##VIDEO ID:ysIJwsO9UB4## one Public Law 1975 entitled open public meetings act adequate notice of this meeting has been provided as specified in the ACT proper notice of this open public meeting was provided in the notice of January 6 2025 set notice was posted at the entrance of the Board of Education offices sent to the Nutley Township Clerk sent to tap into Nutley sent to the Nutley sun and Star Ledger on January 17 2025 and posted on the district website what everyone please stand for the flag salute roll call Mr balamo here Mrs Dan Martin here Dr deia Mr fraginals Mr gilberti Mr kazinski Mrs quirk Mr Scotty here Mr feraro here any correspondents uh none Mr President okay um we're going to move on to the presentation Port portion of our meeting [Music] good evening and thank you all for coming uh tonight we're uh lucky to start off the year with many great presentations um of students finding success and some donations coming in the district so please bear with us as we have a long list to celebrate uh right now uh first I'd like to call Mr Williams our high schools in receip a very generous donation to support a new sign in front of the building I'd like Mr Williams to talk about it and talk about the donation please thank [Music] you thank you Mr ban you good evening everybody um it's my honor tonight to to uh shout out a a class of 1973 uh Val Victorian Mr Ken Shang uh Mr Ken Shang um was uh obviously Class of 73 74 I'm sorry Kent let me let me tell the story I'm off to a bad start there's always reunions we'll go this way there's always reunions um and when these classes get together now it's what K you've only been out 10 years right no it's actually 50 um so at the the Class of 73 had a reunion 50 year they've been out 50 years and Mr C Solomon reached out to me and said hey we got a couple shekel after what do you want what do you want the money for I said you know what at the front of the building they did a wonderful job uh reconfiguring the front of the building as we all know it's it's a major upgrade um and we're looking to uh get a new sign you know our sign's great but it's not that great these things age out um and there's so much obviously to talk about right as we got our our award-winning cheerleading team uh we want to be able to broadcast all that good stuff um and I said you know Steve if you look at um Pake Valley anybody know where Pake Valley High School is you rece their sign when you're driving by their sign you can see it from miles away and it's a double Sider and it's got like video display and you can have actually pictures of the students you could have names it's just a great way to to boost out what the good stuff that goes on inside of school so he said okay uh we'll get some we'll get some money to he donated the money and then Miss Bonnie Cole out that class same year uh reached out to us and my secretary Miss Wallace is juet here there's juet over there um did a great kind of Correspondence and got the ball rolling um and we came up with about $88,000 $7,000 $8,000 and it we kind of plateaued and we just had the money out there we were waiting for more donations um and Along Came Mr Ken Shang he went to his 50th reunion and Sue Hammond uh in his class mentioned that uh his sister your sister's in the class of 73 that his sister's class started this donation and maybe he could get involved in that now Kent was a really good student I took him on the tour of the building it's changed since 1973 um he went to Cornell and then he went to uh the Harvard School of of government the Kennedy School of government and he's now working in his own uh Financial investment firm for a number of years um and he decided you know what I want to give back to my school um so he met up with us this was a couple weeks ago and promptly wrote us a check for $35,000 [Applause] which was a little unnerving for me because I've never sat in front of anybody writing anything more than five dollar was a lot but we are totally grateful and thank you Kent you represent uh really all the best of that um uh Nutley has to offer and thank you for thinking of your Alma moer um in in Rec recognition of your extraordinary generosity and wavering commitment to the future education in mle high school we are deeply uh grateful for your generous contribution for the installation of the new digital Marquee and sign that will be placed hopefully soon out there on Franklin Avenue you can see it both ways going so Ken if you can come on up um and accept your certification Kent's a very humble man but we want to congratulate him thank [Applause] you I'm gonna hold up copies of the 1970 to 73 maroon and grce Kent was the editor and Mr uh V Meister it was able to get copies and also Kent has a flash drive of your yearbook and I guess a lot of pictures that you did if you know EnV Meister he knows everything um so just again just another token of our appreciation but guys students in the audience there used to be papers that people would write and read about it's very good but [Applause] we're very appreciative of the generous donation um which will make for a very nice sign on Franklin Avenue U that's not the only sign coming on Franklin Avenue our John Walker middle school PTO has done something very similar they've raised fundraised and with support of the nef and everything they've done uh they were able to raise money you'll see on the donation line today the board will accept donation for a similar sign in the front of John H Walker Middle School I know Venus Hernandez um and Megan Myers are here um I just want to thank you uh for doing all the work with your PTO um and we appreciate with Mr Mata sitting there the work you've done for that that sign thank you so [Applause] much like to get some student rec nition at this time um every year we run through the VFW auxiliary and the VFW um a patriot pen essay writing contest um it's a annual Happening Here in Nutley we appreciate that and we appreciate you coming to uh give the winners of that contest uh some recognition tonight Annette would you come forward to do that thank you would you like to yes we want to thank you um for having us here today um as you know uh we've been doing this every year and we've get more and more participation we're very happy to see that patriotism is alive and that's very important especially to install in our children today so i' like to uh give it to miss Diane robella who she's the chairperson of the auxiliary uh as well as Anna jelli our um chairperson for the Youth activities um scholarship opportunities that we have at our auxiliary so let me leave it with uh Diane thank you Madame President Board election thank you so much for being here and honoring us to let us do this for these students I just want to let you people know how we go about doing the Patriots pen for the students it is a last year more than 73,000 students from 6th 7th and eth grades took part in the VFW Patriots pen essay contest that is conducted Nationwide it is an essay contest which encourages young minds to examine America's history along with their own experiences in our American society today the students draft an essay of 300 to 400 words expressed ing their views based on a patriotic theme chosen by the vfw's national commander-in-chief this year the theme is my voice in America's democracy the student essays must be completed and given back to the BFW by October 31st then the essay is judged by the students knowledge of the theme all related facts about the theme such as who what where and why and how it relates to their own experiences after reading the essays it should give the reader a clear understanding of the students understanding of the subject my voice in America's democracy we want to thank the Board of Education of netley for the opportunity the students participation in this year's Patriots pen contest and for letting our young students voice their views on patriotism today this contest gives our young students a chance to be aware of veterans in our society and how important they are to our nation we encourage all students to express their patriotic views next year for our next 25 26 essay contest sponsored by the VFW Post 493 and the auxiliary of Nutley thank you Annette would you like to do the honors please this is our first first place okay I'd like to present our first place winner sioban hakani a $100 check um veterans would you please come up and accept this [Applause] award the youth essay certificate of Merit an outstanding young spokesperson of the future okay [Applause] congratulations ladies come over here take pictures okay let me okay congratul I wish we had a copy of what you wrote thank you thank you thank you and our second place winner uh runner up $50 Lucy Luc Lucia AR argar or Jerry I apologize [Applause] swetie now you want to turn it over now i' like to turn it over to our VFW Post Commander John Maguire who will be presenting the winners for thank you we go a little backwards I'm going to do our runner up Dante Paris [Applause] are you won are you too no we're not gonna do that okay sorry and uh our winner um I just want to talk a little bit about um you know growing up in this town uh I find that as a veteran we do a lot more activities than any other Town um I deployed as a member of the city of New Jersey many times and other veterans I speak to have nothing like what this town offers uh for us personally and for the town um and I think it's also just how great of a job the parents are doing in instilling in their children this this type of patriotism and and being able to put their that little voice in their head down on paper and writing so eloquently at such a young age uh so I'd like to call Nia mza who is our winner and also won our uh District as well so two-time winner and uh has a chance to win at the state level as [Music] well you I'm going to take a quick selfish moment uh just because we were talking about like you said you know it's 1020 uh if anyone could call Dan Coco I still haven't had a uh reunion yet uh but I just want to say uh both these gentlemen here uh when I was a freshman they had just started um and both were very impactful in my life and uh Mr ban you used to meet me here as a young man when I needed the most in my life uh because you know you're going through stuff having trouble at home and he would work with me uh at 6:00 in the morning for lacrosse uh and just to have those Role Models uh nutly always does it right and we somehow find good people to be here and I just appreciate you both thank you very much uh can all the kids come up for a picture please all the students please come up for the picture and I know a lot of their teachers are here and principes I'm going to invite you up as well because you help support them any of the teachers that are here I've seen you [Applause] [Music] just want to thank the VFW and the auxiliary for their their support um we appreciate that and thank you for all the teachers I plan to mention that before but thank you for coming out tonight whole continue from yanaa back there thank you for coming as well as some the teachers of our students they won award it's very nice of you to come tonight um last last award is a team award um I think they're the winningest team in nle hist history for a long time we're going to invite up Mr pyro to speak about the cheerleading team thank you Mr B I'd like to congratulate all of the award winners give a thank you for that lovely donation for our new sign we'll put it to with a team like our cheerleading squad we will definitely put it to good use um you know you talk about great Sports dynasties I say it all the time you talk about the Pittsburgh Steelers of the 70s the 49ers of the 80s the New York Yankees and you talk talk about the nutly cheerleaders um since the SEC the super eics concerts has been born we've run a cheerleading competition it's our league competition and we've won it 13 out of 14 years um yes absolutely and I and I believe we're on a five year L we're on a five year run now five or six year run now so um and and really you you can't really appreciate just how good this year leading squad is until you come out and watch him we do things in in with this squad with our Squad that you know it's it's not that Rah R Shish boomba stuff it's it's it's flipping it's jumping it's it's going upside I it's amazing it's the only way to describe it they work very very hard they're very very committed they're there every day and then on top of that um competition success they're also there as one of the best cheerleading squads in the super Football Conference every Saturday afternoon every Friday night so I'd like to bring coach faraco up and our girls as to present them with the24 SEC American Division Championship plaque [Applause] here [Applause] uh thank you all for coming for the presentations tonight that concludes our um presentation portion of the meeting we're going to go back on stage conduct the rest of the business uh if you came for this andd like to leave now's a good time um thanks for coming okay everyone congratulations thank you all can I get a motion for approval of our minutes motion all in favor I anyone opposed okay our Mr B our superintendent report thank you Mr President good evening members of the board faculty parents community members as we begin this new year I am pleased to share several significant developments and achievements within Nutley Public Schools community as you may be aware the Board of Commissioners has approved the acquisition of a building at 777 Bloomfield Avenue this facility will be leased to the board of education to house 10 preschool classrooms and the administrative offices starting in the fall of 2025 the expanded state funded raising Raiders preschool program will operate from this location providing enhanced early childhood education opportunities the Board of Education offices will be situated on the building's thirdd floor looking ahead to September 202 2 6 the Strategic acquisition will facilitate the transition of sixth grade students from elementary schools to John H Walker Middle School establishing it as a comprehensive 68 Middle School this change will first affect the current fourth grade cohort in the 2425 school year a 68 middle school offers several Developmental and educational benefits for sixth graders compared to what they would experience in a Cas 6 Elementary School first the Middle School setting allows for a more focused approach to the unique academic social and emotional needs of early early adolescence sixth graders are beginning to navigate significant developmental changes and middle school provides specialized teachers resources and programs tailored to their growth Additionally the 68 structure Fosters a sense of Independence and responsibility as students transition from their self-contained classrooms of elementary school to a model with multiple teachers and class changes this prepares them for the expectations of high school and Beyond socially sixth graders benefit from interacting with peers closer to their age range in a middle school reducing the potential for feelings of maturity disparity with when grouped with younger elementary students additionally a 68 Middle School often often offers expanded extracurricular opportunities such as clubs and leadership programs that might not be available in a case6 setting further enriching the student experience to keep the community informed about this transition the superintendent corner of the district's website has been redesigned this section provides updates on the transition process and resources pertinent to the district's plans notably uh not notably information regarding the launch of a transition stakeholder committee is available the committee's inaugural meeting is scheduled for February 19th we invite interested stakeholders to express their interest in joining by emailing me directly additionally a comprehensive FAQ is available and will be updated as new questions arise I believe there were paper copies of the FAQ upon entry tonight to the board meeting I would also like to share the recent accomplishments and upcoming events within our district over the past month we successfully hosted information sessions for our parents the I ready diagnostic tool Workshop provided insights into student assessments and personalized learning paths additionally our ESL family night offered valuable resources to support our multilingual Learners thank you to Miss Egan for dedication and coordination in making these events beneficial for our families that the high school recently welcomed prospective nth grade students and their families for an orientation session this is event was instrumental and easing the transition to high school is in instrumental providing insights into our academic offerings and expectations as well as giving family tours a familes tour of our building special thanks to miss Mrs girkins Mr Williams and his team and all of our content supervisors for their comprehensive presentations and efforts in making this orientation a success our winter sports teams have demonstrated exceptional talent and determination this year our boys basketball team is currently holding an impressive 8 and4 record girls basketball is battling through a s and seven season uh girls bowling was crowned the 2025 ess's County Champions and in wrestling world uh we've had outstanding performances at the esas county wrestling tournament with Lou deuli securing first place and being honored as the most outstanding wrestler uh congratulations also to our also to our girl wrestlers Izzy timonera and Michelle Gavin Alis who won the our Essex County Champions uh this week our high school Asian-American clubs are visiting our elementary schools to recognize and learn about Lunar New Year thank you to Mr an MRS Trudy uh and the students visiting the schools also there are volunteers from Alliance Club visiting our elementary schools to assist assist our nurses with vision screening the Nutley High School theater department is in full swing preparing for the spring production of Mean Girls Jr our students are dedicating countless hours to rehearsals uh next board meeting will be set up in the pit down here the stage will be OCC occupied um uh and they're preparing for performance on March 7th March 8th and March 9th we will also run our annual dinner and a show dress rehearsal partnering with Nutley parks and recck Department with our culinary department on March 6th we encourage the community to attend and support our young uh actors and actresses uh special congratulations to M Mr vicarello for being selected to conduct the 2024 North Jersey area Band percussion ensemble this prestigious appointment reflects his expertise and commitment to the music education in Nutley and across the state we are proud to have him represent our district at the regional level we have also had numerous students selected to North Jersey area band New Jersey school music association region one band and region one choir as well as All State Choir in addition seven Nutley high school students have been selected to the National Association for music educators all Eastern Choir This is a huge accomplishment there's over 2,000 applicants from 11 states they only select 328 students 59 from New Jersey and Nutley has seven of them that's a big accomplishment on January 17th our administrative team led a comprehensive professional development day featuring sessions on dyslexia artificial intelligence and education uh grades four to six Ela and math curriculum updates dlm training DVR s training and the pyramid model tier 2 for for preschool these sessions are pivotal in equipping our Educators with the latest strategies and knowledge to enhance student Lear learning thank you to Justin alasco Janine loin solo and our district content supervisors and all who organized and participated in this enriching day tonight's agenda includes significant items for approval including the Nutley high school program of studies for next year this comprehensive guide outlines the courses and academic Pathways available to our students ensuring they have diverse and rigorous options to prepare for their futures also as mentioned the generous donations that are on the agenda for to be received we are grateful for the numerous contributions from our community members and organizations these donations enhance our programs and provide resources for our students and we do have a list of seasoned veterans who are retiring this year we acknowledge and honor the long- serving distinguished teachers and their faculty and the faculty members whose retirements are being accepted tonight their dedication and service have profoundly impacted our district as in our tradition the board will formally honor them individually at the June Board of Education meeting as we look ahead please be reminded that preschool enrollment for the 2526 school year is open the Nutley public school district is fortunate to offer free highquality preschool to enrolled students details are available on our district website January is board recognition and appreciation month I would like to extend my deepest gratitude to our board members for their unwavering commitment countless hours of service and steadfast dedication ation to the betterment of our schools on behalf of the entire Community we thank you for your contributions in conclusion as we embark on this New Year let us continue to work collaboratively to provide the best educational experiences for our students together we can achieve success thank you Mr President thank you Mr B Mr D our business administrative report yes thank you Mr President um on for approval of tonight's meeting is a resolution to approve a first reading of refund uh some outstanding bonds um that are dated April 8 2015 these Bonds were originally issued in 2007 at a price of $38,500 th000 uh so this I believe is the second time we'll be refunding them uh we are required to do two resolutions uh so tonight will be the first and at our meeting in February will be the second um our current savings is projected to be slightly low slightly lower than 3% of the required present value savings um however this can move above the 3% Benchmark at any time with a slight move in interest rates as of now the average estimated savings um is projected to be $75,000 per year um or $600,000 savings over the remaining life of the bonds um it is because of this great savings opportunity um that will go towards all of it will go towards the taxpayers um that we are beginning this process to be in position to move forward when the market moves in the school district's favor and after the bonds are Bid um sometime in March or April uh we will know for sure what the savings will be and I will report um back then um and the the transaction can only move forward if we meet the 3% present value savings uh we're currently at 2.98% um and there will be no cost to the board if the interest rates do not change thank you Mr President thank you Mr Dita uh with us tonight we have Jason Lee our student representative Mr Lee thank you Mr President good evening ladies and gentlemen I'm Jason Lee a senior at nle high school also an active member of the student council just wanted to give you an update of what we've been up to behind the scenes like Mr Mania mentioned early on our Athletics are doing pretty strong with a solid records overall um when it comes to student council we've um in the month of December our theme was charity so we had a lot of um interesting and fun activities like spirit week we had students dressed like teachers and teachers dressed like students that was pretty interesting we also had a uh a toy drive that all we had so many toys from students that donated and it all went to the Beth Israel Hospital and it it's interesting to me that I've been here four years in nle high school and I've I think this is the year that I've seen like the most growth in turn terms of like our togetherness and how much the students do care about others and like making an effort to buy gifts to donate to charity and that like is amazing to me we also did a uh teachers around the school decorated their doors for something called Deck the Halls and we donated the whoever won who had the best door we donate they donated to an an animal hospital moving forward to January uh we talked about goal setting each uh class in the high school had their own individual meetings and we talked about what's next to come especially important for juniors and seniors is looking ahead into the future with things like college and SEC um postsecondary education we also have um we're also in the planning phase for some tournaments around the school to you know try to raise some money but also have fun with it get our students involved get our staff involved we have a volleyball tournament coming up students versus staff and student engagements throughout the entire day on February 14th more to follow on that still in the works and our big event is on May 28th which is Raider Fest where we pin all the classes against each other and have a little fun with activities and we raise a lot of money for the school in the high school as the third marking period arise um is on its way we look forward to you know the future and how our students are are continuing to excel in education and what's to come so that is what we're doing at n High School Mr President Mr Lee thank you um a lot of activity going on here at uh at nle High School in the student body a lot of good things thank you you're welcome to stay but if you um you know Now's the Time if you want to leave you can we know you have a busy night and schools tomorrow so it's it's your choice you don't don't feel bad if you have to leave you can okay okay we're going to move on to our committee reports um Miss uh danek Martin academic thank you Mr President um academic committee met on January 22nd Mr SMI joined the committee to discuss the request for overnight uh Crew field trips Miss Egan and Miss jaio provided the committee with an update regarding special services and additional student supports including preparation for extended school year continuation of the high impact tutoring Grant and strategic programs and strategies programs sorry Mr Williams and Miss girkin joined the committee to discuss the 2025 2026 uh NHS program of studies Miss gurgens highlighted the changes in programming Mr Williams provided information on natural National Honor Society as well as ongoing Stu student matters the committee discussed the partnership with Coldwell College the course and the courses offered Mr B presented the committee with the first draft of the 2025 2026 academic calendar Mr B provided a recap of the January 17th professional development day that included various sessions focusing on dyslexia artificial intelligence and education grades four through six Ela math curriculum updates dlm training DVRs training and the pyramid model tier two for preschool Mr B you discussed the uh with the committee um that is being formed to provide feedback on the element El school report card specifically social and emotional reporting Mr B discussed a math research request from Washington school with cane University the committee discussed planning for the transition of sixth grade including frequently asked questions strategic planning events and the consultant submissions for the request for proposals Mr Banu discussed the budget calendar prepared by Mr Devita as well as the approach for a sustainable budget and Mr bny discussed the ongoing student matter as well as upcoming agenda items including a return on bond payments our next meeting uh for the academic committee is scheduled for Thursday February uh 20th thank you thank you m danek Martin Mr bosam Administration yes Mr President thank you uh the administration committee met Wednesday January 22nd Mr kinsky Mr Scotty and myself met with Mr B Mr B discussed the sign donations at the John Walker uh middle school and here at the high school as well as the PTO supported art mu at Spring Garden School Mr Bane you presented the committee with the first draft of the 2526 academic calendar the committee discussed planning for the transition of sixth grade including frequently asked questions strategic planning events and the consultant submissions from the request for proposals Mr B had discussed the budget calendar prepared by Mr Dita as well as the approach for a sustainable budget Mr ban you discussed ongoing St student matters as well as upcoming agenda items including a return on bond payments the next meeting of the administration committee is scheduled for Thursday February 20th 4:30 thank you Mr bosam Mr faginal Finance thank you Mr President finance committee met on January 24th 24th in attendance was myself Mr Ferraro Mr deia miss makus Mr B Mr D and Miss Lori our insurance broker I presented a benefits report for December and also their projections for the 20052 2006 budget our finance resolutions were reviewed including the board secretary treasurers report our bills list memorandum of agreement with the Nutley administrators Association carryover funds with the pre Grant donations for Nutley High School John H Walker Middle School Lincoln School and we also discussed the refunding for one of our bonds we discuss having updates for ongoing facility projects at Future meetings amounts for the high school media Center Yaca service entrance product projects request for proposals and starting an ad hoc committee for chatable donations we discuss the budget calendar for the 2025 26 school year budget and finally we discuss the December income statement for the cafeteria and unpaid student balances thank you Mr President thank you Mr fraginals we now come to the portion of our meeting where we allow members of the public to address the board in this section we allow questions or comments on reports resolutions and all screw related matters our board regulations number 0167 all low 20 minutes for these communications each person shall be limited to three minutes and we ask you to try to stay within this requirement speakers may speak more than once only after all others wishing to speak on a topic have been heard all statements will be directed to me as the chairperson and no one may address board members individually please be reminded that if your statement is too Leng lengthy abusive obscene irrelevant or redundant your participation may be terminated please remember to state your name and address each and every time you address the board does anyone have any questions hi my name is Kimberly Van Wart 34 Ivy Poli I apologize I I'm sorry we're just gonna turn that around yeah okay you did it thank you okay very capable uh I apologize I'm probably going to go over I do my very best to to go as quick as I can as a parent of a current fourth grader comes as no surprise that the conversation about moving sixth graders to the middle school is becoming a reality there is academic benefits in this move such as more elective choices and a better understanding of their future educational structure however this analysis is based on Broad assumptions and not actual data from Nutley itself the potential change would affect our current fourth graders who would be your inaugural class there are so many questions and concerns surrounding this decision while some may feel 18 months is plenty of time to the reality for our children and us as parents is it feels rushed it could also impose an unknown financial hardship on the district which is also facing budget cuts as mentioned in your last two board education meetings I question whether the true benefit of students for this has been short changed over time who who for students who have been short changed time and again is really being considered the students targeted for this new Venture are our covid kindergartners those who started their educational Journey on a computer these students who were promised a smoother transition to first grade and have having addressed their social and behavioral growth never fully received that support at least at our home school Radcliffe for instance the first two weeks of school many students didn't even know how the paid lunch system worked and didn't eat while I can't speak for the other schools at Radcliffe our third grade year was disrupted by a teacher who missed a quarter of the school year and several days leading up to that absence when we raised concerns about how the district would address this Gap my son's teacher was reassigned assigned to them and we were left with a student teacher a teacher who has not completed their educational process themselves to teach them no answers were given we just were to accept that this was happening to our kids and as a result our children missed out on a significant third grade event that Radcliff does due to lack of resources fast forward to fourth grade where just weeks before school started it was announced that Chromebooks wouldn't be included in the budget for students the board stated it was not a realistic opportunity in response the Elementary School pto's stepped in once again to help fund Chromebooks just so the school could allow all students to use them in their daily learning process additionally our children have been looking forward to certain life events such as Patrol student council Junior Olympics and the third half Club while these Milestones that these are Milestones that they have witnessed and eagerly anticipated but now may miss out due to the rush nature of this decision while the board may see but not always consider these events ENT they are vital for personal growth of our students and represent nothing other than their rights of Passage another major concern is testing the results from the state test show that our children have not caught up to the state average and are still behind their peers from previous years here at nutly schools they are lagging behind the current fifth and sixth graders when they were in third grade this year these fourth graders already had to adjust their academic academic sorry academic curriculum due to the budget shortage and it is clear that this will likely affect their test scores again and potential ripple effect in future years may I keep going please yes I wonder if any of the administrations sitting up here tonight have been in the classrooms not just viewing reports or looking at average numbers that come on report cards but observed our students engaging with each other have you witnessed how they behave at recess and in their specials have you noticed the DraStic differences just from school to school while each C classroom has its own academic curve there is a significant lack of consistency across the schools in terms of student performance while some schools assign multiple pages of homework others are giving two math problems and a little note that says don't forget to read as parents we see firsthand the struggles and the lack of preparedness that our children our fourth graders face finally and perhaps the scariest part is the unknown you are telling us to prepare for a move and to become the first sixth graders in the Middle School while parts of that are exciting how can we be certain that there is enough room to accommodate somewhere around 300 students in a school that could not handle this before how can we be expected to believe that a project that involves reallocating space adding teachers updating facilities like bathrooms themselves will be completed in just eight sh months the last three major projects have were delayed and over budget by this District unfortunately that's often the reality with Lodge projects but we are expected to just hold in place and be in limbo hoping that the school will be ready in time this situation is unfair to our children to the pto's who work endlessly already and now harder to fundraise the events that they offer and to the parents who are left wondering what will happen if the timeline shifts what if we end up being the last sixth graders in the school is there an abort date if things go wrong who's going to reimburse us for deposits on events reprints for graduation items who will explain to our kids that they have once again been let down by a district with big PL plans but poor planning and execution you said that you want the best for our students if that's truly the case why rush into something that hasn't even been fully thought through why not delay a year and give our teachers administrators schools students parents and the entire Community time to prepare and ensure that this decision is not just the hope but the actual reality change is a part of life but history and time are valuable tools that can help us make informed rational decisions please consider the need of our actual fourth graders consider the history of your past projects be better than what has been done before thank you thank [Applause] you no very well written um thank you for for doing that there's some frequently asked questions we put together that may answer some of your questions and we'll find answers for the rest of your questions I would also invite you and everyone who is concerned to the planning process which will start February 19 uh so we could hear you u in a different form uh with the consultant as we plan to do this but um I understand your concerns very well written and thank you for coming to the mic tonight thank you any other questions good evening Mr chairman School Board Nutley School Board my name's Carmine alesio 81 East Center Street um I'm coming here because I I I'm I'm a known person in the community and every single day I'm I've been questioned and have to try to come to grips with the money that was taken the 7 to 11 million doll that was taken from this the children of the the district uh Nutley District here is there anyone that could kind of break this down and at least tell us the status of this investigation or where it's going because it's an it's an ongoing thing that happens to haunt this community and like I said every single day someone questions it and I'm kind of like in the middle that's why I'm here thank thank you Mr alesio um we we've we've discussed this over over several meetings um we had our orders here last uh at the last meeting um they they addressed the board uh with with some of their findings um there is no evidence of 7 to 11 million missing um there's there's evidence of money that was spent overspent um with regard to this investigation I think you're referring to the forensic audit our state monitor Miss makus addressed that um at at our last meeting they we we did we did reach out to the state Miss makus um I don't know if you want to just get up and and just recap some of the I don't I don't want to put words in your mouth I know you were at the last meeting so no but is there is leio she she just uh if she can just just address um that one question behind you oh are you addressing my what I'm asking or yeah oh okay um is there a maybe it make it simpler is there like a newsletter on the computer that um people who asked me like day in and day out where's this investigation going because it appears to be like swept under the carpet it's 11 months I mean miss m miss m is ready Mr leio Miss makus is ready to address that I'll be be glad to you know I'm finished now here you go thank you there is there is no missing money okay um I try to think along the way of how to uh explain this as as simply as possible and relate it to our own individual is this me individual it's just it's just uh our own individual uh lives and I I broke it down very simply I have $110,000 in my checkbook and I say to my daughter I will buy you a new bedroom set she goes out and looks at a bedroom set and comes back and says I found a bedroom set and it's $122,000 so I have a choice I can tell her you're not getting the bedroom set and I have my $10,000 or I can say go out and get another bedroom set look at it because 10,000 is the most I'm going to to spend or I can write a check for $122,000 and now I've got a deficit in my checkbook of $22,000 that's what happened here in other words the district had I'm just going to use a million because it's easy to say the district had a million and it went out and spent 2 million so nobody took that other million it's just that the district spent more than it had in its checkbook and so as a result of that when the bills started coming in there was no money to pay the bills and so the district they got the product they had to pay the bill so they had to go to the state and get a loan just as might have gone to the bank and said I need that $2,000 so there's no money missing it's simply that the distri spent more than it had in its checkbook and as a result it had an obligation to pay its bills but they didn't have the money to pay it so therefore they had to go to the state that's as as simple as I could explain it so it's not missing it's just that we spent more than we had bad management yes no and yes well from what I can see uh the we have to and and I my position on this is day in and day out it's it's it's a haunt okay and to overend way it appears I I don't disagree with you all the good things that we witness facility activities and this and that is there a newsletter Mr leio so we're not We're Not Gonna you know have this back and forth I I understand but she answered she answered your question with regard to that um well I think she just answered that question well the money was that we we have we have yeah but I understand but Mr allesio we've addressed this we've addressed this many times over the last seven months no there there's a presentation you can go online and you could actually download the presentation where it discussed where where the issues were you know Rising Health Care okay we had Rising Transportation costs we had Rising special ed costs those are those are those are the three primary areas where we saw a large increase in those three areas okay we we are self-insured with in the in in the Board of Education being self-insured we're responsible to play the again I I would I would ask that M Mr leio I would ask you to go online I would ask you to go online look Ator that we take this serious yes and I understand that so do we so thank you we I think we did I think Miss makus did give you an answer she gave give you an answer now with regard to the investigation the the forensic audit that was another one of your questions Miss makus please yes I've been in touch with the state um they have indicated that they were waiting for the 2324 audit which was just completed and which was reported to the board at the last meeting uh I am in the process of putting together a um email to them or letter to them indicating why I feel very strongly that the state should be doing a forensic audit into the 2324 and in my opinion the 2223 school year um and um my recommendation for a forensic audit um and that's where we are on the forensic audit thank you any other questions we have other people that have you know questions so they're they're waiting to get up good evening members of the board um Jimmy nne 90 Rond um I'm asking all my questions in the frame of the self-contained ABA program sixth grade at rackliff school so just to give that precursor I did read the can you just do me one favor I'm sorry because I have I have I have hearing issues and and I'm having a hard time hearing uh better thank you sorry um asking all my questions in the frame of the self-contained ABA program sixth grade at rackliff school I did read the FAQ didn't see anything specific there about it we absolutely do want to be part of the planning process appreciate the invitation there uh also aware you're not going to have answers to all of this I know Mr well certain members of the board sorry I didn't want to uh refer to anybody specifically but uh certain members of the board attend the CPAC meetings would love to talk about it there right but here here are the main questions right so what's the plan for the self-contained sixth grade ABA program at Radcliffe uh the current fourth graders right my son's in the fourth grade when the move occurs to the middle school is it for them to go or for them to stay um right now I'm G to take your questions and we're going to talk through it and and we will be at the CPAC meeting we will invite you to be part of the transition planning process and we'll answer all your questions cool um a few more questions to go along with it just because it might be helpful for you guys to take those away um what would be the individual supports each of the kids especially those that that that uh will struggle socially will receive when they move over to the Middle School um where will the therapy rooms be um and and what will they look like right I know the school doesn't have those now um who will the therapist be being that the ones that they currently see at Radcliffe will not move or I shouldn't say will not but the assumption would be that they may not move to the Junior High um let's see while you're looking for a question please don't take my inability to answer as we haven't talked through this please understand this is a team effort to transition the sixth grade uh we're open to listening to all the concerns and to finding Solutions together that process takes a little bit of time um but don't think we haven't at least begun to talk about this in small circles and moving out we really need to engage um many of the parents many of the teachers they know the best and work through this together um so please don't take my options of answers is not knowing based on your past engagement with our program I do not so thanks for that um the like what will the specials look like right because I think now we see in practice that the The Specialist teachers at Radcliffe are well aware of our kids and they do a really great job with all of them um the junior high special teachers I highly doubt are even aware they exist um so I would like to you know what would the training look like the preparedness all that for them I know there has been ABA programs but this will be the biggest ABA influx into the junior high I will comment on that I do know our special teachers at the Middle School uh do work with students with disabilities and they do work well with those students um so I would like to shout them out for doing that good yeah um and I think that the last thing I just want to piggy back on one of the earlier comments because I really appreciated that from the the parents from rackliff um you know you're asking I'm going to talk specifically again about our kids but you're asking our kids who already struggle with social interaction to go into a school full of a bunch of kids who may not even be aware that they exist um the Halls are busy I know the school is big but I have had many family member nieces and nephews go through the junior high it's still just as busy as it was when I was there years ago um you know I just want to make sure that this the the board's aware of the fact that that's a big ask not only for the current fourth graders in jet but in particular for the current fourth graders in the ABA program I mean any of the kids in the ABA program it's a struggle for them right that's why I harped on the the supports um Ratliff really has made it a community for our kids and they offer them a lot of things particularly the Special Olympics program which is great I know you've attended along with many of the other board members and you've seen how great it has been um they deserve to have that so um again all Food For Thought appreciate your engagement and that's all I have thank you very much for your feedback and I also encourage you if there's any questions that you have or any any other parents have just reach out to board reach out to the superintendent with questions you know that we want to have the community involved in this process um so it's not like we're going to just you know close our eyes and just do it I mean we want the community involved and you have a lot of valid concerns especially as parents of a special ed student um so please any anything that comes up any of the parents out there if if if there's any questions you don't need to wait for a meeting you could reach out to us you could reach out to the superintendent thank you okay uh M Mr leio I'm sorry we just just let let let them and then if we have more time we'll we'll let you come up Mark Jacobson excuse me 115 Margaret Avenue um a lot of this what I'm going to say tonight has already been addressed already been said in the frequently asked questions but I prepared so I'm gonna speak from what was on my heart tonight um good evening I come before the board tonight in regards to the expansion of the preschool with a building on Bloomfield Avenue the subsequent plan to move sixth grades of the B Middle School for the 2026 2027 school year first of all I applaud the board and the town for working together to come up with a solution to move the sixth grade to the middle school and expand the preschool with a price tag significantly less than the failed referendums of years ago however while as a parent I always knew the move to sixth grade to the middle school was always a real possibility and could potentially impact my children I'm quite surprised and shocked by the timing of this move board meetings this past spring upon discovering the $7 million shortfall on our budget were spent filled with impassion pleas from students and parents to save specific staff members maintain certain services and allow our children to continue to receive the same quality of Education that we had come to expect this past fall board meetings were filled with discussions of Chromebooks as our fourth graders who were supposed to receive one toone Chromebooks suddenly were not during this time of financial uncertainty the board preached fiscal responsibility and budget sustainability as difficult Cuts were made and we had to borrow money from the state to close the gap with a loan and the add addition of a state monitor who has the final say in all financial matters how can the board even conceive the notion of spending money to move the sixth grades to the middle school at this time while as my understanding the purchase and retrofitting of the building on Bloomfield Avenue is being paid for by the town any necessary build outs remodeling Etc needed at the middle school to accommodate an additional 300 students will be paid for by the Board of Ed thus an increase to your budget and an increase to our taxes I ask then for the board to pause the move at this time in light of your message of fiscal responsibility and budget sustainability our focus should be paying back the 7 million dollars to the state not taking on additional debt I also ask you to consider the timing of this move and the classes that it will be affecting the first set sixth graders scheduled to move to the middle school would be our current fourth graders these current fourth graders are Co babies their first day of kindergarten was virtual they didn't meet any of their classmates or teacher in person until over months of the school year they had a small graduation and missed out on lots of kindergarten festivities these same kids were supposed to start fourth grade with Chromebooks and found out a week before school was to start there wasn't enough money for them these kidss served to have sixth grade experience at the elementary school while the fested and do not and not have to share that graduate experience with other class not to mention the current fifth grade class who has to go how to go virtual March to the kindergarten year and had no personal graduation why should they have to share I recognize two classes are going to have to share the graduation experience and all the fun the last year of elementary school has to offer at some point when the move happens it is inevitable but can't it wait these two classes are going to be H affected have already experienced more adversity and unusual educational experiences in their few years in school that most students experience in their whole educ ational experience but let's not add to it by making the move for the 2026 2027 school year in time this move of the sixth grades and Middle School makes sense from an educational perspective and a space perspective by limiting trailers but but from a financial perspective into the impact it will have to affected students it should wait in closing when this announcement was made and message was sent out by the district promising to keep us informed and answer questions as you were able while you think through this move are the following questions I'm sure many of the community have and I hope that you will answer them when you're able and some of these questions I will acknowledge now receiving the frequently asked questions tonight are addressed to them in a degree in there but I'm just going to read them because I know this is a lot of questions the stakeholders in the community have what remodeling construction need will be done will need to be done at the middle school to accommodate the additional students what will the financial impact be to our taxes what would be the impact of Staffing will current sixth grade teachers move to the middle school will more staff need to be hired for planning Stakes for PTO and potential two graduating classes from the elementary school when will we know for sure this move will happen to ensure the best last year of Elementary School experience for a kids thank you for your time thank you any other questions I know I know Mr leio you want to get back up I just want to I'm not you know I just want to make sure other people that want to get up and speak can have the opportunity so is there anyone else that wants to get up any questions okay Mr alesio in in in conclusion here um the lovely lady she you know gave us her example my concern is she had mentioned um 23 and 24 which it's kind of the beginning of 25 will this have a through her experience as an auditor I believe that's what the lovely lady is will this trickle or funnel down further into the years like 24 25 26 27 and be a continuous snow snowball rolling down the hill to where there is no recovery we're just going to keep on spending spending spending which is um bad management because through my knowledge of reading other about other cities and other towns that this has happened to it just never ends I could tell you that miss makus is here to make sure that that does not happen again I can only say not under my watch the past seven years I I I um Mr lesio just give her a little room please you're a tall guy you're a tall guy no C A vibe here and no I'm I'm I'm uh I'm uh I tend to speak before I think sometimes uh no uh when I came in uh the budget was already set for 2425 um sat down with Mr B on uh almost on a daily basis reviewing what what they had proposed what was actually needed to be changed uh the cuts that had to be made uh and um to ensure that the areas that Mr uh of the uh president um went over that to ensure that there were sufficient funds in the large expenditure accounts that they were budgeted we reviewed all the processes that were not in place and put them in place to ensure that uh accounts weren't overexpanded uh we um locked down the accounts so that no account can be overexpanded including by myself or the super intendant or M uh the business administrator uh all things have to be done through transfers uh so we have put into place a lot of checks and balances to ensure that Nutley is moving back towards where they were two or three years ago when you had sufficient surpluses where you had reserves and where you had a budget that reflect did the actual expenditures so we have put a lot of processes in place to ensure that this doesn't happen certainly not this year and not next year uh so as I said on my watch it isn't going to happen um I think that as we I cannot tell you that the next budget season 2526 is going to be easy because it's not it takes two three four years to be getting back to what I would call an even level uh where you would not even notice that there was that bump in the road so it's not a 10 year ter the loan is 10 years I'm talking about how long it takes for a district to see the results of the checks and balances and ensuring that there are sufficient funds for all of the expenditures that we are required to make and uh ensuring that uh the district at the same time is moving forward what you don't want is another year where you're spending more money than you're taking in um that isn't going to happen uh at least as I said not on my watch that's I don't know what else to tell you that's my my job is I'm not an auditor by the way I'm the state monitor I I can only say that what we've done okay no it's it it I can only say we've put in the checks and balances that are required to keep the district on an even level thank you Miss MERS is there any any anyone else having any questions okay seeing none I have a motion to uh conclude the uh public portion okay all in favor okay Mr basama would you take academic please uh you know what Mr basama you're correct and I don't know why I get that mixed up Miss St Che Martin second any discussion roll call Mr bamo yes Mr danek Martin yes Mr franel yes Mr gilbery yes Mr Scotty Mr Faro yes Mr basam Administration yes Mr President I'd like to move Administration resolutions 1 through four as written discussion roll call Mr Balo yes Mrs Dan Martin yes Mr fragels yes Mr gilbery yes Mr Scotty yes Mr Faro yes Mr fraginal Finance thank you Mr President I'd like to move Finance resolutions 1 through 12 is written second discussion roll call Mr balamo um yes one and two on number three abstain from Check 29259 Yes the rest of the way Mrs danek Martin yes Mr fragels yes Mr gilbery yes Mr Scotty yes Mr pero yes to one and two abstaining on number three and yes to four through 12 Mr Scotty Personnel second discussion roll call Mr bamo yes Mr djck Martin yes Mr fraginals yes Mr gilbery yes Mr Scotty yes Mr fro yes is there any old business to come before the board any new business okay whereas the Board of Education will be discussing matters exempt from public discussion pursuing to njsa 10 colum 4-12 now therefore it be a resolved that the Board of Education recess to close executive session at this time to discuss contracts and Personnel be it further resolved that the results of the discussions will be made public by inclusion on the agenda of the subsequent meeting of the Board of Education when the reasons for discussing such matters in Clos session no longer exist can I get a motion to adjourn into executive so move second okay thank you everyone