Um, welcome everyone to the Lawrence Township Public School Board meeting. Can I have a roll call, Tom? >> Miss Bose >> here. >> Mr. Clark here. >> Mr. Caparada >> here. Miss Evans
>> here. >> Miss Groger, Miss Kelly, Miss Martinez >> here, >> Miss Pasculi, Mr. Van His, >> you have a quum. >> Thank you so much. Okay. Um, we're going to go into executive session. Uh, the
Open Public Meeting Act authorizes the board of education to meet in executive session under certain circumstances. Um, the Open Public Meeting Act requires the board to adopt a resolution at a public meeting to go into private session. Um, this evening, the Lawrence Township Board of Ed uh will be meeting in
executive session to discuss certain items involving matters which if publicly disclosed would constitute an unwarranted invasion of individual privacy and specifically this evening, HIV. Formal action will not be taken. Executive session is expected to last approximately
28 minutes. Um, can I have a motion to move into exact session? >> So, move. >> All in favor? >> Okay, we'll be back before 7 o'clock. Thank you. have some performers this evening. Um Dr. Baraka is going to queue us up for
um our performers. If you want to they gonna come up here or we going to turn around. Come on down. >> Come on down performers. AND PARENTS, we don't mind if you want to come up and take pictures. >> Yes, feel free to move around the space
however you want. >> All right. As our LES friends are joining us, I wish everyone a good evening and introduce myself for those who don't know me. My name is Dr. Damen Barrya. I am the math, science, and arts supervisor for the elementary grades here in Lawrence Township. Uh March is a special month in the arts world as it is
both music in our schools month and young artists month. both of which are celebrated nationwide each March to recognize the importance of the arts in K12 education. Our arts department is proud to spotlight Lawrenceville Elementary School this evening. On display tonight in the foyer, we have
mixed media works and oil paintings from Miss Romano's students from all grades K through three at less to perform for us this evening. So friends, take it away. All right. Well, um, thank you so much. I want to start by saying thank you so
much for having us here tonight. We're very, very excited to give you a little presentation. This is going to be a short preview of our, uh, third grade musical, which is going to happen at the end of May. And this year's musical is called On Safari. So, it's a sort of adventure through the African savannah.
And along the way, we're learning a lot about different species and relationships between those species and plants and animals in um, the African savannah, which is very exciting. as a nature nerd myself along with music. So, I'm enjoying that. And these wonderful third graders are here to sing two songs for you.
>> Could I ask you to pull the podium back a little bit? >> Sure. Oh, yeah. I don't want to block anybody. >> Beautiful. >> There we go. Thank you. >> Thank you for saying that. Is that better? Okay. Um >> Yeah. I don't want to talk too much. So, we're going to sing two songs. The first
one is called The Lion Doesn't Sleep Tonight. Um, you may be familiar with the previous song, Lion Sleeps Tonight. And our second song is the title song of our show, which is called On Safari. So, we'll start with The Lion Doesn't Sleep Tonight.
She's up She so very quieteneath bey. Be the lion. The lion. She works to feed her family while her
fast Be wary. Be watchful. The lion doesn't care. The lion doesn't sleep tonight or
she'll them while they be watchful. The lion doesn't sleep tonight. Okay. So, a very kind of uh mysterious
song about the lion hunting at night. And our second song is on safari. And at the beginning, you're going to hear two languages. Um half of our group is going to be singing. Uh so it's a call and response song. The first the call is in Swahili and the response is the translation of the Swahili into English.
So we'll have two languages. Great. Jumbo. Hello my friend. Come on. Hello my friend. We are with us.
I know a place where the lions keep roaring all through the night. The baboons call it home and kick up the fly. I know a place where the grass is sway
and the laughing and so many antarventure everywhere on safar. rain on safar. I know a place where the trees and the elephants
and tall On safar everywhere on safar in sunshine or in rain on safarizzles in the air on safar. adventure everywhere on safar.
>> And that's it. That's our little preview. So, this is from again on Safari. Um, it's on May 29th. If you're all invited to join us, it would be wonderful at 2 o'clock in the afternoon. Um, and that's it, girls. Bravo. Nice job. Thank you guys so much. Thank you
again for having us today. We really appreciate it. >> Thank you so much for coming. That was wonderful. This is still time. I know. >> Yes. Little ones are flat. behind
the boys. >> Get in at 7 tonight today. No >> LTF. Are you kidding me? I know. >> Absolutely. >> Just speak your mind. All right. Thankfully, I can
>> have two minutes. It's only three items. >> Two minutes. >> Past tense. It's always been there. >> Usually just Okay. Okay. We're just going to wait another
45 seconds because we're broadcasting live and people tune in at seven. So, we start at seven. So, I apologize for the few second delay. They missed the concert. >> They did miss the concert, but they should watch it on rewind,
right? We we videoed the concert. So, as well as parents can watch it. They have children. All right, it's 7 o'clock on the dot. Um, welcome to our board meeting. The New Jersey Open Public Meeting Law was enacted to ensure the right of the
public to have advanced notice of and to attend meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon. As required under law, adequate notice of this meeting has been provided via email and or facts to the Times, the
Lawrence Ledger, the Trantonian, the public library, and has been filed with the municipal clerk. This notice was provided prior to the 48 hours required by the Open Public Meetings Act. The board reserves the right to limit public discussion of personnel items and other
matters as defined in the law. We'll do our flag salute andice for all. Okay. Okay. Student representative report. Peer leaders, come on down. The floor is
yours. Um, hello. I'm Quinn. I'm a junior. And I'll be talking about the LHS sports. Um, we have boys, girls in track, boys, girls in lacrosse, baseball, softball,
tennis, golf, and we just started last week as we're transitioning from winter to spring. Um, some spring sports are having their scrimmages this week and next week, such as boys lacrosse team winning 11 to1 today, looking to have
another successful season. They're moving on to a varsity team this year. Um other teams, baseball had a scrimmage last uh yesterday. They won and look to have another successful season. Um
boys golf and girls golf have our game next week as well and having another successful season and moving on. >> Thank you. Thank you. Hello, my name is Elliot Fam and I'm a
junior. Last Thursday through Saturday, our students and families had the incredible opportunity to watch the LHS theater company bring the Adams family to life. Directed by Miss Baldwin, the play was a huge success. The cast delivered on an amazing performance. And one of the standout elements of the show
was the live pit whose music added energy to every scene. From the acting to the music to the overall production, the LHS theater company truly created an unforgettable experience for everyone involved. It was a performance that showcased
talent, hard work, and really showed the uh LHS spirit at its best. Thank you. >> Thank you. Hello, I'm James Lions. I'm a junior. I hope everybody's doing good tonight. So, I'll be talking about a couple of the things happening in our school. So, we
have the uh the 3v3 basketball tournament coming up soon. It's the 25th of March, 2026, 6 p.m. in the LHS gymnasium. So, obviously, you know, three people get a team and they go against the teachers and then they go against students. We have trivia coming up. We have a Fiser guest speaker for
and neuroscience activities. Then we have the peer leadership forums which are out right now too. So for any new rising kids who want to be peer leaders that is out. And then uh we have the Mario Kart competition too for the esports club. And then uh Lawrenville Main Street volunteers needed also for
uh for the uh fair that's coming up. And then uh Cardinal Nest for uh resource periods in the library too. So those are some of the things happening in uh Lawrence High School. >> Great. Thank you. Hi, my name is Luna. I'm a junior and I'm going to be talking about class wars
for this month. So, basically class wars are like competitions between each grade level where um they can earn class points. And so, for this month, student council decided to do a stairwell decorating competition um where um each grade was like tasked with decorating a
stairwell um with a theme based off of different movies. The freshman have the theme of Inside Out. The sophomores are doing a tangled theme, the juniors are doing an up theme, and the seniors are doing a Rio theme. And at the end of the
contest, staff will vote on which um theme they like the best and which grade level gets the most amount of votes will earn class points. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay. >> Hello, my name is Rwick. I'm a junior. Uh this week juniors were testing for
the NJGPA uh creating a two-hour delay for this freshman, sophomores, and seniors. Next week we have spear week which consists of the pep rally on Friday which will show all the spring sports. And throughout the week we'll have different themes such as different
matching clothing which uh students will do to gain points for class wars. And then the week after we will have spring break. Uh, and yeah, >> great. Thank you so much. Okay, thank you. Our student
representatives, you're free to go or stay, whatever makes you happy. Have a great night. Thank you so much. Um, recognition and acknowledgements. Um, I'd like to call up Mr. Tease and Miss Edgar, our amazing Decker advisors,
um, for a DECA recognition. Hello members of the board of education, Dr. Clim, administrators, and members of the Lawrence committee. My name is Rashni Narca and I am one of the co-presidents of Florence High School's DECA chapter as advised by Mr. Tease and
Mrs. Edgurt. And before we begin into the presentation, I'd like to introduce the rest of the DECA officer team. We have Leah Alcheek who also serves as co-president. We have Lily Orin and Alexis Audit as our vice presidents of career development. And we have Katie
Dunn and Austin Patel as our vice presidents of public relations. Tonight we're here to present some updates about our DECA chapter, including how much we've grown this year, our recent updates for the NJ State Career Development Conference, as well as our
upcoming trip to the International Career Development Conference in Atlanta this April. This year, Lawrence High School DECA has continued to grow and remains one of the most active student organizations in our school and the largest largest DECA chapter in Mercer County, New Jersey.
Our chapter currently has over 226 members representing students from different grade levels and programs throughout the school. Many students join DECA through business, entrepreneurship, marketing, and accounting classes, but the organization is open to anyone
interested in learning more about business and leadership. Throughout the year, our members participate in community service, fundraising events, leadership activities, and business competitions that help us build skills we can use in college and future careers.
Earlier this month, 56 Lawrence High School students traveled to Atlantic City to compete in New Jersey DECA State Career Development Conference. This conference brought together nearly 6,000 students from across New Jersey, all competing in a variety of events focused on marketing, finance, hospitality, and
entrepreneurship. During the competition, students were challenged to solve real business problems, present their ideas to judges, and demonstrate strong communication and critical thinking skills. We're proud to assure that 14 Lawrence High School students advanced to the final round of competition. These
finalists have earned the opportunity to represent LHS at the International Career Development Conference, which will take place this April in Atlanta, Georgia. Qualifying for ICDC is a huge accomplishment, and we're excited to represent our school and the state of New Jersey on the international stage. This success is a reflection of the hard
work of our students and the support we receive from our adviserss, teachers, administrators, and school community. This year also included some special recognition for members of our Lawrence community. Our DECA advisers, Mrs. Alexis Edgar and Mr. John Te's received the New Jersey DECA outstanding service
award. This award recognizes their dedication to supporting DECA members across the state and their work helping organize and run DECA conferences and events. We are also proud to share that our superintendent, Dr. Robin Clim, was named New Jersey DECA administrator of the year. This award recognizes her
continued support of career and technical education and programs like DECA that provide students with real world learning opportunities. Looking ahead, we are very excited about attending the international career development conference in April at Atlanta, Georgia. At ICDC, thousands of
students from across the country and around the world come together to compete, attend leadership at workshops, and connect with professionals. For many of us, ICDC is more than just a competition. It is an opportunity to learn, grow, and represent Lawrence High
School on a much larger scale. We would like to thank the board of education, our administration, and our adviserss, including our family members, for continuing to support DECA and the opportunities it provides for students. Thank you for your time and for this evening.
Um, how lucky are we in Lawrenville? We have such amazing advisors. Thank you to Mr. Tease and Mrs. Edgar and to Robin and Dr. Clim. I mean, um, DECA has always been such a meaningful group to
our community. Um, I'm amazed and thrilled at all of the great things that are happening within our our DECA world. And thank you to our students and all their hard work this year. It's quite an accomplishment. So, you should feel very proud of yourself. Let's give the DECA
team one more big clap. Okay. Um, any other recognitions and acknowledgements? Okay. Thank you so much. Have a great night, guys. Um, adoption of a minute of the minutes from our 2126
meeting. Can I have a motion? So, move and a second. Tom with a motion and a second. >> Mr. Clark, >> yes. >> Miss Evans, >> yes. >> Miss Kelly, >> yes. >> Miss Martinez, >> yes.
>> Miss Pasculi, >> yes. >> Mr. Vanheis, excuse me. Miss Bose, >> yes. >> And Mr. Caparav, >> yes. >> Motion carried. >> Thank you so much, Tom. Uh, reports to the board. Dr. Clim, superintendent's
report. >> All right. Just want to say thank you to our Lawrence Elementary School third graders for singing tonight. What a beautiful preview of their upcoming concert. March is music in our schools month and we are proud to have such a strong music program here in Lawrence. Please take a moment to enjoy the
beautiful artwork as Dr. Barrya alluded to in the hallway. And also staying in line with the theme of music and arts, I did go to the opening night of the Admas family. It was tremendous. I'm certain I will see some of these students on Broadway. Thank you also to DECA for sharing your successes. It's an absolute
honor to have been recognized alongside you in Atlantic City. I see you and I got a chance to really embed myself in your hard work. So, thank you to our adviserss. For athletics, we are simply on fire for the 2526 school year. We have had a tremendous amount of success
at the high school level. The boys basketball team posted a 199 record and earned number one seed both in the CBC tournament and NJSIA Central Jersey Group three playoffs led by Marvin McNell who surpassed a thousand career
points and finished with 1,226. The girls basketball team showed impressive strength, improving from a 6 to20 record to a 15 to2 record, establishing itself as a rising contender. In wrestling, coach Chris Lynn uh earned his four 400th career
victory, leading the team to a 20-12 record in five county champions. While the girls program celebrated its first ever state place winner in Atlantic City, the swim program, I'm not done yet, >> reminded uh remained competitive with the girls reaching the NJSIA playoffs
and the boys advancing to the Central Jersey Group Three Finals. Winner track and field continued to gain valuable experience through invitational meets and all teams were supported by, of course, our very strong cheerleading teams. Overall, the season reflected a great energy, pride, and unity across
Lawrence Township School Athletics. March is uh a month that we celebrate many successes. This year marks our one-year anniversary of our $98 million referendum project that passed that succeeded any project that we've ever
here embarked on in Lawrence. That includes a great uh deal of planning and grade level restructuring. In just one year, we've made such significant progress. Some of our board members have come out to the Lawrence uh middle school to see the auditorium. I think
it's quite impressive how quickly we are moving along. We are projected to open the auditorium just this September for the new school year. Additionally, I hope the community will embark with us on our strategic planning. This is an opportunity to have your voice heard in
the next five years as we roll out a strategic plan. As you know, the board and superintendent goals are derived from that. So, we need your community voice. This is my shameless plug. The first meeting is April 15th, and there's flyers out where the agendas can be picked up for you to QR code sign in.
Even if you can make one of the three meetings, we would love your voice at the table, students included. Finally, I'd be remiss if I didn't recognize Women's History Month in honor of all of our trailblazing women who came before us, those leading today, and the young ladies in our schools who are helping to
shape the future. I want to acknowledge our dedicated teachers here this evening who will soon be recognized for their innovative grants for the Lawrence Township of Education Foundation. But first, Mr. Eldridge and I will be joining the podium to do the budget preview.
Great. Thank you. All right. So, welcome um everyone. This is our draft budget review. Just for the public's knowledge this evening, we start out with a draft budget review and then we have a public hearing on the budget come May. So, you can expect that to be forthcoming.
So, as with every budget, um we, you know, we put our money where our constituents and our um teachers and our instructional needs are. this year. I don't have my superintendent goals posted here because they will be derived from our strategic plan which is coming
down the pike. We are very excited um to embark on a five-year strategic plan. As I stated, there'll be three evenings dedicated to this. The team will be working through goals that typically center around academic excellence, facilities, and community.
Some of our initiatives that we hope to embed in um the plan not only for the strategic plan but have been included in this year's budget are a continuation of preschool expansion. We will be opening two classrooms. We are very proud of our pea expansion for the public's
knowledge. We'll be servicing just about 285 students coming into Lawrence Township Public Schools two years sooner than their kindergarten start with us. We are very proud of that. Our full preschool universe is about 500 kiddos which we will be hoping to serve three years from
now when the district reconfigures. We also are very proud to launch a public service academy at the high school. Um these are EMS workers um our public servants in the community. We are offering um sort of internships and externships and partnering with
emergency services. Um, we're looking at different tracks for occupational therapy and speech pathology and really just broadening the scope of career and technical education in this district. So, I feel very proud of that. The team at the high school has worked really hard to set the footprint for that. Um,
also we are redefining district level and building level data teams. So, we are continuing to look at professional development aligned to datadriven decisions and of course our our lenses focused on student growth. Um, next we have police officer presence in our
schools. That will remain. I know safety is a number one priority for our families. So, we'll continue to honor that. And in addition, we will continue our community workshops. So, we are surveying families. Um, we want your voice in this process. Hopefully, through the strategic plan, we will also
get an sort of a lens on what the community wants to hear from us. Some of the workshops coming up that we will have planned, it will absolutely um deliver is continued curriculum evenings so our families can engage with the curriculum and have an understanding at each grade level what our students are
doing and how our classrooms are functioning. The second is always student safety and wellness u mental health and social emotional learning is embedded throughout our curriculum. So it's really important that families partner with us and understand the resources available. And then of course you will hear from us the next three
years until the district reconfigures. We will need the community's input on you know how we reconfigure what the branding looks like for our new upper elementary school which will be LIS. Um what do families need um with some of the core spaces? What do our children
want um out of this experience in each of our schools? And then of course making sure there's equity among our elementary buildings. And then finally, equity and access is always part of every budget plan that we have, you know, that we put forth to this board. We are always looking at refining and
revising programs to make sure that student voice and as our demographic changes, that's reflected in our instructional practice. So the economic influences those things uh that support or the constraints around providing the initiatives that
Robin talked about. Um as you're aware um all the committees have discussed various aspects of this in their their meetings over the course of 10 months I believe when we started this. So u oops I used I tried to use the laser
pointer. Joey, can you take me back? You're good. So, let me see if I can do that again without advancing. Okay, it's the laser pointer is advancing. So, I guess I'm going to try and not do that. Okay, so we'll just move without the laser pointer. The uh so, of course, salaries
are the major contributor to our budget. We'll move uh and talk about those. Um the personnel committee um and the uh finance committee have addressed those in various committees. Uh benefits and insurance costs are of course driving our budget as well and we'll talk about
those. Salaries represent roughly almost 60% of our budget with benefits at about 21% of our budget. Pension costs are related directly to the benefit costs and of course everything is related to inflation as we are a market economy. So we've controlled many of our contracted
services um to levels that were below their previous increases. However, they are increasing nonetheless. change the slide. Joe, I'm afraid if I do it, it'll just go too fast. Uh, yeah, sure. If I can have your
laser pointer, green laser pointer, too. Woohoo. Let me see. All right, I like this one better. Okay, so this is a slide that provides you with information for the changes between two school years. This is our current year and the proposed budget. Of
course, the changes are in this column. And a mirror image of this is next door to the right here. The first table is about what programs we're funding and what the level of programs is. The second table, same numbers in the
aggregate except for what's purchased. So, if we look at what's happening in the proposed budget, we can see the increases. And I think one notable thing jumps out at you, and that's this. That's employee benefits. That's not unique to Lawrence Township Public Schools. That's happening across the state of New Jersey right now. Even
though we're not part of the state health benefits program, state health benefits program increases are in excess of 30%. Um, for medical and prescription, ours are hovering somewhere around 18%. And so you'll see the increase there
followed by the increases in special education and general education. And I know I talked to this with respect to program meaning our initiatives. You could easily spread these benefit costs out proportionately across these two. Um and so that's probably the best way to
look at it. However, this is the presentation that the state of New Jersey uses. And so you'll see that we're going from $88 million or close to 89 to rounded to $93 million. And here's your increase. And of course the bars, excuse me, the column charts here are
for your review. If you like that USA Today approach, you can see what's happening. As we look at uh gened here with a slight increase special education, but as we go to the right, we see that these are true numbers in terms of its distance that it is benefits
that's driving our costs in the proposed budget. If we look to the right, we see the same bottom line numbers. Here's the current year bottom line, excuse me, the current year bottom line in both places and then the proposed budget in both places. except in this table what we do
is we talk about the things that are within those programs. So here's salaries by itself and then benefits. And so now what we're reporting is by which things were purchasing and not the actual programs or cost centers. And in this you see that indeed benefits is
still the number one cost driver and followed by salaries as you would expect it to be. This is no different than it's been in the past. uh our budget hovers between 75% uh being comprised of salaries and benefits to 80% and that's where it is now.
This is something that uh we don't typically do, but we're putting it out there tonight. This is what's called the advertised budget. This is usually provided to you in the format from the state of New Jersey. This is an Excel format. Theirs is um a little less user friendly, but nevertheless, this is a
mirror image of that which we post on our website where we show the breakdown of uh regular education, special education, and we show all of the various programs across the district. When we look at the budget this way, of course, the totals are the same, but
here's benefits again, always driving and leading the way. If you're interested in what makes up our budget, here are those numbers I stated earlier. And you'll see that of the pie representing the total increase in the budget which is 3.9 million here it's
made up majority of employee benefits. And what are our benefits? Our benefits are driven primarily the largest uh component is your medical insurance followed by prescription. Um and then after that it's the pension costs um and
social security then workers comp. Um, and so we have minor uh costs in there as well. Dental and vision representing about 550,000 combined. We okay to move ahead on that? Okay, >> great. Thanks.
>> As those things occur uh those costs um and um as our people are delivering services, we're always looking to protect those services. We understand that there are limited resources. And so I wanted you to see all of the things that we do to keep costs in line. And I
started with our innovations. Our preschool education expansion offsets our levy costs by about $800,000 a year. That means that as we embarked on preschool education with our kids that are going to be upwards of $285,000,
the costs that we used to bear through our tax levy are somewhat borne by preschool education. So now what's happening is once upon a time the general fund took the full weight of all of the overhead costs in a school which would be the principal the secretary and
the main office the nurse. Now what's happening is pea which is a separate budget entirely from this is picking up 20% of the cost of some of those people. And so pea is helping us out with about $800,000 worth of costs that used to be
paid from the general fund. And this is substantial for us. Some of the things that if you're new to the board of education, you may not know, but we have about 5,000 solar panels on our roof to reduce our energy consumption. We have run our own private fiber optic network
so that we don't pay for T1 lines through Verizon. Um, these are all things we've done over the years. In addition to the typical things that you would expect if you look over at purchasing where you see all of our cooperative purchasing where we buy in bulk. on the agenda tonight and noted up
here in purchasing is we also purchase our health benefits through a co-op with roughly 60 other districts and so you'll see that on the agenda tonight. People often ask us about what we do with other school districts. Indeed, we do share routes with other school districts where
we transport students to out of district placements. We will couple up with Hopewell or West Windsor. We will go all the way up to Union County and create jointers and this board of education approves them almost every meeting to constrain costs. And so there's many things that we do. Some of the most
important things we do that affect students are here in our mutual support. One of the greatest partnerships we have is the Lawrence Township Police Department. They're a part of our family. They're almost part of our staff. You'll see them here if you walk through our schools. They know our kids
and they protect them. our most precious uh people. The recck department is here probably right now in the pool, so we couple with them as well. And the public works department. Um so there are any number of these things that I'd love to talk about at length. The Lawrence
Township Education Foundation is here tonight. Um they're here with innovative ideas to support uh to seed teacher ideas so that we can be innovative like we were here. And sometimes those things take off.
So, moving on, where are we with the revenue side? Lawrence Township Board of Education received in an additional uh 550,000 broken up into various forms of state aid, not just here, but other places um
in the for the 2026 uh 2027 budget. So, we had increases in state aid. Um, this is the general operating account, but we also saw an enormous increase in state aid with respect to our debt service account for our referendum.
>> And so indeed, we do have a tax levy increase that is here. We are beyond the 2% cap. We're using a what's called a cap waiver or spending growth limitation adjustment for health benefits. uh for people who are in uh interested in tax
impact, I brought that here for you in the lower right hand corner and set that table so that you can calculate that yourselves if you're interested or I can help you with it at some other time. Uh if you call, I would be happy to help. So,
our next steps and our transparency, the budget will be posted online at uh under the business office. Um, it'll also be posted on the main web page with a direct link right off the main web page so that you can read the entire thing yourself. Um, our next steps at this
point are to take this, ask you for your approval. This is a draft budget. We will submit the budget to the Mercer County Department of Education. They will review it for uh all sorts of things for propriety. They'll review it for common errors. Um, they're team
members of ours. This is not an adversarial relationship. They're um when we talk to Rich Kilpatrick or the county superintendent, they're looking to make sure that we're successful. Um they will review it. They will either ask us to make changes or they'll
approve it and then we will advertise uh this the u the budget similar to the long table I showed you. And we will have a budget hearing on May 6th. At that budget hearing, uh we'll do something similar to this. Over the past, I'm gonna say maybe 10 to 15
years, we've had no changes between this draft budget and the public hearing. Things have been relatively smooth. Um, and with that, um, this says exactly what I just said. And if we can't answer any questions,
we'd be happy to do that. >> I know it's dry stuff, huh? >> Just want to I just want to connect the dots. We always say this, but so if for those of us who are on finance committee, like we break down those pieces
um minute to minute kind of as different level like over the last eight months. So I guess >> I would be also curious. We have a pretty full room today. just questions between now and May that we can help answer because I think you at all times
um answer a lot of our questions through committee meetings and late night emails from some annoying board members. So I just want to put it out there like I would be curious this is you put it out so clearly and if there are public questions you came out and made and
everyone understand going into like what are questions out there? >> Thank you for that. anyone ever has any questions, they're always free to call. One of the things that I'll comment on uh with respect to our own governance here is that everything that's inside of
that budget are the things that the committees on the board of education have been reporting out on the entire year. So there's nothing new there. Those numbers reflect all of your reports. And so um as you report, we take note and then we build the budget
around that. So the budget itself, even though it's this is the season for the approvals, is something that we develop all through the year. So we're constantly building a budget for PEA or an energy budget or health benefits um or looking at something for um the
innovative programs that we do. >> All right. Great. Thanks so much. >> Thank you. >> Great. Now's the big part of the night. One of our guests were waiting for this. The LTF, come on down.
>> Good evening. Hello. Well, our teachers got quite a lesson today. They usually get to go before your budget, so I'm I'm sure it was illuminating. Uh my name is Bonnie Gigglio. I'm the executive director of the Lawrence Township Education
Foundation. We are here today to present to the board um our spring grant cycle. We got I want to say 38 grants. We were able to fund 28 27 I have the number here. Um a
total of oh there it is 27 3 $3 39,765 in grants. Um we had some amazing grants and um we are very excited to read them to you. Um so the first school I'm going to talk about is Ben Franklin
Elementary. Um the first grant was Wonder Books for $500 awarded to Rachel Burke and Beth Hopkins. If you're here, if you could stand, we'll give you a little clap. Um congratulations. Uh, this grant will provide a collection
of wonder books to be used uh with kindergarten through third grade students at Ben Franklin. The wonder book is a regular book with an audio book reader attached to the front cover. Wonder books allow students access to higher level text while still having a physical book in their hand. Wonder
books can be used individually with headphones or with a group looking at the same book and listening together with a built-in speaker. Wonder books include story mode to listen to the story and listening mode with comprehension questions to spark book discussions and higher order thinking
about the text. Uh the second um grant was books for the Wonderbook club for $31 awarded to Beth Hopkins and Rachel Burke. Uh, this grant will support our wonderbook grant by turning these texts with audio into a book club for up to
four readers. Students in grades K through three with varying reading levels can hold a readaloud wonder book with students um with a student can use to independently read a book club uh a book group. Sorry. By supporting this grant, each wonder book will have three
additional paperback copies so that students may follow along with their classmates. Our next grant is BF Outdoor Explorers for $1,565 awarded to Kim Oil and Terry Chrysac. This grant will continue to build an
outdoor sensory area for all students at Ben Franklin that will infuse learning into sensory and gross motor play. Um, the last one at Ben Franklin is BF Zones Booknook awarded to Megan Umbach. This grant will create a comprehensive
library of se self-regulation and social emotional learning literature in order to supplement the recently purchased zones of regulation digital curriculum for use in all classrooms at Ben Franklin Elementary. The booknook at Eldridge Park Elementary School, which was a fun a grant that we funded last
cycle, has demonstrated strong staff buyin and effectiveness in supporting students emotional social emotional learning. The Ben Franklin booknook will model this success successful program ensuring consistency, accessibility, and meaningful implementation across the
school. Okay. Uh Lawrence Elementary School. Uh our first grant is Growing Green Thinkers 2 for $500 awarded to Kristen Burke. This grant will expand on a previous LTEF grant, adding books that will be
used uh in the K through three students in classrooms and learning corners to deepen understanding of climate awareness, conservation, and responsibility for caring for our earth. By pairing engaging literature with existing visual supports, we will
continue to foster early literacy, curiosity, and a shared commitment to keeping our environment clean and beautiful. Our next one is playtime on the playground for $380 awarded to Kathleen who I did not practice. Jezinski.
Um, this grant will provide a playhouse for the upper playground, kindergarten playground area at least. The upper playground has a playground surface that complies with ADA guidelines, ensuring that individuals with disabilities can navigate this area with ease. This
project will provide more play opportunities for students who play in this area during recess time. And our last uh grant at least is AfroB Brazilian Music, Dance and Martial Arts Assembly for $985 awarded to Jennifer
Zatoni. And this grant will provide an engaging and educational cultural experience for students at least with the Afrobrazilian Music, Dance, and Martial Arts Assembly. This program introduces students to Afrob Brazilian traditions through live
music, dance, and movement based martial arts, fostering cultural awareness and appreciation. By participating in this interactive assembly, students will gain exposure to diverse artistic expressions while developing respect for cultural for global cultures and communities. I'm
going to let my board talk so you don't have to hear me the whole time. Hi, Jessica. representing Lawrence Township Education Foundation. So, I'd like to tell you about Eldridge Park uh uh grants. We have the playground equipment for kindergarten playground,
$3,362 awarded to Violet Millington, Carara Manique, and Amy Amit. This grant will fund age appropriate playground equipment that supports daily active play and physical activity to
enhance gross motor development and physical fitness for our pre kindergarten and kindergarten students. We also have Zoy Books to support language development for $995 awarded to Mera Roo.
This grant will provide interactive Zoy books to elementary students at Eldridge Park that will support language development and early literacy. These durable hands-on books engage students while building vocabulary, sequencing, narrative skills, expressive language, following directions, turn taking, and
fine motor skills. By integrating Zoy Books into the speech therapy and classroom uh environment, students will gain frequent meaningful opportunities to strengthen foundational language and literacy skills in an engaging and interactive way.
And now we're going to move on to Slackwood Elementary School. We have Nature Neighbors PreK through three community explorers for $500 awarded to Ebony Latimer. This grant will fund a program that will
allow Slackwood to work collaborative collaboratively with the Watershed Institute and the Lawrenceville School to provide students in grades preK through three a safe environment to feel confident learning about and exploring the outdoors and fostering creativity
and curiosity and the affinity for the natural world. And we also have enhancing language development for K through three ELELLLs for $2,100 awarded to Haley Andrew and Leah Uriar.
This grant will expand access to instructional technology for pro by providing additional iPads for K3 ESL students. The devices will be used during structured small groupoup instruction to support listening, speaking, reading, and writing activities. Increased access to
technology will allow multilingual learners to receive differentiated language supports and more equitable learning opportunities. Thank you. I'm Kathy Buldeseri and I'll be reading the grants from LIS and there's a lot of
them. Thank you. All right, we have first of all the weekly hoot shining bright for 359 awarded to Andrew Sensei. This grant will fund in addition to the weekly hoot morning announcements
program which was a previous LTEF grant. This project will address the needs of not having good lighting for the show. This will also give it even more of a live show look. They go live every Friday morning and have started playing games where all students and staff are
encouraged to call down to interact on the live show. Then we have fueling the LIS maker cart for $3,750 awarded to Monica Panturi and Juliet Le.
This grant will provide replenishment materials from the BMS funded maker cart for all students at LIS. This will provide all students the opportunity to continue building, tinkering, creating, and innovating during LIS's enrichment special.
Next is Bright Link Interactive Laser Display Technology for $3,920 awarded to Katherine Wink Gilligan, Whitney Robinson, and Jessica Dumont. This grant was designed to support fourth and fifth grade special education
students at the Lawrenville Intermediate School by funding the classrooms with essential multiensory tools, two Epson interactive projectors to support student academic achievement in mathematics and ELA. These resources will facilitate tactile learning and
boost productivity, ensuring students in both classroom 10 and classroom 46 to receive the specific engagement and IEP accommodations they need to succeed. Next, we have language in hand for $1,127
awarded awarded to Katie Kaches. This grant will provide iPads for ELLL students in grades four to six at LIS to support center-based ESL instruction that promotes listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills through engaging differentiated learning
activities. Students will actively participate in language practice, receive immediate feedback, and demonstrate measurable growth across all four ASL domains. Next we have classroom handheld microscopes for 177 awarded to Peter
Brainer and Amelia Mer. This grant will provide classroom sets of handheld microscopes for fourth through sixth grades at LIS in order to give all students access to science equipment that will allow them to see the world around them from a different
perspective. Normally microscopes are large, expensive, and limited to a science classroom. These microscope microscopes will allow all students to experience the microscopic world both in and outside of the classroom. Next, we have scooters for fitness at
LIS for $750 awarded to Katie Dadzinski and Rebecca Finley. Again, I get it. This grant will provide scooters for physical education classes at LIS,
primarily for special ed students, but could be used by any student to learn how to move on a scooter. By bringing scooters to LIS, students will be given the opportunity to learn an age appropriate motor skill that can translate into a fitness activity they
can use for life. It can also increase students social opportunities and engagement while others w with others while working on balance, motor coordination, and endurance. Next, we have STEM challenge starter kit
for $3,000 awarded to Amanda Broen. This grant will provide supplies for various STE STEM challenges for sixth grade science students at LIS. The goal is to encourage creativity, teamwork, and problem solving skills through a variety of highly engaging lowstakes
opportunities in the science classrooms. Skills acquired through the STEM challenges made possible by this grant would enhance students understanding of and proficiency in carrying out the design engineering design process, an overarching skill that will become
increasingly important as they continue on their journey as young scientists. And we have one more flexible seating for $360 awarded to Mary Buck and Jessica Alenbach. This grant will provide flexible seating
wobble stools for fourth grade students in Alenbach Buck classroom at LIS in order to promote student collaboration, engagement, and comfort during learning activities. LIS Hi, I'm Courtney Smiles Hagerty and I'll
be presenting the middle school. Um, first we have Hidden in Plain Sight for $1,450 awarded to Allison Fischer, Neil Desai, and Kelly Tanelli. This grant will provide an interactive subst substance abuse awareness and prevention program for middle school and
high school staff and families in order to increase early identification of warning signs, strengthen prevention efforts, and improve communication between adults and adolesccents around substance abuse, substance use, and risky behaviors. Next we have um TV
studio WLMS teleprompter for $900 awarded to John Eric Damatello. This this grant will provide a teleprompter for um seventh and eighth grade students at LMS in order to enhance the quality and realistic production of the weekly
school announcement program WLMS. We also have the mobile production suite for $3,434 awarded to John Eric Stamatello and Daniel Vanloo. This grant will provide a mobile TV studio for seventh and eighth
grade uh students at LMS to have the flexibility to an ability to film, record, and produce videos in any classroom. And finally at LMS we have constructing creativity for $2,100
awarded to Karen Richardson. This grant will provide student safe cardboard cutting tools for middle school art classes and creative programs at Lawrence Middle School in order to enhance hands-on learning, promote student independence, and ensure safe participation in cardboard-based design
projects. But didn't you guys see there's a there's a hidden in plain sight event coming up in the future >> All right. Thank you. I'm Charles Stellings and um I'm going to present the high school grants. First we have a
poster size printer for $1,200 to John Te's. This grant will fund a poster size printer that will allow the DECA chapter and business academy to create highquality professional posters for in-house events, competitions, and
school promotions. Next, it's Center Stage Anywhere for $2,973 and it this is awarded to Mandy St. Pierre Johnson and then three students Pitta Cirrus, Alexandria Celli and Mia
Swingle. >> This grant will provide flexible portable performance lighting for high school music students at Lawrence High School in order to support highquality performances in community venues and non-traditional spaces that are not designed or equipped for live music.
Impaired Driving Awareness and Prevention were $1,100 awarded to Michael Abbott and Ashley Palumi. This grant will provide an impaired driving simulation experience using the fatal vision alcohol program kit for
high school driver education classes at Lawrence High School in order to increase student awareness of the dangers of alcohol impaired driving. And then finally we have expanded math discourse in BTC with BNPS.
A lot of abbreviations there. Um but this grant will provide the installation of multiple large magnetic whiteboards in room 232 and by providing these high quality vertical non-permanent surfaces. There's
your VNPS if you want the breakdown. Um, the project aligns with district goals of supporting the building thinking classroom strategy and enhances daily mathematical discourse and engagement.
>> What's that? >> Oh, I'm so sorry. That was awarded to Jacqueline McSheen, Don Rentio, and Rebecca George. All right. Well, as you can see, there's some pictures of our grant day when we come and everyone was in sweatpants that
day. So, sorry about that. I will try to schedule at a different time. Um, but as you can see, we get uh a lot of grants. There are ones we can't fund, but the ones that we are able to fund are only funded because of the support of community members and donors. So, if you
click that slide, we have an event coming up. Um, this is a free event that we're doing in conjunction with a grant we got from BMS. Um, it's very similar to elementary school science days, but we're doing it on a district level. So, that's our maker day. Um, next Saturday,
next Saturday at the high school >> this Saturday. I know what day it is. And then we're gonna It's been a long day. This is our big event. So, Lauren talent save the date April 17th. Uh I'll give you a little secret. Tickets will be on sale
on Friday. And the art contest we opened this week as well. So if you don't want to be on stage if you uh you know have talents that are artistic. Um join the art contest this year. We're going to have all of the people who join the art contest can bring their art and we're going to have a gallery set up in the
auxiliary gym so everyone can show off their art as well as their insane talent. Um, and so we just wanted to say thank you so much for listening to us. Thank you so much for having an amazing teachers who ask for these amazing ideas. I'm going to give you the real check and then we're going to have the
big check and if we could take a quick picture and then >> So teachers, can you bring your checks down here to the pit with the board of ed? We're going to do a quick uh group photo. Thank you. I know. you so much LTE and to all of our
teachers. >> Bye. Have a good night. >> Okay. >> Okay. Front row. >> Did you say hello? Okay.
>> Okay. >> All right. Dr. Clim, do you have anything else you want to say? No. All right. We're going to keep rolling because >> we like to get done on time here. >> Board President's report. >> Um, good.
>> Board Secretary report. Tom, you're up. That's even better than my report. the uh I was going to defer everything to Pepper, but I would uh and I still will for the majority for the finance committee. Uh only like to report to the board that we opened bids today for the
LIS laboratory project. And so it appears that the bids we received uh were around the budget that we were thinking and we hope to have those to you for the April meeting for award. Uh and uh we are out for the Slackwood ramp
also. So we're moving ahead on those other things. Those are not part of your finance committee report. Um but the um you would be interested in knowing those things. >> That's it. >> That's great news. Thank you so much. All right. The board president report.
Good evening everybody. Um there is so much to celebrate tonight. But first I would like to just recognize the tremendous effort behind the development of this year's budget. The budget process is a team effort requiring months of thoughtful planning, collaboration, and ongoing adjustments
as state aid figures get finalized. Throughout this work, we are charged with identifying ways to operate more efficiently while protecting the integrity of instruction for all of our students. As you heard this evening from Dr. Clim and Mr. Eldridge, our district benefits from a leadership team grounded
in a growth mindset and forward thinking. These complex and often difficult decisions are the result of a commitment to excellence. On behalf of the board, I commend our leadership team for their dedication, professionalism, and unwavering focus on what is best for
our students, our district, and our overall community. In that spirit, I would also like to recognize two significant accomplishments within our leadership team. Um, firstly, Dr. Clim has completed all coursework required to earn her school business administrator
certification. Her commitment to lifelong learning and growth reflects a deep dedication to strengthening her leadership. This is particularly meaningful at a time when our district is marking the one-year anniversary of our successful bond referendum and as we prepare to complete
phase one of the project, the middle school auditorium. I'd also like to tell people um I don't believe there are any other uh superintendents in the state of New Jersey that have completed their school business administrator certification and I don't know if
everybody is aware of how fortunate we are um in Lawrence Township to have Dr. Clim as our leader. Um she is always striving to do better for us. She's always uh dedicated herself to our district and our community and um for me
personally it has been a wonderful growth journey um as I too am learning many new things um and I think it has made our board a better board um she leads by example she is constantly challenging the board um to do more and
do better and I know that she's done that to our schools and our and our teachers and Um, I know at the end of each year we can look back and reflect and know we've come so far and I am just so proud to have her as our superintendent and feel blessed for our
community. I mean, just this year alone, we have done so many incredible things. So, thank you, Dr. Clim. Um, additionally, we will also be celebrating uh Dr. Sarah Foster. She is our secondary steam supervisor who successfully defended her doctoral
dissertation this week. Dr. for uh Foster. This is a tremendous accomplishment and a testament to her hard work, perseverance, and commitment to excellence. Please join the board in congratulating Dr. Clim and Dr. Foster and recognizing the collective efforts of our entire leadership team in
Lawrence Township. Um finally, I would just like to wish all of our students, staff, and families a wonderful spring break, which is starting on March 30th. Thank you. Okay. liaison reports. Unfortunately,
our student board member Redeema Pandi is out sick today, so she'll return next month. I hope she feels better. Um, Lawrence Township Education Foundation, we just had their presentation. We can move on from that. Nobody here has
anything from New Jersey School Boards. Dr. Clim? Nope. Okay. Joanne will give us some update next month. I am very, very confident of that. Um, anything on reconfiguration? Nothing yet. And student services.
>> Student services meeting was held on March 2nd. In attendance, Vanessa Caria, McKenzie Kelly, and myself, Arnell Clark. Items to highlight. Uh, the resource fair has taken place on March 7th. Uh, many have attend many were in
attendance. uh with the max of 44 vendors um that RSVP that was covering but not limited to mental health, summer camps, dentist, outside services such as speech and counseling and many more. Uh info was sent out for duration all the
way up to the event. CPAC, the next scheduled meeting is for March 25th. Dr. Tracy Drunken Broad will be leading part two of an executive function discussion. There's also recently been uh reading
presentations that have taken taken place for staff and other admin. Uh those presentations covered reading mastery which took place on February 28th and Sunday learning which took place on March 5th. That ends the report. Okay.
>> Thank you. Um, review of communication. We don't have any. Um, this is our first opportunity for public comment. Okay. Um, the board of Yeah, you can come up to the podium. I'm just going to read something first. >> Great. Thanks.
>> Um, the board of education recognizes the value of public comment on educational issues and school matters of community interest. In support of this position, the law establishes a period of public comment at every board meeting. Individuals wishing to speak must state their name and address or
write it down. Comments are limited to three minutes in duration, but individuals may speak a second time after all others who wish to speak on the topic have been heard. The board may require that individuals register to speak prior to the beginning of the meeting. Participants may submit written
material in support of their position. All statements and or questions shall be directed to the presiding officer and no participant may address or question board members individually. All speakers are requested to express themselves in a civil manner with due respect for the dignity and privacy of others whose
legal rights might be affected. Please note, while it is not the board's intention to stifle comment on matters of legitimate concern to the school community, the public should be aware that if their statements violate the rights of others under the law governing defamation or invasion of privacy, they
may face personal liability to the injured party. If speakers are uncertain of the legal ramifications of their comments, the board urges them to seek guidance beforehand from their own legal adviser. >> That's quite a bit. I uh not sure late thing that we're saying.
>> Go for it at this point. But uh good evening members of the school board. Um my name is Marcus Dyer. I live at one Melbina here in Lars Township and this is my lovely daughter Elena and she's with the uh the middle school. And first I want to say uh thank
you so much for the uh work that you do. I I sincerely appreciate um your hard work and uh the uh public schools here in Lawrence in Lawrenceville I think have done a tremendous job with my children. So I do
want to thank you for that. And uh we are here to talk uh briefly about an issue that we believe is affecting many children in our community and that is the excessive use of technology particularly smartphones and social
media. To be clear, we are not talking about the use of technology in general. Okay, we know that that can be very useful and it's actually essential for children. But the concern is with excessive use. And I want to be honest, I did not this is something I didn't personally know a whole lot about even a
year ago. So I will, you know, share with you uh three quick things that I learned in the past year. You all probably know this, but I'll just share it with you anyway. So social psychologist Jonathan hate writes extensively about this topic in his book, Anxious Generation. And there he
explains when smartphones and social media became nearly universal among adolescents, rates of anxiety, depression, self harm, social isolation among teenagers rose
sharply. A recent article by the Nicholas Children's Hospital notes that when screen addiction becomes severe, the long-term effects can be as serious as brain damage. and a coalition of state attorneys general have filed suit
against major technology companies, I guess within the last couple of months, alleging that tech companies intentionally designed programs to addict children even though they know that that can harm children's mental health. In our family, we have seen firsthand how difficult this tech
challenge can be. for high school, we had a son who was an honor student, a tremendous athlete, and uh but over time, we've watched him experience some uh pretty pretty severe uh struggles and uh and and that surprised us because our
son is one who cares deeply about doing the right thing. He's the kind of kid who will walk around and tell other kids that you shouldn't vape, uh you shouldn't smoke, and you should not do any other engage any other behaviors that can be harmful to your health. And
so yeah, despite that that awareness that he has, we struggle mightily to convince him that excessive tech use can be harmful. And that led me to a question I couldn't answer. And and and that is why is that the case? Why does he understand okay the magnitude of
these other problems but thinks tech use is a non-issue and and and that question I put to my daughter and she explained to me why she believes our son cannot be convinced. um excessive use of tech can be harmful
and she also has a recommendation. So with that I will uh seed the floor to my daughter. >> Thank you. >> Good evening members of the school board. My name is Elena Dyer. I'd realized that I've been learning about
the consequences of vaping every year since first grade with near constant visits from professionals telling students about the issue. Because of this, many students are aware of the possible consequences of vaping, even if they end up doing it anyway. On the other hand, students are not taught about the possible severity of tech
overuse the way we are taught to stay away from vapes and smoking. If there was even a little more structure or even a singular class during health to educate students, I believe that students would understand the consequences of PE overuse much better. Thank you.
>> Thank you. Thank you so much for coming. >> Um, no board discussion or work session this evening. Board discussion and action items. Uh, personnel committee report and personnel action items.
I'm going to do my best to uh channel Joanne Groger, the positive pragmatism. So uh but uh humor me if I can't have her same zest and zeal for things. So the personnel committee met on uh March
11th of uh this year. In attendance were Dr. Robin Clim, Sean Fry, Mr. Arendelle Clark, myself, Michelle Bose, and uh Joanne Groger. We discussed positions posted for math and English at LMS and
are currently interviewing for a humanities supervisor. On tonight's agenda, we are recommending our new director of facilities. Very exciting. Um we reviewed round two staffing updates and projection. Uh no changes to
policy 4219. And on tonight's agenda, you will find approvals for resignations, staff members, leaves, substitute teachers, um resignations for retirement. We would like to recognize three retiring
custodians as of um set as of August 1st. Uh the head custodian at le Josemo. Jose will have held this position for 17 years and three months. My Rob Padromo custodian at Lawrence
High School for 21 years and one month. And last, but certainly not least, the head custodian at Lawrence High School, Luis Reese, 20 years and three months. All three of these dedicated custodians are well respected by students, staffs,
and administration. Their commitment to our district has not gone unnoticed, and we thank them for their years of service. We hope retirement is full of good health and good times for each and every one of them. Uh if anybody would have any comments upon these retirements, now would be a
time. Great. Um there in addition on the agenda, you'll see leave replacements and unused sick days, also appointments for staff member substitutes, um start date amendments, and rescending
of a position. Uh with all above, I'd like to move P1 through P25. >> Second. So move. Second time with a motion and a second. >> Mr. Caparata. >> Yes. >> Mr. Clark. >> Yes.
>> Miss Evans. >> Yes. >> Miss Kelly. >> Miss Martinez. >> Yes. >> Miss Pasculi. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Motion carried. >> Thank you. And welcome to Mr. Wilson
Contro. We're happy to have you on board. Okay, next up is CIAD report and student services. Oh, that's me. You call it curriculum.
Uh uh for the CIPD meeting, we met on March 10th, 2026 um at the board of education conference room. The members were myself, Michelle Bose, Pepper Evans, Gene Musei, Marine Hayes, Damian Marexa, and Sir
Dill Desai. Sorry, I'm tired. I'm tired, too. Where's Johnny? All right. We discussed the success of the curriculum evening, which was followed up by the community meeting uh here at the high school uh and was very well advertised and
communicated and we had a great um outcome. And so that's something uh that was covered. And then we had a wonderful presentation and I think I just want to give the district some kudos in the curriculum meeting. There were questions particularly about gifted and talented
and so Jane Muzie was able to present to us some really responsive next steps for improving the communication around that and also reported out on our title one schoolwide surveys that go out to parents where we learned that parent and
school connections are very strong here and parents are looking for more information about the math curricula. Excuse me. So, a lot of the theme of the day was really some great responses to parent and community engagement and
needs. We also uh had a presentation on the current some some highlights. There's a lot of information and data that we collect from our students, but this was a mid-year checkpoint on uh different screeners and diagnostic
assessments to see both were looking for the progress of our students where there are bright spots. So we looked at growth uh across schools and uh where there's some great bright spots where the focus will be in the coming months to continue to support students who are struggling
and really in related to the budget address. We're also looking to hear at our committee meetings how our curricula and programs that we fund are working. So that's something that we can see both midyear and then obviously at the end of the year when we're evaluating um the
success of the curricula and programs. So we also discussed uh preschool outreach which was really great. The district has asked parents who were registering how they found out because that's really important for equity and access that our students know they have
the available seat here in Lawrence. And um it was really great to see that we know how parents are finding out about the information um they need for preschool. There's an upcoming event as mentioned hidden in plain sight uh drug awareness workshop on April 13th 7 p.m.
I noticed we already got a nice notice on talking points. So um that's for families to remember and we reviewed uh the policy for students use of privately owned technology. in a first reading promotion and retention and something that we've mentioned that we are um
passing on to finance is the uh visitor policy here at the district. And we were asking for um some additional information about student safety protocols and making sure that our visitor policy is is uh implemented
across the district and um as as similarly as possible. And then we're all looking for district input on security metrics to make sure that's okay. Uh for the motions for this the OIS Oh, I'm going to mess this up. So uh
you'll see here various um opportunities for professional development and OIS3 is a motion for different locations for field trips. I can do all of can I do OSS? >> Yes. And then uh the OSS1 is a motion to
approve the out of district placements which we see often. So with that I make a motion to move there's a two and there's a two. Just kidding. Um to approve the harassment intimidation bullying reports school year to date. Thank you. So with that I make a motion
to move OIS1 through three and OSS one and two. Second, Tom with a motion and a second. >> Mr. Caparado, >> yes. >> Mr. Clark, >> yes. >> Miss Evans, >> yes.
>> Miss Kelly, >> Miss Martinez, >> yes. >> Miss Pasculi, >> yes. >> Miss Bose, >> yes. >> Motion carried. >> Thank you, Tom. >> It's our favorite time of the night. Finance. >> Finance. That's the moment you've been waiting for. Finance met on March 13th.
Joining me were Paul Caparata, Diana Pasculi, uh Olga Martinez, filling in for Kevin Vanheis, Dr. Clim, Tom Eldridge, Jen Baldeseri, and Joel Pasnney. Uh on the topic of construction, the
auditorium construction at LMS is on time and on budget. We are considering including the auditorium roof in the auditorium renovation project. Architect consultant fees. We will be amending the architect's contract to include additional fees for specialized
consultants. YMCA is our afterchool provider. We will be renewing their contract and this is the final year before we rebid. Uh Tom talked to you about the internal service fund, the prescription stuff. Uh
Lawrence Day School is where we have one of our community partners for the preschool. Um, we discussed reviewing their contract. Um, on the topic of the draft budget, I'd like to go line by line with you all so
you're sure of what what's in it. No, I won't. >> All right. >> You have to do it in four minutes. >> In pig. in piglet. I can I um the committee agreed that when
parents submit late applications for uh aid inl those payments will be made with the next aid inl payment cycle. Transportation um multiple drop off and pickup locations. So if you want your child to be picked up one place in the morning
and another place in the afternoon or it's different when it rains or it's different when another parent has custody, we are only allowing a single point of pickup and drop off for student transportation. Uh
custodial contract was awarded. U seems like we need it. We just lost 60 years of custodial excellence. uh playground equipment uh was discussed. Uh the equipment will be installed at Flackwood, Eldridge Park,
Lawrence High, Lawrence Elementary School, and Ben Franklin School. I don't Lawrence High School's getting playground equipment a >> little bit. >> All right, that's for us. >> Oh, we get to go. >> Those chairs, those chairs that build your balance, that's what we need. Um
there'll be Chromebook purchases. Um the school visitor policy Diana hit on and Uh, we talked about Wilson Quantero being our new director of facilities. And with that, I would like to move school business numbers 1
through 25. >> Second the motion and second. Tom, you were second. Yeah. Thanks. >> Yes. Martinez, >> Mr. Caparata. >> Yes. >> Mr. Clark. >> Yes. >> Miss Evans.
>> Yes. Miss Kelly, >> Miss Martinez, >> yes. >> Miss Pasculi, >> yes. >> Miss Bose, >> yes. >> Motion carried. >> Thank you. We just wanted to see if people were paying attention tonight. So Pepper and I are going to keep it real. >> Yeah.
>> Miss Martinez will be doing new business. On new business, we have uh confirm appointments due to clearance for 2025 2026 school year on paid leaves of absence. approvals for travel log and
award a transportation contract to RM RPM transportation enterprises for route Q-HP as of March 23rd 2026 I would like to move NB1 through MB5
>> second >> Tom with a motion a second >> Mr. Caparado >> yes >> Mr. Clark, >> yes. >> Miss Evans, >> yes. >> Miss Kelly, >> Miss Martinez, >> yes. >> Miss Pasculi, >> yes.
>> Miss Bose, >> yes. >> Motion carried. >> Thank you. And with that, we can adjourn. >> Motion to adjourn. >> So move. >> All in favor? >> I. Okay. 8:19. Um,