Say hi. Good evening. Welcome to a meeting of the Mountai Board of Education. In accordance with the state sunshine law and state regulations, adequate notice of this meeting was provided by mailing a notice of the time, date, location, and instructions for accessing the
meeting to the Union County local source and the Westfield leader. Filing the same with the burough clerk, posting the notice at the main access door of the Mountainside Board of Education building, and on the Mountainside Board of Education website. These meetings are reserved for board deliberation and for
review of items contained within the agenda. The board reserves a right to vote on action items. The board welcomes the participation of interested individuals. We encourage questions about specific school practices, incidents, or events to be brought directly to school administration.
Public comment will be permitted at the beginning of the meeting for agenda items only. Each participant is asked to give his or her name and address prior to making a statement. In addition, time will be allotted at the end of the meeting for public comment on any item.
Speakers shall limit their comments to three minutes. Roll call, please. Bill Dylan, I'm here. Michael Goodwin, here. Danny Gu, I'm also here. Jordan, here. Vivian Poop, here. Candace, here. Carmine Venice here. At this time, I
would like a motion to go into executive session. It's 6:31. So moved. We will we will return in an hour. All those in favor? I I oppos. Motion carries. We'll be back. concert outside.
Good evening. We are returning from our executive session. It's 7:40 um and we will continue with the rest of our meeting. Can we please stand to salute the flag? I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the
republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Can I please get a motion to approve um our minutes from last month? Motion.
Second. Any comments or questions? Roll call, please. Bill Dylan, yes. Mike Goodwin, yes. Danny Guys, yes. Jordan Hyman, uh, I'm going to abstain. I was not present last meeting.
Vivian Poop, yes. Candaceiano, um, I'm going to abstain. I was not last meeting. Carmine Venice. Yes. At this time, I'm opening up the floor for public participation on any items that we will be voting on. Please come up to the podium. State your name, address. Seeing none, we're moving on.
I do not have a president's report and I'll hand it over to Mrs. Walling. We're going to start with Mrs. Verling so she can present a state of the schools at Beachwood
computer that will work. Okay. [Music] Yeah. What's the way? [Music] Thank you for having me tonight everybody. It is my pleasure to be here
and talk about what has been new in 202425 this year at Beachwood School. So it is always I'm always trying to strike the right balance between sharing some exciting data points as well as
bringing some of our wonderful traditions to life for you. So to that end uh I wanted to first start by sharing how we have really been focusing our
intervention in order to support some of our struggling needs specifically in literacy in some new ways that has been having a really positive impact on the students. So uh our AIM support AIM is
the basic skills program that is directly tied to our 95% group phonics program so that the students who are getting that tier one instruction on a day-to-day basis in
their classroom and need a little extra support that reinforcement is happening in AIM where there were some holes that we were recognizing is that phonics is not necessarily the one and only place
students may be having uh some struggles. And so we now through our I Ready partners have some additional screening that our reading specialist has
partnered with our our teachers and our literacy team in order to universally screen every student in a much more robust manner than had been done in the past to meet dyslexia screening and other reading
disability requirements. And as a as a result, we now have an additional component that we are able to service our students with. And that is a really exciting new development. Um, oh, this is going to be
really hard for me to see, but I wanted to show you because we are at this point in the year, we we don't have our endofear data, which is really what we're looking to compare, you know, beginning of year to end of year. So, what I wanted to show you because obviously, you know, from the beginning
of the year to the middle of the year, you're going to see growth, but I wanted you to see what our new approaches within support have been doing, comparing a as much apples to apples as I could. So what you're looking at is
grade one reading fall to winter this school year on the top and then compared to last year on the bottom. And as you can see that dark green is where we want to see the majority of our students. Um
that has grown pretty significantly. I I'm sorry I can't read those numbers from here from 38 to 57. 38 to 57. So I mean that is really year over year huge. And in grade two we have also had
similar growth. I believe it's 49 to 59% in that dark green category. So in in math obvious this obviously we we are looking at improving our math overall. Um, we've seen a big
jump with our first graders, a little less so with our second graders. However, a lot of this we know from past experience is tied to the timing of this winter benchmark and we will see the
gains that we expect to see from our second graders um come that endofear benchmark. So this is this is not concerning. Um but there has been another uh advance I would like to share in terms of what our
teachers are doing to target their students growth again using I Ready and the personal pathways. Um really the logistics were a barrier in terms
of getting to the place where we were expecting in terms of minutes practiced on their personal pathway and that has been overcome over the course of this year. So I am very excited to compare our endofear data
this year to last year and beyond. Uh I wanted to talk about just real I don't mean to interrupt. C can you just clarify the is the dark green is that like proficient is that like um like what? So the I Ready terminology that
would be on early on level. So it's based on where they're supposed to get by the end of the year. So okay, it's a the red is like signi think the best way to think about it because the the names that they
use are a little bit confusing. Think of it as the red is is far below those are significantly at risk students. The yellow is approaching. The light green
is I'm sorry. The yellow is below. And the light green is approaching. The dark green is where you want the students to be. That would be on or above. Got it. All right. Any other questions about this?
Okay. All right. So, Beachwood Cares is not new, but what is new is really looking to connect Beachwood Cares to our mission, goals, and beliefs in a meaningful way to our students as
well as our family. Um, you may recall this is a homegrown character education program that stands for cooperation, appreciation, responsibility, expressing emotions, and self-control and is
guiding the learning that is happening on a weekly basis. There's a social skills period that has been built into each teacher schedules that can be reserved for this explicit teaching. So, we begin the year with a C4
cooperation, which lays out how all of our students are going to be getting along as a classroom community. Um, nothing terribly new here, but great opportunity to show off some of our adorable beachwood
bears. A for appreciation. We are really working to connect that appreciation is not being thankful and grateful as much as it is appreciating that we are all special and
unique. So this is really uh where a lot of empathy and appreciation for each of our unique personalities, backgrounds,
cultures and and encouraging our community to share. So this is something that on almost I would say almost at least every month there are families who are volunteering to come in and share in
a meaningful way with their child's classroom or grade level whether it's through community helpers coming in around particular holidays. um opportunities to connect with
nationwide appreciations like neurodeiversity. Um we also brought in a speaker who was an author uh in that bottom kind of center picture. We brought in an author,
Alisandre Cascarano, who shared uh a book with her that was all about empowerment and confidence and finding your own voice,
which was a wonderful addition to our character education. taking on responsibility. Even though we we do two two months per letter, really responsibility could almost take over the whole year. Um focusing in on taking
responsibility for your words and actions and understanding how they impact others um really is our mission. Uh that's what we are hoping every single child walking out of this school and heading over to
Deerfield is going to be taking with them and understanding how they they're how powerful they are as an individual. Our challenge is how to express ourselves in an appropriate
manner. Um, we have spent a lot of time in ways that can be accessible to the kids to help them be able to name their emotions. Uh so that when they are communicating with their peers or with
the adults at school, they're able to use specific language to better explain how they are feeling, what they are experiencing so that they can advocate for themsel and be clear about what they need from others. Um giving kids this
vocabulary is really the focus of of those couple of months. and timely for the end of year. Spring fever has certainly hit. Letter S is for self-control. And I chose um the picture
of the kids sitting in the circle is really special because there were some kindergarteners and second graders who were outside playing at the same time. And that second grade who's that little girl whose back is to
us standing up was near some of the kindergarten teachers and she heard one child after another come up to the teachers, you know, talking about how they weren't able to get along. You know, this one was having a problem with that one and, you know, this one wasn't
playing fair and so on. And so the second grader had made a comment that um she remembers back then when she didn't know how to do these things, but
now she's learned because she's a big second grader. And one of the teachers said, "Well, you know, why don't you try and teach these kids?" So what happened was all those kids who they were all from different classes, whoever was interested sat down in a circle to be
her class and she taught them how to get along when you're playing a game. And then they ended up playing like duck duck goose or something and she had shown everybody how to take turns. And it was just one of those magic moments
where it was all coming together. So community community engagement is obviously not something that is new to this town, but really bringing these
community people into the school in meaningful ways where they really had the opportunity to get to know the students and talk with the students and bring learning to life has been a a major focus and missing from this page.
Um our seniors who had joined us from the senior center. We had started that last year and had a a small handful and the word got out and unfortunately I didn't have any pictures of of our guest
readers but we had a number of seniors join us. Um, so whether it's for a special opportunity like ReadAcross America where we were helping everybody from our custodians to uh central office
people, our cafeteria workers bringing the K bringing these people who are faces to our students into their actual educational life. um has been a really meaningful way to to expand
horizons back and forth. And we our firefighters, they always come for fire safety week. They do their presentation and show the fire truck, which is always um you know, very exciting. Um, but it's a totally different experience when they
join us in a classroom with a book and come and sit with a group of students and get to know each other's names and uh it's something that we really look forward to continuing. And again, it's it's one of those things that, you know,
it was a first this year and and and I expect it to continue growing. We have also uh engaged with some other local community groups like scouting troops in really meaningful ways that
have very directly benefited our school. So, the Beachwood Garden was in dire need of repair and Connor Bailey, a Deerfield student, um, selected
Beachwood as his Eagle Scout project, did all of the fundraising, handled all of the communication. He was so impressive because it was all him. you know, adults were copied on all the emails, but from start to finish, it was
him and together we figured out um the scope of the project. Um the upper left corner um that was taking place over spring break. Um they completely rebuilt the
rotted garden beds, added enhancements that are already impacting instruction. Like in the corner in the lower left is one of our teachers talking to her class about how you can tell the time using a sund dial which is a new addition thanks to
Connor. Um the garden was just planted this week. And again this was this was um this was a a committee that had become a committee of one. Uh and over the years there there had been
no Beachwood uh community members who were taking part. Um we had identified somebody over the summer and it is now a very robust committee with tons of
volunteers. And I wanted to share um this was an opportunity, another opportunity to bring parents into the school just talking about how meaningful
of a day it was and and at the end it was such a joy to be a part of something that brought so much excitement and discovery to the students and that truly is what it is all about. So also doing our part and in alignment with the
mission is doing doing our part for the world and for others. So we have over the course of the year raised money for a homeless shelter by donating hundreds and hundreds of socks is Mrs. Wallen. Can you read the number?
659 pairs. 659 pairs of socks. Um, we do a Superb Bowl food drive which Mr. Gormley had initiated and brand new just a couple weeks ago. Uh, we were the
recipients of a fruitful fruitful trees grant which is something new offered by Union County. Um and one of our parent reps is there accepting this grant in the lower right corner um that we just received. And
that in addition to the ArborJ tree that is donated um this will be a whole new uh streamline of of funding. And uh this
partnership is also leading to a grant through the agricultural department which we are going to be working on and submitting in the next two weeks. Um our big one is for the American Heart Association, the Kids Heart Challenge. We raised over
$38,000 which blew our goal of 30, which I thought was really high, out of the water. And you know, again, this is just one of those magical win scenarios. Um, old and new traditions
alive and well, we are we are busy every week of the year. Um, new this year was a winter concert for our kindergarteners. That has never um been taken place in in quite some time and
that has now been brought back. So, all three of our grade levels, K through two, have both a winter and spring concert. Huge thank yous to the PTO. We got a facelift this year. Um, you can
see the kids in the bottom center pointing to our new Beachwood school sign that looks very reflective of the elementary school, the early elementary school that we are. as well as in the lower right corner is a new sign outside
of the main entrance. We got rugs. Uh they brought in for anti-bullying week and assembly. Of course, they run the book fair and so much more. You know what the PTO does.
All right. Thank you. Thank you. You are very welcome. Very nice. Any questions for Mrs. Dling or anything? No, looks great. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for keeping it busy and keeping it all straight as we go into those last
stretches. Yes, it's going to be very busy for everybody, but all enjoyed. And the concert today was lovely. Even though it had to go indoors, all the parents came and enjoyed. And uh Mr. Mula did a
fabulous job as he begins concert season. So we are going from that to th Thursday night is the first and second grade concert here. Second grade this Thursday night here. No. And then uh following up the uh the bike rodeo. I
don't know Dana if you're going to need to make a visit to the bike rodeo. It's been I know you missed that but that will be coming up very shortly along with many other activities that are happening. Um our older grade concerts are happening over the next
couple of weeks. So, I will keep the board informed of those dates as well as all of these. Um, so thank you very much, Mrs. Verling, for putting that together for us. We appreciate it. Um, just a quick Yeah, I guess comment. Um, it was great to see the scouts and the
Eagle project here. Um, I know that they're always looking for ideas, so um, it's up to the scout to kind of lead it, but if there was ever something that was in disrepair or there was now that you've got a flavor for what is possible, um, anything that you wanted to pass along? uh for the not next
upcoming group of Eagle Scouts to consider. Um let's coordinate with Mr. Healey U because it's a good partnership and and I think everybody likes to see them come alive. I you know having those those projects especially on the school grounds is is really really awesome. So
um you know just an opportunity to potentially partner a little bit more with them. The Girl Scouts did the um birdhouses, right? Yeah. Across both. Yeah. There was another picture. I didn't go into detail about it, but it was Deerfield and Beachwood all
combined. And they built a bird condominium for for the Ark, which was, you know, a big a big initiative that we established last year. So, that's a reing space
that's on the property and now it will welcome birds as well. And they're adorning the outside of the garden as well, the extras. So we partner to see fifth grade girl scouts. We partnered with the second grade girl scouts and did the bird houses in the art. Perfect.
Yeah. It's amazing to see it all come to life. Yeah. Yeah. So I I felt like I was rambling. But for for the hour for responsibility I So the kids who were pictured that is part of as you may recall teddy bear day. Part of that
partnership is bringing the second grades to buddy with the kindergarteners and that in in so many ways like that that happens now throughout the whole year. You know, the teddy bear day is a component of it
where they're actually next this and next week going to plan the the kindergarteners teddy bear together, but um they have buddy classes. So now they get together regularly and do get to know you activities and opportunities
where the second graders are always looking to you know in their wisdom Thank you very much. Thank you. Um, in addition to all of the these activities, I mean May and June, we know
we just blink and it flies. We had Washington DC last week. So, our eighth graders went, Mr. uh, Goodwin went along and hopefully has gotten a little bit of sleep. Hopefully, the students of I know three of you had students who went. Hopefully they came back having had a
positive experience. Hopefully they enjoyed. The weather really did hold out for them and just as always it's amazing to to have this opportunity. The kids got to see so much down there and they just run from from the minute they get
on those buses at 5:30 6:00 in the morning until they come home at what is it? I'm not sure what time you guys pulled in whether it was 9 or 10 o'clock after 10. Yeah. After 10 the following the following day. So, it is a jam-packed 48 hours. Huge thank you to the staff who went, Mr. Young for
organizing it each year. Um, and the many parent volunteers who really made this possible. So, I hope that I hope that you had a good time. I did. I did. I I was very impressed not only by how organized it is, but to your point, how
much they pack in in a two-day period, but I was overly impressed by the kids and the students. They were very well behaved. They were hugely respectful in a place, you know, our capital where
they, you know, there's different spots of honor and and where you need to be respectful and on your best behavior. And um in my eyes, it was 100% as as good as it could go. Um so I was very very I was expecting maybe a little
different. Um but I was I was very impressed. And that that goes to how organized and how well the staff did in getting and I mean this is probably a welloiled machine at this point. Um but it's it's a really nice opportunity for the eighth graders. A great trip for
them to to not only learn but um to be a part of uh before they graduate. Yeah. You you had such a good time. You signed up for next year. I have two more. Right, Carmine? So maybe if I if I did an okay job, they'll let me come back, right?
Absolutely. On top of that, this is testing month. So, Deerfield has been testing for NJSLA since uh they officially I asked Mrs. Goldbeck today, they are just a little bit past the halfway point. So, our all of our middle school has
completed their testing. The fifth graders are testing. They test a little bit longer. They have a longer window because fifth grade has the science portion which is only done at fifth grade and eighth grade and then next week will be third and fourth grade and
then they get into makeups and we'll finish by the end of the month within the time window. But kudos to both Mrs. Chrisully and Mrs. Goldbeck for the extensive hours and the time and the organization of really working through
the testing accommodations. I happened to walk by a student today who had his arm in a cast and the minute I saw it I thought yes I feel very very sorry for the child for whatever happened to break his arm but as a as a former test coordinator I thought oh my gosh what accommodation does he need was this
planned for does is this his writing hand does he now need to have a scribe and all of the pieces that go into testing um as we go through it but they're really the students are being very uh respectful throughout the building as well because as you
transition past classes who are testing. Um, really trying to keep that keep that in line with everything else that we've got going. Mr. uh, Rosen Blum and his chorus were spent Mother's Day at Sha Stadium. I believe that's I know that
Dana you were there. I'm not sure. And Mr. Goodwin, you're constantly on the road. And Mr. Dylan. There you go. So, we had a good representation. Wouldn't let me sing though. It didn't. I'm so sorry. Tried. Yeah. But the kids said that they had a good time and it seemed
I mean it was a beautiful day for it and so that was again just opportunities for our for our district to shine in so many different ways. So very very pleased with that. Uh lots and lots coming up. Please keep an eye on my weekly notes to
you. I will keep them updated with events that are happening. All are welcome to the concerts that are up and coming. uh the different events, the eighth grade papa palooas of everything that will be coming um and hoping for
nice weather for everything uh as we go. So, so much is going on with it. I know um Miss Castro, who's been helping with the sports, was looking at the weather this week and just shaking her head over the baseball and softball games that need to be rescheduled, trying to
reschedule again, what the weather is going to be like, and running short on time. So fitting in as many of them as possible so that our students are participating and getting those opportunities. Um the only other part of my report is a statutory requirement to
share. Earlier in the year I shared with you our um self evaluation for our anti-bullying grades. Those grades have become official. They will now be posted on the district website. Um, and as shared out with you previously, there's
a maximum of 78 points. Deerfield had 71 and Beachwood 72. So, showing that we are meeting all of our goals across the board and even exceeding in some areas, which is where th those points give us
and where we fall in that. Um, that's what I have. Thank you. And now from a business administrator. Yeah. A couple things. Um so we have three seats uh on the board that are up for election in November. Um the
petitions are due to the Union County Clerk by Monday. I think it's a Monday, July 28th. Um so for anybody that's interested, um and any information you need can also be obtained from the Union County Clerk. Um we have a lot May and
June you'll see a lot of approvals for contracts on the agenda. Most of them are um normal yearly contracts. I just want to point out a couple that are on for tonight. Um we're approving a contract for a firewall for our um our network
and 40% of that is being paid for from the -ate program which is a federal program, federal grant. Um, we're also asking you to approve a contract to solutions architecture for a facilities audit and a capacity analysis. And that was discussed in facilities and they're
going to if you approve it tonight, they're going to start that um pretty soon. So, we should have uh that report relatively in a short time period. Thank you. Moving on now to Berkeley Heights, Mr. Dylan. Sure. Um, so in
April and May, our meetings are usually close together because of the late budgeting from an April perspective. So our last mountainside meeting was 429. Uh, we did have a Berkeley Heights Board of Education meeting on 51. Um, that was a special meeting um really centered
around the transition of the new superintendent up at Berkeley Heights. So with part of the contract where uh Brookley Heights uh who who is it that uh clearly works for NJSBA. Yeah. Right. So because they
were hired as a search firm to bring in the superintendent um a lot of services came along with it that included um an evaluation of how they don't use the same evaluation system that we do the online um that we do for Mrs. Walling. Right. taking them through that
assessment, how to do it, what's the best way, uh the timelines and how it has to pass to everyone and hopefully everybody gets their evaluations done and how long that takes. And so we went through a whole training on that. Um we are also going to conduct a five-year strategic plan, the exact same one that
they did for us here. U just what are the mechanics? Um are we should we all come as board members? Should we all come as residents? everything that we went through was just the the guidance and it was it was good for us to have gone through it and be able to provide a little bit of guidance. Uh and I
encourage you know that we as mountainside uh residents are invited to go join right so if you found value in that and I think a lot of us did at the end of the day um you know they're going to have one up there as well. We were we're invited to participate um uh and then just an overall transition plan
right helping her on board what should we be looking for as a board um so on and so forth. So that was a majority of the 51 meeting. Um we're lucky enough that they also have their next upcoming meeting on uh Thursday, which is the 15th. So just some bullet points. Uh I
was reviewing the agenda today, the public the one that's out on the public website. Uh they're approving a new elementary uh principal. Uh there are some retirements that they're recognizing. Uh I think the most ones that are significant to us is in their their board office. Uh their VA Anthony
and and Lisa McAdams are are retiring. Um, so there'll be some transition for us. Um, also of note for uh us in Mountainside, um, there is a new, uh, boys head basketball coach on the agenda. Uh, so they, um, hopefully
that'll get approved on Thursday. And, um, you know, the it's important now to approve uh, kind of this time of year so that the coaches can put together their summer plans and their summer workouts. Like basketball season doesn't necessarily start come winter anymore, right? So, uh, I'm excited about the,
um, the hire. Um, some key dates. Um, remember GL graduation is the 18th, which is the day before the Deerfield graduation. Um, and tomorrow night, uh, Governor
Livingston softball team is having their senior night here at, uh, the Deerfield Senior Field. So, um, this is a time when, uh, mainly for the Mountain Side senior girls, they come back and play on the Deerfield field one more time. Uh, this year it happens to be that only the
only seniors on the girls softball team are for Mountainside. Um, it was scheduled for last week, it got rained out, it's rescheduled, uh, for this week. So, um, so we'll see if anybody's got availability tomorrow. It's it's a great time. Um, so, uh, just some other
things that are happening up there. Sports related, uh, the boys baseball team I is undefeated. I believe they're the last undefeated team in the state. Uh, some polls have them as the top team in the state, if not one, definitely two. Um, the girls softball team continues to impress in postseason
action. Um, the tennis and lacrosse teams continue to to play out their seasons and have a lot of successful wins. Uh, track is ongoing. Um, some championships of note. The boys track team won their conference championship. The golf team also won their golf their conference championship. Um, and it's
amazing. We only make up a third of that school or a third, you know, 30%. I it varies. U, but it's a lot of our athletes that are that are all over those teams. So, if you've got a little bit of free time, uh, now is you want to see some exciting uh, sports up there. Um, there's something every day of the
week. And if you want to follow um on Instagram, it's I think we RGL um there's usually every Monday or Tuesday they list the list of the activities, all the sports that are going on, home away, so on and so forth. So uh it's a great opportunity. Um and I think that
is it. Thank you. I hear the uh the track success is directly attributed to the uh the new training trail the parents hacked their way. Yeah, absolutely. Okay. Thank you, Bill. Um, can I please have a motion to approve under administrations items one and one
through five? So moved. Second. Any comments or questions? I have a question. So So number three, can can you just take us through a little bit what is the um affirmative action needs assessment?
What what is it plain English, I So, so the comprehensive equity plan is a statemandated uh program that is submitted every three years. Okay. So, we did have a waiver on it for over the past couple of years due
to COVID and due to other things. So, the last time this plan was submitted at in full was actually the year I began. So, it was the 2019 2020 school year. It relies very heavily on policy. So you take a look at where in
your policy and in your programming do you meet the requirements from the state for equitable access to education both by a staffing perspective as well as an instructional perspective. Okay. And so
the team is made up of myself, administrators, the district's affirmative action officers, um, and others who really just review what we have in place and take a look at the existing plan, take a look at any
updates in policy. So for example, on tonight's policy for first read, both of those policies are ones that Strauss Esme said those should be in your comprehensive equity plan. Okay? So, one was updated, one we just never had. And quite honestly, it talks about um the uh
program access. It it really deals with larger districts if you were districtricting. So, which students go to which schools. Got it. Okay. For us, it's a moot point. Yeah. But it's still a policy that we do. Um and so this you will see actually in June. So, right now
you're authorizing us to do the needs assessment. And in June, I will come back and ask the board to authorize submission of the plan. I'm glad you said that because I hadn't recalled this before and I think you verified that it's possible I Yeah. Every year we do a
statement of assurance that goes into the state that says we are still following the plan. Yeah. Okay. And this year it's now up for everybody to resubmit. Thank you for the explanation. Yep. Any other questions? Roll call, please. Bill Dylan, yes. Mike
Goodwin, yes. Danny Guyro, yes. Jordan Heyman, yes. Vivian Pupo, yes. Candaceiano, yes. Carmine Venice, yes. Can I please have a motion to approve under budget and finance items 1 through 23?
So moved. Second. Any comments or questions? I had I had a couple questions on this just um and sorry this may have been covered u when you guys discuss or will cover in committee but for for the um for the solutions architecture work what will
that report look like? I don't know that we've done that at least in in my time on the board. If we have I missed it like but what's what's the um and then also like ROI like will we read through some of the proposal I mean there's there's some reference to sort of becoming more proactive and I know we've
had some concerns and things we've had to fix. Will this put us in a place to make like energy related savings? What's what's our hope, I guess, off the report? Well, our hope is that they're going to they're going to go through both buildings and give us uh in a priority year one, year two, they should
lay out for us what the priorities are. Do this, then do that then, right, of what we what needs to get done. Looking at our HVAC systems, looking, you know, all especially the things that we've been spending tons of money on lately to address. um and then to guide us on
whether or not we you give us that information and then we would decide if we want to move forward with the referendum. Um but we we need all this information to see you know what needs to get done in the next couple of years. Okay. Do we need to do one big referendum? Do we need to do a
referendum? Do we need to do, you know, a smaller referendum and use some of our capital money if we have it or which we don't have too much of right now. Um but but because we don't know what the costs of any of these projects are, it's kind of hard to decide if a referendum is
needed or can we try to save money every year and and do it without doing a referendum. Got it. Um and then also as part of that they're going to do a capacity analysis um that we need because if we do a referendum the state
in order to give us money with they give us funding that will help offset our debt service. But they only you need to have unhoused kids is what they call it if you're doing any kind of instructional spaces and improving instructional spaces. Um, so part of
what they'll look at is the facilities to see how are we using them and do we have I mean we have relatively small class size so you're probably not going to have a lot of unhoused students because the state model is like 24 or 25 kids in a class. Um, but again, that
will help you inform how much state aid we might be uh able to receive and then decide whether or not it makes sense to go out for a referendum and to figure out the best approach. Um, at some point you probably bring in also financial
advisors that that we work with um to also assist with that because they also are very knowledgeable about the debt service that the state will you know how the formula works because as everything else with the state it's complicated. I might comment too that our committee
talked about doing the capacity analysis now rather than waiting to do it later. Okay. Because of some of the decisions that we think might be coming down the road sooner rather than later. Got it. When the report's wrapped, do they present it or it will come to committee
or what's the how will we create? Well, they also create a website. I mean, I would think you would want them to come and present. They can do more of a high level. Obviously, you they're going to give us a lot of detail. Yeah. Um, you know, I don't think you need them to present all of that, but you I think you would want
to have a public presentation of like the main points of what they're finding. Yeah. Um, for sure, but it's certainly going to be, you know, we've been so reactionary. I I see that word in here. It's it's it's true. Yeah. Yeah. And it's, you
know, it's it's it's frustrating even, you know, on a daily basis. It's frustrating between the HVAC and the trees and whatnot. So, um yeah, we're trying to get ahead of that. Okay. Thanks. My other two questions quick were just um the um Mashios. Yeah, just
on this topic as well. Uh the demographic study we did that can be incorporated into this, right? So, we know how many kids we think are coming. They're going to use that to determine can we house them. So, I don't want that to I mean, we did spend money on that. Yep. Part of the reason the findings we
got from that is I think at least from my perspective what's in my mind saying we need to do this because we know there's a lot more that the population is going to increase. Right. Right. So we need to prioritize how do we handle all that. U so will they get a copy of
that? We'll make sure they get a copy of that and yeah they should definitely be looking at what do we think we have and can we house per the state formula can we house those students? I was going to ask on on 11 are are how do these numbers rate versus past years
just in terms of the lunch price at 385 the total contract size? So the price went up 20 cents in the cost we're we're recommending that the price for lunch go up from 365 to 385 the machio the fee um
is with I believe it was like a 2% increase that's set by the state they can't increase any more than that. Okay. Um so and just so you understand how when the total cost is there of the 287 we actually only pay Mios the 10,000 fee
the 10,0009 everything else is all like the funds come into us all of the funds we collect from students come into us and then we pay Machios for the cost of the labor and all of the food. So all of our costs go out and then either we make
money or we lose money. They guarantee, you'll see they have Well, it's not in this resolution, but they actually guarantee us a profit of $1,000. It's here. Yeah, it's in here. Guaranteed return. Yeah, that we're actually I've just looked at April's um income statement and I believe we're
making like $22,000 so far this year. So, yeah, any anytime you don't lose money on lunch, that's a good thing because a lot of districts wind up subsidizing lunch. Yeah. So, actually making money is good. Um but because of the the reason we're recommending a 20
cent increase is because the costs of course of everything have gone up um including minimum wage and everything else. So, in order to sustain That's my my Apple Watch for some reason. I can't figure out how to shut this.
Every time you say school lunch, I think Who determines it? Mashios, the state of New Jersey, or the local district? The Who determines the lunch price? Yeah, the rate. We do. We do. the but but the lunch the whole lunch program is because
we're in this the national school lunch program we are very very regulated um it's regulated by the federal government but it goes through the state yeah that's what I was yes wondering so like our contract has to be like exactly the way the state says you have to do the
contract it's very very regulated more so than almost anything so in other words you just arbitrarily can't you can't arbitrarily do anything I mean when they come in and do an audit on the lunch program. Yeah. It's like nothing you've ever seen. Oh, okay. I was just
wondering. Yeah. Is that this what the state FSMC? What does that stand for? Yeah. Food service management company. So, we we contract that just means we contract with a food service company. Okay. To run our program. You could actually run it in house if you had
somebody qualified to do that. Right. Uh D on on 12. Do we always I don't remember that we always had a cap on the on the auditor. Maybe we did versus just approving like their their fee after the fact, but is that is that in line with
past years that 50k auditor uh cap? They Well, yeah, it it it's not usually a cap. It's usually a set fee. So 50,000 is the fee. The Okay. Yeah. The wording might be a little different. Um it this
is an increase a little increase from well it's not really a little increase from last year but last year they charged us for a single audit which is um because we had all the ARP err funds which are federal funds. Yep. And once you exceed a certain amount of federal
funds uh they're required to do a special audit called the single audit. So we did have a higher fee last year because of that. Most of those federal funds are gone right. So this 50,000 is is a little bit more on the base price
of the audit but less overall because we don't expect to have a federal audit a single audit. Got it. Thank you. Any other questions? Yes, unfortunately. No. Uh so for number nine, it's um it's
unfortunate that we uh have to reject Yeah. the bid for the uh fixing up the girls soccer room, right? Yes. What's next? Well, so we have um solutions architecture is talking to state
contract vendors or co-op vendors. U because if if we work with a vendor who either has a state contract or co-op, we don't have to go out to public bid. We can get the price from them and do the work. Um the one vendor that they did get a price from was higher than the
budget, so can't proceed with that. They're still working with another vendor. Um I'm not hopeful because time is flying by and summer's when everybody is busy contractors so you know that work
in schools. Um but we'll see. Um then if we can't if we're not successful with that we either I think the first thing we should do is then ask those same vendors, the state contract or the co-op for a price to do it in the fall. Um and
we'd have to talk about what the timing of that is. We talked a little bit about possibly doing it in like November, so after the fall sports season um so that we still have the the locker rooms available in the for the sports and then
whenever that ends, maybe right before Thanksgiving or whatever it is, right before teachers convention, maybe um and you might get a better price from the state contract and the co-op vendors then because they're certainly not busy at that time or not as busy at that time
in schools. um if if they're still not in line, then we would have to go out to bid again. But, you know, public bids, this is what happens. I mean, we had to reject them basically because of their paper. Well, they didn't they weren't pre-qualified with the state, which is an absolute you have no choice but to
reject, but they also didn't give us one piece of paper that even if they were pre-qualified with the state, that one piece of paper that they had to put in their their uncompleted contracts and that wasn't in there. So, we would have had to reject them even if their price was great and they were pre-qualified.
So, public bid is a real Yeah, because I I wasn't sure if this read as like a clerical issue, right? Oh, but just get them to submit the right paperwork on that. They Yeah, they in any work over $20,000, you have to be pre-qualified by the state of New Jersey
for that particular work. And the architects have to put in like that whatever the classification is. like so it might be like in this case it was probably plumbing or GC or whatever it was. Um they weren't pre-qualified for
that. So yeah, if it if it had just been that they didn't give us that one piece of paper we needed, we could have rebid. Yeah. And they might have given us the second time in um but they weren't even pre-qualified to do the work. Okay. How dire is that situation? Well, we're
not using the bathroom, so it's dire. I mean, right. They're able to use the space to change for the for it. Um, but the girls bathroom has been shut down. They have use of the bathrooms that are right outside of the gymnasium. However, you know, getting it back in order is is
a priority and it's important. Yeah. Um, but we did talk about the idea of moving it to the fall and our architect felt that uh by moving it there we would definitely have a better chance of of more bids and more and even they had I think they had at least one or two people who said they would were
interested but not this time of year. Yeah. because they were concerned about it going we we had thought if we got going in June it wouldn't crash into their summers but with the way schools get out they were concerned that they it would put them behind the eightball for their summer projects that they had
already committed to. Got it. So I think that this will change our opportunity. Well you used to say contracts do they have to be union people? Is that they have to be they don't have to be union. They have to be pay prevailing wage and they have to submit proof to us that
they're paying prevailing wage. Okay. So, that the legislature must have passed this. That's for any project in the school that's over $2,000. They have to pay prevailing wage and that raises the price. Yes, it does.
I guess they want some votes when they pass this bill. And then just lastly, number 15, it's an updated agreement with the MSPL on the field usage. Um, that's primarily the signage, right? So, we've added in language that says
um the ability or the right to hang signs and the location of the signs is still the districts to approve or reject. Yep. Okay. That and based upon committee discussion, wording was added
for there to be at least once yearly meetings between their grounds people and our head of uh buildings and grounds to ensure that any products that they are using meet our OSHA requirements and safety for students. Perfect. So, both
of those aspects were added. This has already been signed by MSBL. So once passed tonight, we will be sending them an executed copy that's signed by uh Mrs. Puka. Perfect. Any other questions? Roll call, please.
Bill Dylan, yes. Mike Goodwin, yes. Dana Guyro, Jordan Heyman, yes. Vivian Poop, yes. Candaceiano, yes. Carmine Bennett, yes. I please have a motion to approve on the personnel items 1 through seven. So
moved. Second. Any comments or questions? Roll call, please. Bill Dylan, I'm going to vote no on number two. Yes. On the rest. Mike Goodwin, yes. Janu Catro, yes.
Jordan Heyman, yes. Vivian Pupo, yes. Candace, yes. Carmine Bennis, yes. Can I please have a motion to approve on the curriculum only one one item? So moved. Second. Any comments or
questions? Roll call, please. Bill Dylan, yes. Mike Goodwin, yes. Dana Pedro, yes. Jordan Heyman, yes. Vivian Pupo, yes. Candaceiano, yes. Carmine Venice, yes. May I please have a motion to approve
under policy item one and two? So move second. Any comments or questions? I I can I'll just quickly note um I will cover this. Uh well, yeah, I mean we covered here. We covered here. Yeah, I
mean so we we we did meet as a a strategic planning committee yesterday um just for the board's um POV on this. Um and and so you see 5111 is is back on um with the revisions that you can see with uh um with updates into the policy
which basically um if you guys recall before we had a carveout essentially for um for prek for non-district basically for teachers uh who are not in district. So we there's language now that that you'll see uh in in that policy um that
that does open the door for uh staff members uh who are interested. Um it was it was a good discussion yesterday because we we covered I think um a lot of a lot of important elements such as um the you you'll note annual reapproval like board reapproval um space
permitting or this is not a cart blanch but it does um open the door for us to allow uh staff members who would want to have their their children potentially attend school in the district. Um the one caveat that's or the one element that's not covered at this point but
will probably get passed back to to budget finance is the rate at which we would charge for that. Um but that is something I think we if this passes tonight we would want to to have that discussed and probably put in place by um end of the summer at latest. So that's the context. If there's questions
about it, we can certainly answer. Sounds good. Thank you. Any other comments? Roll call, please. Bill Dylan, yes. Mike Goodwin, yes. Dana Guy Cro, yes. Jordan Heyman, yes. Vivian Pupo, yes. Candaceiano, yes. Carmine Venice, yes.
Moving on to old business. Anyone? Seeing none, new business. Committee reports. Negotiation committee met um well, our team met last night. Um We also, our team met last night. Um,
looks like we may have an agreement with the Mountainside Education Association. So, we're working towards looking at salary guides and once we can finalize certain things with that, we then could hopefully proceed to have the MEA have
their members uh ratified. Need to get through that first. Okay. Thank you. Any other committee reports? Yes, I do. Uh the Union County uh school board had their end of the year meeting
uh Thursday and um the person who was president for about five years. He gave up his post and uh Chris Chris Christina Guerrera from
Garwood became president and she's a hard worker so I know she'll do good. and and you get very good information at those meetings. So, but nothing new came up this time. Thank you. Any other
committee reports? I'll just make a comment. Congratulations to the negotiation team. I know it's a lot of hard work, a lot of extra time and um so it sounds like a lot of good progress has been made. Uh thank you for all the hard work. Okay. Okay. Okay, at this time I would like to open up the floor for public
participation on anything you would like to discuss. Please come up to the podium. State your name, address. Seeing none, I do not believe we're going to second. Exact. Um, that's it. Can I please have a motion to
adjurnn? So move. Second. All in favor? Opposed? Have a good night. Thank you for joining us.