Good evening. Welcome to a meeting of the Mountainside Board of Education. In accordance to 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 Mountain Mountside Board of Education website. These meetings are reserved for board deliberation and for review of items
contained within the agenda. The board reserves the 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 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,
Michael Goodwin, Dana Seatro, Jordan Heyman >> here in first off benefit. Finally, >> Vivian Poop >> here. >> Candaceiano >> here. >> Carmine Venice >> here. >> At this time, I would like a motion to go into executive session. It's 6:30.
>> So move. >> So move. >> Second. >> We will return in an hour. All in favor? I oppose. Motion carries. See you at 7:30. Good evening. We are returning from our executive session. It's 7:30. Can we
please stand? Salute the flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
>> Can I please have a motion to approve our minutes from October 14th? >> So move. >> Second. >> Any comments or questions? >> Roll call, please. Bill Dylan, >> yes. >> Jordan Heyman, >> yes. >> Vivian Poop, >> yes.
>> Yandiano, >> 15. >> Carmine Dennis, >> yes. >> At this time, I would like to open up the floor for public participation on any item that we will be voting on. Please come up to the podium, state your name and address.
Seeing none, we're moving on. Uh my report, I just wanted to congratulate uh Mr. Goodwin, Mr. Dylan and Miss McGovern Morgan for winning our uh board election. Thank you for um Hi. Uh thank you. We really appreciate it.
Congratulations. And since today is Veterans Day, I wanted to thank um all our veterans for their service and commitment to our nation. Uh and moving on to our superintendence report. >> Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. pull this down here. Uh, welcome. We have a
lot of great stuff in our superintendent report. Uh, we're going to start off with our student council representatives tonight doing a fabulous job this afternoon. Sorry, with the, uh, veterans presentation. So, we appreciate that. And they're here back tonight to do more
great stuff. So, student council, the floor is yours. Hi, we are a student organization advised by Mr. Young that represents the student body by sharing student concerns and ideas with the school administration. Our goal is to make our school a better place by organizing events, encouraging
school spirit, and building a strong sense of community. We serve as a communication link between students and staff, giving everyone a voice in how our school grows and improves. In addition, we plan and manage schoolwide projects such as fundraisings, service activities, and special events that
bring our school and community together. This year's Deerfield Student Council is made up of 32 home room representatives in grades 6 through 8. We are elected representatives of the executive board. >> Halloween costume contest. Deerfield Student
Council organizes and announces the annual Halloween costume contest for grades 6 through 8. Students sign up to participate in the contest in one of four categories. Funniest, scariest, best group, and most original. This year,
WA celebrating faculty judges were Dr. Pner, astronaut Stanton, Dumbledore Melo, and one of the last year's student council advisers, Hocus Pocus Styles. Other members of student council complied the judges scores and executive board announced the winners. The winner
of each category received a $25 gift card. The annual Halloween costume contest is a way to celebrate the holiday and promote school spirit. The PTO green initiative has organized a space at the back of Beachwood School for students to witness and participate
in maintaining a native plant ecosystem called an ark which stands for acts of restorative kindness. The ark needs some help periodically in the fall and spring, but it is not like a garden in which plants need to be grown and harvested. To begin, volunteers within student council spend time weeding for
invasive weeds only while keeping the um the good weeds/plants and trees intact so that native plants could continue to thrive. The ultimate goal for some of these student council volunteers to become ambassadors of the ark for Beachwood students the spring
for the two um for the two years of uh the ark's existence each spring the PTO green initiative holds an ark day where all beachwood students come through class by class on a scavenger hunt type activity to identify what's in the ark. In addition, this spring we are
hoping to showcase a slideshow of wildlife that come to the ark throughout the seasons by pulling a video from trail cameras that we hope to have installed before winter. Patriots Pens Veteran Day assembly. For the past several years, Deerfield School has proudly partnered with our
local VFW post to participate in the VFW's Patriots Pen essay contest. Our local VFW post number 10136 led by the post commander, Mountainside resident, and former Deerfield parent, Brigadier General Timothy McGlaughlin.
judges essays submitted by social studies teachers in sixth grade through 8th grade. The VFW awards the top three essays in each grade and submits the winning essays into the SEC sectional, state, and even national VFW Patriots pens essay competition. The day is a way
for Deerfields Middle School students to celebrate the achievements of their peers and honor our local veterans, active duty service members, and first responders. Members of the Deerfield School Student Council distributed programs and served as ushers and school
ambassadors for our honored guests. This year, the student council organized Deerfield's first flags in fundraiser. Members of student council set American flags in the ground in front of the walkway of Deerfield School. Each flag represented a donation to the VFW given
by a Deerfield student, family, or faculty member throughout the week of October 27th. Through their generosity, the student council was able to collect a total sum of $1,496.81. As we do like to round numbers, the executive board on behalf of the Deerfield Student Council and the
students, families, and faculty of Deerfield School was honored to rep to present BFW Post 10136 with a check for $1,500. In addition to being a symbol of of our gratitude for our local heroes, we hope that these funds are useful in
addressing some of the needs of our local veterans and active duty service members. Student council always assists with organizing and collecting for um for the Salvation Army toy drive each holiday season. We hope that our efforts will be
called upon once again this year. Last year, student council sponsored a holiday theme week for all Deerfield students for the last week before winter break. Student council members created flyers to promote it with Mrs. Jen's permission. This is something we would
like to do again this year. For the Deerfield holiday singalong, right before our winter break, Mrs. Jinx purchased a new snowman costume that one of the members of the deer of the student council executive board will enthusiastically wear in celebration of
Deerfield's um very own holiday mascot. >> Chop pajama day fundraiser. The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, CHOP, established in 1855, is the first hospital in the US dedicated to children's healthcare. Located in West Philadelphia on the University of
Pennsylvania campus, CHOP has 692 beds and provides in inpatient and outpatient care for individuals aged 0 to 21. With over 1.6 6 million annual visits. Recognized as one of the largest and oldest children hospitals, Chaw
consistently ranks among the top 10 in the US. The Deerfield Student Council picks a Friday during the winter to host our Chop pajama day. This is a big fundraiser with a lot of participation in the younger grades at Deerfield. We register through the chop website and create a fundraising page. Missing send
out our information to parents to help us reach our fundraising goal with while the student council creates posters and promotes student involvement within Deerfield. For 2 weeks before we go to the hillside food pantry, student council hosts a cereal box drive to donate on our trip
to the food pantry. Student council members make flyers to hang around the school and for student council members hand out a box hand out at morning drop off. Mrs. Jinx also provides assistance by promoting the cereal box drive on the parent update. The day before student
council goes to the hillside food pantry. We conduct the cereal box Domino challenge. We take all the cereal boxes and line them up in the hallway starting in the third and fourth wing and extending into the fifth grade hallway. Student council invites the younger grades to line the halls and watch the
domino line fall. This is a fun way for student council to include the younger grades at Deerfield and introduce them to the importance of service to others. The Community Food Bank of New Jersey, a member of Feeding America, works to end
hunger by distributing food to more than 800 community partners, including food pantries, soup kitchens, and child and senior feeding programs. and by connecting neighbors in need with supporting solutions. Each year in March, um you members of the Deerfield
Student Council volunteer a morning of their um service at at their Hillside location. We bring all of the cereal boxes that we donated through the cereal box drive and spend the morning bundling meals and sorting donations in the food pantry.
School store and lollipop sales. Last year, the Deerfield School Student Council started a school store where they sold fun items such as keychains, themed pencils, pencils, erasers, stationery, and other bubbles and trinkets. For special occasions, student council has also held seasonal and
holiday themed sales for the winter holidays, Valentine's Day, and St. Patrick's Day. This year, student council is also bringing back their sale of gourmet lollipops. These lollipops will be available at the school store and sold at selected school events with the permission of Deerfield principal,
Mrs. Jinx. The funds raised throughout the year from the school store and lollipop sales will be used by student council to contribute to a year-end gift to Deerfield School. The student council year-end gift was once a proud tradition at Deerfield. We feel a sense of responsibility to start that valuable
tradition. Towards the end of the school year, the student council and Mrs. Jens will work together to determine an appropriate and meaningful gift that will serve the students in the school community of Deerfield in the years ahead. Okay, thank you guys very much. Appreciate the updates and looking
forward to some great work with you guys this year. Any support that the board, myself, the administration can offer, feel free to ask. We're always here to help. Okay, thank you guys for coming tonight. >> That was pretty impressive. That they do a lot. That's amazing. >> I hope you don't have homework tonight
cuz this was a long day. The next part of the superintendent's report is one of my favorites where we get to recognize the mountainside trailblazers of the month. Uh these are students from one from Beachwood, one
from Deerfield that are recognized for their excellence in demonstrating the pillars of character. And each month the teachers recognize them by nominating them. the administration works together into looking at those nominations and coming up with one person from each
school. So, here we are in November for our Mountainside Trailblazers of this month. So, we recognize tonight a young lady really responsible, very respectful, she's very dependable, and you can
always count on her and she will always follow directions. She makes it her purpose. She has a role. It's a kindness and respectful role to demonstrate to her peers. We'd like to recognize tonight our Beachwood Mountainside
Trailblazer, Mave Whan. Come on up, M. >> You got it. All right. >> Thank you everybody. Thank you. >> Next, we recognize a young man who, believe it or not, for the past six weeks, I've been told, has been
nominated as a helpful husky, as we do at Deerfield, uh, for six weeks straight. That's somebody given out. It's given to somebody that's being caught doing a random act of kindness. Uh so that's a lot of weeks being caught
doing random acts of kindness. He is a role model for his peers. His positive attitude is exhibited every day with a smile and it is not unrecognized for his demonstrated leadership. Tonight we recognize the
Deerfield Mountainside Trailblazer of the Month, Liam Capot. All right. >> All right. Uh those of you that if you need to go because of the lateness of the meeting, by all means, I won't be offended. I'm going to move on with the rest of my report. So, all right. Let's
talk about fall sports season. Girls volleyball, 10 wins, four losses. Third place in our inaugural Mountainside tournament. Boys soccer, seven wins, four losses, one tie. Girls soccer, six
wins, four losses, one tie. Both soccer teams made their semifinal appearances in the league playoffs. Very nice. Solid fall sports season. Looking forward to the winter with the basketball season ahead of us. They've already started
doing tryyouts and practicing. I I get that reaction when I talk to them. >> I think he wants to stay. He's a future board member. Anybody future board member there? >> That's all right. Have a great night.
Deerfield boys locker room side entrance. As you may or may not be aware, we've had to close that entrance off. I wanted the public listening tonight to make sure that if they are attending an evening event in the back of the gym that the girls side entrance
is the accessible entrance for the time being. Um let's talk about our district advisory committee meeting. We established our advisory committee. We have 20 participants and the discussions for this first initial meeting was on
ebikes, facility usage, school building conditions, community involvement, and the parent student surveying that we're currently doing. I'd like to thank all those that are volunteering their time to be on the
district advisory committee. Our mountainside mentor program is rolling out this month. We have about 25 mentors from the community that are going to come into our classes and show and demonstrate their talents, their trades,
their skills, their passions for their occupations to our students over the rest of the year. We had our intro meeting uh couple of weeks ago and they are ready to go. So, we're waiting for some good productive mentorship sessions
coming out uh of that program. talk about another strategic plan goal, our parent student survey that's out there right now. Um, it is coming to an end for those that want to still fill it out. I'll be sending out a reminder on school messenger that this is the last
week to fill out the parent student survey. Those results will be shared uh with the board as well as the community once tabulated. And we have a another district goal that we're looking to fulfill. That's three staff wellness activities. We're uh
we're currently at two. Our first one that we've done just this past month, we had the Alliance Occupational Health Company. We appreciate them coming out to both Deerfield and Beachwood uh to give consultations, soft tissue
massages, and free lunch. Who doesn't like that, right? And then finally, a safety and security walkthrough. So, we have Bob Sensei from the Department of Education, the school preparedness and emergency planning department coming out
the later this month doing a walkthrough with myself and Mr. Marini uh to look at all of the uh buildings to do an assessment on the security measures and safety protocols that we have in place. And that is my superintendent report for
this evening. Thank you very much. >> Thank you, Mr. Kenny. Moving on now to our business administrator. >> I don't have any report tonight. I'm moving on to our Berkeley Heights leazison. >> Oh, actually, >> oh, wait, >> sorry. We We got to I don't know when you wanted to go into >> Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
>> That is part of my report. >> Okay. So, we're moving on to our study, right? >> The the study and the uh Berkeley Heights referendum. Same person. So, >> is there anything else you want to do? >> No, no, no, no. I just I just
>> All right. >> Autopilot. >> It was all opening act for the main job. >> Have you my >> Okay. So, I can't stand. >> Alexis, if you want to introduce yourself. Sorry.
>> Yes, of course. Sorry. Hi, everyone. I'm Alexis Goldman from Solutions Architecture. Um I have the u pleasure of presenting two things to you tonight. So very exciting and I try will try not to take up too much of your time. Um so first we're going to talk about um a
district-wide facilities plan, what we call a health check on buildings. Um, we've been doing doing this for years and years and years and it's evolved into this really great um technological version except technology is not so fun sometimes. Um,
this is going to keep blogging me out. I'm trying to get it fixed, but if anybody sees that and I'm not paying attention, can you just please do me a favor and remind me to continue the session? Um, so one of the things that's great about doing an audit of all the buildings is that it helps with
districts from being um from being pro makes you more proactive instead of being reactive, right? Instead of um, you know, something going on wrong with the boiler or some sort of a system in the building and you're reacting to it last minute and not planning. These types of reports allow you to plan out
for years ahead and plan for the work and not be in a reactive mode all the time. Um so what we've done is we spent I think it's almost 6 months now working on this. We've had a team of architects and engineers and other consultants going through the buildings. Um we've
spent time scanning and reviewing and then we collect all that data and come back to the office and create it into this full report. Um, we used to do these reports like in paper mode the old way and you would the district would
receive multiple booklets that they would have to go through and spend time reading. Obviously wasn't searchable was you know a little bit more difficult. Um, but we've now uh evolved it into a website which is really great because it it allows you to go to it from any place
that you are in your home in different buildings and obviously you can search the entire website. So, if you need to search for data, it's also easy. Um, but just to note, one of the things that also brought to light is security because obviously this information is specific to Mountainside School District
and we don't want everybody gaining access to it. There's security um information here. So, I just want to make sure everybody's aware this does get securely protected, which is why it keeps kicking me out and telling me my session's over. So, I have my own login. Um, and you as board members and the
district would have login to it. So that's how we manage the security of it being on the web. Um so there we go. Continue my session. So I will start by explaining uh some of the ground rules. I guess you guys I was going to zoom in but I think you can
read that. Um so it's important to just note some important steps in doing this process before we go into the details. So this report represents a starting point and not an ending point. So we've gone through the building. We put together an extensive list of work that
should be done. It's now at the beginning point of having detailed discussions with the board and the administration of what to do with that information. So, it's not the end and we just, you know, stop from there and it evolves constantly. It's the type of report that as projects get completed
and new occurrences come up, you can add to it and it's a live document. Um, this is not an indictment of maintenance procedures and practices. A lot of people will look at these reports and say, "Oh my god, there's millions of dollars here. What are we maintaining?" Um, schools obviously in New Jersey are
old and there's tons of things to be maintained and certain products only last 20, 30, 40 years and then they have to be done again. So there's always an unlimited amount of things that have to be updated. So it doesn't mean that maintenance isn't being done. Um, this
is an overall view of facilities, not a complete listing of product projects. So, not every little detail is in here, but it's an overall view of it. Um, priorities. So, I'll explain the priorities, but they are our recommendation after going to the buildings. The board and the
administration has already weighed in on their priorities. So, I just want to explain it's our view and a combined view there, but the board can obviously share their input on priorities. And the budget estimates are not final detailed costs. their rough costs at this time
with escalators to plan for the future. Um, and it's obviously impossible, as you'll see as we move through this for this amount of work to be completed under the annual budget. It's not intended to pretend that that's possible. It's just intended to give you a listing so you can plan for the
future. Uh, we uh categorize the work that we uh determine as we review this into certain categories. site improvements, building envelope, building interiors, mechanical systems, electrical systems, building systems, uh sorry, plumbing systems, and fire
sprinklers. And then these are the priorities I was mentioning. Priority one needs immediate attention. Those are going to be things like uh code concerns, structural concerns. Um priority two, attention strongly recommended, something that we think is
a high priority. Uh priority three, recommended if budget allows. and four are things that could be done um if the board sees that it's a high priority or sometimes things that need to be planned out for after the 5-year period that
this report looks out. And so this this is the the entire website here. You can see as you scroll down you'll have both schools accessible and then there's a total cost here. Um and then down below it talks about just the codes that have
been used to review these um projects and buildings. Um you also have access to that same information up here for access. So for the purposes of our time tonight, I will just go through all the components of Beachwood School and then it's basically the the repeated
information for Deerfield. So each school has access to this Matterport um 3D scan and this is especially great for facilities because at any point uh you can walk to a certain walk virtually to
a certain point in the building um and understand what you know things need to be done. I have these things called matter tags here which just tell you an item that we've pointed out either it needs uh to be updated or changed or just simply points out that it's existing in the building and then you
have can see the whole entire plan this way. Whoa. You can click on a certain classroom. You can walk yourself around and there's lots of things you can do with this. You can also measure which is I won't go into the details but it's a great tool
for facilities as well. And then as our part of our report we have these tabs on the side. The first is the facilities full facilities report. So this goes through multiple sections of viewing all the things that we've looked at. Again
it just goes through the um priorities and the categories. So we start with the site and again for time I'm not going to go through every little thing but you will have access and can view as much as you need. So we we go through site talk about sidewalks, walkways, asphalt
parking lots, playgrounds, then the exterior windows doors concerns with safety film roofing canopies. There's this chart that explains ADA accessibility to the building. You could see the majority of
our entrances are ADA accessible. Talks about the amount of uh occupants that are can fit out the opening. So tons way beyond meeting the code requirements of egress signage interiors. This is a review of the
plumbing uh fixtures in the building. How many toilets and sinks and if you meet code from that perspective which you do and most schools because of additions that were added all over time often have more toilets than needed. Uh interior doors, flooring, ceilings,
more security on the interior. And then it gets to mechanical all the classroom HVAC. There's this uh spreadsheet that talks about which units serve which classrooms and what model numbers. It's easy access
to all information. This is a lot mechanical. It's quite long. Uh electrical findings and then at the end we have plumbing as well. Um, so each school has this section of the report and then we like to do this
in different ways because certain people are visual, certain people like to read. It just depends. It's like different options to review. But then we go through a a series of plans which basically explain all the work and how we recommend it in the report but in a plan format. So this first one is the
site plan. Um, in this case we have certain things like walkway extensions and um curbing. We have uh what I'll explain is that we have an extension here as a potential for uh a prek wing and we're showing the potential for um a
soccer field here in the space available. Let's get that on the Let me just check if this is kicking me out over here. Nope. Uh issues plan. So, this is a floor plan, detailed floor plans of the building.
You probably can't read any of this, but these are color-coded kind of key plans that tell you um like this color is saying that the space should get a complete renovation. Uh green is just certain finishes. Blue is flooring. Um
this lighter yellow is lighting. So, it's kind of a visual way of saying what spaces need what. And then certain doors and just indicating where unit ventilators are. um exit doors, roof hatches, basically giving you
access to everything in the building. So, each building has that. Um and we have floor uh roof plans and this shows you all the different sections of the building and when they were replaced, where the warranty goes
to, the manufacturer of the roof, provides that information. Then there's a room listing. So this is just a list of every space in the building and its square footage. Again, if you ever need to, you know, hey, we got to
we have to renovate the space. We just realize there's something that get needs to get changed, the function needs to get changed, we can just quickly look up the square footage without having to measure anything or call anyone. Everything is here. Um, and then most exciting a budget
estimate. Um, just zoom in a little bit. We obviously won't go through all the numbers, but just so you understand how this is broken up. So, it's broken up by the categories that we just looked at in the report. The priorities on the left.
Then each one has a tag which matches back to the first report that we looked at. It has a unit, a cost, the construction cost for furniture where where it's applicable. We have a 15% contingency. Again, this is intended to plan out for
years ahead. Uh so that's adding that escalation and um it covers the time ahead and then um soft costs for all the other parts of a project that would need to be covered and then total project costs and then we include this category
for um just future planning. So debt service aid is available through for to districts through referenda. So if that becomes an option, this gives you a total of what debt service aid you could be eligible for for that particular list of projects.
Um and then somewhere down here there's a total. Uh so for Beachwood we have this oh this is district total 14 million 5 million in debt service aid with a balance of 9 million
and before we leave that this is just a really a sketch that we did for a possible extension for prek. So just showing you it was available also and as we continue conversations and we can add
other features to this site. Again it's not a it's not an ending point. We can change things from here. Um so Deerfield has everything the same all the same items here. So if it's okay with you guys I'll leave that as the explanation. We won't go through um Deerfield
specifically. But I do want to point out on the homepage. So there's this totals by priority and that is um all of both schools and instead of listed by category, it's listed by how it's prioritized. So
priority 1 through 4 and then that totals the entire both schools at the bottom. So you could see all the projects in priority 1 total to 4.5 million and all of the projects in priority 2 um 11.8 million. So, it's
around 26 um together if priority one and two. Uh let me see what else. Oops. >> I think that covers that. >> Yeah, >> I missed it when you were on that slide.
Did you assume that every project would be eligible for the 34% reduction? >> It's every No, some of them are adjusted in there. >> Okay. Not every single one. And so the DOE doesn't approve certain things like in certain cases the addition wouldn't
be supported and certain site elements are not supported for debt service aid. Um you know loose furniture sometimes. So some some security things it depends on their view depending on what you submit. So not everything. No.
>> Okay. >> Um any other questions? Not to extend it, but um can you maybe just share a couple of the priority one maybe one for just the room and for you know prosperity so we just get a feel for why they're there.
>> Yes, of course. So um after meeting with the administration we we sort of again we collectively talked about what priorities should be what um and what the administration's perspective was on those priorities. So, some of those things that we looked at um were doors,
um security hardware on the the locking portion of doors. Um I could pull up some of that. Actually, that's probably not the best place to do that. Yeah. >> My other question is
>> just open. >> Would you say it's fair to say that more of the priority ones live at Beachwood Deerfield or equally um balanced? >> I think it it's equal in terms of priorities. It's maybe a little bit more at Beachwood. Um obviously there is the
numbers are higher here for Beachwood. Deerfield did get a little bit more I think improvements in the earlier referendum because at that time it needed a lot of work. So it kind of maybe shifted the scales a little bit. So that's why
>> um here I was trying to get here for priorities so we could see a little bit better. >> So this just allows us to focus on what you could see as priority one. Um there are certain you know entrances and exits that need some walkways improved. Um we
did talk about exterior doors and the security components related to them. Interior doors. There were uh certain spaces that we felt should be pretty high up on a priority in terms of maybe getting renovated uh like the gy
gymnasiums multi-purpose rooms in both schools. um mechanical systems. They're as much as a lot of them, actually the majority of them were replaced in the last referendum, they will be kind of
aging out in the next 5 to 7 years depending on the units. So, when you're looking at a long-term print, and we still have them here, um and some of them are causing the district issues right now. So we are you know including those as some priority one some priority
two in some of these cases. So you can see um in both cases the kitchens had some higher priorities uh solids interceptors again things that we see lighting uh didn't get completely
done um at Beachwood school so that is here it was upgraded at Deerfield. So, those are some of the highlights and we talked about security um alarms as well that did get added here
if that goes any other questions just related to the audit. >> What do we do next? >> Um it's a good question. So, as I mentioned, I think this is just that starting point, right? I think we need to spend time, you need to spend time
reviewing this, um, looking at everything, understanding it, maybe even more in person, looking around the building together, and maybe looking at how those priorities kind of play out moving forward and adjusting them as a group because we did do it as an
administration and we also did it. It's it's a lot of information. You know, we spent a couple hours and we kind of didn't you're you kind of get like delirious at one point and you need to start over, start fresh another day. So,
you need to kind of look at this a few times uh together to get to the point where where everybody's on the same page about how those priorities lay out. And then when you know what those priorities are, you can say, "Okay, here's my priority one. How are we going to tackle everything moving forward?" Um and
obviously it's not realistic to do that in a very short period of time. So it has to be planned out over time or tackled in a different you know manner. >> I guess I'm I guess I'm for us I'm a little nervous that this will get thrown in a drawer. So what is it? Does it go
to a committee? Do we have an ad hoc group kind of dig into the numbers? How how do we align to an action here today so that we know kind of what comes out of this. >> Oh, sure. >> For those who don't know who I am, I'm
Mr. Marini. I am the supervisor of maintenance and custodial services for the district. Um, I think, you know, she hit all good points, but I think with the administration got together and talked about is priority ones and twos and we moved some from twos to threes or
threes to twos. I when we sat down, I think we're really trying to push the security and safety aspect of the district as my role. That's the priority is the comfortability and the safety of both staff, community, students is top
priority. So, you know, there's some filler in there that people want to see, but there's things that, you know, I think are musts like exterior doors, um, windows and beachwood that some of them are so broken down I could just push and open and get in. Honestly, just push
from the outside. They're rotted wood pellet windows or, you know, alarms for both buildings. We don't have any alarms on the buildings. So, anybody can come in the building at any time they want. No one will ever know. Um what some of the other stuff that we've talked about um you know, lighting for Beachwood. It might not necessarily be
uh a safety issue, but they're all fluorescent bulbs. They're not LED. The amount of money we spend just in Beachwood alone and we pulled the numbers is is got to be astronomical as far as money spent there. Um, but what we'll do is we'll sit down and we'll go
over these things and we'll put a pile together and as a committee to see what we really want to focus. We put a couple packages together. Maybe one is this amount of number, two is this, and then go from there. And I think it's going to be a couple meetings like she said. It's
not just going to be an overnight thing. It's going to be multiple meetings and dial it down to what we really feel safe or secure in doing. And and I and I really bring it up to be more thoughtprovoking, right? We're about to do a rework, right, in January. Do we
need >> would this automatically go to finance? Do we need to think differently about how we structure it? Do we want potentially we want to let the people that are passionate about this, right, get it in your head, then let's be on that committee, right? So I think that's where I I don't necessarily want an answer but I I challenge the group just
to >> making sure that this >> kind of lives on right beyond the audit itself and >> there are some things on here that obviously I hear you right need immediate action so you know I don't want to waste time and >> and we did for for some of the people in the audience and obviously we had some
of the board members me and Chris walked around both buildings and you guys saw it firsthand. you've never seen it before and there are some stuff that is in dire need of updating. Um, and you some of you guys were shocked to even see some of that stuff because you've never been on, you know, on the floor in
some of the back alleys that we deal with on everyday basis. And I, you know, what I is exactly what I deal with every day. I see it. >> Um, and some stuff is antiquated and old. Um, I know it's expensive and I know it it's going to take some time, but uh,
>> yeah, I I walked away from that thinking there's probably a large list of of tier one, but there's probably a list that's like burning tier one that needs to be addressed like tomorrow. >> Not not even as long as it's going to take us into a couple meetings. just for
a quick synopsis, you know, just a the HVAC and she said it's aging, but it doesn't some of them don't need to be changed right away, but you know, >> if you table this and you don't go, then >> you're going to be in a real issue. I mean, just not even we're in what, November.
We're almost into 30 something thousands of HVAC between both buildings and it's not even December. >> Yeah. >> Uh that's a lot. That's a lot. So I I I I do agree, Bill, that you know, reorg maybe we do need an ad hoc committee
specifically solely for facilities that tackles this particular project. >> I only as I look ahead, we we we never have enough time to discuss their traditional agenda in finance buildings and grounds. And I'm like, where when would we ever get to this, you know? Right. >> Um so yeah,
>> I I don't know what the right answer is. I I just was >> just trying to get it out there for the group to maybe think about. Yeah. >> When was the last time we did a study like this? >> Do you know when the last time? >> No, because um the last referendum week
came in afterwards. So, another architect put it together. So, I do not actually know if they did an audit to create the list of projects at that time. So, I'm not entirely sure. >> That's true. >> Carmine, have you ever seen anything, Carmine, like this audit wise, facility
wise? I don't think Matterport existed then. >> No, not that's for sure. >> But that's it used to be these big paper books which were worse about when you say putting it on a shelf that was way worse, you know. >> Well, what do you see as our biggest priority here?
>> Um, it's it's I don't think there's really one thing. >> I don't think I >> the top three. >> Um, I definitely think there's some sight stuff on the outside access, you know, the the grounds. >> Yeah. And then the and the windows and doors. Yeah.
>> Intruder locks in all the buildings. Keying them to one key. I have a thousand cores for each door is a different core. So the next teacher over can't get into the room. >> It's a separate key. That to me is not
it's just unacceptable. I think it's every door has to be one core. I have an ultimate master and all the teachers will have a teacher master that can open up any door in case of emergency. But room 133 would just say, you know, has a different than 132. If someone's in that
room, don't get in there. It's antiquated to a level. >> So, some leg work to do. >> Okay. >> Y, >> you know, we're only limited to spend X amount of dollars. >> Yes, that's correct. >> So, I mean,
>> and X is a very small portion of what this is looks like. Yes. >> I mean, we know what we need. We There's a lot to be done. uh what do you how do you determine what what you should do? What what is the top
priority? I mean I think you have to sit down and study it. >> Yeah. >> And really >> and and again it's it's a a matter of a bunch of like all of you putting your heads together about and agreeing on what those priorities are because the list is even within list priority one
it's very long. So, it's a matter of balancing that and you know there's am I going to say that anything is an emergency here? There's really not anything that's >> no emergency. >> I mean some of the windows may be an emergency in those cases. Yes. Um but you know
>> you've seen the library windows those might be bordering emergency have to actually fix those before the re honestly those are going to have to get fixed. Chris would say I mean it's >> maybe to carry Bill's question further maybe to you Chris like what
>> if we start if we started work on this as a board in earnest in January I guess first of all is that too late question one number two what's the optimal timeline I guess because I think if we're going to if we're going to get into an ad hoc committee we also need to say you got until this date to come back with some recommendations and it should
be pretty quick and this is not a in my head this is not a six-month go away and come back with >> it's a two-month lift at Yeah, >> you know, having several meetings over two months, coming back with recommendations. These are priority one and twos. >> Where do we want to go with this? These are our recommendations. How to go with it.
>> Yeah. >> You know, I I'd say what I what I've learned >> through my last few months up at Berkeley Heights is, you know, I think referendum is a a trigger word for a lot of people, right? And it's like, well, we can't do that. We don't want to put on the ballot, right? as you dig into
it, I'm sure these guys will share as we go through some of the Berkeley Heights stuff too, that 34% savings only comes if it is on a referendum, right? So, there are some financial benefits to
putting these projects into a referendum package rather than say we're going to do all of these when we have enough in capital reserve or a rainy day and then we do them because we know a rainy day is always just the sewage or whatever is going on in the in the locker room here at
Deerfield, right? It'll be depleted because there's always something, >> right? >> Right. So, um, you know, just keep that in mind as you're absorbing the numbers. Those numbers are large, right? But there is that >> help or assistance that you get by doing that, right? So, I I I just think it's
part of the education that we would have to do because our last referendum wasn't capital projects. Our last referendum was >> programming >> for people, right? People and programs, right? that savings didn't necessarily come in. It was it was a an influx of money quickly, right? >> That was that was little R. The the big
R was you got to go back. >> Let me just thing that you have to look at. Sorry, man. Um Mike mentioned HBAC and that the last two years has been that's been our focus where we've been spending a ton of money. Um, but we need to look again and and we did this, but I
think we we need to pay a little more attention as to other areas that we may be ending our useful lives >> and we talked five, seven, nine years. >> If you do a referendum, it's going to be
three years before those projects are even underway. >> So, at that point now, you're talking two to five years of the useful life. Um, but that's where in in the budget of our size, we don't have the budget to handle those things from our operating budget. So,
>> like you said, if you don't go to a referendum, the only other options really that we could do in facilities is direct installs or rod grants and stuff like that. >> That's Yeah, there's no rod grants out there right out there. >> That that's I think where our focus has to be. We we've done that a little bit,
but I think we need to do another pass through to think about those things that haven't yet because two years ago, HBAC wasn't on our radar either. It like all of a sudden those started breaking. >> You know what usually happens in the school system. Uh you see have all these
needs, but what comes number one is the roof. Always roof. You you could need doors, you could need windows, but if the roof leaks, that seems to be get the top priority. Am I right or wrong? >> I mean, it is commonly, but luckily they
were done in the last. So, we're okay. >> They're good. You your roof you got you still have a life, >> right? You're always going to have a little bit le >> and I've seen that over the years. all of a sudden we need this, we need that, but all of a sudden the roof is leaking somewhere and that's where the the uh
emphasis goes and the money goes. >> Yeah. I >> I mean I don't know the answer, >> but that's what you're faced with. >> It's just a process, right? There really is no perfect answer, >> right? Yeah. >> Thank you on that.
>> I'm going to switch I'm switching media, too. Let's see if this is working. Okay. All right. Moving on. Um, so we are also the architect for Berkeley Heights uh school district. So we'd like to just
explain a little bit about um so Berkeley Heights is putting forth a um a referendum. Sorry, I don't know what is going on here. >> Can I this up a little bit? >> Yeah, sure. >> Yeah. So again, I I pushed for these guys to come here and present this and and the reason is really um when I was
reviewing our send receive contract with uh Berkeley Heights, there's a clause very specifically in there around if and when um Berkeley Heights would take on a referendum and then more debt um the
requirements for them to come here and present those projects to us to have give us an opportunity to comment on them. Um the reality of the situation that we're in is, you know, this referendum that they're putting forward, none of our residents have the
opportunity to vote on, right? You're you're stuck with the decision of the voter in Berkeley Heights, right? What comes with that may or may not include a financial obligation for us as the district, right? Along with it, right? So while she's going through this,
right, I I just ask you to keep in mind how and how you want to provide feedback and and this is what this is the one and only really opportunity to comment as a Mountainside Board of Education, right, on their projects, their priorities,
their process, and the impact it will have on our high school students, right? So, >> right, >> thank you for coming. I appreciate it. And I know we kind of brought him in here early cuz the the timeline on a lot of this is is getting close for um the Berkeley Heights election, right? So,
>> and you can always be done again, too. I mean, could come back and do it again. Um but yeah, so we'll run through this and then you guys feel free to stop me as I go if you have questions. It's sometimes just easier that way. Um so the vote, the planned vote for uh
Berkeley Heights is March 10th in 2026. covers capital renovations and core and classroom spaces. Um, geez. So, just as a kind of focus of how we got there, um, the district sought to identify and prioritize uh, long needed
facility improvements, some similar stuff to kind of what we were just talking about, uh, failing infrastructure, improving the student experience, and, you know, meeting the needs of today and tomorrow because that's that's the big thing is a lot of things have changed kind of in the process. the way that especially the way
that teaching is handled with technology. So that's something that has to be focused on and improved over time otherwise you just kind of can't keep up with the times. Um so just a little bit back in time on the process. So this was
started back in October 2024. Um it starts you know reviewing the facilities needs which is what we were just talking about that process. Um and then the next step of developing it further, conducting surveys, um doing different kinds of you know analysis of the data
um and and finalizing a scope of work. Then there's a process where those get developed into drawings and get submitted to the D the DOE. Um the board passes a resolution to approve that and submit that to DOE. And then there's a fairly long DOE review process which
we've gotten approval in October just this just this past month thankfully. Um and so now we're in the phase of making sure that everybody understands what the ref what the referendum entails and explaining it um to everyone.
Okay. And proposed breakdown. So as a focus um we focused on and the district wanted to focus on enhancing learning environments. So, you know, creating spaces that can support the academic, social, and emotional wellness for students. Um,
student and staff safety is obviously a focus everywhere. Ensuring physical systems and technologies are in place and keeping up to date with the operations. Some of the same stuff we were saying, roofing, electrical, heating systems that are crucial to keep
the buildings operating. So, for today we're focused on just uh what GLS G LHS uh proposed projects are. So, I'm just going to go through those, but I just want to point out and I think the website is at the end of the private presentation. You can go to the website
and look at all of the projects and see everything that's going on for all of the schools. So, we'll start with the capital projects. So, site parking, uh, site parking, drainage upgrades, repaving, striping, walkway and site repairs, security and
technology upgrades that includes cameras and clock and speaker systems and roofing as Carine mentioned, uh, electrical systems and including a generator. So just examples so you can see I mean you guys walked around here so this is a
great way for you to see examples that are relevant for them. Uh existing parking lots that are some in a you know poor state or state of disrepair. Uh and a lot of it is related to drainage issues that over time have created some of these problems. So the drainage need
also needs to be fixed. And that's the blue um this should work are that's the entire area suggested for um paving and restriping. This is existing security cameras and uh clock and speaker systems. Again,
antiquated um need to make sure we're covering the whole building is also very important because that's what happens over time. The systems get old. Certain parts of them start to go down and then you have poor coverage throughout the building. roofing systems. Um there's several
leaks in a lot of this, particularly in this building and a lot of the others that need to be addressed. And you'll see this is the entire area of the roof proposed to be replaced. 79,000 ft. It's quite a bit. The existing power generator is
undersized and also has uh repeated issues. So, we're looking to um add a secondary generator for support. And we'd go in this courtyard here. You see this little green dot. Just an example of what uh the new
generator could look like. This is the educational projects component. So, media center uh upgrades, TV studio renovations, science labs, and technology, robotics, and STEM. And you
can see a lot of it centered around the technologydriven programs because you really the the the facilities need to support the program, right? These are the type of things that the kind of space needs to work for what you need to do. Um it's not just like a typical classroom. Uh this is the existing media
center. um it's you know it functioned at the at the time but now it's um you know inflexible lacks infrastructure and power and it doesn't really support the current program. This is the TV studio has insufficient
technology. It's undersized um and really needs dedicated areas for the different activities that need to go on in there. So I know this is not perfectly clear but this is the proposed at conceptual level layout of the redesign for the
media center. So I mean one of the things that's relevant is to just show the different pods different areas. There's a computer area here, different nook here. Um there's little individual pods here for single um students alone.
classroom environments that are sort of closed off by furniture, presentation area. You got this is the glass wall here. It's a separated area with dividing walls. So, it gives freedom to do different things within the space and that's kind of what today's spaces need.
And then this down here is the TV studio area. These are renderings of what that space could look like. just again open, flexible, um different areas for gathering, different uses and these are some
examples of high school uh media centers that have been recently completed. So you can see there is a similar consistency in the like preferred designs of today. is just different pods, different activities, technology,
very open space and flexibility. Examples of uh recent TV studio concepts and what they could look like. This is the current science labs at the high school uh are outdated um and also inflexible and some of the
the services are not necessarily where today's program would prefer just proposed layout and again it's really focused on flexibility. Uh most of the science labs these days even have the teachers demo station is flexible. Um just because the the program changes
so rapidly, you really need to kind of be able to adjust. And just examples of what that could look like. And in this particular design, all the services are in the ceiling. So all of
this portion can move around. This is the current STEM lab and wood shop. It's very dark, hard to see, but um it's kind of running double duty in a lot of these spaces and short on power and technology.
This is the machine tech shop. Um same issues. Um power technology, the layout needs improvement. So this is the proposed entire suite and upgrades. So again still flexibility but then you have uh certain nooks that to
support some of the services that need to be you know the the function that needs to happen and shared between the studios. Just some examples again, robotics, uh, STEM technology, open spaces, flexibility, and you'll see
a lot of the power coming from the ceiling so that you can kind of move and adjust as as the program adjusts. So, just a recap for um Governor Livingston High School, media center, renovations, science, STEM lab, TV
production studio, security technology upgrades, site parking, drives, walkway drainage, roofing replacements, says partial, but it's quite a lot. And then, uh electrical system upgrades. So, this is just a different way of
looking at the questions uh at the projects. So this is how they're specifically for Governor Luston and how they're split up by question. So question one includes the media center and again these this recommend this is a recommendation of how we're proposing these questions should be set up. um and
the DOE has approved them this way, but media center security and technology and the site parking and drainage in question one being the most important and then question two which hopefully would get past technology, STEM labs,
science labs, roof replacement and the electrical generator. And then to look at how those cost affects um Mountainside specifically. The the entire referendum numbers are here, but
we'll focus on Governor Livingston. So, um question one is 7.5 million. You get 2.5 million in debt service aid leaves a balance of five. Um total for question one for Berkeley Heights is is 21 and 14
after debt service aid. So again, you know, as you discussed before, the benefit of the referendum is that you do have access access to the um debt service aid. So in this case, the 2.5 million obviously makes a big difference and how that affects the
taxpayers and how much work you can fit into a referendum, especially in their case where part uh the proposed question one is a zero tax impact to the taxpayers of Berkeley Heights. Um, this is
question. Oops, he I skipped ahead. >> So, they have a a referendum ending, a bond ending. >> Yeah. >> So, >> one rolls off, one rolls. >> Yeah. >> Right. >> Yeah. >> Not zero. It's >> right. >> Neutral. >> Neutral. Tax neutral. Yes. >> Right.
>> Um, and so question two is for Governor Livingston is 10 mill 10.4 4 million 3.5 in debt service aid leaving a balance of 6.9. You can see the debt service aid roughly 33.75. So almost at the max of what you
get from the state is 34%. Um and most importantly how does that affect taxpayers in Mountainside? Um so yeah just again the 3.5 for question two approved from the state and then tax impact.
So specifically just for Mountainside um on the average the average tax impact on the average assessed home. That's how it the only way you can really look at it as an average assessment of the homes. Um mountain side is portion is
27.91%. So that adds up comes out to $11.37 per year. uh 2.84 per quarter and 90 95 cents per month if you wanted to look at
it that way. Um that's for question one and then question two again just just from Mountain Sid's portion$1545 per year 386 per quarter and 129 28 per
month so it's around 26 $27 a year which is obviously not you know significant considering the work that'll be done here at Governor Livingston. this >> question. Do you know does that come off of does that come out of the school
board budget or does it come right so usually when we do this this is your how much your house is going to be assessed and how much you're going to pay in right we're still operating under a 2% cap with all that so that yeah I understand why that that
methodology is used but we only have a school budget that's 2% so you're going to take that away from our existing budget and throw it up here to Brookley Heights I believe so. Yes, I believe you. >> Right. So, it's not like a house is being raised, right? That's extra money coming out of our school budget,
>> correct? >> To pay as tuition like tuition was today. >> Yes. >> How many houses are assessed at 629? >> Really? >> That's why I made a point of saying that it's you. So, >> it's all relative.
>> You need to go look at your assessed value and then apply the tax value. And you know, obviously for Berkeley Heights, they wanted me to go look and do that. >> Well, that's the average. That's That's the average. >> It's average. It's the way >> it's not what you would sell your house for. >> It's not what you can sell your house for,
>> right? It's what the taxes are based on. >> That is the average. >> And the average where Berkeley Heights >> that's specific to >> 629. >> Not what your house is worth, but it's what the assessment is for the taxes. >> This whole town was just reassessed.
>> That's why. So that it's up there that I'm into that assessments and so forth. >> Okay, whatever. I can't solve the problem. >> I know it's it's >> but I'm just want people to be aware of it. >> Yes, it's the only way that you could
possibly explain to somebody. You have to give some sort of frame of reference. So that's the only way really to do it. Um I think on the website has a tax calculator right? >> Yes. >> Okay. So like for for Berkeley Heights they can go on and enter their assessed
value and see the actual like if they have to go to their tax paperwork get their assessed value enter that and then they can see their actual like their cost that that would increase you know for the referendum right >> so that's typically how it would be be done it's slightly different for you >> the difference I think here to Bill's
point is that the taxpayers in mountain side are not going to be assessed on their tax bill the school district is going to have to pay that that pay the interest portion out of our operating budget. >> Is that how you understood it, Kim? >> I am now.
>> Um it's I would have to double check it. It makes sense in the whole logic of how you're explaining it, but um >> or else it would go to the tax bill. It come right there's no way. >> So the reality is is okay. We've got a bucket of >> Right. Right. There's no there's no
other way method of doing it. more is going up directly heights less is staying here >> and that impacts >> this budget >> our ability >> because you can't tax >> like Carmine doesn't have kids in the school district so you can't tax people he lives in the town he pays
mountainside taxes but you can't tax him on things that are happening up at govern what percentage of this referendum them goes through. Uh, what percentage does Mountainside pay? And if the district
dissolves, I'm these are things I wonder what percentage that we get credit for it. I'm just these are things that are important. >> What do you mean what what percentage? >> In other words, >> what was your 29%? >> That's the percentage of of students
that are in GHS that are mountain sign. But what what are you referring to? And what what percentage does Mountainside pay of this amount? And then this interest. >> No, that's the that's Yeah. of the
interest. Exactly. Mountain size portion of the interest >> because I remember this was a big problem uh when the the regional uh high school broke up because certain towns got x amount of dollars, certain ones >> Oh, you're saying if things were re
reorgan reorganized I became a controversial projects June. >> Okay. >> So, it's a reality. >> I think the people ask that question. >> Yeah. So, what you're saying is come June of 27th when our >> right >> current agreement ends if we were not to
extend with Berkeley Heights, this money would be sunk. We would have paid them already, right? I think that's what you're asking me. Is there a way to recoup it? >> Yeah. Is it? >> Well, by the time that this goes through, it'll be March of 26. So, it'll be a year or so. >> But is it 25%? I understand your question.
>> Oh, okay. That's a good question. >> Because that does become a problem. Just from my past, >> I think you would pay the interest per year though. So >> while you were still there, if you were there for a year, we're not going to pay after 27. We're going to pay for the years that we're
pay nothing because >> that we are contractually pay for renting. >> Yeah. >> Basically, that doesn't make sense. >> Let me solve it. I assume that the so question one >> would be priority one. Is that fair to say? Question two not necessarily
because there seem like there's some burning issues on both on both questions. >> Yeah, it is. But but it's exactly what we were just talking about before. You have to somehow figure out where those priorities fall. Yes, there are priorities in both questions. And again, that's our recommendation how the
questions are split up. It's how DOE approved it. Okay. >> Um, you know, it it it was I think very difficult in this case as you can see exactly for your point to choose how to prioritize. Yes. >> Right. You always want to give the taxpayers an option to have a zero
impact or neutral tax neutral option. Yes. But at the same time there are a lot of like things that are a high priority. So it is sort of tricky to figure out how to question how to lay out the questions. >> And I I won't speak for Dr. filter. But I assume that the the wish list would be
and one and two, but the public can choose or. >> Of course. >> Yeah. Of course. >> Is that accurate? They could choose two, not one. >> So So no, two is typic two is contingent on one. >> That's my question. I mean, >> what you saw here was a recommendation. If you watched the last public meeting,
um the Berkeley Board of Education did not finalize the language or the projects, >> right, >> that'll be on the ballot. So what we saw still is >> tentative. Okay. >> Right. Uh and there was a meeting next week and I'm sure it'll be on the agenda. Right. Um
>> this is directional. >> Yeah. And the way it's the way it's created is >> two can only be enacted as if one >> passes >> passes. Got it. >> So it's it's none >> or both. >> It's one by itself or one and two. It can never be just two.
>> Understood. >> Correct. >> That makes sense. I I mean I I can say having with kids there and having been on that board that there there's a huge list of things that have to happen there. The same way that we've walked around facilities here, right? So we saw photos here, but
there's other things that they're not even pictured yet. >> Of course, >> are the same process. Somehow you have to somehow have to >> whittle down the list into something that you can tackle for, you know, that five or six year period. >> There there's some stuff that that seem like it would be great to have from from like a STEM perspective and is much
needed. There's other things that feel like they roofwise, parking lot wise have to be done like >> right >> immediately. So >> yeah, and we only looked at one school obviously. >> Right. Right. >> So >> can we get the votes?
I think the um just to you put it out in public because I think the mo a common question at least that I get a lot is um athletic fields and more specifically lights at the turf field. Can you
confirm that it's not included in these questions? >> Not as I understand it. >> Okay. >> All right. Do we have any other questions? I Thank you. You did a good job. Yes. >> Thanks for being here.
>> You're welcome. >> So now I can continue. >> Oh jeez. >> All right. >> I think I know where this is going. >> Our business administr did not have a report and now moving on to Bill. >> So Berkeley Heights. Okay. Um there's
been at least two meetings uh since we last met and um for those of you keeping squirt at home, we adjourned at 12:35 a.m. which is a new record for me. So um congratulations to whoever is
taking the spot in January. Uh even if you're in the crowd. So >> nice try. Nice try. >> You wanted I'm going to first and second bill. Congrats by the end of the election. Three more years. Yeah.
>> Um so um couple couple key highlights from from the regular scheduled meeting. Uh we went through their HIV and vandalism HIV violence and vandalism reports similar to what we do. Um how many confirmed HIVs? Uh there was 40 uh
this year. Um we went through the self assessment specifically for GL. Uh that's their you know we same report we look at here. write yourself assessment of how you're handling HIV's 74 out of 78. Uh we reviewed the NJSLA scores. It was very thorough. Um I recommend
anybody go out to the Berkeley Heights YouTube channel. Uh Dr. Maher took us through all of the trends where we're heading in the right direction, some opportunities. So it was a very thorough and great job. I could not um repeat it here. Um
uh from an athletics perspective, the GL press box uh was hopefully being delivered in the next 2 weeks or so uh and being installed. Uh we spent a lot of time on the March referendum. Um the questions, the project included, the
language on the ballot, all of that. Um, we approved the addition of a new club and that was uh girls flag football uh which I know was an interest uh to some of our residents here. It's a program that we did jointly with them with
through the PAL organization. Um we talked about uh there was some public debate over uh an event that happened at uh Governor Livingston. It was a no hate BMX tour. Um, so parents ra consern raised some concerns around some literature that was handed out that had
you scan a QR code. Uh, and there was a lot of talk around just making sure that you're teaching your children when they're online and they're filling out forms be careful of what information you're you're sharing. Um, um, we we spent time discussing possible uh committee structure changes for next
year, which made me think about it here. Um, kids are a way to get more efficient. Do we want to add more? Do we want to add less? how do we uh potentially uh work through just streamlining a lot of the work ahead of time. Uh again more challenging up there uh given it's an eight person structure.
Uh on a very good news we did confirm that there was be no limitations based on the zip code or your residency. So then the next person from outside can participate in all programs which was an issue there this year. Um, we ended the meeting with either old
business or new business, which was um a possible uh opportunity to pull out of the lower Columbia lease agreement. If you guys remember uh that recently was the Berkeley Heights uh district giving the lower Columbia leasing the lower
Columbia field to uh the recck department, the town. Um there's been a lot of back and forth or decided not to go to Turf Field. Um but all in all at the end of the day um that uh nothing's changing right so that the town will continue to have a lease over that
field. Um we had a secondary meeting um it was a special meeting specifically on uh the board to get HIV training. It was very informative. Um it was very interactive. Again if you if you're interested in knowing what is and is not
classified as a an HIV case um watch that YouTube video. the the lawyer put together a nice funny and interactive way using, you know, uh, pop culture memes and things like that to to really hammer home uh, kind of what the point
of an HIV is or what is and what is not um, you know, specific characteristics. Uh, and then we attempted to get into board board goals. Uh, but that was cut short. We lost our quorum. Uh, so we had to end the meeting short. So that more
to come on that. So, and that is my Berkeley Heights leazison report. >> Thank you. All right, we're moving on to uh administration. Can I please have a motion to approve under administration's items 1 through 7 with an add-on resolution resolve that after residency
hearing on November 11th, 2025, student 1245 is deemed not to be a resident of Mountainside. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any comments or questions? Roll call, please. Bill Dylan.
>> So, I'm going to abstain on one and seven. I'm yes on the rest. >> Jordan Heyman, >> yes to all. >> Vivian Pubo, >> yes. >> Candace, >> yes. >> Carmine Venice, >> yes.
>> Under budget and finance, can I please have a motion to approve items 1 through 10? So move. >> Second. Any uh any comments or questions? >> Roll call, please.
>> Bill Dylan, >> yes. >> Jordan Heyman, >> yes. >> Vivian Pubo, >> yes. >> Yandiano, >> yes. >> Carmen Venice, >> yes. >> May I please have a motion to approve under personnel items 1 through six?
So move. >> Second. Roll call, please. >> Was it seven through seven? >> I think it was seven with the with the Yes, we have six and seven, >> I think. Didn't you say that? >> Yes, I
>> I just had one question. Are we Chris are we able to at this point just share at all how the search on the replacement for number one is going or too early to >> Currently we have um initial interviews uh for the supervisor special services
uh tomorrow and Thursday uh I have different meetings set up with uh stakeholder groups administration parents and um you know to talk about their look fors in the candidates
And then after that, a second round they'll be doing uh probably the following week. Potentially a letter of intent recommendation to the board so that if a candidate does have a contract for 60 days notice, they could put it in and a potential actual hire date from
the board December 9th. >> Nice. >> Keep our fingers crossed. >> Currently 35 applicants added the pool. >> Wow. >> That's great. Thank you. >> Uh I'm thrilled to see that we got a Spanish teacher. >> Yeah. because I know they're very >> world language is not an easy position to
>> I know it personally myself so it I'm really happy to see that. >> Very good. I have a question. Um I just don't want to have to reapprove somebody else. I noticed that in number four the same name list was listed twice.
Um, are any of the ones on the addendum potentially like first of all, did we skip somebody and should there is there a name I don't want to exclude anybody that should be on here so we don't they can volunteer. Um, and then if you caught that, maybe
you added the names on to something else. >> Number four, >> the manager, >> the parent volunteers >> right here. >> Okay. >> So, yeah. Okay, there's Lindsay Henle is in this middle column and in the right
column, which I'm She's doing double work. Perfect. Double volunteer. Uh but I was I was concerned that potentially a name that we we omitted a name and that person wouldn't be on the >> uh I I don't believe that. Just think that's a double. >> Okay. >> Yeah.
>> So, we added two names. Okay. Roll call, please. Yeah, I have Candace moving. Who seconded? I'm sorry. >> I think Candace seconded and >> Bill Dylan. >> Yes. >> Jordan Heyman, >> yes. >> Vivian Pubo, >> yes. >> Candaceiano,
>> yes. >> Carmine Venice, >> yes. >> I please have a motion to approve on the curriculum item number one. >> So moved. Second. >> Comments or questions? Roll call, please. >> Bill Dylan. Yes.
>> Jordan Heyman. >> Yes. >> Vivian Poop. >> Yes. >> Candace Shiano. >> Yes. >> Carmine Bennis. >> Yes. >> Can I please have a motion under policy to approve just item number one? >> So moved.
>> Second. >> Comments or questions? >> Roll call, please. >> Bill Dylan, >> yes. >> Jordan Heyman, >> yes. >> Vivian Kubo, >> yes. Gandiano, >> yes. >> Carmine Bennis, >> yes.
>> Do we have any old business? New business. Any committee reports? Uh, the curriculum committee met on Monday. Um, we discussed a couple of different things. We discussed um AI guidelines um and eventually there'll be a proposal
going to the board for policy um first reading. Um we also look took a look at the school calendar for the um 2627 school year. So um we also compared it to Berkeley Heights and then we still
also looked at what we want to do. So that was a um that we should have within the next month or two. Um field trips. We talked about uh fundraising for field trips. We spoke about the Spanish teacher position and we spoke about the
um supervisor special services search. So that's where we met and we'll continue to uh share any information we get with the searches as well as obviously the school calendar approval. >> Was there anything you wanted me to bring forward to the next Berkeley
Heights meeting around the calendar? >> No, because they just scheduled their calendar and then share it with us. >> Well, it's so it's new, right? It's so that's what happens and then we just look at ours and we got to play nice in the sandbox.
That's what that's the truth of the matter really people right so but maybe right aligning the spring breaks I think is the most important will be hopefully aligned as what we're looking at and what they >> if that changes let me know if you want
me to mention anything up there. >> Well did they approve theirs fully approve it? >> No. So if what they have changes, then you have to let us know. >> Okay. All right. That's what I'll do. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Thank you. Okay. At this time, I would like to open up the floor for public participation on any item that
you would like to discuss. Please come up to the podium, state your name, address. Seeing no one, everyone is tired. Uh we do not have a second. Exec. Um so I think that's it. Can I please get a motion to adjurnn? >> So move. >> Second.
>> All in favor? I posted. >> Thank you. Have a great Oh, sorry. Have a warm evening. >> It's cold. >> It's cold. It is cold.