I'm ready when you are. All right. I know. It's just weird. There's no one here. Uh, good evening. I call to order the Matuchin Board of Education meeting of Tuesday, January 27th. Uh, please stand
for the flag salute. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
>> Mrs. Alavich, notice of the meeting, please. I hereby make this statement to indicate compliance with the open public meetings act known as chapter 231 of the public laws of New Jersey 1975 which became effective 90 days after enactment January 19th 1976. Notice of this meeting was given by providing the
location, time and date of this meeting and posting of the same on the front door of the board of education offices by delivering copies of the Burough Hall and the Matuchin public library the home news and tribune and the star ledger and by filing copy with the burough clerk as prescribed by this law. >> Thank you. Roll call, please. >> Mr. Bot, >> here. Miss Cheeto
>> here. >> Mr. Derlinger >> here. >> Mr. Glasper >> here. >> Dr. Johnson Marcus >> I am here. >> Miss Colleen >> here. >> Miss Michaels Lamorte >> here. >> Dr. Spner >> here. >> Mr. Sus >> here.
>> Miss Zimmerman >> here. >> It's good not to be last. >> Thank you so much, Mrs. Elliavich. Uh Dr. Kabuto, no showcase of success today? >> Nothing. We'll have lots coming up this uh winter and spring. >> Wonderful. All right. And we are open to
the public at this time. And seeing only one lowly soul, uh I'm going to go ahead and close that section of the meeting and turn it over to Mr. Hardier. >> Thank you. >> Uh tonight we're going to talk about the
budget calendar for the 2627 school year and the audit for the 2526 school year. Uh on February 10th, we'll talk about the baseline data maintenance and custodial accounts and transportation accounts. On February 24th, we'll talk
curriculum, technology, athletics, and co-curricular. Um on March 10th, special education, school-based budget, and the adoption of the preliminary budget. It's a new governor, so we're not
normally we get state aid numbers about the third week in February, but when there's a new governor, that's normally delayed. March 24th, we'll talk about the mental health initiative. And April 14th, we'll review any changes to preliminary budget. And on April 28th,
we have the budget hearing. And there's one uh typo on this. Athletics and co-curriculars moving to March 10th, and special education is moving up to February 24th. So that's one change and we'll put that on the website. >> Thank you. And now the audit, you should
have the audit synopsis in front of you. I'm going to highlight uh the the supple Clooney was our auditor ind the independent auditor's report is the first three pages. And then on the on the page that says
Matuchen School District balance sheet, governmental funds, this gives a snapshot of all all of our major funds, general fund, special revenue fund, capital projects funds, and debt service fund. I'm going to focus on what what is normally believed to be the most
important numbers in the financial statement. Uh that's in the the fund balances. Under general fund capital reserve, we have 4.7 million. That's a reserve account that is earmarked towards large capital projects. That would be roof replacement, boiler
repair, uh those types of emergencies that come up. Uh second I second item is the maintenance reserve. That's 1.1 million that's set aside for maintenance. If you're if the um HVAC equipment goes down and needs repair,
that's what that's for. Uh there's also 2.6 6 million designated for the 2526 budget and 1.6 million that's design designated for the 2728 budget. Um year-end incumbrances are 346,000.
Uh unassigned that's free bal what they refer to as free balance is 1.3 million. The next column is just the special revenue funds that accounts for all of our grants all of our federal and state grants. That's just money in and money out. Next item is the capital projects
fund and that's at and again these this balance sheet is as of December third uh June 30th 2025. And the last the last fund is a debt service fund. That's the fund that that pays for all of the payments on our
bonds. Um and then there was two the the auditors presented two findings two recommendations in this audit. I'm going to read them now. Um the first one is the condition finding the reconciliation of the salary
account includes incorrect items leading to reconcil reconciliations that do not match. Also the split of funds between 10 20 30 and 40 was not matching district records. The recommendation that they came up was with was that all salary account rec reconciliations be
done correctly and that the split between funds for all other funds be allocated correctly in accordance with district records. The method of implementation it's already been imple implemented. Uh we met with the treasurer and just to
ensure rec the reconciliations are done the way the auditor would like them done. um that meeting took place on December 29th and the persons responsible are are the treasurer and myself. The second
finding recommendation recommendation is for the food service account. It says our examination of the district's food service fund balances at year end revealed that the net cash resources exceeds three months average expenditures. The recommendation is that
the district review procedures to ensure that new cash resources in a food service fund do not exceed three months average expenditures in compliance with and they list the law here. The method of information of implementation is closely monitor monthly income
statements and project excess cash. If there is excess cash, allocate utility costs and purchase needed equipment. So for this one, our plan all along was to use the we received a lot of excess funds during COVID. Federal government
put a lot of funds into food service and other areas. Our plan was to use those funds to help pay for the new furniture in in the cafeterias at Moss Campbell and the high school. And all of these
recommendations have been implemented. So the next step is the certificate of implementation which we will also send to uh the state. >> Any any questions? >> Any questions for Mr. Harvey? >> No. All good. Wonderful. Thank you as
always, Mr. Harier. All right. We turn to the president's report and I do not have one at this time. Dr. Caputo, do you have some words? >> No report tonight. Um, I will have some uh notes and comments in the Wednesday message that goes out tomorrow morning.
So, I'll save it for then. >> Wonderful. Thank you. And then we turn to committee reports. Our um as we reorganize in January, we form our committees um again and we have folks getting ready and having had three meetings already this week and the other
committees will meet next week I believe. Nope, next month. Just kidding. All right. And we start as always to my right with Mr. Glasser giving us an update from construction land. >> All right. Uh construction committee was at it again. This time uh I want to just
point out who's on the committee this year. All of this is located on the on the website. You could find the board committee structure. Uh but on construction committee, I'm the chair. We have um vice president Derlinger. We have the finance chair, Mr. Sus. and we
have our newest member, Miss Zimmerman, joining us on the committee. Um, this is what we discussed. We discussed some upcoming expected completion dates for the project. Uh, February 17th is the expected completion at the Matuchen High School Fieldhouse. Uh, we expect to have
a temporary o uh, occupancy at that point. February 18th, the board offices would move to their new space, which is kind of on the second floor there. The week of February 23rd, the classrooms at the high school are expected to be able to be used. That's
the new classrooms that sort of connect the wing by the fieldhouse and will allow students on the first floor to circulate better through the building. Uh mid-March is when the cafeteria should be usable by students. Right now, it's being used by the board of
education, uh administrative offices. So, as soon as they move out in February, then that space gets converted over to cafeteria space. There's things in there that need to get removed, furniture and so on. There's uh carpeting in there right now, carpet tiles, right?
>> And that needs to get um switched over to uh regular cafeteria floor, things along those lines. So, that will happen from midFebruary to mid-March. Mid-Marchch is also the moss school completion uh date approximately in
plenty of time to allow movement over to Moss for uh things that need to fill up the space, furniture and so on. In plenty of time for great realignment for next year. Uh Campbell is essentially done on the inside. There's some door hardware that still needs to be
replaced. Some punch list items. Edgar as well, some punch list items. There's also some exterior uh at Campbell and maybe at Edgar as well. There's still just some uh plantings and things along those lines. Some plantings to be replaced and there's commissioning of
the equipment ongoing at the buildings and that is basically the system where um they are attempting to get right the different spaces how we heat and cool them and things along those lines. So one room's not too cold while another room's not too hot. That's an ongoing
process. Uh we discussed at um Moss school things that we could do to make things as comfortable as possible for the neighbors uh who live right around that space. We talked about um lighting shields for example for the lights that
light up that space. We discussed uh budget change our budget in general uh change orders errors and omissions uh from our some of our professionals. So we are currently at um
consulting on strategies uh to work with those professionals at the end of the project in order to be able to mitigate those additional costs. And then we also discussed uh the EIP program. This could really come under finance or under construction and um I'm
sure it will be discussed in both. But uh we've been exploring the possibility of putting solar on the roofs for example as a way of funding additional needs that we have such as other roof replacements that were originally in the
um pre-referendum budget but did not were not in the post-referendum budget. So, we hope to be able to offset some of our additional costs from electrical usage and be able to spend that money to uh repair some roofs or do other
projects that the that the school might need in order to maintain its wonderful upkeep. So, that was those were the topics that we discussed. Our next meeting is February 23rd. It is open to the public at 700 p.m. in the Matuchen High School
Media Center. Uh we're going to continue at least until the completion of the project with our every other month uh in-person open to the public committee meetings. And that means for right now we have February 23rd scheduled as a
public meeting and April 20th scheduled as a public meeting. I put those dates on the referendum website. As a reminder, you can go to matuchinschools.org. Right there on the front page, there's a referendum link, and I keep that uh maybe not as updated as I used to with
some photos and things along those lines, but it has these dates on them and some other essential pieces of information. So, feel free to check that out. That's the end of my report. Thank you. >> Thanks so much, Mr. Glassber. Any questions or clarifications on that, folks? That'll be good. All right.
Wonderful. Miss Galen, do you have a report from extracurricular? Yes, extracurricular met last night. Uh you'll see on the agenda for tonight, we have um we're looking to approve the National High School Ethics Bowl, a volunteer club and volunteer advisor.
So, we discussed that last night. Um and then we had a lengthy discussion about uh soccer, specifically about soccer training camp. Um but the committee is looking to um continue the con conversation working to create a consistent set of guidelines and
requirements to um have board sanctioned camps. And so that's a real interesting and thoughtful discussion that we're working on. We'll have more updates as that unfolds. Thanks. >> Wonderful. Thanks, Mrs. Queen. All right, Mr. Sus. Finance. >> Yes, finance met last night. Um, we
talked about the audit report which was presented by Mr. Harveier. Earlier we had our annual discussion about the 2% cap. uh some of the concerns uh meeting the 2% cap and then we went into the discussion of the budget 2020 2627
calendar which again was already presented by Mr. Harveier um and and some of the key dates and and again it's exactly what he went over and then we talked about uh again transportation a continuing conversation about transportation for next year given that
you know we we want to have busing for more school um that conversation uh will continue um more to come on that and that's pretty much it. >> Thank you Mr. S. Any questions for
either Miss Colleen or Mr. Sus? All good. >> Or Mr. Glass. >> I asked already on those. Thank you very much. >> She started that one. I'm here to help. >> I got this. Thanks. Uh, all right. Mel's Lamort.
>> Thank you. Okay. So, on so for starters for Campbell on January 29th, there's going to be coffee and tea with Dr. C. And then on February 6th, there's going to be the PTO cupcake wars.
>> And then for the high school on January 29th is a mental health awareness workshop for parents. On February 2nd, the MHS incoming grade 9 parent orientation. And then the snow day for that is going
to be on February 5th. on February 4th is the National Honors Society in uh inductions and then on February 9th is the MHS Triam Music Honors Society
inductions. >> All right, thank you so much. All right, good people. Any questions for Miss Michael? All right, uh at this time we turn to ask whether there's any old business from the board.
Is there any new business from the board? All right. So, at this time, I'd like to move to approve the January 6 meet minutes of the Matuchin Board of Education special business meetings one and two and the board meeting. Is there
a second? Mr. Derlinger, any comments on the minutes? Good people? No. Seeing none, roll call, please. Mrs. Ellovich. >> Mr. Bach. >> Yes. Miss Cheetum, >> yes. >> Mr. Derlinger, >> yes. >> Mr. Glber, >> yes. >> Dr. Johnson Marcus,
>> yes. >> Miss Colleen, >> yes. >> Dr. Sper, >> yes. >> Mr. Sus, >> abstain. >> Thank you. Miss Zimmerman, >> yes. >> Motion carries. >> Thank you so much. Uh, now we move to the recommendation of the superintendent
of schools. Oftentimes, it may appear to members of our audience that the board of education takes action with very little comment and in many cases a unanimous vote. Before a matter is placed on the agenda at a public meeting, the administration has thoroughly reviewed the matter with the superintendent of schools. If the superintendent is satisfied that the
matter is ready to be presented to the board of education, it is then referred to the appropriate board committee. The members of the board committee work with the administration and the superintendent to asssure that the members fully understand the matter. When the committee is satisfied with the matter is presented to the board of education for discussion before any
final action is taken. Only then is it placed on the agenda for action at a public meeting. And I realize that I neglected to open the meeting to the public for the second opportunity. Perhaps because no one has joined us
since the first opportunity. But indeed I open it in case anyone is bursting through the doors. Seeing none, I close this section and I move to the personnel items. I move personnel items A1 through A20.
Is there a second? Mr. Bot, any questions or comments on the personnel items? Seeing none, roll call, please. >> Mr. Bot, >> yes. >> Miss Cheetah, >> yes. >> Mr. Derlinger, >> yes. >> Mr. Glassber,
>> yes. >> Dr. Johnson Marcus, >> yes. >> Miss Colleen, >> yes. Dr. Spner, >> yes. >> Mr. Sus, >> yes. >> Miss Zimmerman, >> yes. >> Motion carries. >> Wonderful. Thank you, Mr. Sus. >> Yes. I'd like to move items B1 through B8 listed on the agenda.
>> Fantastic. Is there a second? >> Looking at y'all, Miss Zimmerman. Uh, any questions or comments on the finance items? Seeing none, roll call, please. Mr. Scott. >> Yes. >> Miss Cheetah. >> Yes. >> Mr. Derlinger.
>> Yes. >> Mr. Glber. >> Yes. >> Dr. Johnson Marcus. >> Yes. >> Miss Colleen. >> Yes. >> Dr. Sper. >> Yes. >> Mr. Sus. >> Yes. >> Miss Zimmerman. >> Yes. >> Motion carries. >> Fantastic. Thank you, Dr. Sper.
>> I'd like to move items C1 to C3 as listed on the agenda, please. >> Fantastic. Thank you very much. Is there a second? Ms. Jetum. Any questions or comments, please? I do comment after or >> you can comment as you wish madam chair.
>> So on the agenda tonight for policy we have the 2627 calendar um which uh we had a a very intense uh fall uh going back and forth with different stakeholders um considering different factors um having very rich discussions
because this is a unique year coming up uh for a lot of different reasons. Um we also aligned with the equity committee where Mr. Bot was doing some tremendous work looking at observances uh religious holidays etc. Um, so we have what we would call now a framework and a set of
guidelines if you will to help us craft the calendar in sort of a consistent way. And uh while there are not a lot of um major changes or things that seem uh so new to the eyes on the calendar, we uh we have this framework in place and
the calendar is kind of flexible. Um but we have these guiding principles as well and moving forward um it's kind of there in place for committees to follow that uh set of uh guidelines and so we feel very good about the process now. Um not that it hasn't been good before but it
you know aligning with a lot of things we've been hearing from the from the community from parents from other stakeholders of things that we can um you know consider while building the calendar each year and consider it um within this framework. though. Just wanted to say that before the vote.
>> Wonderful. Thank you, Dr. Spner. I think anyone who serves as policy chair has that as one of their big items that has to be navigated throughout the course of the year. And it indeed is a complex dance of balancing the needs of lots of different stakeholders. No one schedule
is going to fit everybody's preference, but our we feel confident that our our calendar prioritizes academics and a high quality learning experience. So, thank you for your work shephering us through this journey. Thank you to the administration for all of the work behind the scenes that gets us the
calendar to even consider for our conversation. So, we deeply appreciate that. Now, if I can find my place, I think we're at the roll call please section unless there are other questions or comments. Mr. Sus, >> do you have a question? So, kudos to the policy committee. This was definitely a
a trying year, especially with the late uh Labor Day, but just I know you talked about a framework, but um the calendar is very important to the community and this is actually the first time they're seeing it. I was wondering in the future if somehow we can present the calendar
earlier, let the community digest it and then maybe if they have feedback, maybe we'll actually have some people with some commentary before we vote on it. If you think about like policy, like we do a first read and a second read. Um, you know, this to me seems like something
that important that we want to get out there. That said, I I do want to say that the administration has been great in the past of making changes when when we've when we've needed, but rather than trying to be reactive, I I'm thinking that it would be great if we can just be
proactive if even if it's just a draft copy to give people an idea. Like for example, I was getting questions and you know and I don't know again I don't I wasn't in the policy committee but like in December like are we starting before or after Labor Day? We might have known the answers to that question, you know,
back in December. But if there's if we could just even just one meeting before, let it digest in, you know, in the community so people can come to the meeting and provide feedback because I mean, again, I know know everybody worked really hard on it, but you know, we're just about to dive into like, you
know, budget season and, you know, kind of get distracted by that. So just a suggestion, you know, maybe to add to your framework, but you know, the more transparency and the more information we can provide up front, the better. Sure. >> Any other comments or questions?
>> I I just want to add that u the superintendent is sending out um a message tomorrow to the community as well and there's a more context in there. I was just giving a sort of a high level to appreciate the comment on that. So, but yep. >> All right. Thanks folks. >> Take all of that in consideration.
>> All right. Any other questions or comments? Mrs. Elliott is ready. She's like, let's go. All right. Now I think we are ready for a roll call on the policy items. >> Mr. Bot, >> yes. >> Miss Cheetah, >> yes. >> Mr. Derlinger,
>> yes. >> Mr. Glassber, >> yes. >> Dr. Johnson Marcus, >> yes. Miss Colleen, >> yes. >> Dr. Sper, >> yes. Mr. Sus, >> yes. >> Miss Zimmerman, >> yes. >> Motion carries. Thank you so much, Mr. Derlinger. >> Thank you. I would like to move items D1
through 4 as listed on the agenda, please. >> Thank you. Might I have a second, Mr. Glasburg? Are there any questions or comments on the field trips, etc. listed in the curriculum items? I'm sorry, the field trips are jumping out at me. I always get very excited when I see them
listed here. Any questions or comments? All right, seeing none, roll call, please. Mr. Bot, >> yes. >> Miss Cheetum, >> yes. >> Mr. Derlinger, >> yes. >> Mr. Glber, >> yes. >> Dr. Johnson Larcus, >> yes. >> Miss Colleen, >> yes. >> Dr. Spar,
>> yes. Mr. Sus, >> yes. >> Miss Zimmerman, >> yes. >> Motion carries. >> Thank you so much. At this time, the meeting is open to the public. Perhaps they were listening to Mr. Sus and they're on their way down to talk to us about the calendar. No. Anybody? Anybody? No. Still no new people. All
right. Seeing that, closing that section of the meeting and turning to Mrs. Zimmerman for the announcements. >> Thank you. Um, I actually have a few of the same announcements that our student board member had, which is great. we're on the same page. Um, so glad to see that. So, at Moss and Campbell, the PTO
sponsored readathon fundraiser is now underway. Students in preschool preschool through grade 4 are invited to log their reading minutes and share their page with family and friends to help raise money for our schools. Um, parents, you can please check the folders that your kids bring home for
readathon flyers or visit the PTO's social media pages for information. And um they want to let you know that our students have already logged a total of 13,000 minutes read in just two days. >> Yay. >> So it's pretty impressive. >> Um Cupcake Wars are also upcoming for
Moss and Campbell um on Friday, February 6th, 6 p.m. in the Campbell cafeteria. And if families are interested in participating, they can register with the PTO. Um Campbell is preparing for this year's spring X, Secrets of the Sea, which will be held on Friday, March
27th. And the PTO would like to thank the 127 sorry 167 >> parents and community members who have already signed up to volunteer and that's the highest number they've had in years. >> Oh, wonderful. >> So 167 volunteers for spring X already.
Um Edgar is hosting Thursday threads this Thursday, January 29th. We'll be selling new merchandise during lunch. Students should bring cash to make purchases and prices are on the bulldog brief. Girls Who Brunch is taking place on Sunday, February 8th, and there's 200
folks registered for that event as well. Um, registration is now open for TopGolf on Monday, March 23rd, and you can see the Bulldog brief for more info on that. Um, Rutgers Health is presenting the mental health awareness parent workshop
this Thursday, January 29th, via Zoom. I think we covered that already. Um, PTC would like you to save the date for the parents night out event and silent auction fundraiser on Friday, May 8th at JR's Pub in Woodbridge. Um, they're seeking in kind donations or purchases
from their Amazon wish list and you can um, connect with them on their pages to coordinate that. Um, a note that given our snow day on Monday, the new last day of school will be Monday, June 22nd. >> And the next board of education meeting is on Tuesday, February 10th at 8:00
p.m. >> Wonderful. Great job, first time. >> Listen, and it's okay if you uh repeat some of the awesome things that our student board member shared because they're worth repeating. We've got a lot of really great stuff going on. So,
thank you for that. All right, good humans. I believe we're at this point where I am going to move to adjourn the meeting. Is there a second? >> Don't be bashful. Y'all know you want to go. Mr. Glber, all in favor? All right.
Good night, everyone.