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2026 is now called to order. In accordance with the requirements of the open public meeting act NJSA 104-6 adequate notice giving the time, date, location, and to the extent known, the agenda of this meeting was sent to the Hunington County Democrat Star Ledger

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and Courier News on January 7th, 2026 and published on January 12th, 2026. The meeting start time was subsequently readvertised on the district website. In addition, notice of this meeting has been posted at the North Hendon High School and Vorhees High School provided to the municipal clerks of Bethlehem

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Township, Califon Burough, Town of Clinton, Clinton Township, Franklin Township, Glengardner Burrow, Hampton Burrow, Hybridge Burough, Lebanon Burough, Lebanon Township, Tukesbury Township, and Union Township, as well as other interested parties and posted on the legal notices section of the

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District website. Fire exits are located in the directions indicated. If alerted to fire, please move in a common orderly fashion to the nearest smoke-free exit. Restrooms are located through the doors behind this desk and to the right as indicated. At this time, please silence

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all cell phones. I do want to read the mission statement. The North Hunter and Vorhees Regional High School District empowers all students through innovative and personalized learning to achieve their full potential, embrace lifelong learning, and contribute responsibly to

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a changing world. Roll call. >> Miss here. Mr. Chapman >> here. >> Mr. Hanley >> here. >> Miss >> here. >> Mr. Lordy >> here. >> Mr. Matthews. Miss meappa >> here. >> Mr. Morgan >> here. >> Miss Reyes >> here. >> Mr. Spenton

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>> should be arriving shortly. >> Okay. Miss Stein >> here. >> And Mr. Miser >> here. Could you please stand for the pledge? To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God,

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indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> All right. I need a call for a motion and second to adopt resolution 042826-2 for an executive session to discuss matters reflected in the attached resolution. The board expects to be in

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executive session for approximately 45 minutes and upon return to public session, action will be taken. Can I get a motion? Motion Rich. Thank you. Can I get a second? Nicole, thank you. All in favor? >> I >> I oppose your abstensions.

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Okay, we'll be back. Uh, can I calling for a motion and a second to reconvene public session. Can I get that motion to reconvene? Tara. Thank you. Second. I think I saw Andrea just beat you to it, Andy. All in favor?

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>> I opposed or abstensions? None. >> Okay. Uh, can I get a call for a motion and second to approve agenda items 6162, our minutes from the last two meetings? Can I get that motion? >> Uh, thank you, Nicole. Can I get a

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second? Mel, thank you. Uh, questions or clarifications on the minutes, >> sir. >> Oh. Oh, no. Okay. >> Okay. All in favor? >> I opposed or abstensions. All right. That brings us to our

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recognition of student achievements. Um, I can't remember who we did first last month. I apologize. I don't know who's ready. >> Dr. We went at the same time last. >> Oh, that's right. It was a joint one. Okay. >> It was a trick question.

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>> Yes. >> So, it's my pleasure to introduce you to a senior in Oak High School. Her name is Sophia Randall and she is the president of our fashion club and we're here to recognize >> the fashion club who she's representing tonight uh for their contributions to the Lionus Foundation and the Lionus

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Foundation makes blankets. I asked Sophia to bring a a a sample of the blanket tonight. So, Project Lionus is a national organization that provides handmade blankets to hospitalized children from birth to age 18. With the opening of a

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new chapter in Hunteran County, our fashion club partnered with them to make blankets in various sizes for children who currently need a little extra warmth while staying in our local hospitals. Sophia, after giving a presentation on thrifting, upycling, and sustainability to the fashion club, helped to get the

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materials from local thrift stores and members and then members created the knotted blankets for the children. So that is what they made and donated to the uh project Lionus. So Sophia is an active member of our art club as well as our fashion club obviously and she's

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both a member of our English honor society and art honor society. In the fall she will be attending surprise surprise the fashion institute of technology where she plans to pursue the two plus two program which is spending two years working towards a fine arts degree and two years working toward an

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art history degree. She hopes to work in a museum one day and will also continue to create her own art telling stories through collage, sketches, and drawings. So, congratulations to the fashion club and Sophia. So, Sophia, we get your picture in front of the screen. I'll take the blanket off

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your hands and you can take that a little bit toward the center. Congratulations >> Sophia. Well done. Great on the service. Great initiative. Thank you. >> All right. So, I had the honor of uh having these two wonderful, well-rounded

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individuals with me um who hit career milestones this year in their senior year of athletics. Um to my left is Mattie Pek, to my right is Christian Blette. Maddie uh has been involved with girls basketball her freshman year since her freshman year and finished her

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career with 1,081 points eclipsing the 1,00 mark. So her name will forever be on the banner at Bourhees as part of the thousand boy uh thousand points club. This year she was named first team all conference. She also recently participated in the

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Skyland Conference All-Star game. Maddie is also invol involved with the unifi flag uh unified flag football. Um watched them actually play before we got here today. They're 5-0 now. Uh winning over union today. Uh she's involved with Students for Change and Relay for Life.

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She will be attending WLER Polytech Institute this fall to study finance and marketing and emerging technologies. Oh, there's Maddie. and Christian Christian Blet was part of the uh Vorhees High School wrestling program for the past four years as a

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four-year varsity letter winner. Uh a two-year captain, a two-time district champion, and the fifth most winningest wrestler in Borhees history with a career uh win total of 119 wins. Christian was an outstanding leader both

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on and off the wrestling mat and a positive role model for his teammates. In addition to the wrestling, he has been involved with unified soccer and is a member of the National Honor Society. And Christian, as you can see on his shirt, will be attending the University of Maryland to study biological science

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sciences um with a um specifically in cell biology and genetics. So, congratulations and thanks for all you do. I can have two of you. Maddie Christian, congratulations. Well done.

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All right, that brings us to our uh board student representatives report. Um Samantha, I can't remember who started last. >> I'll go first. She was in here and I honestly don't think I've been avoiding it for months. So, um Okay. Hi

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everybody. It's been a busy April. So, I'm just going to get started. So, I minimized a little bit on sports because they're all doing so well. So, I'm just going to say they're all doing so well. But I do have um some recognition. So we did have our Skyland Conference Scholar

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athletes announced and that was Daphne Ruskowski and Austin Fritz and they were um recognized for their commitment to excellence both in the classroom and in athletics. We also had Matteo Tramatola named as the New Jersey North South All-Star and honored by the New Jersey

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Army National Guard and he was honored at our spring pep rally. Baseball has played two very important games lately. They went to TD Bank Ballpark, which is the Somerset Patriots Stadium, and they played a game there, which was a very great experience for the team. They also

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took a trip to Florida and played games down there and just had some team bonding time, and it was also a really great experience. Softball had their Makea-Wish game and they raised $1,500 for the cause. track had their pen relays with girls participating in the

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DMR 4x4 and 4x1 and the boys participated in the 4x4. That's an ex exclusive invitational meet, so it was a big honor that they got to go and participate. Both teams did very well. Additionally, we had some exciting news for unified soccer. This is a fall

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sport, but what happens in the spring is called Red Bull Unified Soccer Team Tryyouts, where all of the unified soccer teams from New Jersey are invited to participate in tryyouts. And we had several people selected this year. So that was Lurin Bellator, Sebastian

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Duckworth, Annie Tramata, Finn Speckan, Julian Kufo for the second year, and Alice Aldona. On May 8th, they get to go on the Red Bulls private jet to Chicago and play against the Chicago Unified soccer team. And we had the most student

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representatives in the state on the team this year. So that's a very big accomplishment. For arts, we had a bunch of things happen this past month and coming up. So we did have our play Into the Woods. It was amazing and that was on April 16th to 19th. A great

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experience. And our unified club also came as part of their community night. We have multiple arts programs going to teen arts which is a countywide festival tomorrow and that is for uh theater, vocal, dance, photography and art as well as creative writing. So they get to

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go and their performances are evaluated and then we get some feedback and some groups will move on to states. So we already know that we had one person selected from the art category to move on to states. We'll find out about everything else in the next few days. So I'll let you know next month. We also

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had our Disney trip, which is where a marching band, concert choir, and freshman choir were all invited down to Florida to participate in a competition and parade in Disney Springs. They had a great time. They just came back, so now everyone's recouping from that and moving forward with practices for that,

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especially with our spring concerts coming up on May 13th and May 20th. So, academics, we have our AP test coming up, which I am not excited for, but that is okay. So we have 571 exams taken by

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304 students. So this is 32.23% of students taking an AP exam at Orhees, which is pretty incredible, especially because freshmen don't take exams. So that's a really big chunk of the student body. In terms of clubs, activities, and

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accomplishments, we had our unified silent disco and laser tag on April 1st. It was a really great community night, and they have fun. We also had bring your child to work day which was kind of hectic with a bunch of children running around. Um but we got to see a lot of

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staff members kids and they participated in activities and events planned by students for change. We had our unified autism awareness booth on April 15th and they had educational facts and a celebration on individuality. They do these booths um a couple every month

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about different uh conditions and about being of differing abilities. And this was a really great one. Um the entire school gets involved and they sign banners saying like that they are committed to creating a culture around celebrating our differences. We also at

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our key club attend decon in March. So I'm a part of key club. I'm the past president and I'm glad to say that we won a lot of awards this year. So we placed first in our single service project where we collected over a thousand books and had a literacy

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awareness booth. We placed second in Kage family relations for our Thanksgiving food drive. We had a service year recap video placed third and we were recognized as a distinguished club. We also have Relay for Life coming up a month from tomorrow. So I would love to encourage

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everyone that is part of any type of community group to create a team. Um we're going to be sending out a district-wide email in the next few days with more information on that. But last year we raised $17,000 and we're hoping to raise even more this year. So if you

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have any questions, please do not feel or please feel free to reach out to me. And that's on May 29th from 3 to 10. Our class of 2026 has their dinner cruise, which is one of our senior trips on May 18th and they go to the New York City

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Harbor. So we're looking forward to that. Talking about seniors, we also have decision day on Friday. On decision day, seniors are invited to wear any type of shirt or merch that showcases what they're doing next year. So whether it's going into the workforce and they

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want to wear something related to that or going to a college or a trade school. And then we're going to take a class photo and post that on social media just to celebrate our seniors next steps. Finally, I'm almost done. I promise. We have history honor society doing their

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field of flags. This is something we started last year where students and staff members and community members are invited to purchase flags and we line them up outside the school to honor um our soldiers and our veterans and all of the benefits from that go to the BFW

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5119 in Glen Gardner. And that's what I have for this month and I'll have more for you next month. So, thank you. >> Thank you very much. Um Mora, welcome. Uh joining us for I think the second time this year. So, uh, welcome and, uh, feel free to take the stage.

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>> Okay. So, for North, uh, we also had the Disney performing arts trip. Um, around 90 students from concert concert choir, concert band, and string orchestra all went to Walt Disney World where they performed on the Disney Springs stage. And they also, if this was interesting,

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they had a Lion King soundtrack session where they were working on the harmonies and the voiceover techniques. It was as if they were the movie. So that was really cool. And then of course they stopped at all four parks and I lots of sunburns but lots of smiles. So that's

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good. Um National Honor Society. So the Blood Cancer United walk-athon is going on until Thursday, April 30th. So members are seeking sponsors to donate for each mile that they block. And also additional flat donations will be accepted through the school's

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fundraising page on the actual Blood Cancer United blockathon. Say you say, "Hey, this is $20 for, you know, Mara Green every mile she walks." That'll count. So, just keep that in mind for the comments. Um, peer leadership program. So, on

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Monday and Tuesday of last week, very selected peer leaders visited the sending middle school districts and we shared information about North Hunter, answered all their questions just to kind of take the pressure off and make their transition easier next year.

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prison club. We had the um day of silence on April 10th and this is a national initiative to raise awareness about the impact of bullying and harassment of LGBTQ students. We also had our career fair which is super

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exciting for the underassmen. This was in the main gym where local professionals provided students with insight on various career paths. We also have our exchange program happening. So, our exchange students from Spain arrived last week and will remain with us through Saturday. And

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they've been on trips to New York City. I know they went to Liberty Science Center and then they also have been going to classes at NOR. So, they truly get the full experience. And we also had bring your shadow to work day. It was super fun. Various activities all throughout the school. So, everywhere you watch, you saw a

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little mini teacher. So, it was super fun to see that. Um, the theater department, the spring cabaret will take place on May 1st and 2. and will feature a selection of songs and scenes performed by the theater students including Maxclar. So, make sure to see him. That's where he's practicing for

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tonight. Um, our Tri Music Honor Society uh is hosting its third annual representing recital featuring performances and presentations celebrating Black History Month and Women's History Month. For our world languages department, the junior and senior Latin classes visited the

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Metropolitan Museum of Art to explore Greek and Roman art and it was an extension of classroom learning. We have learned all these things about Caesar and you know everything. So seeing it all in person was really cool. The student advisory committee met to

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discuss upcoming school events and provide recommendations regarding next year's phone policy or various procedures happening in the school giving our input and collaborating. And then Special Olympics is happening this Sunday. As you outside, if you see on the church, they're all practicing

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right now for their big event on Sunday where everyone is going to compete in their various track events and try their best. And it's a great it brings the whole county together and students from our school and other schools. That's a great event that's happening soon. And

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then lastly, athletics. All spring sports teams are kind of in the midst of their season, so we don't have some striking highlights. I know we did also intend 10 relay, so that's super exciting for our track teams, but um we're kind of on the edge for that. We're going to see how we do in the

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following weeks and all that. That's all >> you Samantha. I just want to commend you once again. You're really unparalleled in telling the story of the district in so many diverse and affirmative ways. So, we really appreciate it. Thank you for coming out. Um, and as a signal to

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both of you and, uh, the other students in attendance this night, um, please feel free to leave when it is convenient for you. We will shift to our, uh, ongoing business, so we understand, uh, you have busy lives as well. >> Oh, wait. I just I I know Sam is going

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to leave because you're closing on computer, but for those of you that saw the show, Into the Woods, it was a great show. Um, and I I'll say a little bit more about that later, but since Sam is here, I want to say thank you for all the work you did on the set. Um it was um your stage manager, correct? And um you know it's a huge undertaking. Um if you did see the play, you know,

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literally the tree shook. I still got to figure out how she did that. >> I'm sure there's some secrets, but anyway, it was great job. Congratulations. >> Thank you. >> Thank you very much. Thank you for all the students coming out tonight. Job well done. Have a great conclusion to

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the school year. See you again. >> See you next month. Um, all right. We are shifting gears into our hearing and adoption of the 2026 27 school year budget. Uh, that begins with our public hearing

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presentation of the school year budget. So, I will uh the presentation will go up if folks need to see. Um, and I will hand things over to uh Miss. >> Thank you. So, thank you for the opportunity. We'll

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be talking about tonight's public hearing on the 26 27 budget. We've started these conversations back in January when we talked about expenditures and cost containment. Talk about revenues in February. We had our preliminary budget um adoption in March. And now tonight will be the synopsis of

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what was approved by the county office and what we will be presenting to the board for approval tonight. So we always start our budget season with what are our primary budget goals and I'll let Rich kind of speak to those overarching goals that help us frame our budget.

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>> So you know we've talked about this, you know, a lot over the last few months, but I just want to reiterate, you know, these are our main objectives with this budget. Um maintaining a comprehensive educational educational and extracurricular program. you know, we offer um um every academics you could

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possibly want in the school for our students and also extracurricular activities um in regards to sports and activities. Um our students are very involved. They have a great experience in high school and that's what we want to maintain with this budget. We also want to ensure safe and functional facilities that is um to make sure that

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they are those activities they're able to do um are done in a safe and efficient manner. So facilities uh as I think everybody knows it's very expensive to maintain um two facilities of this size, two distinct high schools in the county. We also want to attract

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and retain our highly qualified staff. Um you know retaining our staff is you know really important and attracting new people to come to our district is um is just as important as well. So we want to make sure that we have um you know the um pay scale that will attract people keep them here and also the activities

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and the things that we provide for our staff um in supporting a budget of this nature so that they feel that they have the support to do the job that they're doing in the classroom. We also want to exercise um the fiscal responsibility and cost containment and I think we tried to demonstrate that with the presentations that we've done

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over the last few months to make sure that you understand what we've done to make sure that we have sharpened our pencils. We have done everything we possibly can to contain the costs. Um, but there are some things that were out of our control. I think we talked health benefits, you know, at nauseium and we'll probably talk a little bit more about that tonight. But, you know, those

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are just some things that were out of our control, but we still made it work within the most reasonable way we could. Um, and then of course we have our strategic goals and state mandates. Our strategic plan is what drives, you know, our actions in this district for the next five years. We're finishing up year one of it now. And you know, state

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mandates, I I don't want to get too far into that, but we have mandates that come down from the state that we have to do. Um whether it is part of the curriculum or whether it's things like cell phone bands or, you know, there's all kinds of mandates come down from the state and those are typically um unfunded. It's not like the state says

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we need you to do something else and we're going to give you a little bit more money to help you do it. Um that is on the burden of taxpayers, but we don't have a choice but to do those things. So those are the budget goals. Um I hope everyone understands that uh as we go through the rest of this presentation and that's what we should be focusing.

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>> So what were the budget challenges that we had when we were facing putting this together and I'm going to highlight these and we're going to have some additional slides to kind of highlight some of these as well is the state aid funding that we had that's been declining since 2018. S2 hit this district specifically hard. Um and it

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was over that six-year period during SU2 that we had a large amount of our state aid eliminated. our healthcare costs. Again, we've talked about this at length, but we'll be talking about it again tonight. The healthcare marketplace is experiencing significant increases this year and we were not insulated from that. Um, our increases

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were significant. Special education costs are increasing at a rate greater than 2% specifically for out of district placements. transportation continues to escalate due to continued driver shortages and also gasoline costs and the um bus costs for our vendors and

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also state mandates as Rich has alluded to. So, how did we bridge the gap and see savings in order to balance this budget? So, again, our budget drivers are increasing at a rate that are much greater than the 2% tax levy cap. So that gap is bridged by these following

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items and I'll kind of let you describe. >> So and again we've we've talked about these again but I want to reiterate them. Um we we're creating an ESL program at our district because our numbers are increasing in for our ESL population and um the out of district cost for sending those students out um is now going to exceed having our own

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program. So we're able to reduce our um cost from out of district placements by creating a program. Um we also increased our special service offerings to reduce professional fees. What that means is we hired um professionals like speech language therapists instead of contracting those services out because

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those contracted services ended up costing us more. Even when we were offering benefits to an employee when we did all the math, it ended up costing more to have those contracted out. So by bringing those in-house, we saved money and we have um professionals inhouse that are serving our school community.

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We did some right sizing with non-instructional staff. Basically, what that means is looking at all of our um staff and making sure that we kept any reductions in staff outside the classroom. Made sure that our non-instructional program was um where we looked when it was possible to reduce any staff. And that leads into

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streamlining security operations as well. Looking into um what what how we're staffing and what we are doing to keep our students and our staff safe on a regular basis. And we um were able to streamline some of that as a matter of circumstances and things that happened and save some money at the same time.

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Uh we also increased our um county vocational school district students with no increase in NHB staff. So what that means is additional it's really additional revenue but it's not revenue because what happens is we get that taken off of our polytech bills. So it's less expenditures. Um make long story

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short we were able to reduce our expenditures because of those Polytech kids and um and not have to increase our staff in order to do that. you know, as the programs continue to grow and we have three more cohorts coming into our district with the new building, you know, that might change. We might have to add some staff to supplement for

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that. Uh but again, those costs will be offset by those increased tuitions um that we'll be getting from those students in Polytech. When we do reuse staff, we do it through attrition um whenever that's possible. Um meaning that somebody leaves, we look at our numbers um you know, we look at

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the hard numbers and we make sure that we um determine whether or not we have to replace that person if we don't. And that's a salary we can save instead of having to cut somebody in their second or third or fourth year of employment with us. And then our budget um our building budget requests, the principles can attest to this if you ask them, but

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we were very hard on them this year. We asked them to look at this budget line by line and really look at every single expenditure that they've had over the last two years and um determine whether or not they needed that or they needed a reduced amount of that. And because of that, we're able to reduce our um building budget requests um

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significantly and that helped us close our budget back. So how do we spend our funds in the budget and this is the district operating budget. So salaries are about 50% of the budget. Benefits are 18 and a half. So almost 70% of our budget is driven by salaries and benefits. The

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next largest categories would be of course transportation out of district tuition and then of course utilities purchase services and other miscellaneous expenditures. But as you can see, the biggest budget driver for us is salaries, which are collectively bargained and benefits, which which we saw a huge increase in this year.

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So just to touch on enrollment and again we we talked about Polytech and how it's beneficial to us, but I think it's important to highlight that although our district is seeing overall declining enrollment, you can see our our enrollment numbers are stabilized based on the Polytech students attending our

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our buildings. So the total works enrollment you can see is stabilized based on the environmental sustainability and engineering academy the computer science and engineering and the animal science program. As you can see in the north enrollment you can see it's stabilized by the north campus building the new building that's out

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here that just started this year and the biomedical sciences academy. So you can see the small chunks of the bars are kind of helping to to sustain the number of students in our building so that we can sustain our staffing. As we've talked about in the past, state aid in the past six years, we've

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experienced significant declines in state aid. So although you could see year-over-year 25 26 to 26 27, it looks fairly stable, um you could see the six years prior to that were significant reductions. So although one one year

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over another may not be a huge um decline, it's still almost 0% increase which is difficult to sustain with the expenditure increases that we're experiencing. And to touch on health benefits again, you can see the orange line is the state

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health benefit plan and the blue line is our Norththeast school health insurance fund um increase. So as you can see in our current year projection for next year, it's 20% increase for the school's health insurance fund, which is a joyer that we're included in with over 100

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districts. So there's is success in numbers in comparison to the state health benefit plan, which has experienced over a 30% increase this year. So what that allows us to do is to use a health benefit waiver to raise taxes above the 2% tax levy cap. So again,

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we've seen this slide before in the past um months, but it's describing the fact that we can go above the 2% tax levy cap due to this one-time um increase in expenditure of the health benefits. So every district in the state of New Jersey is allowed to use this waiver this year um due to that state health

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benefit plan increasing over 30%. So that's what drives our local tax levy. As you can see in this chart, you can see the past several years of our tax levy being fairly stable and this year being a one-year anomaly because of that health benefit increase and as a state has um acknowledged that health

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benefit waiver is available to us. So currently our increase is 4.29%, the available increase for our tax levy is 4.6. The board did ask us in the past month to look and do a deeper dive and see if there was any other way that we

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could cut any additional funds. So, we will be generating bank cap in the amount of $171,975. So, we were able to decrease our budget um tax levy increase from 4.6 to the 4.29 based on just some additional um

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staffing reductions through the attrition process. So, this is a year year-over-year revenue comparison. So, you can see the local tax levy increase of 2.4 million. other revenues going down $120,000 due

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to um projection projected decreases in interest income and also the parking fees that were eliminated. The state aid reduction due to the extraordinary aid reduction that we are projected to experience next year. Small increase in Medicaid reimbursement and also a plan

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budgeted fund balance reduction of $235,000. So as you can see for the operating budget the net increase would be the 1.99 almost $2 million and the other small pieces are the federal and state aid revenue and grants which is just typical

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of 80% is expected for grant funding and also the debt service that the taxpayers have approved in prior fiscal years. So how does that impact taxes? So the tax share per per municipality is based on a regional aortionment chart that we

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get from the county office and that's a snapshot date of October 15th of 2025. The two drivers of this chart is the equalized valuation of the municipality and also the number of students that are attending our regional district um at that time. So what that does is it takes

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our total tax levy that we're looking to raise and it allocates it out to all of the 12 municipalities per those two um pieces of information. So that chart then flows into what we do and we calculate our tax rate based on a calendar year instead of the fiscal year

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that we are looking to raise taxes for next school year. So as you can see on this chart you can see the 2025 estimated tax versus the 2026 estimated tax and then we ascertain the average home value from the tax assessor of each municipality and then you can see the

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difference expected for an average home in each of those municipalities. So you can see exactly how that's going to impact your municipality where you live. And this will all be available on our website as soon as we're done and the board has approved the budget. So what are the next steps? Tonight's

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the public hearing and the adoption. So we'll open for public comment and ask the board to approve this budget. Then I will certify taxes to municipal clerks. We will implement the budget on July 1st and make sure everything is available on our district website so that everyone is well aware of this presentation and all

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of the tax impact. I'm happy to answer any questions. >> Questions for Katie at this time. Katie, could you just go back to the I think it was the last two slides and just talk through them one more time because as you were explaining, I was

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trying to to to follow. >> So, we are a unique district. Most K8s in this area have one municipality. We have 12 constituent districts. So, we have to go through a a process of taking our total amount that our district budget needs to go up, which is our

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total 70 $70 million budget, let's say, and then we radically um aortionment between all of the the districts. So, the county gives us this information and there's two driving factors of this worksheet and it's the equalized valuation of the municipality and it's also the number of students that attend

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from each of those municipal municipalities. That gives us a regional aortionment for that municipality >> and then that's a that's unique every year. >> Yes. >> Because of that changes every year. >> Okay. Got it. >> Thank you. >> That is the driving factor to

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calculating our tax rate for the calendar year of 2026. >> Okay. And then you said these were on average home values basically for each. >> So we asked the tax assessor to give us this information. Instead of saying per 100,000, we say, "Well, what's the

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average home value in your town?" So that it makes a little bit more sense. Okay. The average taxpayer. >> All right. Thank you. And that's the annual difference in the last couple. >> Yes. Okay. Yeah. That's what I was just trying to make sure I understood. >> So there can be reductions. Again, that's based on this chart. if there are

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less students attending from that municipality or perhaps um if there was changes in the equalized valuation of other towns that could shift um how it's um how the impact in the share is of the

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other municipalities. So let's say Beth Township had the reassessment. I know their equalized valuation went up that may impact some of the other towns and actually force them into a negative difference. So that's where some of these hybrids is actually going down for 2026

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because they could have less students and less equalized valuation in the totality. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Other questions or clarifications for Kate? >> Question. It's not concerned on this. >> Uh it's on the on the NHV web

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legal page where we posted the the budget. The advertised budget. Um there was a section there for advertised enrollments and it's showing current enrollments and an estimated enrollment for October of next year. Um it's showing a increase of almost 300

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students from this year to next year. Is that mainly made up of the cohorts coming from the BCH as well as the ESL coming back in what what is that increase? >> Those comp that is part of the components and then it's also our projection of any other housing units

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coming in. Um, we have two that are potentially coming in for September. >> We have two that we know will be open for actually three, >> right? >> Um, that will be that we know will be open for September and then other ones that are they're starting now and there's a possibility that the way the construction paces go sometimes they we

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might see those kids in October or November. >> So we have a plan for those next year. >> All right. And when we So we use that number that estimated number >> Yeah. >> in our calculations in our plan >> and all that is is a projection for the budget software really that it's just a function of the software. It's really not driving any of the other

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calculations. >> Okay. Thank you. And we use that October 15th date because that's when the state asked us to do a snapshot. >> All right. If there are no other clarifying questions at this time, we do have our first opportunity for public comment. During this portion of the

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meeting, the public is invited to address the board with comments on the 2026 27 school year budget. Um you are requested to sign the register provided and to state your name, municipality of residence, group affiliation if applicable and direct your comments to the school board president. So just

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officially this is uh comments on the budget. We will have a uh additional opportunity for public comment generally later on on the agenda. Good evening, members of the board. Uh, I'm Amy Barrett and I live in Hybridge. Um,

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I'm a senior citizen and yes, I'm concerned about property taxes, but I also appreciate the value of our excellent schools. Uh, both of my adult children graduated from Vorhees. Uh, my daughter was wellprepared for college

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when she took AP classes and honors classes. She was very involved in drama club for four years. Uh my son had an IEP and he got strong support uh through special services, through pull-up classes, counseling, and uh he was a member of the wrestling team which

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really boosted his self-esteem. Um, in addition to my own children, I taught for 17 years at Union Township Middle School. And I've really, really, really proud as I've seen those students move to North um and and hear about their

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accomplishments in academics, in sports, in drama, in music, in volunteer opportunities. And even in the last four years, three of my students were the student reps to this board for North. Um, I hope that teenagers in our community

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in the coming years get the same uh educational and extracurricular activ uh opportunities. Um, and that's why I come to board meetings. Um, I know that this is a really challenging year uh for the budget. Um, I know that that's true

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across New Jersey and certainly in Hunter County. um health care costs, transportation costs. Uh every school I've heard of is raising their budget, you know, that raising their tax levy

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above the 2% caps, some above 5%. Um, I feel like we have to trust our administration and their expertise, particularly our longtime business administrator, um, has the ability to bal or has made some good decisions in

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balancing containing costs with not cutting programs and services. So, um, I support the board in adopting this budget. Thank you. >> Any additional public comment? Good evening, members of the board. My name is Marlene Baldinger. Um, most

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importantly, I'm a parent of a sophomore biomed academy student and I'm also the council president for Lebanon Burrow and I did come and speak to you a couple months ago. Um, so I just wanted to say I'm going to echo we love the district,

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we love the school, everything. The uh teachers are outstanding. No complaints. It really is the jewel and the crown of Huntington County, our district. So I congratulate everyone. I do want to say that just looking at cost because it is something that does come up at our

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budget meetings when we get our our tax bills are due in a couple days and about 70% of our taxes our property taxes go towards the schools. Uh Lebanon Burrow is one of your 12 districts. We uh pay

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we're number two as far as the amount of money that's paid per student. Um if you don't know Lebanon Burough, one square mile just about celebrating our 100th anniversary on uh uh this year. So it's

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a great place to live, but um it's $1.8 million is a lot of money for a small district. And um we have about maybe 28% of our families uh send students to the school. We have 44 students and so we're

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paying close to $40,000 per student. Now, as a parent who my older daughter is graduating college and as I said, my younger one is here. It is worth every penny as I attend and I do go to the schoolboard meetings locally as well. You know, previously someone said, "Hey,

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$40,000, we could send our kids to Pingry for that." Okay. So, I think that it really is important, you know, from a perspective as a board um to to hear what the the residents and the voters

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have to say, in particular those that live in Lebanon Burough because those are the people that I represent. And I'm just going to ask for the names and then I see the names there, but just to say Brian Chapman. Okay. Hi, Brian. And Stephen Matthews.

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He's not here. Okay. Okay. Uh, Cynthia Reyes and Daniel Spanton. So, hi. I, you know, I want to really encourage all of you to come to our our schoolboard meetings. We have our Lebanon Burough school board meetings. Uh, to come to our council

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meeting to hear what some of the issues are that are important to our residents, our communities, our community, our students. It really is important. Um, you know, we do see people signs up uh periodically every couple years when there's an election, but it really is

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appreciated when we get to see you um and see you come to our meetings. It show you want to hear not just what I'm saying as one parent. We have, like I said, you know, 20% of our residents are senior citizens and they're when as I go around and campaign, they're complaining about their tax bills. So, I think you

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guys are the best ambassadors as well as our students. So again, I do encourage you um to come to our meetings. Um again, my uh and just um from a state support standpoint, um uh my daughter spoke to Governor

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Murphy a couple times when she was freshman class president last year. She just had a conversation with Governor Mikey Cheryl. It was on the radio, so there's proof. We have the evidence. She does talk about North Hunter very proudly. and Governor Cheryl committed to coming to North Hunter and High

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School to talk about our cell phone policy, our vote 16. Um her chief of department of education already called Ava, my daughter, and we're working with um Dr. Kotrol and Dr. Burjax to schedule

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this. So, I think the more and then I'm sure when she comes, other people, our sending district representatives will come, our legislators from the uh Assembly and the Senate will come as well. And I think there's nothing better than putting the spotlight on this

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phenomenal district. Um, and so we're doing our part and I just appreciate again your support to come in and and show our community and all the other districts that it is important, you know, our voters and what we have to say. So I thank you for all you do.

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>> Thank you. If you um we met a week ago in our working session and I will say um there there is a lot of discussion about the importance of uh connecting and communicating with our sending districts and our municipalities. Uh we recently

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had our first round table of all the board presidents. Once again, uh I know in my previous stint when I was on the Clinton Glen Gardner burrow, we worked very closely with your municipality. Um I think all districts are looking for shared solutions and bold ideas,

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including conversations with municipalities in the state, and you'll see some evidence of action in that direction tonight and certainly going forward. So, thank you for coming out. >> Thank you. Thank you. Any additional public comment at this time?

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Okay, I will No, sorry. Uh, close public comment. Um, so, uh, I need a call for a motion and second to approve resolution 042826-4, adopting the 202627 school year budget and establishing maximum travel

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expenditures and maximum professional services expenditures. Can I get that motion? Nicole, I saw it. Dan, I saw it. >> Okay. Sorry, Brian. I'll get to you. I promise. >> Um, uh, comments, questions, clarifications.

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>> All right. Um, I would just certainly like to commend everybody's work here. I know we had um couple of months of conversation. Uh, it's it's always challenging. Everybody wants to do um what's right and best for the constituents. Uh they certainly want to

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do what's right and best for the students as we see over and over each month. Uh we recognize that um the decisions we make are are often complicated and challenging and coming to this task is is never an easy one. So I commend all of you for for the work.

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Uh I commend the administration for the work that they put into it as well. uh and certainly just want to see continued success um on behalf of the district. So >> I just want to echo that um you know a

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thanks to the team that put the budget together and for taking what we said and going back and looking for those additional cuts for us because that probably wasn't very easy thing to do and it's probably very time consuming for you. So, I appreciate you taking

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what we said and running with it and finding that for for us and for our constituents. >> Okay, we will move to a roll call. >> Miss, >> yes. >> Mr. Chapman, >> yes. >> Mr. Hanley, >> yes. >> Mr. Miss Hins,

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>> yes. >> Mr. Lordy, >> yes. >> Mr. Matthews, >> Miss Messappa, >> yes. >> Mr. Morgan. >> Yes. >> Miss Reyes. >> Yes. >> Mr. Spanton. >> Yes. >> Miss Stein. >> Yes. >> And Mr. McKisac.

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>> Yes. >> Thank you very much. Thanks. >> All right. Um, we are moving to our chief school administrators report. >> All right. I'm used to being a little bit earlier than this. Um, all right. First, let me go over my

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um my report report. Uh we have some great things going on in the district. I want to say congratulations to the Boris High School cast of Into the Woods. You heard a little bit about the show for those of you who got to see it was phenomenal. Um but they had also an amazing uh run at

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the Bucks County Playhouse Student Theater Festival. students earned multiple honors including um the moment in the woods award for Emily Dennis, the spellbinding performance award for Mason Chen, and the John Tortuga Gallalia award for puppetry for Joanna McDonald.

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And most impressively, the entire cast was recognized with the outstanding ensemble award, which is the highest recognition you can get. So that was, you know, not only did they impress at school and on stage, but they impressed um in our region as well. >> And I want to know more about puppetry now.

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actually for those that saw the show um it was um you know the the cow into the woods and you know it's all fairy tale stuff and it was fascinating to see how they controlled that puppet. It was really cool. >> Yeah. Um our VHS um jazz ensemble under

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the direction of Aiden Gianelli was selected as one of just 17 high school bands statewide to perform at the 29th annual Moononglowers Jazz Festival. The group delivered an outstanding performance with junior Hank Lucash earning recognition as an outstanding soloist. Additionally, saxophone section

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led by Aver Fr was named both outstanding section and overall outstanding saxophone section of the evening. So, congratulations to all of those students. North Show Choir earned a gold ranking at the 34th annual Roxberry Choir Invitational among a

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highly competitive field of 13 schools. Um, congratulations to the entire choir and to Mrs. Fonesca uh on this accomplishment. We're also proud that Sher District was recently named as an honorary member of the National Technical Honor Society in recognition of our continued partnership

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and support of career and technical education programs throughout Hunter County. And for those that want to see it, our frame certificate is upstairs um in the district office. But it was a great ceremony. It was held in the little theater at Hun Central. Um I was able to attend and um be a part of it. And you know, I didn't actually realize

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we were going to have to get up and accept an award, but that you know, we So, our district is now part of the National Technical Honor Society, which is great, good recognition and shows our partnership with Polytech. Uh the career fairs, the students did a better job than I would do talking about it, but we had them at both schools. And

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I do want to just thank all the um businesses, local and um and non-local, that came out to be there and um answer questions for our students. It's just a great opportunity. Uh it's a it's a gym full of um I guess potential recruiters,

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but people from industry and all different types of industry talking to students about what potential careers they can go into and it's just a great opportunity for students to to talk to the people that are in the field um when they're trying to figure out what they want to do after high school. So um and

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then both schools again did um their take your child to work day. I won't talk anymore about it because the students did a great job both of it. But I do want to um call out the staff. Um you know, we couldn't have the take your child to work days that we have at each one of our buildings without our staff running it. Um there's so many staff

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members that are involved in each school. They have it's not take your child to work day like I remember it, which is, you know, you go to work with your mom and dad and you just hang out at their desk and watch what's going on. There's activities going on throughout the day and those activities are run by students and staff members all throughout the day. Um you know, coordinating it. Mary Beth Ref at

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Borhees and Kristen Barata at North Hunter. They do a great job um of coordinating that and without their efforts none of it would happen but they have a lot of help with other staff members. So thank you to all the staff members that help with that and made it possible. Uh both North and Vorhees students

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participated in the music mountain theaters inaugural drama and performing arts conference as well as the Bucks County Playhouse student theater festival. North Hunter students brought home numerous awards including best production, best male lead for Maxclar,

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best dynamic duo for Maxclar and Gian Marina and best spotlight performance for everybody. So congratulations to all of them. North did host their 22nd annual Prism concert. The event showcased the incredible talents of our student musicians and served as a largest fundraiser for North Hunter

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Music Association. It was a great evening for any again everybody was able to attend it. It was just a fantastic show and you know our students are just so talented and seeing that in person is inspiring. And then earlier in the spring um upper level Latin students at Vorhees joined

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100,000 other students from all 50 states and 26 international countries participating in a national Latin exam. Two of our students earned high achievements. For Latin 2, Kenzie Flood earned a Maxima Kumlad Silver Medal. And for Latin three, for Christopher

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Carluchi earned an honorable kumad. And in addition, this past Saturday, 37 school districts from across the state came together to compete in academic, athletic, artistic, creative, and performance-based contests at the New Jersey Junior Classical League state convention. The classical league state

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convention is for Latin. Um, and it was at Gateway Regional High School. And all in all, they didn't list all the awards, but Boris won 25 awards on total at that event. Um on Saturday, April 25th as well, uh

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37 school districts from across state came to u I'm sorry, that was the same thing. Um and congratulations to North Learn students Lucy Score and Eric Bestwick for being recognized and receiving plaques at the Scotland Conference Scholar Athlete Lunchon for the Carl Wner Scholar Athlete Award. I

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think that was on Wednesday or Thursday this week. So, lots going on still and it's going to get even busier as the spring comes comes about. Uh strategic planning. I did want to give a quick report on strategic planning in regards to um we had our meeting on April 14th uh with our strategic planning advisory

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committee. Uh we talked a lot about the budget again and the impact that that would have on the schools and how that would impact our um activities. Uh we talked about the constraints that we have. Uh we also talked about the support of the board and I think you know it's one of those things that for me to say it is important that you know

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to let our staff know that the board is supporting you know the budget but I didn't have to. they actually brought to my attention. They said if they were watching some of the presentations, they thought it was great how we um the board asked great questions, but that ultimately they appreciated the support. So, thank you and I think the committee um appreciated that as well. We talked

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about our future ready committee and establish you know our definitions for AI powered instruction and also um you know using our continuum of like a red, yellow, green to manage AI. you know, red no AI at all, you know, green have at it, and yellow is you can use it but

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within certain constraints. And that just gives a nice clear definition of what students can or can't use AI for. And we also talked about professional development and how um the new eight I tools that we were able to identify this year. We want to make sure at the beginning of the school year next year, we'll make sure we have a presentation

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from our IT department um or other teachers as well that will talk about how they use these AI tools and make sure that all of our teachers have the ability to um understand how to use them and then implement them in their curriculums. Uh we talked about our board staff spotlight which I'm going to mention um

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in a minute. Uh we also talked about our bell-to-bell cell phone policy which that is changing sort of as we speak. I mean there's still bell-to-bell but there's some different opinions coming out there as everything when legislation comes out everyone interprets it a different way and um we'll see where it

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ends up but uh we're looking for some guidance on that as it comes out. And we also talked about the emerging leader program that has been started um at each one of our schools. If you remember, that is a um program where um it's teacher led uh but it's basically um teachers that want to be leaders. They don't necessarily need want to be

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administrators, but they want to be leaders within their um department, within their content area or of a school. You know, they might want to aspire to be a supervisor or principal. Um and they're working on um coming up with their impact projects now, which basically each one of them will determine what their impact project is

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going to be. it'll be something that will improve our school um or one of our schools and then they will work on an impact project throughout the year presented at the end of the year um and um that's the idea for the emerging leader program and then we talked about the master schedule and some of the

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things coming up with that as well and then for our staff spotlights I did want to um highlight the people that we have can you put that up for So this is a second month for your as a reminder you know we're doing a BOE

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staff spotlight. So this is an opportunity for this board to recognize an an individual at each school. Um the strategic planning advisory committee um talks about who they um feel is um eligible for this award. We also talk to our student board reps and then when we

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present this award to the staff member um we ask our student board reps to come with us. Um so as they are your representation of the board to present this award to um the staff members instead of asking the staff member who's already doing a lot of extra work and a lot of extra things to come out for a night to be recognized. We try to do it

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in their environment and it actually has been great because we walk into a classroom. Um Katie joins us as well and it's been great to you know the kids love it, the teachers love it. You know they all do their thing but so G if you want to go to the Michelle Byron um is a

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special education teacher at North Hunter. Um and I've known Michelle for many years and um she's well deserved this award. But it is with great enthusiasm that we honor Michelle Byron for the April staff recognition award. Over the course of her 17 years in education, Michelle has consistently

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demonstrated a sincere commitment to her students, her colleagues, and the district. Michelle currently serves as a lead teacher of the North Hunter and Special Education Department, a role she performs with unwavering dedication and skill. Beyond her classroom responsibilities, she serves as an invaluable mentor to new staff members,

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guiding them through the complexities of being a special education teacher while helping them build a strong foundation in their careers. Her leadership within the department sets a standard of excellence for all. Furthermore, Michelle's impact extends far beyond the traditional classroom setting. She is the driving force behind our inclusive

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initiatives running the North Hunter and Unified program. Michelle helps create a welcoming, equitable environment where students of all abilities can connect, compete, and thrive together. Her passion for inclusivity has deeply enriched our school and community culture. Michelle is a proactive leader

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at the district level. She has consistently volunteered her time to serve on various district committees focused on school improvement and her insights and collaborative spirit on these committees have been vital in shaping policies and practices that benefit our entire educational community. Michelle Byron is a

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tremendous asset to our school and the North community and her 17 years of experience along with her tireless advocacy for special education and her participation in school improvement make her the ideal candidate for this month's honor. So, THANK YOU MICHELLE B.

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AND THAT PRESENTATION WAS A lot of fun. A couple classrooms all came in and it was like this big group and stuff. All right, on to Boris. Bet Stalker. I have known Bet Stalker longer than I've known um Michelle Byron um because Beth has been here for 28 years. But um Beth

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actually I I'm I've been here so long I remember when Beth was at North Hunter as a teacher and she is now at Bores and has been at Waries I think since 2003. So that feels like a long time. But this month, we're incredibly proud to recognize and celebrate the outstanding contributions of that stalker. Throughout her time in the district, she

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she has served as a dedicated educator, mentor, and coach. As a proud graduate of North Hun High School, she has demonstrated a deep and lasting commitment to our school community. Over the past 28 years, she has built a remarkable career leaving a meaningful impact on staff, students, and the

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community. In the classroom, Beth has been impactful as dedicated special education teacher, consistently going above and beyond to support her students. She continuously gives of her time to meet with students outside the classroom, offering extra support, encouragement, and guidance. Her compassion and dedication truly make a

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difference every day. Her impact is further reflected in her exceptional versatility, having taught math, English, science, and study skills while also playing an integral role in developing the district's reading program. Beyond her work with students, she has served as a mentor to new staff members, generously sharing her decades

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of experience and knowledge. Through this mentorship, she has helped shape and support the next generation of teachers, extending her positive influence well beyond her own classroom. In addition to Bets's excellence in the classroom, she has led DevO's field hockey program to success. Miss Stalker took over as the high school field

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hockey coach in 2003, ushering in an era of sustained excellence and competitive dominance for the Vikings. In her eight years as head coach, she compiled five Skyland Conference Division titles, 301 championships, 101 Sussex championship,

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one North SE sectional north two sectional title in 2006, a career record of 130 wins, 29 losses, and seven ties. She was recognized as coach of the year by both the Star Ledger and Curry Courier News, and guided the program to its 500th victory. So again, another

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welldeserved um employee and we thank her for all of her. >> Will those go out as part of a broader whether it's a board or district communication to the community? >> Uh yeah, those they're all going to be part of our um newsletters. Pretty much

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all of our newsletters, they'll be part of it. Yes. So we have our um district newsletter that goes out this spring. They'll be part of it. And then also we have a staff newsletter that goes out that um we're trying to incorporate again more board um into our staff newsletter so that they all understand what's going on. And then both the staff

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spotlight and the emerging leaders are those part of sort of that one plank of the strategic plan in terms of uh staff culture and support >> school climate and um and yeah staff um you know supporting our staff basically

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coming up programs they feel like they're a part of our district and they are um contributing and and recognizing those contributions. >> Thank you. Brian and then Rich >> Rich um Just to remind me the strategic planning

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advisory committee is composed of staff. >> Yes. So um teachers and administrators actually we have um one IT member and um and some child. Yeah. So all educational staff >> and and you're mentioned uh that you're

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waiting for guidance on the cell phone policy. Is that from the DOE or education that you're waiting for guidance? >> Yeah. So the legislation has come out. We're actually waiting for guidance. Um we we actually um school board sent us just last week a um model policy. Um but there's some things that have come out

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since then that um before we enact a policy, we want to make sure that we get the full um understanding of how we're going to do this. And there's there's some discrep there's some >> interpretation >> interpretation on how this should be how this should impact a K8 environment versus a high school environment. And

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that's you know one of the things that we're trying to discern right now. Um it says bell to bell, right? Okay. So that means as soon as school day starts until the school day ends. Um the I guess argument now is does that include non-instructional time lunch time like that. So

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>> what I'm asking about is do you feel like you're on your own here? Like no or is the DOE or school boards or somebody kind of working this >> the legislation we're not on your own. The legislation is out there and in my but in my opinion it's pretty clear. Um,

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I thought they did it for for once the state did a great job of telling us exactly what they expect, right? Um, now comes the interpretation of how it should impact a first grader versus an 11th grader, right? And I think that's the discussions that we're having and um, not on my own either. I met twice

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now already and we have a a standing meeting, I don't remember when the next one is with all the superintendents from Hunter County. Um, we also had superintendent from Pabrook who jumped in as well. Um, because we're all talking about how we're going to accomplish this and some schools are saying we're going to go back to lockers. Um, you know, some schools have taken out their lockers and put in

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areas, right? So, you don't have the lockers for students have. Other schools that are really small are saying, "We're just going to collect them all at the beginning of school day and give them back the end of school day." You know, and there's there's hurdles with all of those solutions. Um, so we're working with our principles, with all of our um with our staff members as well on

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strategic planning advisory committee and and other committees as well. I know both schools are meeting with their um faculty advisory committees as well to talk about how we're going to enforce this and make sure it's enforced consistently. That's that's the biggest challenge is making sure it's

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consistent. >> Rich, >> uh just the strategic plan, we're we're about a year into that. >> We'll be we'll be coming up on one year. So, it's a five-year plan that we started at the beginning of the school year and we're finishing. >> I'm I'm just looking at the board goals here. Uh developing an online dashboard

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for public updates. Are we are we thinking about kind of having a year in like this is where some of these goals stand? Some of them may be complete. Some of them we've accomplished this we're going here. Are we thinking of any

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kind of update for maybe accountability with the public per the strategic >> there will be actually there'll be an end of year um wrap-up actually the our strategic planning advisory committee in May. We're dedicating entirely to um looking at the actions that we've taken so far as a committee and throughout our schools and determining what progress

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has been made made not only towards the goals but also towards the strategic plan itself. Um and then that will be what we'll report as the annual report. >> Okay. >> So that post that to the website or something we'll put that out to the public. >> Yeah. You know the the um the idea of the dashboard you know I know we talked

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about that a lot and um you know I looked at a lot of examples of that and >> you know we can come up with a dashboard. it. What what the dashboard really says is um here's a goal, here's an objective, what percentage have we accomplished? And really, it's whatever percentage you put in there. It's sort

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of, you know, >> I mean, as long as we're just putting something Yeah. Personally, I don't know if it needs to be a dashboard, but I think it it would be worthwhile to put it out to the public, you know, where we stand. >> Yeah. Well, I know, you know, one of the things that I think we definitely leaned into more this year was getting all of

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the uh presentations pertaining to the budget. we were getting them up on the website. That was a piece of feedback we got and a way that we wanted to make more information available. Um I think to both points, I don't know if it's something that we feel gets more

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eyeballs sitting on a website or as part of a district communication that I know we're doing a couple of times a year. I know you tend to update, you know, more or less every meeting or every other meeting. You're kind of bringing us up to speed. I don't know if there's a potential marriage between the two and

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something that we can put it on the website, but I think if we put it there too, people are seeing it there, >> but there's going to be a compilation at the end of year one to look at progress, determine what we've done, and then how we communicate that, we can come up with a, you know, we'll probably communicate that in multiple ways.

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>> Okay. >> Okay. >> Last but not least, I did want to just mention our attendance data because that was something we focused on this year as a policy. Um and um so in the month of March um North Hun had 298 less absences this year than they

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did in the previous year. Bores had 247 less than they did last year at the same time. Um those numbers aren't as drastic as we've seen in other months, but we're starting to creep into spring fever. So I wouldn't get um overall though uh Borhees is still at 4.4% um absentee um

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rate and North is at 5.63. those are, you know, well below. We were 14% at North and I think almost 24% at Boris last year. So, we've significant drops. The attendance policy has had an impact. Um, and some of the negative things that we worried about um we haven't seen and

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and we've been addressing those case by case basis. So, I think we've been helping students, helping families, and holding students accountable. And I think all in all, it's been a success. So, um we'll probably have one more month of reporting on that. Good. >> Maybe we can put that on the dashboard. >> There you go. Did you have that

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question? >> No. Brian, >> I I do think we shouldn't take our foot off the pedal in keeping parents informed about what those rules are. >> Yeah. >> Right. That not it's not, you know, your kid is deathly ill, but send them in anyways

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because, you know, you don't want to hit that bump. You can you can have things excused when it's properly excused. >> And we've had a lot of those conversations this year. And I would say that's what that is about is that just that communication, that honest communication with the parents that are

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worried that oh my god, we're we're almost at this threshold and I I'm going to send them to school even though they are sick. We've said don't do that. We're okay with that. That, you know, we want you to keep your child home. We want them to be healthy. Um, but we also don't want you to every, you know, Monday, you know, if somebody has a

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belly ache, not send them in, >> right? >> I know there's often a a counseling communication that seems to go home. periodically and I don't know if that's part of their just their practice and I don't know um if that's a potential vehicle. I what I'm taking from what you

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said, Brian, is if we're reaching that time of the year, it's almost just a reminder of the policy. Like >> reminder, but also thinking into next year, you know, we we had a maybe a little bit of a bumpy launch to it. And um >> and so we could take it a moment over

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the summer to make sure it's a solid, clearance sent out and being a school year next year. >> Absolutely. >> Because but it does seem to be working. So And kudos to the idea. >> Good. Thank you.

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>> Okay. Is that it for yours? >> Yep. Now we are up to >> I think I have a call for the >> Yeah. So the as far as the hibs for this month that I need to report to you. There were um four Hib cases um since

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the last time we met. Um all four of those were unfounded. All four of those were at 40s. And I believe all four of those were related actually. Sorry. Um, so that's what's I'm reporting to you tonight that you will affirm next month. And then there is the HIV state, the HIB

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uh 10.2 for the ones that were reported to you last month. Sorry. >> Yep. Could I get a call for a motion second to affirm the determinations on the Hib incidents reported at the March 24th, 2026 board meeting? Can I get that motion? Andrew, thank you. Second, Nicole, I

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think I saw um a voice vote. All in favor? >> I oppose or extensions? None. Okay. >> And that's all I have. I don't know if you I have the resolution. >> Um well, let's let me Yeah, let me hit

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this and then we'll go. Um, so the first thing I'd like to draw attention to is the uh I'll open it and I get a call for a motion in a second to approve resolution 042826-5 urging greater transparency, predictability, and full funding of New Jersey's school funding formula. Can I

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get a motion, Dan? Thank you. A second on that. Thank you. But I do actually want to thank Tara. Um, as you know, uh, as part of our conversation of the challenges that all districts face when it comes to budgeting, um, one of the additional

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challenges we don't need is a lack of clarity, transport, and transparency on the part of the state. Uh, also to be operating with a uh, a funding formula that is never actually fully funded. Uh kudos to Tara to taking the initiative

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and sort of uh pulling that conversation together in a resolution. Uh we presented it initially last week. I know uh Katie had an opportunity to look at it as well. Uh and really commended the the strength of it. uh and it may become

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something that gets shared a little more broadly and hopefully um we can begin to start some conversation among districts who are all in the same boat as far as this goes and are just looking for that same sort of clarity and reliability in terms of what funding is going to be. So

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I just want to preface that as a way of of thanking you Tara open up the floor to any other questions conversations. I know we had an opportunity to see it last week and so here's our opportunity. Um all in favor

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>> I opposed abstensions. >> All right, let's send it off into the world. >> Yeah. And if if the legislature and coming here on other things, this is perfect timing to present also.

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>> Um thank you. Um, next I know I provided you with an update of the board's self-evaluation and CSA evaluation. So I think I had given approximate twoeek window asking folks to get in, log in, do that evaluation. If you recall, that

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information will all get compiled. Um, by our next meeting, we might have an opportunity to see the compilations uh from which we sort of shape that into the final recommendations to Dr. Burgess and then that will culminate in a in a

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meeting with him as far as identifying areas of strength, areas of growth and then for ourselves the things that we are uh recognizing in our own operations, what we're doing well, what we would potentially like to improve upon to suggest uh some possible board

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goals going forward. I want to thank Tara once again who was able to um uh pull up the the draft goals that were designed at the end of last year. Um and it's not to say that, you know, um there's no reason that any of these

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goals cannot continue or take um sort of a different focus or shape in the year going forward. I know when we had some conversation about it last week, um there were things that we could point to and say, "All right, you know, we've definitely moved on some of these things. Uh but certainly with

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communications and efforts with strategic planning, those tend to become multi-year kinds of uh undertakings as well. So, thank you once again for TER for that, Tara. That's why I asked that if you printed for us tonight. Um if you

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last week, if you tuned in last week, um you heard about our conversations with our constituent districts. Uh it was a great relaunch of an initiative that had run for a number of years. Uh I think a great opportunity to network among the districts to kind of hear the challenges

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that each district is facing. um not only budgetary but in terms of all of the ways that they're trying to be responsible stewards of uh their program, look for efficiencies, partnering on things. Um and it there was the conversations uh regarding the

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um regionalization study uh which is uh in the pro which is sent from us in the process of being approved. I think we have four or five districts at this point who have partnered on with us, but we've left the door open to the other districts as they have those

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conversations to see if they want to be a part of that study as well. Uh, and again, something I articulated to those districts, um, we just felt it was the fiscally responsible thing for us to do as a district to be looking at all

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options for the financial stability and success of all of our districts going forward. So, um, I will keep you posted on that work. There, uh, I think we're anticipating, uh, hopefully having one more meeting before the school year ends, but I'll keep you sort of apprised

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of that as well. Um, we have our next two meetings. May 19th is our work session. May 26 is our regular meeting. And as we mentioned last week, um, we have our June 16th graduation ceremonies. Uh, Dr. B just

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sort of briefly went over the uh the participation um opportunities that we have and sort of the transportation mechanisms to get uh the participating folks from Vorhees down to north. I know we have a number of staff members who are going to have seniors graduating this year. So that's

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always a nice uh affirmation of the work that that you're doing. And I know at some point I think uh some communications start to come out to us about logistics, gowns and things like that. It's >> coming very shortly. >> Okay. >> I think I It's already out.

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>> Oh, it is. >> I'm pretty sure. >> Maybe I missed it. >> They might have got some of it out. Yeah. But >> at least for a list about >> I got it last week. >> Oh, you did? Oh, okay. >> The gowns I think. Um Yes. That might have came from >> gowns came out. >> Oh, okay. >> Is that just for new? Maybe that's just for newbies because they wanted know how

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tall they were and stuff like that. >> Yeah. >> Oh, I guess we're on record. >> Yeah, they said that once they get the information they keep it on file. So, >> Got it. Yeah. And I think they have a gown for everybody. Um they order a gown for everybody. >> Okay. >> So that there'll be a gown there if you decide the day before graduation that you want to attend. Now

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>> it's there. >> Got it. Okay. Awesome. >> Comment that uh that that day is also a working session day. Does that >> is it >> raise any? >> Oh, as far as one of our working meetings, our board working.

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>> Yeah. Yeah. I mean there there's no overlap but just >> no but I mean I don't it's a good >> it depends on how many people want to be celebrating with their families on that day as a result >> I feel like we had maybe about three or four folks who were potentially going to

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be graduating. I don't know if that's >> something to look at or >> I did see that but you I didn't get concerned yet but you know what maybe we can put a survey out. >> Yeah. And kind of see >> I'm going to be away. >> Okay. I think, you know, and I don't I I would ask that we look at that to see if

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we can move. I mean, if folks are celebrating their kids that day, um I don't want to have them feel compelled to sort of come back. Um >> they they're celebrating the work that they've done and their kids have done. >> All right. So, uh if we can push out a survey on that to see about the

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possibility of shifting that to make it work better for everybody. All right. Any other questions or comments? This brings us to our um official opportunity for public comment. During this portion of the meeting, the public is invited to address the board of education with

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comments. You are requested to sign the register provided and state your name, municipality of residence, group affiliation if applicable, and direct your comments to the school board president. While all comments will be considered by the board of education, and a response may be forthcoming if and when appropriate. Individual school

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board members may not respond to the speakers at the time of their appearance. The public comment period will be a maximum of 30 minutes in length unless there are unusual circumstances. You'll be allocated three minutes to speak and no one will be permitted to speak more than once on the same topic until all others who wish to

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speak on that topic have been heard. Please keep your comments respectful and non-defamy and maintain the level of decorum appropriate for a public meeting where students may be present and in the audience. Do we have anybody who would like to come up and speak at this time?

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I have this Harlon Edinger. I'm a resident of Hybrbridge and as we've heard already this evening from our student representatives and our superintendent, the performing arts enriched the climate

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and culture of our two high schools and of the communities they serve. The Friday night performance of Into the Woods that I attended at Vores this month was much more than an enjoyable evening of musical theater performed at a very high level. It was also a

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celebration, a celebration of our community, a celebration of individual talent and commitment in joyful collaboration among student performers, student backstage contributors including Sam Orur who was the uh student uh stage

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manager and the family, friends and others in the audience because live theater is a collaboration among the performers and the audience. This celebration was enabled by Vorhees administrators, teachers, and staff, and

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especially by the faculty adviserss who guided the 33 students who appeared on stage, the 16 student musicians who played in the pit, and the score of students backstage and behind the scenes who made the magic happen on Q.

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This pro this printed program names them and many others in our community who contributed directly to the show or who otherwise supported the production. This brilliant constellation of stars revolves around the director Nancy Lis

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Reynolds and the producer Joseph Reynolds. Nancy and Joe have engaged, encouraged, inspired, and loved many hundreds for his students as teachers and as adviserss to the Vory's

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high school high school drama club. Please give them a round of applause. >> Any additional public comment? Karen Gove. Hi, Bridge. Speaking as a resident, not

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a school board member. Um, I just wanted to mention I'm really proud of this board for embracing the board of the whole, doing a really great job, I think. Um, but I do want to comment that you are the only school board in the county that holds only one public comment section. So I can speak

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at the beginning of the meeting, make a comment, and then all sorts of things happen, and then I got to wait a month before I can come back and address it. And by then, it's kind of late. So, um, please add a second public comment section at the end of your meeting.

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Thank you. >> Any additional public comment? All right. Uh, we'll move into curriculum, instruction, and technology. Can I get a call for a motion and second to approve agenda items 131 through 134? Can I get a motion, Tara? Thank you. Second, Dan. Um, obviously we went over

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these items last week. Any additional questions or clarifications? Okay. All in favor? I opposed abstensions. All right. So, moving the policy, school security. Can I get a call for a motion? Second to approve agenda item 141.

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Uh, can I get a motion? Rich, thank you. Can I get a second? Nicole, thank you. Uh, again, uh, updated and clarified in last week's uh, working session. Any additional questions or clarifications? I just did want to mention we did add

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the um, um, statement for confidentiality um, to the SAC job description as well. It did not it did not show up in red line. Um but it is there. Just want you to be aware. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Cynthia, I remember you pointing that out. >> Any additional questions or

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clarifications? >> All in favor? >> I opposed or extensions. All right. Finance, facilities, transportation. A call for a motion and second to approve agenda items 151 through 159. Can I get a motion? Dan, thank you. Can I get a

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second? Brian, thank you. Um, I know, uh, Katie, you had walked through this, uh, last week. I know some some items are updated. I didn't know if there was anything in particular you wanted to draw our attention to. Um, otherwise, I know it was items that were all presented in the working session.

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>> Yes. I think the only thing just to note is the grant of easement. Um, we did get legal opinion and legal approval, architects, engineers, everyone has blessed that grant of easement. And again, Elizabeth Town is gracious enough to absorb the cost of getting that gas

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line from the road all the way up to 3 meters on the property. So, just a big thank you to them. >> That's great. >> Okay. All right. Any uh additional questions or clarifications at this point? >> All right. Uh all in favor?

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>> I abstensions opposed. Um Brendan on 155 I'm a no on 2110624 on 157 I'm a no and on 159 I'm saying >> okay any other

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>> I abain from 15.7 and 15. >> Okay. >> Uh all right. Uh any other notes? Uh community relations, student affairs, delegates reports. I don't know what we have. >> Um well, delegate uh assembly is May

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16th and Stephen is our uh voting delegate and he's going to be traveling. So, I'll be um the alternate. And if you go on to your New Jersey school board's website and go into the delegates, the um handbook is is published now. So, you

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can review that um for the 16th. And then just for our Hunter County School Board Association, we have our last meeting of the year, which is um our dinner at the Mountain View Chalet, and it's going to be awarding the Hun County Teacher of the Year, as well as other

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milestones from board members throughout the county for their uh new board certificate, 10 years, 15 years. We have a 20-year um uh certified board members, master board members, and then there's one certified board leader that's in our

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district here. So, um I hope you guys can all make it for Thursday night at 6. And that's that. >> All right. Thank you very much. >> What was that? >> It's this Thursday. Yeah. Yeah. Come on out. It's going to be a great evening.

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There's a lot of awards, so hope to see you all there. >> Yeah. Yep. Right. >> Good night. Um, our vice president. >> That's right. Um, can I get a call for a motion and second to adopt resolution 042826-3 for an executive session to discuss

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matters reflected in the attached resolution. The board expects to be in executive session for approximately 30 minutes and upon return to public session. Action will be taken. Can I get uh a motion? Andrew. Thank you. Can I get a second?

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>> Uh, Andrea. Thank you. All in favor? I >> I oppose abstensions. questions. for a motion and a second to reconvene public session. Can I get a motion? Brian, thank you. Can I get a second? Nicole, thank you. All in favor?

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>> I oppose or abstensions. Um, I would like to call for a motion to add uh the following resolution as 20.4. Whereas on April 28th, 2026, the parent of a student in the North Hunter and

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Borhees Regional School District whose name is on file in the superintendent's office appeared before the North Hunter and Borhees Regional School District Board of Education for a hearing as scheduled in response to the parents request for a hearing regarding a harassment, intimidation, and bullying decision involving the student and the

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parent was represented by legal counsel during the hearing before the board. And whereas the hearing held on April 28th, 2026, the board considered the evidence and arguments presented by the parent and the parents attorney and the evidence presented by the district's

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administration and/or staff members. And whereas the board has determined that the HIP decision reached and issued by the district's anti-bullying staff members following the Hib investigation conducted in accordance with board policy which was affirmed by the

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superintendent should be affirmed by the board. And now therefore, be it resolved that the Hib decision of the district's anti-bullying staff members, which was affirmed by the superintendent, is hereby affirmed by the board, and written notice of the board's HIP decision shall be issued to the parent

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within five school days. Can I get that motion? Andrew, can I get a second? Brian, thank you. All in favor? >> I oppose. Abstensions. >> All right. Now we have >> Yeah, you just added it, right? >> Yes, we just added it. So now uh we have

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a call for a motion and a second to approve agenda items 20.1 to 20.4 and to include hand carries if provided. Uh roll call vote. >> Oh motion. Sorry. Thank you. Motion

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first. Dan second. Rich. Thank you. Now roll call vote. >> Yes. >> Mr. Chapman. >> Yes. Mr. Hanley, >> yes. >> Miss, >> yes. >> Mr. Lord, >> yes. >> Mr. Matthews, >> yes. Missappa, >> yes.

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>> Mr. Morgan, >> yes. >> M. Reyes. >> Mr. Stanton. >> Yes. >> Miss D? >> Yes. >> And Mr. Miser? >> Yes. >> All right. Um, old and new business. Are

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there any items that folks would like to bring forward? Old or new business? I have one Brendon um from last meeting. Um on the agenda, I had misread it at the

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time of the meeting. Um so had I not done that, obviously I checked with the NGSBA and I can't go back and and change votes, but I did misread the agenda. So had I not done that on 11.1.1,

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I would have voted yes. Okay. >> Was that to be clear, >> correct? Yeah. From last month's meeting 324 on 11.1.1 I I would have voted yes. >> And then on 17.1

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specifically 2.1.1 I would have voted no. >> Can you repeat that one more time? >> What was the second one? 17. U on 17 U.1 inside of that it was 2.1.1.

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I would have voted no had I not misread the >> Okay. Thank you. Uh additional new or old business. >> Um all right. One item I will bring up is uh I know in Dr. Burgess's

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communication. Um there was the um uh information regarding the uh Bloomsbury the addition of the Bloomsberry board member and uh that is an item that will be up for uh discussion uh next month. I

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believe if you recall um I don't remember what month it was we voted to um accept Bloomsbury as one of our ascending districts and part of the work that came from that was legally they were going to have to look into what representation would look like. Uh if

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you Dr. Burgess shared with us I believe it was your report of last week. >> It was last week's weekly report. >> Weekly report and then that will come to you at the public meeting in May. Bloomsberry will be passing that resolution, a mirror resolution for their district um at their May meeting.

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And then we're going to have representatives here from Bloomsberry, their attorney and also their board president and I believe their superintendent will be here to answer any questions this board has in regards to how that would impact. >> So I would just draw your attention. Do look at that, read it. We have obviously

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the next month to sort of uh you know get at our understandings of the implications of that. Um and then you know we will have folks here next month to sort of address it more directly. Um when we move to accept Bloomsberry as a

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constituent district that essentially kicked off a chain of events that leads to this which then leads to that um being on the ballot for all of the municipalities in November. >> Yeah. It's it's been a long process and we're finally getting near the end of that process.

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Did you say the working meeting is the when the Bloomsberry representatives? >> Yeah, I believe they're going to be here at the working >> um to answer any questions. >> Andrew, >> I feel like we need some clarification on constituent district,

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>> sending district and the difference between those because we have 11 constituent districts. >> Yes. >> But we have 12 sending districts, >> municipalities, >> right? Yeah, I'm just mean to be very clear when we say those things because I feel

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like there's been some crossover where we say one but we mean the other or vice versa. >> Yeah, it's even, you know, regional tax versus district tax, right? You know, they're sort of interchangeable when we talk about that, >> right? So my my assumption is is the one

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that is not a constituent but is a Senate district is is that Lebanon Burrow because they don't have what is what is the >> So no it's um it's actually um Clinton Glen Gardner school district. So, um, and again to give you a quick history here, um, we actually, this board used

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to be 13 board members, um, because the legislative code says it has to be the amount of, um, constituent districts you have plus one, right? And so, Glen Gardner used to be a nonoperating school district. They had a school, they had board of ed, they passed bylaws, they

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passed policies, and then they sent all their students to town of Clinton. And I think it was 2009, um, state actually had a push to close all non-operating districts. At that point, I don't know if you were in a board in Clinton, but >> it was before Clinton and Glen Gardner

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became one district. Um, and so they are now the Clinton Glengardner Board of Education. And so that's why when when that happened we went actually from 13 board members down to 12 because that rule boos very on we have to go to 13 and

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then the allocation of that is sort of based on population way votes that and yes I wish we could make it less complicated but it is >> I appreciate the insight. Thank you. >> Absolutely. >> You lost me. >> Sorry Brian.

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>> We have 11 constituent districts. We have 11 We have 11 sending districts. We have 11 school districts that send students to our high school. >> Okay. >> 11 plus one 12 is why we're 12. >> Correct. >> Okay. >> One of those school districts comprises

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two. >> So we have more >> and it's Clinton Burough and Glen Gardo Burough are combined. It's the >> bur school district. >> It's not municipalities. That's the it's sending districts, not sending municipalities, sending districts.

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>> That's correct. Yes. >> Which is I think how we've always referred to it. But >> rightology until you >> last two meetings I've been hearing constituent district. >> Yeah. >> All right. Uh any other old or new

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business items? >> So let me just ask about that. Do we know is it the county that tells us what the votes will be after that? >> Assuming all this passes >> and Bloomsberry joins and we go up by a member

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>> and we get a bigger set of tables. >> Yes. >> Um does the county tell us how the votes split? >> So the county will tell us how to vote splits after the 2030 census. what it's our responsibility right now to look at

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what that split is now >> determine what makes the most sense as far as allocation and then adopt that as a board. So, it's up to this board to determine that. Now, >> we we we determine it. >> Now, once the new census comes out in 2030, every time there's a census, the

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county office re-evaluates all of that. So, they could look at it after the 2030. After the 2020 census, if you remember, um I believe it was Bethlehem um >> township actually was a 1.3 >> um vote. So, our full board vote went up was 12.1 when you added it all up,

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right? And when the census in 2020 came out, it was around 21, maybe beginning of 22. It takes them a year or two after their census is compiled. Um, Bethlehem lost that 0.1 because of the calculations and they went down to a 1.2. And so now we're at 12. And the big

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question then was what do we do if it's a 66? And then when we did all the math, it wouldn't come out possible anyway with all our lead votes. And and even if it did come out to a 66, the legal opinion at time was six doesn't pass. You need something over six. >> So So the it. Yes, we get to determine

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it when Bloomsberry comes on based on the 2020 census and then the county office can reallocate that after the 2030. >> Okay, guess we'll cross that bridge. >> And you know, I'm sure it's approval by the county office and things like that,

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but I I you know, >> just a quick suggestion on the uh how we divvy up the votes. Um, my recommendation would be to give Union Township 6.1, >> but that's just that's just I'm just throwing it out there as my suggestion. So, >> must have been a hell of a

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>> starting point. We can negotiate from here. >> All right. Um, last item. I have a correspondence from the county superintendent that I'm required to read into the record. Uh I would just want to preface this with a a few notes comments. Uh the correspondence is

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regarding uh responding to the county office regarding votes. Uh we have been in the process of seeking some legal clarity and have gotten some conflicting statutory interpretations as to the specific requirements of a response. Uh additionally uh one board member did not

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uh was not afforded the opportunity to provide a reason. We are in the process of seeking additional clarity if the issue is now considered resolved as well as legal clarity regarding the statutory uh elements and/or requirements. Uh, additionally, we believed that a legal

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response was forthcoming that would have potentially um uh satisfied the letter before being sent. The letter itself reads, "Dear North Hunter and Vorhees board president McKisac, beginning in January of this year, one board member has consistently voted no for the certification of funds. Last month, an

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additional board member voted no per NJAC68 col23A-16.10b, the members are required to provide a reason for their negative votes. The board members via the board attorney stated that they had concerns about the operations of the business office. As I have previously communicated to the

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board attorney via email correspondence, this explanation is vague and does not address the purpose of the regulation, which is to keep the oversight agency informed of potential fiscal deficits and possibly for the administration to correct and develop action plans to address structural financial issues.

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I've not received answers to the following questions previously communicated to the board attorney on March 30th, 2026. One, what are your specific concerns about the operations of the business office? Two, how do these concerns impact your ability to vote yes to certifying that no fund has

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been overexpended in violation of NGAC6A 23A-1610B and that sufficient funds are available to meet the board of education's financial obligations for the remainder of the fiscal year? Um, is it their position that a funds have been

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overexpended or in violation of NGA6 6A23A-1610B or there are not sufficient funds available to meet the board of education's financial obligations for the remainder of the fiscal year. I also followed up with the board council on

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April 7th, 2026 seeking answers to these questions. As of April 21st, 2026, I have not received the answers to these questions. Please read this letter into the record at your next board meeting so that the public is aware of our due diligence in seeking this information. Thank you for your attention to this

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matter. Uh and I will work with council to see that this gets satisfactorily resolved and answered. Can I get a call for a motion and a second to adjurnn? >> So moved. >> Second. Uh so we had Tara and Nicole.

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All in favor? >> I oppose. extensions. All right, have a good night, TS. >> Good night.