Good evening. Welcome to the meeting of the Mountainside Board of Education. In accordance with the state Sunshine Law End regul 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 the Mountainside Board of Education website. These meetings were 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 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 here. Michael Goodwin here. Dana
CPO. Jordan Heyman. Vivian Pupo here. Candaceiano. Carmine Venice here. At this time, I would like a motion to go into executive session. It's 6:06. We will not be returning till 7:30. Motion.
Second. Motion carries. We will see you in an hour now. [Music] I have Yeah. So, what was for dinner last tonight? Anyone want to talk about So nice to see everybody.
It really is nice to see everybody. Executive session. It's 7:40 and we will continue with the rest of our meeting. Everyone rise to salute the flag. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation
under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. At this time, we're going to listen to the public hearing on our final budget. Karma, come here. Here. Karma, we have an up seat. All right. Shall I start?
Yeah. Okay. So, this evening we are going to present the final budget for approval for the 2526 school year. As we know, the district is committed to academic excellence and providing an
equitable whole child education for all of our prek to 8 students. We look to ensure that they are wellprepared for high school and empowered with the knowledge, literacy, and social and emotional skills needed for being lifelong learners and to be interacting
and shaping the world around them. So understanding the parts of the budget um we have expenses and revenues. So the revenues are expected um revenues are pretty much known um whereas the expenses are planned and and projected
and in many cases we're projecting those expenses a year and a half in advance when we're preparing this budget in the early winter and some of the expenses are going to happen next April, May and June. So the projections are very far in advance. Um which means there does you
have to be allocations and you will see transfers um every month pretty much. So those are where our projections might be a little bit different and we have to make changes through the year. Um we use our prior we we set our priorities our
district priorities and that's how we develop the budget based on the priorities. So, beginning in the fall, um, starting around no October 15th when we do our enrollment counts and our, uh,
application for state school aid, we fix our enrollment numbers on the 15th of October. And then we start projecting out for next year as to what our staffing needs are going to be based on those enrollment projections. Um, we look at our staff. You know, again,
staff is our biggest um, expense in most cases. So, we do look at what was projected for the school year versus what we actually have in staff. Um, and we use that to develop the following year's budget. We look at our fixed and
mandated costs. Um those would be costs for utilities, insurance, um costs associated with special ed students and IEPs, um and things that we have very little flexibility over. Um we do meet with the principal at each school. We
meet with the supervisor of special ed, the technology supervisor, the buildings and grounds supervisor, and um look at their needs for the following year. Um and then we prepare the draft budget which gets submitted to the board for
approval and then we finalize the budget. Um so this process takes as I said from starting in about November uh October or November and it will conclude this evening in April the end of April. So the revenue side of the budget
a very large portion of the revenue are from local district taxes. um over 85% of the budget. Um another 9% is state aid. So that's most of your revenue. Uh state aid did go down about $27,000 this
year. Um and that was from the state aid formula. So they looked at our actual numbers of students in October 15th um and based the state aid on that. So our enrollment wasn't down, but our special ed was down a little bit and uh that's
why we lost some funds there. Um a very small portion of our revenue comes from fund balance. Um special revenue are grants. Um some of those are local PTA grants as well as state and federal grants. Um and then miscellaneous revenue which would be in revenue that
we receive from interest income um from prek tuition, transportation cost uh transportation revenue um makes another small part of our budget. So again that part of our budget revenue is fixed once we develop our budget those numbers are
fixed and will be in place for next year. The expenditure side of the budget which does have to equal the revenue side of the budget um is broken down into a number of categories. Um the largest part of our expenses is and
should be instruction and pupil support. Um what makes Mountainside a little different than other districts is a very large part of our budget just under 20% is for tuition that we send uh our high school students to GL. Um where other
districts that are not send receive don't have that that fixed cost that we currently have. Um employee benefits makes up another just under 15% of our costs. So that again would be health and
dental benefits as well as other um benefits to staff. Our special ed tuition is the tuition that we pay to out of district schools and that is for students that have placements in other schools
mandated by their IEP. Um so that is again not a flexible part of our budget. That's a mandated part. Um f 5.4% 4% which is relatively small of our budget goes to maintaining our facilities and also for security which includes the
cost that we incur for the policemen that are stationed in our schools. Um debt service is another 5.4% and that is to pay the interest in principle on our outstanding bonds from prior
referendums. Um transportation costs. Um, we've had conversations about transportation over the last several years. We were pretty successful this year in keeping our costs, I wouldn't say to no increase, but certainly less
increase than we have in the past years. Um, due to a national shortage of bus drivers, our costs have skyrocketed in transportation over the last number of years. Um, and that's mainly because there's just not enough drivers. and every time we go out to bid for a route,
the costs that come in are just very expensive. Um, but we have this year been somewhat successful in trying to contain those costs. Um, another 4.7% of our budget is for central services and admin. So, that would be the business
office expenses, the superintendent expenses, um, payroll and all of the um, expenses that it costs to run the district. Um, special revenue, as I mentioned before, is any kind of grant, whether it be from a PTO or a donation
or state and federal grants. That number, of course, is less than it has been over the last four few years because our COVID grants are no longer in existence. Um, so that percentage has gone down. And then capital outlay is for exactly that, capital expenses,
which is a very small part of our budget. Um, we do have money in next year's budget to um to replace to to do a firewall replace a firewall for our um network and that is partially funded by -ate funding. So that's why we have
money in there for that. We also have fund balance um and other other reserves that we're allowed to have and required to have by the state. Um the unassigned, which is money that is in reserve for an emergency, is
we're capped at 2% of our budget. So we do currently have $470,000 in that account. Um and again, our budget exceeds $20 million. So if you think about the amount of money that that is for a budget of that size, it's not a lot of flexibility if something
comes up. Um tuition reserve, we have no money in tuition reserve. If we did, we would have to use that for tax relief. Um we do have $376,000 in capital reserve. Um and we are anticipating using about $200,000 of
that for a um sanitary sewer line replacement at Deerfield School. So that reserve will be depleted um when that project is complete. And we currently have $131,000 in maintenance reserve. So that is for any required maintenance in any
of our buildings um that we might have to do. That's the reserve money we have for that. So again, not a lot of money for buildings that are relatively old and trees that fall down on a daily basis. So the increases and decreases to the
operating budget, the the general fund budget increased $534,000. Um the biggest increase is in salaries because of course that's where most of our costs lie. Um salaries and benefits for staff. Um, our transportation, as I mentioned before,
although we have made, believe it or not, with that increase of $138,000, it's less of an increase than we've seen in the last few years, but we still had to increase that a decent amount. Um thankfully our tuition costs did go down because we had less students
um going from 8th grade to 9th grade and we also have couple of students that graduated that were in out of district placements that um we were able to reduce the budget in that area. All of the other accounts in the budget went up
$68,000 and then our capital outlay um increased $86,000. So for an average homeowner, our so our tax levy cap increase is 2%. Um but because of our health insurance increases which
exceeded the state um projection, we were able to increase our tax levy by 2 and a.5% rather than 2% which is what enabled us to not have to make reductions this year or ask for a separate proposal. Um which as you
recall last year we had to do. So our tax levy went up 2.5 but the tax increase is really 2.4 for and that's because the ratables went up in the town. Um so an average homeowners a homeowner who has a house assessed at
$633,000 will see about $178 school tax increase next year. So the with that increase that we're looking at this budget for next year, what that allows us to do at the
2.4% 4% increase is it does allow us to add one additional teacher for grade three at this time because it is a very large class coming from second grade to third grade next year. So it will be one additional staff member that is not
currently here in the district. Um it also allows us to add an additional par profofessional that is being determined based upon special education needs. We allows us to maintain all of our existing staff and instructional
programs. So, uh you know, many of you are hearing of cuts that are happening in many different areas. That is not anything that is being looked at or needed in this current budget for next year. It allows us to maintain in district special education programming.
You may recall that this past school year we added again an additional staff member to our current budget which was adding the LLD2 program a self-contained program right here at Deerfield. So that was brand new this year. This budget
allows us to continue that programming. So we uh have those two self-contained programs in one in each building which allows us to reduce the need for outofd district placements and really continue to educate our students in their home
district and maintain that. It allows us to enhance our gifted and talented and basic skills programs and increasing some of the supports that are happening there with a dedicated gifted and talented teacher. It allows us to
maintain our curriculum and professional development programming that is in place for our staff as well as our mental health supports. So, this budget would continue two days a week of our third-party mental health supports that we were able to bring in with the
approval of the second proposal um back in November. um afterchool programming that we were able to reinstate. As was stated, we are going to be replacing that sanitary sewer line in the Deerfield locker rooms as well as
continuing to cover the costs for two class 2 officers in both schools for our safety and security. So all of those things that have really come into play over the past couple of years, we are going to maintain and continue in our
budget. So, the timeline on March 11th, we presented the tenative budget um which the board approved. Um we submitted it to the county superintendent for review. Um he did approve that on April 2nd. Um
and then uh last Thursday it was published in the Westfield leader as required by state regulations. Um and tonight we are holding the public hearing and um we're asking the board to adopt the final budget this evening. Any
questions from any board members? You want me to start? You can start. Um, when it comes to the Could you bring up the pie chart? Mhm. We have special ed students that go to Governor Livingston, are they in the red or are
they in the green? No, the green is uh just for students that are in out of district placement. So, that would not include anybody that's in jail. So, all of the money that goes to Berkeley Heights and Governor Leon is in that red part, correct? Okay. And then I know your
chart said five less, but from a budgeting perspective, it's 10 less, right? Because um I think we at least on the Berkeley Heights side, I think they the way that they their language is is we overpaid for five. And then we have in the past where we got a credit for five, right? So from a year-over-year
budget perspective, there are 10 less bodies we're paying for up there. Yes. because we had a credit from five for this year and then five less for next year. Correct. And that es and flows. For example, in this past year, there's
been two graduating 12th graders who have stayed for an extra year. So, there is some eb and flow where some students may get an extra year of education based upon their IEP needs or something along those lines. So, that does eb and flow just a bit.
Just I know we talking about some larger classes coming up, right? And uh so just something to keep an eye on on how that number quickly jumped. This year it's favorable for us, right? And it's allowed us to put a lot of this in, but if next year the overall enrollment at
GL was goes up, right, we've got a problem to solve. Correct. Right. Yes. Yes. We were able to balance the budget because you've got 10 less kids being paying paying tuition up there for them. That gives you leeway that you wouldn't necessarily have next year. Absolutely. For the years to come, did we increase in new ratables?
Um, this year about we we increased a little bit, not t not a tremendous amount, but the the ratables did go up. Okay. Yeah. I I don't know. Is it projected to go up next year? I don't know. I I don't know. That comes from the town. Yeah. Um I would think with
buildings that are going up and whatnot around town, I would think so. Um, I know for a few years back, I'm speaking in my other district. Um, for a while gradables were going down, down, down, down, down. But the last number of years, they've been going up in many districts. So, I would think it will
continue to go up. Okay. It helps a little bit. Little bit, right? Yeah. Every little bit. It helps. Yeah. I just have two comments. One is, um, thank you. Uh just after reading so many new you know news reports about Union
County increased property tax about 33% other districts letting go of teachers I think that we've are surviving for now um doesn't necessarily mean for next year I know that bus has been a problem
throughout the state so I you know I appreciate that and the other thing is just a a big positive comment I'm very happy to see that our sewers system is finally getting um fixed because I
personally thought that was a big problem. So I I appreciate that. Just just a note on that. We did open bids today and we had an issue with the bids of course. So it's going to be a little delayed but we are we are working. We're trying. Mhm. Delayed hopefully probably
a few months the timeline. Probably a few months. Okay. Yeah. All right. That was just my comments. Any other questions or comments? All right. At I'm going to stay here just in case you need to reference the board um the screen. At this time, I
would like to open up um the floor for public comments on only the budget. If you can just state your name, address, come to the podium. All right. Seeing none, I am moving back. [Music]
All right. Chad has a presentation. Okay. Oh, no. We still have to approve. Can I have an approval for the minutes? So moved. Second. Any comments or questions? Roll call, please. Bill
Dylan. Uh, I'm going to abstain from the March 11th and March 13th minutes. Uh, and yes to the 19th and the 31st. Michael Goodwin, yes. Dana Guy, CPro,
yes. Vivian Poop, yes. Carmine Venice, yes. At this time, there is no correspondence. Um, we're moving on for uh public participation on any agenda item that we're voting on tonight. You guys can just come up, state your name and address. Seeing none, we're moving on
now to the pres I don't have a president's report to superintendent's report. Okay. And I'm moving again. Yes. We have a couple of uh we have a couple of things to be done. Name plate. Come on. It's lonely over here. I'm going to come on over onto this side. Do you have the
So this evening I welcome a number of our students. We are very excited to be celebrating the arts. So thank you to those of you who have come. We have a number of our Deerfield students who have uh really excelled in a number of
different activities and different things that are going on. And so we would like to give an opportunity to recognize if this works. Maybe, maybe not. Which way am I going? No. No. All right.
Clicker number two. We do. We have clicker number two. Okay. All right. So, while we are while we are waiting for clicker number two, I will do some walk. I can walk from various directions. Oh, we have clicker number two. We have clicker number two. We have clicker number two. Just we will switch it out.
Thank you for standing with us as we have a momentary lapse. There we go. Nope. That's now it's joining. All right. There we go. All right. So, the first person that we would like to recognize this evening,
and of course, mine are not in order is a student who has a piece of artwork that is going on tour with the Union County Teen Arts and it will be in their touring exhibit. This is Hannah Barbu in seventh grade looking at her beautiful
artwork that will be on display. Is Hannah with us this evening? Please come on up so we can all recognize you. Excellent. Oh, did you get it before I changed? All right. We also had the Mountainside Burrow did a Martin Luther
King poster contest. And so students were invited to celebrate Dr. king by choosing one of three concepts to characterize his work life uh love justice and unity. And so we had a number of students. So Virouch in
Verouch Patel in grade three was one of our winners. Please come on up. Is he here this evening? Okay. Thank you, Miss Tisha. and their artwork is on display and they just are doing such fabulous
work. In grades four and five was Reese Goodwin. Congratulations. Congratulations. All right. Representing our middle school, there was a tie. So, in grade seven, we
had FX Kane. Is he here this evening? Nope. But we will send it. I can. And Ava Pon in grade six. Congratulations. possible. We also participate in the Union County
Dental Society annual poster contest. And when I say we, I really mean that Mrs. Tisha because I do not have this artistic avail ability. So I thank her and the work that she does with our students for it. So for over 40 years
almost 40 years they have had um this contest and all participants are fourth grade students from various elementary schools all throughout Union County. So this is opened to students all around the county and this year we had a
finalist Juliet Ferrer. [Applause] Excellent. Also in fourth grade, Liam Grady. Thank you. Okay. We also participated in the PTO science fair. The PTO every
year does a science fair and they have artwork. So, we had contest winners there. In second place in fourth grade was Jordan Santos. And first place in seventh grade, Hannah Barbu. And in addition to our artwork as we
celebrate the writing of our students, um I'm sorry, we had a second I Oh, this is their their picture. So, this was Jordan's and this was Hannah's, which was then featured on t-shirts and all sorts of other design
work. We also want to recognize in addition to artwork, we have a Arbor Day poetry contest winner. This was Young Writers of Union County. And our placing second place in Union County was in
grade eight was Jada Santos. Certificate got stuck in [Music] here or it got stuck with somebody else's. Oh, my apologies. Jay, you would get a round of applause again. So we are very very proud of all of our
students and all of the efforts that they do. So thank you very much and thank you to Miss Tisha, Miss Onor for inspiring the writing and thank you for all that we are doing for our students. All right. So, we do have one more
presentation this evening and it is Mrs. Jensen who will be presenting kind of a state of the schools. Where do we stand and how what's going on here in in Deerfield School. So, I'm going to switch over the slideshow. We understand
some of the students. This is your time if you need to make a quick getaway. We recognize if you need to have things that you need to do. Nobody will pass judgment but you are welcome to stay as well. [Laughter]
Awesome job, guys. Good job. Oh, like the advertising on the back of that shirt, too. Mrs. Lord back would like everybody to move up and sit down and set us up. Yes, there's seats if anybody would like. Please feel free to move up. Is this the
one that's working? Uh, yes. All right. So, here we go. Um, so I was tasked to kind of do the year in review. So we're going to go through a bunch of fantastic things that have been happening here at Deerfield School. So
of course academic achievements. Okay. Okay. There we go. Um, have to start with this. So uh, this year the biggest academic achievement was us earning the national blue ribbon.
um which just in case you don't know that you don't apply for it. So it's not one of those prizes where like you can put in an application and pay a bunch of money and they'll and they'll give you they do have those but we didn't do that. So um kind of unexpectedly I had
gotten a email from um the department of education much to my surprise and um really I was thrilled and you have to be really secretive about it and you can't tell anybody and Mrs. Poopo had to sign off on it and it was all like top
secret. So you apply and you can't tell and then you even So we went through a horrible process of an application. Thank you Mrs. Walling for helping me with that. Oh my lord, that was a big process, the writing. Um and then somebody critiques it and then you have to rewrite it. And then over the summer
we found out that we made it but we still couldn't tell anybody. So we had to wait. We had to wait. Um, this blue ribbon is because of I mean you guys couldn't have come on a better night because of all the people sitting here in this room.
Um, I always knew we should be a blue ribbon school. I've been here a really long time and I always knew we should get this honor. So when we got nominated, I was like, "Wow, it's about time that we got this." So I'm super super proud to be standing here um and
having been part of finally earning what we deserve. So um could not be prouder of our blue ribbon. Thank you to all of you here, this clicker. Um and then thank you for everyone who helped get me the merch that's displayed proudly. Can I put any more blue ribbon stuff up? Um,
so thank you PTO and thank you um, board of ed and thank you Watts. Um, we went to Washington, Mrs. Golovic, uh, Kathy Golovic, myself and, uh, Mrs. Walling and that was pretty fantastic um, to be able to have that experience. But again, I couldn't have that experience without
the talented staff um, that's here at Deerfield School. So, you know, to add on to that plate of wonderful, we also ended up to be the 14th of New Jersey middle schools. um DearFit Elementary. So again, not surprising and I think
welld deserved, but if you do pay a lot of money, you can put that banner everywhere, but you're not going to do that. Um so again, Jada, you're back up there. Thanks. Continuing with the academic achievements, we have uh Jada, second place winner in that Arbor Day
contest. Um Noetic Math Competition, we continue to achieve. Thank you, Mrs. Christophouli. We've had quite a few people here at Deerfield School participating in the noatic math competition. Um we are going to learn of our winners next month uh for the spring one. So it's really great to see those
kind of numbers uh participating. So the other end of this I thought I would add this is that we're always trying to help students achieve as much as they can. We have National Honor Society. They were actually here today uh tutoring after school. We arranged that with GL and we also were
able to start a partnership with Knack which I thought was important. Uh this is online tutoring offered from Kain University. So to have those those things that our students can also take advantage to help them with their academic uh achievement. Oh, I think I there we go.
Student council. So, we have our student council and uh I know we all love to start the day here uh at Deerfield School with the Deerfield morning show, which is a YouTube live with my um student council exec board. So, they do
a lot. That's just one thing, but I do think that's one of the reasons people run now for office is so that they could become a co-host. Um we did have a school store start this year and I was really proud of a sixth grader who it was her idea to get this up and running for student council. They sell a lot of
merch. Uh tomorrow they're going to start selling at lunches as well. So, lots of different things you can buy there. We're going to They continue student council with our costume contest at Halloween. Uh pajama day has become a
huge fundraiser and a great activity student council is running. Uh pajama day for chop. Yay for pajama day. It's just getting bigger each year. Generosity of the parents. But um what a fantastic way. It's either pajama day or dress like an eighth grader. We go both ways on that one, but um it really is
wellreceived. Did you get that? Um um also student council uh cereal box challenge. We did a last like push on this one and we were able to get quite a few boxes. It's great because what they do the pretty much the next day is they
go to the food pantry. They volunteer at the food pantry. Uh they were, I believe, um packing uh water bottles this year, the food pantry. So, it's just a great service that the student council continues to build on. Music is a big thing here at Deerfield School.
So, we uh start off in December with some singing at Radio City Music Hall with Mr. Rosen Bloom conducting the select choir, which is huge. Uh jazz band, Mr. Makula continued the tradition in his role with a
gingerbread open house and also here performing at one of our concerts. Sorry guys, this clicker. Um, winter concerts. Mr. Rosen Bloom stepped in there huge and conducted the whole winter. Poor Mr. Makula was uh under the weather, but um it's nice to have the
winter concerts back in action holiday. We got to work on this clicker holiday sing along. I mean, the pictures just speak for themselves. It's like such an amazing event. Um, so much fun. Mr. McCulla and Mr. Rosen Bloom lead the
singing. Um, shout out to Nikki Woodard for being that inflatable snowman. But it is, it's just a really great way to kick off the holidays with the whole entire school here. Shrek, huge. What a performance. U, Mr. Rosen Bloom and the
crew. Um, Mrs. Barkski. What they put on is amazing. Um I I mean the number of cast members is is crazy, but it's like um I always say we have off Broadway here, right here at Deerfield School. So fantastic
performance. They are going to Music in the Parks, but because I'm presenting this tonight, they haven't gone yet, but Friday, May 30th, they will be performing um over uh in the Pennsylvania area. I think Kutztown if I'm not mistaken. And then they will go to Dorney and hear how many prizes, how
many awards they get, which is usually a lot. Spring concerts, here's the dates if you haven't been reading my s'more. Uh, grades 6 to 8 is coming up the end of May. And then grades 3 to 5 is June 5th. So, Deerfield athletics is another big thing here at Deerfield. We had boys
and girls soccer in the fall. We had girls volleyball come back, made a comeback this year for the first year um in a long time. We had girls volleyball, huge successful program, and I know it's going to even just keep
growing. Boys and girls basketball, boys baseball and girls softball happening right now. Um, field day. I we have moved it officially to the fall. I think it's we had it October
10th this year. You can see the weather was great. um half day 35, half day 68. I think one of the best features is that the PE teachers have had the older kids come in, the middle school kids come in and assist with the 3 to 5. Um but it's just been a nice kickoff for the school year
to do field day earlier in the year. Dearfield Pepper Alley, thank you to those people, Mr. Castler, for helping me continue to plan and do the pep rally. Um it is just hysterical every year sometimes these games. Um that was the hungry hippos on the left. Um and
that stuff in the shirt one is just hysterical every single year. But it's a great um activity we do for the entire school before we have spirit night. So spirit night um continues to be a big event and um wellreceived well-run and um everybody loves to come here and do
spirit night at Deerfield. Cops versus eighth graders basketball game. Did we lose? Did we win? I don't remember. How do we do Jada? We lost. It's all right. It's all right. Next year we'll get them. Next year we'll get them. All right. Dearfield
character. So, we always kind of start off the year with uh start with hello week and the week of respect. And there was a lot of artwork on the sidewalks. I'd say for a really long time. I think some of it's still on the sidewalks. We did bring in a new program for grades five uh three to five called Character
Strong. Uh has been wellreceived. It's an online program and um I think it just covers what we need in grades three to five different lessons happening um and it seems to be working really well in the classrooms. Katie Wood, thank you to
Christina Grady came and joined us in um October for a simple seed. So we implemented a simple seed in the classrooms and um we were part of um a grant that we were given these books. She did two great assemblies 3568 and
then the picture on the right is actually her in here um doing a presentation to the staff. So it was really just powerful um and I think everybody it was wellreceived by all both students and by staff members uh continuing the helpful huskys and the
husky hallow. So helpful huskys happen um every Friday, grades three to five and the howouts for grades six to eight which are done a little I was telling grade five uh last week that you know I know they're too cool for me now but next year don't worry they'll they get to um get a husky how instead so they
seem to be um looking forward to that a little bit more private but I do tell them to take that little piece of paper that I hand them and make sure it's in a very public place like a refrigerator to remind their parents that they really are good kids over the weekend. So Um, we started something new. We wanted
to honor um, you know, when you come to 6 through 8, we have the code of conduct and that tends to take over a lot, the code of conduct. There's a lot of detentions and things that uh, unfortunately don't seem to always focus on the positive and we wanted to make sure we did focus on the
positive. So, we started students of the trimester. um we pick a different character trait and the students are chosen by the different home room teachers in grades six through eight. So um Miss Tisha has been fantastic and Miss Anor helping me with certificates
and and little prizes for them. So uh the last one the dog in the front uh we had a therapy dog come for the students of the trimester for the second trimester. So um we'll make sure I'm not sure what we'll do for the third one. We got to come up with it. kindhearted huskys right back in Miss
Tisha again wanted to start a way to have students who are interested in helping teachers go into the classroom. So she sent out a Google form to the teachers and said hey do you need any help and they could come before after school. So these were uh sixth grade volunteers who came we would have girls
come to the office and they would actually you would hear them on the um calling the buses like bus three has arrived all bus students please report to the bus. They were they're really good at it. Um so they would help out, hang things up uh in the office and do whatever um Miss Bay or Miss Salaka
needed. So Kindheearted Huskys is a great program and I hope it continues to grow. So assemblies and presenters, uh Veterans Day assembly, there's our winners from Veterans Day. We were inside for that
one. Oh, look, there's Jada again. J, our winner for the VFW Patriots pen youth essay contest. Good job. We had prevention links come in for grades five, six, and eight. Uh, fifth grade got a presentation on don't get vaped in. Sixth grade went through the we're
not buying it program. And then eighth graders had a um, honest look at marijuana presentation. So, we did have prevention links come in and do some education. Mikey Fallon joined us. Um, he was here for both parents and for students. He had two different
assemblies. Very powerful presentations. I think both the students and uh the teachers walked away really with some deep thoughts after we got to have Mikey join us. Uh the care workshop. Thank you Miss Onor for bringing this to us. Cell
phone abuse resistance education 8th grade. I know some eighth graders walked away saying yes I am addicted and um kind of had some second thoughts when they went to reach for their cell phones. So just really kind of educating them on what's going on there. Fourth
grade, the tree stewards, we love having them. They come every year to the fourth grade free program. King Arthur, we're did it virtually for fourth grade. Bake for good. They donate um flour and all the materials needed to bake food. So what I
asked was for the fourth graders to bring in the bread that they baked um on Monday after the weekend and um some soup. And then kind of the coolest thing that happened was I was going to give it to um the place that I gave it to last year, Summit helping its people and they
were like, "We really don't have that many people." I was like, "I have a lot of bread. I have a lot of bread." And they're like, "Yeah, we only need like five loaves." I'm like, "No, no, no. I have a lot of bread." Um so I contacted um Mountainside. I contacted Mrs. Moria and we were able to actually get the
bread delivered to seniors in Mountainside. So I'm like, best thing ever. So definitely we'll look to continue that tradition hopefully with um the seniors in Mountainside. American Revolution Day doesn't get any cuter than this. Fourth grade putting on their
Revolution Day. Uh Living Voices is a program that we found great success with in grades four and five. They like to have these presenters come in. They actually dress up and like play the part as there's also a visual presentation as well. So they you could see they're still dressed in their American Revolution gear watching. Um those are
the fourth graders on American Revolution Day and then Fly for Freedom was for the fifth grade. BJ Ward um I mean the eighth graders were still like looking at BJ when he walked in. They're like, "Hey, I remember you." Um he's amazing. They have so much fun with BJ,
a poet and residence. Um the pictures are always so funny. Math Matters Day is coming up in fifth grade, so get ready parents. You're going to get emails. Uh, Thursday, June 12th and Friday, June 13th. The fifth graders will see that you use math in almost every
profession. Field trips. We love field trips. Third grade. These are hot off the press. They went yesterday to half of them half of them are going on Thursday to the ex Essex County Environmental Center. Very hands-on trip and they had the best day of weather.
Fourth grade has returned to Ellis Island and again they had a great day for a trip to Ellis Island as well. Fifth grade so far has gone to Miller Corey and Trailside. They brave the elements at Trailside and they're going
to the DARE trip on Wednesday, May 28th. They'll be at the Somerset Patriots. Sixth grade is going to Camp Bernie where they're doing some team building. We we were nervous about the weather that day, but we they made it. Looks pretty good that day. Seventh grade, they will be going
to see The Outsiders. They're going to Broadway having a little Olive Garden first and then June 4th we will be seeing the Outsiders. Eighth grade activities, well, they're coming. So, starting next week, we're going to head to Washington
DC, pool party on June 10th, dance at 466 466. Cers on June 12th, breakfast June 19th, and then promotion. So, I don't have any pictures yet, but they got a lot. Close your ears, Jada. Close your ear. Sorry. Close your ears, Jada. You didn't hear nothing.
Surprise. Surprise. Sorry. Don't tell anybody. Okay. And that's it. We're amazing. Thank you so much. There's so much going on here. [Applause] Thank you, Miss Jensen. But I want to
thank the teachers. Um, this wouldn't happen if it wasn't for you and especially our parents. But I'm a teacher, so I I get it. So, that was great. But thank you very much. And hopefully next year we'll uh have more
pictures up there. Thanks. And before we're get finished, I'm sorry, there's one more thing from Mrs. Jens. Okay, so um so I know I'm sorry. We wanted to do something for
Lynn and um this was actually in the safe in the office and it was a little beat up and to uh Tori had restored it for us. It has Lynn's
handrint on a seat. I had asked Lynn's daughter if there was any artwork that they would spare, you know, that they would give. And she came back. Her sister actually painted the
eggplant. So, um Tori um framed this for us. Thank you, Tori, so much. We got this together. So, I had spoken to Hillary about this. I don't know if you can see it. Says Queen of the Um and there's eggplants. You'll see
the egg crayons on there, too. Um, I said I think we want to do like a like an exhibit for Lynn, right? Like those of us who know. So, I'm already Janet's kind of laughing at me because I'm like, I think I need to figure out like how to suspend it from the
ceiling. I don't want anybody to sit on it. But, um, we had an art appreciation week this weekend or this, you know, past month in April for her. Um much to our surprise and again Tori helped me plan this we we talked about the beginning of the year
um we all wore purple on Wednesday and when I told Hillary that we were wearing purple on Wednesday and I did not know it was L's birthday. So um I just want to share that we are going to pick somewhere on staff I'll ask you for your creative ideas where no one can sit on
this but we I want to display it somewhere that everybody can see. And Mrs. JS, if you could just for a couple of the some of the the newer staff, Mrs. Slotkin, just a quick background. She was an art teacher just here at Deerfield. Uh Mrs. Sakin was always here at Deerfield. Um and um I when Deerfield
was one place, I mean like she she was always here. Like when I started that Deerfield, we were one school. We were pre-K to 8. So um she was always here. She was loved. She retired. Um, she's has so many friends sitting
here right now. Um, the best doodler I've ever met in my whole entire life. Her doodles were artwork. I wish I s like had her doodles because those should be framed somewhere, too. Um, but just the best sense of humor and um just um she was taken way before um her time.
So, we we miss her and we love her and we want to remember her in a way that we'll never forget. So, our appreciation is going to continue. And um we'll we'll find some creative way of displaying this stuff. But Tori, thank you for all your hard work. I'm very happy that you guys did
that from Syslaken. She was actually my art teacher when I went here. So that's how many years she has been such a huge part of our community. Um and we loved her so much um when she was our art teacher and she never changed. And that's what we loved about her is that she never
changed. Um, and she still was amazing till until last. So, I'm so glad you guys did something for us. So, thank you. Thank you. All right. Wow. Lots of stuff going on. And on top of that, we're testing.
Yay. NJSLA testing time is going on right now in the district. It started this week. Huge shout out to Mrs. Chrysafouli and Mrs. Goldbeck for the uh being our district and school test coordinators organizing it all. Uh we
have two days down and how many days in May go? Yeah, about the entire month. Um because Deerfield does test third through 8th grade. It truly is testing month. Some districts do it in a couple of weeks. It takes the entire month
because of the number of small groupoup tests that are needed to be given, the accommodations that are in place for our students with need um because of the devices and being able to hold up to it. Our technology department helps to support it as well. So all of that going
on um we are hitting May. Please watch those someors from both Mrs. Versing and Mrs. Jens. There's so many dates coming up. a lot of things and the year is going to fly. Um, as we prepare for the end of the year, we have begun some transition opportunities with myself and
Mr. Kenny who will be taking over as of July 1st. He was here in the district yesterday. Spent the day with me starting to talk about some transition opportunities. had the opportunity to greet both staffs during their um faculty meetings in the afternoon,
toured the buildings, uh only got lost twice in Deerfield. I did not leave him to his own devices yet. Um I tell him it's think about a wheel with spokes. Um showed him the super secret room that Dante always used to talk about. Uh
that's behind the third grade wing that the only entrance is from the outside. It's our storage area, but really talk to him about our fields. What is Mountainside Field? What is not Mountainside Field? What is the in between field? What do we own the dirt on but not the grass on? So, starting to
talk about just really getting to know all of those pieces. Um, he is absolutely excited to be joining the district and really looking forward to to coming on as the next superintendent. Um, so I will, you know, leave it with
all of those pieces, but quite busy and a lot of things going on. Thank you. All right. Now, we're moving on to our business administrative report. No report. All right. Moving on to Berkeley Heights.
Um, pass. Okay. He's going to come back to it. Okay. So, at this time, can I please have a motion to approve under administrations items one and two? I need a second.
Second. Any comments or questions? Roll call, please. Bill Dylan, yes. Michael Goodwin, yes. Dana Agua Pietro, yes. Vivian Pupo, yes. Carmine Dennis, yes. And I please have a motion to approve under budget and finance items 1 through
14. So move second. Any questions or comments? Under 13. I believe that the $500 was um from the grant committee under PTO. Yes, it's the MEF grant committee who uh made the
donation for Jordan Toma. Just want to make sure that that's Yep. We'll adjust that. So, thank you to the minutes to reflect that. And we have grants under PT. It's part of PTO now. And also, thank you to um the $150 for the music
department. Roll call, please. Bill Dylan, yes. Michael Goodwin, yes. Dana Cro, yes. Vivian Poop, yes. Karma and Dennis, yes. And I please have a motion to approve under personnel items 1 through nine.
So, seven is being amended to include Corin Lavy for the eighth grade trip um at the same rate as the other people there. You weren't getting away with that. Okay. So, we're adding a special guest and and item number nine is on the
addendum which is reflecting the uh a new gifted and talented teacher to be hired for the 2526 school year. Uh, any questions or comments? Seconded. I have Dana of moving. He did, Bill. Oh,
sorry. Bill Dylan, yes. Uh, roll call, please. Bill Dylan, yes. Michael Goodwin, yes. Dane, safety address, Vivian Poop, yes. Carmine Venice, yes. Can I please have a motion to approve
under policy item one? Move. Second. Okay. With this one, I have a question um from a board member uh to consider the wording that we have here.
Um and he wrote think it's a bit short not to include at least some language that gives teachers the ability to appeal to the board should they wish to have their children be educated in Mountainside. If we offer space permitted in preschool where space really is an issue, can we um not look
to include language that staff can appeal to the board to have their children attend school upon um board approval? Now, this is something that I he has a fair point. You know, if we're opening up for preschool where space is limited, then maybe we can put
some type of language saying if a teacher wants to educate their child in Mountainside with board approval. um we would consider it. So at this time, I probably like a motion to table the policy or would you like to discuss
it now? I would say table it. Table it. I'd like to table it for Jordan and Candace to be here. Okay. Yeah. So, can I have a motion to table it? Motion. Second. Any questions or comments? None. Roll call, please. Bill Dylan, yes. Michael
Goodwin, yes. Dana Agu Pedro. Yes. Vivian Poop. Yes. Primace. Yes. Are you approving the agenda? There was two motion. There was two. Yeah. There's two parts of the policy.
That was P P51. Where was that? Both. Oh, just one. The P511 table one and then vote on food services. Okay. So then we'll go back and vote on number two, the 8,500. Okay. Bill
Dylan, yes. Michael Goodwin, yes. Dana, CPF, Vivian Poop, yes. Carmine Venice, yes. Okay. At this time, old business. Do we have any old? Any new?
Um, the PTO liaison report. Um, the spring fundraiser was an um excellent turnout. I thought I didn't talk about that last meeting. It was No, you didn't. Um, excellent turnout. Thank you so much to the teachers and staff members who came to support the event. We raised I'm not sure exactly of the
total, but I think we raised about 24 to $25,000. Um, I could be off a little bit, but that's it was it was another great event. So, thanks to all those who attended. All right. Thank you. Any other new business?
Um, one thing, uh, Dan and I had the opportunity to join Mountainside Wreck. Uh, they had the lighting ceremony for the pickle ball courts out here, right? So, um, that's our property that they have pickle ball courts on at the rec.
So, I thought it was a great partnership um, between the two organizations. I think they did a ribbon cutting. Uh it's something that I know at least when I first started here it was one of the first asks when somebody came up was like how do we get lights over there? It was an accident with a snow plow years ago. Uh but awesome to see it happening
and I'll just say like having been the liazison at Brookley Heights and to see how much easier life is when the town and the board um last week, which was Thursday, which I'll I'll recap the last time. Just a couple things that are going on up
there. They did pass their budget um 2% um uh cap uh for as it connects and relates to mountainside um overall cost per pupil cost at the GL school have come down a little bit right which is um
something that uh I've been communicating saying that you know we've got to start to understand um our tuition is high right and and we as it continues to grow and we continue to have students there we lucked out this year with not locked out. It just happens to be that the budget is we have
10 less people going there, but we've got to have a better understanding of what they're spending the money on at Governor Livingston, and I'm seeing progress uh made there. Um there was a lot in the news around lower Columbia and tennis courts. Uh uh for our mountainside students that play on the
tennis team. Uh there was a dispute about whether the tennis team at Governor Livingston was allowed to use the town tennis courts. Um they were not for a short period of time. Uh luckily uh we were able to get mountainside recreation department to
open open up our burrow hall uh tennis courts for them to use until things worked themselves out and smarter minds came and calmer minds came to the table and decided it was not a smart idea to put the kids in the middle of all this. Um, so, uh, that was that's all been
resolved and now, um, the town is going to start a project to, um, work through improvements to their lower Columbia fields. That's important to us because as we continue to grow our partnerships with them and maybe other co-ops, other programs. Um, there may be a a time in
which not only our GL students are uh, using those fields for athletics, but maybe even middle schools as we look to partner on bigger things. Uh and then just for the public, right, continue to keep an eye on uh Governor Lim or Berkeley Heights referendum process. Uh
they are uh continuing to have talks at the we as uh send received district. Some of the parents may have gotten survey um as to what they are looking to improve uh capital improvements um you know things like consistent heat at the
high school and uh infrastructure and and and a lot of things like that. So, I I encourage the uh everybody in the district to continue to weigh in and and fill out those surveys um so that we have a voice in, you know, what our tax dollars and tuitions will go to as well. All right. So, I'll continue to update
the board as that becomes uh closer. Uh but you will see um invites to go to public forums to talk about the referendums and you know, I encourage the the community to go up there, right? Because it will impact our our bottom line.
Bill, did those surveys go to just current GL students or just Berkeley Heights citizens or they didn't send it to me to to send out to everybody? Yeah, it may have just went to their in district. Um I think Vivian, you sent it. I had I had
taken opportunity to potentially post it on Mountainside Matters. Yeah. Um but it may not have but I'll continue to push reach out to more. Bill, did they project uh what the increase on the average home would be on the referendum? They're not quite there
yet. It's um they're trying to prioritize projects first, not the costs associated with those projects. Yeah. So, very very beginning stages. Um but it's going to be a hefty price tag from what they're they're talking about.
Yeah. There's a lot of parking lots that need to be redone. There's a lot of buildings, a lot of roofs. uh HVAC, you know, there's talk of potentially putting uh lights up at the high school turf field, which has always been something that's been popular. U there there's they have a lot of ideas.
I think it's just a matter of how much do you want to play it off? Um and there's also there's a lot of strategy around it. Um if you go for a referendum and you put your asks in the referendum, more grant dollars are available, right? So you may only pay 60 cents on the
dollar um out of your referendum tax funds and you get more grants, right? So there's bit of a c a little bit of a game like that's not necessarily critical, but it's important and if we add it to the referendum, we we'll actually pay less in the long run. So should we do it now or later? So So we
have to wait. We have to wait. Yep. Till when? Uh I I'll I'll send out the notes. There is a another public meeting coming up um to get feedback on the list of projects that they just went through uh within the last week that they've narrowed down some projects and they're going to share with the public. I'll
make sure that I share it here and then Janet will make sure um we'll try to get something out to the community as well through however we share it. Yep, we could do that. Thank you, Bill. Okay, that's it for committee reports. Okay. At this time, I
would like to open up the floor um for public participation on any topic that you would like to discuss. Please come up, state your name, address it. [Music] Hi. Uh my name is Matt Leanderelli. I
live at 23 273 Hickory Lane and I'm here to make a statement on behalf of myself and my wife Christina Quigley. My wife is an experienced educational and behavioral consultant. She supports numerous families, community organizations, and school districts in navigating curricula, education needs,
and special education services. She serves on the CPAG, the Mountainside Special Education Parent Advisory Group, and she's worked with children with IEPs for over 20 years. She's also an undiagnosed dyslexic. Um, so I'm here tonight to respectfully share
significant concerns regarding our child's experience within the Department of Student Services. Uh, we're the parents of a fifth grade student with an active IEP. Over the past 5 years, we've we have consistently advocated for our child who's a bright, determined learner
with dyslexia, an auditory processing disorder, and disgraphia. Unfortunately, we've encountered repeated systemic failures that have significantly interfered with his right to a free and appropriate public public education. And our concerns fall into two main categories. Repeated delays in services
and persistent patterns of misinformation and miscommunication. And I have four examples of such. Um the initiation of his IEP. It took over 14 months for our initial request for an IEP before it was finalized and services began. We understand the process can be
long, but the documentation we provided at his initial referral meeting was more than sufficient to warrant an immediate evaluation. At that meeting, a CST member told us they were only monitor our child due to a long weight attributable to COVID, while an administrator cited COVID slide as
further justification for his skill deficits. Uh, in addition, during the fall of his first grade, a 504 coordinator told us that our son was not a child who would ever be tested. We were ultimately forced to obtain private evaluations at our own expense with the district, which the district then used
to immediately confirm the need for services. What should have taken no more than 90 days resulted in an entire school year lost without services. Uh auditory accommodations. It took nearly two years for our child to receive appropriate auditory accommodations. This should have should
have occurred within two months. Only after sustained pressure from us was the issue resolved and even then the device was lost at one point. It was later improperly fitted causing him daily pain for an entire school year. And it was only resolved after we demanded a fitting from our private aiologist.
assist of technology. Despite being a critical component in his IEP, assisted technology was not implemented until 15 months after it was recommend recommended. One case manager after consulting with the director of student services told my wife told Christina she would do her a favor by uploading the
software to his device and suggesting that Christina teach it to him at home because he was such a unique learner and that no other child in the district needed services like that. As a dyslexic learner, teaching the use of assisted assistive technology should be included as the goals and objectives in his IEP.
As school staff should be fluent in the programming he uses. This year, the district failed to renew his subscription to Google Read and Write and falsely claimed that the program was being merged with another program and it would not be available until the summer of 2025 when in fact the subscription
had simply expired. Despite our repeated clarifications, we were told we were mistaken until the district eventually admitted the error and offered to renew it if we wanted it. This is not a matter of our preference. This is what he needs. Um in December of 2024 is the
last last point. Uh the district proposed removing supplemental services. We explicitly requested that the IEP remain in draft status pending further discussion. However, we were later informed that the draft was only maintained during winter break and that the re revised IEP had been implemented
without our consent. Following mediation, the services were reinstated without contest and private evaluations confirm the need for ongoing support. So, please note these are just a small handful of examples. The pattern of delay, deflection, and inaccurate information has created a deeply
frustrating and damaging experience. Corrections only occur after we cite legal legal obligations in writing. We faced improper proposals to remote services, unexplained interruptions, and the delivery of services that directly violate the term of his IEP. Because of these persistent issues, we have no
choice but to we had no choice but to retain private specialists, legal counsel, and consultants at a personal cost of nearly $25,000 over five years in order to protect our child's rights. We want to be clear. Our experience with our child's classroom teachers and previous case manager have been
overwhelmingly positive. Our concerns lie squarely with the leadership and certain members of the student service team, specifically its director. We're submitting a detailed letter with supporting documentation to the board in full. Um, at this point, we've exhausted every effort to make progress with with its current leadership, and we're now
turning to you guys to help fix what we believe is a systemic failure. Uh we won't meet with the director of student services without legal counsel present due to a pattern of providing information we believe to be inaccurate or misleading. And while this is our story, we know there are dozens of
families who are experiencing similar challenges to get the children the support they need. So we respectfully ask the board to review our concerns seriously, take appropriate action to ensure that all students, particularly those with disabilities, receive the timely, lawful, and effective support they're entitled to. Thank you for your
time. Thank you. I'm sorry you've had to go through this. Anyone else? Okay. At this time, um I believe we're going into second exec. So I need a motion to go into second exec.
Motion. Second. We will not be returning. So roll call, please. Bill Dylan, yes. Michael Goodwin, yes. Dana Guyro, yes. Vivian Poop, yes. Carmine Venus, yes.
Say I'm a journeying meeting. All in favor? I post. See none. Oh, may I ask what discussed? Um, we just we study the
study.