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Video-1: youtube.com/watch?v=kXcTfd15yfU

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Miss Min >> here. >> Mr. Sapparovski >> here. >> Miss Torres. Mrs. Torres >> here. >> Miss Gleski >> here. >> Mrs. Wright >> here.

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>> Mine >> here. >> Mr. Here need a motion to go into executive executive session. >> So moved. Second. All in favor? >> I oppose. Okay, I'm going to call this meeting

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back to order. Everybody, please rise for the pledge. I aliance 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.

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So, thank you. So, we met on July 16th. Um, and as usual, we had a very full and uh complete agenda to go over. Um, the one thing that we did uh talk about, this was over the span of two different

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meetings um is bringing a new program to both High School North and Thorne. And it was really great because on July 16th, we were um accompanied by Mr. Ferry, the principal here at High School North, and Mr. Dois, who really came to

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talk to us more about what this program would entail for both schools. Uh the name of the program, which we did kind of pause at originally, um is called Building Men. Uh we thought was maybe not the greatest title, but once we the

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committee found out more about what the program is going to do, especially based on the information that both Mr. Ferry and Mr. Doas was able to give us um from going to other schools that already have this program. We were really excited to hear about it um and then hopefully see

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it uh in person and bring I think a lot of the positive changes here to both Thorne um and North. Really what this program is looking to do is help address um growing chronic absenteeism. It will help reduce discipline referrals, build

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positive morale and promote a sense of connectedness and especially uh trying to combat apathy in students. Um this was analysis indicated that this program could potentially be included in our ESSA grant and primarily paid through

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title 4 funding. And what I think what us on the committee really felt very connected to it was was really looking more at some of these issues that we see in some of the schools a little bit more holistically and really trying to meet the students where they're at because

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there are times as we all know things are happening at home that unfortunately sometimes bleed into the school as well and really affect a student's ability to be their best person while they're in school. And I think this is what this program is really trying to tackle. So, this will be a new program uh that will

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be rolled out for the school year. We talked about the 2026 2027 parental notice of standardized assessments, the calendar um and the annual requirement of notice from the NJ DOE that will be posted on the district website which

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will list all of the testing windows um the dates and then the resources that will be available to families. We talked about the 2026 2027 mentoring plan. This is an annual uh requirement again from the NJDOE

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where every school district has to submit their mentoring plan to the state. All new certificated members without a standard will participate in that mentoring program. We reviewed the 2025 2026 um English as

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a second language learner uh the results that we have here within the district which showed uh growth in both grades one and two which was really great to see overall. I think uh Mr. Cohen is going to talk a

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little bit more about this but I'll just touch on it very briefly because we did discuss this in uh the committee. We looked at the 2025 2026 AP exam results and also the AP scholar information. There were gains across the board that

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were extremely impressive. Um, and I do want to note that especially here at High School North, the qualifying scores for High School North went up 10% from last year. And that was really great to see here. Um, but I don't want to steal Mr. Collins thunder on that one. Uh we

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looked at the 2026 science standards update. There are only slight changes to kindergarten, fourth grade, and some of the high school science standards. It was really very minor curriculum edits. Um in order

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to uh stay in compliance, we had some curriculum guides to review. We had math K through 5, which were now were written to reflect the Amplify adoption for the new school year. So, we're really excited about that. And AP

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statistics was updated to reflect the recent College Board changes, which really were minor changes of removal of topics. Um, the one thing that Dr. Carrian did uh emphasize, it was nine units now compressed down to four.

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The test is now fully online um which is to better match a traditional statistics one course and I do believe there was some savings there as well with uh the book now being um an online digital resource.

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2026 2027 is going to be very busy uh for the curriculum committee because there are quite a few planned curriculum processes that have to be reviewed and then some rewrites. So that process will begin uh very soon.

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We continue to look for savings uh in the district anywhere that we can find them and we did review some more recent technology program renewals. So those were savings that were found in June. And then also we looked at uh the 2026

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2027 emergency virtual or remote instruction program guide which no one likes but is an annual requirement from the NG DOE that we have to put in place every single year and so we just reviewed ours to make sure it's still in compliance.

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>> Thank you sir. Facilities Miss Min. >> Yes we met on the 14th. Um thank you Mrs. right for filling in for Mrs. Torres. Um, we discussed what's on the voting meeting. Well, it's not on the voting meeting anymore tonight. The Verizon

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easement, it's been pulled from our agenda. So, I'll skip over that. The resol resolution for high school south exterior door replacement. The July agenda will include a resolution related to the 2627 budget project. The

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resolution will include approval of the initial steps to start the project. specifically submission of the cemetic plans to the NJDOE to review and approve for the amendment to the district's long-range facilities to reflect this

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specific project. The next step after this is for the district to put the project out to bid. So, we're get underway for that, but it's still I think the last update we got on that it could take time to get the doors. Well, once we aware the date, yeah, there's

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going to be some lead time to get the doors, >> right? Current facility issues. The AWAR sensors ma health and safety committee meeting. You guys met on the 15th. Maybe after I'm done, you could update us on what happened there. The district has

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ordered several AWA sensors to be utilized in spaces in which concern is raised about indoor environmental quality. B sensor measures temperature, humidity, carbon dioxide, volatile organ, or organic compounds, the

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particular matter. This will provide the district with detailed information to share with staff and to guide the district's approach to remediate issues. Mr. Nazar, Mrs. Dy will be meeting with the MTA Health and Safety Committee on 7:15 to

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continue the discussion regarding their concerns. architect proposals for design work. Middletown Village parking lot. The project has been discussed for quite some time and has been proposed for inclusion in the last two budgets. The district is going to obtain a proposal

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from its architect to do the design work on this project. The project that could be potentially be done through shared services with the Mammoth County if we are have the funds available for that high school south turf field. The

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district is going to obtain the proposal for that also get the design work for the project. While it is not in the 2627 budget, the design work needs to be done to determine the scope of the project and estimate cost for inclusion in a future budget. So, we're moving forward

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with that. Um, we talked about um last week's heavy rain. The rains last week caused more um some water intrusion in the lower levels and basements of multiple buildings, specifically Beayhore, Leonardo High School North facilities area and Bay

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View. The areas were cleaned, dehumidified, and were run and the buildings were monitored over the sub subsequent several days. Uh budget replacement vehicles. The district will be finalizing a list of vehicles to be leased with the budgeted funds from the

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2627 budget. The lease purchase and the associated finances will likely be on the August voting agenda. We got an update on the high school north baseball field. The committee got the update on the progress of the field. Sprinklers are repaired and the district

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is seating the fields. The district is also getting prices for rebuilding the infield uh information for the facilities committee with work orders. The committee reviewed a snapshot of the operation hero work order maintenance

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dashboard which included information about the nature of outstanding work orders and age of outstanding work orders. This will be reviewed monthly by the facilities committee. We also talked about over the last three years we had

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over 9,000 requests work orders put in. That's about 3,000 a year. Um it we we give average of 22 days to correct based on what it is. So we are staying on top of that and they have all that information and the facilities committee

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will be reviewing that monthly. The committee reviewed the list list of environmental um environmental testing for this year. This will also be reviewed each month to keep the committee current.

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2627 capital items. Harmony the Harmony curb replacement. This project is still being scoped out. A water mane leak has been ruled out, but there have been some cracks in the foundation identified that could be contributing to the damage of

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the curbing. the cause of the damage to the curbing has been addressed before the curb is replaced. We talked about facility use um finances. Also, the committee reviewed its current facility use rates as compared to the townships and

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surrounding school districts. The current rates are on the low end of the range. The committee discussed looking at the rates for the use of the middle and high school gymnasiums in particular and potentially considering an increase in 2627. The committee will analyze this further

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in its August meeting. Mrs. Dy has um is going to be putting something together for us. We did look at um Homeell and Hassllet and their rates and um actually Homeell is quite a bit um higher than us and our schools are kind of pretty

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compared to them also. We haven't raised these rates and I can't tell you how many years and with you know the rates of all the groups going up. We really need to start collecting a little bit more so that we have money to replace any damages that are being done to our

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buildings. Um, Operation Hero. The district is getting close to partially rolling out the online platform for the facility's use. It will allow all users to apply for facility use permits online and provide better information coordination

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with the district. So, I think once that's put into place, we're going to have um a lot better signups in our buildings. We'll know what's going on, who's there, and any revenue that we have coming in. So, we're looking forward to hearing u Mrs. authorities

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suggestion on the rate increase on that and I think that's it for facilities. Thank you, Mr. Win. For finance, the committee met on July 15th. We discussed the three um agenda items on tonight.

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The IDA 2627 allocation is 2,885,395. The non-public portion is 196,000. Um this the non-public allocations the district administers um the non-public school aid, school state aid for

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nursing, technology, textbooks and security. We make the purchases for that and we issue the purchase orders for the nonpublic school out of these funds. Uh there's also transportation contracts on tonight. uh athletic renewals and a

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parent contract. Uh we also got an update that the standard and boards rating update for the district um for our bond rating. Our bond rating was recently downgraded from AA minus to A+

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uh with this last review. The rating is still in the investment grade category. uh the rating obviously can have an impact on the interest rates uh attached to any bond issuances. We also received a recap of 252026

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uh and the end of the year NJ DOE reimbursement allocations extraordinary aid. The district is going to receive 1,726,890 in extraordinary aid reimbursements for 2526. Um these funds are usually received by

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us in uh in September. Uh this reimbursement um amount represents 45% of the cost that's was submitted which is the lowest uh percentage that we've seen. Last year's just for comparisons purposes um last

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year's reimbursement percentage was 52%. Um, we also took a look at the table for the past several years of what the percentages were since 2015. Non-public school transportation cost. The district received $264,040

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in non-public school transportation cost reimbursement for 2526. This represents uh reimbursements of cost per student over $710 up to a per student cap of $1177. For health insurance, um the district

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self selfalth self insurance program ended the year approximately 500,000 over what was budgeted for 2526. The increases in the health benefits are mainly driven by prescription costs that are continuing to rise. Uh however the

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district was able to also double the amount of prescription rebates that it receives with assistance of its of our broker. The budget co overage was um was covered by reallocating funds from other budget areas. Excess surplus the district will be able

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to make its approved capital reserve uh deposit for 2526 year 3.5 million. There will also be some additional excess surplus funds that will be incorporated into the uh 2728 budget and we'll update further. Uh next

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Chris, I would just like to add Mrs. Dy also mentioned that um with the 3.5 million that the 10.1% increase did exactly what it was supposed to do. Bring us up to where we're not in a financial crisis. Am I

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correct, Mr. Dardy? Well, it was part of the plan, you know, with with the increase was to replenish our fund balance, which we're required to do by the DOE, and also to put aside some money for reserves because we have basically depleted both our capital

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maintenance reserve down to close to zero. >> Policy. [clears throat] Good evening everyone. Thank you for coming out. I am going to report on behalf of Mrs. Tobacco. So the policy

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committee met on Wednesday, July 15th. The committee reviewed a series of alerts from New Jersey school boards regarding some policy updates. To begin 5131, conduct and discipline, uh a wave for

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the day, student internet enabled devices. The committee read the law and the committee did not recommend uh an amendment to our existing policy at this time. 9113 filling BOE vacancies.

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The committee reviewed optional language. The committee um discussed filling BOE vacancies which are to be filled within 65 days. This optional New Jersey school board language states the

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board may choose to go into close session to discuss the candidates. If it does, the board will explain any decisions taken during the closed session and allow public discussion about those decisions and other matters the public wishes to raise before it

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moves to nominations and a vote to fill a vacancy. This language is on the agenda for a first read. 6171.4 special education. The committee spoke about adopting new language pertaining

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to communicating with families at least 2 days before annual IEP meetings. The written information will include the following. One, a statement of items that will be discussed at the IEP meeting. Two, the students current

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levels of academic and functional performance. Three, a list of any required IEP members who the school is requesting to be excused from the meeting. The list must include each excused member's input

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regarding the programs services for which they are responsible in addition to any standard excusal consent forms already provided under federal and state regulations. An invitate four an invitation for the parent or guardian to provide feedback

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on the proposed programs and services in the students IEP. This language is on the agenda for a first read. 9321 time place notification of meetings. The committee discussed suggested notifications for BOE meetings which are

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currently being practiced. No recommended change at this time. 9323 9324 Agenda preparation and advanced delivery of meeting material. The committee discussed New Jersey school

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board's recommendation to reference the statute in our policy. This update is on the agenda for a first read. 3510 operation and maintenance of plants. The committee discussed new language noting

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that a statement of assurance for waterled testing must be sent to the Department of Education by June 30th each year rather than just on an annual basis. This update is on the agenda for a first read. 5141 health. The committee

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discussed language that every staff member must participate in seizure disorder training every 5 years. MTPS does this annually. and the addition of specific professional titles for those school personnel who can facilitate

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referrals for mental health services for students. This update is on the agenda for a first read. 3516 safety. The committee discussed this which is linked to the previous waterled testing statement of assurance that must be sent

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to the Department of Education by June 30th each year rather than on an annual basis. This update is on the agenda for a first read. 6173 home instruction. The committee discussed the addition of physician assistant or advanced practice

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nurse for written determination for home instruction and discussed that home instruction will become available following 10 consecutive school days and 17 cumulative absences. This suggested update is on the agenda for a first

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read. We also discussed the New Jersey school board sample artificial intelligence policy and we are continuing to work through that in our district and look forward to moving forward with this in the near future. >> Thank you.

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>> Mr. Cullen or Mr. >> Do we have discussion on this now or do we do this during um the first reading action on the agenda? What are we talking which >> on the policies?

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>> Uh when we vote or when we get to item eight. >> Item eight. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Okay. So, student services, Mrs. Tardis. >> Thank you. Just one second. Okay. Uh for student services, special

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services met on June 16th. Uh first we discussed the workforce academy of Middletown, the student and family walkthrough event that's going to be this Thursday at 1:30. Um we have discussed this in different ways that we are going to work for the transition program to ensure that everybody is

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comfortable with the space and that everybody has ample time to become familiar with the area. So we are looking forward to this um this coming Thursday. There was an ESY update going very well. Transportation has been great. Mr. Cullen made sure to uh fill us in on

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what has been happening with transportation. We all know that the first days of any school events with transportation can be a little rocky. Uh but they were not and things went really well through that. Um, we talked about the first two weeks of ESY, how they've

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been very successful, and that the high school soccer teams are going to be going over to both schools to do a soccer day as a spin-off for the World Cup week. Did they do that already? Did I miss that? >> Not yet. >> Not yet. Still coming next week. >> Uh, so it's nice to have that we're having more um inclusion of everyone in

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all of our programs. There is the epipen for schools program that was submitted and we did um the special ed department applied for this program and the district was awarded two stock epip pens per school resulting in a cost savings that we don't have to purchase. Uh we

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got them through this program for each school and the special class programs assessments. Uh we spoke about current midterm and final practices in the high school specialed uh special class programs noting that appropriate assessment and feedback practices to

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further monitor growth at the midpoint and conclusion of the year are being discussed and developed for all programs. And finally, the litigation update. The committee noted there were no current cases in court and there were four litigations over the summer. So we thank our administrators for that work

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as well. Thank you. Thank you, M. Wellness and nutrition. M Mrs. Weinstein, >> we met uh yesterday, July 20th. Um second meeting for this committee so

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far. So, we were working through um how we want this committee to look. So I think what everyone settled on at the recommendation of the administration was a think tank um to make recommendations to put out to the appropriate committees because overall wellness and nutrition really does touch on every other

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committee uh specifically curriculum, food service, facilities. Um the initial committee structure was also discussed. So the consensus was that the district level committee would consist of a cabinet level liaison, other district

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level administrators, a school level administrator from each level, elementary, middle, and high school, school nurse representation, and a community member from each level, elementary, middle, and high school. Um, in the vein of us kind of pushing out recommendations to other committees, we

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did have some guests that attended our meeting. So for food service, we had Jessica Ritz and Shannon Loi from Woodson's. Um I gave an overview of the nutrition education information that is displayed in all of the schools throughout the year. There's a

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difference between elementary and then the middle school and high school and the different educational programs that they share um in each uh school. So, we discussed pushing some of this information out digitally so that parents are able to see what kids are learning about in the cafeterias and

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then also potentially having time within the health curriculum to align what they're learning about in the cafeterias. Um, and they also shared some information about how they're consistently looking to better the food quality. Right now, they're focusing on reducing seed oils and then looking at pulling in more local organic produce

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down the line. Um we also discussed with facilities with Adam Nasser reviewed on lighting requirements for various types of educational spaces and we discussed the different types of lighting that the district had replaced all fluorescent lighting with LED um with the EIC that was done almost 10 years ago. Um we also

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have updated lighting options that now include dimmer settings for different modes of lighting um and that those would be other upgrades that could be considered in the future for facility scanning. Uh we also reviewed some cleaning chemicals data about uh the types of chemicals that are used in the school. I think everything there was

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actually very encouraging. A lot of it was hydrogen peroxide based. There's a very minimal amount of strong chemicals that are used often when most of those are only used when students are not in the building. Um we also uh the administration has been working at looking at school level initiatives. So

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we're still gathering information from the schools related to their specific initiatives. Um, a lot of this is kind of discussing ideas of school gardens, um, outdoor education, and then guidance for indoor recess for the next school year. Obviously, you know, it was a very rough winter, and a lot of our kids

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spent time just kind of sitting in their classrooms because they couldn't go outside. So, we're looking at ways that we would be able to incorporate more physical activity during those times and how to minimize screen time. >> Thank you, Mr. We Range Facilities Plan

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Committee, Mr. Kapone. Did you want to do this? >> I can. And actually, if uh Shannon, if you could bring it up. We were going to we we went through our meeting with a slide deck uh that Mr. Nasser and I have put together. And we just thought we

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would show the whole board the slide deck and run through it, not slide by slide, but at least the highlights. And then this will be posted on the website, you know, after the meeting uh in an area under long range facilities plan committee so that everybody can see it. So again, our initial meeting was uh

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this month here. Thank you. Right. So I'm just over here. What's that? Oh. All right. So just to give you an overview of what we spoke about, we we're bringing the committee up to speed with uh building inventory detail,

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review of major recent capital projects, uh outstanding capital debt financing, uh capital project financing, baseline project priorities, financing vehicles available to school districts, and studies to inform planning. Uh again I'm not going to go through

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this slide by slide but we did have uh information here for the committee on building inventory in detail uh which everybody can review at their leisure. Uh besides the school the 16 school buildings we have the workforce academy of miltown which is the middle link

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annex and a maintenance compound. Um we had some slides related to major capital projects over the last 15 years. We had have them broken out by high school, middle schools, and the elementary schools. Uh I'm fast forwarding through these because I want

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to get to these slides. This slide we thought was interesting. What we did was we took those projects and we summarized them and gave the year that they were done, the amounts, and then how they were funded because I think it's important uh that we all understand the various ways that we've been able to

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fund uh a lot of work over the past 15 years. So you can see we did a fiber optic upgrade, capital lease. Uh we did roofing projects and the renovation of the new Mammoth pod at a capital reserve. Uh we did some more roofing, boiler replacements, geothermal

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improvements with a combination of uh the referendum that we did back in 20134 and also a a bunch of broad grants that we got from the state. Uh we had 39 broad grants at that time if you can believe it. for 39

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different projects uh which we were very fortunate to receive. Um going up a little bit further, we did some more roofing with those referendum and raw grant funds. We did a new phone system. Uh then we were back to funding things out of Capital Reserve. We did a high

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school north track replacement. Uh we were able to upgrade our security cameras out of the operating budget. Uh we did a track and turf replacement south through Capital Reserve. Uh we also did an EIP and an energy savings improvement plan uh project and

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referendum and capital reserve funds to fund the lighting upgrades that Mrs. Weinstein just spoke about and ceiling replacements. Uh we also did rooftop replacements for our HVAC system. Uh we did some auditorium lighting and sound upgrades in High School North out of

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Capital Reserve. Uh we were fortunate to get a uh security grant from the state when they had all the pandemic money on top of all the other funds we received. We actually received a security grant of half a million dollars. We did some security cameras and window film with that. Uh we

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also used 3.8 million of our ARPs funds uh which were uh required to be used for improvements for HVAC uh at the time for the pandemic. So, we used that and some additional funds we got from the state uh to do that project back in 2022. That

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was over at High School South and Beayshore. Uh we did an access control upgrade with a cops grant that we were able to get that was funded 75% with the COPS grant that was 500,000 and then the rest of it was out of our operating budget. That's a very competitive grant.

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It's a federal grant. It's nationwide. We were lucky to get that. Uh we are we did apply for one last year that we did not get. We are also applying this year uh to get the grant but again the funds are limited. It's very competitive but we always give it a shot. Uh high school

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north turf field and track we did a couple years ago out of capital reserve. Uh we did the digital scoreboards last year with a capital lease and we've done the link annex out of our operating budget primarily. So totaling all those

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up, that's a little over $56 million in projects, which averages about 3.8 million per year. Now, we've done it in spurts and in groups. Um, but we just wanted to emphasize that because when we talk about

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projections and financial projections and including a capital spend, like I said, averaging this out without these other financing sources, it would take about $3.8 $8 million per year at in our budget to keep up with what we have been doing over the past 15 years.

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We had some slides that talked about projections of cost of various types of projects that came out of our master facilities assessment. Again, as we always say, these numbers are estimates. They are not uh they're not actuals. We would have to go out to bid on these

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projects and get proposals for soft costs, but it's meant to just put it in perspective. So this slide broke broken down by school various amounts that would be needed for uh things related to site improvements, paving, concrete, drainage, curb replacement, sidewalks,

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things like that. So estimated amount approximately $59 million. If we look at things that are just building envelope, roofing, windows, exterior door estimates, uh things that relate to those areas, uh flashing,

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um stairs, things like that, breaking it out by building, you know, the total cost we pulled out of that master facilities assessment for those items is about $136 million. If you look at building interior items and just focusing on things that would

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be considered basics, uh, locker rooms, lockers, interior doors, acoustic ceilings, elevators, uh, things of that nature, that was another $83 million. And then we had some programming, which

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was really primarily security uh, improvements uh, being vestibules if we were to do those across the district. Uh the projected cost was about $8 million. We had not been able to include Leonardo Village because we didn't have those costs scoped out at the time. Uh and

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just another note, the project that we're doing in High School South with the doors is going to actually improve their security vestibial as well. So that would be tackled in that in that project. So looking at all of those together, you know, the total amount of all the

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things that I just quickly went through uh comes to approximately $432 million just to give you a scope. Now our the entire amount of that master facilities assessment was over 700 million. So just to note, this doesn't include things

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that would be uh more renovations or updates and modernizing. it doesn't improve any additional spaces on the buildings for example the elementaryaries adding more common area space and so forth so again it's just to give some very highlevel perspective to

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all this oh and I had forgotten to add I'm sorry and in that 432 is also the mechanical and the electrical and plumbing uh amounts that we have pulled out of here additional HVAC uh IT upgrades fire

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alarms boiler replacements ments, things of that nature. So then we talked about types of project financing that would be available for school districts. First one being budget budget into your operating budget uh via putting money in

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reserves or just as an operating budget item in any particular year. Uh the district's also allowed to do a lease purchase. Uh you can only do that up to five years. Uh we can also do a referendum for debt issuance. Those would be bonds that we would issue. Uh

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they would be maturing uh in more than 5 years. Uh county improvement authority debt issuance. Uh districts can go through the county improvement authority to get uh financing for projects. And there's also special vehicles such as the energy savings improvement plan

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which I referenced that we did back in 2017. Uh there's also raw grants that come out from the state from time to time. Uh the state gives you project aid in two ways. You can either get an upfront grant if they're offering it, which would be representative of 40% of

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the eligible costs for the project, or in lie of that, if we issue bonds, then the state will give you debt service aid to help you pay off your bonds uh for eligible projects that will be covered in that financing. Uh there's also other ways to finance things. You can use

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other grants. uh you can use utility incentives, uh things of that nature. When we did our EIP, we had quite a few uh utility incentives built into that as well that help pay for some of that work. We bring this up uh regularly just to

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make sure it stays on everyone's top of mind. Uh current debit maturities and bonding capacity. So, the district has currently three bond issues that are still outstanding. Uh as of July 1st, uh the principal amounts due on those bonds

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total $15,475,000. The maturity dates are listed to the right. So we have two of these issues that will when making our last payment on August 1st uh 2027. And then we have the one remaining. That's our most recent referendum that

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we did with all of those RAW grants we talked about. Uh that will be maturing August 1st of 2029. uh the district all districts have a legal debt margin that's calculated as of June 30th 26 our legal debt margin is

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approximately 739 million meaning that we could potentially have the capacity to bond for that much uh and that's based upon taking an average of our equalized values our tax base uh over the past three years and it's

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essentially 4% of that minus whatever debt's outstanding Uh our current annual debt service payments are approximately 6.5 million. That's what's in our debt service budget every year. That includes principal and interest. Uh so if we were going to take

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that amount and continue to pay it in the future, uh if you assume a rate of 4% on bonds that we would issue and a 30-year maturity, that would yield us an estimated 112 million in proceeds from

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those bonds to use for capital projects. We also have some capital leases that are outstanding. We have our EIP lease from the project we did that matures in 2033. Uh that was a 15-year lease. We were allowed to do that because it was

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an EIP. That's 5.8 million. Uh we also have the scoreboard lease which matures that's a 5-year lease that matures in 2029, 597,000. And our copier lease, which we roll over every 5 years. We do capital leases on

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our copers that that will be maturing in 2029 as well. uh the remaining balance on that is 404,000. So then we talked about some initial studies and data collection that we would be considering to further inform planning and decision-m. Uh we talked

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about enrollment projections keeping them current. Uh there's other related services could that could be done in conjunction with that. uh we referenced the scope of work we had engaged the consultant to do back in 2020 uh right before the onset of the pandemic and we

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looked at not only demographic data but we also were starting to look at maps and uh possible changes and sending areas options to uh align enrollment better with our schools and that was all of a lot of information that we were

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gathering at the time and you know as we've talked about previously between the pandemic and you know changes that were taking place at the time you know that that information was put on hold and as we tal we talked about in our committee meeting you know a lot of things have changed even since we did

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that study so this would all have to be relooked at again um we would also be working with the consultant to provide input so that we could have something that would be developed collaboratively uh we also talked about revisiting our

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facilities study. We did have an update to our 23 master facilities assessment or we would be looking to update the master facilities assessment and also expand the scope of that work. Uh and in some cases we may have to do some additional audits if we were going to

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apply for things such as energy savings based incentives and even considering another ESUP or something along those lines. And those would be things we'd have to consider as well. And the last slide we have is discussion as we are going to be continuing

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discussion and you know trying to get some more definitive things in place. We did also decide as a committee that the next step would be to hear from some of the board's professionals mainly the architect with the bond council and financial advisor and we will be

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inviting them to next month's board meeting so that they can give the board some basic information and you know hopefully sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh shed some more light on the process of developing a larger capital plan. That's it. Amy, didn't we we also

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discussed the um the cost of repairing buildings and building new schools also? >> We did. We had some we we did have some committee discussion on that and >> taking both of those up.

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I have a couple of questions and hopefully people that were on the committee can help me out with this or Amy, you can help. Can you actually leave that up for a second because I did want to go back to the [clears throat] um that's okay. The initial studies data

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collection and things like that. It's my understanding with the LRFP that this plan and all of these numbers that are coming up here for the building envelope, the building interior programming, those are all numbers that are there that should we decide to do

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something, we have a number to go to for an estimate. Is that true? So the we included all these projects in our long range facilities plan listed as projects that would be allowed to do. So the the important thing is to list the actual items in the DOE plan, not necessarily

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the cost, but in order to make changes or updates to your building, it has to be part of this plan. Right? So like when in April when we were talking about making a change to the LRFP, those things were not in the long range facilities plan like the moving of

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buildings, consolidating them, things like that. Well, the the changes we were talking about in April were actually building closures, which is not not in the plan, >> right? But it wasn't when we looked at the long range facilities plan, it was we were looking specifically at Thor and

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Beayshore with the reallocation, >> right? No, that that would not that was not in the the what's in the plan are the lists of projects that we came up in 23 and other things that have been carried forward that could potentially be done by the district in the future.

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didn't didn't include any realignment of buildings or closures. Okay, so these numbers that are here, they're they're not something that anybody would look at and say, "Oh, we're spending $35 million or let's say $82 million on building

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interiors for every building." Like, it's not something you do all at once. >> It's not something you do all at once. May not include the entire scope of what's in there. And again, as I keep emphasizing, these were costs that were developed as estimates three years ago.

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And as we would refine the scope of any given project, the cost would be more actual. I'm trying to clarify for me, but also people in the public that are going to be pulling up these things. And literally, if somebody went to our website and pulled this up and looked at

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it and saying, "Oh my god, they're spending $82 million to do all the building interiors. They're spending 135 billion on these envelopes. Why aren't we crossing off these buildings? So, I'm I'm understanding what you're saying. I'm trying to clarify because this is

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something that the public needs to understand, >> right? >> Not necessarily people in the room, but how it is twisted and misconstrued when people talk about it. It's potential. It's it's having that project listed in your plan allows you to do it. But

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again, the costs are are things that the DOE doesn't even approve. It's just a plan. >> But if the someone from the public is seeing it, they're going to think that this is our plan and what we are spending the money on and it needs to be clear that it's not

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>> right. It's really again this was just meant to give a overall perspective to the board of a portion of what we had talked about of the entire list would be your basic building essentials and you know the other things would be

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additional. So would you mind going back to the initial studies slide with the data collection right here? So where is this information from 2020? Where is all of the demographic data, the future of enrollment, the map, the analysis? Where

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is all of that? >> I mean, we have we have information, we have reports, and I honestly don't remember exactly how many reports they were. There was six years ago, but we did have things that it was my loan and grew we were working with at the time. And, you know, they did provide I think

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for a while they were on the website, but we may have pulled them down just because of the age of the of the information. So it would make sense that this needs to be revisited or updated. >> Correct. I mean again first of all it's six years old and there's been a lot of changes uh in education in our district

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in everything like that those that information would have to be redone. >> So then how do we do that? Is that the job of the long range facilities plan committee? Is that the job of the facilities committee? Is it something that we do? >> I mean, from from our from my

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perspective, we I've that's why back in 2020, we actually hired an expert in the area consultant to assist the district and and work with that consultant to develop these things. >> So rather than having and I don't know, but rather than having somebody come to

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the next long range facilities plan committee meeting and have you said the architect and >> No, they're actually coming to the board meeting. So rather than having them come to the board meeting, would it make sense that we start with this so that we could have an overview from the experts of where the district is going? That's

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going to take time. First of all, we don't we haven't even engaged in consultant and we haven't even decided to engage a consultant. The reason why the architect, the bond council, and the financial advisor will be coming would be to just give the board a general overview of timelines and processes it

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would take to develop a large capital plan. So, it's nothing specific. It's not making recommendations on what to do. It's really talking process, timeline, and things to consider. So, I think, and I maybe this is a new business item. I don't know. Somebody can help you out with that. But rather

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than sitting here, we've talked for 18 months about what we have to do, we have to do, we have to do without an actual plan. And I think what we need is a plan and this is the beginning of a plan but how do we get this going to make sure that we have a legit plan.

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So we you know as as right the administration the board would have to talk together about you know deciding you know whether these these are initiatives you want to take. >> So when do we do that during what committee or do I bring it up during new business?

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I'm Yeah, >> you could bring it up during business. >> Great. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. >> You could also make it part of one of the goals that board goals and I'll talk about a little bit, but is that some board members asked that a long range

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facilities plan over 5 years be put together and developed. >> Okay. >> So, I I didn't get everybody's responses. I'll report out to the under the board president's report. >> Okay. >> And we'll go from there. >> Great. Thank you. >> Thank you.

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Okay, I'm going to open it up to public comment at this time. This is only on uh action items only for 30 minutes. Please state your name. Three minutes, please per person. >> Good evening, Katie Little Peach

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Middletown. Um, Mr. Aa, during your finance committee report, I couldn't hear. Could you please repeat the I think you listed three different surplus numbers that we're ending the school year with. Could you repeat those for

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me? >> Uh well, the excess surplus is 3.5 million that we're going to be putting into capital reserve deposit. That one. >> Mhm. >> And then I said there'll be some additional excess surplus funds um incorporated into the district's 2017. We don't have that number.

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>> There was a 1.75 million that was also another surplus. >> Oh, that's the extraordinary uh extraordinary aid number. >> Yes. So that that was something that we ended >> that's reimbursements for 25 >> that and I just want to clarify that

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those are actually funds that we've already we already included in our budget for last year. We budget for the receip of those funds. We actually budgeted 1.8 million for the 2526 budget. We ended up receiving a million7 and change. So it was very close to what

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we anticipated in that budget from last year. >> Okay. >> So it's not excess. It's just actually a revenue that we already budgeted. >> Okay. But it but in total so the 3.5 million plus the 1.75 million that would be all together considered.

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>> No no the the 1.7 million was already included in our budget and in our in our revenue for last year. So part of the re that would be a revenue that would be contributing toward any availability for reserve okay deposits but it's not in

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addition to >> okay so the final number that we landed on is the 3.5 million that's how much money that our district ended in a surplus >> that's how much the board approved in June to make as a capital reserve deposit out of any available surplus

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funds. So we will have enough to make that entire deposit. Yes. >> Okay. Um, and then I really appreciated the slides um to have the visual component with the um auditory component of the um long range facilities.

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>> Yeah, excuse me. The long range facilities plan is not on the agenda. Okay. >> Um sorry, I'm just I thought what was just discussed has to do with the agenda. Everything all the committee reports >> that was a committee report. There's nothing on the agenda regarding the arrangement service plan. Okay. So

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there's no action being taken on it today. >> Okay. So then I'll save this comment. I'll save the comment for the next one then. >> Of course. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Anyone else want to close the public portion? So um for board president's report, just

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two quick updates. the board met um prior to the meeting tonight uh to get our pool delivery for superintendent candidates. So um there was a little bit over 20. We we we picked dates for the first three rounds. Um just to set dates

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for the for the board members to interview the candidates and go through the process. There's some other process we have to go through. It'll be going through all their credentials, the resumes and and then the board will select the candidates we want to bring in. So, we'll have more to update uh the public on that as we go through the

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process. Uh the other thing as mentioned, I know board goals uh I had sent an email to the board and I know everybody hasn't gotten back. I know, you know, there's a lot going on. So I think I heard back from the the plan would be if everybody can choose three

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to five board goals and then I would compile the information and then the board would meet in a retreat uh type setting and be a public meeting for those that want to join. We would discuss those goals. We would come up with uh between three but no more than

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five that everybody can agree on and then put together an action plan on how to actually achieve those. So hopefully if I can get everybody's responses back on those and get that information, then we can select a date. I know we have a lot going on with the superintendent

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interviews um with with the goals of the board goals, if you will, was to if we can get all of that completed, uh we can vote on um actually implementing those board goals, you know, be at the September meeting. But we'll see how it

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goes. And that's all I have right now. uh interim superintendent report. Mr. >> Thank you, Mr. Avita. I do have a series of updates for everyone. Thank you again for coming tonight and greatly appreciate all the dialogue throughout all of our committees. So many great

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things happening throughout our district. Um to begin, we know that summer is often associated with rest and relaxation, and it should be, but it's also a time of preparation. So I did want to take a moment to extend my

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sincere appreciation to our facilities maintenance and custodials custodial teams. Their tireless efforts are ensuring that our schools are going to be ready for our students to return and to be able to thrive in September. Their dedication and attention to detail as I

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visit those schools uh is genuinely appreciated. So thank you to our team for all your preparation efforts. Mrs. right had uh talked a little bit about our AP performance. Uh there's nothing more important than celebrating our

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students success and our students success obviously stems from our families and our staff. So this is an enormous congratulations to our students, our staff and our families for

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the outstanding performance on the 2025 2026 AP exam. So, I'm going to read some statistics to you that really are impressive and speak to the excellence here at Middletown Township. This year, 108 students earned AP Scholar

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recognition by scoring three or higher on at least three AP exams. An additional 57 students were recognized as AP scholars with honor, earning an average score of at least

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3.25 25 across all P exams taken and scores of three or higher on at least four AP exams. Even most impressively, 92 students achieved AP Scholar with distinction,

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earning an average score of at least 3.5 across all AP exams taken and scores of three or higher on at least five exams. THAT IS IMPRESSIVE. >> [applause] >> MISS TORRES TALKED A LITTLE BIT about

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extended school year and the excitement and the enthusiasm that is permeating the hallways at Harmony and at Thorne. Uh so the instruction has been phenomenal. The engagement has been outstanding and our students are continuing to strengthen standards

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standards aligned skills and maintaining that momentum over the summer. So they too are prepared to thrive upon returning to school in September. And there are so many efforts that go into our ESY program which is a district-wide

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program again from our families to our teachers to administrators to the transportation department. So many collective efforts. Um, and it's really important to recognize how interconnected these departments are and how much teamwork goes into supporting ESY success. And it truly has been a

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magnificent success. And we are excited to have our high school soccer players come to to both Harmony and Thorne to play soccer with our ESY students next week. Uh we are obviously very excited about the launch of Amplified Desmos

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which truly was a student centered decision. It it was a more expensive program but it is a program that we truly believe will yield the dividends that we're looking for and ensure that our students are confident mathematicians and that they have the

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skill sets uh to prepare them for success. And what we really want with our amplified Desmos program is to have students say that they are in fact math people. If I ask you to raise your hand, how many of you are math people? I'm not certain that so many of us will raise our hands, but we want our students

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Thank you, Mr. Doss, to be excited about math. Um, you know, and to really be able to demonstrate that skill set. And with Amplify, there's also a social component where we're talking through problems. and we truly believe that a shared learning experience is incredibly

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valuable. So, we're excited for the launch of Amplified Desmos. And the reason that I'm bringing it up is our curriculum committee completed the guide and uh the guide is ready to go. So, between the program and the curriculum guide, we're ready to rock and roll with

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Amplified Desmos beginning in September. I also wanted to bring to light strategic planning uh which I think has been uh a very productive and a very positive process so far. We had two steering committees committee meetings in July, one on the 8th and one on the

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15th where we really dove into action planning. So when we started strategic planning, we did an evaluation of ourselves which is a very very important process. So we identified our strengths and we celebrated those strengths and rest assured MTPS has a great number of

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strengths and we also identified some growth areas. Those growth areas became what we're calling our strategic pillars which are our goal areas. These include community engagement, school culture and climate, student learning, achievement and experience, facilities and finance,

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and communication. So what we've done is we've taken each of those pillars and we've developed some action plans so that we can turn our vision into reality. Um and each of those objectives that we're talking about is always going

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back to student success, right? Because that is our mission. That is why we are here and we do want to make sure that we are unleashing our students limitless potential. I do have the privilege tonight serving as the interim superintendent uh to make two recommendations as uh principles in

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Middletown Township Public Schools. And to me, there is no more important appointment than a principal. Principal is the instructional leader in our buildings. Principles set the tone for our buildings. They set a climate in our buildings. Um and they are pivotal to

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the work in each of our buildings. So, it is truly my honor to recommend this evening Mr. Rasmusen as principal of Leonardo Grade School and Dr. Cook as principal of Beayshore Middle School. Both are longerving administrators in our district and have consistently

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demonstrated outstanding leadership and of course the unwavering commitment to excellence that we speak of every day. They also happen to be Middletown residents and parents of children who attend our schools. So, we know how truly invested they are in our schools

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and we are excited for them. Lastly, I do want to note a few important upcoming events and again, one of our strategic pillars is communication. Um, and so I do recommend that our community members and our staff

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members visit our weekly newsletter which features important information. And please follow us on Instagram and Facebook for important districtwide information. Some upcoming events include, as Miss Torres had noted, our student and family walkth through at the Workforce Academy of Middletown, which

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is this week, uh, July 23rd, beginning at 1:30 p.m. after ESY. Secondary schedule release in Genesis. So, our middle and high school students will get their schedules on Tuesday, August 18th at 2 p.m. Elementary teacher assignments

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will be released in Genesis on Friday, August 21st at 2:00 p.m. Freshman orientation is set for Tuesday, August 25th. Our sixth grade walkthroughs at each of our three middle schools are set for Wednesday, August 26th. Kindergarten

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orientation at our 11 elementary schools is set for Friday, August 28th. And our preK orientations at those respective schools is on Monday, August 31st. Now, please know that each of those schools will be reaching out to families with

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very specific information about arrival times and what those days will actually look like. So, it's certainly been a productive uh July here and we're looking forward to continued progress and making sure that we are absolutely ready for our students to thrive in September. Thank you everyone.

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Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Sorry about that. Just a little procedural fix. So now you know motion to approve the

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minutes item 7 A through D. So move >> second >> discussion. >> Can can I ask a clarifying question? >> Yes. >> It only lists May here, but we also have June, don't we? Or no,

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>> cuz I thought in the portal it has June, but we only have May listed. June. >> No, I'm just talking on the paper. The paper document only has May listed. >> We have A, B, C, and D. >> A, B, C, and D.

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Okay. >> Okay. >> Amy, I have to abstain from um 7 A and B. >> Okay. And that's what I was asking because I

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have to abstain from C and D. >> Okay. >> All in favor? I >> I >> oppose and any extensions. >> I know that they sent ab extensions. >> All right. Item eight is uh just policy

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introductions. There's no action on any of these policy. Uh agend >> I do I before we do that before we go forward with the reading I was looking at the policy on amend on policies

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>> which one >> uh no I was looking at actually our policy on it and it says that the first reading means the first time the policy is presented. So, I'm hoping that we can uh have discussion and remove one of these so that it's not part of the first reading.

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>> Well, because you want 5153 because it's not on. Okay. >> 9113 filling vacancies. >> That's the one I'd like to discuss. So, before we make it part of the reading, can we have a discussion?

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to introduce. >> All right. So, we'll make a motion to introduce the policies. >> There's a motion. >> We're introducing policies 3510 3516 514161716173 9113 and 9323 for first reading. They

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will not be adopted tonight. This is introducing first read. So, can we pull out 9113 to have discussion? Can we do the first reading for the others and pull that one out to have discussion? >> Sure. >> Thanks. >> All right. So, the motion is for to

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introduce policies 35103516 5141 6171.4 4 6173 home construction 9323 9324 and 9113 has been removed for further discussion.

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>> Is there a second? Second move. >> I'll second a roll call on that. >> Sure. >> Mrs. Mules. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Galaski. >> I just have a quick question. Why why are we pulling it to have discussion

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before we do the first reading? We have section >> after we do the after we >> do the first reading for these. And so I asked pull that one so that we can do that one separate and then we'll put it back on. We'll put it back on for discussion

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>> to do the first read >> to introduce. >> All right. So this is a motion to introduce first readings for all with the exception of 9113. Correct. >> Okay. So that we can do an orange.

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>> We're doing I think 911, >> right? No, I know. I think we already started the roll call. >> Okay. Yep. >> Oh, okay. So >> So Mrs. Mayuise had said yes. Mrs. Scholaski, >> yes. >> Mr. Sapparowski, >> yes.

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>> Mrs. Torres, >> yes. >> Mrs. Weinstein, >> yes. >> Mrs. Wright, >> yes. >> Mr. Capone, >> yes. >> Mr. Avita, >> yes. Then I need a motion on all the others.

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913 911. >> I'll make the motion. Do >> I have a second? >> Second. >> Any discussion? >> Yeah. So, my discussion um I was not at the policy meeting. Um full disclosure, I Mr. Cullen called me that morning and

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um let me know that it had to be happening that day due to some other policies. So, I was not in town for the meeting. So, I apologize for having this now. Um, I tried to look up because in our discussion, you said that the New Jersey school boards put an amendment

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out. Is that true for this one? >> Yes. So, these any thing that was discussed at the policy meeting were NJ schoolboard alerts that came through. There was one set that came through in March and another set that came through in July. >> Okay. Cuz I didn't find that alert. I

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was trying to find it and please forgive me for not being able to find it. Um I'm concerned about the rather than take it's um in the policy as we had it written the procedures by which to select persons to

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fill vacancies may include advertisement of the vacancy in suitable local media and interviews with interested parties conducted in public by the board and then crossed off acting as a committee of the whole and I'm not really sure why

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we're not going to continue to do that as a committee of the whole and give the option to go into close session to discuss candidates. I feel that it should be done in public. And when I looked up the position of New Jersey

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school boards in their code for 9113, um it says that school boards should conduct the public interviews of candidates for vacancies on school boards. That's their uh alert for letter D. >> Miss Torres, if I can address the first

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two and then you can continue. >> Sure. >> Uh so for the first one, all they are doing is taking out the redundant language where it says acting as a committee of a whole. >> Okay. >> That is not necessary after the period because it states and interviews with interested parties conducted in public

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by the board. >> Got it. >> When the board is referenced like that, it is the board in its entirety, not the committee of all. >> Okay. With respect to the second um that is not talking about the interviews with respect to the candidates that's talking about going into close session to

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discuss whatever interviews whatever the candidates said in public. >> Okay. So I guess that's the part >> and that's not that's not mandatory. That's optional. Just gives the board the ability to do that. Okay. >> But the interviews would still be in public.

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>> I think I don't think that that option should be there. I don't think it's necessary to go in close session for this. Um I was trying again I don't see anything about school boards saying that this should be done in a

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closed session. Everything seems like it should be in public and I do believe we should keep it that way. So I'm asking for it to be removed as a first read so that we as a policy committee can go back. All you would have to do to do that would just be a motion to amend the first read of policy

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9113 to remove the option. >> Okay. So I'd like to amend policy 9 motion to amend the policy to remove the option that was added in.

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Second. >> Any further discussion? That's on the amendment to remove just the option and then depending on what happens with the amendment then there has to be action on the policy. Go ahead. >> Okay. >> Mrs. Minuise. >> Yes.

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>> Mrs. Scalasi. >> Yes. >> Mr. Sapparowski. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Torres. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Weinstein. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Wright. >> Yes. >> Mr. Capone. >> Yes. >> Mr. Avita. >> Yes. >> All right. So, the amendment passes and now they're there it goes back to the

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motion that is currently on the floor uh to introduce policy 9113 as of first reading. That motion was made by M. Torres and Mr. as amended. >> So, as amended is passing

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>> as amended is taking out committee as a whole because it's conducted in public by the board. So, it's taking out that redundant language but takes the option away. Is that correct? >> The only change would be to delete the on the third paragraph that starts as

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acting as committee the whole >> right. >> That whole paragraph is removed. >> That's pretty much leaving the way it was. >> Yes. Roll call, please. Mrs. Minuise. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Scholasi.

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>> Yes. >> Mr. Sakarowski. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Torres. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Weinstein. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Wright. >> Yes. >> Mr. Kapone. >> Yes. >> Mr. Aida. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Thank you.

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Okay. Business office consent agenda. Uh we're calling nine apps. So I need a motion to approve 9 through A through E. >> So move. >> Second.

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>> Discussion. All in favor? >> I I >> opposed. extensions. Need a motion to approve items 9 G through J. >> So move

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>> second >> discussion. >> All in favor? >> I extension for K. I forgot K. I need a motion to approve item 10K.

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>> So move >> 9K. I'm sorry. >> Second. >> I I didn't respond. >> Okay. Any discussion on 9K proposal for 26. Okay. All in favor? I >> opposed.

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Abstension. Yes. Yes. Need >> a motion to approve 10 A. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any discussion? A roll call.

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I'm going to clarify. >> I'm sorry. Mrs. Minuise, >> I am a yes on the nose and a no on the yes. >> Mrs. Scholasi, >> yes. >> Mr. Sarowski, >> yes.

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>> Mrs. Torres, >> yes. >> Mrs. Weinstein, >> yes. >> Mrs. Wright, >> yes. >> Mr. Capone, >> yes. And the no yeses. >> Mr. Yes. No. No. A motion on 10 B through N. So

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>> second >> discussion. All in favor? >> I >> opposed. Extension. And item 10, a motion on HR 127.

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So move >> discussion. All in favor? >> Opposed? Om 10 oh item number eight recommendation

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appointment James last principal Leonardo elementary school >> second move >> Mrs. Glassy >> second >> any discussion roll call

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>> Mrs. Minuise >> yes >> Mrs. Galasi >> yes >> Mr. Mr. Saparowski. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Torres. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Weinstein. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Wright. >> Yes. >> Mr. Capone. >> Yes. >> Mr. Avita. >> Yes. Congratulations. CONGRATULATIONS.

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[applause] >> Need a motion to approve item 10 HR9 in interim superintendent of schools. Recommends appointment of Dr. Lana Cook. So move second. >> Any discussion?

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[clears throat] Roll call. >> Mrs. Minwise. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Scholaski. >> Yes. >> Mr. Saraski. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Torres. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Weinstein. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Ray. >> Yes. >> Mr. Capone. >> Yes. >> Mr. Avita.

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>> Yes. CONGRATULATIONS. [applause] [applause] And I need a motion to approve 100 through 12. >> So move. >> Second. >> Do we have a second? >> Yes. >> Second. >> Any discussion? >> All in favor?

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>> I opposed extensions. Okay. Okay. Any old business? old business. How about new business? >> Um, I did want to um do a couple things with policy. Um, I would like to make a

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motion or refer to the policy committee that we really um get on the AI policy. The district needs to have one so that our administration can handle uh many challenges that each school and student

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face with AI. They need to have something to refer back to from the board and I really think it's of utmost importance to get it in as soon as possible. Um with things changing, there's a lot of samples out there. Many districts have adopted it. School boards has them. I think we really need to do

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that. So, uh, would that be a motion or refer to the committee? >> It would just be referred to the policy. Just be referred to the policy. >> Okay. And then, um, when do we find out about when we could have that meeting? Would that be possible to do in August?

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>> Yeah, we we started talking about AI at our last meeting, Miss Torres, and we will continue that. So, um, I'll convene with the policy committee to see if we can get one on the books. Um, and I would like to also I know that it was not um seen as needed, but I do want to

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get our um cell phone policy updated because the Delta Bell law is in effect and our policy does uh conflict with that. So, we need to have further discussion as a committee with that as well. So, I'd like to refer that back to committee as well.

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>> Thank you, M. Torres. >> Thank you. I just I just have one thing under new business. I would like to thank our North and South band directors and our bands for their great outstanding performance at the 250 parade. It was a

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hot day. They did a marvelous job and I think they all need to be commended. [applause] I have I just have one thing um I wanted to add under new business and uh Mr. Cullen, you already may know about this, but a couple weeks ago the New Jersey

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legislature um passed a pilot program um that is Spark. It's the school-based partnerships for access and resilience for kids. Okay? Because it's an $8 million pilot for potentially 10 schools. And when I was looking at the legislation, um, it looks like a lot of

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what we already have in place actually meets the requirements for the pilot, which I think is supposed to begin on January 1st of 2027. So, I just wanted to bring it to your attention that right now they're they're looking at um creating obviously what the requirements

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[clears throat] are going to be for the pilot, but 10 schools getting selected, I think would be great if we could, you know, maybe apply and try to get to be one because we already have phenomenal services already set up here and if we can get some money to obviously cover that for the next 18 months, that would

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be great. >> We will definitely look into this. Right. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. Yeah, I do have a question about the long range facilities plan committee. Um I would like to make a motion to make that committee a committee as a whole so that when we have those meetings and

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when um Miss Dardy and Miss Nass Mr. Nasser are presenting it, we can all get that information at once instead of spending time having it in a small group and then again with the board saying the same thing again. And if it's committee of the whole, that would mean that the

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public could also join and get that information. So I would like to uh make that motion that we in the future have that as a committee of the whole rather than a standalone committee or ad hoc committee. >> I think that's a good idea.

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>> Any discussion? Just furthering on that, a lot of the things that were brought up here, um, I did have other questions about and it really is not the forum when we have this really thick agenda to be going through it again and it would really make more sense in the

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transitions and in the changes and in the full interest of transparency that we do this as a full group. And if you're already meeting anyway, if other people are offering to come to the meeting, I don't see why that would be um There's a motion second.

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>> Anything to go against? So, there was a motion and a second. Yes. >> Any other discussion on that? >> Did who you uh I'm sorry, who second? >> I second it. So the motion is for the long range facilities planning committee to be a

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committee of the whole >> and you're suggesting this be part of the workshop and the agenda meeting. >> You could do it that way. >> It's going to be in public. You still can't talk about certain things in public. >> I understand that. >> Okay. Cuz I thought you said that was your concern. >> No, my concern is that it's a full like

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getting all of the information. There's I didn't know that there was anything really discussed in there that is not for public knowledge. >> Oh, I I don't I wasn't there. I don't know. >> I don't think there is anything that cannot be discussed in public >> because it's not personnel. It's not legal. It's not anything like that. So, it could be it.

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>> Well, I thought when you said there was certain things that you wanted to discuss >> timewise, I didn't. >> Okay. Okay. >> Mrs. Vinuis, >> yes. >> Mrs. Galasi, >> yes. >> Mr. Mr. Zaparowski. [clears throat] >> Yes. >> Mrs. Torres,

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>> yes. >> Mrs. Weinstein, >> yes. >> Mrs. Wright, >> yes. >> Mr. Capone, >> yes. >> Mr. Avida, >> yes. >> And my final one, sorry. Um, I would like to make a motion to reach out to

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MLON, the group that did that 2020 project, to see if we can get uh, >> thank you. to find out how much it would be to update. So, can I jump in on that, please? Please do. >> The way we procured that last time in 2020 is we actually sent out an RFP. So,

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I wouldn't the the board would need to send out an RFP and get proposals and have a competitive process and not reach out directly to one firm. I will tell you in addition, I know that the the consultant or the planner that we worked primarily with at my loan and Mcroom is

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not even with My Loan Mcroom anymore. Um, but again, you would need to go through a competitive process. We can certainly update the RFP that we did 6 years ago and refine the scope of work and issue that, but that would be the proper way to do that. >> Okay. The only reason I said to reach

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out to them was that they already have this information. >> Yeah, there's there's they're going to have to do so much updating though. I mean, enrollment projections beyond five years. Really, nobody would even rely on those and they've they're beyond five years and there may be other consultants

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out there to look at. So again the board would have to go through a compiler process. >> He he actually told us >> when we reached out to him Mr. Capone and I reached out to him that we should stop that process because of co everything changed. >> Okay. >> We have locations of kids uh enrollments

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in schools and with court mom closing that it probably would be best just to start. any consultant that the board did work with, we certainly would share the prior information, but I'm, you know, it may shine a light on some things, but a lot of it's not going to be relevant. >> Sure. So then would a motion work for

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the RFP? >> I mean, or would that >> I don't know that you really even need to have a motion. You can decide and I can certainly develop an RFP, but I I would say that I would want the board to agree upon the scope. I can draft something and then review the scope of work before we issue it so that

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everybody's on the same page as far as what we're asking for. >> Okay. >> Probably would be a good good discussion at the long range facility meeting because that would be part of what I mean. >> Okay, great. So, >> draft this goal and then share with the finance. >> I'm sorry.

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>> Can you draft this gold and then share with the next finance? I can share it with finance, but I would also share with the long range facilities planning committee, which I guess now would be everybody anyway. So, >> thank you. I withdraw that motion.

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>> Anything else? >> Okay. Public comment, non-aggenda items, 30 minutes, comments. If you have any direct questions to this

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and I will answer or call back. >> Hi everyone. Good evening. Alice Rosansky Middletown. Um Mr. Ba Erin uh Mrs. Torres uh brought up the cell phone policy. I was just wondering if that was available on the district website and if

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not could it be made available? It should be on >> our away for the day policy is available um in in our policy page which is under the board of education section of the website. I think it's 50 513 513.

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>> Yes. Okay. Thank you. I'll take a look. >> 513. >> Hi Chris Middletown. Just a quick question on the LRFP process because I think most of us had never heard those letters before last year. Um, >> proposals, >> sorry,

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>> request for proposals. >> The LRFP, the LRFP, just how the process works. So, I think the last one we did was approved in October of 2025. Is that correct? >> The last one that was approved by the DOE

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>> was the 2025 October. So, last school year. And how often does that have to be done? >> It's required to be done every 5 years at a minimum, but we also do update it when there's projects. But again, I also want to draw the delineation between what gets submitted to the DOE, which is

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specific information they're looking for versus long range planning that the district may do, which would encompass, you know, other things as well. >> Right. Okay. So, technically the next one is due 5 years from October 2025,

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>> right? But we amend it continually. We amended it tonight to be more specific about the project for the high school south doors. You know that we're submitting specific plans and so it it's really a kind of a living breathing thing. >> Okay. Do those little amendments get

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sent for approval? >> Yes. So they get updated, right? Approve the submission of the plans and the amendment to the DOE. >> Okay. And then the five-year thing, is that just like the overall >> That would be that would be an overall

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review of the entire document and a reapproval. >> Okay. And what went into that cuz that was just done in October. We added all of the things that were in our 2023 master facilities assessment. We brought the the DOE uh plan up to date with all

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of those projects. >> Okay. And is that master's facility assessment that one that was like really large that had like a lot of other >> yes comprehensive study that we did in 23 with our architect. They went around to each building. They made observations

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not just on the core systems but also spoke with the principles about uh potential instructional programming type improvements as well. >> Okay. Is there any plan to have that redone? Because I know the architect that did that is no longer around.

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>> In our committee meeting, we talked about potentially getting that updated and revised. You know, we haven't moved forward with that yet. >> Okay. >> But that I would recommend to the board that would be part of the process of doing additional planning. >> Okay. Yeah. Cuz I remember we had looked at it and questioned like some of the

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numbers were huge and I remember the board saying that that architect was fired and that there's a new one. So, it would probably be good just to get new numbers. >> It's it's not honestly the the numbers again are for general planning, but it's really more important to have the projects identified and then as you get

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closer to actually doing those projects, you could develop a more a more accurate estimate because costs change year to year. >> Yeah, for sure. I just know that those numbers were presented to us last year when we went to strategic planning. We saw that seven like these schools need

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$700 million worth of work and then we've heard board members say different schools need millions and millions of dollars worth of work that was based on that. So I know that you're saying I know what you're saying about the LRP. >> Okay. >> But I also want to clarify that list that that the entire list was more than

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just needs. It was also wants improvement. So like we pulled out in our presentation or in our you know not all of that was basic structural need. >> Yes. I gotcha. Thank you. I appreciate it. Thank you. [clears throat] >> Good evening. Bernie Doss, Middletown

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resident. Amy, a couple questions about the LF LRFP, particularly that budget. So, I mean, just talking about the 2023 comprehensive study that was disposal report, $720 million worth of necessary and unnecessary potentially or wish list

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items. that that was the approximate total budget that Dr. Alone recited a few times. >> Yes. Um and I wouldn't say necessary or unnecessary. Some are structural, some are programming things that we need that we the district wanted to see done.

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>> Fair enough. And so tonight, did I hear you cite you you went through your presentation very quickly? So, um is it going to be on the board website tonight? Tomorrow? >> It's going to be on the board website. We'll get it up tomorrow morning. Very good. Did I hear a number revised, let's

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just say down from that 720 million down to approximately 400 million, 430 something? >> That was because we pulled out the amounts that related to specific areas that were in that slide deck. And again, it wasn't really wasn't I mean, we we did have this in the form of a slide

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deck, but it was really just a report out on what the committee talked about, but again, it didn't include all of the programming and instructional improvements that were included in the entire assessment. >> Yeah, fair enough. So, um do you concur that um the district has 1.3

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approximately million square feet under a roof? And honestly, I I don't know that number off the top of my head for adding up each building, but we had, you know, we had all the square footages up there. >> Yeah. And they're in exhibit J of the ACFR in the Yeah. Okay.

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>> If you're telling me that's what's in the in the auto report, then I believe >> Yeah. It's not exact, but it's accurate, right? So, um, you know, you're still order of magnitude like $350 per square foot, which is,

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you know, that's that's a that's a big number to be sort of tossing around as like a repair budget. So, you know, I just want to make it clear that $432 million across 1.3 million ft is better than what that 720 million was, which

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was, you know, 550 560ish. But now you're in the 350ish range. >> I honestly wouldn't classify that as a repair budget because many of those things are replacements of old capital improvements. It's really not a repair budget.

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>> Okay. So I just want to point out that you know as we've talked about in committees here with the board that cost to do work in schools is different than work in the private sector. >> Got it. Yeah. No familiar with prevailing wage and union rates. $358

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per square button. >> All right. Thank you. >> Good evening. Scott McFersonson, Middletown resident. So, did I hear correctly that we're putting 3.5 million into our capital reserves?

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Yes. >> And that's what the board had voted on previously that we could put in there. Correct. >> So, >> yes. >> What was the actual amount? So, is it am I incorrect in saying that there was more that could have gone in there, but the board had only approved up to 3.5

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million or am I misinterpreting that? >> When the board adopts the resolution in June, it sets a cap. So at the time that we we set the cap, you know, we estimate what funds would be available. Um Mr. Avita did report out that there may be

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some additional funds, not significant amount of funds that would be over the 3.5 million that we would then dedicate for use in the 2728 budget in any way that was chosen. It could be another deposit into a reserve in in the budget,

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but we would deposit for 20 for 2526 the 3.5 million. >> So that that would be the next budget. 2728. >> Yes. >> Okay. How much over the 3.5 million were we? >> We don't we don't have an ex an exact

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number yet because we're not done finishing closing out the year. Our fiscal year ends June 30th. So we're still in the process of showing up purchase orders. we don't need and we're actually even still chewing up some of our revenue numbers, but it's it's not it's not a number that's significant

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compared to the 3.5 million. >> Do we know when we'll have that number? >> Uh we would should have it in the next, you know, at least by August when the auditors are coming in to start their work. So, >> and then the extraordinary aid

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reimbursement, how much was that again? >> 1.77. >> Okay. And what happens with that funding with that money >> that was already included as a receivable I I don't want to you know I don't know if you understand that I do concept you know I take it for granted everybody does but that was already

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included in the 2526 budget. We anticipated $1.8 million in revenue. We got $1.7 million in change. We were slightly short but that's already built in. It's not it's not additional funds. >> Understood. >> It just means that we were able to meet the revenue target.

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>> Got it. Got it. And then the the idea uh I think it was a grant the $2.8 million allocation. What is that for? >> That's for 2627. Those are funds that we received from the state to fund uh special education expenses. And those

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funds are also anticipated already in the 2627 budget. We use the majority of those funds, pretty much all of those funds to offset uh out of district tuition. And so when we budget for out of district tuition, we anticipate receiving IDA money to offset it.

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>> Okay. Thanks so much. Appreciate it. Sorry. Thank you, Emily Down, Middletown resident. Um, I'll say it to Mr. Aido, but it's really to Mr. Cullen. We used to receive committee um minutes in the meetings. It's actually something I

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think that was committed to giving to us in the public. We haven't gotten a few meetings. So, I wanted to see if that's something you're no longer doing. Um, or if it's not something you plan to do, why? Um, just because I think there's been really great conversations had, but I think there's still a lot missing that

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we don't see. Amy, I think you did a great presentation on the long range facilities plan, but I guarantee there were still discussions in that meeting I think that were not given tonight that I think we kind of expected. So, I'm hoping we continue to get those uh overviews. They were super helpful. Um, and hopefully you guys bring back. Thank

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you. >> Hi, Kristen Rooney Middletown. Sorry, unrelated to my last comment. Um, I did just want to give a shout out to the strategic planning process. I think being part of that, the steering committee meetings, it's like some of the best collaborative work I've seen

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all of us do in a really long time. And I made me feel really good to be part of it. Um, I would hope that I would guess at some point, right, we're going to be kind of done, but I think that group is very keen to stay engaged. So, if you

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all can think about a way to continue to utilize those groups going forward, like incorporating them into other committees, ad hoc committees. Um, but it seemed like the people that are showing up there are are really helpful and those conversations were really

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great. So, um I think that um we just need more of that to continue the momentum and not not let it die once strategic planning is set. So, thank you. >> Okay. Close the public. Oh, we have one

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more. Sorry. >> Hi, Katie Little Page Middletown. Um, so as I was saying earlier, it was very helpful, Mr. Dy, the the slide deck that you put up, um, because then we could, uh, understand from a visual standpoint as well as hearing you. Um, would it be

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possible to for all of the committee reports if there could also be a visual component to them? Um, it's very hard to hear sometimes and when there's numbers being thrown out, you've heard in public comment, we're asking to repeat numbers because we don't have a visual to see

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them. um versus with M. Dry's presentation, the information was a lot easier for us to digest. Um so would it be possible to do that? I I noticed when you read um your committee reports, you're reading off a piece of paper. Could it be as simple as giving it to

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Shannon and so that um those notes could also be up there for the committee reports moving forward? >> I I could discuss with Mr. Cullen about putting out the the summary of the committee reports like we used to do. >> Absolutely. We could put that together >> during the while you're giving the

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report. We could have a visual >> with the agendas, >> right? That's the way it was done before, right? Is that what you were referring to? >> Um, no. This is separate. I I would also like that what Emily was referring to having the committee minutes the entire committee reports because some things

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may be, you know, not good for what can't be allowed to be seen by the public. Some discussion of it or we can summarize them for sure. And >> yeah, and I'm not asking for an entire report to be up there. I'm just saying, for example, Miss Wright usually starts with curriculum and when she's giving her curriculum report, just to have the

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main topics that she's talking about um up there just to be more inclusive of everyone's learning style as they're trying to listen and pay attention and um some people are better visual learners and understanding and other people are better at listening. Majority

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of the reports um were purely vocal, you know, um so we couldn't have that visual component. So that that's just what I was asking if moving forward we could just have you know a bullet point list. I'm thinking of like Miss Minuise you're talking about different facilities. I

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mean just to have sort of similar to what's what you're reading from on your paper up there what's permitted to be shared with the public what similar to what she's reading out >> in real time. >> Yeah we can look at >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you page.

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Anybody else? Okay. Close the public portion. Need a motion to adjourn the meeting. >> So move. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> Thank you. That everyone