good evening everyone thank you for coming out to the Tuesday March 18th Montgomery Township Board of Education meeting time is now 7:05 p.m. at this time I entertain a motion to reconvene an open session so move
second it's been properly moved and seconded to reconvene an open session any questions on the motion all those in favor stay I I all those oos same right extensions roll call please Mr T Dr W
yes Mr all here Spina present Franco Harris pres F here M Harris here Lea jiger here noran here Mr Tod here thank you thank you Mr calano at this time please rise as we salute the
flag I pledge allegiance to the flag of un States of America to the for stands Nation God indivisible we'll now have our MTSD student representative
rep well as of our last meeting the senior class went on the annual Disney trip our voice basketball team won four [Applause] last week we had ngj GPA testing for Reading Writing and math Juniors tested
on 13th and 14th and everyone else had a bil name uh last week we also had spirit week and we also celebrated our winter and spring Sports uh with pet r on the 11th our basketball team also made it to re for St championships weekend they
were really close to winning we're very proud of them the signs Olympia team are state champions they will be going to Nationals in Nebraska for six team went to St championships and won multiple Awards and this weekend the MHS theater is putting on newsies on Friday at 7 and
Sunday at Saturday at 2 and 7 thank you thank you so much we now have the superintendent we now have the superintendent report and presentations good evening everyone and
thank you all for being here we have some recognitions tonight followed by our proposed budget hearing National Merit Scholars National me merit scholarship finalists are high school seniors who have demonstrated
exceptional academic ability and have been recognized as such by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation nmsc after achieving high scores on the PSAT nmsqt and meeting other program requirements Mr Corey dogado director of School
counseling and student wellness has the honor of presenting a certificate to Merit of Merit to 15 seniors in the class of 2025 who have been recognized nationally as National Merit finals [Applause]
[Applause] thank you I think what I'm going to do I think I'm going to ask all of our Merit Scholars to come stand up here with me so maybe we'll just stand right here does that sound good I'm trying to figure out how to how to orchestrate this so I'm going I'm going to elaborate a
little bit on their Journey uh about their Journey so thank you Mary for getting us started this is an exceptional group of young people um hopefully they look familiar to a lot of the teachers here uh you are responsible for a lot of this the parents who were
sitting back here with us they couldn't do this without you let me tell you a little bit about the National Merit Scholarship program it's an annual academic competition among high school students across the nation for recognition and college scholarships it began back in
1955 tonight I get to introduced to you the Montgomery 15 or those of those of them that made it these are seniors who have been recognized as finalists and that sounds pretty cool to be recognized as a finalist but let me tell you what it takes to become a finalist they each started as one of 1 and a half
million seniors across the country 22,000 high schools had applicants to be Merit Scholars again 1 and A5 million the pool started there um the these folks successfully met the scoring criteria on the PSAT and the National
Merit Scholarship qualifying test as 11th graders that was their initial screening essentially this means they scored uh among the top in New Jersey as Juniors on the PSAT that made them
semi-finalists that got them from 1.5 million to 16,000 right that was the first cut uh but their Road did not end there to become a finalist they had to complete an extensive National Merit Scholarship application which includes providing information about their
academic record their extracurricular activities and a pretty intensive personal essay they then had to continue to meet the high standards of the academic performance criteria throughout the rest of their junior year and of course through their senior year they had to perform well really well on the
SAT and the ACT score to confirm their PSAT performance and after all that this is the top 1% they are among the top 1% in the country so they made it to the 15,000 or top 1% to be named finalist making them eligible for significant
scholarship money and some very nice Prestige including being presented in front of all these amazing people behind me so how about a nice round of applause so I'm going to have their very proud principal Miss penino come up she I I'll call your name Miss Peno will have a certificate for you I'm going to
call some names that aren't here but they're still worth recognizing we'll hold our Applause until they all come up parents you'll come up get your picture um maybe get a picture with our board president our superintendent so we're starting Shawn couldn't make it but Sean cow is our
first um National Merit finalist Aaron chai come on up Aaron Evelyn Chan Evelyn did the take it or she might be here Evelyn if you made it just jump up from the back because we want to celebrate you picture at the end yeah we'll do one picture at the end so just now you're
going to slide over do we want to stay here what do you think I don't want to stand in front with the speaker that's all I'm going to listen he's the smartest we're listening erican David
G Ryan Kang Shish prominic VI vicam rajut Vishnu Sharma gritty
soti Brian son Eddie Tang Arvin the Jan Car Max zing and Kevin Z
[Applause] W Mr Todd come up Heather you should probably Post in this picture going be great I'm going to be the photographer parents if you want to come up and get a shot otherwise I'm sure miss Pina will have this all over social media in about 7
minutes we're going to have to together [Music] [Music] cor a little further in little tighter a little tighter one two three
don't move do you want us to get out of your way or are we in the way good job [Music] [Applause] thank you for giving us a chance to celebrate these fine young people and I'm going to avoid what might be an
awkward moment and let you all know you do not have to stay for the remainder of the meeting this could be a long one so no one is going to judge you if you quietly walk out thank you [Music] again okay our next recognition for tonight is our
governor educators of the year the New Jersey Department of Education recognizes the outstanding contributions of teachers and leaders through various National and state programs each year these honored Educators serve as spokespersons and ambassadors for the profession who are encouraged to help
shape New Jersey Educational policies and practices that influence their schools and classrooms tonight we honor our governance educators of the year for 2025 I would like to invite the principals up and we'll start with the high
school there be no meeting and I'll good evening superintendent M lman and members of the board this is always an amazingly special night to celebrate the people that help to mold our students into the young men and
women that they grow into and obviously the amazing accomplishments that we also are celebrating this evening um I'm going to be celebrating two Exemplar Educators from Montgomery High School this evening and with that I'd like to invite
my first awarde Miss Kelly Appel up to the podium with me I love the awkward new which with everybody stands next to us like they've never stood in front of a room full of people before when that's what they did for um Mrs Kelly Appel is our Montgomery
High School Governor's Educational Service professional of the year she's an extraordinary school counselor whose unwavering dedication to students staff and the broader School Community makes her an invaluable asset to our School Mrs pel is everything you could hope for
in a school counselor she cares deeply about every student encouraging them to explore their potential and grow into the best versions of themselves her compassionate and empathetic nature creates a safe haven where students feel empowered to share their hopes dreams
and fears without judgment these safe spaces whether in her office or the Innovative MHS zenen she's created allow students to regulate recharge and build resilience amid the stresses of their academic and personal lives Mrs appel's
work goes far beyond her formal duties she's a Cornerstone of support not only for students but also for our staff her willingness to step outside of her designated role to help colleagues grow ensures that every member of our school Community is better equipped to meet the
needs of all students she leads with compassion and responsiveness always going above and beyond to make sure everyone she interacts with with feels important seeing and understood Mrs appel's expertise as a counselor is unparalleled she works
tirelessly to guide students towards post-secondary opportunities that align with their academic goals personal values and social emotional needs her ability to tailor advice and resources to each student's unique circumstances reflects her deep commitment to their
success in well-being what sets missael apart is her her holistic approach to education and counseling the MHS zenen a space she envisioned and brought to life in both virtual and physical forms is a Testament to her Innovative spirit and dedication to addressing the evolving
needs of today's students this resource has become a vital part of our school offering students a place to reset and recharge ensuring that they are better equipped to handle life's challenges in Mrs appel's presence students know they are valued respected
and believed in she inspires confidence and fosters a sense of belonging that ripples throughout our school Community her contributions have transformed the lives of countless students and col colleagues and we are all better for knowing and working alongside of her
thank you k my next honorary is Mr Matthew fluke for the Montgomery High School Governor's educator of the [Applause] Year Mr blug exemplifies excellence in education and his impact on our school community and his students is profound
and far-reaching as a world studies educator Mr flug is not only charismatic but also deeply invested in Stu in success and growth of every student in his classroom his passion for teaching is evident in his ability to make history and Global Studies accessible and
Unforgettable Mr Flo consistently creates opportunities for his students to learn in ways that go beyond traditional methods ensuring that they grow not only academically but also as critical thinkers and Global Citizens what sets Mr flug apart is his unique
ability to engage his students through Innovative teaching practices his lessons are filled with Vivid examples and analogies analogies tied to current real world applications making complex histo historical Concepts relatable and memorable students leave his class not
just prepared for tests but rather equipped with the knowledge that will remain with them for years to come one draw Mark of Mr bluke's teaching is his incorporation of dynamic and Hands-On activities the annual reign of terror
simulation that gets flagged in our email every time he does it for example is legendary among both students staff and certainly the principal through this immersive experience students gain a deeper understanding of the brench Revolution while developing skills in analysis
collaboration and historical anathy the buzz and excitement generated by this activity each year are a testament to his ability to inspire Cur osity and engagement in addition to his creative teaching methods Mr flug is a master of the craic approach he guides his students to
question analyze and explore the logic behind the material they study by fostering a classroom environment that emphasizes Discovery over rote memorization he empowers his students to think critically and independently skills that are that are essential in today's world beyond the classroom Mr
flukes enthusiasm and dedication resonate throughout the school his work not only enriches the lives of his students but also serves as a model of teaching Excellence for his colleagues he is the type of teacher that students never forget and they come back to visit him year after year into
adulthood Montgomery High School is fortunate to have an educator of Mr Luke's character and I can think of no one more deserving of the title of Governor's educator of the year I would like to now introduce Mr Matt Barbosa from ums
uh good evening and uh thank you for allowing me to come this is one of the best things that principal gets to do is celebrate students and staff today we're here to celebrate two teachers a little for fun fact you can tell how long an educator has been into
the business by the size of the font they use so first I'm going to start um by introducing and talking about our Teacher of the Year miss Karen Koran if Karen's here if she can come on up [Applause] it is my pleasure to have this
opportunity to speak about the Upper Middle School's teacher of the year Karen Koran Miss Koran is part of a lineage of strong monery Educators she is a lifelong resident and a graduate of Montgomery High School her mother was a teacher and memory and now her daughter
Caitlyn teach in second grade at Orchard Hiller Elementary every time I enter her room her students are hard at work at Reading Writing or having a deep conversation as the intern principal of ums I have only had a short time to get to know this amazing teacher therefore I went to The
Experts for a little help and they include Mr aardi Mr dogado and of course her students Karen is a genuine leader she is humble and always has the others best interest in mind formerly she held a position as the mtea vice president where she was an
invaluable resource to both staff and administration working with Karen the school administration was able to design the structure of the school leadership which Fosters the growth of collaboration between administrators and staff to better improve the student experience informally Karen is still a
leader someone who can be dependent on to provide insight to the school leaders and guidance and ideas to her colleagues in this the same way her students are comfortable going to Karen for advice and guidance or as one student put it she is super kind she always helps out
whenever a student needs it most of the time she doesn't wait for a student to ask for help but rather just looks over their assignments and helps whoever needs it not only is Karen a school leader she is also a leader in the classroom demonstrating outstanding
instruction pedagogy and student engagement as one of her students put it Miss Koran is an amazing teacher who has helped me improve on reading and writing skills throughout the year she always helps us get through the work that we are struggling
with and need help hard and always provides an explanation so that you understand what she needs this has all helped me out a lot during this year and my skills have improved so much from writing stories to analyzing text and
even finding the smallest details her impact on teaching and learning does not stay within her classroom walls she has been instrumental in developing language arts curriculum throughout her 10e here at ums both 7th and eth grades additionally she serves as one of our
academic intervention teachers and has found the balance between following the curriculum and finding the gaps that our students have novice and Veteran teachers alike seek Karen as a resource on effective classroom instruction increasing student engagement student intervention and how to perfect the
craft of teaching middle schoolers Karen has formed countless relationships through mentorships both formally and informally that have made her a legend uh the legend that she is congratulations Karen for being recognized for all you do at ums and for
being the teacher of the year thank you congratulations thank you very much next we have our Educational Service profession professional Miss Allison Doyle Smith Alis wher you educator of year you get to stand wherever you want it is again my pleasure to speak
about another outstanding educator from the Upper Middle School Miss Allison Doyle Smith who is our Educational Service professional of the Year Allison is one of the guidance counselors in our school in the short time that I have worked with her I can tell that she is committed to her students the school and
the district again I've collected input from other experts besides myself one of the things that I noticed about Allison is that she is always calm at least on the inside on the outside she approaches all situations in a calm manner that puts everyone at ease
she then uses her training and best experience to clarify the situation set a goal and work towards it this calmness is important as puts everyone at ease and helps them focus on the task or issue at hand as one student Shar she always likes to look around the problem
and think about the good things instead of the negatives another quality that I have seen in Allison is her understanding of middle school age students and the unique challenges of life of of Life they are facing at this age her empathetic approach to supporting them as they navigate this
tricky time of life helps them grow and learn she skillfully balances advocacy and accountability which is often exactly what our students need here is what one student have one student explain this Miss Doyle Smith is an amazing school counselor
because she is very understanding she is very welcoming and always has a smile on her face she is very friendly and is is a trusted adult figure that I could talk to she has given me resources that I can use to help me improve my learning and
for that I am very grateful another student commented Miss Doyle Smith is such a caring guidance counselor who helps all the students in USS succeed whether you have a problem in your schedule or just need someone to talk to Miss Doyle Smith has got your
back something that allows Allison to stand out is the work she does outside of her regular responsibilities examples include the work she has done to create and sustain the ums student Affinity groups and our rise Mentor program these structures have been essential to the
success of so many ums students over the year Allison is most deserving of this recognition as she demonstrates is two true wraparound care for our students at ums she prioritizes their academic needs inside our school while bringing in her counseling skills for social and
emotional needs her dedication for at risk and marginalized youth provides so many preventative interventions for many students that go through our school congratulations to you and thank you for all you do for the students that you [Applause]
thank next I would like to call on Romano LMS principal call Judah and Adriana Gonzalez Elgato our teacher of the year and Amy Costa our Educational Services profession of the year come on up to
together celebrating lm's teacher of the year is Adriana Gonzalez Delgado and lm's Educational Services professional of the Year Miss Amy CES like studying lessons in chemistry both of these extraordinary Educators possess elements of Excellence as professionals they are
like oxygen and helium they breathe life into our community they lift our students and our colleagues to Greater Heights of success in 2019 Adriana began working at Adriana was an integral part of the incredible team that established
um's unified program Which F Fosters inclusion and accessibility for all of our students always driven by the desire to do more for others in 2021 Adriana was selected as a fellowship recipient and moved to the south side of Chicago to serve in education even though
Adriana brought great success to Chicago's Learning Community for the sake of time I'm pulling us right back to New Jersey in 2023 Adriana returned to the east coast and Montgomery Township was thrilled to welcome her home Adriana entered LMS and once again
our community expands and lifted in greatness Adriana volunteered to support our black student connection she carved Pathways for our fifth and sixth graders to collaborate with theirs and high school peers Adriana hosted family game days on the weekends to strengthen
Community connections under her guidance students in our classrooms consistently progress to higher placement levels once again Adriana works as an integral team player this time on the LMS team that is working hard to establish a unified program
Adriana's commitment to doing for others was in full view for all to see at our band concert this winter Adriana work closely with one of her students to support him in preparing for and executing his performance on the day of the performance her student fell ill
with the flu and couldn't attend the concert on the evening of the concert Adriana marched on stage with the other members of the band fell into position Adriana didn't step in for her student out of necessity but rather to highlight her students vital contribution to the
band Adriana's deep connection to her Student Success made it essential for everyone to understand that it was her students presence that was truly Irreplaceable seeing Adriana on that stage only reminded us of how much we missed our
student and now we turn our attention to our Educational Services professional of the Year Miss Amy Casta Amy CA exemplifies the power of fostering trusting relationships among professionals and between home home in School in 2005 Amy fulfilled her student teacher practicum right here in
Montgomery Township the district recognized greatness ands hired Amy as a teacher the following year in 2006 after one year of service ATS Amy moved to Village School to work in an lldd classroom Amy remained at Village for
six years while at Village Amy pursued certification as an ldtc learning disabilities teacher consultant and was hired in role in district for 3 years when Montgomery posted an opening for an ldtc in 2016 Amy applied in Montgomery
Township welcomed her home in 2023 alms was thrilled to welcome Amy as our ldtc Amy is like a catalytic reaction in chemistry Pure Energy a constant as the Catalyst Amy keeps the student at the heart of the matter while she brings
together professionals from different disciplines within the school teachers counselors admin ministrators to address the unique needs of each of our students when our team works with Amy we watch her in awe as she guides Us in creating action plans for students with specific
goals and interventions it's like watching a chemist adjusting temperature pressure or concentration to achieve the desired results Amy guides our team as we work to create our desired outcome measurabl to Improvement but Amy is not only a catalyst for student growth she's
a catalyst for connection perhaps it's because she is such an empathetic individual that she is a bonding force that connects families to school and Amy doesn't just help us do for students she's committed to helping students do for themselves Amy coaches
students in developing the essential skills of resilience self-control and responsibility we are grateful to every single educator throughout montgomary Township School District because every single one of them is essential and contributes to the growth and
development and the success of our students and speaking specifically about Adriana Gonzalez Elgato and Amy Kasa will these two Educators work as forces of transformation they Foster growth and new possibilities for our students and
our LMS teams LMS is especially proud of and grateful for Adriana Gonzalez Delgado our teacher of the year and Amy Costa our Educational Services professional you from Village Elementary School Miss
Susan Lacy principal good evening members of the Board of Education our M School Community um congratul to all all the honores tonight I'd like to call up Kelly I am so proud to recognize Miss Kelly Houston as Elementary School's
educator of year Kelly's 18-year career at VES in the room 212 specifically has been nothing less than impressive and inspiring Kelly is an engaging and highly successful teacher leader and inspiration to students colleagues and families alike her classroom environment
is an absolutely magical place for students to learn grow and celebrate their AC academic accomplishments you feel such positive energy and a deep culture of learning with each visit Kelly is truly masterful at building a caring and supportive
classroom culture of kindness respect and belonging her students play a role in maintaining a positive and inclusive community and truly care about relationships and the the wellbeing of others the artistic messages on the walls as you approach her classroom
include students thoughts on respect show it in your words and actions Every Day messages about what it means to be respectful change the world with your words messages of unity celebrating individual differences spreading peace
and love not hate equal rights and justice for all because we are all in this together they say outside of the classroom Kelly is a supportive colleague respected resource and trusted Mentor she participates in collaborative
decision- making by serving on gring committees and she took a lead role on the behavior code of conduct Solutions committee which resulted in the development of blazers beliefs our schoolwide core value system Kelly is such a Visionary she envisioned and
created videos with student role models and develop resources that help staff and villagers share in a consistent roll out of expertise in service to the larger Community Kelly regularly performs in the Montgomery education association's music from the
heart theater Productions and supportive student scholarships Kelly performed in lead roles in Cinderella and Matilda to name a few she was Glenda the Good Witch and The Wizard of Oz and most recently Mrs Banks and Mary Poppins and this is just a short list of the work she's done
with um music from the heart her passion for the Arts began when she was just six years old and is one thing in addition to her students that brings her great joy and here is what her students say about her enough about what I say but here's what her students say she is so
nice and she teaches us well she teaches us new math strategies and she has taught us how to handle bulling she is really good at making voices for characters and acting in musical theater she lets us have a reward day where we are kind and
respectful to everyone she is very kind and forgives you when you make mistakes she gets everything done and she does what's right for us she always smiles and that makes us ready for the school day Kelly your contributions to the
school and District are impactful and very much appreciated on behalf of your third graders and your school family I'm excited to recognize you as our Governor's educator of [Applause] and now I would like to call joance
[Applause] it is such a pleasure for me to talk to you about our incredible school counselor Mrs Jolene shant Village Elementary School's Educational Service professional of the year she has served as a caring thoughtful and dedicated school counselor at bees since
2015 Jolene is an impressive committed and highly respected advocate for children she supports their social emotional well-being and academic progress with personalized care and sincere compassion villagers can count on her to be a friendly comforting and
trusted resource when they need encouragement and support with friendship personal Behavioral or academic challenges so they can be their very best selves in collaboration with our counseling partner Lauren for now Jolene facilitates a comprehensive
counseling program their counseling environment is a warm relaxing and safe space for students to take a break and have their voices heard they leave empowered and with a restored sense of confidence Independence and wellbeing Jolene is masterful at leading and
participating in solution oriented meetings during which data is reviewed goals are set plans are made and progress is monitored and celebrated her wise and thoughtful input is respected and results in improved outcomes in areas where students need it most Jolene
maintains relationships with students parents and colleagues that are uplifting and impactful as her ultimate goal is to be a difference in the lives of everyone to whom she is connected she does this with great sensitivity and authenticity she
genuinely cares deeply about everyone of whom she interacts let me tell you have the kids describe her she gets people she listens and keeps your feelings private she's always willing to ensure that people have their own time to
talk if you have an appointment and someone else is there she will kindly excuse that person without her their feelings she's very kind and she gives advice that is really helpful I like going there to talk about things she makes everything a little more cheerful
she says a lot of positive things about me she always knows the right things to say in addition to our counseling work Jolene made great contributions as a member of the school social and emotional learning committee which developed a diverse array of solutions to help students with stress regulation
resilience and conflict resolution she also recognizes students kind deeds and supports classroom connections between High School P leaders and villagers that focus on respect self-esteem and standing up for others Jolene is such a positive and compassionate Force at be
and is so deserving of this recognition on behalf of your mle school family I am excited to recognize you as our Governor's Educational Services professional and now our work Hill principal Mr D good evening everybody let us begin with our Educational Services professional of
the Year Mrs Melissa patan come on up [Applause] for okay Melissa may only be in her third year with us here in Montgomery where she serves as a school counselor at or Hill but she's been in education
for a total of 16 years coming to us from Highbridge School District where she spent eight years as a counsel she started out as a teacher little kindergarten in fifth grade before landing primarily in fourth grade in a Catholic School setting early on in her
career so School counseling in 2025 I'm sure Melissa would back me up in saying that it feels different than it used to our counselors work hand inand with our teachers providing social and emotional support unlike we've really ever seen before regulation
skills coping skills friendship skills resilience skills our counselors now need to be ready for anything and everything and Melissa is always ready in a school uh and District where relationship building is a priority
Melissa starts there develops strong bonds with her students and is then willing and consistent support as her students move throughout the school speaking of priorities Melissa didn't wait long to have a positive influence on an important one here at
orill assisting our families in need Melissa spearheaded our Cubs helping Cubs initiative a network where Orchard Hill families can choose to support other families that may need assistance during the holidays when hardships occur or just because you spend one week
working alongside Melissa and you know know she is a helper someone who starts her day ready to give to those who need it that's maybe why when we need a hand she never says no as long as whatever is being asked helps kids she's in she's
all in Mrs patan congratulations on being this year's Orchard Hill educational servon [Applause] [Music] two all right our educator of the Year Lisa picillo
[Applause] okay Lisa has taught 23 years in Montgomery all of them here at Orchard Hill the first seven of those were spent in first grade but after valuing a few professional friendship friendships in second grade she made the switch and has
never gone back if you were to visit Lisa's classroom on any day you would quickly find yourself dropped into a world of inquiry expectation and love for learning the work that takes place in room 144 begins and ends with asking
good questions and Lisa makes sure that once her students start asking them she allows them the space to answer them themselves or at least with the help of a classmate Lisa also Prides herself on allowing that inquiry to guide her instruction sometimes bearing off course
to honor the interests of her students from watching her teach you can tell she is always looking to capitalize on something shared by a student it could be a question it could be a connection from home with a somewhat lengthy story attached to it or it could even be a Mrs
picillo what if we take it from a former Elementary School teacher allowing the what ifs is not easy but this is definitely a Mrs picillo superpower she knows there are curricular demands and pacing guides to keep up with but they
will always take a backseat to the genuine curiosity and interest that are born out of student engagement in addition to her instructional prow Mrs picarillo's dedication to her students is another source of Pride she makes a point to keep in touch with students
well after they've left Orchard Hill and always provides a safe space for her Cubs to share and honor their individual hobbies and cultures each and every year she's the coordinator for our annual Lunar New Year parade and thinks about appropriate real real world projects to
use to wrap up units like her school store and reading Partnerships with our kindergarteners Mrs picillo thank you for 23 years of what ifs how abouts and did we think abouts it's with great enthusiasm that Orchard names you our
Governor's educator of the [Applause] that concludes the recogition portion at this time I seem to have been met with every hostess's nightmare I do not have enough food it seems to be my audience
um we do have light refreshment to honor our governor educators of the year and I truly wish I had the power to make those endless cookie trays and endless Ramy trades that I don't so I'm sure as we teach our kids if we share there is
probably enough so let's take a 10-minute break and celebrate our governor Educators be here anyone standing in the back there's some additional seating up here um at table to my left okay so let's a superintendent
report I now am going to report to the Board of Education our ssds report that is our student safety data system for the 2425 school year period 1 which is September through December as part of the New Jersey Department of Education
requirement to submit the ssds report information I will be reporting out tonight on report period one for the 2425 school year at Montgomery High School there were 19 total incidents reported with the majority reported under the category of HIV alleged other
incidents included fighting and substances at upper middle school there were a total of 23 incidents reported with most incidents falling under the category of both HIV alleged and physical altercation at lower middle school there
were 27 total incidents reported with the majority reported under the category of HIV alleged at Village Elementary school there were a total of eight incidents reported all reported under the category of HIV alleged at Orchard
Hill Elementary school there were two incidents reported both under the category of HIV alleged and that concludes the SSD report for report period one for the 2425 school year at this time I would like to call up again Mr gory Delgado to do our next
presentation harassment intimidation and bullying investigations trainings and programs I HIV I HIV I thank you um I so board I hope you'll appreciate I'm going to minimize this and just report out the manand the the mandatory data and the
numbers on the HIV investigations trainings and reports one we have a large agenda tonight too last month you had a very comprehensive training from Mr fogy who went through a lot of the nuances of the hi law but I would be remiss if I didn't start with
recognizing these folks so I do want to take a moment to recognize the anti- Bing specialists in the district these folks are are guidance counselors they work incredibly hard they are so skillful at sensitively dealing with these sensitive issues and so I really
want to just take a moment to acknowledge them and uh I appreciate all the work they do there are heroes in so many ways moving on to our period one investigation so that's from September to December in Orchard Hill we had um
five investigations none were founded you'll see we have a new column on the right to our policy change in November where we added preliminary determination to be made based on reported incidences not meeting a threshold level of
criteria we refer to those now as rejected investigations um those incidents are not ignored they're usually just dealt with the Cod condo and Orchard Hill had four rejected investigations a Village Elementary School we had eight reported
incidents that were investigated none founded three rejected investigations lower mle School uh you see a little bubble there 21 reported incidences investigated one founded two rejected investigations the
upper middle school we has 15 supported uh incidents investigated or founded re rejected in the high school 901 and you can see our toal to call the bottom we now move into tradings uh tradings
refer to um uh professional development for staff okay programs is for students trainings is the part KS so there are I'm not going to read them to you there are our totals of trainings again that is just for reporting period number
one uh some examples of the trainings you can see there and our programs the programs that we deliver to kids come at a higher volume than the trainings we deliver to adults and you see the district is very busy in Period one with eight trainings
sorry 80 programs across the district for our students some examples of the programs thank you anyone have any questions good okay thank
next we have Miss Patty Reese from the New Jersey school boards Association here for ethics for school officials 2025 presentation welcome thank you thank you for having me it's uh I've not had such a crowd to
do ethics training before uh I might apologize a little ahead of time to those non-board members it can be some what dry and legalistic at times but it really does help Define the roles and responsibilities of a board
member yeah and just a handout for the M answer right there okay uh and this handout um the top sheet is the code of ethics on the back page is a sign off sheet that you could sign and give to your VA for um you know to show that you
had this training tonight a list of and we'll go into a little bit later a list of all the conflicts of interests conflicts of um if you have staff members family members that work in the district what you can and can can participate in and then the final sheet
was um just some of some people got the programs that we offer and then the final sheet is just um effective steps of a board of education members so we always like to start with a few things this this training is
updated every January so that it reflects the most recently decided cases U of the prior year we also um like to it's updated with the with the from our general C Google
St we also start with a disclaimer that this presentation is for informational purposes only it does notes legal opinion if you need a legal opinion we suggest that you contact your board this is the actual wording of the
school ethics act um and it really is one BS of school board elected officials and administrators some administrators to r a code of conduct of what they can can
um participate in and take part of the legislative intent of the ACT is to make sure and preserve the Public's confidence in the Integrity of the schools and of the school officials it really is a minimum set of Standards um
that that uh school board members are expected to appear to uh but the school act does list specific standards and then it also identifies a disciplinary mechanism uh for board members that do not
comply with this this the code ofs as I said it's considered a minimum set of standards for left school officials the provisions of the ACT uh Encompass a few things there is a specific code of ethics which we'll go
to in a little bit um and that that um then there's mandatory training requirement of school officials school board members the code of ethics and the mandatory training requirements are only required of school board um officials
elected School Board officials uh and Charter School trustees there is a list of prohibited acts that apply to all school officials as well as uh different disclosure statements that apply to all school officials that includes school
board members some administrators uh the Char of school trustees and administrators and um we at njsba need to provide our uh disclosure statement every year the school ethics Act is enforced by a school ethics commission that
commission is appointed by the governor it's n members appointed by the governor uh for three for a threeyear term no more than five members can be from any one political party of that members two
are school board members five should be non-school officials and two are School administrators currently all School uh board members seats in vacant uh and one school administrator seat this V and um this
may have an impact on the length of time it takes to not to reach a decision but in order to make those decision public they need at least six members present at a community the school ethics commission is a subset of the U New Jersey
Department of Education so it there are two kinds of financial there's a financial disclosure statement and a personal relative disclosure statement school officials must uh must um provide best SCH
statement within 30 days of being SW a a school administrator uh from 30 30 days of when they started to work right now we're beyond that 30 days so if you have any new school board members I hope um that they have done that
usually it comes as an email from the Department of Education and then after your first year every April 30 you have to submit your disclosure statements by um to the Department of Education there are specific training
requirements of school board officials they are identified in the school ethics act um the first one being uh your new board member orientation we call governance one um in the last two years the law was changed the regulations were
changed that new school officials must must uh complete their new board member training within 90 days of being swor in and that's just a general um know of there to help you get up and running uh
up to speed quicker um just so you have a background governance 2 is in year two and govern three uh and government governments two and three are in years two and three of your first term and you have to C 30 first to complete that
training there after every first year you reelected you have to go for government for which is a legal if you don't complete your training within the time frame we but we are required by the school ethics commission uh sometime in
January for two and 2 for to submit a list of names the school ethics commissions for those board members who do not complete their training and they are listed as out of compliance and then there's there's a procedure for what happens after that it's just easier to
do your mandatory training um the ethics act um identifies that who of the school boards is the should be the provider of that training there's lots of ways you can do it there's in person there's live virtual there's aelf virtual so there's
lots of opportunities for board members to um to complete their manag training one of the things that a school ethics the school ethics commission can um do is issue advisory opinions an
advisory opinion is something that any school official or School Board member or maturity as it says they on their behalf can seek guidance on they it's about they have take an action yet but they're concerned that maybe the action
could be considered a violation for a code of e um know e violation so um you can a board member can this is it said any board member can ask for an advisory opinion so it has to take you have to
ask for the advisory opinion before you actually take the action um and um then then listen to the school Commission ever there advisory opinion is there's a few advisory opinions in the
presentation and I'll show you how to read them as opposed to read each one seeing what that's about um some people board members have said that um an advisory opinion is just an advisory and it's opinion and you don't have to
follow it if you're seeking that advisory opinion from the school and ex commission they accept that you will follow U we like to use the analogy that if you a police officer tells you that something you're going to do is illegal
and could result in some kind of punishment when you do that act and you get that punishment you shouldn't be surprised so if you're asking for an advisory opinion and you don't listen to it if ific charges are filed that you
have the chance of your penalty being much harsher than it would be otherwise so if you ask for the advisor opinion um it's best to comply with that The Advisory opinions are made public um by
there six of the um of the school ethics commission and there there and I'll send this out tomorrow or you um things are LED in here so if you look at the you get the um Presentation
tomorrow you can look up the link to there's a link on this page to the public advisory office and they go back at least 10 years and sometimes when you want to um do a deep dive you can look at these but if you're concerned about whether
something um your you're contemplating on you know whatever something you want to do might be a violation if you go through the um advisory opinions ahead of time you can kind of get a feel if you find you're something similar to what you were um considering keeping in
mind that every advisory opinion and every ethics case is very fact specific to that Cas so there may be some similarities that we can take from that um but it is helpful to look at that so these are the advisory op some examples
of a advisory opinions released last year um they are link so a424 um represents the the link and that's the the 14th case that was from 2024 so just to to to show kind of where
they're thinking commission thinking is uh this course this board member asked if they could review the resumees of candidates before voting um on the superintendent's recommendation the school ethics commission ruled that um whether you can
see the um the uh resumes beforehand is out of their jurisdiction however you have to keep in mind that no matter what you look at you can only vote on somebody that is by the superintendent so if they're not
recommended by the superintendent there's nothing um you know there's nothing much that you can do even if you have seen that um but again these are these are um somewhat interesting you have someone the last one is a board
member who co-owns a business that um does fundraising for the school district uh in different ways and they support their PTO and their clubes through through the fundraising efforts um so they ask if that person for their
business should refuse themselves or not be part of any decisions about those fundraising attempts and the school ethics commission said that um any Services um to people within the district whether
this or District families or District or organizations would violate the ACT if you so so if the board members business advertises only within the district in the school that would be considered a violation however if you advertise a
community at large that would notation kind of looks at some of the thinking of the the school commission and this is another group of um ethics advisory opinions that that is helpful
to read uh and see [Music] what the other of the schol eics is out for people is of anybody can file eics complains against the school official when we say
anybody that it's not just somebody from your District that's not just somebody from your county or your State uh that can be filed by anyone anywhere and we heard the uh number of boards that live stream their meetings and then there um
that was available to the general public there have been inst were ethics complaints have come in however the the complaint itself from the guidelines are very specific you must it must be filed
within 180 days of when the occurrence happen um person must C what part of the school ethics act um has been violated and they must provide the factual evidence the school ethics commission
does not uh do research they they their decision based on information presented and what is and when we go through the the tance of this code of ethics it'll show you what kind of information is necessary keeping in mind
that the school ethics commission um again is very fact specific but they look at the circumstances to determine um if they would leave a reasonable person to believe that the
violated it's just a reasonable person it's it's it's a different kind of a decision um it doesn't mean that you actually board member actually violated the code of ethics but if they feel that reasonable person would think they
violated then they will have viol there are several four different levels of um punishment or sanctions that the school eics commission can and when I say recommend being that they
they review the facts of the case they make a recommendation to the commissioner of Education who makes a final determination so the first level of um of sension is a reprend which is a review by the commissioner of Education
that um the board member violated uh standards um but did not in a formal resolution the next level centered is the formal resolution so this is a review and then there's a resolution that is read and voted on at
the local board meeting that the board member has violated the code of ethics the school ethics commission can also recommend that a board member be bar from activity for any period of time and when you're barred if that is is your
punishment being bar on activity means you can't sit at the table you can't participate in the discussion you can't even get the confidential parts of the board package you're only entitled to get what the general public gets on any
on any discussion during the time of which disension they can also recommend um removal from um the board that is the harshest penalty and just I will caution that keep that in
mind as as things happen but um um it's quite a process to get here there is also an appeals process so the commissioner can make their final determination and there's an appeals
process that is identified I think through the office of administrative law um but that's all identified on the school eics commission website the next slides are going into the actual tenants of code there are 10 tenants of the eics
and these are these are levels of expectations of how board members will um behave uh and kind of defines what their roles what their roles are as a board M so this first one talks about
holding and enforcement all the laws and regulations of the state of New Jersey the State Board of and any um court orders pertain that any changes will be brought about through legal and ethical procedures listed underneath that is the
standards um that are necessary for somebody to provide to show that they feel you violated the co and so you'll see that on every um on every side he is about making decisions in
terms of the educational welfare for all your students not just some uh for all stud regardless of any other factors this is one that talks about
confining your board action to policy making the board is a policym organization and that is your primary function um as a board member um not to do more than um go out of that thing too
much this one um talks about really you want to make sure that schools are well run so you will um see you will not administer to the schools but see that they are well done you hire one employee
the board hires one employee and that's the superintendent uh it is their job their responsibility to do the day-to-day operations of the board this just identifies that um that is actually
about the this one talks about making um that recognizing that the authority of the board lies with the board as a whole as um at a notice meeting with a for individual board members have no
additional Authority uh away from the table and away from a notice meeting than anyone else in your in your municipality so um you again have authority with the board at a notice meeting with the part and takes a
majority decision of the board to take any [Music] action not AG that you won't um will surrender your independent judgment to
any non any political groups or for your own personal again once you're elected you may eled by constituency but once you're elected you represent all students and you represent the whole
Community this is the confidentiality tenant um that just said are bound to hold um anything that's needs to be confidential that could harm uh anybody or harm the schools or harm um a decision of the board um that you will
hold that confidential and that that it's not only that staff issues or student ISS but if there's a discussion that's happening at the board table or in a committee meeting that's not yet public discussion that remains confidential
until it becomes a public discussion and sometimes that happens with committee right the committee and you're having this discussion um and you're doing research and all these things are happening but it's not yet
ready to come to to the public for discussion amongst the board so point is still is considered to be confidential I see the numbers have gone off this is um you will this is pointing
people at the recommendation of the superintendent uh if the superintendent um and only at the recommendation of the superintendent if if they superintendent is not making that recommendation uh the board doesn't really have any other now
once that recommendation is made you always have the option of voting yay or nay um but if they're not if there's staff member any that's not recomended um there not you do again you hire the superintendent to
do the day to-day operations of the district the superintendent is the educational leader um of the district as well as the community uh and so this is all part of what it is that hired them to do educational to to do um all of the
day-to-day operations of this talks about supporting your school personnel and the proper performance of their duties so in businesses you you can't and and I say this in an audience filled with with um
staff members as I said um but as a board member you are the district's cheerleaders you have to support everybody every staff member in the proper performance of your duties and so that it's
identify and your help your help to that this last one we call the chain of command um tenant that um as a board member you need to refer all complaints to the superintendent and only ask on
them public meeting um there's been a failure of the administrative solution so if somebody a member of the public a parent even a sta coms you with concern sometimes this happens they think that
I'm going right to the top I'm going to the board going to get an address that really isn't the appropriate way to do it um it it really does lengthen the decision making process the code of ethics requires that that you um the
chain of command requirs that you go you listen empathetically to whatever the concern is and um tell that person to go to the lowest level in the chaining that really is the best way to efficiently handle any issue that comes before you
uh or comes comes to your attention uh do allow the person or who's ever closest to that situation to do the research and do the necessary whatever they need to do to to find solution then once that
happens once you refer them to the low chain I recommended that you like the superintendent know that you have this conversation and that you recommended they go to the lowest level of command
just so the superintendent that this might be out there and keep attention on as we say it will come to if there is not an administrative solution that is acceptable to um Whoever has the issue it still may come
to the board uh and you have to allow your Administration time to do what it is that they need what whatever research it is trying to find a solution that works with everybody then you need to listen to what they say as to what
process was but again it's really is as I said refer all complaints your superintendent you know and as I said stly this this this C of Ethics really
does outline your goals and your responsibilities as a Boardman and we do acknowledge that um there is no other elected official in New Jersey that has such a a code of ethics something to a
body um I think that's a great thing because you're H to a higher standard uh it also shows your um that that you really are here you really should be here to do what's best for students the
community the next several Pages size of specific code of ethics cases and differ between an advisory opinion and a code of ethics case um this the first letter the number so C is a code eics P and
just again the difference between code eics and and advisor um all these cases are linked uh in here and I'll just go through the first one and I'm going to show you um have to read that this board member felt
the staff member personally attacked them and and I didn't choose these cases so um you know it's um recent cases andal depart some um value in board members knowing this but sta a board
member called the staff member perly attack them at a board meeting uh so that board member called the principal identified themselves as a board member um and so um the code of the school ethics commission felt that the board
member option to silence the public um and and they encourage them not to attend board meetings by calling their employer to get them in trouble in the workplace can compromise the Integrity of the
board they and this is they they recommended and the um Commissioner of Education upheld cental uh and you see the you see the statute at the end pares what's it the
front sees e that's the tenant the code of ethics um they feel this person violated and E is that um The Authority rests with the full board so this board member took it upon themselves to call
the staff memb employer and kind of get them in trouble and and here that you can again you have no addition you have no extra um no um more Authority as an individual board member than you do as
any member of so cases and you see in the next one they um the recommendation was a reprimand uh for board member violated um CD and E of the code of ethics and again another case about the
code of ethics case um certainly about something that was going on in executive session um as I said cases are very fact specific and you'll see the the uh the
discipline here the sension is is recomend recommended recommand so the commissioner hasn't waited in on that just yet um you can see that this case actually goes back three years because the last two numbers in the case number is the year that the case is filed and
this still has not been determined but again they're very F specific and they look at again School ethics commissions that if a reasonable member of the public would think that violated eics violated
ethics this one it's it's a recommended suspension not for 60 days and they they violated four different tenants of the um of the code of ethics now if you read this um it's probably suspension because
it's a 15E Plus board number um that that they said took inappropriate action and when you read the case it's quite interesting um that you you after 15 years um why didn't no
this this one is a recommended centure we'll go into a little bit about the difference between um a recusal and an extension um a refusal signifies that you have member has legal conflict
interest and it's more of a form process as opposed to an extension um exension is if you feel you need more information or for some reason you're not comfortable voting uh then then you
would but if you feel you have a legal conflict then then you would need to recuse yourself and recusing yourself means not in the discussion so if it's an executive session discussion um it might be helpful to leave the room although
you're not required but you can't participate in the discussion even through facial you know roll of the eyes or whatever that song Consider participating and then you don't participate in the Lo the difference in the end to show in the minutes whether
it's a refusal or an exstension an exension would show in the minutes right so if you have the nine member board and it was 531 5 yes 3 no one obain if somebody was going to recuse themselves the minutes
would just so would just show 53 and that shows that there's a board member who have a legal a legal conflict if you're not sure to have a legal conflict I that you work with your board president and your boardy to identify to
to identify you have a legal comp we also talked that the school ethics act act has a list of prohibited actions um of the board this is um a partial list um but if any of these
apply to you um then for your immediate family then you need to refuse yourself from the discussion so um if you um you saw that accom the one advisory opinion
about owning um a business in town that this fund so that is um a financial involvement that may your decision to also can't um represent any personal
parties on the board other than the board um in any man in any matter before the [Music] recent decisions the school of this commission
has come up with a definition of what is considered benefit um for to a board member that is a direct or indirect Advantage profit privilege or gain whether personal
financial uh that that is considered a b it's pretty broad uh and again um the determining factor is the perception of the public a reasonable member of the public believe that you're not being objective due to whatever that conflict
is and this first instance is actually um interesting um it was an an active superintendent so I think it might have been her first or second meeting uh and it was the you know when you put all the subs on your agenda to approve them for
hundreds it's quite is quite a large County District um that of the60 people on the substitutes was her son um and we'll go into a little way you can't hire a relative of board
member or your superintendent now we going are also why if somebody's already in staff how that impacts decision making but uh this this tell you you hire Subs every
year so that her sons should have been removed from the list uh and um she was ISS a ref then was upheld by commissioner so is and these are a few more cases again
um one a recomended one is can't read it it's cut off the SL the last one should be recommended C again long time Bo M advisory opinions in recent years the school commission continues to further
delineate who is considered or defining family relationships and that is important because it it affects what a board member can and can't vote on um will be part of the discussion and you see the the original
immediately I remember the original definition as recent advisory opinions the list has expanded to what you see almost as a result in the second second paragraph So you're talking about
um move as a brother-in-law or sister-in-law spouse of a brother-in-law sister-in-law so it really does um does imp as I said impact
participa um the list of that that's identified in the last paragraph is actually the list handed out to you in your packet it's quite extensive and we couldn't read it on the slide it was so um small so we decided it was
b as I said you cannot hire um the relative of the superintendent or a board member however if the you come to the board or the superintendent comes in already works here
um you know you don't have to fire them but there's things that you either the board number or the superintendent um it affects how they different things that so if it's an and the relative already
works here they can't have any um direct or indirect authority over their Rel um if the board member has a family member that works in the district they can't take part in any important matters
concerning the supervis the superintendent or any supervisor in the chain of command between their relative and the superintend so if they're a teacher that might be the assistant principal the principal they can't
participate ining that and Char against board members family works and District they can't participate um researching should the district res searching for new superintendent um they can't participate
in that discussion whatsoever any this CH shows the um that colletive paring what you can participate and so if you have an immediate family member H that works in the district uh and your
current member of theunion and white Union you can as a board member participate in negotiations and you can participate in the vote the ratification V if it's the board member
um or their family um is part of the Union but they the same Union but they don't work within the district um you can um you can participate in negotiations but once the memorandum of
agreement the salary guides and the total compensation package have been agreed upon you can participate in the ratification v um and if the Rel doesn't the district and you're not a member of
the Union then you can participate in hold and if we talk about abent another height in convert if your R is a an officer either on a Statewide level or in the
county or a similar County um May participate in the negotiations there also had been some cases where um board members have received um Union endorsements
um uh from Condors from the Union as as they ran uh um in the past um felt that if you got that endorsement you could not participate in negotiations that's not the case anymore um as long as the
endorsement doesn't come with a monetary or any Financial part of that and there's no expectation that you will go uh their way uh that there is may not be a conflict um conflict
check with your attorney um but you know we we generally recommend sit out one on that the other way having a family member in The District in p a board um is on committee assignments and
primarily um has to do with um the board president uh if the in the first case the board's President's child is an instructional instructional assistance so the board president in many districts many boards
the board president assigns people to committees and assign the chair of the committee uh if their child works in the district um they can't the board of President cannot choose the chair or any committee members uh no be on any
committee that remotely touches their Childs of employment uh that might include things like Personnel negotiation fin different like that and second case is that um a board
members domestic partner is a transportation specialist um and the SEC said that it would be wise for them not to serve on transation the other thing that has come out
recent is board members using the advice of council to um and so the recent advisory opinions have come out with what exactly that means and if you going to use the advice
in councel of Defense you have to meet all four PR represents um so you have to seek the advice before the action is uh you have to seek it from someone
who is authorized or has the a charity to give that device example I use is you need somebody that's familiar with um uh School law um going to a local attorney who's never done anything School La might not be
enough to this this requirement and that you um the one is that you have made sure that they have every fact uh and circumstances um ad and that whatever gave you you
compli just because you use the advice to canel doesn't mean you may not be found in violation of the code of act um but um you will just simply not get the
any but you still made in violation and again as with um all code of eths all cases advis is very fact specific as board members we probably were very active volunteering before we became a
board member I found that more active volunte um so there just because your board member doesn't mean you can't
volunteer in schools just be mindful of a few things that how frequently you're in the buildings you don't want to give the impression that you're actually running day to-day operations so if you're here for days a week volunteering that's probably not a
good call um if you want to make sure that whatever you're doing to volunteer you're not directing students for St because that then again gives the impression that you're you're a managing
that bu you want to make sure that um if there's anything that has to do with money if you're um taking collecting tickets out the 8th grade basketball game let somebody else collect the money do something else for
within PTO or the book let somebody else take care of the money the the implication is that you manage the district's Budget on the large so it just gives um the keeps appearances and that's really
want to prevent and you should always Mo our able to volunteer your the child's on your students classro uh just be mindful of those things um and when you look at
this what's what's considering evaluation um the first one is a spouse who is a staff member work spous is staff member um who who's the director of the FL and so they go to to the but
are you helping when you're directing the play are you telling students what to do are you telling staff members you we need to set this up not not volunteering as a coach on a school team um it's really not
recommended you have to direct people if you going to go in um to volunteer and things like uh you know read across Medic or anything on a classroom par um if you're will to do
that just give the superintendent a heads up that you're going to be there so that if there's any concerns from people staff members or parent they going say oh no no this is really possible this is something that that that they do
um is help no matter the size of the district staff members and parents generally know those who are active know who the board members are and you really don't want to put staff members in an a position because they know that they're
the board um but indirectly um you know action can take effect so you really don't want to to put them in that a position again if you're going in um let the superintendent know that you're
doing that and make sure you have no discussion about um board action or board and that goes back to you don't have any more Authority as as an individual but there's a perception of
having that people know you're important the other um big issue um recently in recent years uh is social media and the school ethics commission has spent a lot of time um
adjudicating um social media issues uh just keep in mind that they look at the content substance and context of social media whatever the question was uh and again if a reasonable person would
believe the statement was made in their official capacity you will be found in violation we talk about next slide shows of social media diser um and this is it they recommend this Commission recomend
that you use a disclaimer in your social media accounts um essentially saying that they already have one for you it might be want just to use that you don't have to but you do have to um State what what is listed there that or comments
are made by you as a private citizen not in the capacity of a board member and do not represent um board use the um because it really does protect
you uh but got keep in mind that use of disclaimer is also not yet out a jail freeart that um they will walk out the content substance and context of any social media poster and you can still
can still be found in violation even if you use the um even if you use the um and this is really um talks about that um it helps qualifi the capacity in
which you're speaking but again it's not out of Ja you will be held accountable for what you you say so we we like to issue some um General guidance on for social media uh
if you have a social account as um for your campaign uh it is highly recommended that you not use that bu board it becomes confusing comments you may have made before you were elected to the board uh if somebody goes back and
people know you on the board now but they might not remember when you came to the board so it really could have um bur confusion to to what it is and may they may think that those comments from a year ago for represent your discussion
and give that extra keeping also that your elected officials people know that um and so with public comments and social media you're held to a 100 because you the
public if you like or share post and your personal has to do school related make off we also that not an administrator on
a social media especially because if there several on close I mean as the administrator you get to choose what you can what stays and what doesn't
sometimes conversation so um if there's more than if there's a majority of Bo members that are on that social social and could be know you know something along those
lines just um don't be that page be careful of what what you post on my page there are several cases linked here that to that social media as I said a lot of time spent by the
school in yearsa cases soci so it is it is an issue and I think that's the end of [Applause]
thank [Music] you thank you for thank [Applause] you tonight is the 2526 tentative budget I'm going to shift down closer Mr Tali as we're going to
that together okay good evening everyone I'm Andrew taliano your business administrator and myself with uh my partner here Mr off the superintendent of schools uh we're going to be providing the uh tenative budget presentation um I just want to remind
everyone tonight's presentation is for the board um we're going to go through the presentation as the board members have questions we're going to pause as they have them and myself Miss mcla we're going to answer the questions to the best of our ability I want to remind
everybody here that in New Jersey there's a tenative budget and a final budget which our final budget adoptions April 29th and the reason that there's two is tonight's hearing is a preliminary budget hearing because uh I have to submit our budget to the county superintendent schools tomorrow by
Statute um what this means the difference between the tenative budget and the final budget is that changes can be made if necessary between that period of time that being said I just want to make a quick little statement and then we're going to jump into the slid don't
worry I know it's a long night but I to pretty fast so we're going to get through this pretty quickly this is this isn't my first time um I see we have board members here tonight administrators a lot of our educational professionals and uh I want to remind everyone that uh we're not on different
sides We're All in This Together for all of our kids okay so please be mindful of that and uh I have a statement that I think is uh important at a budget hearing for this school in this time I'm going to read that and then we're going to jump right in um budget's a
foundation of every successful School School District that said this is also a challenge for every board member they're volunteers they give their time they're good people and they're asked to raise their already high taxes every year and
they do that willingly 2% to provide us administrators the resources we need to help the Educators provide the education and the experience they can for our students okay so we're in this together that being said I'm going to pass Mr FL
we're we're going to jump right into the slides okay so we have an agenda for our presentation as you can see we're going to go the district goals the budget development process general fund tax levy calculation tax impact tentative budget summary major sources of revenue advertise
Appropriations Cuts major drivers of cost new positions major capital improvments so our budget is built around our district goals we've been talking about the district goals it's through our strategic plan we just had our update to the Strategic plan and all the different
goals at last month's board meeting if you're interested it's on the district website under qu the board presentations and also under the strategic planning website so our first goal is the student experience student achievement teaching and learning second goal is communication Community engagement and
Outreach third goal is climate culture social emotional learning seal cultural sensitivity health and wellness and resilience I'm turn back over to Andrew who's going to go through the timeline for the budget okay
actually okay thank you Mr M blin okay uh the next slide here we talks about our budget development process uh the budget development process is an ongoing process with the board Administration and Community um those as follows in October budget managers are informed um
of the budget development process and the timelines um in December budget requests are due from all the budget managers the administration reviews the budget request and meets with the budget managers in an ongoing process through the receipt of state aid January and
February there's further development of the budget by the administration and uh this year February 27 2025 was the date that we received our state aid announ all right so um more key dates after that on March 11th uh this year um the
uh Administration discussed the recommendations of the budget with our operation Finance facility committee called our off committee um tonight is the 18th and we're presenting our preliminary tenative budget March 19th as I mentioned earlier
is the due date for the budget submission to the ex County Superintendent key point that I want to make that I'm going just going to remind everybody of between March 19th in April 29th the tenative budget can be changed
the idea behind this is things happen sometimes changes are made sometimes they're not but you have to have a core budget provided to the county office so they are sure that the basics are there they look for Trends they look for differences and they be sure the minimum educational needs are provided
as if there's some things that maybe the board might want to reconsider changes are made that's what that period is for so this is preliminary tonight nothing is final but there is a statutory budget calendar and this is where we are in the process and then the final point is on
April 29th that is our public hearing and that will be for the public and that will be our final budget okay now I'm going to go into the general fund local tax l calculation it basically starts with the current Year's
um tax levy 89,4 2,50 2% increase is permitted on the base um since 2010 that amounts a mil 78,3 there are also increases that you could make to the tax levy two key ones
one qu Bank cap what that means to not get into like down into esoteric terms if the board elected to one year take less than a uh 2% increase that money is banked and it's banked on a three-year rolling average there's also exceptions
and adjustments one of them is a health care adjustment usually healthare goes up more than 2% in summary what that means is you take next year's health care cost this year's healthare Cost Plus 2% and the difference between those
is your maximum healthcare adjustment so the maximum general fund tax lever permitted based on our situation and the budget I initially developed at the preliminary process 91 million sometime $286 uh the board supported a 2% tax
increase which we're grateful for that's 9,822 993 that's where we are at this point in time these are the important slides right here is uh they affect the board members the way it lives in town they affect your community members um um this
is probably first most people are seeing these but um I think this is a good surprise let me let me break these down the Montgomery breakout this year is the tax levy for the Montgomery residents which is
97.6% of the uh School tax money an average home that's $800,000 the increase for the school budget is $324 $900,000 house $ 36473 million house $452 now there's another component um to
the taxes that are assess to the residents um sometimes there's Debt Service which is a term basically for loan payments that are repaid for referendums improvements to the school as these loans go over uh spread over time they go down in value so there's a
decrease in The Debt Service basically our debt that is due during the next school year and on the average average $800 900,000 million doll home the decrease is 3756 34601 and 3445 here's all that matters the total
tax levy for the Montgomery residents for next school year on $800,000 home to raise the budget 2% which is $1.78 million $16.64 pack a $900,000 house it's
$18.72 million house it's $20.80 now move to Rocky Hill the Rocky Hill breakout on an $800,000 house uh the uh general fund increase is $368 $900,000 house $ 3452 million doll
house 3835 but then there's the debt service um and those are decreases cuz the loan is down for them too $800,000 house it's down 7737 $900,000 house 8705 million doll house
9672 just to kind of point out the average home uh price in from the data that I had in Montgomery it's about $849,000 and in Rocky Hill it's about 77,000 some are a lot more some are less these are the averages these are the numbers that I worked with our auditing
firm to come up with to fall within the averages bottom line for the Rocky Hill residents on $800,000 house uh for a 2% tax levy your annual increase in the budget is actually your taxes go down $46.65 a $900,000 house they go down
5253 a million doll house they go down 5836 we move to the next Slide the next slide would show the impact in the healthcare waiver the healthcare waiver when I initially put the budget together was $779,900
basically the pack annually for an $800 900,000 million doll home Montgomery would be $15.31 16910 and 18789 so that would be the annual cost
to Montgomery resident to include the healthcare waiver in the budget for Rocky Hill resident $800,000 house 8544 $900,000 house 99612 million house 1068 going to move to the next
slide so there's three key components of Revenue that put together the uh tenative ultimately our final budget first is the general fund Revenue um general fund Revenue um consists of
mostly the tax levy it also consists of state aid it also consists of prek tuition rental fees miscellaneous Revenue um and any other Reserve funds that are used for special one-time purposes to
fund the budget special Revenue number of a, 63,9 187 that consists of $83,000 worth of State grant money for auxiliary and remedial services for
non-public school students that still need services that were legally required to provide and also um consists of our federal title grants and our Ida Grant which um I've always budgeted at a 10% decrease because you don't want to
budget them at the max and then they'll get the funding and then you budget expenses against them and they're short budget them at a 10% increase if the money comes in a little higher then uh you can do a little more with them uh the money you see the numberers - 9.42
and notus 10 that's because the state number that's the $83,000 figure that's only probably going to be about 3% less not 10% less Debt Service fund which I mentioned earlier that is the amount of the note that's due for the next school
year for the uh 201617 referendum and that went down which helped lower the taxed impact for all the Montgomery Rocky Hill residents move to the next slide just break down the revenue in a different way um it shows the general fund Revenue uh it shows the 1.78
million which is a 2% increase it shows the debt service loan is going down $1.47 million which has gone down 20% and that decrease helped lower the taxes for the residents which is great the
stating unfortunately went down 3% which has a NE $25,988 impact um and we're using some reserves to balance our budget want go in a little more detail about these um because I have a philosophy on
them our auditor has a philosophy on them reserves are kind of like your savings account at home and they're really supposed to be used for oneof expenses because they take a long time to build up and they can be burned through very quickly first one you're going to see is fund balance big number
$ 4,546 48 okay what your budgeted fund balance is it's the difference between each year your projected expenses and your project ejected revenues essentially the money that you think you're going to spend the money you think you're going to get
brought in and the money that is not spent the money that is not spent at the end of the 2324 school year if it's not designated for a reserve account like a capital reserve
account a maintenance Reserve account a tuition Reserve account any of the reserve accounts automatically gets rolled forward two budgets forward and it's considered tax relief you can't just raise taxes not spend it and keep
it but the one thing to keep in mind is the last couple years this budgeted fund balance was used for reoccurring expenses like salaries and uh that's I generally discourage something like that ultimately at the end of every school year you can't guarantee that you're going to have $4.5 million to keep
rolling forward so moving forward and speaking with our auditor we're going to wean oursel off of this back and just kind of work with the money that we have afforded to us and if there are any reserves that we do have at the end of the year if all the funds aren't spent
we'll work collaboratively with the board to try to booster our Reserve accounts because there's a lot of great things that we want to do to this school and facility and it costs a lot of money I'm going to recommend that's the direction that we move the school into the future that being said you want to
see a big number 2.27 920 million for capital projects is what that represents is that represents $450,000 for an ADA Compliant walkway outside um to the uh track area uh right
now uh from the school to the track it's a grassy area it's not very accommodating and that needs to get upgraded and that's one of the four big ticket items that we're going to use that funding for the next there's a rooftop unit number 13 um that's an air
condition at the high school that needs to get changed that's 3 $25,000 and the next two items are Rod grants uh it's basically a regular operating District grants they're great opportunities uh school districts start by getting up to 40 cents on the dollar
they could get more based on their socioeconomic factors for a j Factor District like Montgomery we get to 40 cents on the dollar two projects that we're going to use this Rod brand funding for is a ums roof replacement and the board share which is 60% of that
project is 1,1 153,070 the other Rod Grant is a chiller replacement and the board's uh responsibility of that is $279,300 and all four of those numbers
they comprised to 2,27 be client um and the other ones don't happen the money gets refunded right back into the capital reserve account and the board can proceed to do these projects the following year are for other projects so that's how the capital projects work now there's a lot of
things that we want to do in maintenance this is a nice area we have nice grounds we need to upkeep them so one way that you can help upkeep your grounds and give a break to your taxpayers is to use some onetime resources like your maintenance Reserve account uh I proposed a withdrawal of 500 $55,000
$6,000 less than last year to continue our beautification of our grounds without putting it towards the taxpayers and taking away from the classroom and the students so that kind of breaks down the taxes the state aid and the reserves the next
slide is just a pie chart basically out here 83% of the money is on taxes about 9% on state aid this year 6.8% on reserves a little under 1% grants and uh there's a small percentage for the miscellaneous Revenue uh it was a little
small so it didn't make it on basically most of the money out here is taxes and state aid those are the drivers of the budget the next slide it's a small slap a slide of the key expenses for the
budget some are up some are down these expenses are based on the requests that were provided by the budget managers our anticip in enrollment uh student needs of the students that we have based on reviewing Supply requests
equipment requests Staffing requests and being as fiscally responsible as possible I'm going to go through the key areas regular program instruct that's how it's coded by the state of New Jersey in the budget program for next year that number is 29,95
764 which is a 2% increase special education instruction next year's number is 8,846 185 that's Aus 88.9% increase you might say wow how does special education go
down about 9% when everybody talks about how expensive those costs are and they go up every year um there was some resizing to that department that was done based on our enrollment and the actual needs of the students that's what's needed based on the request from
the special service director or enrollment uh to move forward with that function the next is our extracurricular activities they're all intact and uh 2.9 it's going to go up 2.98% for next year our athletic programs which uh we talked
about earlier um great job with the basketball team all our programs uh those are fully funded for next year $903 27 increase was able to be afforded which is a 7% increase to those programs tuition
3,830 $154 a 14% increase D bulk of the driver of that tuition number is $3,530 for out of District placements the rest of the tuition is uh our Charter School our vocational school and
some other out of District placements that we have basically speaking some of those are options that are students elect to go to vocational education other education School the bulk of those are educational requirements based on I PS that we try to satisfy inhouse but a
lot of our programs do a great job acrosss and legally we just have to Outsource those and uh those are requirements that we have to do and based on the numbers actual students with no anticipated numbers that's the true number that I was provided for next year
Administration this isn't the entire Administration from the school this is the administration that consists as far as the state of New Jersey uh considered for our 11 230 240 and 251 accounts what
those basically stand for 230 stands for our superintendent accounts 240 stands for our principal accounts and 251 stands for our central Office Accounts which at Montgomery is the business administrator and my team and uh the assistant superintendent of human
resources and her team those expenses right there um they're down $433 which is less than 1% so those are a status quo where basically there's some Consultants that are falling off
there's raises and other increases that are going up their status quo if you look at most districts in the state Administration usually goes up so to keep those flat that that's that's a positive thing operation of Maintenance and plant safety that's basically our building and grounds um as you can see
that's $1,693 2017 you have a big property a big home there's big expenses there's things that we have to do inside outside and everything else just to maintain it not approve it that's the number that we need to just keep the status quo for
next year Transportation $ 6,969 283 up 9% I think that's a lot um dway Washington our transportation director is uh probably one of the best I've ever met we have an in-house Transportation
program and great Transportation Drivers actually saves us a significant amount of money versus Outsourcing all our runs if we had to Outsource all our runs to private contractors this number would probably be double so it is an increase Cu uh salaries expenses of vehicles go
up we have to buy new buses next year cuz by law we're only allowed to keep vehicles for 15 years and some of their timing out um they're on a schedule and uh we have to buy eight new buses next year which is part of the operation the last one is employee
benefits fortunately um um Public Law 2011 came into place um to make a change to our healthc care benefits the state had a great idea we all contribute to our Healthcare I think we should just like everybody else in Private Industry the only problem is it didn't do
anything to curve the cost of the healthcare which have gone up significantly in that 15-year period as you can see in our budget that's a little over $100 million almost $25 million is that number the number is a 6.73% increase our healthare is going up
about 99.3% dental is going up 4.5% and our prescription benefits are flat compared to the State numbers this is a fraction of the state increase the board is in a private plan with the broker that's one of three ways that you
can get your health plan you have your health plan through being self mature you have which is very dangerous proposition because if you're one person that gets really sick I get really sick my wife might be think think about the insurance policies you can on but
unfortunately for the board what happens is there has to be a pot of money to pay for all my medical expenses and if there's not enough money in that pot you have to keep filling that pot self-insured is a risky business when you have an organization over 500 employees so that leaves you the private plan and the state plan if you go back
the last 15 years and you look at the state plan there's some years that it goes up zero a teaser rate to get the people to go into the state plan and then there's some years that it goes up 15 20 plus% once you're in the state plan you can't have a broker and if you want to leave
it you have to pay an exit penalty fee so if you stick with the broker they actively shop our plan for the board to provide the staff equal to or better benefits at a fiscally responsible price if you look at their prices compared to the state over the 15 years they're less
volatile and they're just lower in cost but they're still a very expensive driver of the budget next slide fortunately uh is not one that i' like to go over but it's just uh it's a reality business um basically it's our cut slide total of
the cuts to uh basically the budget that was provided by the budget managers to where we are today at this point in time is $3,427 742 that consists of five key areas position reductions $1.6
million facility equipment Cuts $1.17 million those are cuts that I deeply an analyzed our operations and maintenance department and uh I saw a requests that were in there which would have been great but I kind of looked at the last 5
to 8 years of data and I kind of went more in the Bare Bones Direction uh we have a great department so they're basically being provided what they need in my opinion to uh move forward and uh that department had to take a cut I couldn't give them M um there was also
requested Staffing positions that weren't able to refill $415,000 supplies Services $177,900 next slides the major drivers of the budget every School Somerset County New
Jersey probably salaries and benefits for the driver just like in any Private Business uh most schools 75 to 85% of the budget is driven by salaries and benefits we're no different 85.9 3% of
our budget is driven by salaries and benefits and these are contractual obligations so if you just think to yourself for a second we all need to be here to do what we do a contract ual obligation and after you pay back 86% of
the money to do that there's not a lot left to do everything else the next slide are new additional positions for next year they're going to be four power professional positions at around $33,000 each uh I highlighted on the
next slide a little earlier uh when I broke down the capital withdrawal uh funds and this is just a breakdown of them as a visual uh the Ada walkway 450,000 the rooftop unit for 325,000 the
broad Grant which the board pays 60 cents on the dollar four and the state of New Jersey pays 4 cents on the dollar four so you're always going to do those 1 M $152,800 and the chiller replacement at Ms for $279,300 is the board's
obligation that concludes our presentation I want to pause for a moment and ask the board at this point in time if they have any questions if they don't I'm sure we're going to be meeting over the next couple weeks to discuss this further uh to not point a
spot does anybody have any questions before we jump back into the regular agenda Miss F I want to thank you for all your hard work I know it andless hour so really
appreciate it and I also um appreciate this presentation because it was very informative and I hope everybody truly understood how hard it was it took um it was to put this presentation together
and highight the numbers but I do have two questions um there is uh one question on the presentation is uh one of the um notes that is rolling out from
next next year right so this is why our de is seems to be reling some of the tax ready at the moment are we planning a new referendum to replace that
Lo because um we are overdue for the longterm facility uh plan so I would imagine that in order for r capital that will be to grow excellent excellent question like
that's absolutely something that I'm going to propose being here for the period of time that I have been and still learning about the district I do want to do that and more than likely that's not going to make the final budget for this year and that
would be something that I would present to keep moving forward because we need to but for next budget thank you the second question is that I know that this is still a preliminary budget and we're still looking through some of the accounts but um just wanted
to get a better understanding where in the Consulting professional fees um you look into and what type of savings you found there because uh the items that we identified were job cards you know
facility cards but I would hope to also Cuts in the professional Fe okay that's an excellent question as the business this answer might not be the perfect answer that you're looking for but it's an honest answer and the best answer
that I could give at this point in time essentially as the business administrator my role is to gather the information from the budget managers be sure that the basics are covered and work with my administrators
and building principles on what their needs are really I'll be honest besides knowing the mechanics of the budget my expertise are facilities building grounds cafeteria Department my
department I don't know what these people do and how they do it and I give them a lot of credit for doing it the other every day the fees all of those different things I would be lying to you if I knew every fee every consultant everything that's not something that I really I'll be honest I don't make a lot
of decisions Tak I'm more a mechanical person to put this all together so I would have to say I could entertain going over with you and the board if we want to dive a little deeper into whatever these fees are but I don't have anything off the top of my head that stands out that's an exorbitant fee that
I could say hey maybe we propose changing this service to something inhouse we doing it differently but I welcome The Conversation Over the next couple weeks if there are fees and redundancies that we could kind of reduce and be more efficient that would
be great there's not just something that's in my expertise that I would be able to offer as an answer this point in time you want more please maybe after this presentation um the
administrators and and stakeholders Who provided input to the budget maybe they will help find additional savings through the consultant fees so I welcome any feedback you've been very helpful m
f with your expertise on the board and some ideas you shared fortunately things have moved pretty quickly and I've had to kind of work with the experience that I have and I bring to this institution fortunately we have the next 5 weeks to really roll up our sleeves and work
together collaboratively to see what we could do so now that the found is put together I invite everybody in and if everybody wants to bring something to the table and we work together to see if there's any enhancements that can be made we're going to do
that you're welcome anybody else down I just wanted to add to that comment that in addition to the position reductions and facility reductions I'd like to better understand sort of how that's affecting programming if it's affecting Pro programming where the actual cuts are are looking are being looked at and
where they're they're being cut so thank you I appreciate that excellent and obviously with respect to those resizing that we have to do and that we're at a public hearing I'm not going to kind of get into all of that tonight here's what I can kind of tell you with confidence
with work in my Administration there this isn't above average product that you offer here your programs are all going to be intact and nothing's going to change the major changes might be your classroom size are very small here on
your teacher to student oh boy all right there we go I want to make sure you guys were awake I got here um they might change slightly not a lot um but there there's going to be some adjustments but mostly the things that
we're known for are are great academics great music athletics extracurriculars they're intact there's nothing to worry about of a transparent person if the football team is going away Grundy if you're out there way but if it was or if there was something major I would have
shared it so there's nothing like that but there's adjustments that have we made and like I said to miss felak when we have those more board and administration conversations we'll discuss those in detail and uh I don't think there's going to be a significant impact to this product But ultimately
based on the realities of the budget they weree decisions that had to be made but they weren't made light anyone else everything anybody that wants the door my door is open I have a question yes last year we
did not take the health Weaver and the slide deck that we presented we thinking of not taking the health Weaver again this year and that's I think that's concerning what happens if we don't
okay so it's it's really simple uh I'm not going to get into the formula but like here's the impact essentially the waiver is an exception to raise taxes I showed the dollar amount on the households did mention their ta taxes
are very very high here we all hate taxes I hate them too but basically it comes down to two things that's another way to raise taxes and basically you could restore some of the things that were on the cut list that's not up to me I'm I'm the chef I at the menu I put it
all together so basically if you take that waiver you can reinstitute some of those items you could take none of it part of it all of it last budget cycle it wasn't taken the year before that the board was generous enough to give a
portion of it about half of it but essentially it really comes down to the money it's basically an increase in taxes to put more back into the budget um but again that's that's not my decision I I don't pay these $3 $40,000
taxes I don't live in this town basically it's an increase to your taxes to add more things back into the budget that's that's what it is and it is a it's a hard choice that we all have to make because our our taxes are high and we want to provide as many resources as
we can to the school it's a tough question that's the best honest answer I can give followup St yes what benefit are there to taking the healthcare waiver for continued Revenue stream year-over-year excellent so that's a good question so
essentially what that means is if we took say the full Healthcare waiver just for to have a conversation here and make it easy to understand that would raise your tax base bottom line next year by that dollar amount and then the following year that would be your tax
base to raise off of 2% so essentially it raises your Base by taking the waiver so the waiver brings in the revenue so there's less cuts and it increases your Baseline tax levy that you would be then
working off of in the future years those are the two key things that it does so in future years in keeping at 2% you would actually raise more than the 2% going forward year over year yes legally like based on the way the budget was developed with the all the positions
that were initially in there we were owed to legally raise the budget by 2.8% today we're at 2% but if that wafer is in there maybe around that number so essentially it would raise your Baseline so then the next year when we're sitting at this table let's just say everything
was great we only needed to raise 2% it would be raising 2% off of that higher Baseline that had the healthcare waiver in does that help okay and each year there's a healthcare waiver funding option is presented to
every District since 2014 yeah yes you're absolutely you're absolutely correct unless some miracle which I believe in miracles but not this one the healthcare doesn't help and what has been um Montgomery's history of taking that healthc care waiver since
2014 that I'm not prepared to answer tonight I kind of like I looked at the last couple of years of data and I saw last year that it was said that it wasn't needed and cuz I watch I watched your present that's how I learned I'm a student I've been here 17 weeks um and I
looked at two years ago and I looked at the presentation and I did the math with Mary when I was presenting to the off committee a couple weeks ago and I saw don't quote me on the exact number but half the healthcare waiver was taken it was a number that was about a, 700,000
about $850,000 was taken about $850,000 was put back into the bank that I referred to earlier um when we have those further discussions we could run the the historical analysis on that I wasn't prepared to go further take it by surprise that's okay
I'm sure my face is red it's okay I've been there before it's okay I could help because two years ago when uh we added additionally funds to the budget for the kindergarten that amount raised our tax
and addition to 2% by $1.6 million then we took additional increase of tax by 1.68 ,000 and then we had also the second question of the referendum for
$669,000 in that year just that one year we raise taxes by 6% so when you look at the Last 5 Years um of how much we raise taxes for school is
12% so that's a lot of money this is why you know like we we do want to do right by the students we want to do right by the staff teachers administrators but we also need to do right by the taxpayers so that's why we had another month to
kind of dip into the the accounts and we'll get it if you want to go back to your thank you m f for that that information to help the conversation going back to your question I had three years worth of data for the healthcare waiver that that's what my standard is for my presentation
if we want to kind of go back further into just your question we could get that data for you soon three years ago the waiver was almost $2 million and we took about half of it last year it was 645,000 approximately and we did not
take it this year it's $779,000 so what happens is each year with the 2% budget cap we as we discussed 85% is salaries and benefits that do go over
2% 14% left that we have to g into to get a whole budget to 2% so every year there will be significant reductions even with the healthc care wer so the healthcare waiver helps make the base
higher so the reductions are less dramtic but not taking it though it'll cost us more if we don't take it because every year there's an increase in cost it'll cost yes it'll it'll lower our paas and it'll make the it'll make the
cuts deeper and I just can one more thing just to make sure that we're all talking about the same things especially with regard to the 6% increase that board member F was just speaking of based on the kindergarten referendum
I believe that's what you said right so that's was something that was put forth to this town for a vote it was voted in place and those numbers those taxes on a referendum that does not increase anything year-over-year that did not
change the percentage of people's taxes of but it did not increase their that 6% didn't go in is this amount is now your new tax that that that amount went into the base
so right now it continues to be part of the base less than 2% the additional that's that's your debt sir that's your debt sir so the referendums to what Miss vac is saying to bring a full circle is your debt service so essentially that's that's
basically you have your tax levy that supports your general fund your operation and your debt service for your referendums that's also part of your base that's why Miss Felix said are we going to do another referendum I don't want to speak for her but I believe that's what she's going to to keep that base consistent for facility wise is
that is that is that what you were alluding to before yes partially but the ref for the kindergarten was basically a permanent increase to the base which right now continues to come additional
cost that we are uring by having the golden indart so it's part of the base so each year it does not impa that surface it's part of the the base which continues to increase 2% so it
compounds if you remember Maria there were two questions the first question had to do with the staff that we needed to have full so that of course became part of the base just to implement the pram the other one was a one
time that one did not get that was not included in your 6% that's my question any question so that concludes the superintendent report was like the flag super hour thank the superintendent we'll now move
to committee representative reports first up MTA report just resil thank you very much and good evening tonight the MTA will share their report with apsm and their president Jen and a unified message for both of us good evening I am Jan videll the
administrator Traders Association president Mr roli the superintendent board president and myself come together once a month to navigate happenings in our district during these meetings there are times when we are not quite on consensus
because the perspective of our larger group but it's always 100% respected our most recent meeting was different in that central office the board president mtea and the apmt were all in agreement ment that the budget without the health
waiver funds would be detrimental to our school district's future but here we are listening to the 2526 budget presentation that does not have those funds built in they were in and then some members of
the board requested them out most of us remember the devastating 2010 year when reserved funds were taken from districts and a 2% cap tax revenue was put in place this was half in the prior 4% cap with that 2% cap there were
available State waivers so as to not devastate a district financially waivers were around student enrollment increases facility needs and one we were talking about tonight is the health benefits waiver health benefits have an
exponential growth cost to them that far exceeds 2% hence the necessity for a waiver to generate funds to cover healthcare costs in this budget presentation we see the waiver value of about 800,000 which we heard is about 160 150
160ish a year for the average Community Home board members are saying that there is a need to not increase taxes this $1 1560 while we all pay taxes and understand the constant increases in every aspect of our life we are confused
on why this $160 $13 a month would be left out leading to increased staff cuts and potential program Cuts last year the board did not include the health waver we've never heard of such a thing before
that this resulted in reduction of eight employees with those monies removed from the budget base the 2% on those monies could not be earned and so another eight will be cut this year but to now again not have the
health waiver in we are hearing that that is about another 10 employees to cut that's on top of the eight this will continue for the 26 27 year as healthc care will continue to increase and because the waiver funds
are not in this 2526 budget the 2% will again not be earned on those monies and another round of cuts will take place in the 26 27 school year which in total could be as much as 3040 employees over 3
years this cycle will devastate the district a reduction 3040 does not happen without significantly impacting the student experience in the area of academics electives the Arts Etc reduction in staff leads to higher
class size higher student to teacher ratio lower numbers to do our co-curriculars our extracurricular activities our Sports also job responsibility increases lead to devaluation and burnout the education
profession is already in jeery this leer you are adding will certainly not sustain our position as one of the top districts in the state and certainly will stream progress on the 5-year strategic plan you are interested in
doing we have seen fiscal responsibility from the superintendent by not taking the full 2% for some years leading to banked cap to potentially use the following years and then even two years ago the health Weaver was worth a lot and the superintendent had only used a
portion of it these practices show that the district leadership is efficient maybe too efficient why are you questioning their expertise and demanding more Cuts than what was shared with you you are looking at many budget
managers out here staff share needs for program and instruction supervisors and VPS evaluate these needs principales and directors further evaluate and look at facilities and
resources that total is then reviewed with the ba and superintendent Cuts were pushed back and we all redesigned according to those cuts the 2526 budget was constructed with the health benefit waiver
in it is now devastating to now he here that additional cuts are being requested by the board because the board wants the waiver funds out we just don't understand why there are board members not supporting the superintendent and all of us budget managers that know what our students
need it is one thing to manage state aid Cuts but another to know that the board has the ability to keep quality in place for the students in programs and choose not to we don't run the district at a high cost per pupil the reports available to
us show that our cost per pupil is lower than Princeton hell Bridgewater Milburn Bernards East Brunswick and many more why are you willing to sacrifice our quality we see others having to cut security Transportation programs sports
clubs even put in activity fees in we are here to say don't bring us to that the budget has to be reconsidered with sufficient funds that we have the ability to put in place thank you mikee good evening my name is Mike roli
president of the Montgomery Township Education Association I'm here tonight to speak on behalf of the 600 MTA members working in our district as Educators we make sure that our students know that what they do matter matters every day they can choose their
actions and the effects of those decisions affect others regardless of whether they are positive or negative choices tonight the board faes a critical decision tonight you will choose whether you intend to budget the cap or whether once again leave vital
funding on the table as well as vote to pass the healthc care adjustment for the past 2 years you deliberately chose not to reach the cap leaving behind 1.6 million that could have been used in District needs in this
budget for the past two years youve claimed to make this decision on behalf of the community and yet I've never heard once a single Community residence tell you that they want to cut positions increase our class sizes and have pure educational programs just to save a few
bucks and ladies and gentlemen a few bucks is all we are talking about because if you have budgeted to cap the impact on the average home amount Montgomery would have been just $4 a week that's less than a cup of coffee these days I hope that off UPS the cost
of the decreasing home values because your school quality is directly correlated to your home Val considering this your choice is shortsighted and frankly the antithesis of the charge of this board of education has sworn to uphold if you decide to
once again not budget to C use the health benefit adjustment or any available funds then you are making the conscious decision to weaken our school district and water down the quality of Education experience that this community and their children
deserve look look around this room these are the people who care about Montgomery Township School District and about its students and families we cannot abide by the insanity any longer especially as we watch the result the elimination of
valuable teaching positions this past year the MTA leadership simply will not permit you to fund your poor choices on the backs of our members your duty as a board is not just to balance a budget it is to ensure
montgomer students receive the best education possible so tonight make the right choice for Montgomery for our students for the future of this District budget to cap and utilize all of the funds
w w I just want to make one comment before we move to the next section of the agenda this is not final tonight the only choice is to take the budget as it currently is to move it to the county office what happens April 29th that is
fine I just want to point that out the word final was used Choice decision it's not final are there any board member delegate representative reports tonight any representative reports tonight so the only uh representative report
that I would have would be uh to thank some of the community for their uh support and attendance at the mpa dance on um March 14th with the 80s party I know that Mr Rooney was there Mr Romano
was there thank you so much for your support we hope that we raised um a a a good deal of money to help support grants to our special education teachers and scholarships to our special education students thank
you we now move to board committee reports first up assessment curriculum and instruction committee D thank you uh we met both virtually and in person on March 7th um the first line of
business was uh the data collection of the behavioral and emotional screening system this is to identify potential at risk um students um who may need help in real time um those data results are being collated um in a form that will be
ready to be presented at a later date um we also heard about the new lunch and learn series for career exploration um this was the first career exploration event at the high school um during lunch 40 students signed up and
42 actually showed up um which was really neat at this event um we had two presenters one presenter it was a business owner and an HVAC specialist who spoke about the trades in general um and then in the other section session
there was a presenter um sorry who was a used experienc designer 32 students attended that um we partnered with the municipal Alliance Who provided lunch and snacks for the students um we had a survey that went out that indicated that students really
liked it and they appreciated the intimacy of the sessions students were able to ask their own personal questions about their um their uh their what what they were interested in um our second event will be in March where we will
have an engineer um who worked at NASA and a pediatrician come and work and and uh talk with the students we also heard about the winter bowl that took place on February 7th that was the special education class programs um throughout the district combined with the general
education students um and peers for fun activities at LMS the PE teachers met with um the special ed teachers and supervisors prior to the event to plan the types of activities that they wanted um Mr Papa highlighted that this was an
internal um uh example of how the district is communicating um to benefit students to get um both the special education and the general um education students to um mingle in fun um in fun ways we will have a combined
collaboration uh with PE teachers and the special ed staff moving forward um for any changes and enhancements to this program um we also spoke about the principles um and about their inclusive activities for field days for our special education students to ensure
that they will be included in all of the activities on that day Miss Borland then walked us through um textbook recommendations um specifically for um the French program in levels 1 through 4 um these days in education textbooks are
um a rare commodity um many of the textbooks are now digital which means that they expire so multiple resources were reviewed by the teachers along with the supervisor um and they sampled lessons and compare them the purchases to support the content reflected in
2025 all uh 11th grade students are are taking or actually just took March 13th and 14th the uh New Jersey graduation profic proficiency assessment um this is a computer-based assessment aligned with the New Jersey student learning
standards for grades 10 and Ela Algebra 1 and geometry sitting for the test is mandatory um and is the state and New New Jersey State graduation requirement the state typically releases results during the summer once these results are
available individual student reports will be uploaded to Genesis um through the parent portal for parents to view um overall results will be shared publicly at a board meeting in the future we also talked about a
kindergarten screening called cojak um that was administered March 10th um the kindergarten students were really walked through the assessments it was their very first time taking this type of computerized assessment um they were led by they were teacher-driven um and
questions were read out loud in kindergarten our student students only take the screener version of the assessment uh and they only complete section one uh of this three battery test uh again it's formulated as an introduction um to an assessment that
students need to take in 1 through 7eventh grade and it serves as one data point to identify students for voyagers and Expeditions um if parents would like more information on this test or voyagers um information can be found on the district website under the
assessment instruction and curriculum tab then we launched into a conversation about math um and this was generated by questions that came directly to the ACI committee during the February 25th Board of Education meeting there were
questions about the what and the why of the changes that were made to the middle school math program the when ACI minutes from November 2nd 2022 and February 8th 2023 were presented yet again at the ACI
meeting and were read aloud Boe members were informed that these agendas are available on the school board.net the why of the changes the director of curriculum instruction and staff development presented on November 2nd
2022 ACI presentation entitled the middle school math opportunities this presentation explained the multiple data points and additional considerations that drove this change this includes both developmental Readiness and student achievement data the goal to have an
algebra an algebra Foundation to be successful in higher math and improve High School Readiness it was communicated to the board members that the presentation is also available on school board net to to address a uh an
additional concern expressed at the February board meeting regarding the possible impact that our middle school math offerings may have on the upper school high school math courses and the access to the AP Calculus in the 11th grade members of the AC committee were
assured that changes to the middle school math program have no impact on students High School mathematics course offerings the high school program of studies which is available to the community on our website was presented Ed to illustrate a pathway in which n9th
grade students enrolled in Algebra 2 honors are provided the opportunity to be enrolled in AP Calculus BC in their junior year it was explained that there are various math Pathways for high school students and they pursue the path that best serves their math Andor
overall academic abilities and interests in response to an inquiry about enrichment at the elementary level it was explained that in grades K through three we use the program Bridges which has an enrichment opportunity built within the curriculum which means that
instruction is differentiated within the classroom this allows for us to have enrichment be fluid for students similarly the envisions program provides the same enrichment opportunities for our fourth grade students a request was made by the administration of the be of
the board members to provide any additional questions as well as anything formally prepared or presented pertaining to math to them in advance of the April ACA meeting so that it can be addressed any other questions I have
comment so first I really want to express my appreciation for the dedication and hard work of our school administrators and teachers in serving our students over the past years your efforts have significantly contribute to the achievement and the wellbeing of our
students I really thank you all thank second I would like to address some challenges in the curriculum and discussed areas for improvement over the past three ACI meetings from January to March and one of the board meeting in February I post 12 questions related to
ACI topics four were answered and I believe answers to the remaining eight questions of course coming topics around curriculum and program concerns on math science Ela gifted and talented program and the world languages in my comment today I'll focus on the unanswered and
in progress questions in math I as I believe this a critical issue is a warrant further discussion among my fellow board members here our Collective input will be very essential in shaping the curriculum decision for the core subject math for now for today I'll say
so MTH there are three major questions I raised for the advanced Learners and program reader to what extent does the new math program meet the needs of our students what strategies can we Implement to ensure students Thrive contribute and
Elevate the school district overall academic success I recommend the percel grow analysis comparing students in the separate quels 10% 25% 50% 75% and top 10 a top 90% or 95% whatever the end
made the minimum for you to report for each cohor from grade three to 7 in other words I really want to see the gross trend for separate groups national and local present house um this were questions I raised in
the February Boe meeting I did not see that in our March ACI meeting my next question is do we want align with our school district curriculum with higher ad expectations
why I'm asking the My Board fellow this question H so higher before that sorry higher stamp faculty we all received email from um a higher education stamp faculty and I had a frequent
conversation with them too they made recommendations regarding the curriculum adjustment because our school district have 88% of students graduate they enrolled in four-year colleges it is crucial to to incorporate the stam
faculty from R1 University especially their insight to better prepare our students for postsecondary success and I also checked the uh I think good school um data even though we have 88% of
school graduate chose fouryear program not all of them survive through foure what can we do at a school district to help them survive through the fouryear colleges right to be more specific the faculty's recommendations are offering a
very clear pathway for students to finish AP Calculus BC AP Statistics or AP Physics ABC before the fall of senior which is application deadline so this is the cook program I was really hoping to show and use the projector so everyone
knows what I'm talking about and this is my second time to request to use the projector which I told I'm not allowed to I Don't Know by by law why I'm not allowed to use technology to have a meaningful engaged conversation here but this is the diagram I'm talking
about in other words assess to Advanced AP courses such as AP Calculus and AP Physics opportunity that should be made readily available to qualified students in our district and also research indicate that District lineing their K12 math
curriculum with higher education expectations produce graduates who are better prepared for advanced coursework and St related careers as a board we also received concerns from students and parents students submitted a letter to
the Boe highlighting the in inequitable learning opportunities across different cohor more than 50 parents collectively submitted appealing letter advocating for increased learning opportunities for students starting early grade in elementary
schools next I want to talk about the importance of early differentiation in math so I'm also educational researcher specializing in k12's Dam education I I my colleagues frequently participate national conferences and my experience
across Eastern Western and middlewestern School District suggest that early differentation in Mass leads to Stronger Foundation increased engagement and improved long-term outcomes So currently ums offers the most of salary programs for seventh and eighth
graders that's the bottom the boss that means for seventh graders they're allowed to take geometry owner eighth graders they're allowed to take Al to owner but this opportunity is if it's eliminated for the incoming sixth
graders reinstated later will be very challenging so when they did the revised Mass program in 202 I think in 20 2022 then you can see from the school
website you will see they will be no Algebra 2 offered to eighth graders in the future and there will be no geometry honor offered to seventh grader and fifth grader they just math fs and sixth grader there will be no algebra owner
one that the most of salary program basically got eliminated Dr do you have any specific questions related to Bo D's report yes I do so I also heard the summer SCH program for Algebra 2 and geometry
filled up within within very few hours forcing student to learn in just 8 weeks over the summer instead of 180 days during the school year this contradict the goal of building a strong foundation in Mass additionally 1,800 costs for the
summer courses creates an equity issue limitating opportunities for students whose families may not able to afford it or prioritize family time during the summer all we unintentionally is restricting assess to avoid advaned earning I think our district has ability
to align curriculum standards with higher ad expectations starting as early as an mentoring by doing so we can ensure all the students regardless of background have access to rigorous and well constructed academic Pathways Miss Glover with her expensive expertise has
demonstrated how differentiate instruction can begin as early as grade one for example her and her colleagues ID Wayne can you get to your questions regarding the report yes I will Le to my question because right now you are making a presentation and that is not protocol protocol is you have questions
on the report submitted by the chair of the committee okay my question is do report to the board my board fellows do we acknowledge the need to improve the current math program should we consider high at stem faculty recommendation to align on
curriculum with college and Workforce expectations any input I would just want to open the floor for my board members one second um yeah what is the appropriate procedure for this thank you thank thank you Mr President
I thank you Mr President I think unfortunately the procedures of the committee report is misinterpreted by uh the trustee what we need to focus on when we're at this section of the meeting reports are given by the
Committees other trustees who ask questions about the report but all due respect a a sub report has been read as part of this committee report that doesn't necessarily mean that the
trustee doesn't have the ability at appropriate portion of the meeting to express some concerns at the end of the meeting there's a board member comment discussion so to the extent to which a board member wants to raise some concerns about something that was
discussed on either a committee report or something new they want to raise that would be the appropriate time because otherwise we're having a Canon report and I think just a misunderstanding what the proper protocol is so we should
focus other trustees comments on questions to get a better understanding what the committee reports and if a trustee does want to raise any subjects related to that report it will be diverted to theend the board meeting
where section deals with four different comments so that would be the closing discussion of the board if I may just respond directly to um some of um your questions because um as board chair sorry as chair of the ACI
committee I did ask very specifically for you know the the pending questions to be answered at the next ACI meeting um I would like some understanding of what you mean by different like what what is it that proves to you that differentiation is not happening in the classroom and we're also going to focus
on the elementary levels of math instruction at our next ACI so let's continue that that conversation at the closing discussion of the board great those are the three areas any other questions regarding uh board member Dall report thank you here n now move to
operations facilities and finance board member f good evening um the operations finance and Facilities committee met on March 11th the food meeting focus on the budget re we reviewed the proposed
budget and discussed areas that require further evaluation the administration and the board are aligned on prioritizing allocating funds to secure jobs in the district provide need of resources through our students support our
students extracurricular activities and fund needed facilities cost to preserve the beauty and functionality of our facilities and GS the committee discussed the need the need to
reevaluate all third part contract contracts to either renegotiate more favorable rates or to find nonessential contracts that should not be prioritized over the job of our
staff for example over the past 5 years our third body Consulting fees seem to have increased from 1 million to almost $2 million our Administration is looking into Gathering support for the upward
Trend while our student enrolling decreases these CS are increasing at the higher rate than the available increases in the revenues 2 years ago the district looked at the more cost efficient insurance
provider to manage our healthcare insurance cost better the proposal presented to the board and the administration promised that by shifting from the self-insured plan to shift the
district would not see as significant cost increases on the contrary we were to see a 1 million sabling the actual data seem not to align with the expected
results before the switch from being self insured to ship in 22 to 23 um year the healthare cost increased only 2% the following year after we Shi we
switched to Shi the healthare cost went up 6 % and the subsequent year the health calls went 12% the board asked for support of these increases do we have a higher number of
claims what is driving such a dramatic increase I hope within the next month we will be able to gather more information from the broker to better understand what needs to be done next
another area that requires attention is the cost of the substitutes over the past 4 years our cost of substitutes increas 23% on average every day 20 teachers are
that means that every day over 400 students sit in a classroom with a substitute in other words every day 10% of students do not benefit from a teacher L classroom
instructions today the budget presentation is the first draft proposed by the administration we appreciate seeing our staff and the parents attending our meeting today the information presented
is very important to our students staff and taxpayers your engagement is very much appreciated your feedback is very much appreciated the board welcomes comments additional feedback after this
meeting from the staff and the parents to ensure that the revisions that will take place that will take place next month will be properly prior us thank you excuse me with all due respect board member Fel like I that did not sound
like the report that I read that we got in preview of what happened at the meeting I don't have a sense of what you talked about at the meeting that sounds more like what you wanted to project but it didn't sound like your board minutes what meeting it was the off meeting you could not attend the off meeting I
understand but I did receive the notes from the off meeting and it had nothing to do with what you just talked about it was not the notes from the meeting it was just an additional exchange between um the administrator and like you know looking for insights and
explanations of the I guess support of some of the accounts so this is still work in progress I understand that but I thought right now we were giving committee reports in terms of giving exact notes of what was talked about as a committee
to the rest of the board and I'm not sure I understand that I basically reported um what was presented to us the the details of the accounts that were presented to us and
the trends that so perhaps maybe um who is the notetaker for off during committee meetings and if that could be addressed with them because at this point nothing that you
spoke about is listed on the minutes from the meeting I I just I really needed to listen to what you said because it had nothing to do with what was on the report okay thank you I just want that noted okay so
noted okay moving on to policy and Communications committee board member I do have a question oh sorry I apologize Sor that um just a couple things on the budget and I think this is all correlates um with the budget discussion
and I think you know I appreciate the simplification of the budget and just putting into specific categories of how we want to manage it but after hear in the off uh summary I think it would be beneficial and I think that's what you said Andrew we're going to dive deeper
into the Consulting fees it is quite alarming that you know we have been promised I recall this from last year in our insurance space some significant decreases and we're seeing increases so it would be beneficial for us to understand how did we get here and also
you know the third party contracts every uh month we look at the this is you know my my feedback every month we look at the list of consultants and I think some of the board members are familiar with them I'm not I'm not an
education I I I think it would be remiss for us not to dive into that and see where the savings are I'm obviously not for any cuts when it comes to uh school districts but it is concerning that we rely so heavily on the third parties um
and the Consulting um areas in the in the school district having such talented Administration so something for us uh to take a look at um and as far as the notes are concerned I you know notes is just a summary of some of the
discussions I think from what we're seeing with ACI committee what we're seeing in off we are looking for the experts that sit on this board that have the knowledge whether it's you know data analytics or financial background to give us that more of an Insight um I think it's beneficial to all of us to
listen to that right AB do too I think that there are protocols in terms of how we run a board meeting and I think we have to go through the proper channels in terms of when we ask questions how we ask questions and we have to model that for our entire Community I think that's really critical correct so if I have a
question should I save my question comments towards the end of the board meeting if you have a if you have a question specifically regarding a report you can ask that at the report if there's other discussion you would like to have that comes at the end of the board meeting when I ask for any there
any closing discussion for the board okay so like they're talking about this third party contract contractors I quite agree with that is some of the I actually reach out to them to ask what this type of service we provide and how much um you know what are the measurable
outcomes for Ty for this third party we hi them and they Al also I think I offer suggestions like actually NJ doe offers some free resource to uh all the school district in New Jersey 600 and why do we have to pay some third contractor to do
that work just general questions okay so I agree with you is we should take a look what what are the measurable outcomes from some of the programs where we can say and that can be reviewed during off during the that's what that committe is for correct during we're
going to go through you know question regarding I I just for clarification purposes because we've mentioned it a few times what third party contractors I give me an example of one so I know what you are referring to ask the list of
contractors so this is something that I'm hoping that we can maybe take it take a look at all I saw was basically the information that um buiness administrated provided and specific accounts that basically reflect the
balances for Educational Services or facilities I basically gr them all together just so I can understand in toal how the trend develops and this is why I need your input to kind of look into it so we can figure out like what's
really essential what is not maybe it's time for renegotiation of the contract so I for this specific details of the specific contractors I don't have access to the information this is something that I definitely need your assistance
with so I know every month we have under the uh off part of the agenda we have have consultants for services such as doing speech therapy and or speech evaluations let's say or psychological or social and that's just an approval
that doesn't mean that we're actually Contracting with those people because with iups we have time frames and so for example if um we have an inordinate amount of evaluations that need to be done in a specific time period we can't wait for the next board meeting to get a
company approved we have to have them on a rolling basis con but there are companies we don't utilize at all in a year but they're on the Consulting l so I just wanted to make sure that that's not what we we referring to is it contractors or Consultants we're talking about CU we're
using both words well there was a the description and the accounts that were provided are truncated so all you can see is abbreviation Consultants Professional Services fees professional fees so I basically just look at the um
account numbers and I buil them together because they look like you know they open all to the same category so here here's what I'm going to jump in for a second here's what I'm going to say for the sake of the time of the meeting and where we are where this is going you can come to my office I'll
show you every account number and every expense and answer those questions you can look at every bill but like we're right now at 10:30 at night it's not the time we're not going to be able to get the answer to that question I don't know that it's ever the time I'm sorry but we
we also need to trust you and we need to trust superintendent blin and I am 100% certain that some of the consulting firms that you're talking about and I love that you want to give accolades to
our Administration and say how they're so great and they should be doing this stuff in house but they can't they're not always certified to do these things they're not certified to test students to to and those assessments are humongously extensive and so I I I feel
like as a board right now too many of us are getting in the weeds and this is supposed to be a highlevel overarching type of perspective that we are here to listen to ask questions
we're not supposed to be making day-to-day decisions it says it right here in the code of ethics that we all just listen to a training about these people [Music]
are Don't Clap I I I don't I don't need any clapping but you are professionals you have gone to extensive years of schooling for this you have gone to extensive years of schooling for to be a VA I feel like we
are taking the wind out of your s you are have been doing such an amazing job with our students in this district for decades and decades and decades let's with them do their jobs thank you board member sa if we want to carry this discussion on when we can we
can move on at the close move on to policy and Communications committee board member will like a Jour again and fr uh the summary of policies that uh we reviewed one was policy 5460 policy 9
163 it was in regards to high school graduation as well as spectator code of conduct for any Scholastic events on the high school graduation the policy guide has been revised to include new graduation requirements in high school
uh starting now for the uh year 25 26 and 27 uh the board um will require all all students and their parents to apply and complete financial aid applications in the form prescribed by New Jersey higher
education assistance Authority that will be part of the requirement for policy 9163 spectator code of conduct for inter Scholastic events that created a very heated
discussion in our uh session I think we have seen some inappropriate uh Behavior not only uh across the the US so Strauss esate has worked closely with njsiaa and they provided three options
for uh policy 9163 option one is to provide a school district the ability to impose disciplinary action to a persons that are found exhibited on sportsmanlike conduct option two addresses the situation when the person
is immediately removed and option three permits the principal or does it need to suspend a person after a debate in our policy um we decided to keep all three options so depending upon um what
happens during the event all of those things could be enacted uh there's other discussions that have taken place in our uh policy session I think uh one of the areas that we continue hearing the community be
concerned about is our food services they don't seem to be up to the standards of this community so what we will be doing is opening up a food committee um I will be reaching out to folks and we will be doing some um work
on that and Andrew is going to be helping us get into an RFP uh so we can start looking at uh potential options uh me just if I missed anything else going through my
notes um the communication survey uh was done last spring and according to the superintendent it will be utilized on a baseline for next survey which is uh to be conducted this spring of
2025 I think I've covered it all thank you questions on just quickly um do we have a time frame for the food service process yeah I can answer that so essentially there's documentation that I reached out to the Department of Agriculture that I would have to I don't
want to kind of get to into it but that I have I would have to proceed with to entertain moving forth RP because we are in the middle of a 5year contractual agreement so essentially it's a twep
process that you would have to first request being removed out of the contract then after you get that approval with the Department of Agriculture then you can move forward with an RFP so essentially April is usually the month that you renew your
food service to move forward so the challenge is is the timing of doing that and having something in place for the next school year to kind of not go uh too deep in the rabbit hole in this I reached out and I have the basically the
bowl in motion it's just a matter of the time to do it the challenge is I don't know if that's going to happen for July 1st but um based on some feedback that I heard uh it's definitely something that we should be open to that's the best answer I can give you that's terrific thank you and I think Mary you mentioned
too during our session that this that we have some claws that we could get out of and I guess that's what you're just describing right now yes so for the committee Michelle you know I would like to put a committee together whether it's you know just us do we want to bring some parents in so if anyone has any
recommendations I'd like to keep it small I don't want to make it big like what we did last time and really any ideas or Focus or that you know of great Services you know let me know your suggestion of robins from Ood Food Bank
food pantry I did speak with her during the map the dance and she's very very will to I'm assuming we have a list of sort of what's worked and what hasn't worked so that we have you know very targeted um you know a situation where the next person that comes our way that
we're really clear about you know what worked and what didn't work so that we don't get back into this PR again I think what doesn't work is the quality of food right so our Focus for the next one will be to really bring quality options and I think we also have some
discussions we have to do internally on the federal funding associated with it CU that's going to drive a lot of it so we have some some work to do I was just going to say d quality as well y so when you're in the national food lunch program there are restrictions and
essentially when you go out to the RFP you can change the rubric to whatever the hot buttons are for the district so all those options through a conversation are available to be put in formal documents I I would just love to be as preemptive as possible that's great okay thank
you anything else so have we spoke with the current food service provider and and just share the feedback and ask for their import to understand import went wrong because
like originally the the promises were great um of what happens so I have a scheduled meeting but for the sake of respect to the Food Service vendor there's always two sides to every story I'm in the process of that but like for the sake of the Forum that we're at right now I'm going to leave it right
there we're going to move forward okay thank you any other question d uh Human Resources committee met on March 11th uh we talked about the ba position we came down to two final
candidates and superintendent is recommending Mr Andrew Italiano for the board administrative position and we will soon uh pending his approval we will soon be posting for the position of an assistant VA we also talked about the ums principal position um position has
been posted all the feedback about the interim uh principal has been wonderful I think he's still here somewhere there he is all wonderful we have some strong candidates so we are looking to make that position permanent very
soon any questions on HRC 39 this time I'll entertain a motion to approve minutes of February 25 20 February 25th 2025 session in February 25th 2025 business
meeting second been properly moved and seconded to approve the minutes roll call please Mr Tano Dr way yes St yes Spina yes fro
Harris FR sorry I'm sorry I'm going that's why I keep saying the 10:30 going down yes yes I didn't hear you I'm Sorry Miss Fel yes there's Miss Harris all right I got it one for two is not bad so
J again yesan yes Mr to yes thank you the board anales the correspondence of the board this time we'll go to action agenda items public comment the Board of Education welcomes and encourages input from the public
members of the public are allowed one opportunity to address the board regarding the action agenda items only for up to a maximum of 3 minutes per speaker all comments must be directed to the board before you make your comment please State your full name and address and enter both in the Chromebook provided
being mindful of privacy rights regarding students board employees and board members and to avoid any liability on the part of the speaker the board discourages defamatory and discourteous remarks the public comment portions of the meeting are not structured as question and answer sessions but rather
offered as opportunities for the public to share their thoughts with the board the board may need to refer an issue to the superintendent if the issue has not been handled through the appr appropriate chain of command usually starting at the school level responses may be provided at the end of this
session and again this is for Action agenda item only please State the action agenda item number prior to speak um I'm going to address the budget the budget that's 3.7
3.7 uh it's the budget um 3.7 um I'm a development resident and uh I wanted to ask a question I'm not sure if you can answer or if just a stupid question maybe um I know all these apartments are being built are we considering the
potential tax revenue from those buildings before we cut uh budget I mean cut the jobs and then second item I wanted to say that um I know that the Mt president
said that he represents 600 uh people and um the school is on the shoulders of of these teachers yes they do a good great job you can see that on the results but I also want to remind you that you represent thousands of
taxpayers and we don't all live in a million doll homes and we do struggle a lot of people lose jobs and we do suffer paying these high taxes and uh some of us when we have to
sell homes and potential buyers will look at the taxes and they see how much they increase like their one year was almost 6% uh we also going to pay for it so I just want to put it out there if you can
cap it the 2% and protect the taxpayers that would be great thank you any other public comments on the action agenda items any other comments want t please please write your name type your
name and the thank you all right good evening can you take what action agenda item I haven't seen the agenda but I'm uh I want to provide some feedback on the uh curriculum design that that would have to be in public the public on enforcement that's
not action General it the time okay okay thank you any other public comment on the action agenda items are nonpublic comment portion is closed at this time I will entertain a
motion for to approve action items 1.1 through 4 4.3 however we are going to pill out 3.7 and vote on 3.7 separately and just a comment number 3.7 um as it was stated while this is a
preliminary budget and this budget is due to the county tomorrow I as more president can assure you that all options prior will be reviewed prior to the April 29th deadline including uh adding the waiver back into the budget is there do we have a motion on
the floor to accept 1.1 through 4.3 minus 3.7 second been proper move on second toop agenda items 1.1 through 4.3 minus
3.7 any questions on the motion any questions on the motion roll call please Mr okay Dr W no no no question I mean sorry this is roll you caught me off
card um this is a roll call for 1.1 through 4.3 less the budget minus okay do you vote Yes for the resolutions excellent yes M ding Spina yes M Frank Herman yes F yes
Harris yes jigan yes norgan yes to yes thank you motion's carried thank you this time I will entertain a motion on 3.1 3.7 so moved second it's been properly moved to
uh accept action agenda item 3.7 any questions on the motion just for clarification we are voting for this tentative budget because it needs to go to County but we still can make changes including the addition
of the wa that's 100% corre 100% this budget we have to say yes we have to pass this motion this item in order for you to send this budget tentatively budget to the county superintendent tomorrow and then we can make any
changes I'm going to go right ahead and reiterate yes you're correct just like I said before that's why the state has a tenative budget then we talk in the middle changes could be made and then they have to be finalized by April 22th you're 100% correct what's the consequence of
no that is I've never seen that in my life that would be a big problem for this District a big problem I actually I asked my senior peers and they said don't let that happen so I I wouldn't want that would be an embarrassment for
the board if you didn't vote for a tenative budget boards don't vote for a final budget and it goes back to like reduce the tax levy I've never in my 20 years seen somebody not vote for a tenative budget because it's tenative so that that's the best answer
I can give you I have a question um was is there any I know we can make changes from this to the final are there any restricted lines that we cannot change any essentially like I like I stated before the budget submitted to
the county office to be sure stff minimums are in there so that we don't go over our classroom sizes that the minimums are provided for the students so sure like you can't for lack of better articulate gut certain areas because you want to down to zero because the county office will not approve it if
they say you had x amount of dollars worth of textbooks and there's zero and x amount of these types of teachers and there's zero but there's no specific areas that or everything's on the table but you have to have a fair and like basic like education for the students that's at the County office discretion
but everything's up for discussion I hope that makes sense any other questions roll call please Mr chano okay Dr W yes m d yes minina yes Frank Herman yes filac yes
Harris yes jigan yes Moran yes yes thank motion carries Thank you new business from the public the Board of Education welcomes and encour encourages input from the public members of the public are allotted one opportunity to bring any new business to
the board for up to maximum of 3 minutes per speaker all comments must be directed to the board before you make your comment please State your full name and address and enter both on the Chromebook provided being mindful of privacy rights regarding students board employees and board members and to avoid
any potential liability on the part of the speaker the board discourages defamatory and dispar remarks the public comment portions of the meeting are not structured as question answer session board may need to refer an issue to the superintendent the issue has not been handled through the appropriate chain of
command usually started at the school level responses may be provided at the end of this session good evening board members I am Bara IGN and I'm in fourth grade of the bees I feel I'm treated unfairly I am good at
math but my dad told me I cannot do pry B first my brother who's also good in math was able to do prra along with his friends in fifth grade I would like to do prra in fifth grade Al Algebra 1 in 6th grade geometry in 7th grade and
Algebra 2 in 8ighth grade similar to how my brother and his friends said please please do not be unfair to me as fairness is January of character thank you thank you and the gentleman who stood up to an action this is the time for you to make
your comments well join the line all right thank you so good evening so my name is m so uh I'm a professor of accounting and information system at rular spacing School uh so I'd like to take the opportunity to share my perspective as a
high ad educator uh you know particularly from a business school perspective on the curriculum uh particularly on why these mathematics and stamp courses are very crucial nowadays to students that you know even think of business as their majors in
their colleges uh so so like uh first point is you know the business world and the business education has been transformed dramatically in the past few years and across the entire nation like including recers uh basically we are
kind of quickly uh adapting our curriculum to uh incorporate generative AI artificial intelligence data analytics uh and analytical thinking mathematical modeling and real life
problem solving in the curriculum okay and second is the employers are also constantly requesting uh the graduates to be equipped with such skills now particularly in these uh quantitative
and computational skills and turning back to the admission my I myself uh also served as academic director for the master of accountancy and analytics program at rers so turning back to the the mission perspective
now we are actively looking for applicants students applicants that you know have more advanced training solid training in um calculus mathematics uh statistics Computer Sciences uh and even
physics because that's you know exposure of the students to start training in the high school will make sure that they will succeed in the future College training and also in their future career
so uh so from our perspective now we do see this is as a general train that you know more and more colleges are placing more emphasis on the stam related training in high schools and therefore I think you know enhancing such training
in the high school would give our students a cting ad you know relative to the competitors now both in the College admission process and later in their job searching and job placement okay thank
you thank you I really appreciate the faculty from business school also provide this input I think this is really helpful for our uh high school students who are considering applying fouryear colle thank we move on to the next public com so thank
thank uh good evening uh my name is Han I'm here to speak in support of reinstating the M acceleration program in our school district uh at the resident and for many years here and parents of sever kids
I've seen uh in the first hand many students Dr one when they have this opportunity to engage in challenge work the mass acceleration program uh provides the opportunity in the past years helping uh students who are ready
to go beyond their standard curriculum to stay motivated engaged and excited about learning without this program high performance students will feel uh under Challenge and may not reach their full potential we know that our schools have
excellent teachers and they are are very experienced and they have skills to uh needed to support uh students in accelerated accelerated environment and have them succeed we should not waste this resources and should let more uh
students benefit from with their high quality teaching which is very successful in the past years uh I have uh spoken to several parents and students before who go through called this program in currently they in higher
grade and also some of them in college already uh the share experence to me that they have a uh how completing more of the mon math process such as AG in a Grade has been incredible beneficial uh
these students have told me that being able to build their M skill early have uh uh in uh help them succeed in many uh different subjects and also set up them uh uh for future success in higher
education and their careers uh by restating this m servation program uh will not only encourage academic access but we also ensure that our students have this opportunity to succeed and no
matter where they start I ask the call to consider this longterm benefit for this program and bring it back to all the school district thank you thank you hello my name is Cindy I'm here today to talk about why I hope the back acceleration program should be
reinstated in in our school district math accelration programs help students like me who are ready for more challenging work with the acceleration program we can learn more advanced math like geometry in seventh grade which would help us get ready for high school
and Y I've heard from older students that they have successfully completed Algebra 2 by 8th grade and they've told me how helpful their math skills have been in other subjects such as science and biology they said that strong math
skills help them understand complicated Concepts more easily I believe I can do the same if I was given a chance this program also gives us a chance to explore new ways of thinking improve our problem solving skills and build confidence in our abilities by bringing
back the math accelration program the school district can help students stay excited about learning and succeed in the future this is why I hope you could consider being saing the program so students like we can continue to grow and challenge ourselves thank you thank
you hello esteemed guests of the Board of Education of Montgomery my name is arrea and I am here to share my concerns about the accelerated math program in Montgomery I have been in the accelerator program since second grade
in which I was Tak out of taken out of class and pull to third grade math and so forth currently I'm in 8ighth grade and I'm I'm doing algebra too recently um math um this accelerated math program has not only helped my skills in communication but also raised my
intellectual skills I am constantly motivated to um always go to math class and share my studies with my peers outside of school in fact we have a group chat in my in my class and we always share not only what we do in math
and how how we can improve our lessons and make our lessons more fun um math also has helped me do competition math I am personally very interested in competition math and I'm part of the mathr State team which represented Montgomery in the state competition on
Saturday in which we came fourth the highest we've ever been in 8 years so if we want Montgomery to be consistently going to a state competition representing the state in a higher level we should continue the access math program I know there are
some concerns about how there's no um there's no point of continuing this math program as it doesn't affect high school students but the same could be said about music also why don't we quit the music program as anyways most college
students decide to not do music yet consistently in seventh grade right now um some of my friends decides decide to do two orchestras or two of an orchestra in choir class because they are motivated to do music this continuous
interest is the reason why the music program still exists and I feel like if the double accelerator program continues in mcgomery we can make Montgomery a better place thank you thank you good evening everyone I'm uh janani
moan I'm a proud mom of two kids who go to school in our district and I'm a doctor who serve in our uh Board of Health as a board member as well as a mom of a kid who has been benefited with the math program it is actually very sad to know that that program will not be
available for my girl who is also good in math as you all may know that this Saturday or the last Saturday was the state level path counts competition it was such a rewarding experience as a parent to see our school district kids
Excel over the other schools in our you know in our region I'm proud to that ums came forth in the state level mathcon competition and we all should be proud about the achievement that our kids had all the four kids in the team including my son who was actually a part of the
accelerator program was benefited by this whole positive environment and the support system that our school districts provided I can assure you that the changed curriculum and the opportunity you have or you will be having forthcoming years will be very unfair
for my for my daughter as well as for the other kids and it's going to definitely discourage my girl's interest in having the math in her future so I'm hoping that you will reconsider bringing back the same opportunity for my
daughter that my son currently has thank you thank you good evening um I'm the Bish kundu I'm uh talking supp to like the same issue right The Accelerated math program uh my daughter has been gone through
this program and and she is in grade8 I I just wanted to kind of um you know like to point out like at this age young age kids if you motivate the critical thinking process U that helps them to kind of excel in the other curriculums so I have seen my daughter uh going
through this program uh see excels not only maths but other Associated uh subjects and and that helps her to um you know bring the confidence in terms of solving problems or taking any challenges that they they going through at this age right so so definitely I
would say like uh the student who are capable of doing higher maths they should get opportunity because this is one of the good school system that we have and I have known my friends and other friends they are going through this program for other school systems like for example Princeton and others so
I think this will definitely help to kind of motivate the kids who are good at math to kind of go through that and and that will encourage our school systems in terms of compuny bans like AMC others so that they can they can be like you know um they can represent our school systems or our districts in a in
a in a more National level so this will definitely help uh to build the confidence and I just wanted to um you know thank you for the programs the opportunity that my daughter has gone through and I would like to continue or in support of that program for other kids like my daughter thank you thanks
lot good evening good evening board members I'm again uh this is mainly for Bing meaning ACI thing I I don't want to speak today at all I spoke lot last time I I hope the board sees more than
AB calculus or BC calculus our own districts provides an honors program of math after that that goes through V algebra and also teacher multivariable calculus which is needed for data Sciences we also have an IEM program if you don't
know and we also have an AP in research and AP in seminar we two things have added in the current plan that you AC explained to you and you are convinced 11 year taking VC will never do AP in
research AP in seminar I them it is just fake for them that is the piece of P that you putting nobody's using it actually even now try to work through a kids's life someone who takes Orchestra which mean he can take no other he can take no other electives somebody who is
scoring a perfect score imagine mathematics he will do preal Cal AB in 10th Cal C in 11th and he will do one one honors there is no point of this AP Chemistry the first
page look so nice no nobody uses that because there is no pathway and that is how the ACI has made it where it looks nice on paper but not not a single student can go through and something AC can ask tell me the students who have done that one good person if you want to
go George cow he's a graduate from here went to MIT on math represented IMO from Montgomery he went to AC program he did research to MIT primes and mg news talked about it and school feels good
and even now George C is the best mathematician the the downgrade of mathematics if you see students who have gone out of the school district you will see in the past four years whoever is good in math representing School leave the school and go to other private
schools because you there is no opportunity just putting a programmer studies seeing this program is available but not giving a path even if a person gets 100% you don't give a path so I don't even know why print something
which somebody can't get it look at the option to the number number of options to students do look at the number of options to data that you have and that's something you should ask how many PS go to Cornell Colombia do online courses the stress the high schoolers the teachers are here they will tell you how
stress students are that's because the board did not look into it and this act program will reduce stress in students and you basically will improve the Middle School therefore I would appreciate if you look into it and this something ACA can ask questions and good data thank you very much thank you
hello not about about um summer program sorm um so uh last year I missed the enrollment because the classes spilled up quickly so this year I reached out to the supervisor early March and um I was
told that they are not accepting other District students so I waited for the enrollment to start and I went website and there was a it said that they welcome out of District students and there was instructions how to enroll so
I did and then I emailed the supervisor of the store and I let her know here's the link in case other parents uh requested so uh she told me that they are not accepting out of District uh students that she was going to be refund
me excuse me and um then I email her screenshots of the website website and on the website it says students out of District are welcome and there was special way to sign up which I did and
um so I sent her the screenshots and um I left it at that the next morning I woke up I checked the website and all that information was removed overnight and it stated that other District students were not allowed to now enroll
so now I check the website to today and now they're allowed again so I'm wondering how can this uh supervisor I'm guessing she's a teacher also uh just change on her own the website if she was
instructed to do this and I know that the board usually approves the store program in May which hasn't happened for this year yet so I don't know if I've missed discussion about not allowing uh residents of Montgomery at District uh
use public school during the summer so I just wanted to know like what is happening with that and um I have the emails here in case you want to see them you want to thank you any other public comments any other
public comments go once go on twice public comments are now closed superintend any items that you would like to address really wonder questions the question about sore um I do believe did the coordinator reach out to you today
and then we don't do back and forth okay I have spoken uh with someone who was speaking with her and I thought that you were going to be contacted today so you will be contacted tomorrow for clarification do we do we or do we not accept outside so remember
is an Enterprise so I believe that I I you know I don't want to missp thank you all right any other closing items for discussion for the from the I just want to thank all the parents and
Professor from Maran University come here to express your expectations um I would like continue work with my fellows here and ACI members work on this m program issue thank you any other items I have an
item um I just went to New Jersey School Board Association just so we're all on the same page around our roles and responsibilities and the primary role of a school board is to ensure that the school district is well ran this can be
achieved by crafting policies providing guidance and direction to the chief School administrator um and in individual board member cannot make any decisions and their key dual role that we that we all represent here and that is to represent
the concerns of the citizens and taxpayers and parents and the school administrators to represent the need of the students and the school districts the citizens taxpayers parents and Community the relationship between the board and superintendent is
crucial the board sets policies goals and objectives for the district and holds the superintendent responsible for implementing these policies and achieving these goals and the reason I wanted to say it out loud is because we are in this
forum only during this time we are not allowed to communicate in this forum this is our only Forum to have an open discussion so I would hope that we all will allow each other to share our thoughts because we can't do that in any
other way it's the legal guideline that we have this is the only place we meet I appreciate that it's late but when we have things that we want to share when we're making decisions around budget when we want to ask questions because I would like to make an informed decision I would like to understand the details
of things before I agree you grilled me here for an hour on my policy that was okay but today we have a very important decision to make around budgets and we're not allowing each other to speak so I just want to be you know I I just want to be when when did we not allowed
to speak the only only question I asked board member felak was do those reflect the notes of what was what was talked about at the at the committee meeting that's all I asked I never said I guess I'm just trying to say that there's notes which is something that is
discussed and then there's a perspective and ability to have a conversation I think this is the only Forum we have to have fair enough and this is the portion of of conversation when we were reporting out in terms of each one of the Committees that's was the time to report out about what happened at the
committee that's all I was trying to address I never said please don't speak your mind I said during the time that we are reporting out in terms of what happened in each committee I was following the notes and it it just didn't go with what was what was said by Miss filac that's all yeah I think you
know Michelle it's impossible at the end of the meeting to go back to the discussions we've had right so I I would appreciate if we were just a little bit more open-minded in these conversations and listen to what each one of us has to say Anya I was sitting here at the same
time listening to Joanna and looked over at hookie and Michelle both of us said all three of us sat here and said were you on off were you in off did this actually happen because none of it is reflected here I mean it really like
ACI meeting notes is exactly what Michelle reported on PCC is exactly what you report HRC except for personnel issues that are confidential is exactly what Patrick reported on that was a little bit
off what was there on the screen that's that's the only I agree I agree I just one more thing okay because this is something that agree we have the time now to speak about this we are a board of committee right right we we've
made that choice to be a board of committee this is not something that was handed down to us from the state we choose to do so so that we can have these these discussions in committee as well right and then we come here and we're supposed to to to talk about what
happened in those committee meetings if we're going to change that and it's going to become a 2hour you know debate about what happened in committee meetings uh we should just be a board of the whole and we'll sit here for 7 hours every
month like that's the choice I just just to speak about my own opinion I just feel like we need to put it into very specific buckets because the committee reports to me is the committee voice right this is the time to have your own personal voice and I think I think I
agree with you Ana we've had many conversations about we don't have a venue to be able to have open discussion but I feel like committee reports need to reflect what was talked about at the committee because that's not your opinion that's what was talked about as a committee and we have to really be
careful about reporting out so that everybody on this board has a voice I think that's really I would challenge us to take this time at the end of the meeting fair enough I mean and have a discussion whether it's about ACI and some of your findings whether it's about
policy or whether it's about off right so I don't want us to be rushed off I think this is important part of our time together to have those level of discussions and just one more comment Maria to your trust I trust right but these are our employees so we need to
make sure that the there's a a function being performed and that we have you know just a correction we the board has one employe one employ one employee that's I think sometimes that often forgotten understood but but that employee is responsible for answering
the questions right so I think we've asked for clarity in terms of the the budget because it is such an important decision that we're making and you know um Andrew has offered that to us so I think it's important for us in this next month to be really critical about the questions that we're asking and to you
know to to seek answers I 100% agree with you I think it's a really important process that we're going through let me individually or we me again question yeah so in what format do
we meet figure it out time permitting okay I do have right I have two other regular jobs that I do every day besides the budget and I think go through Mary she's the pro she's the superintendent us as board members should go through her if we want to instruct any other Mar
and I are going to sit with each of you I'm not doing this by myself with anybody so that's how that's going to work and remember this yeah this portion of the meeting is available every single month it is up to each board member if they have an issue to discuss to use
this time okay so I don't deny anyone this time to speak about any issue that they that is on their mind I ask for this every single month I I think we also have to remember though that there is a protocol in terms of asking questions at the committee level making sure that questions are
being asked and answered by you know on the parent level to the to the immediate teacher then to the immediate principal then to the immediate there is a very specific chain of command that I think we need to as board members make sure that parents are availing themselves to
all of the um all of the resources right so if community members are reaching out to you let's say about the math program I think that you need to start by advising community members
that's what they did to to go to the schools and I generally care about this topic too that's why I present that and I don't think our math curriculum meet the standards of R1 universities faculties expectation at all are we risking 88% of our school district grad
or we want do we want to risk there that's General that's why I want to bring this issue on the board because I found it very difficult to have this conversation with ACI they have ACI have their rular meetings you know that they have run down they need go through after
the meeting leave me know Q&A time oh dang that that's not true we've had lots of Q&A time we've and you've had and you've had individual conversations with Miss Portland yes and we disagree with that okay that's a different question you may disagree but you definitely had
more than enough time to ask all of your questions and to get them answer they didn't ask all but please don't say you didn't have time for Q&A because that is not true um you may not you may disagree with the with the answers that's a different story but did get your times okay okay
fair enough any other items for discussion I have a question first pleas my question I want to make a comment so uh in response to your comment about the notes from the off uh meeting being
very skim I have to just you know be understanding because you know Eng right now is like really really overworked when you look at the detail of the above Notes 2 years
ago it was very detailed very you know informative but as time progressed for some reason the length and the details of the notes from
the whole committee meeting keep becoming more and more generic so yes the notes are maybe like four statements but the meeting was over now so you can imagine that we discuss much
more than just those four statements that you read in the notes I did discuss that issue with the superintendent numerous times because I did ask her why you know over time the details of our of
notes keeps decreasing I found very informative to read the notes from like four years ago 5 years ago that's how I became like more ver and informed about what was happening so I would not jump
into wrong conclusions so so I do value your point but I have no bearing on how detailed that both notes are my question though is about the
curriculum So reading the emails that we received from the from the parents hearing board member one about how much time and you know she
spent h analyzing data and trying to understand what is the best course for our students hearing the students themselves parents explaining to us that
the program that we had in place for years that made Montgomery successful that put montgomary on the map in the C math competitions that
allowed our students to go into more advanced science classes math classes and then become successful and you know seek after s after candidates for
really um iding schools like MIT like Princeton why are we even considering changing the program because once we eliminated and we shut
the door of the opportunity for the uh students to take more advanced ma math classes the next thing that we will see is elimination of those Advanced courses in high school what will happen then
they will that our students will not compete in that competitions so we are really shutting like we are almost like destroying the program that works well currently and really benefited our district so I
really do not understand the benefit of changing something that is really appreciated worked really well and I do not see the benefit for our students of making that switch wa I just can you just reiterate the
dates of the board meetings that we should go back to yeah toie I do I do ask you to go back to the board meetings I don't I don't want to speak out of turn but I can tell you that where where is it that it that that it's proven that students are not being
a differentiated in terms of their instruction and B challenged like th those two I think need to be answered secondly there is data and they the math Specialists that work at the schools went back to really look at students student progression student growth and
what is it that they're mastering they have to be able to master foundational skills to be able to move to the next level but nowhere is it documented that students are not being given opportunities to be challenged and to and to have differentiative instruction in the classroom it might it might be
called something different but the differentiation is happening in the classroom not not enough what is not enough what is not enough B one has been eliminated and when you compare this one why I'm sharing the SL those are just
names of courses those that's not differentiation okay whatever you want to call that the most of salary program is being eliminated what they make the changes is here and you can see as I mentioned too is grade seven geometry honor is not offered in the new ums
program for the upcoming Rising grade six students grade eight algebra to is not going to be honored offered in the future currently exist it's because the current seven graders and eighth graders they still have this program but the
upcoming Rising sixth graders and future cohor they don't do that anymore I mean I I I think that our again I think that our math I think that our math supervisor our director of curriculum our ass superintendent of curriculum
mayor needs to answer these questions um we need to go back did you rewatch those board I all this information you presented at the board has I did not received any extra information presented a febr board meeting I spent hours talk thinking about this and talking with
people in exper field I disagree what she said but that's the thing is that it's a disagreement you may not agree but this does not make I don't want to get in the house I want to get over the general direction what direction as a school district we want to go do we want
to align our expectation with the higher ed expectation or we say no we don't want what higher expectations do you think wait which Institutes of higher education have turned down our students because our program is not aligned with
what they need for UC do you want to take see taking effect after 5 years and then say oops they missed a chance and then come back and fix problem right now what I want to know what also what hang on what
courses at the high school graduation level have been eliminated none that's why they pushing student at grade 8 to take the summer Soul program that's I mention in my talk too they might not be ready for geometry in great States you
say why they're not ready you developmentally every why you don't think they're developmentally why we can't start no that's not the number if you I don't know but I mean you're talking about like super duper
exceptional kids and yes we need to IND iagree when you see the gross chart you can see that I can see already see that from the state assessment results over our state we have different opinion on this and as a decision I can see that
we have to support the districts we support district and I can tell you the goal I don't think that's we we are L align our curriculum with the higher ad expectations we limited a lot of students learning opportunities here I
have a question listening to this so I was wondering board member has some new questions and we are saying that we we are taking the recommendations of M supervisors
right so I was wondering if the board member can directly talk to the supervis she did she said she doesn't agree with ite she doesn't agree
um is one sitting or two sittings I'm sure she needs more opportunity to explain why she thinks why she right cannot be in one setting maybe she needs more explanation maybe she needs to
explain super more I I feel like like on your saying that this is the only place where we discuss and I do see the frustration from board member because I gu she put in a lot of effort into it even though we may not agree with that
but she needs to be completely explained why we are doing what we doing because she has her own data analysis so I'm thinking that maybe few more times if she sits with the supervisor and you
know superintendent and all maybe there may something may come out of it may not be the full level of in a in a in the middle ground somewhere but in the meim I do think that we do need to follow protocol and we can't have we can't
have pres like extension presentations after committee reports we need to go through the the the protocol of setting up meeting times either ing committee or at another time that's not now in the
board meeting for that I I will say and I I I think you'll meet me here is that we have made time for the these questions in ACI we will continue to make room and time for these questions in ACI I've already spoken with um Mr Papa asking him to really give us sort
of the specific analysis of our elementary level because I think that's where you're starting from in terms of how we're how we're differentiating instruction and how we're meeting the needs of our highest Learners at the lower grades so that will be the next chapter of our discussion so these
discussions are going on I do want to be very clear about saying though that the what and the why in terms of what the programming is and why it was changed was addressed and that we're not going to continue to go back and forth on because it is what it is like it it we
explain the what and we explain the why if we differ you know then we have to reconcile that but in terms of ask asking and answering questions we will absolutely make the time to do that and it will be continue to be discussed as you said in aior it will be continue to
be discuss in ACI and and again I we I've already discussed with Mr Papa of having that Elementary School level you know address because I can't speak to the program I don't work here I don't you know I don't EXA what I do know is what you know what the proper math mathematical educational you know
programming should look like in a middle school level I've been told and I trust that different you know instruction is happening at every level to be able to meet the needs of all of our Learners because that is our responsibility as a board is to make sure that we are meeting the needs of
all of our Learners um I hope that parents that are disgruntled are going to their teacher and then they're going to their principal and then they're going to the math special specialist to talk specifically about their child not about 50 kids about their child because a a teacher can only address the needs
of their child so that's what we need to do being a part of AC and Michelle maybe we can have this conversation too at the next meeting just to kind of piggy back what Ria said about Dev Dev mentally appropriate the math programs you know what students are ready for I have seen
an experience that there are students in our district that go to places like Kuman and they start learning math concepts that are not what's part of our curriculum it's going they're going ahead so that's skewing things as well and then all of a sudden there's a
handful of families perhaps um that are seeking this different programs so again just more conversations to have because again we of course want to meet everyone's needs but I think there's a lot of variables to consider and just talk about a lot of conversations to be
had in ECI but that was just a thought as well all right any other items sure I have one more um just to add to that I think what I've been hearing from the community though is a little different I think what I'm hearing is that one of my
kidss went through this program and my other kid is not going through this program and I'm seeing the difference so I think it's worth for us to really they're not seeing the difference yet sorry Ona because the second child hasn't gone through the program yet so they're anticipating that they're you know that that they're not going to be
challenged in the right way and I think it's really really critical for us to say it's an individual experience for every child just because the course isn't called whatever it's called I mean I even asked is it actually called an accelerated program it's not even called an accelerated program and never was so what does that look like for that child
and are we meeting the needs of the next child that's the important question are we meeting the needs of that child the other question I have is um I know that program was one of the attractions of Montgomery what do we know what the name of this program is that we're talking
about now it's not called the accelerated program the Bott one at sixth grader you offered outro one honor and seventh grader honored geometry it's a triple Accel acceleration program essentially because you're talking about
3 years ahead in a curricular than a typical student three year had so we had fourth graders in a sixth grade curriculum no so what happens is nothing changes until you hit fifth grade and
then in fifth grade you skip fifth grade math and sixth grade math and go straight into pre-algebra seventh and eighth grade math and then in sixth grade go into algebra so that is what happens right and you're so you're still
getting to the same place these younger but you're getting to that place and missing the foundational SK that's what we noticed right so we which was my understanding but again I I think we need to address so much I think depends on how teacher teach that's beyond my
question right into how the what is also in elementary um that's Mr Glover they put on Jason with grade one she she and her colleague identify the you know capable students put together learn with grade two students and grade two pull
them together to learn some curriculum at grade three adjacent level not jumping three grades okay and that opportunity first got eliminated and now we know that for a fact that that's that's not happening no not anymore not anymore not in elementary that learning
opportunity for the every call does not exist anymore from grade one to it's gone and then go to I don't know don't okay so again I asked for I ask for us to get a good sense of the elementary and in terms of how we're
differentiating inst struction and how we're meeting the needs of the students that are in front of us I think it's important to help build the strong Foundation as early as possible not get into the we're saying exactly the same thing we're saying High School punch them over the summer time to take this
courses to meet the stand faculty from ran University's expectation and take the risk of rwn student cannot get into top tier univ how are other districts doing it then is no District in the yes it's brwi I think in that faculty letter he mentioned a lot of the school
district doing that West Windsor is brown they're all doing that no what they do is they do a different course sequence they do algebra one then Algebra 2 then geometry they do a different course sequence they do they do it SE Al is where our kids are in geometry
any other items hearing none I entertain a motion to adjourn so move second proper moving second to adjourn all those in favor any questions all those in favor stay I all those same right
exension members of the community thank you allti thank you for coming out