Can everybody please stand for the flag to the flag of the United States of America. and to the republic for which stands nation public meetings act notification of this meeting has been provided by advertising in the record and posting notice of this meeting in Burough Hall
and the superintendent's office. I hereby close to order the public meeting of Littleberry Board of Education, Thursday, May 1st, 2025 at 7:01 p.m. I have a roll call, please. Mr. Pelli, Mr. Polei, here. Mr. Pros,
here. Mr. Tan, here. Mr. Mey, here. Muzo, here. Mr. Borosac here. Mr. Patel here. Mr. Bradley here. We have a quorum. budget hearing. We're going to open up things with our with the budget public budget
hearing. So, we're going to this is two meetings. Uh the first is the bud public budget hearing. Then we will close that after we take the vote on budget and then we'll open up to a regular public meeting. Um
All right. So, Larry, how are you? So, I'm I'm going to go through the budget presentation. Uh John and I will kind of swap back and forth between the numbers. uh for the board you can the president that's behind you uh for the
public because it'll be handed out uh posted on on the website. So really we had three goals coming into this budget about it. All right. So we have we're just going to do the budget presentation and
then we're going to go to the CN. Okay. So we had three main goals when we were doing our uh budget goals. Uh resource alignment program program expansion and fiscal responsibility. We knew this year coming in with the expansion across the
street that the fiscal responsibility was going to be something that we had to look at for the burrow uh because we wanted to make sure that it stayed at our our 2% tax level. Uh so this is going to be the budget funding. This is the numbers that are going are going to be kind of
explained to you by Mr. Gomez. Um, and then we'll get into some of the things that are in the budget for the 2526 school year. So, Mr. Gomez, if you want to. So, first number is the tax money. Uh, we decided to go to the 2%. Now, the
number we could have gone to was an additional 1.6 billion. We had a $900,000 adjustment for enrollment we could have taken. We had a $300,000 adjustment for increased health cost
that we could have taken and we had cap about 375 which came out to about 1.6 million. We decided not to. So we stayed at a 2% under state aid. So we got a
$300,000 increase from the state, but the state capped what everybody should get. So I'm not happy about this company. What we should have gotten was a million if you go by the state funding. So the state for the first time
in seven years did not fun. So right now we're at 88% of what we should be receiving in the state of New Jersey and our local fair share. So preschool uh state aid was
reduced by 149,000. So the way they they took it out of the carryover about 893,000. So they don't take the money back. What they do is they take it off the top of your next set of
checks. Pretty good. Just want to show you how much it is between regular education and our special ed. Um, it went up.5%. That's just sheer numbers. Uh,
capital reserve, we're going to be using $2,500,000 out of capital reserve. We're going to fund the uh project which starts July 1st. We're going to do
possible land acquisition. Yeah. And we're going to do the bathrooms next to the gym. So that will be authority this evening. uh total general fund is 32 million that does not include our 120
which is our title one total which is on resolution is 36. So that's where we are. So we only went up on the general fund 2.74%. So what helped us is we've had we
get we're getting younger as a district. So when those retirees retire, we got what's called rate. So between that and just being real tight for all the personal spending. So this is just break down
where our money goes. Now there's different ways to break this down. So this is using state transitation. So this is significant number. So we've asked you guys in admitting uh we're going to take some things back.
Uh we're using our drivers. So that's the result minus 1.72%. We still have the number in the budget or we should be but every time we make these efforts that number goes down. So we consolidated. There was a
route that was right up the block at one of our guys that'll show you on that facilities and maintenance. The reason it's down is because we've done so many projects up to this point. So, you know, we're taking a bite out of
that special education. So, that's the number that's really in district. So, we've been, you know, working on just being better at all those places. Now, here's the other one, and this is
why we're at 2.74%. 19.87% increase in health. Now, that's the first half. So, the health benefits aren't on the same calendar as our fiscal year. So that
increase was uh January 1st an average of 19.7%. Who knows what's going to happen on the second half of budget. So that's half of but that was the biggest six hours were down a little bit. So that's
how we made this all and what John's saying. This next slide just kind of breaks down into each category just so you can see it where salaries above regular
education commissions benefit and include obviously salaries and benefits things of that nature. Most most districts spend about 70% of every
dollar. It's a labor intensive process. So when people say why are you spending so much if you want to touch every child you have to have professionals in those classrooms and with the spending from the general fund
we were able to maintain all of our instructional staff all of our uh support professional staff as well as all the current programs that we have. So Mr. Dunn has done a great job over the past couple years of of kind of implementing the curriculum. So this is the first year where we're not buying
necessarily a new curriculum. We're starting a new program. Um you know when when started going through this I said to him I wanted three to five years of seeing what we have. We thought we just try to make a change. So you know the data collection the data lockers that we
have uh the teachers working hard with their PLC's teachers working hard on professional development at their grade level meetings and going over data. we were able to keep everything intact which is a testament to to really everybody here. So here's where we got our money.
So in little ferry the taxpayer pays so inclusive debt service. So this is going to be the first year where we're collecting taxpayer dollars to support the new building. So
nationalization. So, state aid 5.57 that includes a small piece of that service that they give us. They give us 74,000 and that'll be for the duration of the project. Every year we'll get 75,000 state reserves. So, we're pulling 2.5
million out of capital reserve to do those three projects and preschool is about two million but that includes the carryover. So that's net of the 149 will take back
149 and they I'll tell you something the state three years ago snorted all the districts are doing oh we're never going to take back carry over so shame on them I'm allowed to say that pretty small expansion uh program
total budget so our actually the number of classrooms is actually serving less of a percentage of our eligible universe this year than it was last year. It's not because we reduced classrooms or staff. It's because the first grade un the first grade numbers dictate the
universe and our first grade numbers are up which means the universe is up which means what we're serving is less. Uh but we're serving 59% of ours in the universe. So, you know, we are constantly looking for more space uh
to serve a preschool program. We do have a waiting list currently going into next year. I think it's close to close to about 30 kids and that's 30 kids prior to everyone necessarily being vetted. So, there might be some people residency that we
go staff program investments 25 26. Uh we last year had Thrive Alliance for our mental health uh practitioners. This year we're going with Insight Health. We're maintaining the two staff members that were here. Uh we're also getting a dashboard for mental health services
which we've started using this year on a trial run and it's really served us well both public regular and special education. This is about on both sides for special education. We are continuing to grow the ASD program. So, one of the goals that I told the board was, you
know, we had an individual in our special ed program who started in that ASD program. Our goal is to get both of starting in that program to finishing in. And this allows that to happen. So, this child should be able now to stay here through 8th grade, which which was
our goal saying that he would be able to hit that goal. uh to be adding another ASD car professional program professionals and then another part speech therapist 6 psychologist which
also um our numbers are growing expectation number one and two preschool also increases those students that are in qualifying services technology notebook LM is something that we are using as an administrative team and
looking to roll that out to staff uh September Chromebook the Chromebook release is in here again and we're getting great then our radios that um I don't think there's an administrator here that would agree um
which is our main source of security in the building. We have all bells and whistles and everything else but those radios the quickest way to get through a lot of them are coming to the end of their life. So radios are not cheap. Uh we do have more radios issued than ever before because of uh some behaviors of
the past who need them. We're a lot of supervisors that need them. So we just as well. We are adding a elementary guidance counselor which to me is a long time coming. It will allow our current guidance counselor to do more to be more
proactive than reactive. Uh because it's hard with 850 plus students to be everywhere. Um she's looking different directions. So now we'll be able to separate those two together to be able to do that this year or in 2526 because
as I'm trying to get this piece together so come through separate buildings those relationships are nicely um and not part of the general fund but the lunch uh service one is to hopefully
be moving the cafeteria or the kitchen from the annex over to uh that period six uh sixth grade health comprehensive new digital curriculum is in line. So that is coming right with
that digital party system. The visitor lock system is something that Mark and Arthur put a lot of time into researching it and meeting with different vendors and different companies. This one seems to be the one that we would like to go with. Um and this helps screen everybody prior if
you're having an event in the gym or even we're having uh the living museum parents are coming. They get a QR code and they're scanning in ahead of time and they're putting their license in ahead of time and we know if they're flagged or not. If they have the QR code, they can print it or put it on their phones, scan it as they walk through the door and they print out a
pass, they're good to go. If the students late, put their name in, it turns out the pass, give them the pass, they walk through the classroom. So, it'll speed up having kids sitting in cash for sometimes 10, 15 minutes, especially on rainy days and days like that where it gets backed up in there. Don't forget minus preschool. You almost
have every student minus preschool kindergarten come through the St. George. Um and program um this just a little bit more information again it'll be online about all the things that just mentioned the
capital projects that John hit on earlier. I don't want to gloss over them because I do think it's it's very big for the district and it's important step forward. You know, a lot of our focus obviously has been across the street, but we can't forget about Memorial School here. So, the HVAC system upgrade
is a long time coming. Those are very, very old. And I make joke all the time with John and Louis that Beth should probably have an office here if they had we had space for an office for them. Uh, so this is going to be a really nice project that will be done. The gym bathrooms that the board approves at
tonight are going to be done uh by the gym. And that is a series of investments. I'd like to think of the next couple years to get back kind of middle school values and then fifth grade uh and the property acquisition uh always looking you know we just keep money in capital doesn't mean we have to
lose it for that uh but as we look to expand preschool we could potentially expand field offices it's something we keep money capital lastly tax impact uh on the homeowners so I am proud to say that we are at 2% cap this year and not above it
because there was conversations for quite some time that we might have to go above the 2% cap. Uh we were able to get it in at the 2%. Um if you look around the county you're going to find big numbers. I mean we just watched news before somebody passed it was 10%
9% 8% you know even smaller ones like 2.5.6 3%. So being at 2% is a big deal and leaving the 1.6 six. I don't want to say leaving it on the table because we we we intentionally got it there because of the building up the street tax
and it's not us. It's not us and the debt service tax impact for anybody that's online. also put this on the website for the new building cost um ends up being with the $5 million that
we got from uh the state $41.79 a month which is down from the original money that we had down $100. We originally told them what we advertised was going to be about $600 a year for the U passes and we got
that down 500. So again, we're very proud of that. public com. Thank you, Mr. Gomez. Will that open it up to public comment on the budget presentation? All right. And do I have a motion to
adopt the budget? Second. All right, Mr. Belli. Mr. Mr. Tolley, yes. Mr. Pyro, yes. Mr. Nan, yes. Mr. Mey, yes. Misso, yes. Mr. Boris, yes. Mrs. Patel, yes. Mrs.
Bradley, yes. Resolution passes. Great. Resolve that. The Little Ferry Board of Education approves the adoption of the 2025 2026 budget on May 1st, 2025 at 7:19 a.m. Right. Okay. We're gonna go a little out of order before we just jump into the
regular meetings because you've been sitting here patiently nicely. So, I want to get uh Valerie and Victoria, right? Do I have Okay, so we have our student for March. And we
have grade six Valerie for St. Valerie. What her teachers had to say. The grade six teachers have this to say about Valerie. She works hard and puts in great effort. She pays close attention to her lessons. She sets a
positive example for others. She's kind, friendly, and helpful to her peers and her teachers. Congratulations. All are [Music] Oh, you All right. And our grade eight part student of the month is Victoria
for all. All right. So, the teachers had this to say about Victoria. She demonstrates a strong commitment to learning. She sets a positive example for others in terms of focus and work ethic. She shows respect for teachers, classmates, and the school
environment. She exhibits a high level of integrity and can be trusted to handle tasks and assignments without supervision. Congratulations. Thank you. Thank you. Good morning. So the result of the little board of
education approves the minutes of the regular public meeting held on March 18, 2025 and a special public meeting held on April 14th, 2025. Do I have a motion? Second. Okay. Mr. Bernelli, yes. Mr. Mulli, yes.
Mr. Mitro, yes. Mr. Canan, yes. Mr. Mey. Yes. Mr. Luzo. Yes. Mr. Boris. Yes. Mrs. Patel. Yes. Mrs. Bradley. Yes. Now open it up to Mr. Carado for the
superintendent report. All right. I will quick sorry. Um okay. So we are hip report for the since our last board meeting. Uh zero at Washington school and zero reported at Memorial School. Uh some big highlights
we are I know the girls has been the girls softball team has been around since 2018. I can't confirm the date for the boys baseball team but I am looking for it. Uh but they both kicked off their season uh Tuesday uh Tuesday. The
girls are currently 2 and 0. Uh, the boys are one and one, but they did both win their home openers, which was which was awesome. So, that was great. Um, I do want to point out some upgrades to the board if you haven't been able to see tonight if you would like to see them.
Um, I know some of you had a chance the other day, but we have the new floors that you're sitting on right now in the multi-purpose room that was done over spring break. The floors in the uh teachers lounge that will also be redone. that furniture. I got an email
today. The furniture for that lounge is in. So, I'm hoping to get that actually in the next week or two, which will be awesome. They also added some opening windows to the nurse's office, which I think I'm more excited about than anybody other than the nurses. Um, and the mats in the gym are being installed
tomorrow morning. Correct. Yeah, tomorrow morning. So, I do want to thank Louis and his crew because it was uh it was a busy spring break for them and uh they got a lot lot done over spring break and they came back. The building looks great. So, thank you. Um May 8th
is Treps and our district star night and steam night which went out last went out to the families today about that. Um and Treps is always a great event. If you haven't been to one, I highly suggest coming to one. uh bring some cash though because it's it's not always that
cheap. Uh but that treps will be first and then immediately afters we're going to the uh star night. Uh May 15th is our teacher of the year. Uh honoring the teachers of the year also also honoring Barbara Costa for 50
years. I what happened Miss Costa I have the letter going on my desk for her to hand it to her tomorrow and I Actually, we're live. I was going to tell you when I thought about it. Um, so we're also the PTA that night is
also going to be uh handing out a 25 years of service uh awards as well um at our at our door. Uh so that'll that all that information will go out. You said you're gonna Okay. And then I'll get something
um May 22nd. This was the big one. So May 22nd is our first um first ever national honor society induction ceremony at 6:30. So this is something that the uh the board has wanted to do. This is something that as they wanted to
do it I administration was currently working on. Uh so I do want to give some credit to uh the committee first and foremost which is Danielle Viso, Sarah Stens, Jillian Calino, Susan Sun and Jacqueline Rzzy who are you know really
the boots on the ground getting the essays and looking at the essays and kind of going through all the data and selecting the students and then of course Mr. beware of Miss Kazimeto and uh Miss Rizzy, Gina Rizzy for really getting this thing off the ground and
and we're happy to be able to do the first one this year. We had originally fell over half wait for next year. So, we are very very excited about that. That is going to be May 22nd at 6:30 um in our gymnasium. June 17th is our eighth grade
promotion ceremony and we do not have a suggested tonight uh because we have two meetings this month. I told her it'll be nice to read it to make it meeting because she'll have a much bigger crowd to to read to. That concludes my report. Great. Thank you, Mr. Mr. Gomez. Was your budget
presentation in or would you like report? Yeah, just uh a couple things. So, with the food service for the month of March, uh, we made $32,546.15 in profit, which brings the year-to- date profit amount to 156, 805
with 77. We served 10,921 meals between the elementary and the middle. Uh, the reimbursement from the feds was $62,000, which is the most. We also made the most, so I'm sorry to calculate net
profit per day. So for March, $1,550 profit per day and we serve 21 days. Oh, so we had our food service review from the state
and uh Miss O'Shea got a perfect evaluation having everything prepared. So yeah, then we pass with blind. Yeah. And that is all I hope. And so, uh, we executed
the contract for the new building and cut the purchase order. Largest one I've ever done. Uh, I'm the HBAC waiting for the contract to come back so I can sign it. Then we'll cut that purchase order. And from now until June 15th, we'll start getting everything lined up for
summer projects in this building, getting all the paperwork done. So, yeah, we're about to kick off a fun summer. Great. Thank you, Mr. Gil, and thank you, Miss Oek. Uh we'll now open up to committee reports. Uh Mr. Berley personnel we
haven't had since our last meeting but I want to miss library. Thank you for your service for kids for education. I am going to wait until the 15. Great. Thank you, Mr. Benelli. For
finance, um, we discussed the budget. Great. Mr. Millie for policy. Policy committee met discuss the following policies. Policy 9163 code of
conduct defense. Policy 8500 is service. 5710 student agreements policy 5701 academic
integrity policy 51011 eligibility of resident non-resident students policy and regulation 5516 the use of electronic communication transportation. We did not have a meeting since our
last, right? Um and then as far as um the expansion committee goes, as everybody knows, our intention was to work as quickly as we can to get the new middle school building up. Um as you know from
our last meeting we or our last yeah our last meeting we awarded um the contract to do um they have also their intentions are to work at biking speed if you've noticed they've started mobilizing on the site um they've added a couple of their homebased trailers um and you may
have noticed that the um solar the solar panels are have come down actually all the panels are down but the uh the structure itself is still there. So, um they are working quickly. Um I did want to mention to the public that we do intend to have a groundbreaking
ceremony. Um the anticipated date at the moment is May 31st. That may change a day or two, but that's what we're shooting for at the moment. Um we'll be able to provide a little bit more information. Um and then Mr. Boris uh for the oral leazison report.
Great. Uh Mr. Phos for Richmond Park leazison report. Yes. So, Richville Park last night passed their budget and they also announced that their um their state monitor will be uh that whole process will be ending immediately
and um they'll be out of receiverhip forward. Thank you, Mr. Pan for the NJSBA delegate report. Uh the B County uh SBA has a meeting on the 29th of this month. They'll be announcing the county teacher
of the year. Great. Thank you. I'll now open it up to public comment on agenda items only. This library, do you have any comments? Okay. So, Miss Lavy, I did want to I was waiting to public comment to make to just make a comment about your
retirement. So, you know, not only do I appreciate everything you've done in the classroom, I mean, you know, I've told you every time we every time I get the opportunity to to tell you how amazing you are in that classroom. Um, I mean, it's, you know, you don't replace somebody like you. You just you have no
choice, but but you really can't find another celebrity to come in that room. Uh, you've been nothing but tremendous and even other people inside of it. be the president working with you on those items too has been you know it's going to be missed but I wish you nothing but the best and thank you
for now take a block vote on F16 to F20 DO43 to DO56 P25 to P35 FA3 C6 and uh PO3. Do I have a motion? Motion. Second.
All right. Mr. Benelli, yes. Mr. Roli, yes. Mr. Vitro, yes. Mr. Kanan, yes. Mr. Mey, yes. Muzo, yes. Mr. Borders, yes. Mr. Patel, yes. Mr. Scrabble, yes. All resolutions passed. Right. We'll now
open it up to public comment on non-aggenda items. And do I have a motion to second?