629. >> All right, I'm going. May I call the meeting of the Parcipony Troy Hills Board of Education to order on November 13, 19, sorry, 2025. In compliance with chapter 231, public
law 1975 entitled Open Public Meetings Act, adequate notice of this meeting has been provided as specified in the act in the following manner. A meeting notice was published in the newspaper and on the district website on January 8th, 2025. In addition, the notice of the
meeting was posted at the municipal building in the schools and a copy of the notice filed with the township clerk and transmitted to other newspapers on November 5th, 2025. The daily record, the starter ledger and parcipany focus, tap into patch, and the district
website. This regular public board meeting is being video recorded as per bylaw 0168. The recordings of these meetings will be available on our district website and our video onthe-go YouTube channel. We ask that you please refrain from using
student or staff names in your statement. Professionalism is expected at all times. Please stand for the pledge to the flag to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God,
indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. May we have the attendance roll call, please. >> Mrs. Abraham >> here. >> Mr. Barios, >> here. >> Mrs. Delabe >> here. >> Mr. Devito >> here. >> Mrs. Mayor >> here. >> Mr. Rea
>> here. >> Dr. Wright >> here. >> Mrs. Chappelle >> here. >> And Mrs. Kogan was absent. Okay. >> Thank you very much. Uh this brings us to our student committee reports and we've got Sarveves who's going to help actually cover both high schools this time.
>> Uh good evening. Here are the latest happenings at PHS. We are currently in our student council hosted spirit week. Uh today was sweats on sweats day. Um, the sophomore class hosted their service night on November 12th and the senior
class is hosting their annual volleyball competition in which anyone can join and create a team for $5 on November 20th. The math team had their AMC competition last week and their NJ math league competition
uh last Tuesday. Robotics team is having a competition on the 15th. And as for sports, our marching band came sixth in nationals with a score of 88.2. The girls varsity volleyball team had their state competition on November 3rd. The
boys varsity soccer team had state game against Madison High School on November 4th. As for the Hills, um they're having an upcoming event host uh for their toy drive which is going to be held sometime
in November. Um the the PHS players are hosting um Mullier's play called Taro on November 20th, 21st and 22nd. Their marching band won fourth and earned the
best percussion at the USB bands um IIA NJ state competitions with a score of 87.8. The volleyball team advanced in state playoffs by defeating Richfield Park. Their girls soccer team played against Governor Livingston in the first round
of playoffs. Uh the football team had two consecutive wins against Morris Hills and Pipany High School. And the seniors won their powderpuff game on the November on November 10th. A few Pip Hills events that are happening this
week is the uh threeon-ree basketball tournament on the 12th and um the bminton tournament on the 13th. Thank you very much. Any questions? >> All right. Thank you.
>> So, that brings us to a special presentation for tonight and we've got Terara Snellings from the Parcipony Education Foundation. >> Oh, thank you. Uh, I'm honored to be here tonight on behalf of the Parcipony Education Foundation to present a check supporting
this year's grant recipients. Since its founding in 1996, the foundation has awarded more than $500,000 in grants and scholarships to enrich the learning experiences of students across all 14 schools in the Paripony Troy Hill School District. This year, the foundation
approved 22 grants totaling almost $27,000. Each one designed to spark curiosity, creativity, and connection in our classrooms. Students will soon enjoy experiences like an illustrator residency at Lake Parcypany School,
hands-on science through building living terrariums at Troy Hill School, and creative expression at the Morris County School of Glass, where PHS students will explore art and photography through glass blowing. We're also supporting projects that
build community such as Play, Connect, Grow at Brookan, which is using giant games to foster social emotional learning, and high school buddies, which pairs older student mentors with younger readers at Rockaway Middle School. From
literacy and action at Mount Taber to a schoolwide one school, one book celebration at Littleton, these grants will bring learning to life in a meaningful way. On behalf of the foundation, congratulations to all of our grant recipients. Your creativity and dedication continue to make Pipany a
place where innovation thrives and our students truly shine. [Music] So, Mrs. Abraham and Mr. Devidito, please uh accept the check. Thank you so much for your generosity.
[Music] Thank you so much. >> Excellent. Okay, that brings us to our correspondence. Is there any correspondence to become before the board? >> No correspondence. >> Thank you so much. Uh as for unfinished business is next. any topics for
anybody. Okay. I will talk to the fact that um in the ad hoc committee uh we did talk about uh having a meeting with the mayor and the council and we're working towards that in the new year. So that just to close out on that issue
that brings us to committee reports. Um I will start with Mrs. Delave. >> Sure. >> Hi. Um so the sports co-curricular committee met on November 11th. U myself uh Mr. Barios, Miss Mayor, Mr. Ricker, Miss Benos, Mr. D Bernard, and Mr. Huff
were in attendance. Uh, we discussed the High Hills game that just passed and it was a a big success. There were lots of um alumni uh who were present. Um lots of fun connecting with all of the students on on both sides of the field. Um everyone was excited about the
camaraderie that that brought to the town and the schools. We also discussed um middle school teams. Um, I kind of asked the question of how our numbers are at the middle school level because we I know numbers have dropped um in some of the sports um and other activities at the high school. So, I
just kind of wanted to get a feel for what we were doing to maybe bolster that program if there was more of an opportunity for us to welcome more students. Um they assured me and that they've been collaborating with the um those coaches as well. Uh they have clinics for field hockey. Little Vikings
attend all the home games. Um they have youth wrestling matches before the hills and high. Uh they set up uh Brook Lawn uh for central baseball and softball games. Um they have athletic nights as well. So you know those were really great responses just to show that we're you know community outreach and trying
to to keep our numbers up because you know sports and other activities are important part of the student experience at at participating in both high schools. Um, I also just wanted to know a little about the booster clubs and how those functioned with regards to the school district if they were completely
separate and I figured they were, but they are completely separate. But I just wanted to put it out there. Um, there's a lot of booster clubs and they kind of run a little bit differently. So, just to make sure that they're maintaining um, good budgeting um, and that they're practicing good use of facilities and fundraising, adhering to our rules as
well. Um, there were lots of updates for the fall sports. Um I won't read all of them. Uh but just some notes. Um the marching band at the high school took second place for the group at the state um competitions. Our boys soccer team like uh they had noted um they have they
won the conference title for the first time in 22 years. Um all the sports at least had a couple wins and really uh pulled together with each other by the end. Um let's see. The hills, same thing. The you heard about the marching band success that they had. Um the girls
volleyball did well. uh the tennis they finished uh top 10 in Mars County um and they have leveled up to the American division. So all in all it was a nice meeting nice to see what our students are up to. Any questions? >> Yesterday just had one question or more
of a comment really. U you mentioned about the middle school teams. I seem to recall there was an article that came out like two weeks ago about the Brooklyn law cross country team. They like finished I think like fourth in the county or state. I forget the numbers but they did very well. I was thought just wanted to note that because they
you know I think just got a new coach this year so >> something momentum up for their exact their numbers I think. >> Exactly. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay. If do you have any liazison reports? >> Any liaison reports?
>> No. >> Mr. Devito? >> Uh I have no report for buildings and grounds. Um liaison. Uh, wait. No, Leah is on report. >> No. Okay. >> Dr. Nothing to report. Thank you very
much, Mr. Ray. >> I don't have anything. >> Okay, Miss Abraham. >> Um, I don't have anything to report, but I did want to take a couple of minutes and just say a thank you to the Parcipony Education Foundation. um I was
able to sit in on their grant um discussions and it was extremely well done and very thoroughly discussed. I was very privileged to be able to sit in on that and I just wanted to thank the entire board of the uh part of the education foundation for allowing me to
be there. Um and I just wanted to make sure that we appreciate that because they don't just sit there for 20 minutes and decide these grants. They took hours to decide these grants before they vote on them. and I just wanted to make sure that we appreciate that. So, thank you.
>> Thank you so much, >> Mrs. Mayor. >> Okay. Human resources met on November 11th. Present were myself, Mrs. Abraham, Dr. Wright, Mr. Ricker, and Mrs. Banos. Um, we're staffing up. There were some
confidential personnel items and then there were some staffing updates. Uh, new hires and open positions. Mr. Ricker said that we're doing very well filling these positions. Um, most current open teaching positions have candidates that
are viable for the position. Principles and supervisors that continue to interview and recommend for those positions. um PARS and teacher transfers. As students move into the district, sometimes we need to place paras in
positions to meet the needs of these students and the requirements of their IEPs. Um sometime the paras need to be transferred. It just has to be sometimes the child is no longer in that building or has aged out and gone to the other
school. So they have to be um transferred. Um there also teacher transfers. The committee realizes that teacher transfers that occur during the year are very difficult. Um they're disruptive to the staff, to the students, to the school, but there are
times when it has to be done out of necessity. It's not something that is done lightly. Let's just say that um Paris and long-term subs have been increasingly difficult to find and to keep. Uh the committee discussed
potential solutions and ideas to address these staffing issues and as we all know local 32 agreement was ratified. Yay. Yay. Yay to the uh whatever team did that negotiations. You did a great job and we are working to adjust the new
salary guides and retropay for the last year. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. Any questions for Mrs. Mayor? >> Okay. Thank you. So I've got uh two committee reports and one liaison
report. Um so for the ad hoc committee was we met on November 10th. Present were myself, Mr. Roya, Mrs. Kogan, uh Dr. Chase, and Mrs. Bos. Um three topics were discussed. First being the school funding statement. uh making sure that
we had uh the opportunity to provide feedback on behalf of the school district uh to the state uh so they have our feelings on uh what is being discussed at the state level. And then we also covered the parent advocacy document which was posted this week um
throughout our district-wide communications uh putting out there information around the difficulties that are facing our district uh what we have done to help to address them as well as how parents can uh advocate for these different topics at the state and local levels.
Uh and then lastly uh we covered the the meeting with the mayor uh that we'll again as I mentioned earlier talk about we'll connect with them in the beginning of the new year uh once we have reorg complete any questions on ad hoc
okay uh next one is the finance committee we met tonight uh president were myself um Mr. Dvito Mr. Reya uh and Mrs. Abraham. Uh the big topic of discussion was our budget to no surprise um and all the
cost drivers. There are a number of significant drivers that Dr. Sorry, Dr. McHugh is there also. Uh Dr. McHugh covered in our previous um um committee of the whole uh just in a little bit more detail as more information has come to light. So he is he and his team are
diligently working through all of those topics to help develop the appropriate budget that we need. Uh there were a number of other topics that we touched on including uh funding and how that can be arranged. Uh the state aid formula um how uh the SNAP benefits and how that's
being covered, prek funding, retirement tier changes and the impact that could be having to our district as uh policies are changing at the state level. our nonCDL driver opportunities, uh the audit deadline that we are facing, um
and the difficulty of not having some of the federal level information, um solar panels that we have on some of our schools as well as uh these security refund uh as we resolve um staffing issues uh at the security level. Are
there any questions from the finance? >> Yes. Um, did we have is there any update on medical costs, medical care, >> Dr. McHugh? >> No, we do not have an update. We uh Colleen and myself will be calling our
broker tomorrow to to find out. >> Thank you. >> Yes. Are there any other questions? >> Okay. Thank you. And >> I just want to say thank you for letting me sit in on that meeting. It was extremely thorough and well done. and
thank you for all the information that you shared. Thank you. >> Of course, it's uh one of my favorite committees to be on because it's such a robust discussion every time. Um so, thank you for attending. Uh and then, uh my liaison report is for the ESC. Um so, we met uh we met last
night. Uh and it was a again a nice update on the progress that they're making um in finding new homes for their students that remain. Again, um from an educational perspective, they're looking to close that portion of their services uh June 30th. They have plans
identified, so they're making motions for that. Um there are other services that they're providing, specifically the bulk of their services through transportation will continue. Uh so no concerns there to highlight to anybody. Any questions? >> Okay.
>> Yes. >> Yes. Um, I just wanted to take a moment to mention that the NJSBA delegate assembly is on November 22nd. So, if anybody wants to attend it virtually or if they wanted to go to Mercer County College, um, then you get the opportunity to vote as well. So, just
wanted to put that out. >> No, I I think you have to be a delegate. >> Oh, you have to be Thanks for that correction. >> Yeah, no problem. But thank you very much for the reminder. Um, and so you can attend virtually if you're not able to go in person. Uh, but there is registration required. It's all
information available on the NJSBA site. >> Yes, Dr. Wright, >> can I add to that? Um, attendance at one of the NJSBA delegate assemblies is one of the requirements for um becoming a certified board member and that's a less frequently um held. It's only it's a
byianual event. Um, and so if anyone is working on their certification, that would be a good one to attend. >> Excellent. Thank you for the reminder. and and as long as they're offered virtually, you know, sometimes you can't you have to go wherever it is. Um there
are some meetings that are in Trenton that are really, you know, early in the morning you have to get there, but sometimes they are virtual. So, keep your eyes open for when they are virtual. >> Yeah, that flexibility is incredibly uh that flexibility is very important and
we need to seize those opportunities. Absolutely. Okay. Excellent. All right. So then that takes us to the next page which I'm turning to. Okay. Uh approval of our minutes uh
regular and executive minutes of October 30th, 2025. May I have a motion, please? Mr. Dvito, second. Dr. Wright. >> Roll call, please. >> Mrs. Abraham, >> yes. >> Mr. Barios, >> yes.
>> Mrs. Delave, >> yes. >> Mr. Devito, >> yes. Mrs. Mayor, >> yes. >> Mr. Rehea, >> yes. >> Dr. Wright, >> yes. >> Mrs. Chappelle, >> yes to regular, abstain from executive >> and Mrs. Kob. >> Thank you very much. And that brings us
to our superintendent bulletin number seven. Dr. Chase. >> Thank you, Mr. Chappelle. Um, just want to echo the sentiments for our ed foundation. That's a significant amount of money and um, we very much appreciate the support. I know a lot of work goes into
reviewing these grants, having served on ed committees myself. So, I just want to let you know that we really appreciate that and please share that with the committee. I also want to recognize all the teachers who put in these grants. You know, they're just constantly being innovative and creative with the ways in which to engage our students. So, I
wanted to recognize everybody who is the recipient of a grant. We appreciate the time you took to do those applications as well. Um, you know, there's been some talk about budget today as as referred out from the finance committee. So, we
are officially in budget season. Um, and as we begin this work, we're really preparing for many of the pressures that many school districts throughout the state of New Jersey are facing. Um those include rising health care costs,
transportation cost increases, required services that our students need, and then we also have some long range impacts of enrollment trends. Uh the challenge with the budget is that these expenses are raising at a rate well beyond the 2% tax cap levy and the
revenue that we're bringing in as a school district. So, it's very difficult to balance budgets and you probably have seen some of that last year with several school districts having to do layoffs of staff. Um, so I'm not trying to be an alarmist here, but but Dr. Mchugh and I
and the finance committee have a lot of work to do. And uh, one of the things that I will be doing is making a concerted effort to really communicate the challenges of this budget. And actually this month I have just written a focus article uh that will talk about
the school budget and how funding is calculated and given to schools and also what that looks like for Paripony. So um the board has already sent out communication to the committee as well. We don't want this to be a surprise to anybody. We want to get ahead of this.
So that's why we're talking about it and there will be updates at every board meeting moving forward until the budget is passed. So, I welcome everybody who has any questions or wants to be engaged to to take part in that because it's a community budget to support the children
who live here and it's very challenging to make it equal on both ends. Uh but but Dr. McHugh and I are are committed for the task and we're going to work deliberately um to make sure that the information is shared not just with our community but also with the staff in in the district
as well. Um no decisions have been made at this time. We're in the very very very early stages. Uh but at over the coming months when we look at this budget and we're getting all of the information from our department heads, our supervisors, and our principles, we're going to be making sure that the
requests and what we are able to keep really align with our instructional values and really keep center to this work the importance of student well-being. So, I wanted to just put that out there because that's something I'm going to be talking about at every board meeting moving forward. Um, the
other thing I want to talk about is uh an event I attended on Monday for Veterans Day. Um, Mrs. Kogan was there, Miss Tuesday, I'm sorry, Tuesday. Miss Kogan was there, Miss Abraham was there, Miss Benos and I were there. We attended the township's Veteran Day Memorial
event. We had several members of the community and veterans there. It was a absolutely lovely, respectable, respectful, and meaningful tribute to those who serve our country. Uh we also had our choir and our band who were in attendance and performed and they did a
phenomenal job as well and uh I want to thank them and our directors for preparing them so well. Uh the final item on my superintendent report is to move items um in the bulletin 1 through 43 and addendum items 44 through 60 and
a readin. Thank you. >> Thank you Dr. Chase. Does anybody have any questions or comments? Okay, thank you. And that brings us to our secretar's report. Dr. Mchu. >> Okay. So, if you note on page 10, we
have motions uh 20 through 23, which are the finance motions, including our secretary's report and our treasuries report that show healthy balances and all accounts are in positive range. So, that's all I have.
Thank you very much. Any questions on the secretar's report? All right. Is there any other new business? Dr. Wright? Uh yes. Uh thank you. Um I would just like to say thank you to communications and ad hoc for producing and disseminating that
important information um on the budget and funding. Uh and I would like to say thank you to Dr. Chase. I appreciate you're saying you're going to be putting out further information. um as we've seen kind of public response to this information is that this is really complex. How we get the funding from the
state, how our 2% works, what's going you know how the pilot affects that. The more information and the more understanding our public has about that um the better prepared we all can be to support our schools and the actual new business. I would like to strongly encourage anyone here and viewing to uh
submit comments to the Department of Education's public survey um and also to reach out to local legislators and let your voices know uh be heard on school funding issues. >> Thank you, Dr. Wright. Any other new business? All right, that
brings us to hearing of the public. So, 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 right over there and state your name for the record and 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 that 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 not provide your home address, but rather give only
the name of the municipality 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. Speakers 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 anyone who would like to speak? Okay, just sign in over at the lectern first. And just as a reminder, um you will have your three minutes to speak. Um each of you will finish and then um if the uh if there's any response required, we'll
address we'll address them after the fact or after the meeting. Good evening. My name is Farhad. Uh I grew up in Paripony and I moved away and moved back a couple years ago and now my kids are coming to these schools. Um, I
just wanted to I guess the superintendent you took um you explained I think some of my questions, but you sent out the physical challenges facing our schools and um I guess my first question was going
to be um in East Hanover uh they have um a resident checking system. I don't know if you're familiar um to cuz some students go to um certain school districts and they don't actually
live there. That's something that um East Handover does and I was going to ask if that's something that would ever be considered. It's called a resident checking system. And then
my second question was um if is there a system in place like if the classrooms are exceed 30 students like is there going to be a cap like I know on the email it said there's there there's a
cap right now of 25. Will there be a system in place that ensures that kids get the proper attention? And um do I wait for an answer or should I answer my
>> questions will you will all finish your comments and then if there's anything to respond to, we'll address it here um at the end of all conversations. Okay. Or after the meeting. >> Okay. And then um what was my last one?
Okay. And my last one was with the pilot. Um I know it's said that um there is uh the school district doesn't receive any revenue from the the project unless the
town government shares the pilot funding. So, I know you said this is the early stages, but is there something that the parents or like the residents can do to to uh I know there they said
that to write letters to your local uh leg legislature. Um I just want to see if there's something that parents can do and if there's um uh any way to help move this along. All right. Thank you.
>> Thank you very much. Good evening everyone. My name is Chris Bodis. Um, I got two beautiful children in this district. I've been here 10 years. I own an outpatient mental health substance abuse facility. I employ 30 people. Um, I understand there's a lot of challenges, but I think it's very
important that we all work as a team. I'm not here to criticize everybody. I know politics, I don't like politics. One thing I do like is to make sure our school district, my children, everybody here that's out here wants the best for our community. However, though, and I understand that you talked about rising
health care costs. My wife's a teacher. You know, their administration, she didn't get an increase in her benefits because the uh the administration worked with different brokers. You have to put the time and effort in. You have to get quotes. You have to put the due diligence in. You can save money. You
have to be fully transparent with the budget. I also, like I said, I own a business, so but I understand inflation. I understand costs are going up and stuff like that, but we need to be fully transparent with our budget. So, I would like to know what the budget is. We have
a lot of high administrative cost. Um, we got high enrollment with the teacher to student ratio is is is crazy. My wife's a teacher. How can one teacher manage 24 children? Especially when you're in first grade, you know, their attention span. It's very, very
difficult. So, there has to be ways to take a step back, analyze everything, and let's really try to make a difference in this community. Partip is a great town. Congratulations, 25th for North Bell Elementary School. That's a very good uh uh good great report,
right? Um but we really need to, you know, we talked about this pilot program. I don't believe the pilot program is the the key factor. Obviously, it sh sent sends shock waves through the community right from the response and everything. Um, but we I
would love to sit down look at over look at the budget. Let's go from top to bottom. Let's focus on the specific needs look at identify the costs that are really impacting our bottom line because we have you guys have a big budget that I'm telling you we don't we
don't our taxes are going up tremendous. our our our taxes is goes to the school 60 plus percent. So we need to take a look dive deep put the time and effort in and I think we really need to start
saving money in different areas. So um that's really I mean I I would I wish that there was kind of a a back and forth discussion here. I know that you said that we could talk after um because I don't know if you're going to be able to answer everybody's questions here because they're going to have some really good questions and concerns. But
um at the end of the day, it's all about being transparent. Um it's not easy, but let's dive deep into this budget and let's really see where we can save and where's this waste of money going because I guarantee you there's a lot of waste going. So, um I hopefully we can
kind of work together here and make a difference. Thank you so much for your time. >> Thank you. >> Hello everyone. My name is Andre Rristitch. I'm a 10-year resident as well. Uh, thank you for spending your time and your evenings here. So, my wife's been here for her whole life. She
went to school here. My kids go to school here um first grade and soon one in kindergarten. We're concerned about a lot of with the no more caps in the classroom. Um, you know, I want to help out as a parent. I read everything about the pilot programs. However, I think we
need to be educated as to how does our district compare to expense of other districts of similar size or even smaller so we have ratios to see how do we compare. Um I don't want to go running with a pitchfork to town hall and then them to tell me well you don't
know what you're talking about here here. So I'd appreciate if I could become educated share with me information please and with the rest of the town. Thank you. >> Thank you. Hi guys, my name is Norali Patel. I am the new owner of the Goddard School of
Parcipony. We wanted to come here today to introduce ourselves as we are part of a small educational community as well. Um it really does start at early childhood before it comes on to you guys. So we definitely want to help you guys as much as we can. Um with that being said, we have our director Leila
here that's going to talk to you guys. Um good evening everyone. My name is Leila Ambro. We're coming here today with kind of positive idea. Uh we're teaching our students to be a part of the community and we're teaching them to be proud uh Paripony residents. Uh a
good number of our students will be um going to the public school next year. We're trying to encourage them that to provide even the small things makes huge differences. So, we are planning on having a fundraiser in our school and whatever we collect, we want to the
students to come and donate it um here for the for um um for any kind of thing that can help the public school. We were wondering if that's going to be acceptable and if there are right procedures that we can do and steps before we go ahead with our idea. Thank
you everyone. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> Is there anyone else? Hi, my name is Davos Sha. Um, my apologies. I don't know if I'm reading this correctly or not, but um, out of curiosity, um, page number seven, uh,
can you, uh, review also what does the tuition reimbursement of $415,000 mean? And there's another line item uh, page 8 of 10. Uh, what is the tuition private
school uh, 3.6? 6 million um adjustment and such from from the budget perspective. Thank you. >> Thank you. Is there anyone else who'd like to speak? >> All right. Seeing no one, Dr. Chase. >> Sure. Um I'm going to try to address all
the questions. Some of them overlap. Well, first of all, I'm so appreciative of you all coming out here and asking these questions because this is exactly what we need from our community to engage with us and to really understand this budget. Um the first question was talking about uh residency essentially
when and I'm familiar with East Hanover does and many school districts do this is they check to make sure that the students who are attending the school are in fact residents in the school otherwise we'd be paying for them and we wouldn't be getting the taxpayer dollars. I'm happy to report that we already do that in Paripony. We're already monitoring residency and have
been for several years. So for the gentleman who asked about if we were considering that we already do that. Um there was another question about the classroom size. Uh last year prior to my arrival, the board waved class size. Uh
but when I had spoken earlier and I talked about how our priorities are aligning with our instructional values and student well-being, that is going to be central to the conversation. And we do recognize that the larger the classes get, the the the less interactions there
are between teachers and individual students. That's just a fact. It's in the literature. And I I recognize that as you have children in this school district, you're concerned about that. And I want to tell you that I too am very concerned about that. We don't have an amount right now. Um but you know, in
those early literacy classrooms where children are learning how to read, we definitely want to keep class size small there. So um that is something that's going to be central to our conversations about in the budget trying to maintain a class size that's reasonable. Uh, somebody else asked, oh, the gentleman
who has the mental health and well-being clinic. Thank you for doing that work. That's very important. We in schools are also addressing a lot of mental health challenges with our students. Um, we do work with a broker who shops our health
insurance rates. Um what we're seeing right now is um and I was just at a round table with many superintendent in the county the rates that people were talking about were getting in the high teens. So like 18 19 20 the state health benefits plan
um is that 30 >> 32 >> 32 and a half% which thank goodness parcipony is not in there otherwise we'd be in worse shape. Um, I can tell you that I probably look at the budget very similar ways that you do because I'm fiscally conservative in that regard.
And we are going to be looking at every single line item. But as I've been saying, this is my 20ish year in education. Um, and I've done several budgets. There there historically has always been some areas to trim, but we are cutting into the
muscle of this organization right now. So hopefully the transparency that we provide during the budget process and and Dr. McHugh and I will be doing presentations and communicating more things out will help you understand some of the pressures that we're facing. But you're absolutely right to question if we're looking at everything and I will
hopefully through those conversations reassure you that we are in fact. But I also just want to mention another pressure that I don't know if we gave um a lot of attention to and and this is a very important one. We have students in our schools. We do a great job here in Paripany of keeping our special
education students in district which helps us a myriad reasons. One, it it maintains cost control, but it also keeps our children in their home school. But in some cases, we have children who are severely disabled and who cannot be educated in the programs that we provide
here and they have to go to out of district placements. Um we don't although we anticipate and we provide some um money in the budget in anticipation of those students going out at any moment in time any child can move into the district and those costs are
exorbitant. Uh just give you an example like you could have $100,000 for school tuition. You add on transportation costs which are somewhere north of 20 grand. Um if a child needs a nurse you're paying like 90,000. So you're educating students who go out of district at very high costs. Now, that's not an area we
can cut. Um, we don't even set those places and and we have to be very student centric and give those students who live in the community what they need. But it's another pressure because unlike our school district that is capped at a 2% tax cap levy, those out of district placement tuitions are not
capped. They could charge whatever they want and they are going up exponentially. So hopefully as the transparent process we use with the budget will help to reassure you and educate you as well as what we're facing. Um, and I, if I didn't already say it, uh,
Dr. McHugh and I will be doing presentations. I'm in the process right now of building out a website for the district that will be specific to budget so that anybody in the community can go on and find answers to questions because school funding is is a is a complex
situation. Um, and and with regard to how we compare to other districts, Dr. McHugh and I will be looking at that the per pupil cost expenditure and sharing some of that out in our messaging. Um, and finally, uh, well, no, I have the Goddard School. Thank you for coming. Um, as a former preschool teacher
myself, at one point during my time, I could tell you, yes, preschool is a gamecher, and as much as we can articulate together, let us know. Thank you for all you do with literacy and numeracy, it makes a difference. So, thank you for coming out. >> Um, and Mr. Shaw, you asked some specific questions about the board
agenda that are related to financial. So, I'm going to punt those to Dr. from McHugh if you have those answers or you could get back to him with some specifics. >> If you like I can give you my phone number. Maybe you can give me a call tomorrow because I was trying to multitask here. So I missed some of the motion numbers you said. So
>> So I hope I got everything. Um if not feel free to reach out to me. I think my phone number is on the website. Always happy to talk about the schools here and I echo your sentiments. This is an absolutely amazing community and um I'm really happy to be here and and can work
as much as we can the finance committee and I and Dr. McHugh to do it as much as we can for getting our children the education they deserve. >> Thank you Dr. Chase >> question. >> Yes.
>> Excuse Dr. Chase Madam Superintendent Dr. Thank you. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that at least it used to be roughly 67 to 70% of our budget is pretty fixed.
>> Roughly >> uh I would say north of that probably about 80%. >> 80% is fixed. So that means as as those costs go up, that budget goes up irregardless. There's no cutting, there's no trimming. So in that pie of the 80%
if we have to cut we're cutting out of that 20%. Which could be anything like a program or a sport or just something other but those other that that one piece of the pie that has to stay intact. We can't go trimming it.
>> Um so the 80% to which you're referring is pretty much for salaries and benefits if I'm correct. salaries, benefits, fixed costs at the minimum level. So I mean you would love to say you want to reduce costs and maybe through salary but there's you there's you have to stop at a certain point. >> Correct.
>> So >> so like if the like in my house my electric bill doubled so the district's electric bill probably did something similar, >> right? >> Yes. And when you're talking about that 80% which is primarily comprised of salaries and benefits, >> you know, there are times where you have
to cut from that 80% which is um >> what you're seeing in many communities. I could rattle off a a bunch of them. I don't know if they'd be happy for me to publicly state them, but several school districts have had to cut staff. And um when you cut staff, you cut programs.
And I'm calling these things tradeoffs because in order to maintain something on this side, you may have to trade off something on this side. But we're going to be looking at every single thing in the budget very very carefully to preserve what we have here in Paripony. Did that answer your question? >> Yes, it did. Thank you.
>> You're welcome. >> Okay. Thank you very much. That brings us to our roll call vote for superintendent bulletin number seven, items number 1 through 23 with addendum items 24- 42 and readins. May I have a
motion? Mr. Mr. Devito, Mrs. Mayor. Roll call, please. >> Mrs. Abraham, >> yes. >> Mr. Barios, >> yes. >> Mrs. Delave, >> yes. >> Mr. Dvito, >> yes. >> Mrs. Mayer, >> yes. >> Mr. Rheea, >> yes. >> Dr. Wright, >> yes. >> Mrs. Chappelle, >> yes. >> Mrs. Kogan,
>> thank you very much. And that brings us to adjournment. There being no further business, I need a motion to adjourn the meeting. Mrs. Abraham, Mr. A thank you very much. >> Oh, minutes over.
>> I did. Who did the vote? >> You said a motion. >> A motion. >> Oh, sorry. All in agreement. All in favor? >> I