it's I'm not going to read it in its entirety it's already in the agenda uh also a statement on videotaping obviously we have a uh a video webcam that sort of broadcasts our meeting so we are um we are videotaping um and um
also I'd just like to bring out the attention to the Sunshine Law and public comments I did that already sorry um and then finally uh no smoking or vaping on school grounds uh so I appreciate that before we get started with our official agenda let me ask if everyone would
please stand and say the Pledge of Allegiance would you guys like to lead us in a pledge of allegiance tonight that'd be great if you would mind if you don't want to it's okay thank you Miss Seward for helping them IED alce to the flag of the United
States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you all right um our agenda tonight is going to bring us first into an
executive session so um can we please have a uh resolution to move us into motion to move us into exec Miss Gandhi second thank you Miss Miss um Miss Dr MTZ um all in
favor any opposed anybody com uh that's fine all right um before we before we do move into uh exact um rightfully so I was asked if we should
sort of consider the fact that we have people in our audience say if they would like to make any public comments before we go into exec we don't want to keep you waiting no okay thank you very much then uh motion to move into exec is carried
we will go into exact e e e e e e e e e
e e e e e e e e e e
e e e e e e e Colo here Mrs Carrero here Mrs Gandhi here Mr hayatt here Mr lonsky here Dr
MTZ here Mrs seart here and Mr Cen here thank you everybody and welcome back yeah no Oh I thought you I didn't hear it anyway I I listen for Mendes first we good thank you okay welcome
back everyone and thank you for everyone who stayed and waited for us I appreciate that um I am going to just make one clarification before we broke for executive we did do a public comments but I understand we have somebody else who has signed up for public comments so I'd like to give them
a chance when we we're just going to do announcements first and then we're going to do public count comments again so you don't have to wait till after the budget presentation you'll have a chance to speak beforehand okay and that does not mean that we won't do another public comments if if we have to um toward the
end of the meeting but just want to make sure everyone has that opportunity okay um we're going to begin with announcements um Mr rone I do have an announcement um haven't been outside for a while but from what I understand it has begun
snowing so tomorrow we will be an a 2hour delayed opening thank you you anything else no sir Mr carabell you have something sure so um just to update the board so as we discussed in the last budget presentation so we did submit a uh
exploratory proposal letter to the um Mammoth County Improvement Authority for the capital project consisting of the HVAC improvements at Robertsville and Asher so we basically sent them a letter basically almost like a plea or basic an inquiry to see if they would be able to
work with us with one of the options that we had stated which was going through them for for bonds almost like a deao referendum through them um to try to finance uh the two elementary schools left through Debt Service so we sent a
letter on January 22nd we haven't had a response back but usually we like to give them right about until now two weeks and then we'll we'll follow up with their office with a phone call so if we receive anything we will report out thank you um we're all looking for good news on that
one um okay um I have one announcement and I think it's something that obviously um is very important to our town and to our district um and it's about the recent decision that we received from the Appel division on
5756 um I would like to say that um I know this issue predates my attendance on the board and I know how important and how emotional this issue has been for many people board members private prior board members and our town um I will say that the Appel Court you know
just everyone knows that the Appel Court issued um its decision yesterday regarding the appeal of the injunction related to policy 5756 Mr gross is here to keep me honest in case I misstate anything um the decision speaks to from the injunction
perspective um giving the board um an opportunity to sort of you know take action um and and the action um we can take was we got good advice in the context of our executive meeting just now I want to just say that you know um
once the decision came out I immediately you know spoke to our um attorney and asked him to sort of you know prepare a briefing for the board and he did he immediately sent an email out advising us so that we knew what we were doing or what the in what the decision said but
the fact that we had a meeting today I thought it was important that you know we withhold making any sort of public statements at least from my perspective as board president until in fact we were able to sort of be able to understand what options we had available to us um
this is putting I'm putting this in context because this board um has not had an opportunity to talk about 5756 um although members of the board who from last year did have the opportunity myself uh and Miss Carrera
were not part of any discussions associated with this so was really important that we have a board consensus on the on the briefing um so that's one of the reasons why I have not made any public statements about this right now um and so let me just sort of you know stand by um what um we are proposing to
do as a board so everyone's aware of it we have been um advised that we have three options going forward option number one is do nothing with the current policy as it stands that is the policy that was passed in 2015 not the policy that was amended in
2023 um our second option is we can take the 2015 policy and amend it again um but that would be potentially subject to potential action from the state again if we if they're not um satisfied with what we do and then our third option is to
abolish or resend the existing policy 5756 um whichever action we decide to take in the context of amending or resending our bylaws our policies require us as a board to have two readings meaning we
need two meetings in which a decision on abolishing the policy or amending the policy has to come forward with prior Community notice so we would the soonest we can begin to do something would be with our next board meeting on um
February 25th and I want to let everyone know that is the intent of the board to have public notice and have a motion on the actual agenda for everyone to sort of be able to say no to actually recommend that the board proceed with abolishing policy
5756 that will require a board vote it will then come up again at our following meeting on March 11th all right for a second read we'll do another vote and then depending on how those two votes turn out that will actually drive what the final result will be for policy
5756 so I think this is a strong and good statement on behalf of the board that we are finally given an opportunity to move forward on this policy uh I want to thank the board members um for the good conversation
that we've had I want to thank the board who um worked so hard in the past to sort of addressed 5756 I want to thank Mr gross for his good legal council and uh the work he did to sort of represent the district during the November 19th meeting uh
hearing and the outcome is probably what the best outcome we could have asked for which is the ability to be able to move forward so again just so it's perfectly clear right we will have a motion on our agenda for next meeting dated February
25th and that motion will be a to abolish policy 5756 that will be the first read and then there will be a second read on the agenda for the 5756 abolishment on March 11th so with that um if there's anything
that any of the board members would like to say um please let me you know open the mic for you guys um if not we can just move on with our our agenda I would like to say something and uh appreciate uh the conversation we all just had um I
just want to I know you you thanked the board so thank you for that past and present I wanted to just say the same because we spent years go um with this and and pushing forward whether people agreed with our amendments or not um I
just I do want to thank the board members we we stood together and uh in the courthouse we stood there um wanting parents and families to be included I want to thank the community members that you know were vocal um and and shared
their feelings and thoughts and sentiments on it and um I just wanted to thank you all cuz we really did want the ability to move forward and so um I I say today is you know a partial Victory right that we could at least do
something or propose something um and so I just wanted to share that because we spent a lot of time working on this and and doing this together thank you to the administration I know at the time we we spent a lot of time in the policy meetings and again my Mr gross thank you so much CU you really did a really great
job um when we were in the courthouse so thank you thank you so much for that thank you Miss Mendes anyone else want to add to their comments or thoughts all right um thank you everybody and um looking forward to
moving forward um we go now to public comments or I'll say com public comments 1B Mr Carabella Jennifer Woodruff if I said that incorrectly I
apologize you said it right okay Jennifer Woodruff Morganville um you pretty much just summed up what I was going to ask because I had heard that something had happened with 5756 and I've been following since the beginning starting in the Freehold and
you have worked so much harder on it and I appreciate what you did uh Mr gross um I was there at the meeting in uh Newark and um you presented yourself very well we appre appreciate and we appreciate
all the board has done um I will tell the people that I know that hopefully will be helpful for the next two meetings and um I believe it's a victory thank you thank you Miss Woodruff anyone else does anyone else
want to say something hey how are you out of Cho morille New Jersey um uh so first off Mr gross um I just want to Echo the sentiments can you pull that mic up a little bit thank you yeah I just want to Echo the sentiments that were just
shared about um the uh the arguments that you gave in the courthouse in nework they were even in Freehold uh prior to that but you know in Newark you really uh drove the POR home and it sounds like uh you know the message was heard by the uh by the judge but um in
reviewing policy 131 can you just clarify for me if um I understand the part about if you're going to revise the policy you would need to go for a first and second read but where in the policy does it show that you need two readings for an
abolishment I thought it just needs to be on the agenda for the next the second paragraph after the one about amending establish stand by uh the adoption re revision abolishment or suspension regulations
may be abolished at any meeting of the board provided the proposed abolishing of the proposed bylaw has been approved by the board at a previous meeting of the board which is the same language as the prior paragraph two meetings so it has to be brought on to the agenda
approved and then approved at the next meeting that's two meetings it's the okay all right thank you for the clarification fourth paragraph in 131 yep I got it right here thank
you well listen I just want to um you know as a community member um this is something that you know the board worked hard on um the administration worked along with
the board and obviously the board attorney um you know put his fair amount of work into it as well especially in the courthouse and um having watched I think all all of the board members that
are on the boards now campaign it sounded like everybody was you know it sounded like the consensus was that everybody wanted to be the voice of the community and represent the community and parents and
families um you know of the students so I just you know I hope that you take that into consideration when it comes time to vote on this and that you um abolish the policy um as we were just given the opportunity to because when this was originally uh brought forth it
was considered a mandatory policy and um you know we the the board didn't the board wasn't under the um guidance that they had the opportunity to abolish the policy which was why it
was revised to um include parental rights at that point and not a so I just hope you guys take that into consideration you know when the time to vote on it comes thank you Mr B and thank you for your work on this as
well any else I just say one thing on that I just wanted to um thank you Mr vruno because I I just wanted to thank you again because you were on the policy committee with us and we spent a lot of time there myself Michael lonsky in year
one I believe is when we first started and and Aldo and Mr balone and at the time um other representation from the attorney so I just want to again thank you right it's a lot of time and effort that is spent I know we have the policy committee we have a new committee now
and we'll spend our time together and and all of that but that was a lot of time and effort spent on these policies so all of them take a lot of effort and time um and things and I did say you know again partial Victory because we haven't abolished it yet so we'll get there but um that's how we all vote so
anyway just wanted to say that piece thank you thank you no any other anyone else okay thank you all uh we're going to move on um next item on the agenda is the harassment intimation report Mr
balone Excuse me motion close oh thank you motion to close public comment Dr MTZ miss seart all those in favor anybody opposed
abstained public comments is closed HIV report Hib report from January 17th 2025 through February 6th 2025 there were six incidents reported thank you moving on to um our
discussion number three on uh the 2025 2026 budget Mr Caravella okay good evening everybody uh so this is budget discussion number three so tonight we're going to be discussing um some of the options that we discussed
last meeting regarding the um the HVAC plan that we're still on the three to 5e period we're also going to discuss the curriculum Department budget and the special education department budget here with me is uh Mrs Tyrone um in the event that I cannot answer any of the special
education questions she would assist and then um Mr balone will help in the curriculum side if there are any questions that you have that I may not have the answers for we can definitely get them for you so starting off the
um really it's the the the same sheet we showed you last time basically showing you the options that are available to us and trying to finish this project you have option one which is excuse me the second question referendum option two which is basically
do it how we have been doing it save one for one to two more years and fund the project at 100% through District funds option three is your five-year equipment lease and then option four is what we discussed about in the letter asking the mammoth County Improvement Authority if they can fund the project
which is similar in structure to option one so um option one is the only one that requires voter approval the other three do not they really just require board approval if we were to get the funding or how we would utilize the funding for that
project some of the different incentives for the options is option one and four will actually fund it 40% through the state Through The Debt Service Aid um so you're looking at only having to fund the balance of that 3.5 million that it's estimated to be at now again that
estimation is from last year so it may have gone up um not last year but like basically early in the fall so it may have gone up I really don't anticipate it has gone up the architect has stated that that is still an accurate number but if you can get 1.4 million of that that 3.5 fund funded through option one
or four that would actually you know save basically almost paying for one with getting to and you would only have to fund the rest through either capital reserve or or other avenues which it would mainly be capital reserve because we don't see any other Rod
grants coming down the pipeline or um any other SDA grants that we were getting through a lot of the other HVAC projects so as you can see like uh row four so the balance of the funds it showed you so option one and four are the
60% options two and three are a little bit different so option two is it's 100% of our funds through capital reserve you would need approximately about 3.5 million to dedicate out a capital reserve for that project right now that's probably what our balance is about it's a little bit lower than that
so we wouldn't even have enough to fund two schools you would have to maybe only have to do you could only do one one in one but again the reason we were trying to stick with two is because of the mobilization cost and having those two schools right next to each other it's easier just to have the same contract to do that
work so that's an option it's just a long game rather than trying to figure out a creative way to do it immediately option three is your fiveyear equipment lease again this is just stretching the dollars over a period of time but there isn't there is interest attached to that so right now
the purchase leases are going for anywhere between six to 8% so we average it about 7% and so you're looking at um $831,000 a year that you would have to budget over the over the term of the the lease period in your operating budget we
did check with the county office to ask if we can pull that out of reserves and kind of almost play like a shell game where we pull it out of reserves each year and then just feed it back into the budget to pay for the payment but unfortunately the county ba actually said that we could not do that because it has to be an all or nothing project
when it comes to utilizing your reserves for that budget cycle in that budget year option four the balance of the funds is similar to option one with the 60% of course coming out of the capital reserve in about the $2.1 million so the 1.4 would be covered under that that SDA
that debt service that we would be be able to be eligible for and then the 60% would be covered out of the reserves so the last row is where it kind of gets a little interesting so you have option one where the the the tax of the impact to the
district is zero so you can actually save money um just by you know utilizing capital reserve and also going out to a referendum because the capital reserve account would actually come out of the reserve that the funds would come out of the reserves go into the budget would never touch the operating budget and
then your referendum if it was to get approved through second question we'd get that funding through uh Debt Service Aid or different source so that would not also come out of your operating budget option one and option four have the same impact option two does have a zero tax tax Lev impact but again it's
not a creative way to try to utilize your funding or try to get some funding from a different Source it's solely coming from you and your reserve accounts and then option three it does have an impact on your operating budget you do have to budget for that lease payment each year similar to what we do
with the EIP project so we do that with EIP right now um where each year we budget the principal and interest I think it's an amortization schedule of about 20 years where I think we're on like year four or five where we're just we just budget that payment each year in the 261 262 accounts you'll see it in
when you get your binders so I just wanted to bring this back to the Forefront and I wanted to just see where everybody's stance was because we do have to kind of make a decision soon because the tenative budget is coming
up I would really like to go out to it for a second question um I know that's not something that that that is appealing to this town sometimes but I think there would be a creative way and a in a in a fiscally responsible way to go out for funding through a second question
and possibly get 40% of it covered by the state where we we would actually go further with our dollars that way rather than just funding it out of a purchase lease or really just waiting if because I know something is we don't want to we don't
really want to wait because we have two more schools left we don't want to just do one we want to do two at the same time um the waiting game again I have I have no issue with we would just have to be very prudent in how we P our reserves compared to our Surplus and vice versa
um because we never also don't want to ever shortfall our base when we're building our budget just I'm sorry a couple questions the the first thing is is so if I'm hearing you correctly your your recommendation you're saying is try for
option one right and then I'll get to my other piece of that one in a second but with all four of these options and you may get to this and I'm sorry if you are you could tell me hold off is there a timeline for each not saying I agree with all form I'm just asking like does it tell you somewhere else like if we did option four it would take this long
versus this long yeah so option so option one is almost similar to me like option two so I would go out for a second question in November if I don't get approved then I know I have to save for my reserves and I'm already a year into saving them and pading them anyway
because I didn't do anything with with that money to begin with option two is is I'm saving for a year or two just to pay my reserves to have enough money to fully fund it 100% where option one if it does fail then you know you revert back to option two we look at
a different Source you yes you have delayed it for a year um but also you gave it a try of trying to possibly get that 40% covered through through Debt Service or or state aid fun I mean um de I keep saying State Debt Service Aid funding
um where if that fit fails you know you know option two is is something that's down the pipeline where you'll just have to save for maybe another year or maybe we'd be able to kick started and do it in pieces um depending on how how willing we we wanted to start that project option three is something you'd
be able to do right now but I have to make sure I carve out about $831,000 in this operating budget to afford that but also on top of that you are paying interest on that so you're paying I think you're paying close to I want to say like another $800,000 over the life
of the the project or maybe a half a million for getting that where those don't have any interest attached to any of those um oh go ahead I'm sorry option option four is is a wishful thinking and something that we would not have to go out for second question for we would
just have to work with the mammoth County Improvement Authority work with the town and the Board of Ed and then be able to get the funding just like an option one without having to go out for a second question now the other thing on the referendum I'm just going to ask this because I'm I'm with you on that if
if that's the where we land then I guess we'd have to develop some level of a communication strategy because the Freehold Regional referendum was successful but they had a a variety of ways that they were communicating it I saw people in the town were advocating
for it and so I know that that would be something we could discuss I know it's not a board vote per say I'm just curious to know what that would look like but I know we're not there yet yeah I mean that would be something where it would it wouldn't be it wouldn't be a heavy lift we would just have to we would have to you know we would all have to back it and be behind it and we would
all really have to be in agreement with that this referendum would strictly just be a for HVAC we wouldn't be shoving all these different projects in there we wouldn't be shoving extra stuff it wouldn't be like a like a like a wish list where because okay we're going out referendum let's just compile everything we can in there and let's see what we
can get it would strictly have to just be for this y um because I think that's what's happened in past referendums is we've always tried to squeeze things in and tried to approval of it and it just the list got too long for people to to buy in um I think one of the one of the
things would be just sticking to getting H for Robert and Asher yeah and my last question I'm sorry go ahead my last question on this slide I'm sorry with the option three of the 831 650 per year that's an addition to let's say hypothetically you're like hey we need
to almost recoup a million dollars hypothetically that would be an addition to that so I'm not saying that we you said that I'm just ask thinking in my head for the math is is there the 831 is an addition to whatever other money almost you'd
have to move around or so forth right correct so that 831,687 1,000 out of your out of your total budget so I would have to carve out a section to fit that payment in each year right you might have to take from somewhere else to put it here correct so I may not be able to budget something if
I know I have to squeeze that payment because it'll be mandatory I have to make that payment once I sign off on that lease thank you um now if state aid numbers were to come in and there would to be there would be to be an influx of of them reworking the state aid formula and we get additional money for special
ed or Transportation or or something where we can actually recoup some of the funds we've lost and we have kind of a surplus then option three would be on the table and you could start it immediately and you we' be able to budget for it but that doesn't mean it's guaranteed every year that I'm going to have that state aid that's my that's my
question so just so I'm Crystal Clear option three and four option four I understand is a long shot we could start this project immediately option one we're waiting at least a year because of November then next physical year which starts in July and then option two we're waiting at least two
years correct correct yeah okay thank you I think it's important to sort of expectations right when we say start immediately what does that mean it doesn't mean starting tomor tomorrow they're going to have a air conditioning service guy outside correct putting so
putting in context the of the timeline from the point in which the board says yes and the money is in the pot to go forward to do that what's the timeline from start to end what's the estimated number of months or period of time to
get that did say that AC's working so just for like in general in general because it's the same for every one of them it's just a matter of when you start yeah so if we were to build the budget in the and and we were to take money out of the capital reserve whether it be a portion of it or fully to fund
it excuse me um what would happen is you would see something on the agenda where we're approving architect and engineering company to come out and start developing the specifications for it that would be usually in the spring the summer um usually the late spring and then by the summer you'll probably
be approving or probably end of June if we really want to Kickstart this fast by the end of June you would be approving an awarded an awarded bid that a low bid for that project and then once that project you know gets approved by the board then we would go and contract with that
contractor they would start ordering the units they would start doing the work um depending on how fast they can get the units I mean they're not doing you know where there's just warehouses full of just equipment they're they're they're they're producing them by orders now so the lead time could be anywhere
between 26 to 36 maybe a year when it comes to weeks depending on how many units you need um and then what happens there is as as they don't they don't just take certain units in they wait for the whole order and then they start so you could be looking at this time next
year where they would be starting for that project so you may not even have HVAC for the full next school year until 20 627 where it would actually be started up because all that work would have to be done during the school year
similar to what Marl is doing now Marl is going to be starting up to about May um and we signed off on that last spring so they're just they're finally finishing that now because of the lead time of the units and and having everything they need in to just completely finish the project so in the
Marl perspective it took 12 months from the point in which he began the procurement awarded the contract the the supplier ordered the equipment delivered it and installed it correct we're looking at 12 to 15 month minimum right
okay and then if we added to that fact that if we want with option one the referendum doesn't go out until November so we're not looking at we're looking at another 7 months eight months to get that done actually it's February so
we're looking at nine months so that 15 minutes is now 24 months we're looking at two years potentially because everything gets pushed back right right okay and then so so that's an important point for us just to sort of understand and then obviously if we waited another
year or two for option number two that's just ordered also added to the number of to the overall length and then obviously as pointed out with option three if we had the money and we wanted to commit it we can begin as soon as we
wanted to and just for reference purposes so I'm just clear the $831,000 a year we would have to pay if we leased it is roughly just about slightly less
than 1% of our budget right but yet we only have a 2% ability to raise taxes to increase taxes so if we did option number three half of what we potentially
could accumulate in additional tax budget money would go out to just the a commissioner but that's if you were to only budget for that this whole budget consists of that's my point the budget also includes other cost increases ass way over the 2% cap we were able to go
up to okay and then if we wanted to go the referendum route with option number one we I assume we have the ability to sort of be very concise because we have a history already with how referendums do in our town right right we can be
very concise and limited to just what we think we need in the context of the air conditioning instead of throwing everything into that referendum and saying oh let's do all these other stuff while we're here correct and I I think just a little background so we did an EIP project we
were able to update a lot of items in this District you know roofs have been completed um doors we're just finishing up the majority of the door projects at one of the elementary schools and that would finish the district boilers uh hot water heaters Chillers we've we've done a lot fire
alarm Burglar Alarm we've done a lot of stuff under that EIP project where old referendums used to try to fit those in and what we did was we we we did an EIP project to try to get around that because a lot of that stuff was was necessary was becoming a huge safety issue just to operate and run schools so
with this you really would just make it concise and you would stick to just having that um built in there and I think if we are all behind it I really do believe it could it could happen because we have been very fiscally responsible here we are one of the
probably if not the only Mammoth County School District that did not go up to 99.9% last year so from that aspect we're still running we're still humming along we're still doing what we're we're supposed to be doing that's educating kids and we did it with the the budget we set forth last year um again there's
a health benefit waiver there's there's Bank cap that we we always try to utilize because that's money left on the table but we did not we we wrote it up to you but we did not come to you for 9.9% we just we we put it out there just to see how the board was feeling but a lot of districts took that that funding
and were able to build their base if we were able to do that I probably would have been able to do option three and fit it in my budget but unfortunately if this is something that we want to see completed these are some of the options that we would have to do and I really do think just being smart with the the tax dollars at work and
just trying to get that 40% it's worth the try to try to do because if you don't you're never going to know if you can get get 40% of this project fully covered and that would be huge that you would only have to take out 2.1 million of your own funding from your reserves
compared to 3.5 or possibly more because I don't have a crystal ball I don't know what the bids would come in at might even be more so so Vinnie just so I think it's per so it's clear for everyone around the table but also for everyone who listens to this meeting now and and in the
future option one we go out for let's say a hypothetic a referendum for 3.5 million the state takes that and gives us 40% of the cost of the project correct so our balance that we have an
obligation to pay for is the 2.1 million and right now today if we had to pay the 2.1 million that money actually sits in our Reserve but we can assume that we would be putting more money into the reserve so that means from a taxpayer perspective by authorizing us to move
forward there is a zero impact to the taxpayer as a result of the referendum correct because you would have a portion coming out of your reserve account that doesn't affect your your tax rate because that's your your savings accounts almost where you build your reserves and then you would have the 40% being covered by uh Debt Service and
since this would not be till November you would have basically another cycle another year to build those reserves even higher so you don't feel like you're depleting it completely with 2.1 million you would just you would fund more in there and you'll see it in June usually that's a resolution it says not to exceed I'll usually put not to exceed
a million in each Reserve means I can go up to that depending on when we finish our audit how much our our Surplus is thank you you're welcome anybody have any other questions so I think going forward if if we are going to proceed with option one
what I would like to do is probably the next meeting bring in um some type of bond counsel just to really go over the process with the board so everybody's an understanding of how it how it works and really you know how the effort looks and how how it's rolled out and it's not
really someone that'll be working for us but they'll be taking the time to just basically go over how everything works for us again we don't have to proceed with this but I I I strongly recommend at least trying because this way if we can actually secure
this it'll go a long way because we will be able to fund the project 40% we've been creative with all the other ones when it came to funding it through eser funds or or getting Rod grants so I think we have to try to do it for these two as well so if for option one if for
whatever reason that doesn't get approved or go the rout that we want to what would be the fallback option two so option two option two we're we're automatically doing anyway by building our reserves and saving regardless option two is is inevitable if we can't get one of those options because what
would happen is we're we're constantly saving in our Reserve accounts each year eventually would have the the the balance to finish the two and we would just do it but it probably wouldn't be as soon as we would like um option three I mean that's always on the table if I get an influx of state aid where we have
a we have a lot of money where we have to balance our revenues and expenditure we can put money back in the budget that is absolutely an option to get it kickstarted immediately as long as the board would be okay with paying interest I don't like interest I've never liked interest but and also I I just don't
like the thought of like if we're the 831,687 the town and the board I'm I'm being honest it's just I think they're just trying to steer away from the Optics of almost going around it was an option where they were doing it for some districts but I think they're starting to pull away a lot of counties or each
county has their own um so we're hopeful that they'll they'll reach out to us maybe work with us um a lot of districts have asked for a lot we're just really trying to we're trying to do this one project has the approving Authority approved any of the school districts yet
from mouth County I I believe I believe a couple I believe um one of the one of the correct so there's different Avenues with which you can apply so if you have an approved referendum you can get funded through them they will they will
certainly fund you through an approved referendum because they know you went to the taxpayer first there's the other way where we're trying to go where you wouldn't have to go out for a referendum they're really staying away from those options now so sounds like we would be the first that they would do without a referendum correct yeah that's not
happening okay I have a follow-up question sorry so then if we do option one can we try for option four at the same time yeah we still have the letter out there and we're still going to press them to just give us a a response on or
maybe some feedback on what they're thinking or if there's even hope of that even happening but yeah those go hand in hand perfect thank you I just just option one is a little bit more leg work where we would actually have to get a second question and and get it on the ballot for November okay and we would
also have to we're getting close so I think by Mar by March like I would have to tell the county ba that we are moving forward with a second question so they would have to know they would have to approve it and then we would have to go forward with it and then if we do get funding
option three um but I have no interest in interest so Vinnie I know I know you said that you the next steps if we choose to go option one and I know you're looking for guidance from us right if you choose option number one then the next step
would be to bring Bond counsel to sort of educate and brief the board right are you suggesting that you would like a decision or some guidance from the board tonight on this so you can be able to move forward with the bringing the bond counseling or you are you suggesting
think about this and we can decide at the next meeting which is on February 25th so I would like to at least have have have everybody's feedback tonight because I don't want to delay it any further because the tenative budgets due March 18th and if we are going to post a second question we need to inform the
county and then actually start the approval process for getting it on the ballot um so I would I would prefer to have have a decision tonight this way we can actually just kick started and have him start coming in and and comprising the board and then leading us into the right steps to actually be able to reach
out to the community and and basically create more avenues for because this is going to be an ongoing discussion up until November and when you say and I'm sorry to sort of belabor this point but when you say a decision tonight from the board I assume you mean consensus from
the board of an interest to sort of begin to pursue the referendum which would obviously trigger The Next Step which is the the B coun there's no decision yet from the board no there's no voting on anything there's no approval it's really just to have just go around the table and pick which
option suits you the best and then that's the option we're going to really try to make work does I I I'll pose the question to the board does everyone feel that they have enough information this evening to sort of at least give the direction that so
would you like to just any other questions on the options in front so I just want to also add that we uh this came up in buildings and grounds in our committee meeting and that if we're looking at an option where more
time is needed that we do have air conditioner units that were being used in Old buildings that we could use in the windows for the time being so that the students at Asher and Robertsville aren't in the humidity and the you know poor air quality so I just want to make sure that they don't feel like you know
Save The Best For Last kind of situation um I also can't really give a full answer on whether or not I think the option one would be best without hearing from the bond adviser so as I'm in favor of moving forward I still don't have a decision until we hear you know the ins
and outs of what that really looks like okay yeah he would uh the the main part is he would really just go over the process of how it would work to get the the question on the ballot and great what it what it's going to look like um we did go through direct install too there's a second round we we look to see if any of of this would qualify and
unfortunately it's only existing equipment so equipment that's really not existing yet there's really no incentives or rebates or or or direct install incentive to to try to appreciate you wanting to get it done thank you so from a general consensus
perspective because I don't think we need a formal Vote or a formal so for option number one in order for Mr carella to proceed with bringing in the bond council is everyone in generally in consensus that that should be our next step anyone against doing that or want
to pursue a different option okay I think you got next steps okay thank you so I will reach out to him and have him um at our next meeting okay thank you all right that was only slide one I try to make this iy try to it is
so the the the next budget we're going to um discuss is the curriculum department so you'll see some just um the the the heavy overview and the highlights of the variances from year to year so you'll see textbooks have decreased
55,000 your contracted online services have increased about 8,000 um your testing has increased about 43,000 your curriculum writing has decreased 72,000 in the next slide we'll get over um go over exactly the the explanations for some of these variances
so your supplies and equipment have increased about 2600 your professional development has increased about 6,800 and then you can see your total curriculum budget actually has has gone um down and that's really due to the the textbooks and the and the curriculum writing really
decreasing so the textbooks of course is always based off of need so last year we budgeted for a a little bit more of a little bit more of um new content uh new updates this year we're only doing math grades two through five and that includes all the workbooks on online
access teacher resources kits um so basically what we like to do with textbooks is we do payment plans to stretch our money out over time similar to what we were talking about in option three so what we do is in order to to to fund those textbooks and that series we just spread it out over three to five
years and the textbook companies really work with us um to really be able to budget and navigate that because we need to update it your testing has increased by 43,000 this is really solely due to the addition ofl for special education and then you have um the streamlining of
the coat scoring for grades five through six your contracted Services have increased by about $8,000 and that's really just the annual increase that Genesis um estimated us at for the following school year and again we went
cloud-based with that so everything is really supported by them which is the reason for the increase also your curriculum writing has decreased again that is based off of Need for each year so basically your your summer work has decreased in in 2025 there's not as much
needed and then your professional development has increased Solly because we're swapping Out programs so we are trying to train for reading Eggs and that is actually replacing the program Smarty Ants and if I'm not mistaken right smarty an is a a reading
program yes uh for uh the younger students so does anybody have any questions about the curriculum budget yeah what was the um get sorry Daniel it's all right uh I was just going to ask what the reason is for going back to Reading Eggs from
smartan Smart ants is being discontinued you're welcome and again these are the the highlights the overviews when you do get your budget you'll have it line by line and we will be able to go over basically almost every line that you would like um I do provide magnifying glasses so if
you you need them when you come in to visit we'll have them ready we'll be Sherlock Homes in it um so the next the next budget we're going to discuss is the the special education budget so just to give you kind of an overview of exactly um what we're going
to dive into with this budget so we like to always start out with the just showing you the the pure numbers of of of special special education so we like to do almost like a year and a half in review so you can see in September of 2023 we had about 724
students and then it shows your total students from marbor K3 was about 4542 and that's really what what was reported on that that Assa for that year and then you'll see the ratio of how many special ed students compared to total population so you see 15.9% and then you see September
2024 which is what had basically what had just passed it's this school year it went up almost 31 students um and our general enrollment actually went down so our special ed population went up and our general Ed enrollment went down so
there is there is a need where it it seems to be that you need more funding more sources to provide for for this department so you'll see the ratio and then fast forward to where we are now we took a snapshot basically of today and you can see that is basically
went up another 20 students and our en has also skyrocketed due to a lot of the residential developments that are coming in to marber um so the change from September 2023 shows you that 51 students have gone up in almost 15 months in in special
education and sometimes those students have have more needs than others so unfortunately I mean you have to provide more funding sources to that that one specific child or um a group of children where because the ratios in classrooms are different for special education they
are for general education so more resources need to be compiled and sometimes more sections need to be created the amount amount of need there is so this is also not accounting for the 45 students that we have in referrals right now so if you take the
51 increase the 51 student increase from September 23 to February 2025 plus to 45 you're looking at almost in a what is that it's a like almost 18 month span you have almost 100 new special ed
students that you need to now educate and and find funding for and this is goe this is one of the big things that came up um in Trenton when we sat in this basically the state aid plea about them doing the the funding formula over is every District
got up and said you do not give enough money for for special education you really need to revise the formula and you really need to start funding it 100% not prate it not fund it partially it needs to almost be do for dollar because a lot of funding is being allocated
towards 775 students compared to 4574 and it and it is needed it is needed Brian can I oh go ahead Brian so just just for clarification purposes the 775 as of February
25 for students who are receiving special education those are students who have IEPs and this may be in Mrs tinerella question right it doesn't include any other students who have special education services and just so anybody can't hear
so it they do not include 504 students everybody does have an IEP and that population raises the number of students from 775 to approximately or about a th total and do we get funding for that
additional 225 students from the state at all no um so everything is built into that that special education Aid that we received that categorical Aid um the funding formula is still a mystery the old one we're hoping to get
more transparency more clarity on the new one and how it's built but we have have not gotten dollar for dollar for every student that we've had to to provide services for whether it be 504 related or IEP um another Avenue is extra extraordinary
a but there's also threshold so you have to reach 40,000 you have to reach 55,000 40,000 is for Lea special ed students 55,000 is for at a district um special ed students and what happens is once you trigger that threshold you only get the difference of what is after it so they
prate it all the time where I believe there's actually bill that's trying to get legs from Senator gopal where they would actually try to fully fund extra extraordinary Aid 100% so that would I think we put in an application of $2 million and we got back
$440,000 for all the the basically all the expenses that we had Associated I think with 20 I think it was with 22 students I have a question quick for Mary Elizabeth Miss Tyrone while we're here um kind of bouncing back to the curriculum budget regarding special ed
uh what does EXL look like for special ed students is it like a generalized program because I just see that it's budgeted for the testing increase so okay you are Mrs CH if you want to join us next
to Mrs Seward just in case you got additional questions you're welcome to can you actually repeat that because I just want to make sure that the parents at home now I know come on it's just me thank you I do have a question sorry I do have a question is the increase in
special education students strictly a result of population growth or are we bringing more kids into the district that we otherwise couldn't have in the district so regardless if those those children are in District or out of District they're always included in this count okay that's a yeah so really this
is what we're seeing is a lot of these um a lot of these developments going up General Ed special ed we have we just have an influx of of students coming into it's population yeah but we're paying for the students regardless if they're in District or we have to send them out correct could I just ask one
question on the the note about the new residential developments and accelerating the numbers this is maybe not related so much right here but is that is there any planning is I know you said enrollment was down overall is
there any concern that we that we need to think about when you're talking about these new developments and the student ratio I mean um uh Mr balone and I we work very close with the registr as as new registrations come in and we always ask where they're where they're coming from like where where are they living
um and what happens is we really look at the best situation possible to try to you know get at it before before it becomes a tremendous issue so we try to look at the the overall growth of that development and then see where it would best fit for for what what elementary
school would also have to work well with Transportation it has to make make sense because we're on a tiered busing system um so we always try to look at that we're not really alarmed with the general Leed numbers right now because as you can see from 18 month period it was really only an additional 30
students um overall but we do monitor the the the class sizes all the time and we work with the principles to make sure if there's any Pockets or bubbles we try to address them creatively with maybe maybe another grade is not as high as it was and we try to maneuver it that way
so I haven't seen such an alarming issue yet to where because I know years ago when you were here there was trailers right there was trailers of of students I I don't and the 6,000 and students I don't believe we're going to get to that number based on the number of units and how how big they are okay thank you what
one other question the 40 while you're on the bottom of the page right the pending note that says there are 45 pending referrals can you explain what the 45 is are those 45 pending IEPs are they um So within the 45 referrals it
depends on after the valuations are completed whether or not the child is eligible for special education so the child even though they might have a diagnosis they might end up going down the 504 route they might end up with an IP they might end up with nothing um so those are just 45 referrals that were put through either was parent referral
or through inrs that we have that we are then now evaluating so at some point some percentage of those 45 will become part of the 775 and raise the 775 to a higher number yes but it will decrease the general add population number
correct jenet yeah that's the total total total isn't change it's just the cost of this cost of the education changes that was and the funding that was really just to try to pinpoint the percentages of special Aid compared to to Total enrollment but also that that number doesn't account for anybody that
moves in over the summer that may require certain services that we need to provide and that account would also increase not just by the the referrals do you plan for the 45 or do you plan for percentage of the 45 so what I have right now when I do my projections is that I know every child
that is referred and I know where they would be if they were landed into needing a program um that was all discussed with my child study team already and then discussed with Administration as needed so I know the students um whether or not they'll be eligible or not that's another conversation as we go but that's how we
run it so I know the students we know where they possibly could be I know the buildings that they're in um and we kind of go from there thank you okay so just some important factors um regarding special education so at a district students we had 21 students
where anticipating having 17 students but that didn't stop from the budget from increasing because when the estimated tuition rates come out for the private schools they're they're higher than they were the previous year so when you start to add add the add them up that you still have it's slightly up from what it
was even though the the population's down just because of just tuition going up instructional assistance we're projecting an increase of eight full-time instructional assistance and that's really due to just the changing student needs whether it's students that
move in um students that get their IEPs re-evaluated and they need Ono one uh intensive support so that is something that is mandated once it's in the IP you cannot take it out you have to provide it and also students that come into this district with needing one we need to
provide one as well so right now I know uh Mrs Tyrone has been doing a lot of shuffling when it came comes to just trying to make sure that we meet that requirement um the third thing so right now we have an ER class um it has been
actually a great success we've actually saved a lot of money that way from not having to send students out of District we were able to keep them in and service them and provide them um services that they required and so what we're proposing is to actually establish two
new er classes um one would be for I believe grades one and two or is it K through one it's I think I might have put that wrong it's K through two k through two okay um and then the other one would be grades six through eight right now we have one
for grades two four three through five um so basically doing this because we're starting to see the increase and we're we're starting to expect the need doing this would allow us to save money by keeping District uh keeping students in
District that would possibly go out or would go out and then also creating a revenue stream where it came to if we have a program we can offer and we have spaces other districts will send their students over and we can actually provide them Services as well and collect tuition that way I almost to try
to offset some of the increased costes costs we've been seeing with at District tuition or other areas of just this the budget in general now a lot of the times when that that tuition comes in if it's unexpected it will go back to special education but if it is expected it just it really just hits Revenue because it's
been budgeted for already the last one is your integrated preschool program um so we always pull pull numbers we're just bringing this to the board we're we always pull numbers from the neighboring uh preschools around us we have been seeing increases in a lot of them we
also have to stay consistent with our increases due to the the salaries that go up um to provide you know instruction to those classes so what we're proposing here is you'll see on a future agenda is to go from 8,000 to 8280 um and again we would work with the
same payment plan structure we would H we had in the in the past and what we set up I know we we had revised it um but we just we need to increase to make sure that we continue with not not having such a a huge gap between how much it cost to run the program and how
much we're actually charging we we still are actually losing money we just we just try to limit the damage so it doesn't get out of hand you mentioned for the ER classes um when you give us the binder will it show in there like how much we've saved or
because we bought students back here right so how we benefited like are there going to be numbers in there that shows like the or the amounts you'll see on the tuition side you'll see we'll we'll budget more for tuition and when we explain the revenue side we'll we'll tell you that we're budgeting for an anticipated number of four or five
additional students that we can come in and that has caused our revenues to actually increase from the year prior so we're anticipating an increase which is that's good and then what happens is that gets reflected back into the budget um so we will be able to break it down that way where you'll be able to see
numbers and I I'll be able to associate them with with with what they are so we can show that I I the third bullet excites me right because the fact that we are now growing the ER
program that that's a great that's a great statement that shows that we are building the in-house capacity to do this and and not sending so many students out of the district that is a great statement so thank you for that that is like that just made my day it
really did it just made my day um you know and I know you know we've talked about this and kindergarten one is not there yet but I I imagine at some point that may grow and this is just really spectacular so thank you very much I I assume that there's there's a fiscal
piece of this right there is make no mistake about it I I had a conversation with uh Miss Tyrone H what was it last week late last week and in in reviewing this um because I was excited as well U but I wanted to make sure we were
being of course we want to bring everyone back into the district that we can but it also there there's the other side of that it needs to be fiscally responsible and um we sat down we talked about it and within five minutes she showed me how marbor will be will
benefit financially from increasing our ER program both at the lower levels and carrying it up through the middle school so we'll almost be fully covered as you mentioned you know we'll be covered 1 through 8 right um and then maybe eventually k at some point so thank you
for that hard work it just one of reminds everyone during her interview process the excitement was table from this tyone she couldn't wait to come into the district and implement this program she was almost giddy about it so to see it even come to fruition is especially more rewarding because this was her baby vision and to sit here and
see the budget and know that her dream is working and that her vision is coming to life is is it's super special to see but not just cuz you're sitting next to me but I'm just so proud of you thank you for sharing that sentiment I I I I I am legitimately excited about this um but I'm also excited about the piece
that you just mentioned to and and when you say fiscally responsible I assume that means the cost of the program is all is being offset by also added District placements that are coming to marbor to help cover our costs and that in itself is exactly what we can be
doing to grow our internal exp internal value not only to our students but to be the place where other students come to congratulations this is just spectacular I'm looking forward to hearing more about this and the success of this so really
congratulations and it and it's also mitigating potential costs so you know without these programs you're looking at an average tuition is anywhere from 60 to to 100 Grand so if you didn't have these programs you'd possibly P be paying that per child that comes in that
you would have to send out um so that's another way of looking at it compared to just the money that you would bring in from it I've been talking too much thank you Michael so this is again just to give you you um just a a dollar Ford dooll overview from year to year you'll see of
course the added District tuition has increased because of the the tuition increases that we're seeing from the state sheet um your contracted online services have increased your consultants and evaluations have increased your supplies and equipment have increased your home
instruction has increased basically due to um need so there's a lot more students that require home instruction uh services so you have to a budget accordingly for that your curriculum writing and your PD has increased and then we have a decrease in textbooks so
you could see the overall total budget we're estimating at is increasing from two million to a little to pretty close to to 2 point a little over 2.4 million um this is not also counting for the $815,000 that we anticipate putting into
the Ida grant that we usually offset at a district tuition so if you're looking at a district tuition you would add both those numbers and see that almost close to $2 million overall but we're able to offset some of it the next slide Michael thank
you um so this is just to give you some detail of of why they're increasing so your added District tuition in increases of course I went over you have the projected 17 students of course the count decreased by four but the
estimates of the tuition rates have increased pretty drastically um and it's expected that every year they go up at least 3 to 4% so we we budget accordingly for that your contracted online services have increased by 165,000 that's really due to the need of
needing onetoone nursing services and again that's built into your IEP so there is unfortunately no way of cutting that that is a service that we must provide to these students and we're just seeing an uptick of that that need so we need to budget accordingly for that as well U that's mainly for the added District students your consultants and
the outside evaluations it's really increased du the additional Services needed for students so students that require a teacher of the dep we're seeing are are increasing and so we need to budget accordingly for for that increased need and then also um I believe this includes the referrals too
right the 45 students referrals that service so of course we try to just add into that because like we said we're seeing an influx of special edcation students coming in so we just want to make sure we plan accordingly and make sure we have the the money needed to
possibly have those evaluations done by for incoming students your professional development is increasing by uh 47,000 and this is really due to Orton Gillingham teacher training for the special education teachers this would be a a one-time infusion into the budget for
this and then after that it would just be on an as needed basis as new teachers come in so this would really just be a one-time budget cost and then your supplies and equipment have increased by 56,000 and that's again another one time cost we're still navigating this but the
IIA staff do need new Chromebooks um we're working with our tech department to be maybe possibly be creative where this might might not be necessary if there's some that are actually in very good shape for them to use but we also don't want to just recycle old beaten ones in replace of ones that they're trying to get rid of so we try to just
give them devices that they can utilize and and work with that are operational in the school day and then your of course your startup supplies for the ER sections so your two new er sections will of course you'll be making classrooms we just we budget for those supplies
accordingly all right so if you have any questions you can email myself Mrs gross or Mrs Tyrone and if you don't find out what you're looking for you can just repeat the list again thank you thank you Mr caravell um well done and
Mrs tinell thank you also for your um your added information and great work all right um we have some business opportunities to sort of cover here um next on the agenda is the financial and
business operations matters Mr carav are we so sorry what did you say finance and business yeah yes so someone needs to oh sorry you're right I I didn't look down
further um the harassment imitation and bullying report so we're just going to ask yeah I'm sorry you know what I'm lost on my you want me to read it thank you very much okay uh superintendent of schools submits the following resolutions for
approval one harassment intimidation bullying report number two travel three approval of Transportation agreement case 959 2024 2025 school year ISO move
thank you K have a second thank you Miss Gandhi before we take a vote on this just for the board members who are on item number two for travel um please note that you should um abstain from voting on your own
travel but you can obviously vote on the rest Mr caravell okay just before we take a roll call vote so um we are going to under the number two travel so for Mrs bomo to attend the women's leadership conference we are actually
just removing that so we will not be taking a vote on that we'll be scratching that so you can cross that out yeah I believe just conflicting schedules and and decided to go to the the one up top
okay okay do we do discussion no questions or comments or discussion I do have a question some of us were weight listed for the women's leadership conference and I know there I know we're just approving it right now we're not paying though right until we actually
attend no so when we actually do the sign up process they require a PO so we do do the purchase order give them the purchase order number but we don't make any payment yet until we know that you're going to the training okay thank you you're welcome can I just make a recommendation for that one um a
question so is there a set budget for board members to attend right yeah there is and then um is it possible for anyone that's attending these conferences to kind of just do they write something up so that it could be circulated to the board okay perfect just wanted to make
sure it's actually the practice right that you request from us yeah anything that requires a reimbursement to you requires a we require a write up of what you learned what you attended the dates and then we we put that with the with the packet the reimbursement
packet you you ra I'm sorry k m Mendes you asked a question about someone who's weight listed are you weight listed is or Anette I only know of Anette and I because we just just talked about it so I did reach out to our rep via email and copied Vinnie to ask like why why
because that's happened quite a few times to us already and um I'm not sure because we send it right away I know you apply and I again I know this is across New Jersey so I know we're not the only people asking to attend but it has happened quite a few times do we have enough time to add them to an agenda if
they are added back if they are able to attend or do we can we take action tonight to say that subject to being coming off the wait list we've already pre-approved it so I don't we unfortunately we cannot um sign anybody up until they're approved fully by the
board so what happened in that instance is um Mrs Mendes I believe Mrs Carrero and Dr MTZ I I believe there was three that wanted to or maybe Mrs se but they wanted to attend the woman's okay they wanted to uh attend so
they had to get approved first and then I go through the registration through school boards and then at the end it said you've been weight listed and then you get the email stating that so unfortunately I can't sign any of these people up till tomorrow I know for sure you'll probably wait listed for the woman's leadership one if if three members have already been wait listed
for the other ones I won't know until I complete the process of registration if they are then you stay on here as you've been approved and if you get in that's great if you don't you don't need to go back on the agenda to not be approved or be taken off you just didn't go but miss Mendes is only on for the spring
conference I don't see on for the women's leadership um they were already approved at the prior meeting there were some on there y That's what I was want to make sure and you know that um list that you sent us that that helps a lot because this you put yes if it's if it's
approved correct yeah we it's easier for us to keep track that way this way we can not miss anybody and there's no delay in registration and it get it showed me too where I you know should be that what you know what things I've been ready approved for so I like that thank you very much for that no problem so is
there any other way that we could efficiently um I don't know I guess like tentatively sign up for something before approval like is there any way that we could change that process because sometimes the date comes out and then we don't have a board meeting for
three weeks so of course going to H capacity so if you want to attend something on your own accord and you want to pay for it on your own and just go on your own you're more than welcome to but if we're going to utilize District funds it has to be done this way that's great un that's my question if we want to just go ourselves because
that's happened to me now a few times the law conference and so forth if I just want to do it myself and pay out of pocket I certainly can do that correct okay correct yeah and I know there's been talk about a blanket poo also you could also always do a blank a poo but individually when someone decides to go
to something that's offered you have to get board approved if you're going to use District funds even if there was a blank of poo this process would still have to be in place it would just be easier on mine to just charge it to the the blank of poo so it would it's unfortunately stilled to be I think the only recommendation would be most of these conferences plan at least a year
in advance take a look at it so you'll know what's going to happen in 2026 for example I knew my life a year in advance I would definitely go that but you could always back out right and cancel can we reimburse them that's my question can we do a reimbursement you can reimburse them but you cannot sign up for the
training until you get approved if you're going to use our the njs no no if they sign up personally they pay for it personally all right can they subsequently be reimbursed if we approve it in the budget but they for that personal expense so they have to be approved on the agenda so if we were to
do that route your name would have to be on the agenda to be approved and then after you get approval like literally the next morning you could go and sign up and then you show proof of payment that you've signed up and you provide that to us and that date because they check that in auditing that date has to
match after approval it cannot be before if it's before you're not going to get reimbursed then we're actually going to get DED no yeah we get locked out it only I'm just I'm trying to explain the process so we get all the so you know this this
is challenging to say the least is there a way in January knowing what people tend to sort of historically attend that we pre-approve them in a January meeting that says this is what training has already been approved the women's
leadership conference the uh spring we pre-approve people even if they're not registered yet and so we only we only do group registrations for big conferences so like your annual one in school boards we do a group registration when that comes out there's like an early bird thing we put everybody on for approval
um and that's like your blanket approval as far as the individual conferences like the webinars and the workshops I don't check that schedule every day on on on the school board's website I don't know about it I only see that they come through email or if you notify me that you want to come and they're always different I don't I know
not all of them are always the same every year and they're always different dates correct so I try to put as far as I can like the one I have scheduled here for May right and because it caught my eye the spring conference it's pretty informative but like the Strauss asme
law Conference changes right the date is not always the same so I couldn't project but to your point Brian I think if we're foreshadowing on what we're going to attend I think that's helpful I try but to that point it's still I have been shut out of a few few things
already now you're doing the second or third time that's that's happened um I guess due to the the volume maybe they they just they don't anticipate the the large volume but I can if if if if all of you are diligent on what you want to attend and then you just you attach to the sheet we'll be diligent on making
sure that it's on the agenda so you can go and we'll we'll sign you up um this way we we do a clean and we we have no issues so Mr Mullan can stand up there next year and say oh we had no findings because that's what we're all aiming for um again it's the process but unfortunately
we're not even supposed to we don't even really put them on workshops we put them on workshops just that so there's no delay in possibly be being in the waiting room again for that I would like to say something um I'm going to be voting no to line five
and seven for the uh Equity Expo conference um when I was doing some looking into some conferences for myself I was hoping to look at that conference and see that that it would include topics such as special education or elll and how that's going to be integrated or
um exemplified or assisted in our district um instead I found that at that conference um the future presenters were going were members of the Dei task force um and speakers that were influencing School boards to deepen skills for
developing sociopolitical awareness in schools um and developing School practices about making Equity plans for elementary schools um this is obviously something that I don't stand by um and I don't believe that politics
uh belong in our schools so for that reason I cannot vote Yes to approving District funding to um you know further education on how to bring that to the marau school district thank you any other other
comments comments or discussions let's call the the vote okay just remember to abstain from your name if you're on the Travel um Dr MTZ yes to all except my
name abstaining I'm abstaining for number two yes the items that affect you yeah yes thank you yes exactly what you me to
say Mrs cart yes to all except my I I guess number two where it applies to myself and as well as the approval for the um Equity
conference so you're abstaining from um I don't know how to do this it's like not so you saying are you saying no to 5 and 7 or abstaining from to 5 and 7even no abstaining from seven and no to two and
no I know it's confusing I'm sorry your number six oh sorry oh right okay thank you so five six and seven abstaining from number six and no to five and seven okay and and just so it's clear the number six includes the original six which
included Miss bomo yes okay um Mrs bomo um yes to all I'm abstaining from number two under trvel and then no to
five and seven you Mrs Carrero uh yes to all um abstaining from myself four and five okay Mr hayatt uh yes to all uh
abstaining from voting for myself thank you uh Mr lonsky yes he made he made it very I I'm gonna it's gonna be interesting to find out how you sort of tally this afterno Mrs
Gandhi um I'm saying yes to all and I'm actually particularly interested in learning more from uh people attending five and seven because I'm sure there's going to be more discussed it's a full day conference than just a few topics so thank you Mrs
Mendes yes to one and three abstaining from number two for travel okay Mr Cohen yes to all thank you that you need uh motions pass we'll move on to the next item curriculum Dr to MTZ would
you uh before I read the motion Mr balone could you please explain to the people in the audience at home and in person so that they can they know it's transparent what exactly what we're doing please sure so under ulum matters
um there's uh the item number one it's entitled New Jersey Department of Education equivalency application um that's a fancy word for saying um so this this applies to our qac scores um this is a fancy way of
saying that we will um apply to be calculated under the new qac calculations um just a little history on this uh Marboro Township is considered cohort 3 which uh there are three
cohorts of school districts that undergo uh qap each year so being that we're cohort 3 we're the last cohort to operate under the old rules and when I say the old rules um the New
Jersey Department of Education has recognized that um the science test in particular is problematic um students do not do well on it and they realize there is an issue with that test so they're in the process
of making changes to that test but they can't do that overnight so what they've realized is that 75% of school districts in New Jersey will not pass qac in instruction
and program due to State Testing yet we are the number one uh performing state in the nation so that doesn't make sense so in order for them to amarate that situation immediately is to change
the formula for calculation on State Testing now either way marbor Township Public Schools would be okay in terms of passing for qac um either using the old formula or
the new one the new formula affords us to score an additional two points so it's not many but we'll take as many points as we can get so essentially what this is
asking the uh the board to approve is to be calculated under the new formula which will be widespread across the state next year being that they're they're not implementing that officially across the
state across every cohort until next year they're allowing for this equivalency application for that new formula to apply this year and as you know we just had a qac visit today so once we get this hopefully we can get
this approved we can send it immediately off to the county and the state and we'll operate under the same roles that everybody everyone else's will operate under next year and moving forward thank you thank you I I appreciate you giving that explanation
you're welcome okay now I'll read go ahead and then we can have discussion afterwards the superintendent of school submits the following resolution for approval number one New Jersey Department of Education um equivalency application ISO move thank you
second Miss Mendes any discussions on this item any questions for Mr balone I just had one I appreciated the thorough information that was sent in advance that was actually very helpful just one question is there any I understand all the benefits any anything we should be
mindful of or pay attention or you think it's just um I wouldn't so we should be mindful that um if this is approved that um it puts us on a Level Playing Field I think with all other um school districts
in New Jersey um should we not uh approve the equivalency application we will not be on on an even playing field so um that's number one number two when we're comparing our our data from year to year this will allow an Apples to
Apples comparison as opposed to you know using an old formula this year and then a new formula in three years from now um so those are the two big items that I think would really benefit us from from uh approving this application based on
my background will we will get approved I don't see any reason why we wouldn't because it's leveling the plane field so I don't see and this goes to the county suit am I correct so this you know it's
up to the county superintendent he he knows Marboro he's he's here so he knows what we're doing and so this is a good thing for us and it also just elevates us even if it's two points two points is two points we two points is is 100
versus a 98 so let's go for it procedurally I think the answer is also if we don't approve it tonight we may miss the window of opportunity to get this approved by the county superintendent any other discussions
questions Mr caravell a roll call Mrs Seward yes Mrs bomo obain Mrs Carrero yes Mrs
Gandhi yes Mr hayatt yes Mr lonsky yes Mrs Mendes yes Dr MTZ yes and Mr Cohen yes okay all right moving along we have old
business any old business I do go ahead um missart I am going to ask for an open discussion with Miss
because I find it to be very frustrating from the perspective of the former chairperson of communications um I asked you more than twice for a write up of what you and Dr MTZ had participated in
at the njsba convention in October and you failed to deliver any sort of write up so that I could share with the community what we all had done during that trip so I just want to know what changed from not participating in the same exact request that you're asking
the rest of us to provide in our travel versus your travel I just can't help but figure out the difference between the two I can respond to that no I can respond to that the the
stuff that I for when I go to a workshop we I write I write something up I submit it to no this was in light of sharing with the community what the tax dollars were providing to board members to attend and
very honestly I completely forgot all about it after yeah it just one of our board goals to have an active Facebook account to share happenings and with something like njsba training in the capacity of spending an entire day I was looking at it from a different angle I thought I wasn't even really addressing
you because you aren't the one that asked for a write up for the trainings that we attend now oh I just what had changed from then now where it was not participation to requesting the same exact information that you didn't provide at the time was
it just to not Advance the communication committee Miss Gandhi do you want to answer or uh well first of all I would just tread very lightly in saying that I was trying to not Advance the communication Community or team or
group chair person chair all last year everybody attended many conferences I didn't see one thing that was shared with the board so this year going into 2025 my request is to go ahead and make
sure that someone's attending a conference that they do a write up and that is shared within the board that's it I I think that's a good idea I think what we what we write up for Vinnie could be shared I don't have a problem with that
well this was just more it's the biggest Convention of the year we all travel down to Atlantic City there's vendors that we meet there's networking that happens so I just thought since there's no other social media representation at these conferences that it would have been fair to share with the community what we all had achieved during those
three days that were paid for by taxpayers so it it was only in light and I didn't share fully what everyone had done because I didn't have full participation from everyone so to be fair I shared nothing well no actually that seems kind of silly to me
if you have participation from other members why did that was my next question because I didn't see anything being shared so you you mean to tell me that when you had information from other board members that attended you chose not to share that with the community because I didn't provide you with the
information that you requested I think it's more in light of collaboration I was actually very proud of what I did on the njsba conference and I shared it you know with a lot of people right pictures writeups fun little synopsises of what I
did when I was there so if we're trying to move towards a collaborative front I have no idea why we wouldn't all share and all be represented for our efforts agreed I'm actually surprised that that wasn't shared what was you know what the other board member shared with you so I almost feel like maybe I kind of saved
some time it's nice that you're trying to flip it but it's just you're very hypocritical no I'm just trying to understand if you got if you got information from other board members which is you there were at least four in total because why did you choose not to share that I asked you didn't even there
wasn't even a response to say I'm not going to share that with you you responded with like yeah I'll get to it and then nothing was sent and I asked again just following up would like to share with the community what we have done was very transparent the purpose of this and then the because so much time had passed while I was waiting for
response so in spirit of transparency can you explain to me why the other board memb stuff was not shared in the interest in the interest of weather and I appreciate you're raising the issue it sounds like there's a just very an awareness of it agreed this was last year we're into New Year let's sort of
find a better way to sort of you know share and let's move forward um that's my suggestion it's snowing out I agree any other new business yeah um there is um so we had brought up policy
5756 um and in light of what 5756 has meant will continue to mean to parents um parental notification parental rights um and the people who fought for two years effort with all of their effort um
I find it a disservice to our community and to our students to allow this policy to sit uh any longer um uh under policy 131 if the board so decides we are allowed to suspend the policy until it has the ability to be added to the
agenda so I would like to make a motion to utilize that stipulation in 131 suspend the policy now until our next meeting or it could be added to the agenda and we can um make a motion to either abolish it or do whatever the
board decides to do with it um but I would like that to stand that we can have we do have the ability to suspend that policy from now until our next meeting where it could be added to an agenda just give us a second they'll take a look at the policy thank
you are you referencing the I'm sorry are you referencing the emergency section okay so what what's the emergency is this has been a community issue um over 40 school districts have already had this policy abolished um the
conjoined districts in our um filing uh all have a plan going forward like has been discussed um and we our plan is to add it to the next agenda so because we do have that Liberty we can in fact
suspend the policy well I think that's the conversation it's that you know is that better sorry you're opposing a motion before the board to under the emergency provision of policy
131 that the board utilized that to sort of immediately suspend sure the policy of 5756 until it can be added to an agenda and for me as a parent in the district of three young kids the emergency is um
we have fought tirelessly and I right now I do not have the right to notification as the policy stands and it is an emergency for me to gain that right back since the state of New Jersey has said that we can okay I would just like to add one
thought to that because I know under emergency when we've used that once before I think it was a year or so ago when we had to do the threat assessment team um this they came in and the sick leave at that point in time those fell
under something that they said you can put those through immediately you don't have to go through first and second so can I are you amending the motion or no I'm asking a question and building upon it no one second cuz no one second it yet that's why I well I'm we're still
talking about you want me to have to second it before I could talk about it no I know I just want to make sure so just the the thought is I know people are like what's the emergency or or what isn't it or whatever it might be I think it's because we finally after years have
the ability to do something where it sat and it was a lot there was a lot of community members and and non-community members and I think whether you agree that it's not technically an emergency right we put sick leave in there and I
understand there was state law that came uh pieces of that or statutes and then the threat assessment team different from this but this was a a big impact on our town and our community and so I can understand the concept so if you're asking for a second then I will second
the motion on that because there was a lot of of feeling and sentiment and and families that came out whether they agreed or not there were a lot of people that came out and so I second the motion that's fine I would like to say that I have no problem suspending this for a couple weeks it's not a poses no issue
we had a thorough discussion an executive session where we could have had this conversation and come out here with a motion to suspend this I don't know why it's being brought up at this moment when the purpose of executive was to all align and agree on this but that's just my sentiment so I have no
problem I agree with you on that I agree with you on that Chad because we had a very extensive conversation we aligned on moving forward um in executive and that's why we put forward what we did so I'm not understanding why this is coming
up right now and I still need to understand from Mr gross would this fall under the emergency to actually do this sure yes if you're asking me my legal opinion we're going have to go back in executive session we can but we're going to go
back and do it but I have to go back in executive session for me to give you my legal advice as to whether you should proceed not proceed I don't think we need an executive session I think we can suspend this for a couple weeks that's my opinion any other further discussions
about this just just just to be clear so everyone's clear right the motion is to under the emergency provision of policy 131 to suspend only 5756 until the next meeting right it's suspended until it can be added to the agenda
I think the word emergency can be objective here um having lived through the uh controversial meeting where 5756 was first voted on and then being asked by Maro PD if it was necessary that we have police monitoring and presence in
front of our homes it's hard to imagine that this now 18 months later since our hands were tied on it and uh you know also being a parent of children in the district it's hard to say what constitutes an emergency suspension I have to ask both Mrs seart and Mrs
bomo where was this conversation when we're talking in front of our attorney in executive she can change her mind I just want to say a few things first thing is that the conversation somebody could have an hour plus to think about where they stand they don't have to share it or and they don't I was just
being questioned about thinking one way last year about Congress this is not this is not me versus you or you versus me I'm not I could just vote now I'm not against let Miss Miss Mendes has the floor I'm
recognizing her please let her finish her comments and then we'll take comments from everyone else I I'm not attacking anybody I think genuinely what I'm saying is is that somebody can not share something in executive and make a decision when they come out here that and change and and express their
feelings I do recall a similar executive session where we got guidance from the attorney a former attorney about something that was proposed and then you came out and proposed it completely negating what was said and you didn't share in advance
with us either so I'm not that's your right to do so I'm not even questioning it but again your internal review I don't I don't think I'm sorry let me just say one thing I'm not going to talk anymore about it I don't want to attack anybody I never I don't want to ever live in
that space I just want to say anybody out here has the right to express how they feel they don't have have to pre-share it they don't it's nice if we can collaborate I'm with you I've asked for that since last year but sometimes maybe you don't maybe you change your mind and you have an opinion and that is
okay too for all of us so I'm with you I second it I respect everybody's opinion but that's it thank you no um Miss bomo and then miss Gandhi if you had anything to follow up on I'm okay okay I'm gonna work my way
around thank you Miss bomo Miss Gandhi if she has anything to follow up on Mr Hyatt M Mr lonsky and then miss carrer I guess the only thing that I want to say is that the beautiful thing about being one member on a board is that we're all able to make our own decisions this is just something that I feel very very
strongly about I am forever grateful for the people who fought the fight when I wasn't on the board and then continued to fight it um and it's just something that I couldn't leave here tonight knowing we had the ability to suspend and we failed to do so so after thinking
it over you know it is my right as a sitting board member to make a motion and that is what I'm doing and if you don't support it you have every right as well to just vote now thank you Mr hayatt I was going to respectfully ask me move to vote but there's other I
didn't see other hands up sorry thank you you're you bring up the last I'm sorry Mr lonsky then miss Carrero she has nope she has so Mr lansi then Dr uh I I for me executive session is going to take five minutes the attorney has
something to say I'll be an abstain until I hear from my attorney has to say about this because he has something to say and I think as a board we have an attorney to make a vote and I'm worth doing I want to do it but I want to hear from the attorney whether we should do it so before we go to Executive session
can you just um confirm that the board has the right to declare whatever the each individual member feels is an emergency situation for a suspension we can decide that there's no there's nothing in our bylaws our policy
or the law that stipulates what an emergency or defines what an emergency what would be our bylaws because some school districts don't even have this in their bylaws but there's nothing in our bylaws or policy to the best of your knowledge that defines an emergency you
can't acknowled you can't answer that okay it's not a yes or no answer so there could be law that dictates that what an emergency would be as per our policy I think is kind of what I'm asking I think we have to go into executive session to answer the question
can I make a motion to go into executive why sorry can I make a motion to go into executive we'd have to table first the motion that's on the that's on go into exec and then come back out okay I'll make a motion to table what is on the table and go into executive it's two
things do I do I have to do one motion to table first okay I make a motion to table Mr lonsky second all in favor I any opposed motion carries motion to go to
Executive second do we finish old business attorney Cent privileg yes but we do that right now or Cent privilege do we finish old business before we go or we go right now I got we can do whatever we want if we have more old business we can finish the old business and then leave okay I
have more old business um right so let's just let's just complete the motion to go into exec after you after all business so seconded was by whom
scandi all those in favor I I anyone any opposed okay motion carries um we will go into exec as soon as we complete old business any other old business yes
um uh we have now been um post reorg for well over a month about a month um and we have a committee that's the technology committee it is a standing not ad hoc committee um and that committee does need to be seated um it
is required we have voted on it the board decided that this committee was necessary um and it is a standing committee um so at this time I know that there was discussion leading up right after reorg um that there we needed a plan I believe
that we are doing a disservice to the students of marbro to not attack technology AI policies surrounding it headon are we are far behind where other districts sit with their AI policies I've read many District's AI policies
and Technology plans and I'm not comfortable um where we sit in that in the landscape of AI and technology so with that being said I would like to make a motion that the technology committee is seated immediately and since there's seems to
be no plan I would like to make a motion that I can chair that committee you say your motion is again that we make a technology that we seat the technology committee immediately and um if there's no plan that I'll chair that committing I'm sorry if there
that's I guess that wouldn't be part of the motion but that the technology Comm be seated immediately so the well before we have a discussion on it second Miss seart
discussion Mr lonski did you have no anyone for discussion so I I will question whether or not a motion can the the regular whether or not the policies are aligned with this motion
because I understood that the board president that's my question was seats I that's why I want to know what motion is the motion is for the technology committee to be seated immediately who's on the committee no one I have not seated anyone on the committee the motion we have a committee that was
formed and voted on this committee needs to exist it doesn't exist point taken what's the motion that we have the committee formed and seated immediately it's not an ad hoc committee it's not one needed this is a standing committee
if your motion is to have the board president fill the positions iMed I guess that's a motion that perfect that's you can amend it to say that please president has to
app beautiful so is the motion amended to reflect that sure is there second could you repeat the motion how Ed right now so every other committee right after motion passed so every every
other committee I showed interest in that committee actually that was one of the I show was one of my top committees as well um and you know as per our bylaws and our policy board policy um you know standing committees should be
seated at reorg so the fact that one was devoid any members being you know seated there I think that it's in the best interest of the students the district and our board to see a technology committee I'm just trying to be as clear as
can so as amended is there a second and seword so discussion again on this motion because I'll weigh in on this one if you that's what discussion I had I want to hear you weigh in thank you so um I look at the um description of the
technology committee and I agree with Miss bomo that there is a desperate need for this District to have a technology plan and there is a desperate need for this District to have policies associated with tech use of Technology right but the technology committee doesn't create the
plan okay the technology committee is not empowered in the board in the board's fos to create the plan it is empowered to the superintendent to create the plan but it is your respons I just finish please if I can just finish
Oh I thought it was a discussion so I I believe personally as a member of the board that the best approach for this board is to sort of consider a technology plan policy all right and I have actually
been you know working on one based upon my national experience with education and Technology at a k through 12 level all right and and you know I'm prepared to propose that and submit that to the policy committee for them to consider so
in light of the confusion that a draft policy would have with the role of a technology committee I exercise the power that I believe the president has in deciding whether or not to seat the committee or not so that's my discussion I'm open for
questions the committee is not an ad hoc committee this a standing committee with no members is I believe that compels the president to actually fill a commission so as the board president you've made the sole decision to not see a committee that the
board had voted on and stands in our policies as a standing committee you just chose to do that writer of the policy I'm not the sole writer of the policy I've actually consulted with others youed with everybody with no it
doesn't actually I haven't even so so you're acting independently of the your whole mission here cation remember our votes all weigh the same I need to remind everyone of that we are you are one of nine yes there you don't have any more power than anyone
else does when it comes to passing policy or voting on a budget we are all equals here so you're you're proposing a policy with the policy committee for a technology plan without a technology Committee just I just want to be clear
we we proposed we proposed lots of policies in this board without committees so the fact that I am proposing a policy for the policy committee to consider that then would
come to the full board for vote is no different than any other policy that this board considers but was it always your intention to not seat a policy a committee for technology then always my int wouldn't we have to vote to abolish that committee since it was voted in by
the board it's it's voted in I it's and it was one of the commit you were interested in two separate discuss independently I think these are two can I just ask what I think I missed and you must have missed because I asked Chad what we missed are we voting on something too I just want to know what
I'm supposed to be I just want the technology committee filled because it's a standing committee the motion is that the technology committee that the the board president appoint members of the technology committee immediately so I'm
just trying to understand and break this down to leman's terms you decided you just didn't want the committee anymore so you didn't seat it without consulting the board without making a motion to abolish the committee you just decided independently that this isn't one you
wanted to fill so we're not going to fill it today I don't believe that's how reorg works and I don't believe that that's in the best interest of this District when we sat here and voted it in with the bar straight across
unanimously voted in this committee and then you became the president and said well I don't want to sit that one so I'm just going to forget about it that's not how it works is the plan to to never seat this or are we going to propose like some sort of abolishing it I know
we haven't seen the technology uh policy that you had drafted I know our first meeting is Thursday I'm assuming we'll see it then I haven't seen that yet but is that the plan that we're you want to abolish it or are we never seating people I don't I don't
know I I actually the plan was to require the superintendent to develop a comprehensive strategic technology policy that the full board would vote on and that it would be done contemporaneously with the presentation
of budgets so that technology and budget can be considered at the same time but here we are in February and until I brought this MO up this is the first I'm hearing about any plan regarding technology this was forgotten not forgotten obviously it was thought about
but only by one person and whoever you chose to collaborate with and this was a board decision to implement this committee and again you acted independently of the board and decided that you weren't going to seat it that's not the way it works we're a board of
nine we voted this in unanimously you're the president you're your job that you you know took oath to do is to reorganize this board into the Committees that are standing committees these are not as needed committees this is an after your plan before your plan
during your plan committees these are standing committees of our board that we voted on as a board and then you independently decided you were not going to follow through on just so I'm clear you have sole discretion to see committees with who you that's our
policy am I wrong about this or as I as I understand the policy as a descri explain to me the board president seats has the discretion of seating committees not choosing what committees we have the Lal I I think the piece
though I get I understand what you're saying Chad that is in the policy for the Committees the only thing is is that I guess the decision to just leave a committee without leave a committee that was approved and voted on with no members and the decision to not do
anything with the committee I think yes I mean is it the sold discretion of the president yes it's in the policy but the the point is that does it feel collaborative as we're saying we want to be no I think we should have an open
discussion of future State now I don't know your plan right so maybe you're like hey I was going to bring that to the board but I think just at least informing to say here's the thought what do you all think I think is helpful and and all of that actually doesn't matter because in our policy our board policies
it's says that we have a standing technology committee that was voted on in a public meeting where we unanimously voted to have this committee so the board members the decision makers voted that this was important to have so one independent board member doesn't just
get to decide he doesn't feel it's relevant so he's not going to sit the committee it's in our bylaws it's in our policy these are standing committees and if you don't want to fill the committee then I volunteer to serve as a sole member of the committee if no one else
is interested but we have the committee the committee served a purpose we wrote a description of the committee before it was voted in and that committee needs to serve the students and families of marbor why wasn't this one of the topics shared in the weekly updates that we get
from you I'm sorry what we've been getting weekly updates from you as board president every Monday with you know things to keep us privy to and updates after speaking with Mr balone which sidebar we used to hear from Mr balone and that has suddenly halted but why
wasn't this plan to pause the seating of the technology committee because you were moving forward unbeknown to the policy committee that you were writing a policy with Administration or leaving it up to administ what I know that you're nationally known for your technology
skills and talents but what why not communicate that with us your plan for the technology committee the policy committee hasn't even met yet they haven't even had their first meeting yet so I'm you know what I'm drafting a policy not writing a policy but that's not your
job that's the job of the policy committee no it's any how do you know that's a policy the committee even wants to visit that's a decision that's needs to be made by the policy committee not by you independently and I have a real concern that board leadership is acting
independently of the full board I disagree I think what's more important is we now have in motion a three-year technology plan that Brian just mentioned it should be how have that emotion when we don't even know about it you
will we will we will he just inor I'm sorry Mr H but I have to say that that you and I just had an exchange regarding polling locations where you replied to my email where I asked you to please
explain how the project failed and why we're still at the same part at the same point we were you know eight months ago and you responded to me that it requires relationship building civility leadership Solutions solution oriented mindset and some creativity and based on
the tone of my response you're concerned that we don't align and so you're going to pause our conversation Yes again that's not your decision to pause a conversation with you to to pause conversation polling I'm pausing this conversation this is unproductive well
you don't have the right to pause me I don't have an off button and you don't have you don't have a right to pause these are real conern have a question what is your solution for the boarding I want to know cuz I've heard you complain but I've never heard you come up with a
recommendation on how to move polling out of our schools deny the buildings it is great to sit there and come up with ideas but a real leader comes up with Solutions which I have yet to see from you I I mean thank you for coming to the
meeting tonight but there is a building and facility use form that can just not be approved there our buildings and how the facilities are used is based on our yeah no I know this is crazy I filled out about 150 of them in my lifetime I can show you the form
if you want to know about them but we decide and dictate how the Maro Township buildings are used stay there's a mo we have a motion I could stand I I am concerned that this board is acting independently of the full body that is my concern thank you for expressing the
concern Mr Lansky the okay Mr Cohen you you spoke that you're coming up you're working on a plan you're working on technology plan there is a technology committee it has not been abolished you're right but I would like if you would like to amend your motion that at least give Mr Cohen a week to to our
next meeting to make the I don't think it serves the board to make it in 10 seconds no I didn't ask for him to make it in 10 seconds just just you know seated immediately the same way the other committees he has the forms we filled out the surveys he has the the the the writeups for the desire to be on
the committee has the same information that he had to see all the other committees but this one specifically was not you know seated and it's I find it to be alarming seeing that during uh Mr Cohen's time as a
civilian and not a board member there was so much discussion around not having a technology plan that the one committee that we wouldn't see is technology and it gives me the feeling of exactly what was confirmed
tonight that people are acting alone and not as a board and if you want to use words like collaboration that is the complete opposite and I urge the community to take notice to the lack of collaboration in actual actions and not
just verbiage and what we're saying at meetings Mr Cohen I have a question um I think you expected all of the board members to provide you with some goals for the Committees and why they wanted to be part of the committee do you can you are you able to share if any goals
were shared by any of like I mean I know Mrs B was very pass I eight paragraphs about it curious about it okay you want eight eight paragraphs the the answer is that in the goals associated with those who are interested in the
Committees many of the board members s had um expressed what they would hope to accomplish yes so in that initial effort yes they did I just and and I would just like get I just I just want to make sure Daniel you're okay with is not to give the community tonight it could be like
he goes home and thinks about it get back to us by for the next meeting correct yeah I I just wanted see it I just want some action moving forward whatever it is we are behind other districts in our Ai and Technology it is
important for my children for everyone else's children and for all the children children that we have technology that is moving at the same Pace as the students that they will eventually have to compete against for high school and for college we cannot be behind on that now
the AI plan for policy I was on the policy committee last year I was removed this year but the AI plan has been in action for almost a year we need tangible results we need a plan forward and I think the technology committee would be great I don't think it should
be the same people as the policy committee I think that technology is the way of the future it is the way of the present and I think that as many Minds as you can have at a round table talking about technology would be great thank you any other
discussions let's move on the motion we'll reread the motion to have the board president appoint member members of the technology committee immediately with the media being qualified by Mr
lansi before the next meeting perfect as amended second we have that I think Miss seconded you're okay with that Amendment replacing immediately with by the next meeting
next meeting is J February 25th February 26th that's next week you have a week off yep okay let's call the roll okay roll call for a tech committee to be seated immediately um and a chair appointed by
the next meeting on change immediately on 22525 correct okay um Mrs Carrero uh yes Mrs Gandhi no Mr
hayatt no should be up the discretion of the board president Mr alansky yes Mrs Mendes yes Dr MTZ abstain Mrs seart
yes Mrs bomo yes and Mr Cohen yes so one two three four five six motion passes would we like a weather committee because it's getting very nasty
outside any other old business if there's if there's no other old business we're going into exec and then we come back out again for new business public comments and then adjournment unless you'd like to do public comments now is there anyone here for public
comments anyone like to speak nope motion to close public comments Dr MTZ second Miss Gandhi all in favor any
opposed executive session with be five minutes yep so we are going into exact five minutes if not soon e e e e
e e e e e e e e e e
e e e e Mr carav Mrs bomo here Mrs Carrero still here Mrs Gandhi here Mr
hayatt here Mr alansky here Mrs Mendes Mrs Mendes Mrs Mendes sorry here Dr misit here Mrs seart here and Mr Cohen here okay before
we broke for exec we had a motion in front of us that was tabled that motion was from M bomo and the motion was to under policy 131 to exercise under the emergency powers of the of the board to
suspend policy 5756 until it can be on the agenda for the next board meeting is that correct that motion was tabled we're putting it back on so I need a motion to move it to put it back
on the um do we have discussion first or not first motion to put it back perfect yes second is there a second Miss Seward thank you all right any other
discussion the the the vote that that's forthcoming is under the pretense that I did the best I could to understand executive session but due to being attacked for my opinions I can only understand what I can understand from uh executive session um and and what I got
out of our legal council any other discussion I think I think what you were saying I'm like trying to decipher what advice was given to us by legal counsil also so I
just want to say that I I'm just I I want I appreciate you sharing your thoughts with us Mr gross and uh for the discussion I think I'm torn on that because I think I'm in both ways right we we were there we lived it to us there
was a lot that happened so I think the word emergency is a little bit subjective it's not defined by a regulation per se that said this is the criteria so I could see you know of us living it and and all the things that transpired so anyway thank you Mr gross
for sharing your thoughts thank you any other comments or discussion before we take a vote okay let's uh all in favor of the motion roll we're going for roll call
roll call thank you roll call Mrs Carrero no Mrs Gandhi no Mr hayatt no and I just want make a statement I very much want this on the agenda for our next meeting to abolish resend it whatever you want to
call it I do not think this is emergency and I don't want to risk our ability to put that on the agenda and get rid of it that's my statement thank you I vote no Mr alansky I was going to say what Chad said so no for me as well for the same
reasons Mrs Mendes yes Dr MTZ and I agree with uh what Mr hayatt said also and I vote no Mrs seart yes Mrs Palomo
yes and Mr Cohen for the similar reasons that Mr hayatt Mr Lansky and others have said no I vote no and will add the fact that um I don't while we don't have a description or a clear definition of the
word emergency um I don't know if this escalates to that level for the board's power so I vote no okay so that's 63 motion does not pass motion to adjourn
second all those in favor all right good night people and