##VIDEO ID:dGxhhQvrlWE## and I will call the meeting of the Board of Education to order um adequate notice of tonight's meeting has been provided in accordance with the open public meetings act by the following methods distribution of notice to the record posting of agenda on the school district website and through parent Square um can everyone please rise for the plge of allegiance to the FL of the United States of America to the rep for stands one nation under God indivisible andice bless you thank you Mr Thomas sovich can we have the roll call please miss Joy here Mr Grow Dr Meer here miss Molina here Mr Park here Mr zepa here Mr seel Miss Thompson vice president Melman and president Lee we have a quorum also in attendance is our superintendent of schools Dr gadens as well as our assistant superintendent of schools Dr caramanos we also have in attendance our board attorney Mr leera and our two student reps danan Kim and Renee Kim also present okay thank you please let the record reflect Mr groud did have a personal conflict that he did he made me aware of which is why he's not here tonight okay that brings us to item 1.4 public comments regarding any agenda items um anyone from the public wishing to speak please step up to the podium provide your name and address Arthur did um thank you it's uh I haven't started my car in three days but I did start it to come down here in this freezing weather just so I could annoy you all um I've got a a few things uh 4.1 on the agenda uh 4.1 and 4.3 there are no um minutes posted on no link there is on 4.2 on the closed meeting but on 4.1 and 4.3 so you're approving them but I couldn't read any because they weren't there weren't published so you may want to just double check that as you move forward I have a question on 7.3 prek tuition I don't understand why we have three different prek tuitions um 9 9100 8600 and 8100 I know there's an explanation next to that but I don't I'm not sure that there I'd like to know what the reason is for that especially the 8100 n one where the uh the student is getting a free lunch as well as $1,000 less than everybody else and I have a question is is that PRK only for Leonia residents or is that for anybody who applies so you can answer that if you can when you when when you get to it 7.5 um the school bus emergency drills I brought this up once before in particular ACS do they jump out the back of the bus I know not sure I got an answer on that and how do they do that an emergency and the door flies open you got little tiny kids and high school I understand they're bigger kids but the uh the little kids how do they get out you an emergency just open the door and push them out so like well I don't know I'm can have have an injury in evacuations you know all the time depends on how they're conducted so I'd like to know how they do it for the for the little kids um 8.2 i r out of time just let me know and I'll finish in the second half um that is um that's what I that was 8.2 so 8.7 8.7 Reserve withdrawal from capital reserve that is uh for a $40,000 renovation I know what it was it was a conversion from the media center to a to a classroom but $40,000 sounds like an awful lot of money so I'd like to see the plans uh the architectural plans and the construction Club somebody can email me that Eric I'd appreciate it so I could take a look at it just I know construction costs are high the 40,000 from going to something probably more complex the less complex seems like lot of money from Rock and and uh and pain um 8.7 8.8 um I think that is I think that's the audit our auditor can answer for me is that that's actually I think the the amendment to the long range facilities plan but I think item number 8.7 oh I have 8.7 was the U oh that's the bus charge $41,000 this is the electric buses we got I'm not sure what we're doing here and I understand everyone understand the electric and the environment and all that other stuff but the reality is we bought the electric buses we got subsidy for that also so we're paying $41,000 for for each of S1 the total project cost is $360,000 to charge the buses that's a lot of fuel you know and over the lifespan of the buses I'm not sure if we did a comparison with see what it would cost us for the you know how much in fuel is supp how much the cost of the electricity charge and plus the cost of installing the stuff is going to be awful lot of money for the electric bues so um I think it's something really and and I gu the question for Eric is that subsidize also is the installation subsidized by the state so it doesn't cost us a lot of money that don't take a lot of the stting out of it and I think the last thing I have is the audit um one of the items I forgot which number it is was I'm not going to look sit here and look for it but one of the items was the uh failure to use two signatures on the check now last year or the year before during an audit we had the same issue last because it's not too signal I don't know if it was the same group meaning the one that was was noted last time uh that's still solved this is a holy different thing but the problem with two signatures and telling they get two signatures are the same the importance for all that is because not only has the borrow had a problem with with uh money being handled but but the Board of Education in the past has often un fortunately not under error so we want to make sure that the money is very very very carefully counted been signed check for so maybe the auditor can explain that to us that if that's the same as the last time or not that's all I have thank thank you anyone else from the public okay none we will move on to responses and board member comments sure thank you Arthur I want the record to show that I did email you specifically and reminded at 7 o'clock I don't want you to miss I will personally fund your DVR so you go me get to watch it it's good to see Arthur good to see at 7 o'clock um the the reason why I have the three prek tuitions is that we um we have students who receive free produce lunch and also qualify for uh for free lunch um and those three bands we have there are Tak into account the family socioeconomic status at home we recognize that some families have it harder than others and so we build into our prek tuition prices some allowances for what the family may or may not have the ability to pay cost wise so that's the the three prek tuition um that we have there the school bus emergency drills um I I am pretty certain and I could check on this is that if we do need to evacuate the rear of the bus um a child is never alone on the bus there's always another adult present sometimes more than one um as a result of that the driver would assist either the children off the back of the bus or another adult would help that child get off the bus we uh we don't throw the back door open and inject the children at three feet to the door we make it a point that someone is present to help them cop down off the bus if need be also in a crisis most likely we have emergency first responded there very quickly or even a Good Samaritan would be there to help the children out but there is a protocol in place if that door has to go back one of the adults knows to go to the back of the bus to assist with that departure um I will then give the other questions over to Mr tomasovich I will say that some of the questions are answerable tonight and some are follow-ups just so we as always Arthur we will get back to you with those items thank you Dr gainin to piggy back off of what uh Dr gayan said relating to the prek tuition those rates would be for Leonia residents as well as out of District residents um so that's the same that would be the same rate and I believe u Mr La I believe the state came out with law stating that the rate can cannot fluctuate um relating to different that's correct you now have to have uniform tuition uh relating to your question for 8.7 withdrawal from capital reserve that was and I I'll give you more um I'll email you more data but that was for our project relating to the core area where we're converting from the media center that was the old Media Center to make sure that it's in compliant with you know state requirements building code uh so that that was additional cost on top of additional on top of uh preapproved uh capital projects so those additional cost was relating to one section of that media of that old Media Center where we're um remodeling more suitable for you know instructional as well as uh supervisor space um so I'll I'll provide that that data what that relates to that overall increase uh relating to 8.8 the lrfp amendment for the EV charges as well as the buses so the so the overall uh when the district looked at to go EV they got approval U relating to a New Jersey uh New Jersey EP Grant uh part of that Grant was funding the difference between what a diesel bus would be and an EV bus um so the district would have to come out of pocket for that difference all other costs associated with purchasing the charges installation of the charges is covered so that overall cost um pretty much majority of that is covered the only thing that that wasn't covered is any additional architect cost that the district needed to get the project approved by the state as well as the requirements by the building code of permits that we needed drawings uh that we needed the architect to do so that would be additional um and I can email you what what is not covered of that but yeah majority of it was covered correct correct um relating to 8.1 which our uh district auditor can elaborate uh Mr Bliss uh but that relates to Student Activity checks I believe it's it wasn't an exact um repeat finding even though we didn't have that finding last year but that was you know um signatures uh typically all policy and procedures that all checks up you know that are provided to you know vendors and whether it's officials coaching that they contain at least two signatures authorized signatures um all the checks that come through me through the treasurer um they have two signatures before they go out these checks didn't have two signatures were mailed out and the bank cashed it so part of our policy every year we sit down with the treasures we send out you know processes and procedures and we just you know um go over what what needs to be done typically um especially this past year we did have some change with treasures with Student Activity Treasures but that's typically part of our process that we go over the you know um it typically is a district employee but it could be I mean it could be an outside employee but currently it's it's a district employee that gets an additional stien to do that accounting and processing well real quickly here so um we need to have in terms of the minutes we could see the minutes here they just need to be plac into the public content section we'll fix that ASAP that's a we're still figuring out the system a little bit we could see them as an attachment on our end but then actually make them public Conta that would be fixed a they P but I believe um just to elaborate on what Dr gayon I believe the way the minutes is showed it's it's link because everything's in board docs you should be able to click on it's not in public content like Dr gayon said but you should be able to click on on that um that minute icon kind of under I think the re recommended doesn't work okay okay I'm going to recommend that we we pull it from the agenda um from the consent agenda so it can be available to the public because the public hasn't had a chance to okay any other board member comments okay we will move on to item 1.6 Public Presentation Bliss okay hello everyone I'm here tonight to present the audit for the year ended uh June 30th 20 in 24 um everyone should have received two uh books or at least two emails one is the annual comprehensive financial report which is the thicker report includes all the financial statements um footnotes and our opinions and the smaller uh report is the auditor manager our main responsibility when uh conducting an audit is to express an opinion on your financial statements and express an opinion on your compliance with federal and state uh Grant programs uh our opinions on both the financial statements and on compliance with grants is unmodified unmodified is a clean opinion means the financial statements are clearly stated uh prepared in accord with generally accepted accounting principles and no scope limitations forming the order um and unmodified opinion on financial statement is an absolute clean opinion uh our opinion on your federal and state uh Grant compliance is also unmodified also clean me meaning in all material respects you comply with all the requirements of the grants um non-compliance could possibly mean refunds of grant money you know in accordance uh with the requirements so um again when you do a compliance audit uh unmodified opinion is an absolute uh we also have to report on any instances of non-compliance we did not have any uh either financial statements or on uh grants we had uh no material weaknesses internal controls absolute must not want those type of findings those are high level uh serious findings and we had no significant deficiencies noted in in ter uh so the reports or opinions are uh let's say the best that you can receive unmodified opinions no reportable conditions no material weaknesses and no um significant deficiencies uh with expect the fund balance I don't know if you were able to look at the report but on page 73 is a summary of your general fund fund balance at year end and fund balance is important to board uh to the board because you're going to be uh very shortly uh preparing for the 2526 budget and you're going to want to know how much money do we have and what can we use those funds for not all fund bals can be used um for any purpose uh the board does resolutions at the end of the year to put certain monies in capital reserve maintenance Reserve uh certain monies get reserved by state statute for future use um so I'm going to go through what you had and explain uh what's available what it could be used for um overall fund balance for the year ended June 30th of 24 increased a a little over 440,000 went from 7 m 159 630 to 6 7,603 558 um so basically you stay very stable very almost kind of like breaking even um of that 7.6 million the board had 2,434 686 in capital reserve funds that they have not year marked as of June 30th of 24 for any project uh the funds can be used for any Capital project in the long range facility um you also have 25471 of that was designated for subsequent years expenditures meaning it's being used in 24 25's budget to fund projects in that budget if we don't spend the whole 254,000 whatever is remaining will go back into the 2,434 capital reserve is put aside by board action board does a resolution in June to put so much money or up to so much money into reserve the funds can only be used for capital projects in the long range facility can't use it for teacher salaries you can't use it for health benefits uh you can't really buy equipment with it it's school facility projects capital projects uh the district also had maintenance reserve 1, 47750 of those are funds set aside to pay for uh required maintenance of school facilities uh the million 47750 was not year marked for any project so any projects that's in the comprehensive maintenance plan uh that you want to do and if you don't have funds budgeted you can draw from this 1 million 47750 um we also had 520 635 in um maintenance Reserve uh which is being used used were designated for sub expenditures meanings being used in the 2425 budget again if that 525 520 is not utilized for those purposes it'll go back to the million 477 day maintenance Reserve again is put aside act resolution in June um it can only be used for maintenance projects different than capital capital adds life to the buildings like additions extends chose to right whole new room U maintenance maintenance projects keep buildings in their current fix a window replace one door um but you don't do um again it can't be used for operating for only required main fa the district also has an unemployment compensation reserve of a little over 182,000 uh the district many many many years ago elected to fund their unemployment claims on which called the reimbursement method meaning you're self-insured or unemployment claims so every claim that comes in you pay the P um funds are made up of employees deduction and board money the board's money is the 182 390 it's restricted for those purposes um the district has not dug into that money to pay any claims uh in recent years um the money that comes from the employees is sufficient to pay the claims that you are playing out right now uh in New Jersey uh if you have Sur uh unassigned or unassigned Surplus in excess of 2% you're and after we do all the transfers into Reserve accounts any funds remaining go into what's called an excess Surplus reserve and at the end of June 304 after we did the transfer into the Capa Reserve account we transfered money into the maintenance Reserve account calculated what the maximum 2% was there was 550,000 remaining of excess Surplus those funds must be you Revenue Source in the 2526 budget can't be used for any other purose so when you start the 25 26 budget process the minimum amount of Sur must use is 550 um that compares exactly the same as the amount of excess Surplus you had from June 20 23 which was designated for the 2425 budget uh that 550 rolled into this year and now is being used in 2425 to fund expenses on July 1 it is no longer available to pay for future expenses now funding your operating costs um at the end of June 30 of 25 everything will calibrated calulated then determine what the ex surpluses at the end of this year correct the next two items are year-end incumbrances 22750 under committed and assigned of 9959 5984 and basically represents open orders purchase orders for goods and services you have contracted for or you have ordered which the contract has not been performed or the goods have not been received you don't really owe anybody money but when the contract is completed when the goods get received those orders turn into liabilities they get expensed against the budget um and then they get liquidated the reality is those funds have been committed and assigned for specific purchases those purchase orders roll into the 2425 budget as things come in we pay them they get liquidated by this point in time of the year I would say all of those or certainly 99% of those Waters have been liquidated and been and been expended therefore they're no longer available going forward to per future expenses that leaves you with the unassigned fund balance 891 588 uh it represents the 2% of the budget you're allowed to maintain plus you're allowed to add to that any unbudgeted extraordinary Aid you receive uh the 2% is roughly 794 th000 uh the extra extraordinary Aid that was UN budgeted is roughly 98,000 and that gives you you 89158 financially the district is a very sound State condition um you have capital reserve funds run capital projects you have maintenance Reserve funds from maintenance projects you have exra Surplus ability and you have the maximum allow have you even though of only increased at 44 state if there's no questions I'll go right to the recommendations um with the year of audit we just completed we had two recommendations uh related to student body activities um the first that's one recommendation um but it's in two parts um in conducting the audit of the Student Activity funds those are accounts that are maintain their money's collected by student organizations Student Activities and their spent on um we do a test of money collected uh and we noted in doing that test that monies weren't being deposited in a Time manner timely manner in accordance with your policy and the way we look at it as Auditors is we want to see the money deposited within two business days we collect money on a Friday the next business day is Monday should be in we had some instances um in the elementary school here as well as the high school where monies were being kind of held and deposit do a better job you don't want that money laying around you know someone's office um then the other issue is uh checks the policy is all checks required to signatures absolute must have always have two signatures on any check um by the district and going through ordering expenditures looking at the purchases uh know did uh a couple checks where there was only one signature um it was in the high school the middle school and the athle really got to make sure we get those check shouldn't be issue and now and honestly the bank is not supposed to cash the checks they are told every check requires to one of the checks I no for referee Sports so those are our two recommendations no repeats again um no internal control findings with respect to financial statements of state and federal grants um no reportable conditions just finding just discuss questions for the um signature ones go that have come out of er office so did it come out of like athletic department or I think you said it's not it doesn't come out of central office uh they come out of the schools usually umere example yeah referee example Eric didn't right that no no usually it's usually athletic director and then someone else on maybe principal okay um my other question for capital reserve this is more a recommendation than a question um for our $50 million sa you know budget a year what is a a good percentage of capital reserve we should I think the public always ask do we have too much or do we have too little you know um so just your exp so it's really it really depends on what your need you know if you have yeah long range I'll tell you what the calculation is what you're allowed to have you're allowed to have anywhere between 26 million and 44 million 26 million 4 how close are we you're nowhere near 2 2.6 if you have that much I would say but there's a calculation that you do it's based on the long range facility plan yeah corre 60% of the plan up 100% depending on what are uh eligible for state aid which you get 40% so you know it's hard to say I mean I have districts that have you know $10 million um that are smaller than yeah but they use it they they're so I I think the key is uh is if you put it away so like if our our strategic plan for 10 million in the next five years 6 million which percent yeah I don't I don't you know I it's I I don't know if there's a there's an answer to you know there I'm just asking we get that from the public corre you're not be able to put that yeah I mean I think the important thing is like I said last year you had almost three million you use the million one of it to do projects I know you're doing the remediation projects the female remediation projects the roof repair on the elementary school so you know it's good to put it away question what part of recommendation about often um there are activities that are like section students necessarily participate in the activi um so it could be two weeks time period three weeks time period and the check Trier bring in like what is the best practice I can't imagine us depositing these checks in two days from the receipt of it it's not only checks the more concern this cash right so the the your policy and what what we use as Auditors is we like to see the regardless of what the col don't want any kind of money coming around we' been auds books and check so you're saying the best practice is really just keep on deposited yes yeah keep the record you they keep records of who gave you the money and if the event gets cancelled or don't get if I could ask comment to that so we met with uh various um companies business vendors want to do business with us and we had a conversation last week with a a vendor in regards to uh paperless payments where everything would be handled through the computer like much like you do for your cafeteria payments and where Club advisors could set up online payments and no checks or cash flow through the building at all that's what that we're considering here and I bring that up I don't know if you've seen that as a as a at practice other districts have you come across that where districts are just going more and more less cash and check based starting to uh become more and more where they're going to like PayPal and venmo um and trying to get away from cash payments and checks um it's right starting right now we get a lot of times where you know uh District say can we do that certainly do that you know make sure you have the records so that the money's just not going in and you don't know yeah I think oh it's going to go where everything goes through those kind of payment and that's a good thing and eventually you won't be writing checks either still need those had a question about in the um in Auditors management report you had under suggestions to management you had one section where you recommended um we consider or uh discussion with our risk manager for a separate cyber security insurance policy and know this maybe for Eric also I was just curious if yeah just in reviewing your policy um you didn't have a separate cyber security policy and we just said you know maybe you should just talk to them to make sure you have enough coverage um we did have a district that um had a data breach at a ransom and they couldn't get their records back and they're still trying to put them St so um it's very costly to pay to get that done um so we just said you know talk to him and see if you're covered enough if you have you need um maybe some excess coverage for service but we are this would be addition on top of what we already have through our current provider so we have a policy in place it's more got because the the doctor BS are very yeah I'm fine uh no I want to uh thank Mr Thomas sage and his team for um for his fiscal management and doing a great job and Mr Bliss thank you very much for the audit report um there's no other questions from the board um thank you for coming out tonight for your than you it really is a great thank thank you so that brings us to item 2.1 our student representative comments any comments from our student Representatives on agenda items okay so that brings us to item three um approval of consent agenda items um I will take a motion and a second on the consent agenda items motion Miss Melman in a second Dr Meer I do any items for discussion and I actually do want to pull 4.1 and 4.3 just because they weren't available to the public yet um for consideration at our next meeting any other items for discussion um is the motion and second okay with that okay so we have a motion and a second to approve the consent agenda items with item with exception of items 4.1 and 4.3 which will carry the next meeting because of the technical issues um those uh just so the public is aware they are visible now so you can take a look at them and then we'll adopt them at the next our next meeting Yep they're there there now and you'll have some time to look at it before we get to our next meeting um can we have W call please Miss Troy yes Dr Misa Miss Molina yes but abstaining from anything you feel Mr Park yes Mr zepa yes Mr SEO Miss Thompson vice president Melman and president Le yes motion car thank you to our administrative reports Dr good even everybody it's great to be here tonight um a few uh uh few announcements a few things to share in regards to what we uh have going on in the district but first off good luck both the ACs and LMS talent show participants want to thank the hasas for the various schools for helping to organize those events they're right around the corner um Dr caramanos and I have been roped into um both into strong word to use I've been asked to uh MC the middle school one and I know that m is involved in the acs1 as well so that's great there um so that's coming up right around the corner our ongoing recovery from the August rainstorm continues with an architect walk through of the site next week bring our sign CLS back online the school-based feedback for the formation of the 2025 2030 District strategic plan has concluded I want to thank the faculty and the staff who offered their input the supervisors directors and principles offered their feedback today a rough outline of the plan will be shared with the Boe committee within the next two weeks weeks a lot of really good work and I want to appreciate really want to show my appreciation for everybody who came out to give their feedback on what was done in the public session the board can feel very comfortable that the level of transparency and feedback from all corners of the district are taking place we want to thank our LMS Cubs for their concert this past week um they are youngest students at the middle school and you can really see the growth from September until January nice to have that concert they get another month of practice and uh just a strong strong music and our music program program across the district by the way is just off the charts like so well standing room only at the at the holiday concert um that was held back in in December at the high school all the school concerts are just so so strong so thank you to our music educators for that I want to thank Mr thomasevich in the in buiness office for their excellent order results um does not happen by accident and their hard work is noted and appreciated uh today Dr carus and I stopped by the bowling meat versus out River day stopped by the old uh the lane we popped in there one of our student Representatives was there I believe noan did we win our match tonight very nice congratulations very nice um their record is seven and two and I I also want to share that we did not stop at the snack bar to get the big pretzel we'll get that for ourselves the next time but what a wonderful event and just Boulder's doing a great job thank you to Mr Miller one of our newer teachers for coaching that team on January 23rd ACS will host Educators from Busan University we host Educators multiple times a year people love visiting our school schs usually it is at the high school gets the attention it's nice to see ACS get the visit um and we are beginning to work more and more on sending our teachers to Korea working to have sort of put that plan together um so we're we're working on it and that takes a lot of a lot of effort and a lot of diligence and I want to thank uh congratulate the high school for being awarded the College Board award for female diversity for the AP Computer Science principal course Mr calendar shared that to the community today very grateful uh Miss permu is our teacher there um very very strong results and it joins all the other Awards I know Dr caros is working on an Instagram post of all the awards we've gotten this year it's going to be do we do a real is it a post what is it going to be probably be a real I don't know what that means but it's going to probably going to be a real and that will be on Instagram and we've had a very very strong year in that regard the last thing I want to share here um uh have to find this here I just want to share that um on a personal note please not on the agenda my resignation for the purpose of retirement under personel effect of August 1st 2025 as the community knows I had a significant cardiovascular event last year and while I've made a full recovery from my doctors the underlying medical condition which caused my heart attack remained based on that and with the guidance of my medical team and encouragement of my family I need to prioritize my long-term health I will work with the Board of Education to ensure a smooth transition for my successor I will share this with the community tomorrow morning about 8:30 I'll send this out dear families I hope this message finds you well after much reflection and discussions with my family medical team I have made the difficult decision to resign for the purpose of retirement as Leonia superintendent of school at the end of the 2425 school year while I'm grateful for my steady and strong recovery following a serious cardiovascular in event last year it has become clear that prioritizing my long-term well-being is essential my resignation was accepted the last night's Board of Education meeting this decision was not made lightly and serving this community has been a great honor I remain fully committed to my responsibilities throughout the school year will support the board board of education in ensuring the smooth transition of my successor Leonia strength has always lied with its dedicated Educators staff and fam to work tirelessly to make a difference in our students lives I am fully confident that the dist will continue to thrive in the years to come with gratitude Brian P Gat on a personal note I just want to share my gratitude to the ongoing support of the Board of Education um you took a leap of faith on my hiring two years ago this has been an absolute rewarding two years this place is a gem I will miss this place dearly we have a lot of school year left ahead of us we be really clear about that um August will come soon enough but I just want to say my gratitude to the board of education for their ongoing support what we've gone through as a family and for your supported me personally I absolutely love this District it will be left I'm sure in good hands of the Board of Education guidance and thank you very much [Applause] Mr Thomas thank you president Le it's uh hard to follow that um I have one item but it's a long item it's relating to all our capital projects everything going on in the district just to give the board and the public an update um since my last update in in November I'll go go through all the projects uh LHS do this is Phase One this relates to our insurance recovery from Ida uh vendor has started this week estimated to be completed within 3 weeks so this is our internal as well as some of our external doors that would that were damaged from that storm uh LHS mitigation the one item that's pending that's the installation of the uh new storefront at the front of that school estimated to be completed over the next two weeks LHS cafeteria project that has been completed LHS Cory area that relates to one of the items um AR that you brought up during this meeting so currently it's it's uh the vendor has started phase one of the project uh phase two will be completed over the summer due to impact of instruction so part of that phase one that was the additional course needed uh to complete phase one LHS New Media Center that's currently out to bid with the bid opening schedule for January 30th LHS fitness center that's currently out to bid with the bid opening also scheduled for January 30th um the next project is LHS art room syncs that's uh that was damaged through the in it's uh covered through Insurance Recovery from our August rainstorm that's currently out to bid with bid opening scheduled for January 30th so those three projects are bundled on that bid opening on January 30th the LHS EV charges buses final items are being completed by the district architect which you'll see those agenda items tonight um to to the doe buses are anticipated to be starting to be delivered and arrived at the school uh roughly beginning of April this spring uh continue to roll in over the next two months as the other buses are coming coming in District for a total of seven buses the bid opening for the lease proceeds of what's not covered by the grant um that's Set for February 7th um to determine the the lease rate which the the goal is to lease it over five years LHS doors this is phase two this is also covered by Insurance Recovery from the August rainstorm uh final items are being completed by the district architect that that was another item on tonight's agenda for submission the next step is to prepare the bid spcs and advertise for the bid pending insurance review uh the next item is LHS science Wing that's also being covered by Insurance Recovery based on the August rainstorm it's currently the district architect is in the process of completing an updated project cost analysis um this is based on the damages that were incurred and also um based on the insurance review meeting that was held on January 6 district is in the design phase of this of that section for submission to the the insurance to confirm uh what the district is looking to covers within the project cost analysis and if there's any items that are considered above and beyond pre- disaster conditions in which the district has to add funding um next project is the LMS mitigation that's completed ACS roof project that's through Rod Grant which we're getting uh roughly 40% covered by the state that's completed uh with the finalization of the punch list in the process of being uh worked out by Mr woods and our district architect um as well as closing out with the SDA to get that funding and the last project is the ACs doors that will start after the LHS project with the estimated completion of about two weeks and that's it good thank you brings us to committee reports starting with our student Representatives thank you president Lee for tonight we have two items to report first one is midterm exam has started today this Friday January sorry midterm exam has started today until this Friday January 24th make sure that students are preparing for the exams and good luck on them second one is bowling swimming boy boys basketball girls basketball and wrestling teams are going well and hope to finish their season successfully and safely and also thank you so much much Dr Gad and Dr C for visiting this visiting and supporting a bowling bowling match today all all of the teammates and Coach Mill are really appreciated for that thank you so much thank you um practices and we didn't meet in January because of the reorganization but we're meeting on February 4th education we met uh earlier tonight uh where uh Mr calender reviewed changes to the program of studies for the next academic year we really appreciate him uh staying so late in Leonia to come present to our committee uh what two things that that we heard that uh I thought were really great is that uh the changes that are happening are happening based on teacher input and recommendations whether it's the addition of some classes or some new options for students uh and the other thing that I wanted to highlight is that um you know when changes have to do with kind of the earlier grades in the high school there's a lot of collaboration with the Middle School uh and and I love hearing that and I know that our district has been working on uh collaborating more and coordinating across the different school buildings uh to to have that continuity so that was great um we talked about a few other topics that I think are are probably TBD at this point so I'm not prepared to share them perfectly fine thank you um finance and planning we are still in the process of coordinating some dates although we know we have some targets that we're working on so that email um I will be sending and coordinating with the rest of the committee thank you Mr Thomas Sage for helping us pick some of those dates that we'll need to meet um as the budget uh becomes more of a reality for our next school year we'll be meeting more and more often um most likely in March and April that brings us to policy we haven't met since the reorganization however we will be planning to meet before the next board meeting and we'll have a full agenda of items as it relates to various policy changes that have come from the state in as thank you sorry I skipped Mr zco buildings um yeah same we have okay thank you very much um that brings us we do not have any policy items that BR this back down down to new business SE okay so a little bit of a shift in the agenda we're actually going to do public comment number two um on any non-agenda items any from the public yes please you know the drill uh Arthur's at25 relev I think I forgot that last time um I forgot to ask on the disposal of assets at form books from sell them or do we just trash them um and if we trash them why wouldn't we sell them but maybe you do sell them so I find out what with that uh also um Joe was questioning about the the reserve and the need for the public to know what is going on I as you know over the years I've asked a lot questions about reserves and Eric knows that um and the reason is I may have mentioned it in the past but board members change the reason is with the construction of what I used to call the the kitchen you know the annex that was built there that was um that was put together by prior Administration uh and it took the voting away from the public we didn't have a chance to vote on that it was not up put up for referendum it was $6 million almost plus or minus uh and it was intentionally kept below the threshold for putting it out to the public uh by using accumulating a lot of Reserve then grabbing a lot of that Reserve went down at one point from you know five or four or5 million down to 500,000 or something like that which built up again uh and then using a land lease uh to keep the threshold for the project below and I have a that that never left me and I think it's a it's you know that should never happen on major projects like that so that's the reason I always keep an eye on not so much that I think the accumulated Mount I think there Tes to keep around 10% which seems to work uh which is which is pretty good um but that's the reason I always like to keep an eye to make sure that does not work happen again um where we're would taken out of our hand also my suggestions at the time were because you're building a ranch which was one level okay with an eye of the future where we were looking at that time also many number of years ago um the the student growth and the need for additional space was was on the horizon but my suggestion was to build the footings and the foundations and the upright that iron work stress it for at least a second or third level and just stove it up above the roof so that in the future if you needed more space you could build up and you didn't have to disrupt it you could do it in the summertime okay but the cost of doing that put it above the threshold where it would have had it gone out so it really Po and so I that's why I keep keep an eye on it in particular so I want to make sure we don't accumulate so much and now with the capital the Strategic plan coming up you know we don't know yet they're still formulating what's going to happen what's going to happen how much is that going to cost and things like that and then listening to what uh uh um Marias had just said about the Synergy between the high school and the middle school one of my feelings was also that maybe you should move the middle school down agj to the he I mean it's a long term and it's a big project with the thought that needs to be taken where you could do that you don't have to mix them all together it could be an additional facility where you have that facility where they can just kind of walk through a hallway or a corridor and you've got that Synergy that you were talking about which is done at many other schools like Westwood does it and does it with a bunch of schools that have that so that was just uh just uh um uh that's just what I had to add on for now sorry thank you thank you anyone else from the public okay that brings us back to our board comments um do have a comment apologize a little awkward after Dr gon's um basically Earth shattering announcement um I've known it's been coming for a little bit I actually I just had to take a minute to gather my thoughts um so I just wanted to share something real quick with the board many of you may know it but uh some of the newer board members may not but I had found Dr gon um in the height of covid when on the board and everyone was trying to figure everything out right no one knew there was no process no one knew how to handle anything um everything that was being thrown at us with Reg regulations with stay at home don't stay at home you know like how how to educate our children during this time and you know as I do I just kind of went online and I started looking for how how are you know various superintendents handling Communications and I came across the school of Emerson and I found a very neat website with organized messages and um it just clearly laid out you can click on it click on one link full report full disclosure Co numbers everything that was happening within the district what the plans were put have contact you know what had what had occurred that week if there was something different from the prior week and it was a weekly update and I was extremely impressed by it and it was like man like this this guy really knows what he's doing super organized u i mean we had a great Superintendent at the time but it was like if we were ever looking for one this would be the guy that I'd want and come year and a half two years later you know we're in the situation where we're looking for a new superintendent and who's one of that that comes in and it was it was like like is this the guy that I saw that I found before it's like that's him um and and it's been I think we've been fortunate it's been really great I mean a different management style different leadership style but I think it's been really wonderful for for the board and for the district um just the attitude and um just the the culture of the whole District I feel like I really really changed I really appreciate the time you you put here um the sacrifice your family has made to allow you to be here also I really appreciate that um fully intend to take full advantage of the next seven months that we have um and I appreciate your offer to work with the district I know that is heartfelt and I know this hasn't been an easy decision for you at all um definitely not for myself and I think you know and and board members feel free you know to share your sentiments but I I could not um I would love to reject your destion there um but it's not fair to you not fair to your family so I really appreciate um your your time as short as has has been has been immensely impactful thank you yeah if I could just add you know I I was traveling last week and you was walking from one session to another and you know checking my email on my phone and I you and I read the update I literally just stopped in the middle of this hallway and like two people bumped into me it it was just like so so shocking but um you know if Dr gon you're the only superintendent I've worked with um you know since I joined so I had it easy I just had to vote um on your on your position versus actually all the work I went through with the rest of the board to actually select you um but you know I say the transparency the openness often you're sharing with us and this is the board's call right you know you're let you know it's not like you've made some decisions and you're trying to have us figure it out later on you say often you you mention it's something that you guys own let us let us direct a district and so you know I would say it's quite the object of a power grab it's it's you're were very open and honest with how you handle things so it's not just a competencies that you have but it's it's how you you know project yourself not only here but also with the community in in in in general you've been fully invested in in our community and we really appreciate it thank you thank you both um I know what's going to happen you're all going to feel obligated to say something and I will crawl under this table and I will drop de right here so I beg of you let's wait till June and July and I appreciate it right I just I just I I I thank you for the heartfelt comments but I can see the way this is going because you're all loving caring people and I beg of you we have other work to do tonight and it's going to be great and wonderful in the rest of the school year and we'll talk about it in June okay Mr Le okay everybody else we're thank you please I've I've never I've never board not to speak ever before I beg of you please please okay right now my wife's at home right now rolling her eyes at TV like I please thank you I couldn't leave it yeah okay so if if there are no other board comments then we will move on and actually that brings us then to uh Clos session um okay um can I have a motion and a second on new business items 10.1 oh well on item 10.3 Mr Park and second Mr ZKA and can we have any okay and uh can I broke call please M Choy yeah Dr Mis Miss Molina yeah Mr par yes Mr zepa yes Mr SEO Miss Thompson vice president Melman and president Le yes motion carries under new buiness thank you so now that brings us to Executive session um we do need to have a CL session tonight um I anticipate could be anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour um so for the public that are watching at home U we will return back from close session uh simply to adjourn the meeting sorry we will um act on item 14 personnel and then adjourn the meeting coming out of the Clos session and we do anticipate Clos session to be up to an hour um so if you'd like to stick around and wait on YouTube you can do that but the the video will not be broadcast and for our members of the public here tonight and for our student representative we thank you for being here ask can I have a motion to go and to close Thompson second Mr Park all in favor I any oppos exensions okay motion carries 803m Personnel uh Mr Park second Miss Thompson and um sorry second with Dr Me Oh I thought I heard first Dr Wisconsin and can you all turn your name tags for I do yes yes yes okay thank you and can I have a motion for adjournment Mr SLE second Miss Thompson all in favor we are adjourned at 9:56 p.m. [Music]