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Video-Count: 2
Video-1: youtube.com/watch?v=JwRT4g2paDs
Video-2: youtube.com/watch?v=NtyjchHzlE4

Part: 1

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--------- So, we'll go right into the uh regular meeting uh and we will open up public comment. Again, the board of education recognized the value of public comment and educational issues and the importance of allowing members of the public to express themselves on school matters of community interest. Public comment is not a question and answer

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session. Specific questions can be directed to the administration. Superintendent's contact information is on the deas. We encourage you to contact her with any questions. Public particip participation shall be governed by the following rules. Each statement by a participant shall be limited to five

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minutes duration. No participant may speak more than once on the same topic until all others who wish to speak on that topic have been heard. The presiding officer may request any person to leave the meeting when that person does not observe reasonable decorum.

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Would anyone like to make a public comment at this time? Oh, thank you. Sorry, I moved it. >> Thank you. Uh, Alex Hayes Ourst again. Um, so, um, on the facilities usage, um,

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I have come before you many times asking you to please raise those rates, even if it's minimal, at least it will show some progress in trying to move the needle of revenues just a smidge, even if it's 1%. Um, thank you, Mr. Schneider for

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actually looking at me cuz the standard is for everybody to look down when I'm talking. Um, on the facilities request, um, you have June March through June soccer to 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Like,

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can we be a little bit more descriptive like they used to be? Um, you're basically saying, and I know that's not what you mean, um, but you're basically saying the soccer association gets TOIS fields from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Of course, I'd have a huge problem with it, even if it was

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just weekends and all that, um, cuz it's a steal. Um, you also say Spartan camps for 1 month. There's no proper timing and dates on there. You also have May through November. May through November for baseball, 8:00 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.,

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you're giving up the fields from 8:00 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. No, you're not. Of course you're not. So, it would be helpful, I think, in transparent if you wrote the actual dates. Um, but I bring this all up just to once again to reiterate to please at a minimum, you

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could do a simple thing like raising the facilities usage forms. I know there's been inherent resistance to do that on this board. Um, you are not charging for lawn maintenance, which I think you should. You are not charging for electrical costs, which I think you

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should. Um, and I think that might be all I have for right now. Oh, I'm sorry. My final comment will be even when you open up the public comments every time, you still value public public comment. And I really truly believe you don't. Um, if

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you did value public comment, you would a open yourselves up to commentary questions and actually answer things, but also you would have posted information about tonight's meeting. The fact that I'm still the only one that ever shows up is partly because I

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don't know, maybe nobody cares, but also like I do the research, I put in the work to do the URLs, to find the documents, to do all these things because you guys refuse to make it public. If you cared about public comment, you would have put the agenda online. You would have put the sevenpage

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document a little bit more upfront. You would have discussed some of these numbers, but go ahead and vote for 6%. Any other public comment at this time? Anyone in the queue? Public comment is now closed. We now move on to the

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regular agenda. So, our numbering scheme is different. So we are in section five. Mrs. McGovern, approval of minutes. Any discussion on those as well? Right, Mr. Hastings? >> Yes, sir. >> Any discussion on on the minutes from >> We have a second first, please.

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>> I'm sorry. Yeah. >> Thank you. >> Any discussion about minutes? >> See none, Mr. Hastings. >> Approving 5.1. Mr. Gra. >> Yes. >> Mr. Cobbert. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Dam. >> Yes. >> Mr. Gilman. >> Yes. >> M. McCarthy. Yes, >> M. McGovern.

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>> Yes, >> Mr. Schneider. >> Yes, >> Miss Stevens. >> Yes, >> Mr. Dan. >> Yes. >> Motion carries. >> Personnel. Mrs. McGovern. >> Move to approve items 6.1 through 6.5. May I have a second? >> Second. >> Mr. Hastings. >> Any discussion?

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>> There can't be. >> Oh, there can't be. That's right. Yes. >> Items 61 through 65. Mr. Brady. >> Yes. >> Mr. Cobra. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Dam. >> Yes. >> Mr. Gilman. >> Yes. >> Mr. McCarthy. >> Yes. Mr. McGovern. >> Yes. >> Mr. Schneider. >> Yes.

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>> Miss uh Miss Stevens. >> Yes. >> And Mr. Dalton. >> Yes. >> Thank you. >> Sec section seven. Uh Mr. McCarthy, financial management and resource services. >> Thank you very much.

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Uh move to approve items 71 through me 7.20. >> Second. ending discussion. >> I just want to comment that um I just want to say thank you um for the

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donation of books. I think that's amazing that our school was able to get that. And then I have one question on the preschool um budget of the $6,000. Um I don't recall seeing that last year. Is that new because it was like a little

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bit more than what we're granted for or >> uh 716 >> right? So, what we're approving is the budget uh line by line for $6.3 million >> 667

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I'm sorry 716 the preschool budget. Is that you're asking a question about that? >> Yeah. I just looking at this. >> Yeah. 6 million. >> Oh, six. >> Thought that was extra to that. Okay.

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Yeah. Okay. No, I would like Why is this Okay. Sorry. >> It's late. We're clear. She just got the number. >> Thank you. >> Any other comments? >> Ready for a roll call? >> This is 71 through 720. Mr. Parade. >> Yes.

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>> Mr. Cobert. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Dam. >> Yes. >> Gilman. >> Yes. To all abstain from 7.5. Baseball wrestling. >> Mr. McCarthy. Yes, >> Mrs. McGover. >> Yes, >> Mr. Schneider. >> Yes, >> Miss Stevens. >> Yes.

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>> And Mr. Dolan? >> Yes. >> All items carry. >> Section 8. Mrs. Tam, >> I'll move to approve items 81 through 86. Second, >> discussions.

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I will note on there the uh professional development items for the staff is is uh very comprehensive and the curriculum writing hours which is a lot of work on the behalf of the curriculum department and our staff. >> So items 81 through 86 Mr. Brady >> yes >> Mr. Cobert

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>> yes >> Mrs. Dan >> yes >> Mr. Gilman >> yes >> Mr. McCarthy >> yes >> Mr. McGovern >> yes >> Mr. Snder >> yes >> Miss Stevens >> yes >> Mr. Golden. >> Yes. >> Any members of the board have any old

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business at this time? >> Yes. >> I'll just like to say again, um, we've had two bike buses now at the Wanamasa Elementary School and it's been absolutely amazing. Honestly, I think there's more than 50 kids participating

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with adults. It's the seeing the bike racks. It's amazing. So I just if anybody's listening for the Wamata Elementary, if you would like to join us, we start at 8:15 at the firehouse. It's a really great event. It's really great to see. So um it's just another great thing that the ocean community is

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doing. >> Every day or is that only >> just on Fridays we had a guest appearance for Mr. Bodman's on the first day. The kids were very happy about it. Cool. >> Great job by the parents put together just great and just said it's great. the

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kids walking in the vibes are very >> very nice >> I believe I was just gonna say that I think you should start um emailing people that are going to be here for see here now you know you see in LA that like working on it just start pinning them every week and see if someone shows up

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that be fun too >> any other old business that's wonderful thank you Mr. for McCarthy. >> Um, I think it should just be said I believe that every day, especially because of what we're going on, what is what we're discussing with our budget. I

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expect this, but I believe it, too. I believe that every day our administration, our staff are ensuring that we get every dollar worth of our taxes. So, I want that to be known. And I'm I'm more of a of a fiscally conservative individual. So it pains me

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to even pass and agree with a 6.5% budget and to do so with 12 position cuts, right? But because there was a lot of flack shot out today across the bow, I want to say that I know and believe our district is doing every single thing

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they can to ensure that they give our students everything that they need and that our taxpayers are getting what they deserve with the dollars that they are spending. I know that this is not an easy thing to deal with. And I can't let that pass without saying that this board

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has worked extremely hard to lobby our representation in Trenton. And we've been saying for years that this was happening, right? We've been saying it for years that this day is coming and it is here and we have done everything we

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can to make it known. So, I just want that to be very clear and and it has even been said tonight and to put a very fine point on it. It has the potential to get worse if we do not see some sort of easement from Trenton, right? Because

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this is a state issue and our district is doing the best they can with what they have because as of now, no help is coming, right? So, I just want to make that very clear. So, thank you and go big red. >> Okay. >> So, Mr. McCarthy, I will take the

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opportunity to add to that um both uh to support everything you just said um and remind us that we have had robust discussions this budget season and our administration came back to us and and went back through things with, you know,

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their pencils and their red pen and and came back to us with other suggestions. But one of the things I think even sometimes board members forget, but sometimes members of the public are here, they're not here. It depends on the time. Um, we continue to have presentations on things that are

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happening in the district. We have administrators sitting in the back of the room who've come and stood before us and presented about things that they are doing under the guidance of our superintendent and Dr. Morgan and sharing all of the things that they are

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doing to move our district forward. And sometimes it was 3 months ago, four months ago and we forget that presentation and the things that are in place to move the district forward. And so I say that because sometimes we focus

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on today and don't focus on the aum the cumulative work the body of work that has been done by a large number of people with great leadership. um with all these people that come and sit here with us at night who are day in day out

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working and building a sense of community in their schools and trying to drive instruction forward looking at data looking at new practices. So we need to remind ourselves as a board that sometimes we need to go back and look at

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what the presentations were at those board meetings and that we have been informed about many things moving forward. So we need to be careful about that. I just share that. Any new business at this time? Oh, you have old business still. >> Back to old. Yes. Thank you. Uh, in

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agreement with both of the things that you said, our mailbox is often flooded with daily clips. I don't know if any of you take the time to read them. Sometimes they're honorous, but u I've noticed how many districts are struggling

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>> to balance their budget in a single digit. many districts 10 11 12% cuts of over 50 staff members. So you're right Mr. McCarthy, this is hard work on the

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part of the board, on the part of the administration, our business administrator, our superintendent. Um, and I feel as someone on a fixed income that this is uh fair because I have devoted so much of my life to this

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district and uh I'm very proud each time that we have a recognition night. And so, uh, I think that you did a wonderful job. And an example of that is something I'd like to point out. The poem in your pocket. April is poetry month. And, uh,

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I remember students as soon as I would say that. Oh, poems. Yes. All right. Mrs. Gilman. No. Poetry is a part of our lives whether we realize it or not. and every song that we listen to. And to have students and businesses in town

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cooperate together, show up with a poem, read it, and then uh be recognized for it was a wonderful program, and I thank our uh administrators, uh principles, everybody for that wonderful program. Just an example of something that we do that's fantastic.

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>> Thank you, Mrs. Gilman. Do we have any new business at this time? Um I'll just share one. Mrs. Gilman, I look forward to being with you um at the Sedexo presentation, the chef's presentation for our students who uh will be submitting and presenting to us

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um Thursday evening. Yes. >> So, we are looking at those opportunities to spend time in the schools um when when that time is appropriate and it fits. So, thank you Miss Weldon for uh inviting us to be present at that. So, it will be Miss Weldon and myself present on Thursday.

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>> Excellent. And I was very glad that Sedexo uh reached out uh to do that. You know, we we voted on their contract and you know, I had mentioned it would be great if they would connect a little bit more with the with the students and I think that this is a wonderful

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opportunity, one I've been to before. I think you're going to enjoy it. >> Absolutely. So, at that at this time, >> motion to adjurnn. Second. >> Second. >> All in favor? I

Part: 2

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Good evening everyone. Uh we opened our meeting upstairs in the executive session. Uh this is our work session meeting. Thank you for coming out this evening. Um we're being online virtually. Um first up is our superintendence

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report. >> Okay. Thank you. Good evening everyone. So this evening I have a couple announcements. First, I want to just acknowledge that our uh board agenda software program was down for uh all of

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yesterday, most of today, and we believe even potentially some of the weekend. So, we apologize that our agenda was not accessible right away. It was a nationwide outage through board docs. We have um recreated, and I shouldn't say

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we, I want to give thanks to two very important people, Mrs. Tony Gerstein and Mrs. Rebecca B uh Boomer who have who really do all of the work to put the agenda together each week behind the scenes and this week they had to do double work by creating it once in board

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docs and then having to recreate it to make it accessible off of Boardocks. So first I'd just like to thank them for all of their hard work and to thank the the public for bearing with us while we pivoted during the board docs outage. Okay. I also would like to announce that

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today is school bus driver appreciation day. So I hope everyone took time to appreciate our bus drivers and uh that did go out. Thank you. That did go out in my April communication. So um I hope that they were they felt the

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appreciation. They work so hard for us every day. They take our children to and from school. They uh we often hear of families talk about their driver, Mr. Bill or Mr. or whoever Miss Kathy and they speak with such reverence for the

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work that our bus drivers do and I would like to acknowledge that here tonight. Soon coming up next week or the end of this week is National School Principal Day. So early congratulations to our five principles in the back of the room here tonight

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and next week is teacher appreciation week and within that week is also on May 6, school nurses day. So just a few important upcoming dates there. And then also part of my report this evening is that the state has officially released

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the 2024 2025 HIP grades. These are self- assessment grades that our schools with their school safety and climate teams score themselves at the end of last school year, submitted to the state. The state reviews it and then releases it for public not you know for

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public posting. All of these are on each school's web page. Um, OT the the scoring is out of a total points 78 total points. OTES gave a self assessment score of 74. TOIS gave a

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self- assessment score of 77. OTES gave a self- assessment score of 78. WAMASSA at 75 points and Wayside at 78 points. Each school's report is on on the individual schools web page in the

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news section of their page. Okay. So, that concludes my report. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Mr. Hastings, school business administrator's report. >> Thank you, Mr. President. We'll uh we actually need a motion. Uh

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>> make the motion. >> The to tell you first. >> So excited. Uh the county continues to look at procedures and process and the law. Uh we need a motion to open our public hearing for the budget and then upon the completion of my presentation

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and questions, we'll close uh the public hearing. So, >> okay, motion motion that we open our presentation to the public. >> Second. >> Second here. All >> in favor? I I thank you. ready.

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>> Thank you. >> Thank you everyone for coming out tonight to hear our budget presentation for the 2627 uh school year. Um, we've been preparing this over the past several months with input from our building administrators,

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our supervisors, uh, the board, uh, and the, uh, superintended. So uh we've uh had several presentations to talk about the various steps we've gone through the uh sort of generic process involved in developing the budget the um components

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of the budget in terms of the local taxpayer the state and any savings we carry forward uh in terms of building our budget. Um we've talked a bit about the um problems and the the difficulties with the state formula. Uh we've gone

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through those processes. Uh we've looked at the numbers and looked at deficits and address those as best we can. Uh we've adopted a tenative budget uh back in March. Uh that budget was reviewed by our county superintendent and our county business administrator and um uh

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approved after a few comments uh minor comments I might add. Uh and that's a testament to uh Mr. Cass and his team and his work in helping us put this together and getting it submitted to the state in the state's format. So uh we'll go through this presentation. Uh we're

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going to talk a bit about the schools and and academics and how the budget works into those areas. Um and uh then afterwards take questions from the board and from the public and as I said then we'll have a motion to close this and and move on with the rest of our agenda.

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>> Thank you. >> Next slide please. >> So one of the guiding statements um of the district is that the Ocean Township School District is committed to implementing an outstanding comprehensive educational program designed to meet the needs of every

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student today and for their tomorrow. We can go to the next one as well. Yes, thank you. U so we'll start with our early childhood program. So it's been six years uh since the implementation of our program and it's a thriving program. Uh we have seats currently for all of

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our students and over the past several years. Uh through the promotion of the program and the success of the program, we've been able to meet the state's universe uh for our prek three and four-year-olds. Uh we continue to promote the program.

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Uh we promote activities that support family engagement. Uh as you can see uh there was a parent workshop and we continue to promote workshops for our families uh especially in the pre-k area and uh also uh through social media and other various bits of engagement uh such

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as podcasts continue to encourage our families to take advantage of the program. Our special services area uh is committed to promoting success for all students in the least restrictive environment.

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Um, we're creating calm, sensory friendly learning environments. Uh, we've heard presentations over the past several months, uh, that address some of those initiatives that have been very successful. Uh, and we continue, uh, to grow and commit

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ourselves to PD in those areas. Our commitment to inclusion, uh, as I said, administrators are immersed in inclusive practices. Uh we continue on our PD and again we focus on calm and connection in our classrooms to help uh

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promote and and um uh move successfully uh for outcomes with our students. Uh in the afterchool area uh we've partnered with unified champion schools which is part of the special Olympics. Uh so our goal is to build socially

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inclusive school communities uh where students of all abilities participate, lead and belong. And that pro program has been very successful over the past several years. In terms of our ESL initiatives, the district is committed to redesigning the

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way we deliver instruction for our multi multilingual learners. uh we continue to collaborate um and make adjustments to our district in order to better serve all of our students and our families. Um one of the things uh that I think

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we're very proud of is the increased participation in our seal of biiteracy. Uh the seal of biiteracy is testing fluent in more than one language which is uh very impressive. Um we extend collaborative partnerships uh to help

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build community awareness and family engagement. Uh on our elementary side, our academic initiatives in literacy and mathematics are changing outcomes for our students. Um the teachers, our interventionists,

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our coaches have all become very highly trained and we commit continue our commitment to PD and to closing literacy gaps for all of our Spartans. Um through these literacy initiatives, we concentrate on the science of reading and the development of early literacy

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skills. and our secondary level. Uh the primary mission of our intermediate school and our high school is to build on the strong foundation that the elementarymentaries are establishing with our students. Um there's vertical articulation uh between those programs

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and they're growing stronger every year. Um next please. So we've had presentations on being Spartan ready. If you recall several months ago, we had our uh Spartan coordinators in and they showed some of

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the videos uh that we're using to promote activities in the high school. Uh and we also have um a campaign where we have um our high school athletes and coaches mentoring

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elementary and intermediate schools uh students and athletes to help prepare them and uh integrate them into our high school athletics. Um, thank you. Uh, just want to touch on the honor

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role. Um, next slide. Uh, once again, we've achieved our silver status. Um, in the honor role. Uh, and I would point out that there's three criteria upon which the district is judged. Uh, there's college culture,

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college credit, and college optimization. We currently rank gold in two of those three. However, we're silver still in our college culture. In order to reach the gold, we need to be gold in all three. So, uh again, we're on the brink. Uh and I'm sure very soon

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we'll be gold. Uh our AP scores are on the rise. As you can see, uh this is the percent of students with scores of three plus. uh participation is increasing in our AP program and the scores are on the rise.

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Uh we continue to use our social media to recognize accomplishments and achievements. Uh we um next please have our uh message from the superintendent which comes out each month uh which again uh highlights the achievements and

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the accomplishments of both the student and staff. Uh and similarly two more on the recognition front uh as you'll see tonight as you saw at our last meeting and it seems like almost every meeting uh our Spartans are achieving uh

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tremendous success in all sorts of things. Uh so we continue to honor them and again as we'll see this evening um we have uh a group of students uh that again are achieving above and beyond and it's very encouraging and uh inspiring

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to see them for us. Uh so as we talk about our budget I'd like to talk about our enrollment trends. Uh enrollment drives our budget in terms of our state aid. Uh when you look at enrollment overall uh we're on a slight decrease. Um, we've had

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demographic studies in the past that have talked about the decrease and forecast the decrease. Uh, but that decrease is statewide and actually nationwide in terms of birth rates um and enrollment in public schools. So, uh, while we don't see a major

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turnaround in the short term, uh, the stresses that we're going through and the challenges that we face are faced by all schools in New Jersey. And hopefully as the legislature and the governor look at the funding formula um they take these

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trends into account and understand the needs of the districts and adjust the formula accordingly. When we look at our special ed enrollment again uh we've sort of leveled out over the past

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three years uh but again you can see uh that we've been up and down. Uh we continue to assess the program and assess the needs of our students. Uh but again, we've been relatively flat over the past three years. Uh in our multilingual

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uh learners uh population, again, you can see it's on the rise. Um we've gone from 191 in 2019 uh spiking to 214 2 years later again

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increasing in 23 and again uh spiking at a top in 24 of 275 students uh and then just a slight decrease this past year. Our economically disadvantaged enrollment is

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also uh been on the rise a bit over the past several years. Uh but again we flattened out over the past two years going from 1120 to 1129. Uh and these numbers are important in terms of our funding and our financing uh in that these numbers drive grant allocations uh

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through the various titles staffing ratios. So, uh, these numbers are taken from the taxpayers's guide to education spending. Uh, we also, the superintendent and myself go out each December, January to the county and, uh, meet with the county superintendent and

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his team, uh, and discuss, among other things, how we measure up against our peers in terms of some of these measures. So, what we did is we took a look at the taxpayers guide and we looked for similar schools. So we took a group of K12 schools that had enrollment

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from 1,800 to 3500. There's 72 schools in that pool uh across the state. Uh and these are some of the measures uh that we took that we as um that we also discuss uh when we go out to the county. So Oceanceans studenttoteer ratio is

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9:1. Our group average is 11:1. So that ranks us last 71 out of 71. And again, I said there were 72 and obviously that's a 71. But because there was a tie uh in the in the group, uh that's why we're at 71. When we look at students to support

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staff, we're at 57 students per support staff member, and the group average is 61. But that ranks us about the middle of the pack. Students to administrators, again, 126 students to one versus a group average of 130 to1. And again,

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middle of the pack at 12 out uh 47 out of 72. And then finally, faculty to administrators. Uh the group average is 14 to1 and we're at 16 to1. So we're in the higher end uh in terms of efficiency there. Uh when we talk about our budget and the

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impact of our budget and the impact the budget has on our staffing, we often look at class sizes. Uh we looked at our average class sizes, class ranges uh for 25 and 26. Uh and based on this year's budget, as you can see, uh OTEES classes

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range from 12 to 23 students on a masses 16 to 24, Wayside 14 to 26 and the intermediate 19 to 26. And based on our budget and our calculations and enrollment trends um again for 27

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we're looking at modest increases uh going from a max of 23 to 24 at OTE uh actually a slight reduction at Wamasa uh if not the same and wayside again um those numbers are middling uh in that um

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we're looking at a high of 26 this year but only 23 next year but the uh lower counts uh are going to be increased a bit. So uh again not significant increases uh and we feel that those are still manageable uh for our staff and

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for our academic goals. We talk about the changes and the changes of enrollment versus the in changes in our staffing. So we took 2021 as sort of a base year and looked at the changes in enrollment versus the changes uh in staffing. So as you can see the

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red line uh is the change year-to-year uh in our enrollment. So for example our enrollment decreased 1.4% in 23 from our numbers in 22. Uh we decreased 2.5% from 23 to 24 uh but only increased uh

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slightly less in the current year uh going from a 2 and a half% increase or decrease in enrollment to only a 1.6%. Uh but what we have done uh in in terms of being efficient and being fiscally responsible is looked at staffing as

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well. And you can see with the blue line, we're also increasing our uh our staffing roles as our enrollment declines. want to talk about some of the uh challenges uh some of the um

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um reductions that we've looked at over the next several slides. Um so again, the challenges as we've talked about for this year and last year and it seems like for the past several years are significant increases in our healthcare and prescription costs. Uh we've seen a

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13.5% increase in our annual uh energy costs and u I was just reading recently uh that the state is putting forth um uh guidance and and guidelines in terms of um artificial intelligence uh centers.

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Uh so New Jersey is moving forward and trying to uh get those folks to settle here, but they are going to pass legislation to help defer those costs and pass them back to those users. Uh so uh again uh energy is a concern um and

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as you can see uh it continues to hit us in the pocketbook. Uh the consumer price index year-over-year in the northeast region is up 3 and a half 3.6%. Um our out of district placement costs the tuition and transportation associated with our out of district uh

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needs uh continues to increase. Uh we are trying to address aging facilities and equipment. Uh and we also have uncertainty with the federal government in terms of how they're funding grants and how they're um dealing with changes at the uh at the federal level for the

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department of education. So again, each year when we go forward and meet with the state to talk about grants and what our expectations should be, uh those are usually presented as uh lower and lower percentages from the previous year.

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some of the components that we've touched on uh here in terms of salary and health benefits being the major drivers of our budget. Those represent about 75% of our total operating budget as you can see with the decrease in staffing is a slight decrease in our

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salaries. Um but we've seen significant increases as shown by the red line in our health benefits. So, uh, we've seen 16, 19, and 23% increases year-over-year for both health benefits and prescription, and that continues to be

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the forecast moving forward. Uh, the district is working with our broker in terms of looking at options to the state plan. Uh, we received some good news in the past couple days about what our experience has been uh, over the past year. Uh, so we feel like we're in a

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favorable spot to market our insurance going forward. Uh so we'll work with the broker to see what those options are, what those cost increases look like, and hopefully we can move to a position uh where we're not facing these types of increases.

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What that does mean, however, is if you look at that green line, uh in a little bit, I'll show you the pie chart that that basically delineates the uh the different cost categories where we spend our operating budget. Uh and uh those

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are mostly fixed costs. Uh the flexible category is other and as you can see uh in the green line our percentage of the operating budget is decreasing in that category based on the increases in the others. Thank you. Uh we looked at our budget

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reductions and discussed those over the past several meetings. Uh we had no capital and technology requests that were included in our current operating budget. uh we're looking at those and developing a priority list and we'll look to our uh reserve accounts both maintenance reserve and capital reserve

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to uh fund those projects moving forward. Uh we also through resignation and retirement uh have been able to eliminate 12 positions, nine in the professional category and three in the support category. Uh with all this bad news and uh all

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these increasing costs though, the district is committed to continue to grow to committed to continue to offer um highquality educational experience for our students. Um so we will continue to improve uh both in the capital. Um,

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we're looking at HVAC. We're looking at roofing projects and other things um that we need to uh to continue to provide uh the the kind of education that is expected of us. On the technology side, we're looking at new firewalls. And again, we have to keep

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moving forward. Uh we can't continue uh to to cut and to let our facilities fall into disrepair. uh we need to present a competitive uh environment, a competitive program so that we can attract students uh and keep the students that we do have. On the

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academic side, we continue to invest in common lit uh which is a comprehensive standards align uh ELA program, ELA curriculum. uh we look at building thinking classrooms that focuses on rich problem based tasks

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rather than route procedures on the math side. And again uh we're looking at additional special education needs and perhaps a special education class at the elementary level. We talked about our operating budget, the operating budget, which means this

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doesn't include grants uh and other um uh other costs. Uh so our operating budget is $93.9 million. As I said earlier, about 75% of that, which is uh average andor uh normal across the state

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is salary and benefits. Uh we look at 6% of those costs as out of district expenses, another 6% for transportation, 3% utilities, 2% for uh insurance. Those all uh um basically fixed costs. uh cost

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we don't have a lot of flexibility in which leaves 9% of that budget for all our other expenditures. So when we look at the proposed budget, the tenative budget that was approved and its impact on the local taxpayer, uh we're looking at the base 2% increase uh

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which was a million half dollars. Uh the district was eligible based on those high health care costs for a healthcare waiver. The total waiver available to us was $4.7 million and the board and administration worked together to uh

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reduce that number to 3.4 uh to make the budget work for a total tax levy of about $4.9 million or 6.5% increase. What that means on the average assessment is a $360 increase from last year or a $30 a month

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or 99 cents a day. And with that, I'd be happy to take questions from the board. >> Questions from the board. >> Mr. McCarthy. Um I'm yield my time to the lady in red. >> Mr. Bill. >> Thanks, Mr. McCarthy. Um we've had some

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issues with boilers, pipes. >> This winter is particularly harsh on our aging facilities. So, were we taking from our capital reserve or do we have insurance to cover many of those costs? So most of those costs that you've

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talked about which are you know act of god sort of things where we have frozen pipes at DAO um we have power outages and and problems over by massa >> um recent uh water leak over at the high

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school. All of those are covered through insurance. Good. >> So we're responsible for the deductible uh and the carrier will uh take on the additional costs. >> Good. That's a relief. Thank you. others. >> Just just a comment. Uh the past couple

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months there's been a buildup for this budget, right? Um and we've all participated in these meetings and watched um you know, both Mr. Hastings and Miss Welding kind of whittle down to what the reality of what we're dealing with here, right? Especially with the healthc care situation that is well

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known across the state. Um it's nice to hear tonight that you shared that we may be able to have another option moving forward. So that's that's really positive because from my understanding this healthc care issue is not going away. Um it's going to impact budgets for the next you know uh couple of

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years. So for us to be able to explore some some you know possibilities of of reducing that cost for even if that's next year um that's wonderful to hear. >> Thank you. >> Any other members of the board? >> Yes, Mr.

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>> Um I just want to add to that. So the other options does that include looking at private insurance as well? >> Right. So for example, currently uh number of folks are insured through uh Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield uh through the state program. So Horizon

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could work with our broker to come up with their own private plan to offer to the district at a reduced cost. Uh the caveat is that the benefits must be equal or better. So, um, and that is often the case that, uh, they're able through the private market to offer

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better rates. So, right now, we're in a pool with other districts. That pool has shrunken significantly. As that pool continues to decrease, what you're left with is highcost uh, members. So, those costs are spread across all of those

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members, uh, which includes Ocean Township, but currently, uh, and we bear the brunt of of that bad experience for for most of that pool. So, if we're able to say we're no longer a highcost uh customer, um Horizon, for example, or

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Etna or any of the other carriers uh could work with us and offer a better plan, which as you said would be a private plan. >> Yeah. And if our experience level is low one year, that's great. And if it if it comes in a second year low again, that's even better for us, right, for shopping

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around. Well, um, again, you're talking about healthcare, uh, which is a significant, um, issue for for locks, for everybody. Um, so we try not to look at it as a year-to-year change and to upset people's lives in terms of constantly

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changing, uh, benefits and benefit status. What we would look to do is perhaps enter into a 18 or 24-month agreement with a provider at a set rate uh, that is better than what we're currently getting uh, and then move from there. And sometimes what happens is

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either one you get in at a low rate so they can have you and then once you're in they start to you know boost up the fees or we uh uh and hopefully doesn't happen our experience gets a little worse and then they look to adjust those costs.

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>> That makes sense. Thank you. >> Yes, M. McGovern. Um, I just wanted to say, um, you know, I appreciate you looking for other ways to save costs and and looking forward into and discussing with us as a board what some of your ideas are for looking forward because I

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think sometimes we close budget out and then we I don't want to say forget about it, but you know, you you take a breath for a couple months, but obviously you're still working on on figuring it out for the following year. So, I appreciate that. >> Thank you. >> I also just want to say that I appreciate Miss Weldon. um and you know

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um everybody Dr. Morgan and and everybody in the central office team but also districtwide to paying attention to what's working and what's not working in your schools to say it makes sense to cut certain programs that on the surface look hard to cut. Right? We looked at

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you all looked at data. We spoke about it in a meeting to say that our after school programs are better than our summer programs and that kids want to be here after school more than they want to be here in the summer and things like that that you know we in ways you think you want to hold on to some things but

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it's great to trust a team >> not just miss Weldon and Miss Weldon behind doors that you guys might not be or not behind because we're in public but still sometimes you may not hear every meeting definitely gives her thanks to her team to see that that there's things that while it might be

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working for a couple, it's not working for the majority and that the couple that it might not be working for maybe could, you know, have other things during the day or after the day to make it better where they're not really losing as much. So, I appreciate you looking at different things and and

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discussing it and making things be able to stay in the budget that really are helping our kids. And also, not just in academically, but you know, through our clubs, through our athletics, you know, the um the unified club, which was on

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here tonight, was something that for a while was only budgeted if we could through a grant, as many of us know, through the special um the Special Olympics. And it's nice to see that we've also seen that grow from, you know, the younger grades up and it's an inclusive project that has been on many

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of your hearts and minds and and you know, things like that that are able to stay. So, thank you. >> I just had one more comment. It's it's also wonderful to see that >> there's is an impact to our students. Um we're still having unified club, the AP

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honor role, ESL is is um you know, excelling. special services is being handled appropriately. Um, and that's what we're here for. So, I think that's really important to highlight that. >> Thank you. Any others? >> Oh, this is >> Hi. Um, I feel like I ask this question

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every budget just about the staffing ratios when we see the 9:1 versus the 11:1. That's showing that we have less students per teacher, right? Which I would see that as a positive, right?

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>> Right. Okay, great. Um, and also, um, I asked this last year too with the, um, 12 positions. That's all just retirements, right? There's no, right, other >> resignations, retirements, right? >> Great. That's amazing. And thank you for working so hard on that. Um, I know that

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has to be so difficult and a lot of thought needs to go into that. and um I'm really happy to see that happen again this year. >> Thank you. But kudos go to our administrators, our administrative team here, to Miss Weldon uh for their hard

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efforts. Mr. Cass and I work with the numbers and we give our talks through during our budget development about looking at programs and executing them through the fidelity and then looking at what's successful and not and making those hard decisions. But at the end of the day, these folks here and and your

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superintendent are are the ones who are are um really moving the district forward with successful programs. >> Are we finished with Oh, yes. Just one quick question. I think I asked this last year as well. Looking at the ratings that Mrs. Dan was saying. So,

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going back to student and teachers 9 to1, how does that place 71 out of 71? >> I think he's at the lowest. So that so you want to be the lower you want the higher number. >> So this this information is sometimes hard to understand.

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>> Depends on your viewpoint. Financially it's expensive to have only nine students per teacher. So financially we're we're on the inefficient end of that ranking. >> The financial aspect.

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If you as an aquarian of our district want small settings and and those types of things, you may look at this differently. What I can just also give a little context around that number is that as you saw in our enrollment in our enrollments, total enrollment, special education, economically disadvantaged,

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multilingual learners. Sometimes those programs come with additional teachers. So, a student in a class may have a classroom teacher. They may have a special education support teacher. They may have a multi an ESL teacher to help that to help because

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they're a multilingual learner. And so, sometimes there are additional staff members per child because of the specific needs of the child. And we try very hard to provide a robust program

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for every learner in our district based on their needs to the best of our ability. >> So 71 out of 71 isn't a bad thing. >> It depends. Well, I want to add to that conversation though because this is the hard part to

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talk about this is as we all look at our declining number of staff that was data from 2425, right? >> And so as we looked at this current year and then as we look at next year when our administration comes back to us in

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the future, so there could be a shift in that number, >> right? Because that's lagging data based on prior years, >> right? So if you remember we as we looked at our chart of staff that last year we had to make some tough decisions. This year going into next

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year we have to make some tough decisions. So that 9 to one could and most likely will have a shift. >> Okay. But I think Miss Weldon's points about you know what we value and see in our programs and the needs of our

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students you know that's always a hard part to see because you walk in you'll say my kid has 24 kids in the class. How is it 9 to1? >> Right? >> But I think that explains it. So lagging data is always the trend with this.

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All right. Anything else from the board? So at this point, we would offer members of the public um an opportunity to ask questions specific to this presentation with the budget. Do I address you? I guess uh Alex Hayes Oakst. Um I do anticipate having more

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questions after my five minute the rules of public comment you know I can then ask again. So um I just wanted to note that. Um so here are my questions. So, I'm just going to go in rapid fire and I can also email this to you tomorrow, but since we are here and you're actually giving answers tonight,

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I really really appreciate I don't know if you want to take notes or whatever. Um, but I was hoping that the responses were not cut into my 5 minutes. So, here are my questions. Um, with a little bit of statement thrown in. So, we're basically in a recession, I believe. I mean, people are struggling um despite

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the $1 million average house uh valuation in this town. Um, consumer price index as mentioned in this was 3.6%. 6% the average cost of living increase is 3%. But you all are asking for a 6.5% increase. Um even getting a raise at 6% for most people is kind of

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hard. So after you approve all this, I'd like to know how you plan on explaining broadcasting this increase um you know in lay person's terms. Um the seven page of of numbers, how you anticipate to literally get this out to

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parents. So that's like kind of one question. Um I've spoken to some folks and what exactly are we getting for the six and a half increase? It seems like it's a stop gap measure to maintain what we have and nothing of substance

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is being um added presentation. We wrote academic initiatives and we're seeing that mathematics are changing outcomes for students. You're closing literacy gaps. So, in this $94 budget, I'd like to know what specific line items,

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um, can we tie to specifically increase test scores, um, students math and ELA skills specifically? Um, there was a slide that said like they're going to continue to grow. Um, you mentioned the common 360, that's news to me. Um, the

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math program, that was news to me. So, are those new programs that we haven't for them? Um, if you're following, uh, dumping wonders, um, I hope you do. Um, that was

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my side question. Um, I'd love to know what specifics you can of what is being cut programming wise. I've heard you discuss 12 positions, but I wouldn't really hear too many programming cuts and There are there's curriculum wise cuts.

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There's some athletics cuts. It looked like it looked like there was some extracurricular cuts. There are also things you're saving. And I'd like to know what specifics you're cutting. Um in your presentation it said 12 positions obviously being eliminated um

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through time resignation. So, but it didn't say will there be more because always around August is like a question, you know, are we going to have to move people from building to another? Um, the retirements that we expected by June 1st or July 1st didn't come through. So, are

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we expecting more? Um, and it mentions nine professional, three support. I'd like to know how many of those are actual classroom teachers of the nine professional and the three support, how many are instructional assistants and how many are secretaries. Um I think the

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data you have the staff change in enrollment data slide is misleading. It doesn't really say who is retiring versus you know who's um who's uh who is in support who is an administrative. So I think some of your slides um I'd like

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to believe not intentionally are a little confusing as are some of the numbers. In one of your slides you say an enrollment is declining. In one of the presentation slides, it says enrollment is declining, but in the budget document online, which I'm sure most people didn't know that they could

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access, and you have to click like three things in order to get the seven-page user friendly budget that shows you estimate pupils increasing. So, there's a discrepancy there. Are we losing students or are we anticipating gaining students? Um, you're raising

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class sizes. So you mentioned OTS 12 to 18, Lamasa 16 to 17, Wayside 14 to 19, TOIS 19 to 24. Um the high school um and why are the elementary school class sizes not uniform

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in the increase? Um the prisoners a lot of people like to blame special ed costs and I have a huge problem with that because that's kind of like a blanket statement across the state. um districts are suffering because we have so many special ed students and it's so expensive to educate special ed students and

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according to our data we're actually not increasing special ed students we are increasing special ed out of placement costs from what I reading by like 600,000 or so have we looked into can we just hire specialized staff that could

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maybe teach some students and if you can address that like why are we sending some people to $100,000 a year schools when perhaps couldn't we expand staff to um >> says could we >> um I think that's my last sentence. Oh,

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last sentence is tonight you're authorizing a bid for five new buses for $760,000. So where's that money coming from? I know you're not paying for it yet. It's just a bid. I get it. >> Buses. >> What? >> 10 buses. >> I had five. So >> 554 is 529.

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>> Okay. So $760,000. So where's that money coming in relation to all this? like before or after and then I will reserve the rest. >> Thank you. >> You want to try to >> I know it's a mouthful. Sorry. >> It's quite a list and certainly we can

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talk offline tomorrow in the whatever you're available. Um in terms of the buses since that was the last one you asked. Uh we currently have a lease payment in the budget uh that's paying for a prior lease five years ago. We're going to continue that payment forward.

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Uh so it's not um adding more if you will to the budget in terms of uh new money. >> Okay. >> So uh there's not a change there. Um >> I could answer a couple if you want if you I don't know if you have the notes but uh we we are continuing with

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wonders. The programs you mentioned that were on the slide are in this budget for next school year. >> So >> it's in the 26 27 budget >> for the new school year right next year. And how much are they? >> I don't know the prices off the top of my head, but we could get that for you.

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Um, the slide about class size was elementary only, so K to five. Um, to was only grade five. Okay, you it's it's it's very difficult to do uh secondary level class sizes because the classes

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are so wide. So, that was an elementary class size comparison. um and they go up because of the cuts and the reductions that we're making. >> But why are they not even Moana is the lowest besides the highest? >> It's based on the enrollment of that school. It's based on real numbers. So

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if that many students are enrolled in that grade and you take your number of teachers, then the class sizes will fall in those ranges. >> So based on where you live determines how many kids might be in your kids's class >> base, I I guess you could say it that

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way. And it it also depends on how many sections you have. At Wayside School, we have more sections of classes. It's a larger geographically larger section of town. >> Thank you. >> Okay. >> Any more answers to the questions?

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>> Just trying to say I think >> 12 12 positions. Anytime there's a position that where someone retires or resigns, you've heard me say this before, we definitely consider whether or not we have to renew that position or not because we are looking at uh

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declining enrollment. >> So the question >> those decisions will come up depends on the position. If it's a um very specified need, more than likely we'll replace it. If we the class sizes will increase slightly and at still at a

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manageable number we might not. >> So out of the nine who are resigning retiring professional how many are classroom teachers? >> I don't have that uh information right in front of me. It's an array it's an array of other educational support professionals as

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well counselors um other positions. It's not all classroom teachers. I can tell you that. What specific things that are being cut and >> I think we've I'm not sure that it's in

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tonight's presentation. I think we've talked about it at other other previous meetings, but >> Right. So, I mean, I I as we sort of talked about facilities and and um and our buildings,

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when we talk about our fields, our athletic complexes, um when we talk about academic programs, uh we're looking uh to continue to grow those. So, again, uh as I said earlier, you're looking at programs and whether they're

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being executed to fidelity and whether they're successful. And if Wonders as as you have expressed an opinion about uh was decided that that would be removed then the funds used for that would potentially go into another program uh to try that. Uh you know when we look at

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um uh our buildings and our grounds uh and the improvements there as we said none of those items uh are in our operating budget. So >> if I could also say I mean we've discussed that their capital is being cut. We have no capital projects in the

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budget >> in the past where we've had a lot of tech requests out of the budget and personnel requests and or personnel existing personnel. Those are the major cuts in those three categories which we've talked about along the way. >> So no academic programs or activities or

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athletics are being cut. Is that is that what you're actually saying? >> There are no athletic cuts. There are no activity cuts. When you say academic programs, we did talk earlier about the fact that we are repurposing some summer funding to

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afterchool funding. So I'm not sure if you would consider that a cut or not. >> Okay, I will go to the next person. Thank you. >> Thank you. Next person. Jonathan Shutman. Uh I sure the board

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knows me because I frequently send you both uh concerns and recommendations. And um I want to thank Alex for comments. I thought they were quite pointed. uh as this is a budget presentation, I was reminded of when I

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worked uh and all the administrators and and in no way am I trying to diminish the work of an administrator, but all the administrators when the budget went down, this was early 2000s and we were asked by lead of our superintendent, Dr. Abbott, uh that he would not take an

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increase because of the budget problems in that particular year. of the budget was failed in a vote and he would not take an increase and nor would we. We met with the mayor of Margboro at the time and we came to an accommodation and all the principles and and and

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supervisors and administrators also agreed for that year not to take an increase in salary. It was frozen that year. It was meant as a a a an act of goodwill so that if and when the uh township had to look at the fact that

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the budget had been cut, they would in essence not cut anything. So just just a thought. Okay. Um and I happened at that time because of the unfortunate passing of our president had to uh negotiate that with the township. I became

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president. Um, I remember I guess a couple of meetings ago that one of the board members uh asked what I thought was an incredibly important question. It was online and what that board member said was that if we increase the budget and it was

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thought to be it could be 7%. What does that mean in terms of the uh achievement, the academic achievement, how well the students would do? Um, I'll say a ridiculous comment and I'll just speak for myself. I would be pay willing to pay more

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in taxes if I thought that the school system was going to achieve at the rate that it should. And what I think this board has failed to talk about is the fact that compared to other school systems and the state now has put out

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the data that at best we're in the middle of Mammoth County, at best we're in the middle of New Jersey, achievement has been either stagnant or less. And we can come up with all kinds of reasons for that. But what are we paying for?

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Where's the value added? And like I said, I'd be willing to pay more if I thought that the school system would be addressing the kinds of value added uh uh uh approaches to education that it should. And I I noticed that nothing was

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mentioned in the budget about staff development. And and you create a school culture based on staff development. You create a school culture based on a vision where everybody is working for the same purpose. and that is that all

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students achieve. Nothing is more important to a student than achieving. If you want to talk about uh feelings of self or whatever, if a kid sees her doing better and knows they're doing better, then that means everything to that child. And that's more emotional

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intelligence than uh could be given to that child just by achieving and knowing that they're doing better. So, I'm not sure how the budget addresses that. I know you have programs, but then the programs are not specified. I would suggest that some of these programs

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start to be spoken about at board meetings, including student achievement. What's really going on and what's the plan to address it? >> Thank you. Hi, I'm Jim Bay from Fort David Street and I dropped off a set of discussion notes with you. And uh a point of

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consideration is 85% of the taxes are paid by uh people who own the houses. Only 5% of the taxes are paid by people in apartments, the landlords. So, as a consideration, the $360

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um tax increase, if you divided the number of property owners, $8,000 property owners into the 85% of the taxes, comes out just shy of $500 per property owner, $481,

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because 85% of the taxes are paid by homeowners. Only 5% of them are paid by the uh landlords of the apartment owners. And um also on the reverse side, just for your background information, is the blend of the mun municipal, county,

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and uh school um tax increases for this year, which be approximately $832 increases for the three uh components of the taxes. So, I just wanted to thank you for your work with the school

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district and uh inform people, remind people only 5% of the taxes are paid by the 2,600 apartment dwellers and 85% of the taxes are paid by the 8,000 residential people. Thank you.

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>> Thank you. Thank you. >> Also, I'd mentioned to you a while back uh a handout on the high deductible health plans. Hold that concept. It's a unusually viable concept under some considerations. >> Yes sir. Thank you.

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>> Hello Grace and Telerica Wayside. Um so I do want to thank Mr. Hastings and all the administration and that put their time into creating this year's budget. As a taxpayer, council member, and former school board member, I do

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have just a couple comments. Um, Alex Hayes did a great job at asking all the questions. So, I'm going to just make my own comments. Obviously, the increase in tax levy for the school district of 6.5% is very concerning to our taxpayers. When I was

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on the school board, I asked for the finance committee to meet with the business administrator and discuss quarterly the budget and be able to brainstorm ways to keep costs down and monitor spending. This unfortunately never happened, but I hope this can be

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revisited. It would be beneficial for a quarterly report given to the residents, our taxpayers on expenditures and grants and the oversight throughout the year so taxpayers aren't shocked and in disbelief during budget season at the

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substantial increase in their taxes. And since 60% of our taxes go to our school district, transparency regarding this is super important to keep taxpayers informed throughout the year, not just at budget time. Um,

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and I'm going to add again that the residents do deserve to have a second public comment and deserve to have their questions questions answered at the BOE meetings. So hopefully that also will be revisited. It's very inconvenient for residents to play phone tag with

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Superintendent Welden. We're obviously very busy um and to get their questions answered. And I do have one question that a resident had texted me. Um, so I'm just going to ask that. So

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the question is, what positions have been eliminated for next year that aren't reflected in this presentation? >> I I think everything is reflected. is reflected at this time uh because this budget is built for next year. So the

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cost allocation for salaries is fixed and and part of this existing um proposal. >> But as I said before as other retirements and resignations are received >> as in other years this number could

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increase. >> To when would we know if there are additionals? I think when you're saying >> staffing and and resignations that we may see over the next several months and

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and again as was noted that uh each time that happens there's an evaluation done in terms of whether that should be replaced or not. >> Okay. And then just my last comment, I'd also love to see the school board choose a liaison to work with a liaison from

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town council regarding updates on topics such as the budget, shared services, events, etc. to ensure that we're all working together collaboratively for the students, parents, um staff, and residents. Thank you. >> Okay, so at this time we will be moving

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into our general public comment. Uh for all of you that came through, >> do you have any comments online? >> Oh, do we have any? I'm sorry. Do we have any online? Okay. >> So, we have >> the motion to close budget. >> Oh, extra question. >> Okay.

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Um Okay. So, a couple I think I have like three or four questions, but my third one has a bunch of like specifics. Um, in your presentation by, and I quote, you mentioned aging facilities. Um, I'm still struggling with the fact that that

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has become the taxpayers's burden. How are you not, unless you can tell me you did, and I'd love to know more about it, considering selling this building and applying the proceeds, the millions of dollars of selling the proceeds of

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this building or part of it or some of the acreages acreage, uh, and applying it to next year's budget, the budget after that, the budget after that, as has been demonstrated, is legally allowed. So that's I guess one question.

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Um if transportation is 6%. You mentioned utilities are 3%. So transportation is actually twice what utilities are. And I know you guys often mention other things as a reason like health care and utilities as being a reason why um this budget is going up.

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But transportation is 6%. That's twice what utilities are. So I'd like to know if you have considered cutting bus routes, which was proposed a couple of years ago when I was on the school board. Um, and by cutting bus routes, I don't mean like leaving kids stranded. I mean like instead of on Dow Avenue, uh,

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there being six pickups, maybe there should be three so that we don't need as many um, bus routes to save money. Um, and finally, I'm wondering if you can address here are things going up that I read on the sevenpage budget and what's going down. And for

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those who might be watching, maybe nobody is cuz this was hardly publicized. Um, you have to click on legal notices. I don't know how anybody would know that this budget, the publicly required budget is under legal notices. Nobody would know that. Nobody

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had a URL to look up the sevenpage mandated by law public version of the budget. So, please address support services, general administration, um, huge amount or huge hit. These are things um

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taking a huge hit. Uh general administration going down 400, but support services- school administration going up 200. Central services going up 300. Support services, it was kind of a blanket statement. It was on I believe page 7. Support services going up

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700,000. Education media services library. I'm kind of surprised to see this. It was going up hundreds of thousands. So, I'd love to know what that is. Going down, however, is problematic for me. Child study teams taking a huge hit, down

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$300,000. Administrative information technology, a $500,000 hit. And by hit, I'm talking about from this year's budget to what you are proposing for next year. So, those are the numbers I looked at. Under equipment, it was zero. It's a

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lot. Equipment under facilities acquisition, it's not a lot of zero. Um, and then I think my final question is in the lead of reserve, please explain for this year there was $4 million item for leg of reserve and we make sure

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it's at zero. She was um I was going to uh I'm sorry. My other final question is uh I think we hired like four people for the multilingual ELLL program this past year. Um

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multilingual ELLL students, one of the demographics that is increasing along with lower income students. Um but there was like a $30,000 increase from this year to next year. So, I'm wondering if you can address um if anything is going

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to be cut like those ELLL or ESL positions um with programming bilingual tilingual learner is being cut. That was a lot, but I didn't expect it to be a lot but >> so just generally um

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the seven-page document you referred to and you noted that it was a legal requirement that it be published which is why it's posted under legal notices. um that's why it's there and I think as we discussed maybe at the last meeting or it wasn't a discussion but it was a

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comment made uh that uh we now are required to post all those on our website uh rather than through the newspaper. Um I'll be happy to go through all those various line items with you uh at your convenience so that we can get clarity

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on those. Um I think some of the uh category headers uh are misleading in terms of what accounts they're specifically capturing. So >> I didn't you guys did >> well the state does that. Yes. So it's

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their account of uh their coding. So >> and can you address why we are not considering selling this bill building? >> I just always considering all options. So, board members aren't going to discuss why they're not selling this

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building. >> You have any other questions at this time? >> No. Typical. All right. Thanks. >> Oh,ll there are no cuts to that to the staff of that department in this budget.

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>> So, before we move into the general public comment, um I just want to say to everyone that came here for the student presentations were just a bit delayed. I I ask your patience uh for this evening. Um we will move along as as efficiently as we can to close the first part of the meeting to open that second part of the

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meeting. So thank you for your patience. Um >> make a motion to close the budget. Gary >> second. >> There's also seats up front. >> We have some seats up front if anyone would like to take these seats. >> I know sitting up front pass on that.

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Thank you for the signal. Thank you. >> Uh we appreciate that. Okay, Mr. Hastings, do we need to do a roll call on that or? >> Um, all in favor of closing the public hearing portion of our meeting. Any >> opposed? Thank you.

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>> Okay, moving on to public comment. The board of education recognizes the value of public comment and educational issues and the importance of allowing members of the public to express themselves on school matters of community interest. Public comment is not a question and answer session. Specific questions can be directed to the administration. Superintendent's contact information is

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on the DES. We encourage you to contact her with any questions. Public participation shall be governed by the following rules. Each statement shall uh made by a participant shall be limited to 5 minutes duration. No participant may speak more than once dur on the same topic unless all others who wish to speak on that topic have been heard. The

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presiding officer may request that any person uh leave the meeting when the person does not observe reasonable decorum. Would anyone from the public like to comment on any item at this time? Mr. Terico. I'll try to make this short. Grace

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Antlerica Wayside. I just want to thank Principal Bosman's Supervisor Sullivan, the Wanamasa teachers, and Miss Utson, her students, and all that participated in the town's 250th tree event challenge. We're trying to plant 250 trees in town for the 250th anniversary

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of America. It was a wonderful event where I got to visit the Wanamasa school and interact with staff and students. After the event, it got me thinking why in six years as a school board member, I'd never been to the Wamasa school and

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that I've only really interacted with staff that were my own child's teachers and some administration. So, I just wanted to get it out there. It's so important that schoolboard members get to interact and get to know the Ocean Township School District staff,

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supervisors, and administration, not just the superintendent and BA. Um, I would implore the superintendent to include schoolboard members in events so that they get the chance to get to know the staff to appreciate that all that they do. It's a disservice to the

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district, the students, and the taxpayer that our board members are not more included in the activities of the district. Um, we should all be collaborating together in the best interest of our students, staff, district, and town. And lastly, I do want to put a shout out to Mora Guts from Complete Streets. She and

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her team of other parents and residents came together to advocate for lower speed limits in Wanomasa so that the kids could get back to being kids. Council and Ocean Township Police Department admin work together and we approved the lower speed limit on select roads to promote safety for residents.

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They've had bike parades now and they've gathered so that kids can bike to school together. It helps kids get off their electronics, get back to what's important, socializing with peers, enjoying playing outside, enjoying nature. So, I want to thank Complete Streets for their advocacy efforts. It shows that working together can bring

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about positive change, and I hope that the school district will create the community committee that was discussed multiple times over the past six years and maybe now bring that to fruition. I know I'd be happy to participate as a council leazison to the school board. Thank you. >> Thank you,

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>> Alex. Of course, these are not budget related or budget presentation related. Um I am a little disappointed that the school board um itself and administrators um handled the board doc situation. Um you posted that we're

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having this important meeting. Um there was no link online like no working URL once you realized board docs was down. You guys could have put the board docs um online. You could have put them on the website. You could have put them on social media. you chose not to. As of

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400 p.m. it was up. I got on to board docs once again. Um but by 4:30 it was back off and I presume that's when you guys always do your quick little um like tweaks and stuff. Um but at 6:15 it was not back up. So folks coming home from work, you might wanted to have looked it

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up, but they couldn't. Um there's some simple easy remedies you all could do to make things a little bit more accessible. Um I think it's frankly intentional. Um, you don't want opposition, but you also don't want like some new ideas. I mean, perhaps if people had known what was going on, maybe people will come with really

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creative ideas. I saw on this agenda bills. Uh, you paid $18,000 to Ross Haber and Associates. Um, that's a company that does demog demographic studies, enrollment projections, attendance, zone analysis, redistricting, facility utilization

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studies. So, I find that very curious cuz I never saw you guys vote for that. Um, it's been quite a few years that we've had any sort of democratic or demographic study. So, I'm wondering how that came to be approved and I'd love to know what the $18,000 is brought if

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there was an official study. You're also approving a lawsuit settlement tonight. Um, as you're aware in the state of New Jersey, um, school board settlements from lawsuits do become public knowledge after you vote to approve it. So, um, it'll be interesting to see what what

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that's about. Um, you also have a little bit higher than normal your average lawsuit or I mean I'm sorry to $5,000 a month it seems. But this year um attorney gross Corvett I forgot

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how how to say his firm got $20,000. So, I'm just wondering like if anybody can ever talk about is this special education due process um is it the lawsuit from the state supreme court um from a teacher who unfortunately passed away um and that was a Supreme Court

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decision. Um is it the two ethics complaints that are now combined and being handled by the attorney general's office? Um, is it having to do with the illegal firing lawsuit from a senior administrator um who is suing the administration

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um women and former superintendent Stefanits? $20,000 is a lot, especially when you're asking to raise taxes 6 and a half%. I'll save the rest for the 8:00 p.m. comments on uh school facility prices. Thank you.

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>> Thank you. Any other comments? virtual. No. Okay, that closes public comment. >> May I? >> Just give us your name and where you live. >> Um, my name is Cassandra. So, my daughter goes to DaV and a kid spat on

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her and the principal didn't call me, the nurse didn't call me, the teacher didn't call me. And so, I'm just wondering what's the policy on that? How would I have known what happened to my daughter if nobody called me? >> Could you grab one of those business

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cards and reach out to Miss Welden tomorrow? >> No, I did, but it seems like I don't know what's being done. >> Okay, we we can't address that right now at this meeting because we >> Okay, but I'm just letting it be a >> personal matter. >> Um, not really. Somebody spit on my daughter. That's >> understand. That's very concerning.

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>> That is a public comment. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. Any other public comments at this time? Okay. >> I'd like to make a suggestion that we I go back into my report if I may so we can um move to recognition. I also would

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like to uh let our student reporters >> I think that's a great idea. >> Their report as well. >> Um if you take the business part too. >> It's right here. Ma'am, you can walk up here and grab it. It's right here.

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Um if if everyone is in agreement like the reorder event so that we can honor the many students and faculty that are here tonight to be recognized. >> Okay. >> Okay. >> Students, we'll start with our student report. >> Um the varsity softball team is 7 and

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three right now and is and is currently the top team in the division. They played today against St. Rose and 110. The boys varsity lacrosse team is 6 and4 and is at the top of the div division. and they played Freehole Township this Wednesday at 5:30. The girls varsity lacrosse team is 2 and 9, but we are

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working on it. They play at wall today at 3:45. The boys varsity baseball team is 5-7. Working hard. They actually played today and lost. The golf team just got back from the short conference, but the team overall overall is 3 and four. The boys track went third in the Beanworth division with a 5-2 record.

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>> All right. Now for now for clubs. Uh, DECA is currently competing at ICDC in Georgia, uh, where they do business role plays, and they're coming back tomorrow. Um, junior prom is coming up on May 16th at 700 p.m. at the high school. And last week, Spartans United had a Holocaust

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survivor. Uh, and Italian Club went to New York for a field trip to Little Italy. >> Very nice. Thank you for your report. >> Thank you so much. Okay, this brings us to a part of the the evening that I uh enjoy very much where we get to

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recognize a number of uh highlights from our students and staff. I would ask um our board who's going to come out, our board president who's uh Mrs. McGovern, our board vice president, is going to um join our principal, Mrs. Don Kazuba. If

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Mr. Rusty Todd is here as well, he can come forward. And we are going to recognize a number of different students and staff this evening. So if you move to the next slide, you'll see there's also a number I have my April uh

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important dates and events. I always want to include this and make sure that that everyone knows about the wonderful things that are happening in our schools every month. We had our innovation night last week which was a wonderful showcase of all of our students talents and I thank everyone who came out for that

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event. Moving on to the announcement of honors. You know, our district is committed to recognizing excellence, dedication, and the spirit of achievement. We aim to highlight the individuals in our Spartan community whose efforts go beyond

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expectations, inspiring others to follow in their path. So, our first honore of the evening, you can advance the slide. I'd like to introduce Coach Ryan Pringle who is our varsity

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varsity boys basketball central coach of the year. Congratulations, Coach Pringle. And at any time when your child or your family member is up here, you're welcome to come forward to take photos as well. So, please don't be shy. Coach Pringle,

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please stay up here and join us as we welcome up our next honore, which is the V varsity boys basketball team for winning B. They are our B central champions. I'm going to call your names. If there are other coaches here, I'd like you to join us, too. I'd like to

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recognize the other coaches. Coach Risler, Coach Louder, Coach Ryan, Coach Omla. If you're here, please come on up and you can stand with Coach Kle. Congratulations to you. And now our players. Ahmad Aayash, come

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on up. Roie Bell. Jack Bell, Ryan Suzanne, Wilkins Dormius, Justice Lodge, John Kinja, Jameson McAllister,

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Mickey McGovern, Mark Palmer, Tristan St. Louis, Vernon Taylor, Aiden Zakarek, could you please advance the slide? The next player I'd like to welcome up is Omar Aish, who also is our Shore

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Conference Coach's B Central Player of the Year. Congratulations, Omar. And the final player, Aiden St. Louis. He scored his 1,000th point this season

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and he is our shore shore sports insider B central player of the year. Congratulations Aiden. >> Congratulations to the entire team. Gentlemen, if you could please move >> in front of the backdrop. We probably

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have to do >> a few layers. And parents, please feel free to come up to take a photo. >> Sit kneel down. >> You're used to this. >> Some might have to kneel. >> Yeah. >> There you go. There we go. Sit. Ben.

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Sitel bends. Perfect. >> That's great. >> All right. We got a lot of people taking pictures. Well done, boys. >> That looks great. >> Make sure you get a good one. >> Congratulations, Spartans. You made us

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very proud. Okay, next I'd like to turn our attention to our band and some amazing achievements there. I'd like to introduce Mr. Kyle Titmas who was selected as the

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allshore band conductor for a band. Is Mr. Titmas here this evening? Good. >> Yes. >> Okay. All right. Other band achievements. I'd like to introduce the next honore, David Ferda. Come on up,

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David. Here. All right. As you can see, David had quite a bit of achievements. They're listed here behind me. Congratulations, David, on all of your accomplishments. Next up, Samantha Pagnoni. Please come on up. No.

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All right. Well, we congratulate Samantha as well on all of her achievements this year. Gabriella Silva. Gabriella, come on out. Gabriella. >> Gabriella was accepted to the Allshore Jazz Band. She is the second chair tenor

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saxophone for a band, which is second place overall. And she was selected to the Allshore Symphonic Band, first chair, tenor saxophone. Two amazing achievements. Congratulations, Gabriella.

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and Jace Spears. Is Jace here? Okay. Jace also was accepted to the Allshore Symphonic Band. Congratulations to Jace on those achievements. Outstanding. Okay. Now, Coach Todd, you're you're done. But if Mr. Schwarz is here, he

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could join us up front. I'm not sure. Yes, he is. Very good. We're moving on to our next section where we will honor all of our seniors who have earned the seal of biiteracy. And you may have heard Mr. Hastings say this before, but

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the seal of biiteracy is a insignia and a designation that the state of New Jersey gives out to high school graduates who have passed all criteria to be deemed fluent in two languages. It is an incredible feat and something to

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be incredibly proud of as we are very proud of you for achieving this. So, as I call your name, you can come on up over here to see Mrs. Kazuba and Mr. Schwarz who have your certificates. Okay, here we go. Ahmed Abdullah, come

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on up. Laura Alves, Felix, Jonathan Bagon, Martinez, Vita Coffrey, Gabriella D. Au, Katherine Daison, Y Emil, Samuel Fields,

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Mariana Garcia TZ, Maria Guzman, Escobar, Valeria Hernandez Bautista Julia Herado Amina Van Celeste Mayor Vman Juliana McDonald's

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roses a Louis Garcia Marian Tash Vi, Joseph Pitarelli, Doulsece Cano, Nava, Juan Ramirez, Arto,

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Mikas, Renvoir, Cindy Ramulus, David Rubio, and Rosa Suarez. Congratulations to all of you. This is quite an honor. We're going to take a photo. So, if you could come >> back in front of the backdrop.

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>> Parents and families, feel free to come on up for a photo. >> We're trying to get everyone in front of the backdrop. So, if you're not in front of the backdrop, come on. Come back. Congratulations, Florence. You made it very proud.

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>> Mr. President, that concludes my report for this evening. >> Thank you, Miss Weldon, and thank you for your willingness to shift that around. I think it was a great idea. Um, so at this time, there's a couple things I want to address because I did see a comment in the chat. Unfortunately, the camera is fixed to the ceiling, so we

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aren't able to turn it around to show you the students because it is a fixed camera in the ceiling. We wish we could have shared that with you. Um, for all of you that came out this evening, you are more than welcome to stay as we go through our meetings, but I also know that you may have other plans that you

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would like to take care of. Um, so we could pause for a minute if you would like to go home at this point. Congratulations again. Nice job. Nice job, guys. Yeah, it's a hard

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question. >> Great idea. I see a little beach. >> Oh, that's beautiful. Everyone's watching the lighthouse. Oh, they're open. >> Yes, please.

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>> Take as many as you >> tell me. Well, there's going to be a Laura Friday. >> Oh, no. >> Great. Thank you this evening. >> Should be very proud.

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So >> so nice. So you got the this is your whole like your plane in the house. She's like, "Oh, I'm take off. >> Cubes back.

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>> No, we're here. >> All right. So board members, just as a reminder, we're still in work >> and we're in section seven. We're about to go to section seven. >> Okay. And I know because we didn't have four docs um you know, some of us are

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working from a PDF on the screen and some of us are working from paper. Um Mr. President, >> yes. >> Could I suggest that maybe work off of our regular agenda >> and just approve >> and we we move to public comment as I have no additional comments.

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>> Okay. It's public comment and then approve our regular agenda with any comments from board members or explanations needed. >> Thank you for offering that idea and efficiency. I appreciate it. So, we'll go back to public comment at this time is what you're saying? >> Yes, sir. >> Thank you.

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>> Okay. >> Okay. So, we'll go right into the uh regular