Here. Here. Here. Here. Here. Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. 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. Board statements. In accordance with the provisions of the New Jersey Open Public Meetings Law, the Milford Board of Education has caused notice of this meeting to be published by having the date, time, and place thereof posted in the Borough Hall and in the Milford
Public Library. The board announces that under its long-standing policy, it will not discuss or comment on any comments made by members of the public concerning individual staff members. At this time, please be advised that all cell phones and electronic devices are to be turned off. Meetings of the board are open to
the public, and all members of the community should feel free to participate. Before coming to the board, the chain of command should be followed. There are two portions of the meeting reserved for comments from the public. The first at the beginning of the meeting for agenda items only, and the second at the end of
the meeting for other other items. Issues raised by the public may or may not be responded to by the board, but all comments will be considered. The board requests that all members of the public be mindful of the rights of other individuals when speaking. Due to confidentiality and legal rights afforded by the state of New Jersey,
members of the public are asked to not speak negatively or in a derogatory manner about any employee of the board or any student. Okay, recommended action. Seek a motion for the approval of the minutes from March 25th, 26th. Stephanie, seconded by Tony. All in
favor? Aye. Opposed? We are going to start off with the student board representative report, Emma Brady. Good evening, everyone. This month, for the first time since 2018, the track team was a champion at the Bergen County Relay. It placed several times for different events, including the 4 by 200
relay finals, the sprint medley relay finals, and more. Gabby Ultee of the track team broke a 23-year-old school record in the shot put at the season opener invitational. And the boys distance team broke the 4 by 1600 meter record at the county relays.
On April 9th, the senior play unified participants attended the Special Olympics for their annual youth summit. It was a great opportunity to learn about leadership and inclusion in a fantastic way of improving our school. On April 18th, the girls softball team had its annual pediatric cancer tournament at the night field and at the
high school and middle school. Raising money that was donated to Hackensack Hospital pediatrics in Angelo Bartolomeo's name. 2 weeks ago, the Visual Arts Society coordinated a week-long thrift store, an event where students could donate clothes or purchase them. Members of the society worked hard to sort, organize,
set up, and execute the thrift store, giving students the chance to buy a new staple in their wardrobe just inside the guidance conference room. It was a great fundraiser, and everything that wasn't purchased was donated to the clothing bins at Berkeley Street Elementary. Last week, Mrs. Jaeger coordinated another successful prom shop, which
supplied a variety of dresses, suits, jewelry, shoes, and other accessories for formal occasions. It was a nice opportunity for students to avoid the expense and stress of shopping, and simply visit her classroom and take a look. This past Thursday, our family, faculty, and students gathered to celebrate the induction of our newest members to our
three language honor societies. Each society presented its culture, sharing its accomplishments in a video, highlighting projects, field trips, and the introduction of the inductees. [snorts] They even performed a skit featuring Spanish, Chinese, and French, emphasizing the importance of education and culture. Coming up tomorrow, several of our
students will be featured in the Milford Junior and Senior Art Show. The display's been up since the 22nd, and tomorrow is the final day to view them. So, you'll know where I'll be tomorrow at 5:30 to 7:00. Feel free to check it out and support our talented students. That concludes my report for the week. Thank you. Does anyone have any
questions? Okay. I know you're busy, and so please leave at any time. Thank you. And thank you for the presentation. Thank you. Thanks. And now we're going to start with the state of the district. All right.
Thank you for coming, everyone. It's actually a big meeting. Glad you all could make it. I'll go through this, uh, hopefully provide a lot of information so you understand where we're at with the district right now. So, um, real quick,
this is the Milford Public School District. Sometimes we forget, you know, we're considered small, but we have a lot we have a lot going on. We can't forget we have over 2,000 kids that we serve pre-K through 21. Uh, we are There are not many districts
that have pre-K through 21. Uh, we're one of the few. Um, we have over 450 faculty and staff, including night care. Go up to 1 to 2 teacher ratio. I'm throwing in there cuz I'm a big history guy. This school has been around for 98 years. So, it's been educating kids for
98 years. The centennial, Mr. Mayor, they've already got it. We're putting together a committee, uh, to do the 100 uh, centennial, the 100 years uh, anniversary of the school. In terms of academics, we have 130 courses just at the high school alone.
15 of those AP courses. Special education, again, full continuum pre-K through 21. We have IBC, LLD, resource room, uh, in-class support, gifted and talented. Athletics, 27 sports programs including the middle school with 30 plus
levels of competition, which is also getting very, very hard to find, uh, around Bergen County as, you know, JV level and especially freshman levels aren't getting the numbers. Marching band and color guard, 60 plus clubs and activities K-12, full theater program,
music, drama, you know, and uh, band or orchestra great sports program. I put that slide up here because we do offer a lot in this district, and all of that takes time and money. So, that's just the easiest
way to break it down. So, this budgetary overview, um, at times is going to be bleak if I'm honest, but we have, I think, done a great job at trying to limit the impact on everyone. Uh, this quote I like to start off with because the secret to budgeting is that
it needs to be honest, not what you think it should be or wish it could be, but what it really is. Um, obviously, when I first took over superintendent, I had grandiose ideas of referendum and facility, and you know, it's still in the back of my head, but now is not the time, uh, because there's
other factors going on that we have to be aware of. And we have to do the best we can with what we have. So, we came in at approximately $4 million over budget. Uh, the big reasons are the fourth year in a row of double-digit increases in
health benefits. So, 58% over the past 2 years. When I first got here, we were told it was about 28.5% for this year, and now we're being told it's about 30% for 58%. I think since 2003,
2023, it's gone up by 75%. So, astronom- astronomical, um, pricing increases, and we have no say. It's just we're told what we what's going to happen. The cuts in state aid for the last 4 years. So, whereas this might be like on
average, like if I say $130,000 when you compound it year after year after year, it's like $130,000. Well, now I got to got to 260, and then 390. It goes up. So, in 4 years, now we're at half a million dollars that we
lost out on. And when I say compound itself, that doesn't help us in the long run cuz we're always playing catch-up then. Uh, so when this happens, we have to make difficult decisions. And then there is less revenue coming into the district, but there's a there's a
couple reasons for that. Uh, one, we service a lot of our own students, especially at the elementary level, so we don't have the room like we used to. Um, I think our IBC in district, the state recognizes
1%. Jump in 3%. So, we need space for all those children, and we need space for our children. We service our kids first, and then if we have room, we can bring in other kids. But we are triple the the average for other other districts.
Um, and then as districts have constrained budgets just like ours, they're going to start bringing people back. But we are still we still have a lot of tuition students, which, you know, is what we'll talk about. So, the big thing is the revenue is 52,452,478,
and our expenditure has to match that. Simple as that. And again, it's not what I wish, it's not what I want, it is what it is. So, the types of reductions uh, we have to institute in order to get to meet our revenue, um, curriculum so I'm sorry to ask that.
Got hit hard. Technology got hit hard. Athletics and co-curricular a little bit. Um, but staff and reductions as always, you know, um, you know, we it definitely affected the staff. Um, and the one rule of budgeting is
don't go over budget. We can't go over budget, so we have to find whatever means necessary to stay equal to the budget. So, all reductions are designed to have as little direct impact as possible on our students. I do believe in there's a direct impact and an indirect impact.
If I cut a teacher out of a classroom, your class sizes go up to 40, that's a direct impact on kids. An indirect impact, it does impact kids, but say I cut uh, administrative assistant, You know, that does affect kids but not directly. It
indirectly does. All right. Staff reductions. So, we lost one media specialist, one full-time equivalent from central office, two bus drivers, two bus aides, 2.6 support staff members, one maintenance position will be in
December. He's retiring and we are just not going to replace him. And then we have 25 full-time instructional assistants. So, that was That was a lot. So, I do want to point out every single individual was talked to by
myself and some They're all gracious. They're all unbelievable people. I want to point out that without these people, we cannot run the district. We cannot run the district and I I know what assessments here, Mr. Flores here, as teachers in the district,
they'll say the same thing. Mrs. Warren, Mr. Doc, everybody, they are pivotal to what we need to do. Even though we cut them full-time, we did offer part-time positions to them. Um and we're hoping they come back on. The majority have already because in the
end, they do it for the love of the kids. They do it for the love of their job um and we have some very needy children in this district and they do God's work and we're hoping all of them come back. But we just couldn't offer them benefits
anymore. When you have family benefits that are $75,000 and potentially go to $90,000 per person, you know, for one person, you know, we're giving benefits to, you know, 40 people, 35 people, it's just it's a numbers game
at this point and when it goes up so much, it is what it is. Um they all understood. Um every single person up here has extreme values. The media specialist and below, um central office, meticulous, been here
for a long time. I have nothing but respect for them. Um the bus drivers obviously they support our kids every day. 2.6 of the support staff members, they provide services to all of our special education students. Um maintenance obviously extremely
important and then the full-time administrative assistant uh that's been reduced to part-time. Um we also had some creative staff creative staffing solutions where we always have to plan for the possibility of
special ed numbers going up and kindergarten numbers going up and if we have three sections of kindergarten and we have to have a fourth, we have to plan for that. So, we did order our staff and even though there's no FTEs or classroom teachers remains equivalent to last year, there is a lot
of shifting going on. Uh a couple are going to special ed and one is going to special ed. Um one may be shifting to kindergarten and so on and so forth. But with that being said, they all retained their jobs. So, we found a position for all of them. Other budgetary impacts, sub-varsity
sports. Um they are going to do a league schedule only. So, we're not cutting any sports, but instead of them doing um independent games as well, that's just going to be for the varsity. And that stuff adds up. It could be
for one season well over $50,000 in independence when you talk about busing and officials and everything else. So, they will get to their independent games, but for now we're just doing uh league games. Lunch supervision is going to be charged out of the cafeteria fund with the money
we are. Uh we are reducing sixth period at the high school and middle school. So, the sixth period is Um how do I explain this? Teachers typically at the high school, let's say, teach five periods. If we need them to teach a sixth period, they will get paid a percentage of their salary.
Um usually it's more veteran staff but not always. And so, reducing sixth period and trying to um fit it within the normal confines of the regular schedules. Can we just go back to that lunch supervision? I think it's important
for the board to know because the lunch supervision had been audit recommendation um because we're in the national school lunch program where you are not allowed to carry excess surplus in that account. And so, not only is this supporting helping to support our operating budget,
but it's also reducing what we're allowed to by the federal government and being part of the national school lunch program. So, this is actually sort of like a double a double good thing that we were able to do. Uh special ed students, Ms. Warren's doing a great job with her team getting
students back to district. Technology budget for a half a million dollars. Um curriculum, quarter million dollars. So, a lot of that's going to be offset by ESSA, which are state funds that we get from title one, title two, title three, title four. Um other budgetary shifts. Uh night care
budget, we're going to utilize our night care budget. It's a little healthier to help pay for night care facilities that and playground maintenance. So, instead of, you know, $10,000 in wood chips coming out of the operating budget, night care uses the playgrounds, too. That $10,000 will come out of night care.
Um reduce architect and engine- engineering service lines. Um we don't anticipate any huge referendums coming along, so we feel comfortable doing that. Multi-year license purchase reduces future costs. We're going to maximize technology department staff to expand district and
school away from roles. Um so, we can, you know, uh reduce staff and then Chromebooks on carts K2. I'm not a huge fan of Chromebooks and stuff in K2. I do think they need access. Um but really once they get to third
grade and it's state testing time, they really have to familiarize themselves with the computer and stuff, but I want them as little as possible K2 on Chromebooks anyway. So, this actually helps that cost. Transportation, very clever split shifts for bus drivers, which reduces overtime. So,
they'll come, they'll do their morning run, you have a big gap in the middle and they'll come back in the afternoon. Uh transport- transportation mobility audit, we're not doing any courtesy busing and we're going to do six less bus routes. Uh just efficiently looking at routes. Proposed additions for the upcoming
fiscal year. So, stipends for instructional assistants in high need positions like LLD and IBC. Obviously we cut them from full-time to part-time, um but if you work in IBC, which is our autism program, you'll get a stipend for it. If you're in LLD, you'll get a
stipend for it. Any like hard or intricate positions that take like a special type of care, you'll get a stipend for it. Uh we're going to start an internship program focused on the trades at Milford High School. Hopefully this is the beginning and it blossoms. We do want to
push trades. And then the University of Florida Literacy Institutes Foundations program. This is just a supplemental systemic reading instruction uh for our K3 people. K3? K3. Just to focus once again on uh the at that grade level.
I don't want to mix pots here, but I do want to improve whatever that we have dreams to make it the greatest greatest it can be. Um and I don't want the budget to affect moving forward. So, there are capital reserves that we
have that have been built up over time and we do want to spend them and continue to update our facility. We think that's very very important. We're not going out to a referendum. We're doing all internally, so that doesn't go out to the taxpayers. We can't use these
capital reserve funds to offset anything I'm talking about. We can't use capital reserve funds to hire, you know, more aides or bring back people or pay for benefits. It doesn't work like that. That's operating budget and then we have the capital reserve. It's two different things. We cannot
um So, we might as well use it to continually improve them. So, we have windows and doors the entire back of the building. That's a picture of what we did with the um This is the student center um at the high school where you can see
on the right side, that's the old windows. And um on the left is yeah, on the left is the new windows. So, the whole back of the building is going to get new doors and windows, which helps us because one, it looks much more appealing. Number two, the
energy costs have skyrocketed from PSE&G. We have an old infrastructure. We have steam heat at the high school and we have single pane glass windows. So, we just hemorrhage heat all the time. So, this will definitely show us uh big savings as well.
Um air conditioning in Milford High School cafeteria because that seems to be a huge gathering point not just for the kids. They're there in there all day now because they actually serve there the substitutes are in there now. So, there's kids in there periods of one through eight and then after school as
well. So, it's used a tremendous amount. Um and then locker room renovation. We're still trying to figure that one out. All right. Just moving forward, we're always looking at auditing schedules to maximize staffing. Uh we're
parsing out administrative responsibilities as much as always. Um the future fiscal responsibility, the Milford School District is operating on a very lean budget. That's really important. Like when I talk to other superintendents, what they're cutting, they're cutting like
job like uh teacher coaches. And they're cutting like uh their part-time dance coach. they're dance teacher, you know, which is great, but we are very, very lean. We don't have We don't have true supervisors here. We don't have a VP at the elementary school anymore.
Um so we don't have a lot of fluff. We've cut 5.8 Over 5.8 million dollars in just two years since I've been here to keep up with all of this. And so what does this mean for the district moving forward? As you can see, we're still trying to improve though.
We're still trying to update facilities. We're still doing the best we can to not have an impact on the students and not affect programs. We're not offering any less courses, we're not offering any less AP courses, we're not offering any less programs, you know, at this time.
I'll now turn it over to Dr. Stephanie. >> [laughter] >> She loves it. And there's a good one. Okay, done. >> [clears throat] >> So, these are the expenditures. As Mr. Glosso said, when you have a school-based budget, you have your expenditure side that has to equal your
revenue side. So, it's broken down into these various categories. I don't worry like you can obviously see those numbers, but really if you look at what was spent in five years ago in the 21-22 budget for health benefits
was 6.7 million and in the 26-27, that line is 11.9 million. Energy is another sort of big one. In 21-22, the budget had 345,000. In 24-25,
it had 364,791 and the 26-27 projected number is 595,000 dollars. So, what you're all experiencing in your homes with with energy, this is just on a much larger scale and that that money has to come from somewhere. It's it's an expense
that we have um and we can't get rid of it. The technology budget, as Mr. Glosso said, that one was one that we really looked at in the 21-22 budget, we had almost 1.4 million dollars worth of expenditures and in the 26-27 budget, we
have 863,952. So, that's a significant decrease in five years in a technology budget. Um transportation in 21-22 was 1.3 million and next year we have
866,896 dollars allocated for transportation. >> [snorts] >> And I think it's important sort of when you look at salary because that is the biggest portion in our expenditure and in 21-22,
our total salary or payroll was 25,231,655 dollars five years ago and next year for 26-27, we have 26,829,591. So, we really sort of kept that
relatively in line when you're talking about all the other costs that we have no control over. And there's only so many places that we can look to get the money. You can see on the revenue side, it's very small. There's only
very few categories and when you look at it, the local tax levy is our is our biggest revenue base. Um which unfortunately is to the taxpayers. So, the local tax levy for next year is
for 43,724,791. The tuition from other individuals is from is primarily our um preschool program we integrated when parents pay to send their gen ed students to us. We're also exploring the option of
making that a full day program to potentially bring in some additional revenue. Um it wouldn't affect staffing and it may enhance our program. Um the tuition from other schools this was a sort of significant decrease
from last year. We had over 50% decline in the tuition that we're receiving from other districts. Um like Mr. Glosso said, we now educate a lot more New Milford residents and so we just don't have the seats in our program and as other districts are also faced
with these hard decisions, a lot of districts are looking to bring their students back to their home districts. Um so, it's always a balancing act, but I know Mrs. Horn is actively out there um promoting our programs and New Milford is known for having great
special ed programs, but now many of those families have moved to town. Um so, they're they're no longer tuition paying. The transportation from other LEAs is other school districts. We share
transportation routes and so it helps offset our transportation costs while also bringing in some revenue. Um we transport with um um um bussing routes with Bergenfield, Dumont
Cresskill and River [laughter] Dell here tonight, our commitment remains um unchanged, the commitment to teaching and learning. The approach has not only allowed us to sustain our programs, but in targeted
ways, we're continuing to grow them responsibly. And I think you actually advanced it, so. Stay here. Oh, sorry. Doesn't matter. Um Okay. At the core of all of our work is a
simple principle, excellence is non-negotiable. Across our schools, we continue to prioritize high quality instruction in every classroom with a strong emphasis on student growth achievement and overall well-being.
Despite financial constraints, including reductions in state aid and rising health care costs, we've worked to preserve the programs and opportunities that matter most to our students. For example, beginning next year, we're going to begin implementing UFLI, which
is the University of Florida Literacy Institute's Foundations program to strengthen explicit, systematic reading instruction for our youngest learners. At the middle school, we're expanding TIPS. You all know that as Targeted
Interventions and Plan Supports. It's supplemental instruction to serve more students in both ELA and math. Ensuring that uh additional academic support is delivered in a timely, structured, and responsive way. And at the high school, we continue to
grow real world learning opportunities through our internship program with Pascack uh partnership with Pascack Valley Regional High School, providing students with meaningful career-connected experiences. Um these are all
in addition to what we're already doing. So, while we are continuing to face challenges, um with our regular operating budget, we're still finding opportunities to enhance the experience for all of our students. You'll see in the photos here that
learning remains active, engaging, and student-centered. That's not by chance, but it's the result of careful planning from our team our team and a continued focus on what has the greatest impact.
Can you go ahead to the next one? Okay. As we look ahead, our work remains focused on sustaining excellence in a thoughtful and responsible way. We'll continue to prioritize efficiency, not as a reduction, but as a way to ensure
that our resources that we're using have the greatest impact. This includes regularly evaluating existing programs and practices, making adjustments and tweaks where needed, and maintaining transparency
both with the board and the community. Ultimately, every decision that we make come back comes back to the students. Our goal is to ensure that, regardless of financial pressures, we remain firmly committed to delivering high-quality experiences
for educational experiences for every student every day. Mrs. Warren. Thank you. That's my button. Hi, everyone. I just want to say that, you know, in the I've been I think I just came on my year mark in April 7th. Actually, we had
a little celebration in my office. Um and it's been my greatest pleasure stepping into the role of Director of Special Education for New Milford. Um stepping into it with with budget restraints has been pretty challenging, um to say the least, because in my role, I need to look at all the
varying needs of our students. They're very unique, they're individualized, they're complex. And um we need to meet that in a fiscally responsible way, a fiscally responsible way. However, that challenge has helped me because I have great staff who are
collaborative with a mindset to think outside the box. So, that helps because we can collaborate and problem-solve and strategize and combine together. But good things that we are continuing in a really tough budget time is that we have the continuum of education. We are a
large specialized department. We have pre-K, which is 3 to 21 year olds. At the elementary level, we have our preschool disabled classes, which we break them down into Over the Moon, Shining Stars, and our IBCs. And we are
really able to expose our students to their general education peers, their typical peers, while giving them their targeted um interventions. We have in-class support, resource center, and our self-contained classrooms, which are known as IBC and LLD. And what we've
done at the elementary level is look at our home schools of Berkeley and Gibbs, and we're providing a continuum at each building. So, we have K-5 IBC, K-5 LLD, where in the past the
students weren't really in their home school to receive these. That's helps with transportation a little bit. It also gives us the ability to um integrate them. What I looked at when I was thinking about how to describe it tonight was like all the cart. We have students who, if they need targeted
interventions in a small group setting, um in a language in language-enriched LLD classroom, they can get that. If they need behavioral interventions and some more of a discrete trial, they can get that in IBC as well as go to general education for morning meetings or for
specials. So, we're really able to um individualize and provide a unique learning experience um while meeting the targeted needs of their IEPs. In middle school, we offer the in-class support, resource center, >> [cough] >> and [clears throat] um all of our self-contained program as
well. We are looking to expand a little bit more support there at the middle school level. And in high school, we also have the continuum, in-class support, resource center, and our self-contained programs. And Wings are 18 to 21, which is going up to, I think,
11 students? 11 students. Which some of them are tuition-based, and the majority, though, are New Milford um students. And we've done a really great job with our transition coordinator, who really helps with our high school and um Wings program. It's a part-time
position, but for the small amount of time we have her, she does great things. Um we also have our BCBAs that work pre-K to 21 collaboratively, so we can maintain these programs. Because a big part of this is we want to keep our kids
home. We don't want to have to send them out of district. But in order to keep them home, we have to maintain the programs we have to fidelity. And New Jersey special education code and law gives us really strict guidelines to go by when it comes to what we have to
offer. So, it's a really fine balance, but if you see those pictures are all of our beautiful facilities that we have to educate our most needy students, um and they're thriving as they go. So, um it's a fortunate thing that we have.
What does our budget cover? All of our special ed teachers, all of our power professionals, home instruction for our gen ed and special ed students, which I will have to say home instruction is really on the rise because we are in a mental health crisis, and we really do have a, you know, intermittent temporary
as well as long-term medical home instruction. So, we've seen costs rise there. Um our related services, OT, PT, speech, and our BCBAs, um are offered. All um we have most of them are all on
staff. We do work with our SBJC, which is something that we support the budget supports as well. Our mental health services of CarePlus and SAC, and I do believe that CarePlus is expanding a little bit here with that community-based support that isn't under our budget, but is definitely will align
and help our our students. Um our home services, we do have home services for our very um needy students with the ABA parent training and our nurses nursing services pre-K to 21. We do have students, too, who require
some one-to-one nursing duties on their IEPs. Um what else we have? Evaluations. We have our in-house evaluations and our external um evaluations. Our child study team is evaluating all the time. They're evaluating out-of-district students that
they still case manage as well as our in-house. We do um initial referrals. We get a lot of referrals to determine their eligibility, so they're working around the clock with evaluations. Our extended school year, we still provide pre-K to 21. Um we did condense it and
um looked at it for many reasons, but it's still an offering that we have. Um we our budget also provides financial the financing of our out-of-district placements, our special ed transportation, our SBJC membership, and
our legal services, which I don't know. topic. Um we offer a lot of trainings for our um teachers through Wilson or Handle With Care professional development, which I know over time since I've been here, our the funds in
our budget for professional development has lessened. However, you know, we do have a lot of experts on staff who turn key, and it's a way to be fiscally responsible while um empowering the experts that we already um employ. And
then we have a lot of educational platforms that assist our programs, such as Autism Helper, IXL, and 2Y, which is also provides necessary data collection when developing IEPs. And that's just to name a few. Thank you.
Uh I do want to say, you know, Dr. Perro, you know, our former Director of Special Services did a wonderful job like reading the writing on the wall and predicting the future and setting up these programs that we have them. If we did not have these programs, I don't our out-of-tuition rate would be astronomical. I don't even know what we
would do. And uh one of the things that attracted Mrs. Warren to here was the fact that we have this continuum, that we have pre-K to 21. And for some reason you like that. That's not I like I like it, too. >> be fine if we had all these budget cuts.
>> [laughter] >> But we're going to make it work. It makes it very exciting. >> Yeah, it does. No, it's it it is it's very true. It it is a very, you know, great things. All right. But to summarize, you know, I under I'm going to summarize this. The public schools operate within the
constraints of limited resources, and it is what it is. We have that pot of money, and we have to do the best we can to make ethical decisions, [snorts] and figure out how we are going to move forward in the most effective way. Um sometimes it's being creative.
Uh sometimes it's making hard decisions. Um but please know it's done uh I I can't tell you how many hours and hours and days that we've talked about this at at nauseam to the point where we're going in circles and it's Are we sure? And going in circles. Uh
with the special ed with the uh Board of Education as well. Uh multiple meetings, hours, um discussing this and how we're going to move forward and reviewing the plans. Uh I'd like to extend my gratitude to our district administration, the
business business administrator, uh assistant superintendent, supervisor of building and grounds, and technology coordinator, Director of special services, and the principals for their diligent development of budget that directly supports our needs. Um I could not have done it without them. Each one of them
sees different angles and knows different needs that they just kind of we feed into this big melting pot and then we do the best we can with it. I want to thank the Board of Education for their selfless commitment. Um you know, they they help guide us too and give us
feedback and we read their faces and we will listen to their words and uh they ask really hard questions of us that if we cannot answer, that's a problem. So, I appreciate that. And then I don't want to overlook the past 2 weeks has been
really difficult and I want to thank the you know, the faculty and the staff for their patience, you know, to talk to over 30 people. Um you know, this one helped me a little bit, Dr. Kujala helped me a little bit to talk to over 30 people, you know, in two two and a half weeks.
It's almost like the Grim Reaper is coming and it's not a good feeling and you know, we pride on our we pride ourselves on being in the classrooms. And I I will tell you we feel it, you know, when I go into the IBC uh pre-K classroom and I'm in there every
week, every Tuesday at least I'm in there and joking around with the kids and the staff and now it's just different because there's people who are losing their benefits there and you know, perhaps jobs and everything else. So, it's just different and I thank the staff for just still being welcoming and uh
you know, not running from from us all the time. Uh we are all in it together and it's not lost on me because we need them and they're uh I don't know. We we need them just as much as all of us up here, just as much as the Board of Ed, even more so. We need the teachers and the staff. You
know, just beyond the word and understand and know we're making these decisions in the best interest to move forward and we don't like them. I'd rather not make these decisions, but it is what it is. So, thank you you all. I know Ms. Asman, you union, everything, thank you for all your help with this. I've had multiple conversations with you
and it's just like and every time I open up your doors, it's like uh and it takes it's it's tough to do. So, thank you very much. Are there any questions? Comments? Any questions? No? Okay.
Okay, and then Where did you get that? >> [laughter] >> Where did I get that? Mhm. So, that was a picture of the high school that I put into AI and said draw me a sketch Wow. >> white background. >> That's pretty cool.
Yeah. [snorts] That's a Congratulations. Thank you. No, I didn't ask him. Okay. So, now we're going to do the superintendent school working in the classroom. All right, I'm back on. I know I just talked a lot and I will make this quick. A couple of things I just like to point
out that are happening in the district. Uh the teachers of the year were announced. Uh Mrs. Guido at Berkeley School, Ms. Belitz at Gibbs School, Mrs. Lee at DEO and Mr. Wars at the high school. They have a luncheon on May 20th. They are the best of the best. Uh
it is done by a committee of administration and former winners. Um thank you to all who wrote these people up. They're all very well very well deserving and it's one of the happier times that you go around and you make an announcement, we give them a plant and
you know, some of them cry and um it's a great thing for everybody involved. So, congratulations to all of them. I'd like to point out Ellen Moy, uh second place in the North Jersey Spelling Bee. I just want to This is great news. It frustrates me
because when I was a principal, you know, in Memorial Park for my whole time there I mean, I took competition very very seriously. And um Battle of Books, we won that one. I always wanted to place, just place
in the Bergen County North Jersey Spelling Bee. The closest we got was 16th. Last year, we had a first place winner from New Milford and this year we had a second place winner in New Milford. So, I That's amazing. I'm I'm telling you
I'm telling you that is amazing. That is so hard to do and it speaks to the talent in New Milford and the kids we have here. And I just hope they all stay in New Milford because some will go to the academies
but we got them to the academies. We educated them to the point where they could apply to the academy and get in there, but I want them to stay. Uh but Ellen Moy, congratulations. Second place is unbelievable. We have Theodore Pericles uh was awarded
a STEM grant at Stockton University. It's highly competitive. It's for young ladies and [snorts] she goes to a week-long like sleepaway camp at Stockton at boy 50 hours and she has to go through a process, an interview process and she was one of the select few who got it. So, that is awesome.
Amazing. I do want to brag a little bit at the March Madness DEO basketball tournament, the faculty did win. Um Mr. Sullivan, our behaviorist, is a phenomenal basketball player. He's like 6'2". Great handle.
Great behaviorist, too. But a great basketball player and Mr. Delaw hit the game-winning shot with 4 seconds left. >> [laughter] >> This is the end of the game. I think he was surprised. But he took it and he ran with it. It
was great. Um I want the society honor society induction. Um Emma talked about it's a great ceremony. We We have French, Mandarin, and Spanish here. Uh a lot of participation.
That's a great night. Um school is open because of those snow days, I want to really make sure we hit this. On May 22nd and May 26th, school is open. So, when you look at those calendars, they used to be blackout days, but the blackout days were used. We have one more blackout day
that is at the end of the school year. It's on 5/22 and unless we flood or something happens, we are going to >> What did you say? 6/20. What did I say? Sorry. 6/22. Yeah, not 5/22. 6/22 and that will be the last blackout
day, so we get out on 6/19 and that will be the end of this school year. Update on sports and co-curricular. Uh DEO play Finding Nemo sold out again. I think two nights they sold out. I went to the opening night. Phenomenal.
I mean, you have over 60 participants. You have over 60 students participating in the middle school play. Uh and it is truly a communal effort between the backdrop and the set build and the practicing. Um and one of our very own, Stelios
Giannoulis, is the one who directed it, who I taught a long time ago. So, we're happy to see that come full circle. The China trip, which we will have a presentation on next week. They arrived home safely. All I'm going to say, I'm very happy. I'll wait for their presentation next
week. Uh the Foxy Awards, we have 12 nominations over different categories for last year's Little Shop of Horrors, uh Frozen at the middle school and The Internet Is Distracting. Um all nominees are for the Foxy Awards. Uh
hopefully we win one. Um We have North Jersey Honors Band and Orchestra. We have 10 participants that qualified. I think that's the most ever talking to Mr. Delaw. Um as for sports, the golf team has won two matches and freshman Peter Sigaras will
qualify for the state county individual golf tournaments with a plus five or better today. I did not get the update yet. Softball is tied for first place in the NJIC American Division. What is What is Wood-Ridge? Tony, what's your what's >> [clears throat] >> what's Wood-Ridge softball? >> We're not in the same division. I know.
But what are you, first place, too? We're We're one division up. We're on the field. We're in first place. They beat They beat us. They beat us. Um do do do do do Uh baseball is now 14 and two. Mhm. Uh so, they're on a nice run. They're
six and 0 in their division. They're also in first place. They're also in first place. Yeah. Flag football is off to a one and two start. I know Emma will talk about spring track. Um we've had a lot of success in the field. Upcoming events, New Milford High School Art Show. I really suggest you go if you
have Take your 10 minutes. You go in there and you walk around this little old church right on the north side of town. It's wonderful. You get to see student artwork. Um Board of Ed meeting May 6th and May 13th, so we're going to be seeing a lot of each other back to back to back. Uh the Pebbles to Bino Scholarship
barbecue in New Milford High School, May 13th, correct? Uh please in the last uh parent square I sent out, there's a way to, you know, make donations. On May 20th is the Anti-Bias Symposium. I know Councilman See where you're probably going to talk about that.
And then May 25th, school's closed for Memorial Day. Um That is it for the updates. Real quick on agenda items. I do have to go over this. Um HIB report for March. New Milford High School, there were three HIB 338 forms submitted. Two HIBs
were investigated by the ABS and were unfounded. One HIB was not forwarded for investig- investigation on the principal's determination. DEO, there were four HIB 338 forms submitted. Two were investigated and were unfounded and two were not forwarded for investigation. In
Berkeley, there's one HIV 338 forms submitted, one HIV was investigated and was unfounded. In Gibbs, there was one HIV 338 forms submitted and we are going to revisit that one after we get more information and then we'll be back on to
the next agenda. In terms of the suspension report in New Milford High School, one student served an out-of-school suspension for one day. In DDO, there were two students suspended for a total of four days. One student served one day of in-school suspension, one student served one day of in-school suspension and two days of
out-of-school suspension. In Berkeley, three students were suspended for a total of two days. One student served one day of in-school suspension, two students each served half day of of suspension in-school suspension. In Gibbs, zero students were suspended. Uh our voter registration waiver under board action is just a statement of
assurance. Uh the state makes us advertise to the 17-year-olds uh that they should be voting. Um so we actually go above and beyond because we actually have our kids work polling stations in New Milford, but we also set up booths and we educate them uh so they can become active members of
our society. Under personnel, I just wanted to give a shout-out to Miss Bailey. Uh she's been a dedicated power professional within the New Milford School District since 2002. And she is retiring. She served us very well. She will be missed.
Under finance and facilities, I don't want to take too much of Dr. Kuchar's things. I just want to thank everyone for their donations to the scholarships. The Ed Foundation increased their scholarship. They doubled it. Uh the Vitalant National High School scholarship in the amount of $250. We
get that for blood drives um and we're starting a new scholarship that will be given to the kids um funded by Gia Gorgi um and continuing annually after that in the hopes of increasing $5,000. Um under athletics and co-curricular,
approval of the following cooperative athletic programs for 2026-27 and 2027-28 school year. Uh Midland Park and New Milford are cooperating their bowling teams uh so we can be more competitive. We will still be recruiting for bowling and hopefully we can stand
alone again uh but we will be cooperating for next year and the year after. Um I also want to point out real quick on finance and facilities. Uh thank you to all the donations. We are doing a bench and hopefully we'll plan to do it depending on how much money we raise for the Betty Betty Krouse
who was a teacher here who died retired died suddenly. Um we've gotten a lot of donations and it'll be it'll be a very nice area. All right, that's all for me. Thank you. Thank you. So do we have any questions? Okay. Assistant Superintendent report, Lauren
Dacksland. I do not have a report. Just a reminder, um we are in the midst of testing. So NJSLAA testing started yesterday at the high school. Also started yesterday at the high school. Today we launched in the elementary schools. So just be mindful of any
schedules coming from your principal or teachers that relate to um any modifications just because of testing. >> Yeah, please get your kids to school on time and fed, please, so they're ready for testing, please. Okay, anyone have any questions?
Okay. Business Administrator report, Stephanie Kuchar. I do not have a report this evening. I just want to give the board an update. Last meeting I spoke about the residency requirements
um and the various types of of residents we have in New Milford, specifically those who have a lease or C1. Those documents are valid for 1 year. Um so we went through and we did an audit. Those families have been receiving correspondence.
Um we had over 300 students on the list, which obviously many of them are families with siblings and so it's not all of those families. Um but we're making progress. It's it's an uphill battle
um and so at this point they're getting daily emails from my office um because it's just important to know that people are who they say they are, they live where they say they live, and that students are living in the houses and we're truly educating New Milford
students. Um so it's not like a gotcha. We're just following requirements. Um so I appreciate all those families being compliant. I know it's a bit annoying to have to provide these documents um but again, I just wanted to thank the administrative assistants in the various
buildings because it is it is a lot of work, especially at this time of the year when everybody's so busy. Um but we are making progress. And that's all I have. Anyone have any questions? Okay. What's been the biggest reason why it's been an uphill battle? Are you not are
families not responsive? Are they not able to provide uh documentation on an annual basis? Um I think it's probably twofold. We're sending it out via Parent Square and so a lot of times when stuff comes through Parent Square, I don't
necessarily think that families think it's so urgent because it's from a sort of generic place, not an individual who's sending it. Like a lot of times when you're receiving something that like needs your attention, it comes directly from the school or directly from an individual and that's not the
case. And then I think too like trying to find the documents could be a challenge. Um sometimes, especially with the C1s, it needs to be notarized, it needs both both signatures on it. Um so I think
that's like a bit of a challenge and so anybody who reaches out who has unique circumstance, we're working with. Um but I think it's just sort of a matter of reaching of reaching them too. And people work and so like when you're doing the re-registration process, it
typically happens over the summer when people probably have a little bit more flexibility, but at this time of year, it's not so common to to be looking for it. [snorts] Um I don't know, but most families have have been great in sending us sending us stuff. Is there a deadline?
There is. Um And then what happens if they don't comply? Well, that's a good question. It is it is Friday. It's May 1st and technically if they don't prove residency, disenrollment is pursued and it um it
comes before the board. I'm not sure that I would like to present a list of 100 students up for disenrollment because after the board takes the action to disenroll, um all of the students on May 14th will be
sitting in the main office waiting to be picked up or for documents to be accepted. Um so hopefully this week of the every single day emails are going through. Um perhaps we'll follow up with phone calls. We have unfortunately found
several families that don't live in town um through this process. So um Are there any graduating seniors We did not send to graduating seniors and we did not send to like if you have to prove
residency if you're moving up a school, they were not included because they're going to be included. So we don't want to have them submit in like April-May and then have to submit in June-July. If there is a sibling though, they won't be taken off the re-registration process.
So we're cross-referencing everything to hopefully minimize the impact to families. And I think too, we're going to be going to become more and more efficient. The more routinely we do this, the easier it's going to be. This is the first huge undertaking. Yeah, we did it when
we converted from PowerSchool to Genesis, so maybe 2 years ago. And then when you run the reports in the student information system, there should be a way to to generate it. Now we're certain that the administrative assistants have
all properly been trained on which box it is and then we have to run two different reports, combine it, and Miss Hour back in the role that she's currently serving has been instrumental in that process because she was at the building level and now she's she knows
that she's better at it. Um so it's it's great. So hopefully it gets better. Does your email provide anything outside of disenrollment as a penalty? It does not. It does not. I mean, there are penalties Yes, past disenrollment.
On a state level. Um well, just says that if you're On a legal level, yes. Yeah, um disenrollment and then the the non-resident tuition fee is included there. Joe? Um I almost said something earlier, but
then I didn't and then I cuz I cuz I'm like like many of us with with all these issues with the budget, um there's some incredibly difficult decisions that were made and I just wanted to say, you know, I've been on finance and facilities since I I since I
got on the board and you get this presentation tonight, but what everybody doesn't see is just how much work went into this and and and I could say months and months and and I just want to thank our our superintendent, our assistant
superintendent, Miss Hour. You know, every everybody that was spoken about. I know that um Mr. Colosso mentioned um Miss Ashman as well. Um I first recall Dr. Kuchar talking about
this budget probably 3 years ago. This one. And when she went through, you know, the the expenses like um uh salaries, for example, and what it was 5 years ago.
You know, there's a tremendous amount of work that Dr. Kucharski put in for us. And I just wanted to take a moment, you know, to say thank you. And um you did a great job. And and where we are is not good, and
I'm not going to compare us to other districts and and whatever, but we are in the position that we are in right now, as bad as it is, right? It's so much better than it than it could have been, and the cuts that we had to make, though devastating,
they were they they were they were done so thoughtfully and and and with every consideration that you can imagine. And um we are just so fortunate to have the leadership in the district that we do. So, you know, I can't speak on behalf of the board, that's not okay, but um on
behalf of myself, >> [laughter] >> I just want to say thank you to all of you for your commitment to the local schools. Thank you, Joe. Thank you. Anyone else have any questions or statements or I want to say Joe spoke for me, too, today. Thanks, Joe.
I made my statement last week, 2 weeks ago. But this was also like just just to add, um you know, Stephanie knows. I I bombard her all the time and and um everybody, you know, here in the administration, but this is also like a
like a cross committee effort, right? So, there were a lot of different um meetings that are going on, not just finance and facilities, which is obviously the best committee because I'm the head of that one. Um but and also the negotiations, but
there's a lot of uh ways that we all communicate with each other um to make sure that we were all on the same page in the way that we approached uh the budget, and decisions had to be made on a cross committee um manner so that we could maximize what
some of these decisions were, you know, were going to be uh like the effects of these decisions. And I'm with Joe. I I did hear about this budget many many moons ago. Um this was the uh you know, the the the word that that Mr. Polansky uses, the fiscal cliff,
that we were talking about. Um and we talked about it in negotiations and all of those things. And I am going to say we are in a much better position than a lot of other districts in the surrounding area based and everybody reads the news um based on, you know, some of the struggles that other districts have had because of the
foresight of um you know, this administration years and years ago, where we started kind of cleaning things up uh before it got to a really difficult place and, you know, dealing with the variables of 58% increase and all those different things. So, um
I'm I I'm with Joe and and Stephanie and and I agree. I wasn't sure you were going to thank you. You kind of got left out in the first couple of names, but >> [laughter] >> that's a little special for That's from us. Exactly. Just thank you. Okay. Um moving on, any liaison board
committee reports? Okay. Any correspondence? We did receive correspondence from the um child study team inviting you all to the recognition breakfast for our
um vendors in town. They called something better. The employer recognition breakfast. I'd just like to accept that on behalf of the board. The employer recognition breakfast
to be held on May 21st at 9:00 a.m. You're all invited. Okay. Thank you. I will have um upcoming correspondence for the awards dinners. I don't have that with me, but those are scheduled and you're all invited to
those. Okay. Open to the public for items on the agenda as outlined in Article 4 of Education Bylaws 0167. Each statement made by a participant shall be limited to 3 minutes. I seek motion. Joe, seconded by Stephanie. All in
favor? Aye. Opposed? Please state your name and town. Tammy I have a quick question. Can I talk about the budget thing? Is that part of the agenda that I can address? What do I do then? >> can. Um Tammy Colary, I live at 246 White Oak Road. I have a comment and a question.
One comment, as a parent who had two kids accepted into the tuition paying part of the preschool, I think one of the worst decisions we had was cutting it to half day. As a working parent, the half-day program doesn't work for us. So, the fact that you're reconsidering making it full day, I think is a fantastic idea.
Um my second question, well, my question, actually, is while financially I understand the cutting the instructional aides to part-time to save on benefits, are you able to speak to what that will look like in the classroom? If it means
that a session of one-on-one aides, does that mean that kids are going to have to have two different people working on them, or is there going to be periods of time that the aides won't be there? So, if you're able to speak to that, can you speak to that? Sure. Yeah, I mean,
so again, we we thought about all this and tried to think about and troubleshoot anything we possibly could. So, for example, at the elementary level, just how full-time works, right? If you're 30 hours or over, you're entitled to benefits.
Um most parent instructional aides around the county work, you know, 29, 29 and 1/2 hours to stay under that. And if we do that, the 29 and 1/2 hours, like we will have we have part-time aides already um that that's half our workforce. So,
we have approximately, let's say, 80 aides. Let's say 40 are full-time and 40 are part-time. And so, in restructuring everything, let's say it gives them Burke, where they could start at 8:25 when the first bell,
if they get a 55-minute lunch, they can go right till 3:10, bell to bell. Um we would have to find coverage for lunch, which is which is normal. Um it gets a little more complicated DEO in the high school because their days are longer. So, in that regard, they will get breaks
for now until we can figure out something else. We do have ideas moving forward to even make that more streamlined. But that's all been considered because we do want the consistency of especially like one-to-one where the IBCs, where consistency is absolutely vital. We do
not want, unless it's part of their program, we want them exposed to different different people, um which is good sometimes as well, but we want as much consistency as possible. That's why we are trying to, you know, we're not trying, we did offer everyone who's,
you know, cut full-time positions, we are offering those same people part-time positions, and I mean, we'd love to have them, you know, pouring in to come back on. We have gotten a lot of them already, and uh we are trying to make it even though they don't get benefits,
which I can't replace it. I'm not saying none of that is good, but we are trying to make it even more financially incentivized to come back. They'll be making more money than they were going [snorts] part-time. We do have some amazing aides in our district, and so from a child's
perspective, even though the aides themselves may not be getting the benefits, they shouldn't feel or see much of a difference to what they're getting this year. No. Just the aides themselves will see the cut paychecks. Thank you. Does anyone else have any questions from
the public? Okay. I seek a motion to close to the public. Tony, seconded by Nicole. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Okay. Having the recommendation of the superintendent, I seek a motion for BA 25-26.61,
.62, .63. I need a second. Andrew. All in favor? Aye. Okay. Sorry, I was looking at you and I'm like, what do I Okay. Educational programs curriculum, Stephanie Polansky. By the recommendation of the
superintendent, I make a motion to seek approval for SE 25-26.39, .40, .41, and .42. I need a second. Someone to second. Joe. All in favor? Aye. Opposed?
Okay. Personnel, having the recommendation of the superintendent, I seek a motion for P 25-26.83, .84, .85, .86, .87, .88, .89. I need a second.
Kendra. Roll call. Mr. Albro. >> Yes. Ms. Calandro. Yes. Ms. Calandro. Yes. Mr. Lombardi. Yes. Mr. Luno. Yes. Ms. Moore. Yes. Vice President Dunn. Yes. President
Gomez. Yes. Okay. Finance and facilities, Cheryl Calandro. I seek a motion for the approval of uh F 25-26.201, 202, 203, 204, 205, 206, 207, 208, 209,
210, 211, 212, 213, 214, 215, 216, 217, 218, 219, 220, 221, 222, 223, 224, 225, 226, [clears throat] and wait, 227, and 228.
I need a second. Joe. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Athletics and co-curricular, Nicole Dunn. I seek a motion for 25-26.7. I need a second. Stephanie. All in favor? Opposed? Any old business?
Any new business? I have old business. Okay. >> [snorts] >> So, um I spoke to Ms. Grant and she was asking about the graveyard at Kids for the marker. It's been 2 years since she applied for it.
Non-responsive. [snorts and clears throat] They've been non-responsive. Oh, really? Do we have any kind of record or follow-up that we can request? Um Dr. Future, that where we kind of left it off, we can't deliver, right?
Can we re-issue that? Or We need to still figure out if we got the check, do you think? I don't know if it I mean, I know it got there because we had it hand-delivered. I don't know if it was deposited.
What is the date of the check? It would have been board-approved and it was a stale check at this point and canceled off the books if it wasn't because it's so old. I know we I believe we re-issued it it once because we mailed
[clears throat] it and then it went to wherever it was and then it had to go to somebody's house. >> Does anybody know any of those members on that? No. Because even emailing, calling, leaving messages This is never
Well, there's never anyone that answers the phone. to follow up on it. So, um I Well, I was you know, kind of wondering if anybody knew anybody that's associated with it. I don't know. I don't know much about it. I'll follow
up. Thank you. Okay. I'll take that one on. >> [laughter] >> Anyone else for old business or new business? Okay. Any board member requests for additional information? I have I have a question. Okay.
I know we just talked about all these budget cuts. I would like to kind of raise this. Uh in all seriousness, just because of the industry that I'm in, what do we do as part of our curriculum related to AI?
Um and I'm sorry, I I know that there's like this this idea of trying to keep AI out of our schools because we don't want kids using AI to you know, do their work, but at the same time, the the very next frontier that is like actually here
is the fact that companies and industries are heavily relying on AI and that is going to be the next big, you know, job market for our kids. Um so, I'm interested to see like what are we doing to kind of incorporate that to our curriculum um while also telling
them don't ask ChatGPT to do your homework, but making sure that they're able to utilize uh these different tools just moving forward because they're going to have to use them, build them, incorporate them into their lives. So, I'm interested to
see like if we are doing anything like that. So, our technology media um curriculum speaks to digital citizenship and internet safety and um you know, what students like
best practices and um I want to say like taking the online habits. We Mr. Glasson and I have had many conversations and are moving in that direction. I think you'll hear more about it in our upcoming retreat. Yes, we have been talking about In terms of I know that uh yeah, we've talked about
it. It's getting intense now and Straus Hasenfeld released a like could be policy if you adopt it uh a couple years back and I think that's going to be one of our district goals next year is to really delve into that
policy and develop uh real insight into it and start developing these uh for for students and even faculty and staff. Yeah, I mean, I'm I'm also shocked I mean, I I you know, parameters aside, it's kind of a separate issue than what I'm talking about is that um
like there there's majors for example now that are like business and artificial intelligence. There's ways that people are using generative AI in their coursework, right? Like you can automate uh a tool to read your emails or do some sort of financial analysis. Like what are we doing as part of our
curriculum to incorporate that kind of new uh >> about courses almost. Yes. Yeah, I can't speak to a Yeah, courses specific to AI. >> Just something that I I thought about. Listen to the 1010 wins and there's actually kids changing their majors now because they're >> Oh, yeah, because I mean, well, because
part of it is kids also have to not just learn how to use these tools, but they have to now adjust their career Yeah, things that are being phased out by AI. I think I think to just to piggyback on that for a second, I think we're kind of
at a point in time like where we were when when I was in this high school, you know, with computer science, right? You know, it's it's not the Commodore 64 anymore and you've got IBM, you know, and I don't know how old I am. That's how old I am. It was like >> [laughter]
>> It was like more like scrolls when you were in school. Slate slate chalk. I I think I think >> [laughter] >> to Charles' Charles' point, I think that that would definitely be something, you know, that would be great for the game too and and you know, if if there's an opportunity for us >> [snorts] >> to at some point offer those kinds of
courses, I mean, for sure. We actually did have computer science offerings at the high school and due to low enrollment, it wasn't fiscally responsible for us to maintain that staffing position here and now that um position is at the middle school
where it's a growing and thriving program. I mean, I too would like to see that um come back. We do um new course proposals every year and look to um develop these offerings. At the end
of the day, it does run based on student interest and enrollment um so that we're filling classes and and you know, maximizing the capacity of the staff that we have. Okay. Anyone else?
Okay, so we're going to go We're going to open to the public as outlined in Milford Board of Education Bylaw 0167, each statement made by a participant shall be limited to 3 minutes. Seek a motion. Joe seconded by Stephanie. All in favor? Aye. Opposed?
Is anyone from the public wishing to speak? Councilman Thank you. And I also want to echo the thanks to your entire district and your your governing body for your tremendous hard work and time that everyone clearly put in
to this year's budget. The borough faced similar challenges and similar difficult decisions. So, we not not only stand in solidarity side by side with you, we appreciate your hard work. So, thank you sincerely for coming up with a budget which maximizes the education of our students.
Thank you. It's been a busy busy year as everyone's aware. Uh I I I personally also just want to congratulate the students and the staff and our technical team under the great guidance of Dan Preece for finding Nemo. It's a fantastic show. It
was really really really a lot of fun. So, it's been a busy spring as I mentioned. Recreation sports is in is is fully rolling. Things are going great. A personal significance to us was the dedication of our softball field
in memory of Debbie Eager. And I I can't say enough to express not only how much our entire community and town misses Debbie, but that she lives on through our community and through the dedication and continued service of
her daughters and entire family. So, uh We did kick off the 250th anniversary of our country planting Liberty Tree at Borough Hall earlier this month and there'll be more activities to
follow. So, I encourage everyone to please keep an eye on our calendar and continue to attend additional events as the year progresses. Upcoming on Saturday, May 30th, will be this year's Thank You to the Municipal Alliance and the YMCA
Mental Health Awareness Day at 9:30 at the YMCA. What was that date again, I'm sorry? May 30th. And just to provide some clarity to the extent that I'm able to on the
status of affordable housing because there's a lot of rumors circulating that are not factual. We do remain in litigation, which is the reason why we're very limited in what we're allowed to say and allowed to comment. That's the primary reason many of our
meetings and hearings more hasn't been said because we are in litigation and we want to of course avoid accidentally triggering a builder's remedy lawsuit against our municipality and borough. We were privileged earlier this week to
welcome State Senator Jill Bugana and Assembly members Lisa Swain and Chris Tully who attended our meeting on Monday night to talk specifically to legislation they are working on in the New Jersey State Senate >> [snorts] >> which would either eliminate entirely
or at least significantly reduce the borough's obligation. So, for anyone who wants more details on that, I welcome them to of course refer back. That meeting was livestreamed. While of course the borough supports affordable housing, we are strongly
opposed to overdevelopment which places an undue burden and strain on our schools and school districts, which also strains our resources, and which would change the character and nature of our entire town
and community. And contrary to some rumors, presently, as I mentioned before, because we are still in litigation, there is no deal and there is no agreement with the developer or builder.
So, I just I hope that quells some of the rumors, and I also just want to express gratitude and thanks to everyone in our community and our town who has taken the time out of their busy day and schedule from work, dinner, sports, homework,
to attend our meetings or watch them online on the livestream. We appreciate our community's solidarity with all of us. And I would also compliment uh the four of your students from the middle school who did an
absolutely tremendous job, who came to our Mayor and Council meeting this this past Friday to express their thoughts and their opinions on this very issue. So, it's very clear that your teachers and staff are doing an absolutely excellent job. Well done. It was great
to see future leaders come in person. And as you mentioned earlier, and and I thank you for referencing it, uh because our domestic violence symposium was so successful, we decided to tackle bias crime and hate
crime as a new subject matter. So, following the same format that we followed for the domestic violence awareness symposium every year, in partnership with your school district, our police department, the prosecutor's office, and the sheriff's office, we're
going to be presenting a symposium on bias on Wednesday, May 20th at 6:00 p.m. in your high school auditorium, which will be both open live for in-person attendance, and also simultaneously livestreamed, thank you to Mr. Pre. And we again encourage people to come
and hopefully raise awareness and unite as a community against hate and bias in all forms, because we truly believe that we're stronger together. Thank you so much for your continued support to this board, to you, Mr. Galasso. It means a lot. Thank you.
Thank you. Anyone else have a comment? Okay, I see the motion to close the public meeting. It's moved and seconded by Stephanie. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? We will be going into closed session. It is hereby moved that the Board of Education adjourn to executive session in accordance with the provisions of Section 8 of the Open
Public Meetings Act, Chapter 231, PL, for the purpose of discussion and consideration of matters pertaining to the following subjects: personnel and student matters. The minutes of the executive session will be available to the public when the need for confidentiality no longer exists. We will not be taking action. Thank you,
everyone.