wife. She's >> penglins or birds. >> Not turtles. But it's a certain >> bird. Everyone's getting No, you just have to like order. Yeah, like
I'm sure we can play. >> I was so happy. that it made me so happy that they were >> everything. Yes, >> are amazing. >> Hello everyone. At this time, can I please get a motion and a second to
resume the public portion of the agenda? >> Motion. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> Any opposed? Any abstain? All right. Uh then at this time, if we could all please stand for the flag salute
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. >> Good evening everyone. Uh we are going to take a moment uh to recognize uh one
of our former staff members um has passed away. We just want to take a moment um to have a moment of reflection. Um, so just just one moment. So Linda was a um food service manager
for us um for many years. Uh her grandchildren attend here even at this time. So she's kept um you know a presence here and uh we just uh want to extend our condolences to the family. From here we are going to move into
recognition and so we will begin with uh Don Stalin works. Dawn has been um our um all things I would say um checking our finances and and all of that. So, we're gonna bring her up and I'll I'll go
through that presentation. then we can't catch you on camera. >> So, we want to thank Don. Um, Don has uh served as our treasurer for this district. Um, serving for 24 years and four months of service. So, quite a long time. And uh she certainly will be
missed. I'm sure her presence will still be um felt and uh you know things that uh she certainly knows will be shared through her loving husband. Um, so we just want to thank you for all of your hard work and being so committed
to us for so many cong. you don't like these things. >> Uh, our next recognition is one of our students. I'm going to bring in Clayton. >> So, in my short time here in Mullica, I will say Clayton's welcomed me and I think we've gotten to know each other
pretty well. Um, Clayton uh has Clayton Sha has been uh certainly a standout eighth grader for us. um and came recommended from his teachers to represent us at the eighth grade dialogue. Uh the eighth grade dialogue
um is a county event uh that the school boards association puts on and one student from all of the schools is is selected to represent their district. uh throughout that night about an hour and a half with questions. They go through and they share their perspective of
students um as students uh to a ton of administrators that are in the room in all different capacities, schoolboard members of really how they see school, recommendations that they would make. Um and I will say that Clayton uh
completely, as you would expect, um represented Mullica at the highest level. Um, I do want to share a funny story that you don't even know. Um, today I got a letter in the mail and it's not too often that you get a handwritten letter and um, it was
actually from my principal um, recognizing my superintendency and telling me how proud he is that I am the superintendent. But how did he know all that came to be? Because he was in the audience that night and he goes on in the letter to talk about what a great
representation you were. And so now in my office I'm going to have a letter that's framed that connects the two of us. So I just wanted to share that with you because to me it was very special. Um my principal has known me since I was in
second grade which um with a birthday coming up is a really long I'll have you know. But we just want to thank and recognize Clayton. um as we get into these last uh several weeks of school, there's going to be more um that
you hear his name spoken. Um you've made us proud, so congratulations. So >> sorry, Mom. Congratulations. Thank you. >> Congratulations. And I just want to add
on behalf of the board members, quite a few of us were there at that event and we all thought you did an excellent job representing us. So, thank you. >> Thank you. >> Um before we move on to the public budget hearing, I do want to acknowledge one more retirement. So, um I'm sure some of you have noticed that Mr. Deanna
is not here tonight. So, we were planning on uh giving him his plaque and acknowledging his retirement tonight as well, but he could not make it tonight. So, uh he will be getting that later. But just wanted to put that out there. Uh in regards to the public budget
hearing at our last meeting, we had a PowerPoint and went over all the details of the budget. That is posted on our website. If you look at item 5B, that is our budget numbers. Um there is also an attached in the online budget um
the user-friendly budget for anyone who wants to access that. Uh tonight we will be voting on this budget. The budget numbers are for the total general fund 12,666,945. Under total special revenue fund for the
budget item is $2,837,547. Total debt service fund is three $396,181 for a total of $15,900,673. The local tax levy portion for those for the general fund is $6,181,347 and for the total debt service fund tax
levy portion is $260,191 with a total of 6,441,538. Um, at this time the the uh sorry at this time the meeting will now be open to the public for comments on the budget items. If
your comments pertain to students personnel litigation or negotiations, we would ask that you see the superintendent after the meeting since the board does not generally discuss such items in public. When you make your comment, please state your first and last name and municipality and comments need to be limited to three minutes per
person. Would anyone like to make a comment on the budget? >> Actually, I'd like to make a comment. Go ahead. >> I appreciate the the presentation that Dr. Pauls and >> Oh, microphone. Sorry. Microphone. >> I appreciate the time that Dr. Paul's and Mr. Diana gave at the budget
workshop and the presentation. It was an outstanding presentation. I appreciate the public's input at that bud budget workshop and I just wanted to thank everyone. >> Thank you. >> Is anyone else interested in making a budget comment?
Okay. Uh then at this time, can I get a motion and a second for the Mullica Township Board of Education upon recommendation of the business administrator approve item 5B? Motion.
Second. >> Uh, can I get a roll call? >> Mrs. Curts? >> Yes. >> Miss Lynch? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Mayon? >> Yes. >> Mr. Runner? >> Yes. >> Mr. Stalin? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Warner? >> Yes. >> Mr. Winterbottom? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Wild? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Brown Hill?
>> Yes. >> Motion pass. Uh, at this time the meeting will be open to the public for comments on agenda items. If your comments pertain to students, personnel litigation or negotiations, we would ask that you see the superintendent after the meeting since the board does not generally
discuss such items in public. Again, please state your name and your municipality and limit your comments to three minutes per person. Uh, do we have anyone who wants to make an agenda item comment? All right, then. Moving on to item seven.
Can I get a motion and a second for the Mullica Township Board of Education to approve the March 25th, 2026 regular and executive session meeting minutes? >> Motion. >> Second. >> Uh,
any comments? >> All in favor? >> Any abstain? Any nos? All right. Thank you. Uh, an old business item. Just remember, if you haven't already done it, your
financial disclosures are due by tomorrow, so make sure you fill those out. Uh, new business. We have one new business item. Are you guys okay? >> We just thought about the disclosure. Sorry.
>> Sorry. >> That's okay. I just I just didn't want to move on with >> Okay. It's okay. Um so I have one new business item that I'd like us to discuss. Um, in our curriculum committee meeting, we well, at our last board
meeting, some members of the public, um, we had some discussion about school funding formulas and the issues with those, and some members of the public asked, um, who could they contact, how could they contact, what could they do to benefit the district. So, in our curriculum committee meeting uh about
two weeks ago, we discussed um possibly having the board pass a resolution allowing uh the administration to um share information on how to advocate for the school in regards to the budget. So, um I got some language from Mrs. Elco
and I would like to read that resolution to the board to see if everyone is interested in that. And um if you are good with the language then we could vote on it. If you'd like us to discuss it and work on it more we can take it back to committee and work on it more there.
So the resolution would say resolve that the Mullica Township Board of Education believes that adequate and equitable state funding is essential to ensuring that all students have access to meaningful educational opportunities. Whereas the Mullica Township Board of Education believes that the unique
makeup of Mullica Township, a Pineel's community with limited growth opportunities, is not taken into consideration when the state provides funding to our district, placing an unfair burden on our local taxpayers. Whereas the Mullica Township Board of Education believes that the fun school
funding formula needs to be revised to provide fair and equitable funding to Mullica Township School District. Therefore, the Mullica Township Board of Education authorizes the superintendent and business administrator with the support of the board to advocate for fair and equitable funding in our school
district. >> That's good. Does anyone have any questions or concerns about any of that language? >> Motion to adopt. >> Okay. Do we have to do a separate motion? How would that work? >> Uh Mr. Solomar just made a motion. You just need a second and we can vote.
>> Okay. >> Second. >> All right. Uh then would that be a roll call or all in favor? >> Okay. Can we do an all in favor then? All approved. All in favor? >> Any opposed?
Any abstain? All right. Thank you everyone. All right. Committee reports. Um before I move into committee reports, another uh thing that came up. So um after our last couple of meetings, we've had some
uh members of the public ask questions about how we run our meetings and how we work as committees. So I wanted to add some clarifying language to our agenda. Uh so in the future I'd like to well
we're I talked with Dr. Paul's and Kathy Werner and there are other boards that do this as well. Just put a little descriptive in their committee report section saying um how we run. So, I'm going to read it out loud so that everybody uh knows what we're intending to add and if you have any questions or
concerns and would like any of that change, please let me know. Uh during the public meeting, it may appear as if some items are being voted upon with little or no discussion. However, this is not the case since items are usually discussed at length at a board committee meeting. Our board functions by a
committee process. Each committee consists of three board members plus the board president. Committee meetings focus on their respective topics, curriculum policy, finance operations, personnel negotiations. These committees study issues, review recommendations from the superintendent, and discuss
details in depth before being placed on the board agenda, leading to efficient action focused voting at public meetings. Any questions or concerns on that? Okay. So then we'll be adding that to our just written in our agenda in the future. I won't read it every time, but
just so if the public has questions, it's there and easily accessible for everyone. All right. At this time, can I get a report from curriculum policy? The first thing that we spoke about was the resolution that you just went over. Um we spoke about a few policies. Um we
looked at the headlace policy again, which is on the agenda for tonight. Um, and then we also looked at two new two policies on um, school visitors and public attendance at school events as well as civility which deal with making sure everyone acts appropriately and
respectfully when they're here um, in Balika Township School. Um, we talked a little bit about scheduling and that was about >> Thank you. No, I think that covered it. Uh, finance operations.
So, uh, we started with a reflection on the budget workshop that we did. Uh, followed that up by discussing the f food service RFP. Um, advertised the bid or advertised it for 20 days, did the bid opening and submitted to New Jersey
Agricultural. Um, then we discussed uh some of the grant monitoring that's been going on. Um we uh discussed how some financials uh were uploaded and the May audit dates. Um we
also discussed some of the contracts uh for nursing tuition and healthcare and um then we also talked about the future look for uh budget approval and future bud budgets and uh discussed uh
superintendent evaluation and status as well. Thank you. Personnel negotiations. We participated in a Zoom interview for business administrator. We discussed shared services outcomes
uh personnel and on all I'm sorry, April 20th, Dr. Paul, Susan, and myself met with the president and vice president of MTA as part of the board staff relations committee. And this evening before our meeting um our negotiations team met to
start reviewing the MTA contract for the upcoming negotiations which start next year. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Uh any correspondence? >> No. Okay. Uh item nine is monthly
reports. They'reformational. Item 10. Can I get a motion and a second for the Malikica Township Board of Education upon recommendation of the superintendent approve items 10B through 10L? >> Motion. >> Second.
>> Any discussion? >> Yes. And and actually I I spoke to Mark also on his contract. I have have an issue or problem personal probably over the vacation and the the sick fees that are that are included. So therefore, I I
would have to vote no on that for that reason, but I do like him. I think he can do a lot for the school. I just can't get over that particular hurdle. >> Um I actually was going to speak, but Bob beat me to it. I agree with Bob. Um I heard that um he has come highly
recommended. I appreciate that everything that he's saying that he's going to bring to Mullica Township, but um as Bob stated, I have an issue with the language with the um specifically pdeium and the vacation days. Um, and I would agree with Mark that that would be
my only reason for voting no. >> Thank you. I appreciate you sharing that information. >> Any other discussion? >> Okay. Can I get a roll call then? >> Mrs. G. >> Yes. >> Miss Lynch.
>> Yes. Mrs. May. >> Uh, abstain from 10E. Um, yes for Mrs. Grover for 10B. No for Mr. Leong. I'm sorry if I mispronounced your name. Um, no for 10B. Yes to everything else. If
you could a little choppy. Sorry, >> Mr. Rer. >> Yes, >> Mr. Salomar. >> No for 10B for for Mark as I stated. Yes. For the rest. >> Mrs. Warner. >> Yes.
>> Mr. Warner Bottom. Um, yes, but I abstain from 10E and 10G. >> Mrs. Wild, >> yes. Mrs. Brown, >> yes. >> Motion pass. >> Thank you.
>> Welcome, Mark. So, I'd like to take a moment um and pause in the agenda just to Mark is here and I would like to uh introduce him and welcome him um and allow him if he would like to make any uh comment as well uh
to do so. So, um as we were navigating uh Mr. Deanna's retirement, we had the opportunity to consider um you know, are we going to go out and we did post for the position. um certain things have uh adjusted or changed in in those coming
weeks and we knew we were going to need an interim for May and June already. In that process, Mark presented um in that interview process and came highly recommended from a colleague I've worked with for a long time uh for the work
that he's uh recently done in Summers Point as an interim there for the last two years. uh his ability to speak to uh that work and and some of the things we have come up coming up with negotiations and um looking at the budget. Uh we felt
and my recommendation to the board was um this is the time for us to just pause, reflect on what are the needs of the district. Um Mark knows this. uh he's going to uh get settled in here and make some recommendations moving forward
uh with that uh with certain things in in mind about um what the state's asking us to do the consideration of shared services um you know how the financial department's working. So uh just to answer some of that of what the community is asking us to be really
considerate about and also how we go about balancing our budget and things like that. Um I think uh Mark's um experience uh he's a retired business administrator coming in uh with that experience is going to be truly
beneficial over the next year and I do trust that the recommendations are going to come from a neutral place um because he's going to go back into retirement at some point and enjoy that um but have given us his experience and given us some good wisdom along the way. Uh so
many of us are excited to work with Mark and uh welcome him board. I think he's really going to enjoy it here in Mullica and um I would like to welcome him to our district. >> Thank you Dr. I didn't really have a prepared statement but I did want to thank the
board for uh putting me on the agenda and voting for me and I look forward to working here. Uh, I I think if I were to say anything generally, I would say actions speak louder than words. And I hope that my actions for this year contract hope you find value in what I
what I hope you bring here. So, I look forward to working here. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you and welcome aboard. Uh, at this time, can I get a motion and a second for the Mullica Township Board of Education, upon recommendation of the superintendent, approve items 11B
through 11D? >> Motion. >> Second. >> Any discussion? >> For field trips. >> I knew you were going to mention field trips. I wasn't letting field trips go. So, I'm excited to see the kids going um on field trips over the summer. So,
thank you for all your hard work in organizing those. And they sound really exciting, also. >> You're welcome. And I agree, they do sound like good trips. >> Any other discussion? >> All right. Can I get a roll call? >> Mrs. Curts? >> Yes.
>> Miss Lynch? >> Yes. >> Mrs. May? >> Yes. >> Mr. Roner? >> Yes. >> Mr. Salen? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Warner? >> Yes. >> Mr. Yes. >> Mrs. Wild, >> yes. >> Mrs. Brown Hill, >> yes. >> Motion passes. >> Can I get a motion and a second for the
Mulliga Township Board of Education upon recommendation of the superintendent approve items 12B through 12 C? >> Motion. >> Second. >> Any discussion? >> Policies 12 B and C. Does it go all the way to?
>> No. >> Oh, that was a typo. With all the problems with board docs this week. >> Okay. >> Board docs like Yes. So, you can cross out the E on the paper copies. It should not be there. >> Okay. Sorry. >> No. Good question.
Yes. >> Any other discussion? >> Okay. Can I get a roll call? >> Mrs. Yes. >> Miss Lynch? Yes. >> Mrs. Mayon? >> Yes. >> Mr. Wer? >> Yes. >> Mr. Salore? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Warner? >> Yes. >> Mr. Winter? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Wild? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Brown?
>> Yes. >> Motion passed. >> Thank you. Uh, can I get a motion and a second from the Mullica Township Board of Education upon recommendation of the business administrator approve items 13B through 13 I? >> Motion
>> or wait, mine says J. >> J. >> Okay. J. >> Motion. >> Second. >> Second. >> Uh, any discussion? >> Can I get a roll call then? >> M. Yes. Miss Lynch, >> yes. >> Mrs. May, >> yes.
>> Mr. Roner, >> yes. >> Mr. I've stayed on 13e for the last time and >> Mrs. Warner, >> yes. >> Mr. Lottom, >> yes. >> Mrs. Wild, >> yes. >> Mrs. Brown, >> yes. >> Motion passed.
>> Uh, at this time, the meeting will be now open to the public for comments. If your comments pertain to students personnel litigation or negotiations, we would ask that you see the superintendent after the meeting since the board does not generally discuss such items in public. Again, please state your name, municipality, and so
on. >> I thought it would be easier to hold it. >> Testing you. Uh, Key Sullivan, Mala Township President, Association or Association President. Uh, I just want to take a moment and say congratulations to our retiring teacher, Chrissy Leonetti. She, uh, service of 31 years,
so we're all very happy for her. Um, some of it envious. You're approved, Chrissy. You can leave in July. Yay. Congratulations. We just wanted to say thank you for >> Oh, for her plaque. Okay, perfect. I saw it on the agenda tonight, so I just want to acknowledge it as well. Um, we're
excited for the centennial celebration coming up. Uh, we will have a table there. Um, very excited to see all the old faces. So, not old, I meant face I haven't seen in a while. >> And, uh, we're excited to premiere our new MTE logo. So, we'll reveal that
then. Hopefully, we get our stickers and magnets all in time. So, thanks a bunch. >> Thank you. Uh, would anyone else like to make a comment? Actually, I was going to speak and just thank uh Susan and Dr. Paul's for your prompt attention to bringing that
resolution. I think that when we sit up here at this table and we make our approvals or not nonapprovals that it's it's a lot of stress and I think that when we can get the community involved and actually take a stance for our district and work together to bring more
funding back into Malikica so that we can give the students what they deserve. I greatly appreciate you taking me seriously and getting that done in such a prompt manner. Thank you >> and I appreciate you bringing the idea forward. So, thank you. >> Any other comments?
So, Angela, just to respond to the topic you brought up, um by doing this resolution, it gives us um some leeway because uh we also um were based on what you brought to the committee and and our committee discussion, we I was able to
bring that up at the county round table and uh that generated a lot of conversation among the superintendent. we were able to identify what other districts are also doing this kind of statement this month uh in their meetings and or next month. Um and uh we
have uh we've also functioned in committee form there and um there's a lot of effort in that part to get us into a better funding formula situation and hear our voice here from Atlanta County. So I I just want to say my appreciation for that. >> There's power in numbers. Mhm. So, we um
now that we have this, it gives me a little more leeway to work with my colleagues and and be unified in it. >> Thank you. >> Uh just a few announcements. Um the centennial celebration uh which was mentioned, just a reminder to the community, that will take place on May
16th. It starts at 10:00 a.m. goes till about 1:00. Um our Facebook page has been u um started up again, I guess, is the best way to say it. So, if you go there, there's been a lot of information shared and and a lot more to come about
that day. Um, I do want to just uh let the board know and the community know on May 13th, that evening at six o'clock, we will be doing our honor society inductions. Um, grandparents day will take place on May 18th uh here during
our school day. Uh lots of our grade level meetings have been talking about how we're preparing to welcome the grandparents uh into the school. So at 9:00 a.m. it'll be the elementary side. Uh 10:00 everybody will come in here to the library. Uh those grandparents that
have grandchildren on both sides of the building will have them all together here in the library for breakfast and then they'll head over to the middle school to join that side um at 10:30. Uh so that looks to be a great day. Uh our volunteer recognition will happen the
morning of May 27th at 9:00 am and all of those uh wonderful volunteers that uh have helped us so greatly this year will have a breakfast recognition that day. So I just want to um welcome everybody. Any board member who wants to come to any of those events, uh we'd love to
have you as well. So thank you. >> Thank you. Uh any other public comments? No. Okay. Uh, I do have a PTA update. I thought you were gonna say something. I I I know that now. >> Uh, PTA wrapped up the spring book fair
last week. Thanks to the volunteers who helped make it happen. We are doing final preparations to take our staff on a trip around the world for staff and teacher appreciation week next week and are also providing snacks to the third through eighth grade students after each day of state testing. The PTA will be
joining ACES for a game and bingo night on May 15th and are excited to support our school at the centennial celebration on the 16th. Any MTEF updates? >> Um we did forward our scholarship
information to um Cedar Creek. >> Excellent. >> Thank you. Uh, our next board meeting is scheduled for May 27th, 2026 at 6:30 p.m. for executive session and 7 p.m. for public session.
And now I'll take a motion for adjournment. >> Motion second. >> All in favor? >> Any opposed? >> Any abstain? >> Oh, here we go. >> I think we're good then. Thank you,
everyone. >> I like to have that. It's been a day. >> No, you didn't. >> Yes. I have I have not yet come up.