costs over the last 10 years, we went from 589,500 to we're projecting 9.7 million for next year. Now, we do get we do get some
money in non-public transportation aid back from the state, but it only covers about 35 to 40% of of the total cost there. And for example, in 2627, we're projected to spend 9.7 million, we're we're projecting to bring in 3.3
million in nonpublic transportation aid. That $6.3 million difference comes right out of our budget. And that is a line item that again unless you're Jackson Township, Lakewood Township, and to the Tom's River to a certain extent, you
don't have that in your budget. Um the last category is transportation. And this is not including salary or aiden loo payments. And our transportation budget is going slightly down. It's essentially a flat budget. Um, our
transportation department has done an excellent job of trying to contain costs with regard with regard to updating the the fleet and having uh a rotation of getting new school buses so that we don't have to spend as much money to replace to uh repair those vehicles. Um,
also we've we've made out pretty good on fuel so far. Um the past couple weeks haven't been so good and hopefully that trend doesn't continue but that is uh that has been another cost savings for the district and so that budget is flat for next year. So all told the expense
categories uh you could see where the percentage of the expenses come from and the two largest one are people related you know 75 74% of our salary of our of our expense budget comes from people salary and health benefits and you could see where the rest of the percentages
come from. So turning our attention to revenue. So on the revenue side, we have several different sources of revenue um that make up where our money comes from and they include federal, state, and then local revenue. And so I'm going to talk
about each one of those in detail. So moving to the the state and the categorical state aid. So categorical state aid is the state aid that everybody talks about. This is the one that comes to the district and
this is the one that was been has been radically cut over the years through S2. And so just as we had predicted, it represents a negative 3% cut, a $680,000 cut from last year. This was the 22nd
largest cut in the state of New Jersey this year. So we've been on the biggest loser list, the top 10 in previous years. So I guess 20 seconds not so bad, but when you talk about 600 600 plus school districts in the state of New Jersey, it's really a travesty
considering what we've been cut so far. And so why are we only cut negative 3%. We were only cutting negative 3% because the state set guard rails up and said that last year they did this for the first time and said no district should have to experience more than a 3% cut
and no district should get more than 6%. So, we literally got the maximum cut they could possibly give us, even though it was only 3%. And when you look at the history here, and this slide's been up every budget presentation that I've ever done, this is where you can see exactly
the narrative of where things got very, very difficult in Jackson. When you look at, you know, think about that -3% is the maximum cut the state said. Nobody should have to do more than that the last two years. Look at those years from
2020 to 2025. Negative 7.5% negative 10% 12% 18% negative and the dollar amounts that go with it. That's losing income that never comes back. That number just keeps going down. It's like it's like having a pay
decrease every year in your household, but your expenses are just going up and you just got to make it work. And when you compare that to enrollment, the enrollment has decreased. It certainly hasn't decreased in relation to the categorical state aid. That is a false narrative that we have heard from from
different people and I could tell you, you know, it was never tied to enrollment and it certainly isn't tied to enrollment anymore. When you look at the total reduction, 55.6% 6% reduction during that time period in state aid 22.5% reduction in
in enrollment. So it just doesn't equate. Um get off the soap box, turn our attention to the other state aid. All right. Extraordinary special education aid and non-public transportation aid. These are
uh driven by um you know your metrics inside the school district. So, extraordinary special education aid provides partial reimbursement for exceptionally high costs for special education students. Okay? It is a pot of money that the state puts aside and depending on how many how many districts
are eligible, the state allocates that money. That's why we're we're only budgeting a flat amount because it could go down, it could go up slightly. It we don't know what it is until the state uh determines how much money they have in the pot and how much and how much every district is going to get. Non-public
transportation aid is a is a calculus driven by the number of students you have and the difference between you know they they reimburse us for for expenses beyond $710 per student and less than the aid and ll number of 1177 but up to
that first 710 it's on the district. So, um, the other funding sources, federal and state grants. This is a lifesaver for us. These, uh, we are budgeting 14.3 million in grant money that would come in from the federal or state government.
You know, this includes IDA, ESA, um, title 1 through 4, uh, the state preschool grant. So, these are things that absolutely provide opportunities that we normally wouldn't have in our regular budget. and our district has done a great job of of pursuing grants
and receiving them and and making excellent opportunities for our students. So the when it when it comes to the local share, all right, I this is literally from our state aid notice. It's a picture that's why it looks grainy here, but this is the calculation
of how the state calculates what's considered local fair share. So there's two metrics that go into this. The first is the total property values in Jackson, which is um which is listed there, and the resident's total income. Those two
numbers, and they take a three-year average of those two numbers, and those two numbers go together to make the calculation to determine what is Jackson's local fair share, what the state determines that Jackson should be spending in their tax levy to support
the schools in Jackson. And you can see that number is $150,559,000. They compare that to what the general fund tax levy is. And 2526 our general fund tax levy was 107 million. So the state's assertion is that Jackson is
spending below local fair share where Jackson Township is not providing uh the local tax levy to the point where it's it matches the local fair share and that's why we keep getting our funding cut. So that's the state's explanation of of
of local fair share. How does this factor in? Well, obviously, you know, if we don't have if we don't if we're getting cut in state aid, where does that money have to get made up if you want to keep moving things things forward? It it comes from local revenue. And so, this year, the
general fund tax levy includes both a 2% tax levy increase and we are eligible for an adjustment for a health benefit cap waiver because our health benefit costs are so large. And so every pretty much many many the vast majority of school districts in the state of New
Jersey because of the health benefits costs are eligible for this this year and will be utilizing it in their budget in some capacity. You could see some of the other local revenues including miscellaneous income which is income we get from rentals, food service, uh child
care. So we've done well with that and we anticipate to continue do well with that. there is no budgetary line item for a sale of property for next school year. Um you could see the 2526 budget did have that. [clears throat] And then the free
balance, that's our surplus. So we're anticipating a large surplus because we're anticipating the closing of the Macallup property. And so the free balance is us utilizing a portion of that surplus to go towards next year's budget.
So, all told, the local revenue is increasing by over $2.3 million for next year. What does this mean for the the the local taxpayer? Well, the general fund tax levy
um adds up to $116 million. The debt service tax levy is is uh $7.7 million. And those two together go together to make up the total tax levy. And so the total tax increase to the total tax levy
is just over $9.2 million for next year. For the average assessed property in Jackson, the average assessed property in Jackson is identified as $654,839 for 2627. It would mean a $35 per year increase
for the local t for for that average assessed property, which amounts to be just $2542 per month. And this increase is due almost wholly because of the health care uh the health care costs uh and the eligibility for the health benefit cap
waiver. So this budget is not all doom and gloom and I want to make it very clear to you this district is moving forward. This district has done great things and continues to do great things with whatever resources they have available
to. This budget includes a 25% increase to all the school budgets, which is direct resources to students and staff. It includes new teaching resources for an enhanced social studies curriculum in grades 7 to 12. It includes allocations to plan and implement a flexible
learning academy at the high school. It includes the replacement of all high school MC labs for all instructional classrooms and J and TV studios. Um, it includes allocations to launch an interscolastic middle school volleyball program for boys and girls next year. It
includes allocations to address some of the facility issues through capital and maintenance reserves to address the highest priority needs in the district, specifically HVAC replacements, maybe even some partial roofing replacements and paving. It includes a technology
equipment le lease renewal to replace all student Chromebooks in the school district for next school year and it includes an expansion of high school offerings um including APs and electives for next year. So this is some great stuff that the school district is going to have in this budget for next year uh
that is going to keep this district moving forward. So alto together this is a balanced budget which is the requirement that we have to put forth. Um it is it it continues to achieve an established educational goals and uh and
it's essentially a flat budget. I mean a 0.07% increase over year over year. Um again a lot of people a lot of work goes into this from a lot of different people. This entire district should be proud of this budget because I certainly am.
Mr. Beginsky, an excellent comprehensive outline to exactly what has happened in this district. You and I have presented so many of these presentations to explain the history here and this one just really really puts it together nicely of exactly what has been
happening historically here, how the district has addressed those issues. And I I want to really uh repeat and reiterate what Mr. Beginsky just said. I'm very proud of this district for doing the hard work. This was difficult
these last 10 years, but specifically the last few. And had we not acted over these last few years, we would be in a very um difficult position for our students. This budget is supporting everything that already exists for our
students, keeping our staff, and then also increasing opportunities for our students even while being cut. So, I appreciate all the work um of everybody in this district, including the board, um in making sure that we can preserve programs and expand them for our
students. I now open it up to the board for comment and questions. >> I had a couple comments. Um Mr. Mr. Brigensky for the state saying that our T& is below. Is that based on strictly this local fair share? Um
>> what what's going on? >> You know how with the state says we're below TN? >> Mhm. >> Adequacy budget. Yes. Is the adequacy just strictly based on the local fair share not being there or >> it adequacy is related just to our spending? It's what the state calculates
should we should be spending. Um, the state says we should be spending based on next year's budget $29 million more to educate our students to provide a thorough and efficient education. >> So, I'm just, you know, I was sitting here and doing math, right? >> So, when you said also showed a slide,
and I didn't take note on the slide, but there was a difference of about 43 million from what the state said on that grainy slide that we should be taking in on the general fund to what we actually do take in on the general fund. But then you're talking about adequacy. Like none of those numbers even drive up then cuz that's a $43 million difference and
you're talking about less than that. So are they looking for us to take in more money than actually is necessary or I'm just trying to understand. >> Yeah. I mean I feel like local fair share is is a concept that that the state the state wants to convey to
townships and municipalities that they should be spending a certain amount on on the tax levy to support their schools. Adequacy is about how what the actual number that we're spending versus um how many custodians you should have, how many how many guidance counselors you should have, the kind of spending.
Correct. Yeah. >> My last question. So when you showed us the state aid, you know, we got our categorical transportation, special education, special education went down, but then you also showed us our out of district placements. Did they give us and determine our funding based on the
fact that in the year prior we were down from 40 48 to 44? Like it was 44 students not this year but last year and like how do they determine that eight? Like if you said I would actually say >> because you said that out of district
placements cost 149 on average,000 and the difference was I didn't write the difference down but I did the math on my calculator. it was six students in addition placement. So, it's just kind of like interesting. How do they come up with that number? >> I would actually make an argument that
because we have such good programs and because we've been able to reduce the number of students out of the district and reduce the costs, we've gotten less aid because of it that it's actually disincentivized. I mean, that I would and I'm just that I believe that that
would be that's the case. But, >> well, that's a shame on the state. Um, last thing is I just wanted to ask about um, you know, we got a 3% negative and obviously there's a guardrail and it could have been more, but a lot of, as you pointed out in Ocean County were
like one of the biggest losers and a lot of people went up, but it's been in the newspaper everywhere that so many townships are struggling to meet. They knew they're going to be in a big deficit. Do you feel that, you know, they're getting 6% is going to fix their
deficit or even all these districts, are they still necessarily going to have problems? >> Well, plus 6% is definitely better than negative3. But I will I would say that the the the increases in the health benefit costs that we're all dealing with, all school districts, really are
go far beyond what what any kind of incre that kind of an increase in state aid. That's it's it's too much to overcome. So, you're predicting that even with all of our local communities maybe receiving more than we did, they might still have deficit issues and in
the end we are at a balanced budget with a minimal budgetary change. I just want to kind of point that >> I would agree with that. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. >> I just want to commend you Dan u Mr. Mig because when you do a presentation it is always clear. is always concise and I
think even for the general public I know you've educated us just the way that you do it. Um it's I just want to say thank you because it's really it's a great job. Thanks. >> Welcome. >> Um I too want to thank you. You always do a terrific job. Um, one of the things
is the narrative out there is that if the um non-public um student population because they are not added to our to our district that that is actually a savings. Um the my thought is is that
that is not true because the state gives us money based on our the population our enrollment. So if they were added then we would actually be getting the correct amount of funds. Do you believe that that is one of the things that is the fault in the formula? >> Well, you I mean you would you you would
have the cost to educate them. You would you know but you would definitely get more more funding. Absolutely. >> Thank you. >> Special education aid. How is that figured? >> Special ed extraordinary aid. >> Yeah. >> So it's the there's different categories
and tiers. So uh depending on the severity of of of of the need. Um so I believe there's a a certain reimbursement at uh for students who are uh a certain type of disability for transportation costs uh for the par
profofessionals. It depends on the severity of it and that so it's it's a it's a math calculation but that's just your eligibility. The actual determination of it has to do with how much money the state has set aside and how many school districts are tapping into it. >> So that may not be a true number. It
could be reduced, >> right? Yeah. >> How about equalized age? Where does that come from? Or and >> how about what? >> Equalization. >> Oh, equalization aid. So, we we equalization aid was a was something that uh the state does for c still does
for certain school districts that they feel are underfunded. Um and so that they can make up they run the categorical aid and they don't feel it's enough. So they they use the equalization aid to bring them up. >> So we'll never qualify for that. >> We ours is zero. So it's not doesn't
even make the slide. >> Thanks. >> Oh, you know, I had one other note, Mr. Brigginsky. When we did the difference between the 150 that the state 150 million that the state said that we should be collecting from the local people versus what we are,
>> it was 43 million. Is that is that a dollar for dollar? Like is it 43% difference or is it not dollar for dollar? Do you know? >> Yeah. >> It's dollar for dollar. So it would be a 43% >> expect us to be up to that dollar.
>> Yeah, that's what I'm saying. It's dollar to dollar. >> Wow. >> And according to that formula that Mr. Beginsky presented, it's because of the way that it's calculated the value of the homes and the wealth of the town. Um
saying that that's the local fair share. That's what that document demonstrates, >> right? But it's so interesting because our local fair share covers 68% of our budget. >> Mhm. >> So that would almost feel like it would be 100% where where's your income tax going and how you getting it back,
right? >> As a taxpayer. >> Uhhuh. Yes. >> You know, it's really like it's mind-blowing actually. >> Mhm. Okay. >> Grant grant and aid is that's not a definite, is it? Those numbers >> the what? >> We couldn't hear you. Go. the grant and
aids that we get from funding. >> So, some so some of them are are definite numbers. Uh if we go back to that slide real quick. >> Yeah. So, um we're budgeting 75% of title 1 through 4 because that's what we've been told to budget for. So,
whatever we got this year, we're budgeting 75% of that for next year. But the preschool aid, this preschool grant, that number came through on the state aid notice. So, that's the actual number. >> Okay. Yes. And then the other grants down the bottom in yellow are grants that we've accepted and those are those
are actual dollar amounts that we will be receiving. >> So since you did at 75% we could actually do better with that. >> Okay. Then we see the numbers up there. Okay. Thanks. >> Anyone else?
Okay. Well, with that concludes uh my superintendent report and again thank you to all who presented tonight. So, Miss Gardella, I pass it back to you. >> And we have no fiscal monitor. >> We have no fiscal monitor report.
>> Sorry, my screen is not changing for some reason. Ah, I lost internet, guys. We have standing committee reports. I'm just going to say budget and finance. Mr. Beginsky was the report and then we'll move into buildings and grounds. >> Yes. For buildings and grounds, uh,
Jackson Township High School locker rooms were cleaned, sanded, and repainted, including walls and lockers. That's for the stadium locker rooms. Jackson Township High School home economics classroom. Existing gas stove range was removed and new unit installed. Jackson Township High School
wood shop exhaust system was repaired to improve indoor air quality. Also at the high school, four new fire door closures were replaced as required by fire official. Uh Jackson Township Middle School, fine arts exterior canopy
lighting was repaired. Jackson Township 56 school, the MUA vacuumed the kitchen grease trap. In addition, the in-house plumber repaired a clogged line to the cafeteria area. Crawford Rodriguez cooling tower was filled, service, and checked in preparation for the AC
season. transportation building. A third new lift station pump was installed for the transportation building restrooms. The MUA also evacuated the lift station twice uh administration building. A new
backflow pre was installed on the main water line by the in-house plumber. Also, I'm going to give an update for superintendent search. As previously shared, Miss Permilia has announced her intention to retire effective July 1st, 2026.
After reviewing all submitted application packets, the board has selected candidates to participate in the first round of interviews, which took place on March 2nd and March 3rd. We extend our sincere appreciation to everyone who expressed interest in serving as our next superintendent. The
board is moving forward with the second round of interviews on March 23rd. I just wanted to thank all the board members for prioritizing the scheduling of these sessions to ensure that we remain on track with our timeline for naming the uh successor. Thank you.
>> Transportation, >> no report. Curriculum instruction, no report. Ad hoc committees as needed. um scholarship. >> The committee will meet on April 15th to select the last of the scholarships with the guidance department and the students
will be notified of their winning a certain scholarship in the first week in May. That is all. >> Thank you. uh state and county school boards. >> Next, um legislative meeting is May 30th virtually at nine o'clock.
>> Um AC advocacy, we did send out emails to multiple legislators and didn't hear anything. Um I do have something I'm going to say my board comments. I saw something from Assemblyman's wiki, but we didn't speak as a committee, so I'll share that then. Um, policy and regulations. I need a
motion for approval of policy. Second reading and adoption. >> Second >> discussion. Roll call. >> Mrs. Baroque. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Cass. >> Yes. >> Mr. Walsh. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Rivera. >> Mr. McCarron. >> Yes.
>> Mrs. Cordella. >> Yes. Policy and regulations. I need a motion for approval of policy and regulations abolishment. Second >> discussion. >> Roll call. >> Mrs. Baroas. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Cass. >> Yes. >> Mr. Walsh.
>> Yes. >> Mrs. Rivera? >> Yes. >> Mr. McCarron? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Gordella? >> Yes. I need a motion for approval of the minutes. The close session meeting February 18th, 2026. And the official board meeting February 18th, 2026, business meeting. >> Motion.
>> Second. >> Discussion. Roll call. >> Mrs. Mrs. Barrous, >> yes. >> Mrs. Cass, >> yes. >> Mr. Walsh, >> yes. >> Mrs. Rivera, >> yes. >> Mr. McCarron, >> yes. >> Mrs. Gardella, >> yes. I need a motion for approval of the bill list.
>> Motion. >> Second. >> Discussion. Roll call. >> Mrs. Baro, >> yes. >> Mrs. Cass, >> yes. >> Mr. Walsh, >> yes. >> Mrs. Rivera, >> yes. >> Mr. McCarron, >> yes. >> Mrs. Cordella, >> yes. I need a motion for approval of the
treasures and board secretaries report. >> Motion. Second >> discussion. >> Roll call. >> Mrs. Baroas. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Cass. >> Yes. >> Mr. Walsh. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Rivera? >> Yes. >> Mr. McCarron? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Cardella? >> Yes. I need a motion to open the public
forum on agenda items only. We will hold another public forum during this meeting for any other questions. The public this public forum will be for questions on the agenda only. >> Motion. >> Second. Please sign in and state your name and whether or not you are a Jackson
resident. Each person is allowed a maximum of three minutes to speak. No person may speak more than once on the topic until all others have been heard. Are there any other additional agenda only questions? Seeing no one come forward, I need a motion to close public
forum. >> Motion. All in favor? >> I >> resolutions for action. I need a motion to move finance >> motion. >> Second >> discussion. I just want to thank um we got an anonymous donation of $1,000 uh towards
our unpaid lunch balance and I think it should be recognized. Thank you. >> Um I also wanted to ask um Mr. Mr. Pinsky, the uh finance number six surplus items. >> Mhm. >> Will those go on gub deals? >> Uh if they have any value whatsoever, we
will put them on gub deals tomorrow. >> Tomorrow. Okay. I'm just going through >> maybe tomorrow. >> Through my items here. I made a note same as uh Miss Cass about the anonymous uh donation. >> Um roll call. >> Mrs. Barous?
>> Yes. >> Mrs. Cass? >> Yes. >> Mr. Walsh? Yes, >> Mrs. Rivera. >> Yes, >> Mr. McCarron. >> Yes, >> Mrs. Gardella. >> Yes. >> Resolction facilities. >> Motion.
>> Second. >> Discussion. >> Mrs. Baroas. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Cass. >> Yes. >> Mr. Walsh. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Rivera. >> Yes. >> Mr. McCarron. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Gardella. Resction.
>> Second >> discussion. >> I had a discussion number two. I just want to point out that I did receive an email as a community member that there are programs
on June 29. Um emergency I just feel >> roll call. >> Mrs. Barous, Mrs. Barcus. >> Uh, can you close that?
>> Number two. >> Yes. To everything except number two, >> Miss Cass. >> So, the TW I'm sorry, the Mrs. Mrs. Catz. >> Yes. >> No. >> No.
>> No. Two. >> Are you voting? >> No. To number to number two. >> No to number two. We Yes. Everything else. Got it. Mr. Walsh. No number one. Yes to everything else. >> Mrs. Rivera.
>> Number two. Yes to everything else. >> Yeah. Number one is all of the motions. The program motions. >> Mr. Walsh. Do you want >> Let me switch that. Noted number two. >> Got it. Noted number two. >> Okay.
Uh, Mrs. Rivera, >> yes to everything besides number two. >> Yes, but no to number two. >> Mr. McCarron, >> yes to everything. >> Mrs. Gardella,
>> yes to everything. No to number two. >> So, everything except number two. Perry. >> So, the calendar, the revised calendar did not pass. >> Correct. Right. That is something we're going to need to discuss because now we have no calendar and I'm not sure when the um staff is supposed to report or
not report. So, we're going to need to figure out a plan. >> This is the current calendar, folks. >> This is I didn't expect everybody to vote no on that. I was just making a comment. I didn't I >> Yeah, I'm a little blinded. >> I guess I thought we were only voting on the 29th. I didn't know it was the whole
calendar. >> This is the entire revised calendar. So, it now just did not pass, which means we're going to need to figure out >> when my staff and my students are supposed to be here. >> That's for this year. >> Well, correct. That was >> this year's calendar. >> I can change my vote to yes, although I
don't think >> that's what we do. >> Um, frankly, what what someone who Well, since you many of voted no, uh, someone who voted against it should move for reconsideration of that item >> technically is what should be done. So should we >> So there should be a motion to
reconsider consider item number two motion and second and then the board votes on the reconsideration that reopens the item before the board. That's the correct way to do it. >> Go ahead. >> So make a motion to reconsider if you wish. >> I make a motion to reconsider >> and then a second.
>> Someone. Okay. >> Then you would do a vote on the motion to reconsider. >> So the motion to reconsider >> on number two. >> Mrs. Baroas number number two. >> Right. And that just brings it back at that point. then it's back before you. Then you can discuss the motion again. >> Okay. >> And revote on it.
>> So discussion now. >> Yeah. Well, first you need to adopt the motion to reconsider. >> Okay. So, Mrs. Mrs. Baroas to adopt to reconsider the motion. >> That just brings it back before the body. So, you're just voting to >> Yes. Mrs. Cass,
>> I'll vote yes. >> Mr. Walsh. This is the motion to to reconsider number two. >> Just to reconsider, >> right? Just just to bring it back on the table. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Rivera. >> Yes. >> Mr. McCarron.
Still. Yes. >> Sorry. Say that again. >> Still yes. >> Yes. Okay. Mrs. Gardella, >> bring it back to have a discussion. >> Okay. So, the mo that motion is back before the body now. So now you can discuss it uh basically because you now have the motion in front of you whether
or not to approve the calendar. If there's any discussion you can have that discussion now before you vote. >> So the discussion is can I start the disc? Right. So the so the discussion is is that on the calendar the it for argument sake you know if there was a
another blizzard or um you know we had the storms the other night let's say power went out. So, the first two days to go are April 2nd, April 1st, no problems. But then we go into June 29th, and I don't and I don't think at this point we have we have camps that start
on June 29th. We have we have staff that starts uh summer jobs. It we're just it's I just don't want to put us in that position where if we're able to adjust that bubble, that box, and just have April 2nd and April 1st, you know, I'm I'm all for it. I think the June 29th
just puts us in a scenario where you you know everyone has plans. We're we're literally right we because we've brought this calendar so close to you know the end of the year. We're we're we're going right into people's uh summer plans.
>> So I I can comment. >> Okay. >> We certainly can revisit the makeup day shall we need it. Okay. Again, that's something we could always revisit. Uh, that's just a suggested
makeup day should we need it in the calendar. Um, and I just want to be clear, obviously, I think you all know this, but obviously this wasn't by design purposely. Um, >> of course not, >> right? So, we, you know, the days that we put back into the calendar were out
of necessity. Um, and we certainly can look at the 19th and make that a half day should we need another day. But um you know that's not something I think I think that's something we can talk about and just adjust. I don't think it's a reason to not vote the calendar. Had I not it was a an issue for this year. I I
could have adjusted it beforehand. I just didn't realize it was going to be a big issue. >> I think we thought if we had if we approved it then we're stuck with like the way it's on the agenda then to say that we said hey in advance guys you took June 29th.
>> Whereas to me I feel like we took Passover. We took a lot of things. So, if we had to go to that, being that community pass already came out to residents regarding the 29th, I'd rather see the 19th impacted. >> No, I I hear what you're all saying. You're looking You would like the 19th
to be impacted should we need to should we have another closure and have to put a day back. >> I completely hear you. I just want you to know the box at the bottom, the final options will be considered as the winter progresses. They're considered. It's not a requirement that we do it that way. >> So, we can make those adjustments. The
important part is that we communicate that to the public. So if >> hopefully it doesn't happen, >> but if we [clears throat] needed to, we could consider saying, you know, instead of going to the 29th, we can look at the 19th as long as we communicate it to the public and to our staff
>> and let's all just cross our fingers that we won't need that day, of course. >> Absolutely. >> No more bad weather. >> Any other discussion? Roll call. >> So we're voting on >> We're voting back on number two. >> Number two only, >> right? >> As is. >> Right. >> Correct.
>> Mrs. Baroas. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Cass. >> Yes. >> Mr. Walsh? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Rivera? >> Yes. >> Mr. McCarron? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Gardella? >> Yes. >> Resolutions for action. I need a motion to move students.
>> Motion. >> Second. >> Discussion. Roll call. >> Mrs. Baroas? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Cass? >> Yes. >> Mr. Walsh? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Rivera? >> Yes. >> Mr. McCarron? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Gardella?
>> Yes. Resolutions for action. I need a motion to move personnel. >> Motion. >> Second. >> Discussion. Roll call. >> Mrs. Barous? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Cass? >> Yes. >> Mr. Walsh? >> Yes.
>> Mrs. Rivera? >> Yes. >> Mr. McCarron? >> Yes. Mrs. Gardella. >> Yes. I need a motion to open the public forum on any topic pertaining to the board of education. >> Second. >> Please sign in and state your name and whether or not you are a Jackson resident.
Each person is allowed a maximum of three minutes to speak. No person may speak more than once on the topic until all others have been heard. >> How you doing? My name is Tom Riley. I live on Fox Drive. Uh there's a couple concerns I want to just bring up to the
board. Um you know, when we have a snow day, I understand that's it is what it is. Everybody has to adjust accordingly um to the closure of school and you know, everybody takes off of work and whatnot. Um just I think
replacing those lost days with half days also really impacts uh parents. Um because instead of being replaced with a full day and having a half day, now people are obligated to take, you know, half a day off from
work. When you multiply that by four, it it starts to add up. People don't have the luxury of taking that kind of time off in some cases. Um, I'm also concerned about the loss of instructional time. You know, most of these snow days happen in January,
February, March, and when you have a um high school doing block scheduling, you know, you're losing significant amounts of instructional time for the second half of the school year in the high school. Um, it might not sound like
a lot, but it does have an impact. It does add up. Um second thing um that concerned me was uh when we lost the internet and we had to close the school for the internet. Uh just how reliant we becoming on
technology. Uh the fact that there is no analog contingency that has been drawn up um is a little concerning. Um I didn't plan for you know to be home with my kids because the internet was down.
Um neither did my job. Uh thirdly, um the it seems like the blizzard made everybody's mind break up at Johnson. Um the traffic control is just getting
nuts. Um just today alone, two people trying to go in the out. just watch them just go in the opposite flow of traffic because they didn't give a you know what. Um the the fact that there's a giant bus
from one of the after school offite activities. I don't know if it's a karate school or something like that and he just parks the bus and idles you know and it's a diesel burning bus and the fumes are noxious frankly. Um, and what
what I'm hoping that the board can do is ask law enforcement to come down cuz the school resource officer can only do so much legally. But I think that sometimes the police do need to come in. It doesn't take long. It's more the afternoon than the
morning. Only has to be there for 15 minutes. It's not one cop that can just come down and show that they're paying attention uh to ensure that, you know, people are abiding by traffic laws.
Um I saw the presentation for the uh uh school lunches. Um one of the things I didn't know was um that I can actually control what my child is allowed to have
for lunch. Um, the reason why I run a negative 20 to $40 balance is because I don't want my daughter to buy snacks. Cuz if I give her money, you know, whether it's physical money or the digital money now, she's going to
subsist on snacks. So, by running the negative balance, I know that she's not allowed to have a snack. Uh, and the last thing is I just want to give high praise to the Johnson PTO who, you know, just do an enormous
amount of work in there. Um, you know, they don't get paid. It's just an enormous amount of time. And, uh, I just want to give them a lot of praise for what they do and what they do for my kids and everybody's kids in that school. Thanks,
Are there any additional questions? Seeing no one come forward, I need a motion to close public form. >> Motion. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I >> Did you want to make a comment? >> Yes. Thank you. So, I just want to make a couple of comments. First of all, thank you for
sharing your concerns. Um, and I just want to let you know I'm also always available. You can email, call if you have any concerns or questions or followup. Um, obviously the snow closures and the uh emergency closure that we had this year was not common. We
haven't experienced something like that in probably a decade with the amount of snow that we had and the storms that we had. And we recognize it's not ideal. We agree not ideal. Um, and we always strive to improve um, in making decisions. It was definitely not an easy decision to make. um and balancing, you
know, obviously instructional time is extremely important and we value that. Also allowing making sure we have enough coverage in our schools um of staff and all of those things go into consideration. Um but we strive to get better every time. Um I just wanted to
address the uh internet loss. Um so our phones are also based on the internet. Um and we did have a unique situation in where there were poles down from the storm in an area as we explained in our communication that JCPNL um was
communicating and saying that our internet provider was not permitted to go into that area to even assess the situation um to know what the damage was to fix it. Um and so we struggled with honestly communication. We anticipated, if you remember, we did a delayed
opening first, anticipating because the information that was coming to us was that we would be repaired earlier. We thought we'd be able to get in on that day and unfortunately it got delayed and delayed and delayed and as you learned wasn't even fixed until the following
day at the end of that day. So, it was a communication issue and the access issue. We do have contingency plans now. they are in in place should we lose both phones and internet. So we have put a plan in place and um again wasn't ideal
but unfortunately it was a situation that just transpired on those days and then again let's hope this never happens again but we we agree we should not be that reliance on the internet but we definitely have contingency plans we met debriefed um and have been working with
all administration on that. Um I too agree that our PTN do a ton of work here and uh I always thank our parents. This is a shared um endeavor in raising students and educating students and we could not do it if it were not for the
help of our parents. So, I agree with you and I'm actually meeting with the new chief next week. We'll bring up your concerns. Okay. Thank you. >> I'd like to open the meeting to board comments starting with Miss Burkus.
So, first of all, I wanted to uh well, thank you again to Mr. Beginsky for doing an amazing job on presenting the budget. Um, just I I can't even believe the amount of work that you and your staff put into this and can't thank you enough for uh doing such a great job. Uh, congratulations to our girls and
boys wrestling teams, the boys and girls basketball teams, and our bowling team on the tremendous success they had during their season. Um, I also was able to see our marching band uh during the think the um uh St. Patrick's Day parade
and wow, what an amazing uh just an an amazing thing to see our school not only representing Jackson but representing the state. Um they got so much press that day and I'm just really impressed by them. So, uh congratulations on having that opportunity. And last but
not least, a big happy 18th birthday to my daughter Paige. Have a good night everyone. >> Um I just want to congratulate the girls wrestling team too. Uh it's just amazing. Um all of our sports as you said, bowling, boys wrestling. There's
we have a lot to be proud of in this district. Um the band and the parade. I had the opportunity of seeing the play um last Friday. I just have to say that Mamma Mia was outstanding. And I can say that because I actually saw the Broadway production back in November. Our
production put them to shame. The energy and the enthusiasm. When I went to New York City, I was actually a little disappointed thinking, "Wow, everybody always talks about it. Our show, hands down, it was just phenomenal." So, again, kudos our students, staff, just amazing. And, um,
congratulations to DECA. I always have to give them a shout out. And, uh, good luck on the next, uh, competition. Have a good night, everyone. Thank you all for coming out this evening. and VO's live stream. Um,
I went to see and thank you for all the overall presentations. I went to see Mamma Mia. It was amazing performance along with um during the read across America. Went to read at a classroom at Elms. It was great interactions and um student engagement. Everyone have a safe
and great night. >> Kudos to all the athletic teams. Kudos to uh the presentation, the budget, all the administrators because I know they all put their little two cents into it. I know what they have to do as far as that's concerned. Now, the next thing
I'm going to talk about has to do with something that I'm not liking, okay, in the calendar, right? And it's because when we have half days, okay, we lose time time in the classroom with half
days. And it seems like, and it's not just this district. I see all I was looking at all the calendars at all the districts and it seems like they put more and more half days into their calendars. Okay, that's less time that the kids spend in the classroom and
that's where all the wonder happens in the classroom. So, that's just my pet peeve. That's only my opinion, okay? But I I've been kind of at this for a long time. All right. If they're not in the classroom, okay, nothing's happening.
Have a good night. I think everybody covered all the athletics. Uh, you know, congratulations to everybody's uh wins. Just wanted to say thanks to Mr. Beginsky, Mr. Rotante, and Dr. Gleski for the tours of the buildings uh that we set up last week. It was good to get into the building,
see them, uh, see everything that's going on, and, uh, it's great to see firsthand all the great things happening in our district. Thank you. >> Thank you. I just I'm echoing everybody, but I have to point out there was I watched MMA and there was a young man that came out in the last three minutes
and he's come and spoke at many of our board meetings. I recognized him and he was the father. I think it was Faraday was the name. And as soon as he came out, man, I just want to say bravo. He nailed that part and I had a laugh out loud. I mean, it was absolutely amazing.
Kudos to everybody in that um production and obviously we've highlighted all the athletics and I just wanted to point out that um Assemblyman Alexiki put a bill in today with the assembly. It's uh number A4750.
It's meant to provide relief to school districts who in the past two years have uh went over the tax levby cap by 9.9%. Um and where healthcare costs um I did not see a percentage of that increase. It just said an increase in healthcare
costs and the bill would be therefore uh a state issue and that the state should therefore correct that issue and it should not be a local issue. So, I don't know if his bill will have any traction to anybody who pay is an advocate or might want to send an email. Again, the
bill number is A4750. Um, any support to all the districts in our state is obviously um a benefit and for us as you could see, you know, we are yet again for the second year increasing for that tax uh for the healthcare waiver. So, it would be a
benefit to us as well. Um, you know, I also just want to say I I listen to all the campaigns for our current governor and I know that uh she did run on a campaign um for improving health insurance rates and costs in the
state. So, it would be interesting to see if this bill gets some traction. Um, and last, uh, you know, I also, uh, have a concern that we need to, uh, have a more consistent calendar. Um, you know, I I listen to you and I I do
agree. Um, and hopefully as we move through, we don't have a year like we've had currently. I feel like it was definitely out of character and, you know, it's something that I think everybody is going to look at in the years to come. Uh, everybody have a good night. So, I
need a motion to adjourn. Motion >> by acclamation. I