on February 24th. And today the re the Paripany regional girls basketball team had their first home game in for states in 20 plus years. >> Here are the latest happenings at PHS. At PHS we are having a student
basketball game on March 4th and we're having a college fair on March 5th. We also had our first wellness Wednesday on February 11th where students were encouraged not to use their phones.
Students had opportunities at tables where they could play and other games. Overall, we think it went well. >> Thank you. Do we have any questions for our student representative? We are up to student awards.
>> Good evening everyone. Tonight we are here to recognize the achievement of our student athletes. First I want to thank all the students for all your hard work and dedication. We appreciate your sportsmanship and we're glad that you're here this evening. I would be remiss if I didn't thank all the coaches who work
closely with you, the volunteers and everyone who athletic programs and then of course to the parents and the families who are here tonight. Thank you for coming. We appreciate your partnership and support. So at this time I'm pleased to turn the program over to Miss Stout, Miss Kuchi, and Dr. Thompson
who will be handing out the individual awards. >> Good evening. I'll call up each club or sport to come forward and assemble in the center aisle. After you have all assembled, I will then call each individual forward to receive your award. Will Mrs. Abraham and Mrs.
Chappelle join me to present the awards. And I forgot to mention that after the awards there will be cookies and punch in the cafeteria. And coach Mets, please join us in the center aisle. Once again, Brooklyn Middle School, the cross country team and coach Mets join us in the center aisle.
Coach Mets, you can come on up. We'll start with Coach Tom Mets, Ash Pak. Joseph Antonelli, Selma Barajanova, Gabriella Capanigro, Timothy Cordisano, Andrew Fry,
Shan Gallagher, Payton Lewis, Alexis McGee, Clara Panacea, Arian Patel, Sophia Tamo, Jason Thorman, and Jolie Valier. Congratulations. I'm now going to turn
this over to Miss Melissa Kucci from Paripony High School and Dr. Matthew Thompson from Paripony Hills High School. First, we'd like to recognize our 2026 National Merit Commended students from Paripony Hills High
School, Charlotte Fang, who could not be here tonight. Everyone, please uh if you know that you are a commended National Merit student, please line up in the center aisle, please. Anya Gower, Cheryl H. Ki
Dev Krishna Maya Nare Rithwick Rithwick Nara Cartish Hi Stringham, Ram Vay. At this time, could I ask all of our cheerleaders come up with Coach Nicole
Commasar? Gabriella Albano, Joelle Bis, Annabelle De Jesus, Samantha Hamsy, Emma Lowski, and the UCA Pin It Forward Award for Jacqueline Bowman.
I'd like to recognize the PHS cross country team coached by Shan Rambecki. Students being recognized for the PHS cross country team, please line up in the center aisle. First team all conference NJ independence division all academic team
mystery first team all conference and jack independence division all academic team Juliana Veron first team all conference and jack independence division all academic team Andrew Second team all conference independence
division all academic team Ryan Zang. Second team all conference NJAC Independence Division Jason. Second team all conference and Jack Independence Division Shaw. Honorable mention all conference
independence division Maya. And honorable mention all conference independence division Rajar. Now I'd like to ask our hills cross country team join us and line up in the middle aisle. Cross country team is coached by coach
Michelle Perry who could not be with us this evening. Second team all conference all academic Noel Crane. The following athletes are honorable mention all conference. Andrew Nicholas, Nemo, Jedamovan,
Sydney Troyani, I'd like to recognize our PHS field hockey team coached by Kate Tedo. Field hockey athletes, please line up in the center aisle. Second team all conference NJA Independence Division All Academic Team
Leo Collins. First team all conference Njac Independence Division Nicole Coughlin. First team all conference Independence Division. Honorable mention all county Alexandra Zjac. Second team, all conference independence
division all academic team. Adriana Zjac. Honorable mention all conference and Jack Independence Division. Honorable mention county Angelica Blair. Now like to ask our PHS field hockey team to come up and line up in the
middle aisle. Coach Ari Kamayo. Honorable mention all conference. Honorable mention all county. Amelia Macintosh. Ava Tahiri. I'd like to recognize our PHS football team coached by Kenny Brock.
Football players that are here, please line up in the center aisle. Honorable mention all conference NJSC American white division Vincent Diaardi second team all conference NJSFC American white division Harrison Gordon
C all American team Christian first team all conference NJSFC American white division all county team Roco Maruchi I'd like to thank Abraham and Chappelle for helping out awards will
please join Our head football coach Ross Harlo could not be here with us this evening. I'd like to ask Coach and Coach Hill come up. All the football players, please line up in the center aisle. His
first name uh is playing in the uh basketball state playoff today, so he will not be with us. First team allconerence defense, SFC all academic, all county defense, Nicholas. Second team all conference offense Jaden
Mendes Donado Riley first team all conference special teams Manuel Saledo second team all conference defense Anthony Capanro Honorable mention all conference Marvin
placed like to recognize our PHS boys soccer team coached by Pedro Hernandez. Mr. Hernandez, can you please come up to the front to present certificates and plaques? Our boys have received sweatshirts and they have them on this evening. So, the boys line up in the
center aisle. I'll call individual athletes and then also recognize individuals for their accomplishments. Sam Bellaji, first team all conference, third team all county. Willie, Lucas, Callie,
first team, all conference, honorable mention, all county, Christian, Marcus Co. Second team all conference honorable mention all county Isaac Dilva second team all conference Alex Brennan Evans,
second team, all conference. Rodrigo Esel oran Feldman Adam Gparrow, Matthew Hernandez, Christopher McAndrews, Miguel Angel Gonzalez
Mishra Andre Mora Daniel Lopez. Honorable mention all conference, Arian Patel. First team all conference first team all county all state northsef
team all conference team all conference all academic team all state northbasins and survey. Congratulations Now I'd like to ask our Far Hills boys soccer team to come up and line up in
the middle aisle. They are coached by coach David Twista. First team all conference. Second team all county Mendoza Bardo. First team all conference honorable
mention all county AUM. Second team all conference honorable mention all county all academic Thomas Soldderini. Second team all conference Micah Lopez. Honorable mention all conference Samir Kan
like to recognize our PHS girls soccer team coached by Paul Kick. athletes accepting awards tonight. Please in the center right now competing in the girls first round of states basketball
first team all conference independence division honorable mention all county all academic team senior allar game Sophia Casio second team all conference independence division Isabella Ferrara Honorable mention all county.
Honorable mention all conference and independent division Juliana Perez. Like to call up our hills girls soccer team coached by Mackenzie Galla. First team, all conference, third team,
all county, all academic. Olivia Smith, second team, all conference, honorable mention, all county, Eva Gianos. Second team all conference, third team all county all academic Audra Crane.
Honorable mention all conference Michaela Campos like to recognize our tennis team coached by coach Michael Miller. Our tennis players, please line up in the center aisle. The team earned the Independence
Division Sportsmanship Awarders along with recognize them for their individual accomplishments. Evelyn Chung Navia garwani Angelica second team all conference third singles
all academic team Trinity Johnson Perezos second team all conference First doubles second team all conference first doubles all academic team. Honorable mention all conference first singles. Alyn Zang
like to call up our Parill tennis team coached by Dave. Honorable mention all conference. Sahana Singh, Laura Meel. recognize our PHS volleyball team coached by Christina Berios.
Second team all conference and Jack Liberty division all academic team Vivian Learner. Honorable mention all conference and Jack Liberty division perutar. Now like to call up our hills volleyball
team coached by Nick Lavin. First team, all conference, all academic. Juliet Galanteva Bargava. Second team, all conference all academic. Julia Bars,
Bailey Huang. Honorable mention all conference Jenna Harry. >> Thank you very much. Right, we will have a 10-minute recess in our meeting. Please everybody go to the cafeteria for cookies and punch. Grab this bike like you mean it. Give
you We're going to call our meeting back to order. Mrs. Mayor, can you hear us? >> I can hear you fine. Thank you. >> Thank you. And I would also like to recognize Mayor
in our audience. Thank you. attending our meeting. We are up to correspondence. Is there any correspondence to come before the board? >> Okay, then let's start with committee of the >> Mr. Deito, would you like to start our
finance? Thank you, Miss Go. So, um, so for the committee to hold tonight, we're going to start off with actually the minutes from the previous finance meeting which is in your packet. Um, the finance committee met on February 12th and then myself, Mrs. Abraham, MH, Mel,
Dr. Mu, Dr. Chase, Miss Benos, and we spoke with the on the budget about the healthare. We talked about future transfers uh which includes the CMS boiler and the PS PHS transformer
and we also spoke about the audit correction plan that is that will be implemented this year and that is about it. If anyone is looking through it want to go through any of the finer points of it we can keep any questions there.
Seeing none, uh, next on the agenda tonight is in the talking about the MCBT, which is the Morris County vote votech enrollment numbers for 2627. Dr. McHugh.
>> Okay. So, our numbers are are on par with last year. Um, the only increase would be for a tuition increase. Um, students don't register or apply to the Votech until a little bit later in the semester. So, we always work off of estimated numbers. So, how I calculate
this is I drop the 12th grade class, assuming they're graduating, and I I apply the the percentage of students going to the vote, to the eighth grade class, and I come up with a number. And the anticipated difference between um
current year and next year's budget is actually a savings of $19,000. So, we're actually on on the better side based on a slightly larger uh 12th grade class than than eighth grade class. >> So, the other area that I I did provide
as well is in addition to the VOTE, another um large school that some of our students go to is is Unity Charter. And again, we're on basically the same par with them. We applied an increase for tuition in the system. And the
difference for that is is an increase of $19,000 based on that. So >> when you look at the size of our budget and the size of tuition, that's a that's a pretty reasonable number, >> right? >> And and I think I think my biggest concern with with budget last year, we had a substantial increase in the
tuition for the vote and I was my I guess my concern was was that going to have again happen again this year. So as of right now, there's no increase. We don't anticipate it. So, you know, the Votech has its own board, has its own administration
there? Who's to say that they're going to come back and say, "Oh, no. We're going to have an increase like, you know, in the 11th hour." Is that possibility or no? >> There's always a possibility. I I never say no, but but given the history, it's
unlikely, but >> always a possibility. >> Okay. >> Is the timing of their budget the same as ours? So they don't even have to say anything sooner, right? >> Yes. They're but they're they're funded differently. They don't have the tax levy since they're a county. So they're
they they have a streamlined budget process. >> Right. So just to educate me here, their their budgeting is is more based on their is it coming from the county taxes as well in addition to state aid or No, >> they they are funded primarily through state aid and county participation tax a
part of the taxes. Yes. >> Okay. um question uh have we started the discussion already uh with them? Have you reached out to them for the increase or we haven't? >> Okay. I wasn't sure. So yes, we're in communication with them. They provided us with with their estimated increase
although it's again it's an estimate so it could always change and they can't provide us anything more about student enrollment numbers because the students haven't applied yet. So I mean the vote in Morris County is is a a wonderful program. It's like a mini community college and they use a lot of different
schools. I know Roxberry their main campus and a few others and what we've seen over the last few years is actually an increase in transportation because students can move among the campuses and we're responsible for that. But that has it we're now we've built up to that level and we expect to maintain.
>> Next on the agenda is the facilities update. >> Can I ask one more question? Sorry. >> Oh sure. Have we seen because Parson is doing a great job with the STEM program? Have we seen enrollments going down from Paripony to Votech? >> No, we we have not. We we saw a
substantial increase uh moving into last year's budget and we assume that we'll maintain the same numbers moving forward. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Okay. Yeah, you can go. Uh item number three is a facilities update. So, um, on the facilities update, I it
was mentioned in your minutes. Uh, we have, uh, two items. Uh, we had a boiler failure at Central Middle School. Um, we had it declared as an emergent project at the, uh, county level, which enabled us to use a quote process rather than a
bid process. Boilers were installed on February 13th, and we're up and running. There there was a week I guess maybe three weeks where we're using space heaters and trying to to maintain but it it three weeks to get a boiler and a school actually it's a dual boiler now before it was only one now we have
redundancy that that's speedy when it comes to school districts and the other item that's open is our the transformer in this building that we had the failure in December again it was declared emergent by the county um through our communication with them that is a little bit longer process because we're
determining what the power needs are before we just replace what was there and then be short. I mean, when the building was built in the late 60s, early 70s, we didn't have computers. It wasn't air conditioned. So, there potentially will be a need for for more power, but we're we're verifying that
now. >> Any questions on that? >> Do we know as of yet if insurance is still covering it or is that still pending? >> We are expecting to do a a one for one. So what we what we lost we're going to replace and then the expectation would
be that insurance covers it. If for some reason we're required to do a major enhancement and we increase the the the throughput or the amount of electricity then we would have to communicate with insurance to determine what portion they would be willing to pay for. >> Thank you.
>> Any other questions on that item? No. Okay. So then finally, the last item on the agenda tonight is the budget update. >> Okay. So I have some words prepared. So I'm just going to be reading a little bit. Feel free to stop me or interrupt me if uh if there's something I can clarify for you. So as the district
moves forward to the March 12th tentative budget presentation, I would like to provide an update on the draft budget, including some key points. The draft budget is at or near the statutory cap. The budget is not uh expansive and
largely maintains current operations. The budget appropriation appropriates fund balance to offset operating expenses utilizing prior year surplus to support current the current year. Based on current projections, the district
anticipates ending the fiscal year within the state allowable limits for unassigned fund balance. Appropriating fund balance as a short-term stabilization tool. However, continued reliance on this strategy would not represent a sustainable long-term fiscal
approach. As drafted, the budget does not significantly advance any new district goals, initiatives, expand security investment, or accelerate uh facility improvements.
administration has identified areas of cost containment, providing the board with strategic options moving forward. The finance committee will determine how best to deploy the available dollars, including potential targeted facility
investments, adjustments to fund balance strategy, or strengthening student supports. And the finance committee is scheduled to meet on March 9th to review these matters and move toward finalizing a budget. Anyone
have any questions? >> I just want to summarize. So that means we're on target getting timelinewise. We're on target and and the the information will be available for the 312 budget presentation.
>> Correct. Yes. I also just want to quickly point out that um this week we had a broadcast from the Department of Education which extended the timeline for school districts for budgets. Um which means that it it was delineated by two uh
categories. One for those districts that have an April vote and those who have a November vote. So we fall in the second the latter category. So we are actually able to submit our budget on March 27th which is a day after the board meeting. So we will be on track in terms of Miss
Kogan what you had just asked. Um the meeting on the 9th as as Dr. McHugh said is going to be a conversation with the facil with the finance committee about how to strategically move forward uh with addressing some of the areas that we've brought to everyone's attention.
Uh the tw the hope is that um during that time too we could also give a glimpse of the presentation to the finance committee that will be shared with everybody on the 12th and then on the 26th we would look to do an adoption. If any questions come up at the meeting on the 12th and the finance committee feels like we need to have
more conversation we could always look to schedule a meeting in between the 12th and the 26th if need be. >> Agreed. Fair enough. Okay. >> Uh question. I think I should know this,
but um as we see here, CMS, we had that boiler that went bad. I know once before we had a couple of boilers go bad that was on an off year
and the current budget and the one that we're planning for. remind me how we are able to spend 152k and in the next upcoming budget. Is there
anything that's going to prevent us for having that type of ability to do that going forward? God forbid, you know, will we have a another boiler dis? Boilers aren't cheap. So the we we hope that by the end of the
year we will have identified $152,500 worth of funds that are not being allocated to something else. And if so we will transfer into that the account that repaired that. >> Right? If that is not possible, we we
will recommend a withdrawal from capital reserve which it would be eligible since it was a capital improvement. >> Right? >> So that's the I mean that's the last thing you want to do, but it is a catch-all and that's why reserves are beneficial. Now, moving forward to this budget, uh we anticipate um and again
this is up to the decision of the finance committee and ultimately this board, we've allocated $400,000 additional specifically for HVAC because there are uh there is a lot of need when it comes to the HVAC systems. You could certainly spend a lot more than that,
but we're trying we're trying to be reasonable. We're going to target the the ones in in the worst shape and we're also um bringing in some preventive maintenance personnel to start to do more thorough maintenance so we can kind of get an estimate. This is the next one
you have to watch which is very hard to do internally and also repair. >> No, understood. The next question is on maybe it's not as much the current budget but looking forward is Littleton.
Um how are we on with Little Is anything on the horizon going to prohibit us from continuing Littleton or having to push it back or >> So Littleton has the bid opening on March 4th. So we will finally get the
the contracts presented to us if the board chooses to move forward. Right. >> Um so the estimate for Littleton currently is $9 million. We have $3.5 million in purchase orders in the current year. The balance will need to come from one of a few different
sources. The general operating budget or um capital reserve which sits at $9 million now. >> So they'll be governor finance at the future meeting. >> That's my question. >> Yes, we will have that prior to the finance committee meeting on the 9th. >> Great. >> So and but again it's an estimate the
estimate when we first started to this is prior to me. This is um Dr. Sergeant and Rob Jesus. The estimate was 7 million. They've now revised to 9 million. That really shows the increase in >> Sure. >> everything. >> Yep. Okay. Thank you. >> No worries.
>> Question. You're welcome. >> Right. Question. >> Um I just want to make sure I understood appropriately. um in your description of the budget that we delivered, you say you have successfully um and largely maintained operations, but the way that
we're doing so is not sustainable moving forward. So that suggests that moving forward, it's going to be part of our responsibility to find um new ways uh if we want to maintain current programmatic offerings, maintain reasonable class sizes, maintain our staff, we're going
to have to work hard to figure out new funding approaches. Correct. >> Uh yeah, M. Yes. And that's going to be part of the conversation on the 9th. >> Great. Thank you. >> We do have significant facility needs here. Uh we know that there have been
parents who have come up and and expressed concerns about class size particularly at the primary level. Uh so these are going and then we know that I recently stood up at a board meeting and added two more district goals uh to address facilities and also our finance
situation as Dr. MH said this situation of maintaining a reoccurring fund balance which is leftover money from the from a budget is not sustainable because prices are going up, things are happening um that are anticip unanticipated.
So all of that is going to be part of the strategic discussion that we have on the 9th and hopefully we can the finance committee and and the team here can uh come to some decisions which we can then talk about publicly on the 12th.
>> Mr. Shaw, I have a question. >> Um out of car, have we done an impact analysis if we chose not to expand um Littleton phase two? Um, and how would we use that funding in other ways? Because it's expansion
versus facility maintenance like have we done an impact analysis as a whole? >> We we haven't done a formal impact analysis on the absence of the the continuation of the Littleton expansion. However, in two weeks, we are going to be having as an administrative team a
sections meeting. And during that part of the conversation, we're going to be discussing available classroom use, >> which is going to be if we stop the construction at Littleton, we would need to have space within our current schools to house the students. So that's all going to be part of a conversation coming up in two week. It won't it won't
result in a formal impact analysis, but it'll give us some insight further into how to move forward. >> Oh yeah, thank you, Miss Dr. MH. And also too, one of the things that um we have our architect doing is a capacity study,
>> looking at each of our individual buildings because remember all of all of the spaces within a school district have to fall and meet certain requirements with regard to the number of students per square footage. >> Um thank you for that. And in that
impact analysis, are we also uh going to see how much it takes to what would it take for us to get, you know, updated facilities as well? Not sure. Um >> so right now we have a long range
facilities plan where uh the head of our maintenance, the head of our buildings and grounds has identified areas that need um remediation over the next five years. Part of the challenge what we're finding is exactly what Dr. McHugh said. We get estimates for things and by the
time we go around to actually repairing them, they've gone up significantly. Uh but so that is al also going to be part of that's tied into the district goals as you recall. Um looking at our needs and trying to quantify them to decide how we want to move forward with some
large ticket items. Uh I think I might have said uh one of the things that school districts have been doing within the state of New Jersey in order to address the structural cap is they've either been going to the voters for uh increase in the um to fund specific
projects or referendums uh which really help in that regard because when you do a referendum and you're modifying an existing structure the state will give you something back called debt service aid back which could be up to 30%. So, for example, if you have to fix 10
boilers, I'm just using friendly numbers here, that were $5 million in cost and you were to continue to fix them through the general operating budget, you'd be paying the entire $5 million off of the the general operating. If you were to go to a referendum, you can submit that for
debt service aid and up to 30% of that 5 million could be given back to the district. So, there's a cost savings with that process. So in terms of uh the conversations we have to have we have to discuss strategically how the board wants to move forward in this regard.
>> Um one last question uh for the consultative study will that also show some options for redistricting or will is one of the outcomes of that >> of of the capacity study capacity? >> No that's not part of it. >> Okay. That would be and if you if the
district were to explore redistricting uh like many school districts do, they usually hire a separate firm that specializes that because they're using all sorts of formulas and they make recommendations. We have not to my knowledge have done that as a board. So that would be something that the board
would have to uh support if we were to go that route. >> Okay. It's it's a good option. Is that usually recommendation by the board or by this uh superintendent? It's it's usually I mean I haven't specifically been involved in that but just what I know from other districts
who have done that it's usually a collaborative conversation with the input coming from the administration for how that would how that would work operationally and then the board weighing in in terms of policies um because that's what the board does creates policies to help us operate. So that's where a partnership comes in.
>> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Is any no other items for no. >> So I had asked for correspondence and there was none. So we are up to unfinished business and the only item I
know of was the um committee handover documents. Mr. Chappelle, >> thank you very much. Uh so um in the last session uh I highlighted that we had created a series
of handover documents for each of the committees in the spirit of continuity and transparency. Um and that was really in followup to some of the conversations I've had with people across the board um as well as feedback just generally from conversations that I've been hearing
over the past three years on the board. um trying to make sure that as committee membership changes from year to year uh during the uh December to January handover uh nothing gets lost along the way about key topics that were being
discussed uh so that when the new uh when the new committees do step into place they are going to be better equipped to act take action faster. Uh and then transparency um was about making sure that people understand how uh on the on the board
understand how uh the committees are formed uh the responsibilities of the board's expectations um as well as um making sure that you know those who have expressed interest um whether it be um through application to be a member of the committee or to through
conversations uh to attend committees when there are people who are not available they are the first people to get asked. Um so uh helps to make sure that those who are really interested in the topics of each of the respective committees has the moment to uh be considered in those opportunities. Uh so
I do really appreciate feedback I've received so far. Some of it has been incredibly helpful which I think will help shape these even more. Um, I do appreciate though that this is an experiment and uh if it's something that we decide that we don't want to go forward with, totally open to that, but
this is uh something that I think is worth a shot. Uh, and I open it up for any feedback or questions at this time. >> Thank you, Miss Goan. Um yeah, I I wanted to bring this up to the full board for discussion because there really wasn't there any opportunity to
do so uh when these uh committee handover documents are sent to all the committee chairs. So, I I'd like I appreciate when I'm when I'm done here, um, some feedback from the other members of what their thoughts were on this because all the times we've done work
like this, um, it's been embedded and the full board has had input. I mean um I think that these committee handover documents were sent via email to each individual individual chair and there was really no chance for input as a full
board which I think is how we have operated and we should continue to operate um because we've done things in the past where we came up with these due diligence questions and they always all vetted by each you know vetted a little more within the committees of course but
also opportunities from other members of the board to provide that information. Um we did drafted our board goals last fall which we did which we uh all read in a special meeting of the board. So um and of course then we've also had a the
past two years try to pass a code of governance which we then finally have adopted and so that was still again vetted in committee first and then presented to full board for input and such. So, um I'm a little concerned this kind of went kind of a roundabout way of
doing this. And so, I'm I'm not too um I'm open to other members of the board's uh input on this as well, what their thoughts were, but I mean, we I was always taught, you know, you're still new on the board. You listen and learn. You can learn very easily by just draft
looking at the minutes of each of these committees as you go along. I mean, when I started on the board, it was, you know, there was not like this of course, but there was still new board member orientation. You knew who the committees were. Within only a few, you know, months of just listening to all the
committee reports and finding out what the minutes are all going on as you're reading through your packet, you get a sense of what these committees are and what they're about. So, you know, trying to to put that all into into something that we already do, it seems like a lot of extra extra work. And uh well my
concern is this is more of something like here you're going to go do this and we're a board of nine not only one or two that says what we what we do. So I I I just don't like like be I'm being I'm you know we're all nine people
individual votes and so I don't like the fact this seems to me like a way of like trying to manage the board when we are all individual members. Okay. To that end, we have multiple bylaws including 0155
about board committees. If something one wanted to amend how we operate our committees in depth, we should really take that under policy committee and amending the bylaws if that's something someone wants to do and that's of course up to any board member to bring to the policy committee.
I am open to any other questions. Thank you. >> I'd appreciate the opportunity. So, um, thank you very much for that. I appreciate your perspective on that. Um, I think I did mention when I circulated this or when I mentioned it at the last
meeting that the packets would be circulated to the chairs for them to take a look and then share it more broadly. By no means is this a dictation or was this intended to be a dictation of what the committee should be work on
or that it should be um person or um the committee chair driving this. This is really a tool to help organize and again um facilitate what you know the committees need to do. But definitely by all means a collaboration.
Um this is by no means just one document that's going to be dictated by one person, one committee. This is something that's going to be out there for everyone to see. it was circulated to the chairs as a first reaction um because I wanted to see as chairs who
are from or are responsible for the committees if you had any um feedback you know that would help shape it before we sh spread it more broadly. So I I completely accept and appreciate your feedback. Um and I think that's exactly the right direction we need to go in is
to help shape this through feedback from everybody. Totally agree. May I say something? Hello? >> Yes. >> Can you hear me? Okay. >> I mean, I I don't know if I heard everything that Matt said because I'm kind of getting a little feedback, but
as far as I remember, I don't know if this will help that concern. Every committee that's going to meet has an agenda and everybody gets the agenda. And if you have a question and you're not on that committee, you call the committee chair and say, "Okay, I have a
question about this item. Can you cover it at the meeting?" And then you report back in your document that that question was an asked and answered. So it's not just one person, you know, it's supposed to be like a gathering of everybody's
ideas when they get the agenda and then bring it forward if you have a question. >> Thank you, Mrs. Mayor. We did hear that. Mrs. Abraham, did you also want to say something? >> Thank you. Um to kind of echo a little bit of what um Mr. Devito said, um I was
kind of looking at the governance talk that we had and uh that took a number of years to actually come to fruition. And I I feel like one of the major contrasts that we really need to talk about is that that the genesis of that governance document really was in I want to say
critical issues. Um and what what was a little bit striking to me with this was that this handover document was not developed in committee, not placed in a board packet, not really discussed. Um I I don't know if we're voting on it or
making any kind of um you know decisions about it. To me very frankly it was it seemed like it was distributed as an expectation and um I was also a little bit concerned about having any insinuation of a
manager subordinate role or perception of that and I wanted to make sure that we were making that we were going to be collaborative and this was not something that was going to be imposed. Um, I do believe that it could be beneficial to maybe certain committees
like critical issues or policy. Um, I'm not sure what other committees would be um would would like to have it as a beneficial document. Uh, to be very honest, I I'm just not 100% sure that with all the work that we have within
committee um outside of the board and everything that we do, the events that we go to um something like this is really necessary um because we do have committee minutes. We have a fairly good support system here where any brand new
board members are able to reach out to any senior board members and officers to ask any and all questions that they want. And that's why I wanted to highlight that unlike the governance document which was created out of committee that took several years
several iterations and it was distributed to the entire board over and over and over. It was very deliberately handled. Um and that's the kind of way that I would expect any other document um to be brought forth. The other thing
that I had briefly mentioned to Miss Kogan when I spoke to her about something else. Um I just wanted to make sure that we were not creating a solution to a problem that doesn't exist. You know, um I know we have new board members. Um we do have a lot of committee information. I've been on the
board about five years and I literally learned by doing and I learned by reading past minutes, communicating with multiple board members as much as I can and really like uh Mr. O said really just the first six months to a year was really just listening and watching and
learning and that's a lot of it was just learned by that and of course sitting in committee meetings and um participating as as much as we can but a lot of it is you know you really have to jump in with both feet. Um so before we consider you know I don't I don't know how we're
going to go forth with this but I I just like some clarity on you know is there some kind of governance need or is there any kind of failure that this document is looking to address because if it's just about communication which obviously you guys all know I love communication
and transparency but um I want to make sure that we're not creating extra work and you know frankly to tell you the truth over the when we switch over from December to January, it doesn't seem all that stressful to learn. Um, I mean,
when you're a first-time board member, everything is brand new. And so, there's going to be a learning curve, but I I I see why you wanted to um collaborate on this. I just don't know if this is the right time or if this is um the right
process. I I want to make sure that if maybe we should be discussing it more. Uh maybe collaboratively develop it in a committee. Uh if you want to formally something. Maybe that's the that's one way that we can take it forward in a process. Um, at this time I just I feel
like it was a little bit, you know, it felt a little imposed. So, thank you. >> Anybody else like to say anything? Mr. >> I guess as the new board member, um, I I
appreciate it. Um, knowing coming from a process background, operations background, you always want to give some sort of handover so that it gets the next board member thinking. So, I do appreciate the effort and the thought behind it. As in any process
improvement, we'll go ahead and improve it. That's based on feedback. That's the transparency. At least we're trying to say, "Hey, how does this document look? Can we improve upon it? Do you have any questions?" It gets me like the sports chair committee. Uh um
as soon as I got the documents, I started to ask questions. Then it went into the minutes and reviewed it. So it's a great starter. It gets uh the new members starting to think. So can it be approved? Of course. Any process can be improved. So looking to collaborate
further as a team, but I think it's a great start. Thank you. >> Anybody else? I just want to address uh one thing from Mr. Devito. Nothing in those documents changes any policies, changes any activities. We the
documents literally copy part of those policies into these. So there is absolutely no change um on any of that information. Um okay. Was there any other unfinished business that we wanted to address today?
Okay. Seeing none, we are up to committee reports. Mr. Devito, I think you already gave yours, right? >> I do have a liazison report, but if you want to do it. Okay. >> No, go ahead. >> So, as liaison to the PIL, uh the PIL met on um February 19th, uh they had
they they went through their um new they added a new member to the their board, Mr. Matt Peron, the owner of Gourmet Cafe. And um we went through the what we go through some of their their finance report a little bit and their um the
mayor was not in attendance but uh Mr. who was Mr. Um, Councilman um, Kief was in attendance and uh, as well and we were just talking be briefly. They asked about budget. I mention all I did was mention from our then that we are still
working on our budget and uh, we're working through it. That's all. But it was a good meeting. I was I was glad I'm glad to be on the on the leazison this year and looking forward to the rest of it. Thank you. >> All right. Dr. Right. Do you have
>> um I also have a sort of leazison report. So um I attended a meeting held by uh the Ruckers Center for Effective School Practices via their program. It's called the Ruters Bridge program which
is a state um initiative to support and expand the efficacy of uh CPACs um special education parent advisory groups. Um uh and specifically this was uh a meeting and I attended this both in
my role kind of as a CPAC leaison but also as the parent of a child who receives special education services um and uh was talking about how parents can come together what are the benefits of parents working together and how uh different models of parent collaboration
with districts where things work where things don't particularly um and I think this might be relevant to ours um is how to ensure that parents um across the district uh are you know feeling welcomed in and see the benefits
of participating. Um, and there were some really interesting ideas such as um like uh organizing inclusive playdates. And so the CPAC uh would send out a uh just an email to all
parents of special education and they also included most of the groups and this included 504 students um which I don't think we do. um just send out an email and say, you know, we're going to have an inclusive playday on the playground on this Sunday or um and uh
you know, sometimes they had them in school buildings if the school was going to be open for say sports. Um, and one and and sometimes as a parent of student a child with a disability, it can be really difficult to know how your
kids's going to kind of be in whether they're going to be able to participate effectively. So, the idea particularly of an inclusive playday sounded I was like, "Wow, that's that's creative and interesting." Um, and while you know, you gave your kids these opportunities that you don't necessarily that typically developing students
aren't necessarily getting. Um, and while you're while you're there having this really great opportunity for your kids, you snatch up some of the parrots. Um, and so they were discussion of several of uh those options. And then also um another thing that I think might be valuable to um consider uh how we
might use forward is Ruters now has this fairly significant grant to offer this support to local CPAs. Um they have they're running a a a series of programs um and they also have started up um CPAG support office hours where you can
contact um the bridge program and you know say this is what I'm trying to do you know how might we be able you know what what what are you seeing as effective ways so I really um I thought it was really valuable meeting and I've signed up for the list serves so I can
get them in the future and I look forward to sharing any more Do you have any reports for us? >> No, unfortunately we were snowed out. So I think we're reconvening Tuesday of this coming week. Policy that is.
>> Okay. Thank you. >> Um Mrs. Abraham, do you have anything? >> Um well, BNG did meet tonight, but I will be presenting those minutes at the next meeting. >> Okay. Mr. Shaw, I didn't mean to skip over you did, but I know you didn't have a committee that
>> Yes. >> Okay. >> I'll still Okay. Uh, Mrs. Mayor, >> I don't Did you have any less on reports? >> Mrs. Mayor, >> sorry, I'm here. >> Do you have any committee reports?
>> Just the liaison that our unsung hero program, it's called Love of a Hero and on this Thursday, a week a week from today at Handover Park starting at six o' and we've kind of streamlined it a
little bit with limiting how long speeches can be. So we're hoping to get it done in a reasonable amount of time and I hope that we will be there to show our Parony Hills and our Parony High students how proud we are of them.
>> Thank you. That's always a very All right, Mr. Chappelle. >> So, the ad hoc uh commit the pilot development committee met on February 18th. President were myself, Mr. Shaw, Dr. Wright, Mrs. Kogan, Dr. Chase, and
Mrs. Bos. Uh there were two uh main topics that we talked about. One was the pilot update uh where there was mentioned that the um the pilot attorney or the township had there was no further discussions at that point in time, but Dr. Chase is in the process of reaching out to have time uh scheduled with the
mayor um to talk about how to review the pilot programs that we have ongoing developments as well as shared service opportunities and I um so that that is being scheduled and hopefully um a recurring meeting um so they can u regularly talk about this and then uh
the second topic was really focused on communications going forward to ensure that uh we have a strong working relationship with the mayor and the town council uh including any information that they need in order to be empowered to help make some of their decisions. So, uh there's some listed on the sheets that you have in front of you. Um but
this is something that's open to discussion as the meetings progress. Any questions? Um I do have two other things. Um so I had my third uh and final uh lead master class from the New Jersey School Boards Association. This one was focused on
Northstar leadership leading with purpose and intention. Um and this really was focused on the importance of anchoring every decision, relationship and action and a clear sense of purpose. Um and this is how as a board member you can work towards uh supporting board
stability uh sorry district stability. Uh and then um through this effort we had collaborative discussions and breakout rooms where we examined our why and how that is becoming our our guiding principle in the work that we do as a board member. uh one of uh one of a
board um a group of people. Uh so mine and many other people was focused on the best interest of our students um and making sure that we keep them at the center of every choice that we make um and every um decision that we collaborate on as a board. Uh so that
was a really really helpful program to go through. Again, very collaborative and here and very um uh very what's the word I'm looking for? Um very uplifting uh to hear other districts and and hear about them and
what they're doing uh and uh how they work through some of their issues is very inspiring um and how to collaborate differently um focus on the way that we do things uh again to deliver for our students. Thank you.
>> Right. I attended my governance 4 class um which is really back on all the legal topics. There was really nothing major that we hadn't already heard um a bunch of times. There does seem to be a little
um differences between what the ethics committee finds are violations, what the commissioner of education finds violations and what the courts find as violations. So it to me just left me with better safe than sorry because somebody is going to find fault with it
between all between all the areas. Um I also was able to go to the part library and see the art exhibits from the students from the high in the hills and if you haven't been able to get over there and see them I would encourage you to do so. some I mean all of the work is
amazing uh and there's you know different media forms and it was really nice um and I also got to speak with the reporter from the new paripony daily um who was here earlier but I didn't see her now and you
know we have another online uh media outlet that should be in part um and that was the only things I did since the last board meeting. Um, we are now up to the
approval of the regular and executive minutes of February 12th, 2026. May I have a motion for those? Mrs. Abraham and a second, Mr. Shaw. Uh, roll call, please. >> Mrs. Abraham, >> yes.
>> Mr. Barios. >> Yes. >> Mr. Devito. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Mayor. >> Yes. >> Mr. Shaw. >> Yes. >> Dr. Wright. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Chappelle. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Kogan.
>> Um, I have to uh abstain from the minutes from last time as the superintendent bulletin. Dr. Chase. >> Okay. Thank you, Miss Kogan. Uh first I just want to follow up on uh Miss Chappelle's comments about the ad hoc meeting. Uh I'm very happy to report
that actually Mayor Desai and I are going to meet with uh his business administrator. Thank you mayor for coming this evening. We really appreciate your attendance. Uh we're going to hopefully we're going to meet on March 5th. So I very much look forward to that conversation. Uh a few
things all snow related. Um there's been quite a bit lately. So, uh, first I, as you may or may not have seen, um, the mayor has almost a township snow team where, um, our students have volunteered to help out
shovel out some of our seniors and some of the community members who may have some difficulty clearing their uh, homes and getting out. So, I want to thank the students for participating in that. That's a great way to help out your community. And uh thank you, mayor, for
calling to to get some of our kids out there in the snow. I hope you had fun spending time with them. Um I also want to just uh talk about, you know, when we have a significant amount of snowfall, it's a massive operation.
And it's not just about moving the snow, like clearing things, it's about moving the snow. And you can drive around to any of our schools and see large piles of it. Um, you know, I was on the phone with many people in the district on on those days and I could tell you I want to thank the maintenance team. I mean,
those folks stayed overnight to shovel us out. And if anybody picked up a shovel, you know that the snow was wet and heavy. So, it was not an easy feat. And I really want to just thank them tremendously for for working so diligently and hard to get our schools
open. And the same uh goes for our transportation department, too. You know, when you look at all the buses we have, there was about a good over a foot of snow on top of those buses and and those buses are high and our transportation folks uh really worked to get our buses ready. Uh unfortunately
despite all the efforts of our team uh to get our schools ready and our buses ready, we had to call a a cancel school because uh we have 45 routes with our contracted service transportation provider and they weren't able to get uh
their buses out for for whatever reason. So that was the reason for the school closing. It was not our team. Our team did a phenomenal job and I just wanted to give them a shout out publicly. Uh because because of the situation with the 45 routes, we had to call I had to
call snow day and we are now over a day in our school calendar. We have a day to make up. As you may recall, we already made a day in June a single session for Brook Lawn and Paripony High that had the the school closings.
>> Oh, Pipony Hills, I'm sorry. Precipity Hills that had the school closing because of the power situation. So on tonight's agenda, I'm recommending that we make up the day rather than cut into the spring break which would cause a whole host of challenges. You know, some
of our staff have plans and it might be a staffing shortage. Also, we might have some sta students who are away who may not come back. I recommended um that we take the March 9th PD day and thanks to the support of the admins who are able to make
accommodations to those days events, we could take that day and make it a single session early dismissal day for students and we can get the we made Dr. Moloney and his team made modifications so we can have our PD in the afternoon. So, that's an item on tonight's agenda for
the board to approve. And then that would afford us the opportunity to not have to um go into the spring break pending any other unforeseen snowstorms that are on the horizon. Uh which I hope they're not. So, that's my report. Again, thank you
to everybody who helped get us ready. I I just it's mindblowing the work that people did. >> Are there any questions for Dr. Chase on the bulletin? All right. So, the uh secretar's report, Dr. McHugh,
>> uh your secretary's report for February 26 is a standard report with three motions. Payment of bills, transfer of funds, and secretary treasurer's report. >> Any questions for Dr. Q? Moving right along. We have a section
for new business, but I don't believe anybody had any sure that's true. So now we are up to the hearing of the public. At this time if there is anyone who would like to address the board, please come up, sign your name and address in the book at the lectern and state your
name for the record. Please address the chair. Each person will have three minutes to speak to the board. It would be helpful if you would like to address the board to please come up now and sign in so you are ready when the first speaker is finished. As a reminder, we are video recording this meeting. If you
are a student who wishes to speak, we ask that you do not provide your home address, but rather give only the name of the town in which you live. If you are a parent wishing to discuss a specific matter pertaining to your child during this portion of the meeting, you may request that the board temporarily
suspend the video recording. Alternatively, please consider speaking privately about the matter to the superintendent after the meeting. Speaker should refrain from using specific student or staff names in their comments and are referred to bylaw 168 for further information regarding the
videotaping of our meetings. Is there anybody who would like to come address the board? Good night everybody. It is a constructive question to the board. >> Can you please give us your name and address before you start? >> Yeah, sure. Thank you.
>> My name is uh Dr. Ready. Okay. I I live in Paribini. Uh the constructed question that I want to bring to the board was had the district considering integrating a mindfulness, yoga or meditation based programs to proactively support student
mental health and stress management. Would the board be open to piloting a lowcost wellness program focused on mental health, emotional regulation and learning readiness? It may be helpful nowadays. Uh I see a lot of uh kids with a lot of
pressure with SAT or college related pressures. Uh it's great today. I see a lot of uh physical activities and fantastic uh prize distribution happened today. It was a lot of encouragement. That is one way to make them easy. But
second way, the world is going towards mind uh related strength, emotional intelligence etc. Uh in in a different uh countries you know it has become one part of a syllabus. Uh this is very
important at the early stage if you put on to take a lot of pressures and increase the leadership as well as uh take all the values not be so uh you know emotionally distracted. I just want to bring this important point to our future. Thank you for the
opportunity. Hello. I'm here to pay uh respect and thanks to Mr. Tim Barios for >> You also just for the record say your name >> first. I'm here. Sorry. >> Pit design 98 Atlantic Drive.
>> I'm here to say thank you to Mr. Tim Barriers for helping me uh promote uh and himself personally shovel a lot of homes. I think the partnership that we have was extremely fruitful and terrific and I hope this continues. Uh I would
request that uh you know all the high school principles at least at the two high schools promote this program uh going forward. Uh hopefully we won't get any snow. Uh they're predicting something for next week but it changes every hour. Uh but I just wanted to you
know show my appreciation to Mr. Tim Barios for helping me with this program. So thank you. >> All right. Seeing no one else I will close the hearing of the public. Dr. Chase, would you like to respond to anything? >> Um yeah. I just want to Is it Dr. Ready?
Okay. Um, so I just you you may or may not have been here, but um, the district has a goal. It's a goal number two, which is really to support student mental health and well-being for myriad reasons. Um, not just for students who are struggling, but also because of the academic advantage it gives to to
students. There's a mindbody connection and there's a correlation to student achievement in that regard. Um, we have a lot of things happening. I recently changed the supervisor of student counseling and nurse. I retitled her position to supervisor of student safety
and well-being because when you name it, it becomes important. And part of her work, what I've charged her with is really building out some comprehensive systems, K preK12 for our students in the areas that you have just um mentioned. But but this work is not new.
I'm not bringing this work to the district. The district's been doing a lot of this work. We're just wrapping our arms around it so it's more comprehensive and it's at the forefront of what we're doing. uh you know we have uh Dr. Moruni and his team and the principles are working on having uh implementing the cell phone
uh policy that the governor is recently signed into legislation which will help with removing distractions and thereby helping people to be more mindful of the world in which they're living. Uh we have yoga infused within our health and PE classes when our students are working. Uh we have a lot of mental
health supports. So this work is already underway in the district and we're continuing to charge forward that for the very reasons that you have said. Um so I just want to thank you for further highlighting this. This is an area that's been really important to my career and and a focus of my work. Um
again, not just for mental health, but also for the academic advantage that this gives uh students. So I just want to thank you and I'm always willing if you want to reach out and talk more about this, just let me know. Uh mayor, I just want to thank you. We are willing to partner with you in any way. As I said, I've watched your social media.
You were out there, right, with the crew shoveling. I can't imagine what an operation it was to get this town ready. I had no idea Mr. Berios was out there. Um, kudos to you. Next time, maybe I'll get you on social media with him, so we'll know. Uh, but I again, thank you
just for coming. We're very happy you're here. >> Okay. Thank you. We are now up to the roll call vote for Superintendent Bulletin number 12. We are voting on items 1 through six and 8 through 32 with addendum items 33 to 43. Just as a
reminder that the number was seven was pulled as part of the readins. So can we have a motion for that roll call? Uh Mr. Devito and a second Mrs. Abraham. Roll call, please. >> Mrs. Abraham.
>> Yes. >> Mr. Barios. Recuse on number nine. Yes to everything else. >> Mr. Devidito, >> yes. >> Mrs. Mayor, >> yes.
>> Mr. Shaw, >> yes. >> Dr. Wright, >> yes. >> Mrs. Chappelle, >> yes. >> Mrs. Kogan, >> yes. >> Right. There being no further business, we need a motion to adjurnn. Mr. Devito
and a second by Dr. Wright. All in favor? >> I. >> Meeting adjourned. >> Good night everybody. Goodbye. >> I give you a lot of credit.