Good evening. Sorry, let me get closer. I'm sorry. Good evening. Welcome to a meeting of the Mountainside 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 a 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 to 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. Speaker shall limit their comments to three minutes. Roll call, please. Bill Dylan, Michael Goodwin, Dana Quita Cypro, Jordan Heyman, here. Vivian Poop, here. Candaceiano Carmine Venice here.
At this time, I would like a motion to go into executive session. It's 6:32. So moved. Some move. Second. Okay. We will return in in an hour. Good evening. We are returning from our
executive session at 7:31. Can we please stand to 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. So nice to see faces here. All right. Can I please have a motion to approve minutes from September? So move. Second. Any comments or questions? Roll call, please. Mike Goodwin,
yes. Dana Cypro, yes. Jordan Heyman, yes. Vivian Poop, yes. Carmine Venice, yes. Okay, 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. I do not have a president's report, so I'll hand it over to our superintendent. Thank you. Actually, I'm going to take the podium
tonight. Good evening, everyone. Um, I am very happy to start what I would consider a very uh very nice tradition here uh in Mountainside. We have tonight two
individuals that we're going to recognize and the recognition is called the Mountainside Trailblazer Award and they are the inaugural recipients of this award both for Beachwood and Deerfield. So, uh, without further ado,
our first mountainside trailblazer is a, uh, a young gentleman who always chooses to do the right thing. Uh, regardless of what others are doing and regardless of what, you know, not even for adult recognition. He just does the right
thing all of the time. Uh, he was nominated not only by teachers, he was nominated by his principal. and I am very pleased to announce him as our mountainside trailblazer for Beachwood School. I'm going to have him come up,
but first I'm going to read the recognition certificate that our other trailblazer will get. It says, "For outstanding efforts that foster and promote the ideals of the pillars of character, trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship." So without further ado,
Leo Lzolei, come on in. Y stand here. Good job. Congratulations. Proud moment, mom, dad. Proud moment. And our trailblazer is a young gentleman who is described as
the ultimate volunteer. All right. volunteering for field day, going above and beyond the fall festival. He was everywhere. He you look at and there he was. So he goes above and beyond doing all the things even though he's not asked to and
was just really when I asked the staff and I asked the administration who should be recognized as the first mountainside trailblazer for Deerfield School without a doubt it was this young gentleman. Very proud of him, Joseph Miller. Congratulations.
I'm going to go in and do a report first before we get into our reports. Like I said, if you guys want to leave. All right. Take off. Go. Chris, you said they were going to stay for the audit. No, it's not. All right, letting them off.
Congratulations. Congratulations, everybody. All right. I wonder if he volunteers take out the garbage at home and everything. That's amazing. That's amazing. Tell him where I live if he's offering services. Yeah, we need volunteers.
Yeah. So, we'll start off uh every October the district has to report on the HIV self- assessment code. So what that is is the school safety team goes ahead and they meet and what they do is
they give the school districts sorry the schools a set of criteria for the grades that will eventually be sent to the state and the state then comes back and certifies those grades. So um when they
answer the 26 questions of this HIV self assessment which relates to how well the um how well the investigations are going the training that's given to individuals. This all encompasses these grades. Uh they have to rank themselves
from zero to three on each question. There 26 questions. Do the math. 78 is the total amount of points that you can get on this particular assessment that you're submitting to the state. So this year the grades for Beachwood uh are a
total of 75. Deerfield is a 73 and last year's grades for your records. Uh Beachwood was a 73. So they went up two points and Deerfield was a 71. So uh congratulations to them
for improving. One of the things that I often like to say with these grades is when you look around and they are and should be posted on district websites that oftent times you see a perfect score of a 78. I have to tell you nobody's perfect and nor should they be.
There should always be room for improvement. So I I appreciate the fact that the schools are taking this seriously and really rating themselves appropriately and that nobody's just coming out giving a random 78. So, I appreciate that. For the week of respect, which is just this past week,
we had guidance counselor Erica Bart going to third through 8th grade classes to discuss HIV laws, definitions, and talking about conflict versus bullying. And in Beachwood, students have to learn how to be caring. C A R E uh, you know,
punctuated caring and respectful people every day. uh providing students they were treating others, understanding kindness. Miss Kay visited each classroom, did some special lessons about respect, and she also explained what bullying is and what it isn't. Uh
fall sports, girls soccer is doing very well, uh with a winning record, 54-1. Boys soccer also doing very well. Girls volleyball had a great win over Westfield. It was very rewarding for them to have that uh under their belt.
Uh they did very well against playing field a couple of games that I saw. So they were doing very well with a lot of underassman that'll be helping out the team next year. We are hosting our first volleyball tournament here. Uh Kelly Castro has done a great job at
organizing that and bringing in county teams. Uh that's October 25th. That's a Saturday we'll be h uh holding that volleyball tournament. district advisory committee as we spoke of this think tank organization that uh
we have 22 people signed up for all constituents retirees uh community members Rotarians um parents former parents alumni will be meeting uh coming up and the date is set
uh forth in the uh next month superintendent's fireside chat it's coming up October mber 16th at 6:30 we have our virtual guest Lieutenant Shan Bendic of the Mountainside Police Department. We'll be talking about
student and community safety. I hope everybody can log on at home. Uh the link is on our Facebook and our Instagram page as well as been emailed out to parents. the parent and student survey as part of our ongoing commitment
to fulfilling the goals of the strategic plan. One of the things that'll be coming soon within the next month is a parent student survey. The parents will be emailed a survey to be done in conjunction with feedback from their students. So the parents are
the ones getting the survey and this survey entails questions about uh environment um different offerings. So we're we're we're very um eager to get that information to help us improve the
district moving forward as part of and I'm glad it is part of the strategic plan that we could have this uh Berkeley Heights collaboration. We met with uh the superintendent Dr. Kim Feltry, director of special education. Kevin Mora, an assistant
superintendent of curriculum instruction. Crystal Maher with Miss Ruo, our supervisor of special education, and Miss Chris Foley, our coordinator of instructional programming, to discuss articulation opportunities that will be coming for
both uh our supervisors with their administrators over at Berkeley Heights, as well as a set of teachers, seventh and eighth grade to start uh and then moving back forward uh back from from that point. Uh we'll also be hosting a
uh co-hosting with Berkeley Heights, a parent partnership on December 15th at 7 p.m. We'll be sending out uh information on that within the next week. It'll be coming out via Instagram, Facebook, and
school messenger. We have Lieutenant Tom Rich who is a Berkeley Heights parent and resident, but also a well-known speaker on social media trends and cyber security, cyber bullying, and such. So, we're lucky to have Tom come on and help
our students out. That'll be at the GL uh auditorium be in order to house and that's a parentonly presentation. So, parents, you'll get some tips and tricks. That's why it's parents only. So, all right. At this
time, we are going to have Miss Chrisulie come forward and we're going to give you the NJSLA DM assessment report. And this report has to be done. It is a QAC requirement by uh October 30th. So, here we are. Uh
we're just going to go ahead and get set up real quick. Hello. Hello everyone. Let me move over seats available. Good seats available. Move over. That's long way
for Jason. All right. So, tonight we're talking about the NJSLA. This is the old NJSLA, not to be confused with the NJSLA adaptive, which is coming out this year. More to come on that as we'll be
presenting to parents some information on how that assessment is going to be rolled out and what that looks like for their children in the coming year. And the DM, which we'll talk about, is an alternative assessment for students with disabilities. So, first we're going to
talk about our math uh scores and take a look at comparisons to both New Jersey averages as well as our DFG factor group. So, they don't normally consider DFG factor groups in state measurements.
However, we're lucky enough to have the link platform, which is our data warehousing platform that we use and they have still a comparison that we use. And we are a DFG factor group of I
uh if anybody want to look would like to look that up and what other um particular towns are involved in that district factor group. So, without further ado, uh Miss Christopher, good evening. Good evening. Hi, good evening.
I am proud to start off with the grades 3 to six results in mathematics. As you can see, in grade three, we had an 84.4% of meeting or exceeding. Grade four, we had an 83.9%
of meeting or exceeding. Grade 5 81.6% and grade 6 at 79.5%. As you can see, we are significantly above the state averages for students, meeting or exceeding expectations.
Mountainside scores, also comparing to the DFG are also scored above average. This slide compares our grade 7, algebra 1, and geometry students. As you see again, you will note we
significantly exceeded the state averages. and comparing other levels 1 to three, we were way below our state averages. This graph shows a two-year comparison. Okay, presented here are same grade, same
grade different students as well as the cohort. And there is an increase in percentage of students who met or exceeded by cohort and in most grade levels yeartoyear. One of the things to keep in mind about
scores in general for smaller school districts is the factor of the percentage one or two students can fluctuate. Yeah. a uh a percentage of meat or
exceeding. Um when you think about an average of, you know, 84 students, you get four students that are having a bad day that day. Mhm. Or just aren't prepared to test, you know, that fluctuates that score. There's a variable to that. But luckily
for us uh the variable doesn't really uh hold true because you can see the scores are definitely uh above both the state average but also show cohort to cohort year to year that these kids are either consistent or are improving. Keeping in
mind uh we'll talk about the algebra one scores and proactively what we're doing about that. This slide shows our subgroups that are meaning or exceeding in mathematics. Again, like Mr. Kenny mentioned, how one
or two students could have a great impact. And as you can see, there are six out of the 11 categories and a relatively stable growth in others. Again, we have very few uh multi- language learners. So therefore, you
could see the score comparison for that. So what does this all mean? Right, looking at these graphs. So again, a point to say that overall 81.3% of our students met or exceeded compared to 44%
of the state. All right, we saw consistent growth in almost all grades and we are looking at that algebra 1. We'll talk about what we're doing with that. Staff is looking at the evidence tables. They're getting that data and they're doing something about
it this coming year. 83.3 of grade level cohorts showed an increase when looking at meeting or exceeding expectations. That is how you would look at the scores that you just saw. What are our focuses when we talk about math in the coming
year? So we're in our year four of implementing our big ideas math program and we use our big ideas math program alongside our I Ready and we combine those programs and that blend has really
been successful. We will continue to support and model as needed in the classrooms whether that be from myself or other teachers to teachers I've seen observe each other um and just gather together and make sure
that support is there as always we will continue our team meetings and we analyze analyze analyze constantly our NJSLs standards we have extended this year our I ready to grade K so now We have a grade K to5
personalized pathway as well as benchmarking. We will continue to implement those thinking classroom strategies where students are collaborating and talking about math at a vertical standing at their boards.
A continuation again of our math stations and math menus along with our I Ready can do and next steps to to provide support to all levels. That data gives us support to everybody. We will continue our facilitated math
sessions for grades 1 through five and that is in the morning and throughout the day. And again, we have our collaborative meetings where we data dive with our general and special education math teachers. And I personally do that, too.
So, you're looking at looking at the data, differentiating instruction, looking at offering uh morning sessions of help for those that aren't meeting expectations currently right now. All good stuff going on K to 5.
And in grade 6 to 8, we just met with Berkeley Heights. So, I was really excited to um reconnect and we are definitely going to be articulating and collaborating. So, we're look all looking forward to that. Again, the continued use of the thinking classroom
and middle school um vertical learning. Um we do evaluate the NJSLA evidence statement tables with the teachers to see where we fell above in each standard or if we fell below. We collaboratively meet and with general
education and special education math teachers using our data and our platforms. We offer con facilitated math sessions also in grades six through eight and um during our targeted learning skills
opportunity period to enhance both deficient or advanced skill sets. And finally that creation and implementation of a grade 8 math course. Uh prior to this we did not have that. Um it was either uh algebra 1 or
geometry. There was a small cohort that was in a grade eight, but that was a pullout resource type of grade eight program. This now there are how many kids would you say? I would say about 16 16 15 to 16 kids in our grade eight math course, right?
That is being implemented this year. So on their level gaining skills that they need as opposed to putting them somewhere where it's beyond what they uh you know are struggling with and therefore showing frustration
save questions at the end or could I do one one math question on on thinking classrooms which has been discussed a lot inclusive of Berkeley Heights. What's what can you share a little more just like the evolution? So, I mean, I feel it feels like we got it right as a district the
last couple years, my opinion. Um, and I'm just wondering, are we are we is it status quo? Are there things that we're doing? Is it maybe even like how often we're using it or or percentage of of of getting kids out of their seats and, you know, and up at whiteboards? Um, what's working, what's not kind of a thing.
I think that's what's working that we did like a hybrid model. We didn't just dive into the book and the full philosophy of it. I do love that they collaborate. They're standing, they're talking, there's somebody writing, someone speaking. It's amazing to watch
how it really has shown, I really think, as part of our math growth here. Thank you. ELA. Okay, so ELA, I am proud to present the ELA scores also.
heard that before. This slide shows grades 3 to five results in English language arts. As you can see, in grade three, we had a 71.4%. [Music] In grade four, we had an 82.8% of
meeting or exceeding. And in grade 5, we had an 80.3% of meeting or exceeding. You will see that we are above the state average. And in comparison to our DFG, we did also
score above average. This slide shows our grade six, our grade 7 and our grade 8 scores in English language arts. In grade six, we had a percent of 89.7. Grade 7 85.7 and in grade 8 we had an
81.3%. Again noting we significantly exceeded the state averages and also scored above average con comparing to our DFJ score. Here is our 2-year comparison
presented here is the same grade different students and also our cohorts. There is an increase in percentage of students who met or exceeded by most cohorts and in most grade levels. This slide shows our subgroups meaning
or exceeding in English language arts. Again, keeping in mind that there is if there's a relatively small number of just a few or one, it can have a great impact. And here we have seven out of the 11 categories showing growth and a
relatively stable growth again in others. So what does that show for ELA scores? Overall growth once again this year this year uh our student scores were significantly higher at every grade level. 81%
of our students met or exceeded compared to 53% of the state as well as our DFG factor. And then 83.3 of our grade level cohorts were consistent or showed an increase. So awesome to see those scores here yeartoear uh means we're doing
something right. So what is our focus this year? You're going to hear a lot about 95%. It's a program that was brought in several years ago. Uh I believe you can attest I think by the the scores and the effectiveness of this program and what it does for our
students. Uh you can see it's used in K to3 as a phonics program. Word study grades 3 to five part of our intervention program for both our aim or basic skills. Aim and basic skills and special ed has that intervention program
which is multi-ensory. I ready personal pathways. Title one funding is used to support our AIM programming that's focused in K to2 on phonics. We are complying with the state mandate for
the universal literacy screener twice a year to make sure we're ascertaining necessary support and intervention. And we have an emphasis on the writing process. It's one of our district goals. We're hoping that putting the emphasis on that we'll see portions of the NJSLA
adaptive uh increase as we focus on writing. So grade level outcomes for science. Now science as a whole on a state level is pretty significantly struggling for all
learners as you could see for grades five and grade eight and the state comparison for above level three. uh we are still above our DFG factors in both grade levels and we'll continue to
utilize our uh pilot program as we talked about. There's the cohorts. Uh there are our um subgroups with that subgrouping. You can see there are some that may made progress above
met and level three and some that are comparably almost to the level where they were last year using link aligning for with the standards making sure that we're using that link science assessment to get
those weeks uh areas and skill sets that we need to improve upon. Uh ensuring coherence across grade levels. We're pocket piloting resources this year. What that means is we're reaching out to other districts because eventually what's going to happen and what we're
seeing across the state is the sequence the scope and sequence of what we're offering in science is not matching up with what's being assessed. Therefore, the scores being of what they are. So, we are pocket piling resources, curricular resources to find out which
one's going to best suit our needs for the upcoming years. So, you'll hear more about that throughout the year about what we're using. Um, and of course, articulation with our receiving district uh administration and teachers to analyze the scope and sequence of that
middle school science program. Other state testing, BLM BLM is a dynamic learning map. It is used for students with disabilities that aren't working on the standards in their grade level. You're talking about those that are
severely or cognitively impaired. What it is is it's a set of um scaled questions. Uh on that scale, they are measured. They are going from emerging all the way to advanced. And we have a
very limited amount of students that are doing this. But what we could tell you from those scores is that in math we have scores ranging from the emerging to approaching level two. Okay? So we don't have much advanced math scores in DLA.
All of our out of district students scored emerging in the ELA level and most of our out of district scored emerging in math. But our ind district students were at target for both math and ELA which is very uh promising to
see that they are meeting targets but we have to move them to the advanced levels. So that is the DM. It's the alternative alternative assessment to the NJSLA progress with purpose. A theme that we've kind of reiterated both to the staff and you'll hear from me time and
time again. What are we doing to make our progress? want to start off with the first one. We're definitely collaborative and and in in our instructional focus, we already do what is listed here. We analyze, we get together, we have team meetings, we work one-on-one with
teachers. Um we share our best practices and again that collaborative model. Um we are looking to extend again to Berkeley Heights. So we're in collaboration and articulation, curricular alignment and enrichment. You're talking about making sure that we just approved a curricular revision
cycle in our previous board meeting. Making sure that we're looking at both the curriculum, the resources that we're using, making sure that we're scaffolding appropriately. We're offering that articulation between grade levels during faculty meetings. So, a
third grade teacher can talk to a fourth grade teacher about what they're doing and talking about making sure that if there is a skill that the third grade teacher sees as a deficit from last year that the fourth grade teacher takes the time to really hit that skill. Um, you
want to hit the next B? Sure. Um, we also want to challenge our enriched learners through higher order questioning, complex test, multi-step problem solving, including with our gifted and talented teacher that we have this year
um to enhance that also and implementing ways to foster critical thinking. So you're looking at um you know making sure that the students are doing assignments and work that's not just drill and skill but uh or drill and
kill as we would call it but getting out there and looking at ways to um you know use those really essential life skills that are going to be so important to them down the road. And finally, implementing practice practical strategies and classroom examples to
foster rigor. Love that word. Engagement. Love that word too. And obviously growth for all learners. But that is a progress with purpose. Uh that what we're our goal is. Uh and we're hoping to report back the following year
with even greater shores for our mountainside students. Questions? Yes. Um, I noticed that in the beginning of this report there was an emphasis on phonics. Yes. And that used to be very important and
kids learned how to write uh read. Right. And then all of a sudden they stopped it. Now I see they're going back to phonics. And I could vouch that worked. Yeah. Back when I was in the classroom and for
my own uh students. So who decided that maybe we ought to bring it back? I I think there was a progressive trend over the last couple of years uh particularly with uh multi-ensory um interventions that are proven
effective uh that you saw school districts throughout the state starting to move back toward phonics and I'm going to say past couple years maybe five to seven years past couple um
and I don't think this is a trend I think this will In my opinion, it did work. It did work. It worked for you. It worked for me. Oh, okay. I also think blending those programs like we blend in math with two types of math programs. This really is showing to
be successful. I'm glad to hear that. Where I'm I'm ahead of quota. Mike's up. What? On this side of the table? Yeah. Um, so impressive. I mean, every year it just it's very impressive. I kind of
geek out myself over seeing the numbers. Dana's laughing at me because I'm always like, it's it's not only impressive, we should be very proud in everything between math, ELA, science. Even science, I believe it was last year, we were a little on the low end.
It looks like we maybe have bucked the trend a little bit and starting. So, what I'm most proud about is that we're not going to rest on our laurels, but we're actually trying to innovate. We're trying to get better. We're trying to do new things where possible. Um because I
think that's where school districts struggle is when they do very well and then it's like set it and forget it and that doesn't seem to work. So, kudos to you. Kudos to the team. Um, I do have one question though because I'm always very fascinated by how low
the state numbers are comparative and we're always trying to innovate and we're trying to do better here. What's the state trying to do to get better and do we see their not mandates but do we see their um initiatives initiatives programs to get better
year-over-year and is any of that push down on us? Uh I I don't know if there's a this all the state could do is uh put funding toward initiatives. They're not going to tell you to do them. They're going to look at the
standards and I could say at this point they're going to look at how they're assessing students because that was a big thing where the NJSLA adaptive was something new to every school district in August that honestly wasn't known to
us and I've sat in many superintendent meetings throughout last year. Not once was it mentioned about the state going to an NJSLA adaptive assessment. So what they could do is on a large scale but how it's implemented and you know you
can't actually tell districts you have to do it this way because it's the different set of students you know in each district. So well you're 100% right because in small districts like ours a few could skew the numbers horribly on a bad day. If I was the state, I would be coming to towns
like Mountainside and wondering what is in their special sauce because honestly, we're doing something right. And I look around and I look at the numbers and I'm wondering what are other towns doing that, you know, to to fix their scores because for a state like New Jersey that
prides themselves in education and being one of the better states in the country around education, uh the numbers again, not comparing because you can't compare NJ on JSLA to other states. they have different testing. Um it's it's eye opening
but kudos to the team because it it's I always love to see this every year and being a blue ribbon school. I'm so proud this is part of you know our blue ribbon and I think we give a lot of attention. We're very
you know in that rigor now we're looking at now even using we have a lot of great resources here. We are very lucky. Yeah. Um, I was just going to I'll echo everything Mike said. I I was going to ask noting that maybe it's just an answer of
of of, you know, small class sizes and the skew, but we had a big positive jump on the ELA from grades 3 to four, same cohort, bigger than any cohort for any subject across all the years we look at. Is there something there on the ELA
side? Like, has there is there something we can intentionally look at? The math jump looks like it was six points for the same cohort. So it can't just be, you know, an extraordinary just group of kids. That that's a big jump. 62 to 83. That was a big jump. I noticed that also.
Yeah. I don't know if there's any thought as to what it was or or um if there's if there's and I ask I ask in part because the whole transition over the years of of grades two into three has always been something we've looked a lot at. Um this is this is that group of kids
now testing into four. One factor you might have to put a finger on is, you know, kids in second grade didn't take this assessment. They're in third grade, they took it first time, so they knew what was coming at them. Interesting. Now they're, you know, and going into
fourth grade, they're like, "Oh, I've seen this type of assessment before." With third grade, it's brand new. That's one confidence could help. Yeah. There's a good jump between fifth and sixth, though, too. Yep. Yes. You know, and also not not as big, but still, right? And if you look at grade three in
2425, they were 71% which was a a growth from 62 to 71. So Mike, you mentioned that uh some of the urban districts, the squares are not great and as great as a small district, but here's something you have to
remember. In those districts, there's a lot of in and out. They're there for a year, two years, and then they're transferring and you can't really work on them to approve because they keep moving around moving around. Yeah.
And and that that hurts. That hurts the scores. Yeah. Well, thank you guys. Thank you. Yeah. Appreciate it. Thank you. This was a good spot. Pretty good, right? Switch it up. You're the president.
Opposite Tuesday. Yeah. Take fire first though. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Kenny. And moving on, um our business administrative report. So, the moment you've all been waiting for. So, as you know, we do close our books
uh at June 30th of every year. Um so, we completed the 2425 school year and as we are required, we had our outside auditors come in and complete our audit. Um we normally the last couple years we've been much later than this with our
audit report because we've been waiting on state numbers to come out. Um but the state did release their information. So we do have a final audit report. Um so I did hand out to you a couple of documents. One is a letter from Nisvacia, one is a summary and one is
the um financial highlights. Um, but I'll ask Kathy Mantel from Nisavajia if she wants to get up so I don't steal her thunder. Hey, so Dana said, "Can you send a copy of the letter to share with the board
and what a difference a day makes?" So all you know the state had to get us on behalf numbers and they sent those with about some of the details and then the OPB the other postretirement benefit. speak by the
mic. Sorry. So, so you guys do have the electronic copies. These are just hard copies. Hard copies if anybody wants a hard copy. So, anyway, the information that we've received from the state came in in the last two weeks. But again, they gave us a piece of information. It wasn't 100%
of the information. So, a day or two later that trickles in. Then we got the other information and again something's missing from it. So, to us it's um really wonderful. But you're lucky here because this year you don't have a federal single audit because all the
pandemic monies were spent. Um, now we're finding an issue, federal government shutdown. So, if there were federal single audit, you'd be on pause. I just came from a district where they have a federal single audit and we have to wait and see. We believe what we're going to have to do is file the federal
single audit opinion separate from what is submitted to the DOA. It's insane, but challenge is a challenge. We love a challenge. So, so happy to be here in October. Love getting our audit reports out. I have with me Brian Gibbons and um
I know Dana's going to be leaving the district in December and I'm retiring and Brian is the Arab parent. And so, um we work very closely together internally. We make sure that we have a plan for transition and I have no doubts
whatsoever that Brian um can steer the um team that we have come here to do the audit. So with that um again the audit is about 195 pages and we just give you the highlights and if you have any additional questions that you have and
now that you have the official um copy that we sent over um that's what's going to be uploaded to DOE. So um that's that. So I always like the board to see what the components of fund balance are at the end of the year and you'll see that the totals for June of
25 were 2.4 4,38205. Last year it was 2,14. You were up about 424,000. I've always said you can't just say, "Oh, fund balance is up 424,000." You have to look at the individual components. So capital reserve was up
because if you came in with more than 2% is an increase in your unreserved. The board resolution um in June is to deposit money into reserves. So there were deposits made to capital reserve, maintenance reserve, tuition reserves.
It's always good to have those reserves in place. It's a strong financial position. And then the current year excess was 459,000. I believe that you know Dana wanted continuity. So you'll see at the bottom
of the page where excuse me um 4 394,000 and change of um fund balance was used in 2425 and then it's level for 26 and 27. And as you look at the things that caused the change, you have a little bit
of extra local revenue above what you anticipated. The additional state aid is you anticipate extraordinary aid, but you don't anticipate 100% of what you're going to get. I think that's a good strategy to have. Before the pandemic, a lot of school districts weren't
anticipating their extraordinary aid. They were letting it fall completely to the bottom line, but as costs are going up with all the inflation, it's been very difficult to do that. The other um important component to the change in fund balance from year to year is what
you spend on your budget. And so your budget is a little it's $20.7 million. And at the end of the year, you see the unexpended the adjusted for those on behalf um NJOE pension contributions.
You had about 861,000 unexpended, but then you have open incumbrances. So those are purchase orders that haven't been paid. they rolled into they roll into the subsequent year and they become an expenditure next year. So really you had about 800,000 left from your 2025
budget. It's about 3.86%. So I just say that because handling the finances is a challenge from time to time and you're faced like we are with all kinds of things that you don't have a lot of time to react to. So, we have
heard word in the last two months that health benefit rates are going to go up. And so, it's very difficult when you're only you only have 3.8% of your budget that you're not spending now that um you don't look to increase
your revenue. And so um with that, you know, each year you can authorize projects to that you're going to withdraw from your capital reserve and maintenance reserve. The tuition reserve is for um students. So you have a
two-year window you're paying tuition to the high school. And so what happens is um if they come back and have a different tuition rate, they'll come back and build the district. So it's kind of like a revolving fund. You set up a reserve one year, you utilize that
and then you set up one for the next ensuing year. And so the that is all that I wanted to discuss with you. I'll let Brian take the rest of it. And if you have any questions after we're finished, feel free to ask. Brian,
thanks Kathy. Hello everyone. Hello. Hi. So just wanted to get uh a little more into detail on some of the reserves that Kathy mentioned. Uh you have three reserves here at the district. the capital reserve, a maintenance reserve, and the tuition reserve.
So, as Kathy mentioned, uh a few of the excess surplus, uh you were able to deposit into those reserves. So, your capital reserve, you were able to deposit $200,000 at the end of the year. And during 2425, you withdrew $85,000 to
help support the budget. You ended June 30th, 2025 with $576,000 in capital reserve, up from $461 the prior year. In 2526, the year that we are currently
in, of that 576,000 in capital reserve, 201,000 was used to help support the 2526 budget. your maintenance reserve. You were able to deposit 103,000 at year end and you withdrew withdrew just shy
of 30,000 to help support budget operations in 2425 leaving you with an ending balance of 234,000 in maintenance reserve. Finally, tuition reserve. You withdrew 86,000 to help support the budget in
2425 and you were able to deposit back $60,000 leaving you with a tuition reserve of $104,000 and of that 104 you're using $40,000 in the 2526 budget already. Okay, I just want to pause for a second.
So everything Brian said is correct, but when you're anticipating capital reserve, it's being utilized for capital outlay. And then when you're taking money for maintenance reserve, it's being used in the maintenance area of the budget, just specifying. And then
with tuition, it's used to offset the tuition that you're budgeting just so that it's not arbitrary. They can be used for any expense. Yeah. So, if I can just add to that, the 576 um that we that they noted we ended the
year with June 30th and then we took 201,000. That's for the sanitary sewer project here at Deerfoot Field. Um that's an estimate of course because we're out to bid. So, we if that comes in higher than we estimated, we may actually have to take more out of the
capital reserve. Um but that's what was actually in the budget document as an estimate. So they were all well aware of that project which is why I wanted to point out what it was. Yes, no problem. Good. So we're going to move into the food service fund.
Um year-over-year uh pretty consistent with with the prior year. Uh the operations of the the food service fund and cafeteria operations. um operating revenue 278,000 uh almost exactly the same as the prior
year. You had a slight increase about 13,000 in your operating expenditures and your nonoperating revenue which is the subsidy reimbursements that you get from the fate uh federal and state government that went down slightly and that that was 65,000
interest income around 10,000 down slightly from the prior year. and your total net position which is your your your balance your fund balance of the food service fund was $39,000. So, uh very very consistent with with
the prior year just down slightly to $3,000. Right. And part of that is capital assets and the other part is operations. And so the next comment, Brian, you can take off on that. So the state
does have a uh audit requirement that we look at and it it's called the uh net cash resources of the food service fund. So it's a state calculated um formula that we take the numbers from the district and and analyze to see
where the the cash position of the fund comes out. So they they really don't allow you they have a maximum of your cash and cash equivalents that's sitting in. So that would be your cash, your uh accounts receivable, your subsidy receivables from federal and state
government. They only want you having up to 3 months average expenditures. They want you to have three months average expenditures on hand for cash. So what we saw for a lot of districts since uh the pandemic, they really kind of increased a lot of the subsidies that
they were giving and it was giving a lot of extra additional reimbursements to these food service programs and really the food service programs were kind of getting more subsidies than faster than they can spend. So for the last few years we've been seeing a spike. I think I believe it was in last year's audit as
well. So that the net cash resources is still over that state calculated maximum. So, it's just wanted to bring your attention to keep analyzing those plans to help spend that down so that we could be uh in line with what the state
wants you for your net cash resources for the food service fund. So, of course, the only problem with that is we have been using those funds to pay for our lunch aids. Um, but we're restricted on how we can use those funds because obviously we can easily use the funds. Um, but we have to use it on the
lunch program. So, we we just need to look at the cafeterias and see if there's any improvements we can make to the cafeterias or whatever. Um, but that's that's what that money is your use
that money. Do we have to send it back? No, it's our money, but we have to we'll have to submit a plan to the state to tell them how we're going to spend it down. And how much of this surplus could we use towards next year's budget? About
we have the same as we we earmarked the same that we used this year which was about 350,000. Well, actually it's 450,000. So we we put the rest into we we have 2% the max in unassigned and then we put the same
amount earmarked to use to fund the b the the budget for 2627 and then the rest went into reserve accounts. This is curious and the three months expenditures we're talking roughly like 90 grand or 85 grand. So we're something like that.
We're off we're off by 40 some odd thousand bucks something like that. It was it was 122,000 which is is the actual calculation um in excess of the three months of average operating. Oh, we're in excess by 122,000. Got it. Okay.
238. So, we care about our clients, right? We know what you've had to go through for the last 5 years trying to weather the pandemic and everything that happened. And as Dana said, very difficult in terms of what you can use those excess
monies in the food service fund for because they're saying they were generated by federal subsidies. So talking to the microphone. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. They were utilized or they were generated from federal subsidies. So you have to benefit
everyone. And um so with that, last year I think you were over 123,000 and this year it was 122. And I'm like, "All right, really got to come up with a plan." Because last year when they said
you don't have to write a recommendation, just as long as the district has a plan in place. So just keep that everpresent in your mind. And um you know, we're never going to write that the district needs to send any money back or anything like that. They
just want you to use it. Chris, we used to come to meetings. There were snacks at these meetings, water, water, surfing. Start there. away. So then the last piece of financial
information is uh the long-term liabilities that the district has. They're in note 9 in the ACER. You have serial bonds payable. They're retired on a annual basis based on the bond sale. So 11,670
compensated absences. Um this year we implemented Gazsby 101 in terms of how you calculate those. Um the likelihood that people are going to, you know, retire from the district is a factor in
considering how much um you record as a compensated absence payable. And the net pension liability again is the information that we receive from the state. It's the PERS portion because the state pays the TPAF
pension and that 1.778 is the liability for all the people in the PE purse pension system in Mountainside all the employees um based on all those factors like age
and um retirement and everything like that to come up with a number. So again, it's out of your control. It has to be reported. And um it went down by 28,000. And then the only audit comment, but
there was no recommendation was again about the food service exceeding the net cash resources. And there were no audit recommendations. And that really is um a great accomplishment because we do see audit recommendations
from time to time. And then we just put management suggestions in every year to alert school districts of what new accounting standards are on the horizon. And Gazsby 103 and 104 is about disclosures. So I don't think it's going
to have anything to do with the um operations or anything that the district would have to calculate to report. It would just be a conversation about what um possible um factors we would include in the
footnotes. So, anybody has any questions, we'll answer them. Are we about to retire any of our bond bonds for referendums we had? How does that look? Yes. So, that 11,670,000
I don't have the full copy of the audit, but Dana does. And I think it goes over maybe I don't know venture to say I don't even know what we retire on an annual basis without looking at it. I think it's note seven
in the financials. Dana I could find it. There's a few years left on each year they author us to know this book like the back of my hand. Um, so the 670
the last payment is made in August of 2030. You got to go by 34. Okay. Yeah, I got the information. Hold that. Nine years left. So we might have excess money when that's paid off. Yes. So nine more years. The last
payment on those bonds will be um 2034. Okay. Any questions? Well, stick around till then to height eye. Best of luck on your retirement. Oh, thank you so much. It has been such
a pleasure to work with people in Mountainside. Been here three or four years and just have so much to report about the camaraderie, the how everyone is very helpful with the audit. So, thank you for that and thanks for your
your faith in us to do the audit for you. Thank you. Nice job. Welcome to us. Welcome to our crazy that's a testament Dana. Thank you, Dana. Thank you. Thank you guys. Uh just so you know as
they they brought up uh health benefits direct 10 plan which thankfully we don't have too many employees in the family coverage is now up to $74,000 a year. That would be how much $74,000
a year. Family coverage. Yes. Oh my god. The premiums are 6,200 a month. That's crazy. So wow. Wow. So 26 27 budget is going to be high the challenge to say the least cuz I don't even have
any clue what at this point they're going to project for to use for cuz that plan goes January to June. I mean January to December. So I don't even know what they're going to estimate for the second half of right now it's open enrollment. Right. It's open enrollment. Yeah. So we're actually sending out another
notice to employees to point out. We sent them a notice, but we we didn't highlight that change, but we're going to actually highlight that to them because it's they're they're paying a percentage of the premium. So, if they don't act and change, not
that we're forcing anybody to do that, but right, they're not going to know till they get their January paycheck and they're going to see a huge increase in their contribution. So, that's crazy. That is not sustainable. Wow. Nope. Not
not at all. Wow. All right. Thank you. Uh, we're moving on. We Berkeley Heights leazison report. We do not have one. Mr. Dylan is not here. So, we're just moving along. Um, can I please have a motion to approve under administrations items 1
through six? So moved. Second. Any comments or questions? Roll call, please. Mike Goodwin, yes. Dana Guys, Pietro, yes. Jordan Heyman, yes. Vivian Pubo, yes. Carmine Venice. Yes.
Moving on to budget and finance. Can I please have a motion to approve um items 1 through 11? We are removing number nine. So moved. Second. Any comments or questions? I had a couple. Um,
one ju just comment on number number seven, which I I not to speak for Bill, but I believe that the that their board, Berkeley Heights, is also approving the co-op for wrestling um at their next meeting or they already approved it, so we're I think we're synced on that. Yeah. Uh and then on number eight, I guess a
question for you, Chris. Um can you share anything else about the the send receive just in just for the public in terms of um who that's for what that is timelines etc etc uh for the this is for the sorry the feasibility number eight
no it is a study uh that we are approving tonight so the particular company that's listed Brian Kezuk Kinoy and Kosik is going to research the seam and receive potential
for Chadam and Westfield uh for receiving high schools and outlay for us what that would mean fiscally, programwise uh as well as other factors and should take a couple of months to get us that
uh that study. Thanks. And and just um noting for for us that the 18,000 is not fully incremental. It's uh board has previously approved $10,000 for a similar study. So this the
incrementalities here is actually 8,000 even though we're approving a contract for 18. So just sharing that for voting needs. That's it for questions for me. Okay, roll call, please. And thank you to the PTO for donating the $30,000 to both and
I did see that. That's right. Thank you. Landscaping. Nice. Mike Goodwin, yes. Dana Catro, yes. Jordan Heyman, yes. Vivian Pupo, yes. Carmine Venice, yes. Can I please have a motion to approve
under personnel items 1 through six? So moved. Second. Any questions or comments? I just going to note on number five, she's not here, but Kelly Castro obviously has done a terrific job. This is probably long overdue. I've seen her at some of the volleyball games among
other sporting events. She does a lot for the district, so this is this is a really good thing and well well earned as they say. Very well. Yes, indeed. Roll call, please. Mike Goodwin, yes. Dan Guys, yes. Jordan Hyman, yes. Vivian Poop,
yes. Carmine Bennis, yes. I please have a motion to approve under curriculum number um item one. So moved. Second. Any questions or comments? Roll call, please. Mike Goodwin, yes. Dana Guro,
yes. Jordan Heyman, yes. Vivian Poop, yes. Carmine Venice, yes. May I please have a motion to approve under policy item number one? Some move. Second. Any questions or comments?
Roll call, please. Mike Goodwin, yes. Dana Guy Pietro, yes. Jordan Heyman, yes. Vivian Poop, yes. Carmine Venice. Yes. Moving on. Do we have any old business? One question. I I I think this was
covered last meeting. Maybe it was two meetings ago. Do we know Chris the the conversation around the the architect for the Berkeley Heights referendum. There was talk of having that person come present here. I thought maybe November, December. Do we I think it's November. November. Okay.
Solutions. Is that solutions? Solutions are solutions. Yes. And that would be in public. Yes. Okay. Okay. Any other old business? New business. Any committee reports?
I I was at the county meeting um last week and uh they talked about things. They they had a panel of of young people about artificial intelligence. It was it was interesting. They're seem to be putting that into the
schools now. High schools. It's here. And here and here, right? So, it's coming. It's here. It's here. It's here. Get in front get in front of it or or something else. I just listen. Yeah.
I could say we we didn't formally meet as a send receive committee, but we we've we've uh we've discussed internally. And just an update, we uh our next meeting with the with the uh send receive committee or the you know commensorate committee in Berkeley Heights was going to be uh this month.
We moved it to November just to give us a bit more time to go back and forth on some some figures that and and updates that they've shared and asked and things that we've asked of them. So probably more to come from us at our November meeting. Okay, sounds good. Any other committee
report? Okay, at this time we 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 and address. And seeing none, I don't believe we're going to a second
exec. So, can I please have a motion to adjurnn? All in favor? I opposed. Thank you. Have a wonderful evening.