May I call the meeting of the Parcipony Troy Hill Board of Education to order on March 12th, 2026. 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 7th, 2026. 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 March 2nd, 2026. The daily record, the star ledger, Paripony focus, tap into paripony patch, and the district website. This regular public board meeting is being video recorded as per bylaw 168.
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. >> I pledge algiance 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. >> May we have the roll call, please?
>> Mrs. Abraham >> here. >> Mr. Barios >> here. >> Mrs. Delave >> here. >> Mr. Dvito >> here. >> Mrs. Mayor >> here. >> Mr. Shaw >> here. >> Dr. Wright >> here. >> Mrs. Chappelle and Mrs. Cody >> here.
Student committee reports. Miss Patel, go ahead. >> We'll start off with PHS. Uh the flu the food drive will be hosted by the senior class on March 17th. The HACC club is hosting the first ever schoolwide hackathon on March 12th. DECA had its
states competition last week. The Math Honor Society had its final NJ math league competition on March 11th. And the girls varsity and JV wrestling teams have a game against Atlantic City on March 12th. For PHS, our spike night was
a huge su success with a Par Hills win. First and second place got prizes that local businesses generously donated. This week we have been finalizing Hill senior standouts and our student council is coming up with games and events for spring pep rally. We're also planning
our spirit week for the week before spring break. The PHH players are performing their spring musical today, tomorrow, and Saturday night. As for athletics, all our spring source have been starting their practices. >> Thank you. Do we have any questions?
Thank you very much for your report. >> Have a good day. >> You too. All right. We have the presentation, the the budget. Dr. Chase. >> Sure. All right. Uh, good evening everyone.
I'm up here to provide a budget update. not the formal fully um detailed budget presentation which I will share at the next board meeting but rather just an update of where we are in the process. Uh excuse me one second. Okay. So as we um
developed this budget and we went into it there were several things that became very clear upfront. Um and it was the major cost driver of healthcare which I'll get into in a couple slides. But that really shaped one of our first priorities which is managing these major
cost drivers. The second thing we really had in our forefront when we were creating this budget is to look at operational efficiencies. You know with any organization and schools districts are learning organizations. You want to periodically step back and look to see how things are functioning and whether
or not things are used. So we actually uh followed that process as well. And then as I stood up here, I believe it was in January, and presented the district goals, we wanted to make sure that this budget really championed those goals and moved the district forward in those four areas while also
strengthening our long-term financial stability. Uh so those are the three priorities that we had in our mind while we were crunching the numbers and doing all the work. Um and when I say we, I mean the entire administrative team. everybody contributed to this budget
which I will get into more detail with um again at the next board meeting but I want to just give a some information that you're going to see actualized when we speak next. So let's talk about healthcare. This was by far the largest cost driver for our budget. We had a
$7.7 million healthc care increase uh that exceeded what we could increase our base budget when it comes to the 2% cap. So like many districts in New Jersey, we have in order to balance this budget, we have taken the state allowed healthc
care adjustment which um will doesn't actually give us more money. What it does is it offsets the cost of the 7.7 million coming in. And when we took advantage of the state allowable healthcare adjusted adjustment, it actually um raised our tax levy from 2%
to 6.5%. So in terms of numbers uh that will come out to the appro uh we worked with the tax assessor over at the township and he provided this information which is uh using a assessed family home of around
315,000. So for every home value assessed at this amount will be a annual increase of $475. But I want to explain something about that $475.
17 of that $17 of that $475 is strictly due to the fact that the ratables in town have dropped. So regardless of what we did with this budget, $17 attributed to that. Um, and that comes out to about 38
$38.58 a month, which I which I know is a still an increase, but again, we were very we were struggling with this budget because of the 2% cap and the increase in healthcare and then the other rising costs which I have uh periodically
spoken about here as well. So I wanted to just talk about that a little bit and then go into some other things that you may or may not have heard about. The second which is uh the operational efficiencies. So one of the areas that we took a look at was really the middle
school. Uh you may know that at the middle school we have teams of teachers uh that followed this teaming model. And just a little bit of context this teameing model was created in the late60s early 70s. And why it was created was because at that point in
time middle schools were looking too much like high schools. And as the research came out about adolescent development, it was determined that middle schoolers need something a little bit different than high school. And so this idea of a team came into place. And the idea of the team was that you would
have more closer relationships with students. You'd be focusing more on interdisciplinary activities and you'd have more improved culture and climate. Now again, this was originally enacted like 50 years ago. So since that time has come 50 years ago, uh we have put a lot of things in place at the middle
school to make them no longer look like many high schools. Um and one of those things we have is a multi-tered systems of support. We have INRS. We have uh something called tiered instruction, which means that we provide rich classroom experiences to meet students
needs. and those students who may be struggling either get support services through BSI, special ed, whatever services they need. We also have uh more school counseling programs than we did 50 years ago which also helps address the needs of these students and also we
also have more social and emotional learning happening in our schools. So in looking at the model and working with the administration we in Paripony the model hasn't even been in its purest form. We have had a lot of children who are cross teamed who so this classes
this group of teachers couldn't even speak about certain children because they didn't all have them. We had some key players in the educational experience of these students like world language teachers special education student teachers elective teachers who
didn't have off during this team period. So it wasn't even a pure model at that point. So, one of the things we determined is that by moving away from this team model, it actually gives the principles a lot more flexibility with the schedule. We are confident that we could
continue to support students through myriad ways. Um, and we're going to move forward with that regard. What that does is two things. Again, it opens up some flexibility for the schedule. It also causes us to not need as much staffing.
So one of the things that we are going to be doing is taking some of those staff members who we will not need um we'll be using them in myriad ways and uh one of the ways in which we can use them is to reallocate those resources down to the K5 schools to lower some of
the class sizes in areas where we have large number of students. So like in our primary schools for example where children are learning literacy and numeracy we we don't want class sizes of 28 29 in that regard. So the middle school classes are lower right now than
some of our primary classrooms. So what this will do is it will increase class size slightly at the middle school but it will still be within a very reasonable number. In fact Dr. Mal Rooney did the did the numbers and the team is working on the numbers and we don't anticipate we anticipate low mid
low low 20s low 20s not even over 25 I I just don't want to commit to a number I don't want to say definitely under 25 because it may look like we have a 100 students and that looks like 25 in each section but when children have courses they choose and different levels of
mathematics sometimes the scheduling may lead to a child maybe having 25 in one class and maybe 20 in another. So I don't want to commit to a number but it's definitely not going to be as high as we have in some of our elementary classrooms. So that is one area that
this budget really addresses. Now again we are very student centric here and we want to make sure our teach our students have the support in addition to the one ways in which I laid out. But one of the things that we're going to do is really implement some student monitoring systems. So, the
administration uh is really going to work at getting ahead of looking at some of the information we have on our students before they surface with challenges, put them on our radar before anything happens. And we do that quite a bit, but we're going to take a deeper
dive into attendance data, academic data to really see if we could identify the concerns early. Also, we're going to, and the principles know this, they're going to be willing to they're going to be meeting with the counseling department. They do that already. We're going to structure that a little bit more so that we could be having some
progress monitoring systems in place to make sure that we are meeting the needs of students. And we also have referral processes. Uh we have INRS which is intervention and referral services for any students who may need additional support. Uh like I said, special
education 504s will still be capitalizing on those systems. So, we are confident that we will be able to keep a good pulse on the middle school youngsters and make sure that they are supported in the way we want all of our students supported in the district.
The third thing this budget, again, I'm going to go into more numbers uh at the next meeting. The ne the other thing this budget does is it really strengthens our long long-term financial stability. Right now to operate the budget, we have
$7.5 million in something called fund balance. And basically what that means is two years ago at the end of the school budget, there was $7.5 million remaining that we now have to in order to run this b in order to run our budget this year account for that money. Well,
as prices are going up, schools are getting less and less money at the end of the year. We don't want to be relying on that amount of money. That's a significant amount of money. So, we want to take some of this money and put it towards reducing the fund balance. Uh
eventually, we want to keep doing that. It's kind it's an investment in the future of the district, but we're making a hearty amount and a hearty stride towards reducing that by putting a million dollars there. The budget also has some strategic investments. Uh you
you heard me have to uh speak about adjusting the calendar because on one day in particular, we had schools that didn't have heat because our HVAC units weren't working. So we want to put a large investment into our capital needs like we've been doing, but continue to do that. We also want to make sure that
we are giving appropriate attention to our security systems in place. So the budget will also have an amount of money that is designated to keeping up our security. Uh and with security what I mean is not only maintenance of this of the campus but also cyber security which
is something that not only do we have to do to protect our data but many of the insurance companies that we work with require us to have certain preventative measures in place to counter potential cyber security attacks before they will even issue us insurance. So we have a
need to even remain um current with those kinds of things. So, right now, I didn't get into the I didn't get into the weeds of the numbers. That that will be coming for sure. Uh, but right now, I just wanted to tell you that um we're in
a we're in a stable position. We're not seeing the mass amount of layoffs that other districts are going to be seeing. Undoubtedly, we're already seeing them. And just to clarify because I know that sometimes misinformation
gets spread. Uh we are just shifting our model of teaming at the middle school. We are not changing the schedule by any means and we're also not removing middle school sports teams. So I wanted to put this information out there so that the
community can be informed of where we're moving forward and see if the board had any questions. Uh and also to just say this is the next steps. Uh so as I said the next board meeting I'll be presenting the tenative budget. Uh our community's involvement in the
budget is is vastly important. So I'm going to be holding a community budget forum on April 16th which was a prior board meeting. So anybody who wants to spend some time talking to me about money and their needs can come to that. We'll advertise that. And then on April
28th the board will have its public hearing and adoption. So that's the path moving forward. Also, this presentation and a blast from the board will go out um via school messenger to alert our
community of this and direct them to the budget website where this information is held. >> Yes, >> I'll talk about that during >> You're good. >> Yeah, I'll talk about it during the >> committee. Yeah. Okay,
>> Miss Mayor. Yeah, the idea of taking some of those middle school teachers down to the elementary is a great idea. You know, make make sure class sizes don't grow. Where are we going to put them? Where where are the classrooms? So, it's space contingent obviously, but
we've been already working with our principles. Uh in some cases we have uh special teachers who have their own classroom who we may need to resort back to a model where we put them on a on a what I like to call a mobile classroom
setting. Um and I know that that we will work with them on those challenges but that will in turn free up some space. So wherever space is available we will put extra teachers to reduce class sizes. So that would be music, art, maybe
>> the the specials. Yes. >> Okay. Thank you. >> You're welcome, >> Mr. Dvito. >> Yeah. Just one clarification. I think with the second date, April, I think that's 23rd, not 28th. >> No. >> Right.
>> It's going to be 28. >> It will be 28. >> The state changed all their dates, so we're going to have to change our dates accordingly. Oh, yes, Mr. Mr. Dito, I'm sorry. I apologize. Yes, you were right. At the finance committee meeting, we had originally talked about April 23rd. Since that time, we have found out that
the board is actually held to approving the budget within a specific window of time because Governor Charles uh delayed the budget process that then moved forward the window and made it a little bit later. So, we actually could not, we just found that out very recently, we
could not approve, the board couldn't approve it on the 23rd, which is why we had to move it to the 28th. So, thank you for pointing that out. I appreciate it. >> This is Dr. Wright. >> Uh, does the healthc care adjustment that we were able to uh ask for and receive um by the state, does that cover our the entirety of our increase in
health costs? >> So, right now, um we just met with our health care providers. Um it will cover the estimate we have right now. Uh the next estimate we get is contingent on the most recent experience of our of our
um employees who participate in the healthcare plan. We're hoping that doesn't go up significantly, but right now we're projected to have a full coverage of it. >> Thank you, >> Mr. Barios. U Thank you, Dr. Chase. Uh question is
on the ratables. >> Yes. Um I have uh rese policy I'm sorry finance minutes but I guess the question I have is is this are we able to tie this in what well let
me step out here has there been any discussion as to what the potential ratable loss will be for what is already been approved as for relating to pilots that I I I do believe that there was some change in the ratables because of
some of the um changes in ownership of some of these properties, >> right? >> I am not sure to what extent. We would have to talk to the township about that. But I also um >> would think that some of the new development going on here would also affect the ratables maybe next year too.
So I think you're going to see some vacasillating >> in the ratables over the next >> two or three years. So if this year we're down we're down uh from the ratables for this budget, then logic would dictate everything stays as is
that we could be down some more for next year. >> Down or up depending on how much they build because it widens the pool of those people. But if you have non if you have properties that aren't paying taxes, then that yes, it could all >> Right. Correct. >> I'm I'm not privy to watching that. I
would think that the township is closely monitoring that. >> Right. because I mean I guess right now we're probably looking at six six residential developments that are under the um the pilot window for 2026 2027.
So again that's going to impact us because we won't collect any funding from that. >> Yes. >> Okay. Thank you. >> You're welcome. Thank you. Okay, before we move on to um correspondence, I just wanted to
acknowledge uh that Mayor Desai is here. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, for attending our meeting. Again, we are up to correspondence. Is there any correspondence to come before the board? Yes, I believe the entire uh board received an email from Littleton LLC
about a rightaway on Beachwood Road on board property, but that's already been handled, I believe. >> Thank you. We are up to unfinished business. Was there any unfinished business? The only thing we've been um talking about in unfinished business are our board goals.
And I know there is a goal that says we're going to monitor how we're doing on those goals. And so we're going to try to come up with some kind of a dashboard for next month just so that we know where we stand on those goals. I think that's the only one that hasn't been formally addressed yet. And
committee reports. Mrs. Delfe, you want to start with communications? Sure. So the communications committee met on March 10th. Um in attendance were myself, uh uh Deval Shaw, Wendy Wright, Allison Kogan, Dr. Chase, and Jody Benos. Uh we reviewed uh the handover
document that I believe um Miss Jelle spoke about the last meeting and and Miss Kogan. Um it's really helpful for me. It had the committee assignments, the roles, some goals and items that had been discussed prior so that we could kind of roll it forward every year. It
doesn't not quite recreating the wheel. Um and then we discussed what the communications committee really wanted to accomplish. Um right now we're talking a lot about transparency and making sure that the budget is um everyone knows about the budget the date important dates. So um we were talking
to Dr. Chase about what she thought her goals kind of looked like. Um and that kind of flowed into our board bites which we had discussed in a prior prior year. Um it was just an idea from the prior committee that the board would push out important information to the
community um in a concise way in a consolidated manner so that everybody was aware of certain updates that we decided were important or relevant during that time period. Obviously right now is the budget. So um we kind of talked about what the first board bite
would look like. Uh we drafted something um and you have it uh with your packet right now. can take a quick look at it, but hopefully it looks good. It'll be posted on um on on the website um and like Dr. Chase said, pushed out through school messenger with just a quick blurb. Um
and I could read the blurb if you'd like. So, it'll say, "Click the link below to read the latest board bite, a quick snapshot of news, updates, and highlights from the Precipany Board of Education." So, it kind of leaves it open for us as a board to decide um what we want to push out, when we want to
push it out. Um, right now it's all about the budget. It will link the presentation that Dr. Chase gave tonight. Um, as well as give some important timeline dates that were also part of the presentation. So, any
questions? No. Was it thought to maybe add the link for our our uh each of our board meetings since they go kind of go hand inand with what is in the bites? I mean, we can consider that for sure. Um, I think this one was just the first one. We wanted to
keep it, we didn't want to muddy the waters with too much in this specific situation. So, the bite like a quick quick bite because I think our board meeting link to that is on the website as well. Correct. So, >> and there is another summary that goes out every after every meeting with that
link. >> Okay. >> So, I don't know if we even I guess next time the communication committee can discuss what else we want to link to. so that we can try to get >> as much as possible in here without >> overwhelming. >> That's a good idea though to get you
know another link in >> any other questions for communications. Do you have anything else Mrs. >> I don't >> Okay. >> I don't think so Mr. De. >> Thank you Mrs. Kogan. Um I'm going to very briefly go on the talk about the
minutes from the February 26th finance meeting. uh since that was the committee of the whole I think the entire board was president of that I don't think you need to re react what we discussed but if I think MV if you missed that meeting if you if you uh wanted any questions let me know
>> um the uh in turn the uh finance committee also met on March where my notes on March 9th in tenants for myself miss Chappelle via telecom Mr. Shaw Mrs. Kogan Dr. McHugh Dr. Chase, Miss Benos,
uh Colleen Briggs, and Mr. Steve Robinson. Um, a lot of what's in this uh in these minutes is was presented by Dr. Chase tonight, so I won't rehash those things, but we did discuss obviously the budget as a whole and reviewed what we have as a as a kind of a baseline and
trying to, you know, work through it all. Um, we did also talk about uh briefly uh there was a question about a grant applications and Dr. Shay is going to follow up that for our May finance committee meeting. And the one last item that I'd like to point out, there's a
bid opening for Littleton. Uh I forget what item that is in the in the bulletin tonight that's on >> 43 for uh for uh approval tonight at uh 43. So we did get a good bid on that. And uh if anyone has any further
questions, that's my report for finance. >> Okay. I did have one I want to say leaison they did attend um a STEM um STEM pathways presentation on March was that March 3rd I think it was that Monday yeah and they uh they inducted
the uh the students at PR had their presentations it was very very interesting I think uh Mr. Ricker and and Dr. Mourin were there as well and these very very smart kids they did some really good job and some really good presentations so just wanted to point that out thank you
Dr. Wright, do you have minutes? >> I do. Um, I have minutes from the teaching and learning committee which met this past Monday at 5:30 p.m. Present were myself, uh, Mrs. Delave, Mrs. Abraham, Mrs. Kogan, uh, Dr. Maroon, and Dr. Casease. Um, uh, the the
agenda for this meeting was largely driven by the committee. Um, and so, uh, we were just many ways just trying to, uh, circle back and make sure there are things that we were keeping track on that we had addressed previously. um non-controversial issues. Uh one we discussed uh we knew that students um
who are coming in from uh many of the new developments, some of which uh were overflowed from our elementary schools and we should just checked on their status. Um one thing that was really appreciated by me uh was the emphasis that the administration is working with the families um to make sure that their
experience uh maintains uh continues to be positive and continuous. Um we checked back on uh a few issues that had been flagged previously the past couple of years. Um run around um equity and discipline and absenteeism.
Um uh a checkin on uh how uh what kind of ongoing feedback uh the administration might be getting from our staff on the elementary uh math curriculum. This is now in its third year and so there's been extensive
professional development at this point. teachers have been doing it for a while um in the sense is that folks are up on it. It's working. Uh we continue forward. Uh we acknowledge the complexity of the timing. There's a lot of testing that happens um in the at the
high school level particularly for juniors and so it's kind of back to back to back to back. Um uh we discussed that particularly uh concerns for uh around Ramadan and students testing while they might be fasting might be a challenge. Um and we were assured that these
decisions are made with very careful planning and it isn't ideal perhaps but uh folks are doing the best that they could about. Um and then also reviewed uh just kind of flagged that their parents do continue to kind of talk
about uh the the challenge of tracking math from middle school into high school and how folks you know where are points of re-entry. um which again it's complicated but our administration is working very hard to make sure that students are appropriately placed.
There's ongoing feedback loops happening uh to ensure that students are you know where they can best thrive. Uh the committee also discussed kind of uh effective procedure moving forward so particularly around emerging issues and how we plan to move uh have productive
communication. Thank you. >> Anything else from you Dr. Reich? I do not have any laser reporting either. >> Mr. Bario's policy. >> Nope. Sorry. Question. >> I had some questions about TLC. >> Yeah. >> Um,
so I I when I saw the agenda for TLCA, I was kind of curious about the nature of this and and and I asked a couple questions of where this agenda was drafted from. It came from mostly uh members of the committee. And so, you know, looking through some of these
items and now seeing the minutes from it, a lot of this could have been addressed with just a, you know, communication to to the superintendent. I think there's there's there's something going on here where I want to caution my fellow board members. You
know, our role is to bring things that are brought to the super to your to your attention to directly to the superintendent. It was my understanding from one of these items that they were, you know, they were spoken to by parents. They were brought they were tell speaking to them about it. And so
I, as I said, I caution you on on understanding we, you know, stay in our lane and understand our role as board members. Um, and I just one question really about the last item on here about committee processes. Was that the uh the uh handover document? I was I assume or
no? >> Uh, no. This is about just direction of communication in terms of uh if something comes up that the we should go directly to the superintendent um versus say to the committee folks on the committee. >> Very good. >> Oh gohead. Um just wanted to add to that
um I was actually the one that added the last item. So uh in referring to any of the committee processes if any of the board members have any questions I'll be happy to indulge you in what we discussed. But um I wanted to also just kind of mention that the NJGPA testing
has been extended by 3 days to closing on Wednesday, April 1st. I'm sorry. And I just wanted to make sure that we have that noted because um I did look on nj.gov to make sure that there was some kind of extension. So, I think as soon
as long as there are any religious holidays, um it seems like there are accommodations that are going to be made um for anybody that needs it. And the only other thing I could think of, I
don't know. Uh I think that was pretty much it. I just uh Thank you. >> Okay, Mr. Bario's policy. Thank you, Madam President. Policy met
on uh the 10th, March 10th, 2026. In attendance were myself, um Miss Delave, Mr. Dvito, Miss Kogan, uh Dr. Chase, and Miss Benos. Uh items that we discussed, uh we
reviewed uh and discussed the following, uh new and revised policies. Uh and right now we're shooting to get them for first read on March 26th meeting. We had uh
bylaw 0166 executive session. Um we um it's a revision. Uh after our internal review, we did ask for an attorney's opinion from man attorney. So um once we have all that solidified,
then we'll probably have it out for first reading. uh policy and regulation 2530 resource material was revision and policy 6620 pettic was a revision.
Uh these policies were new and they are I'll I'll explain a little bit on this one here but both policies are new. Um they're right now tenative for first reading on the 26. Policy 2535 and
regulation 2535 library material that's a new policy. Um and then policy and regulations 9130 public complaints um kind of loosely tied together. So
what we did was we took the current 9130 and we have deemed it to be we're going to make it a new policy. So therefore they either do not contradict or or deflect from 2535.
So both policies will stand on their own as new. However, uh there was a lot of discussion on these policies and there we had a series of questions that we needed clarification and also stuff that we wanted uh clarification from our
attorney. So, right now we have uh I'm sure ma'am attorney has in her pocket, right? You ready to go? Okay. Uh, so I'm sure as soon as Madame attorney has the opportunity to review them and we can get back with that information that it may or may not
require an additional policy meeting to review those comments in person. Uh, but we will do what we can to have a first read, but because they're both new policies, we do not necessarily have to meet that 26th date if it does is not
deemed appropriate at the time. We also reviewed regulation 7510 use of facilities. This was something that we worked on last year. Um the policy committee made recommendations for
changing of some of the field use fees especially for out of town um you know whether it's a soccer, baseball, whatever it might be. Um it was reviewed by the finance committee. We voted on the policy. it is in force but as new as
we're now becoming is now to take in effect it was requested that we review it uh and we did and I don't think uh there was some clarifications but no changes structural changes to the policy I mean to the regulation my bad
um last is um as part of policy's goal for 2025 and then forward was the ability to review policies that had not been reviewed in a period of
time and go on a cycle. Um so last year to start us off we picked on policy regulations by whatever it might be especially those discussed during new teacher orientation. I believe that if we haven't finished them already we're down to one or two left to finish and
then we need to start picking out the next series of policies we need to review. Um, so what I did was I took all of the policies and bylaws and and regulations and everything we had and tried to start sifting through like
which ones were some of the older ones. Um, and believe it is a tedious process, but we have automated this a little bit. So, one of the things that I'm trying to put together uh especially uh for the
rest of everybody is a spreadsheet that you'll be able to sort and filter through uh policies and bylaws and see which ones are which one when it was revised, when it was approved, the original adoption date. So, all that
information and right now probably 3/4 of the way finished with it. Um, I've asked the committee to do some quality checking when I'm done and then, you know, we can, you know, kind of have everybody else take a look at it. Um, the whole point of of my exercise here
was to make it easier for policy, whether it be here for me or the future policy committee chair and members and or the superintendent, Miss Benos, to look at it and to see what policies haven't been looked at in a while so we
can maintain that that that that work of reviewing policies as we go forward. Um, and that is my uh those are my uh my notes. So, um any questions? >> Um the grid sounds like a great idea. My
question is is there any time frame like if a polity policy is this many years old that it has to be updated? I mean, do we have anything that we should say, okay, if it's more than X years old, has
to be updated or it's just take it as it comes. >> Assuming that this goes as planned, you can choose whatever time frame you're looking at. But right now, um I can't remember where I read this, but right
now I've been sorting on 10, five year and 10 year. Um, but I mean basically if you wanted to see >> to date from the end of time, you could do that also on this sort that I'm doing. >> Okay. >> Right now we don't have any that says if
it hasn't been reviewed in five years, we should be reviewing it. That's what we're trying to at least get a handle on. >> You know, okay, >> because some of them won't need to be reviewed, but until we see the entirety of it, we don't know even which ones those could be.
>> Okay. Thank you. This is Abraham. Did you have questions? >> Thank you. Sorry, I have a couple of questions. Um, can we get a I know you probably will send this already, but just a quick question if we're going to get the most recently revised version of the policies
um as close to 326 or within a few. We have enough time now to read it before so we can ask you questions or send you questions. Well, I believe that our our intent is that all board members would
have that information long prior to the meeting and especially the new policies obviously by nature >> there'll be a lot of uh questions and and you know so yes the short answer is yes if we're if we come close to the
26th and we don't have >> we're not close then I would recommend not I would hold it until the the meeting after. >> Okay. So, I guess when it's ready to be distributed to the rest of the board, hopefully we'll have then at that point we can ask questions, right?
>> Right. I mean, we will, >> you know, unless there's a change in plan, I would say we would go out through normal process of getting it out to everybody. >> Okay. Um, just for clarity's purposes, regulation 7510 is not up for any kind of reading today. Okay. No, we just re
we just reviewed it as a policy committee to make sure because right now I believe the uh the district is beginning to start to get the spring sports, >> you know, coming to the to us for fields and everything like that. So, >> um as far as this grid, um is it just
for the administrative team or can we also view or anything? It's for everyone. >> Um from my perspective, there's nothing. It would not be limited to anybody in particular. It should be open to everybody. Uh unless madame president or
superintendent has an issue with it. >> Okay. Um and just one last question which I don't really know if this falls under policy but um I wanted to know when we send out the meeting notice you know that has for the public and we have a link to like the bulletin and
everything. Can we put the policies on that meeting notice so that the public is aware what policies we're reviewing or going to review um or what we're looking at for the next policy meeting or any kind of maybe not a schedule but what we're modifying currently or what we're discussing.
>> I think that's part of the agenda because that's part of what >> the bulletin usually. >> Yeah. >> Is it in the bulletin? >> Yeah. Because what we get to give out to the public is a very structured this is what >> Yeah. And the reason I was asking is because some >> um some of the school, you know, when
you go to other school districts, the their board of education section where they have their meeting notice, they actually have a list of the policies that are being discussed on the communications, >> but I don't know if that violates any sunshine laws or anything. >> We'll look at we'll look we'll look at
that. >> Yeah. I was just curious because I've seen it in other places and I'm just wondering for like the the purpose of, you know, for the public to know what we're discussing >> since it's one of the major things we do. Um I was just curious if you know when we have certain policies that are
being either new or revised, you know, is that an appropriate place to put it? >> Okay. Thank you. Anybody else for policy? Okay, Mr. Bears, did you have anything else?
>> Uh, not at this time. >> Okay. And then, uh, Mrs. Abraham, buildings and grounds. >> Okay. Thank you. Uh, building and grounds met on February 26, 2026. President were myself, Miss Mayor, Miss Wright, uh, Miss Kogan, Dr. McHugh, Dr.
Chase, Miss Benos, and uh, Miss Briggs. Uh, the discussion points that we had was the elementary license scanner and security. the driver's license. Passport scanners were a customized system that reached the end of life on software and hardware. A replacement system should be part of a strategic security program. We
also discussed HVAC repairs. CMS had a complete boiler failure in one wing of the school and Dr. McHugh was able to get the Morris County DOE office to classify the failure as emergent project. This enabled a waiver to the bid process and the new boilers were installed and have been operational since February 13, 2026. The PHS
transformer Dr. McHugh was able to get the Morris County DOE office to classify the failure as an emerging project as well and this enabled a waiver to the bid process as well. The steps to complete this project currently are the power unit unitization study which is currently underway, the PSA designed new
power delivery system and installation. In addition to that, we discussed the PHS serving lines. There will be some updates to the uh Paripany High School serving lines that are under consideration at this time. The funding will be potentially a combination of the general account or fund 11 and the food
service account fund 60. And last but not least, we did discuss the Littleton phase 2 bids will be bids were opened on March 4th, 2026 and the estimated project cost is $9 million. Thank you very much. Any questions? I just wanted to make sure that um
everybody recognized that the the Littleton is on our bulletin tonight and it did not come close to that $9 million just to put it out there. >> You are correct. >> Which we are very grateful for. Um Okay. >> Oh, I have
>> you have something else. >> Yeah. Sorry. Um we did have a we did have a PDF meeting on March 10th. The 50-50 raffle ended on that date and during the PF meeting we were able to select three winners. Um so everybody tried their hardest to sell as many
tickets as possible and over 400 tickets were sold. Um PF also discussed the adoption of their agenda, the February 10th minutes, the treasurer's report correspondence, a new board member vote. Uh they discussed the May golf outing scholarship committees and old and new business. Um, in addition to that, March
11th, uh, PEF was invited to attend the Treps marketplace at Lake Paripany School. Um, basically there was, you know, all the fifth graders there, they really worked on their products, their planning and prepping as entrepreneurs for over a month and they set up their displays and sales pitches. I was able
to go um with my older son and uh, he was it was held from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. last night and it looked like it was a rousing success. The fifth graders were really uh, they really worked very hard. They were very proud of their products and um just amazing salespeople. Um they
got me to give up a lot of uh I bought a bunch of things from them um to show us that their businesses and what they uh what they own. Um and it was made possible by one of the PEF grants. So that was u really wonderful and uh it was kind of set up like a flea market and they had their own uh they were like
their own bosses and got experience as entrepreneurs and they were just overall just very creative uh very fun. So, I just wanted to take a moment to give a special shout out to Lake Parcipony and all the staff that made that happen and as well as PDF for allowing their grant to make that happen. Um, and I think
that was it um as far as any committee reports. Uh, I did have a couple of other questions, but I don't know where they belong. >> So, it was a website question and you know like a board notes kind of
question. So, I don't know where that belongs. Well, I don't either. Probably unfinished business if it's stuff that we've talked about before, but do you want to say them quick or >> Yeah. Can I? Um, well, I just wanted to know if our committee assignments can be updated on the BOE website because it
still says August 2025. >> And then, um, the board notes. I just wanted to make sure we update that because the last update was 1626. And I think this might be a communication issue. I'm not sure. Um,
but I wanted to know if there was a way to move our BOE public meeting videos more prominently on the website. Um, I was looking at Wayne School District's BOE and it's literally right on when you go to their BOE section, it's right
there. I think ours we have to kind of dig further into underneath the superintendent's bulletin and keep going and going and going until we can reach the um >> sometimes it's on the scrolling thing but I think it's >> yeah but those are very limited so I was
just wondering if there's a place under our BOE that we can put it a little bit more prominently because um people do ask >> I'll going to defer to Dr. Chase to see what her preference is. >> No, I I think that we the idea of disseminating information via our website should go through the
communications committee. >> Thank you. >> Um >> yeah, I think that's it. >> Mr. Shaw, did you report? >> Sure. >> Okay, cool. on March 12th uh attended the planning
board um meeting uh where uh >> essentially they pass the housing element and fair share plan for the phase 4 at the park. Um they also passed the ordinance amendment attached to it. Um thereafter uh found out a little bit
more information of what's coming. Uh overall from the low affordable housing uh perspective they're going to have 372 units of which uh about uh 20% will be three bedrooms, 20% will be onebedroom
and 60% will be twobedroom. So uh essentially 223 units of twobedroom and 74 units of threebedroom and the rest either are studio or onebedroom which is like 74 units. um in speaking with the planner offhand
uh to see you know what's the scale what the timing kind of will look like he did say that it's difficult it's probably going to be a little bit later and uh park might not move on it right away pro probably because of the ongoing war the expense and etc so it'll be wait and
watch however we did meet our 10year um affordable housing so you know so as long as the town doesn't has any create any new housing, uh, we already met it. But if they do, we're going to have to, you know, uh, attend the units and such.
Um, that's about it. Thank you. >> I had I had one thing I wanted to I didn't realize before the leazison report just um I I saw the Centrals production of Mary Poppins. That's why I wasn't at the board meeting. Um, and they did a the kids did a great job. If anyone has a chance to see any of the
musicals that our district puts on, I won't be able to attend Legally Blonde, which is uh this weekend, I believe, at the Hills. Um I have a couple family things going on, but I'm sad to miss it. Um but the high school has their production of Foot Loose at the end of March as well. So, but the middle school
kids did a fantastic job. I marvel at at what they can accomplish. So, that's Mrs. Mayor. Um last Thursday, the Unsure um event took place. Um I don't know if any of the board members were there. I know Dr. Chase was there. Um it was very
moving and what we did was the speeches that the presenter gave wasn't the long speech that the long nar narrate that the long nominating letter. They just took excerpts out of it which really made it more effective. Um and because
of that people stayed till the end. you know, when it went till 10 o'clock, people kind of, you know, that's it. But it was over, I think, like an hour and a half. Um, and they flipped the order, so PCI wasn't like dead last like we were last time. Um, but you know, it it
again, it's just a great evening and the kids were so proud and the parents were proud and grandparents were proud. It was just a very moving moving evening. >> Thank you, Mrs. mayor for being on that committee and and having it so much because it is definitely a worthwhile
project. So, thank you. There any other leazison or committee reports that we've missed? >> I just had something if you could just I just had an ask like a committee kind of related ask if you just give me like two minutes. Is it for public or is it
something that >> Yeah, it was just um related to um you know I just wanted to ask if we could be as accurate and thorough as we can be in our comm in our committee minutes. Um I know you all know that I tend to have longer minutes and that's because I very
deeply believe in transparency and accountability for all of us. So, I I do think that we should do our best to make sure that board members that are not in committee are fully aware of what we discuss and make sure the minutes reflect that even if we read a shortened version of it during the public meeting. Um, obviously, you know, feel free to
ask any questions, provide clarity and transparency up to what is allowable and not confidential. Um, I was reading some of our old orientation manuals and it always noted that we make decisions, we don't make decisions individually, we do it as a group. Um, we don't really take any actions. We don't speak for, make
promises, or make any decisions unless we decide them together. And we're essentially policy makers and communicators. And so I just wanted it to be like a gentle gentle reminder to us that, you know, any and all communication, complaints, information, concerns affecting our district that we try to take it to our superintendent
first and foremost. Um, and I just wanted to recognize the the value of that and, you know, that we are making sure that we always trust one another and respect one another. Um, you know, the no surprises thing is not just for the superintendent, it's for all of us. Um, so I just want to make sure that,
you know, occasionally we do get things uh told to us from the public and we should just try to funnel it directly to the superintendent since it's not really in our purview to respond to them. Um, and I had a kind of like a when I was
talking to Michelle on the phone, there was something that she suggested. She said maybe we can ask for um what she called a pres a president's debrief which I think Andy used to do. So that's kind of like an ask for you. Uh but um uh I don't know if that's something to
consider that would be kind of helpful. Um so I just wanted to you know take my time to kind of just do what I can to foster as much frequent and good communication and transparency and maintain an environment of trust and respect for all of us. Um we do have
friendships on this board but I firmly believe that when we make mistakes that even board members, leadership, anyone um we should be very accountable to one another and just have an obligation to correct our mistakes and discuss them and communicate them so we can maintain
our trust and respect. And um you know one of the things that um that I had read was I didn't make this up but somebody else did. It said how many board members does it take to change a light bulb? And the answer is none. Because it is not our board member job to change the light bulb. It is the job
to tell the super. We would like adequate lighting for staff to teach and students to to learn and we would like it to be as efficient as possible. And then it's up to the administration um to figure out how to achieve that goal. So I think just as a you know just a gentle reminder that where we sit right here
this is a privilege and I would like to make sure that we do our best to give the the district the administration the students the community the best board that we can be and just not forget you know why we sit here and the work that we do. So I just wanted to take a moment to say
>> I have a question kind of a followup. So if in a committee if we're giving our ideas and what we might want to see on an agenda or doesn't that funnel through essentially the superintendent's office before so if a committee member has a question about what should go on the
agenda or why something's on the agenda if we're responding to Miss Benos or the other committee members on our board emails essentially that funnels through the superintendent's office and then that would delineate any miscommunication of not going to the superintendent first
about something. Am I understanding that correctly or >> I believe the superintendent does see every agenda before it gets to the committee. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Just making sure we're clear on this. Okay. Yes. Thank you. Okay.
>> And and every time after these, I always give my presentation of what I've done over the last two weeks, which is although I didn't officially call it a president's update, that's what I was doing every time. So >> I think we're all saying the same things in different
>> So if something's not appropriate, it would get it would get stopped before it gets to committee or we would have a dialogue before that essentially. I that's I feel like that's the process that was Okay. >> Yes. >> Okay. Yes. >> Thank you. >> Um and the only thing and I the only my
only update is that I will be attending the legis New Jersey school board's legislative meeting this weekend which is virtual luckily. Um, so after that meeting, obviously I'll have a report of what was discussed. Um, but there's
never any actual action at that meeting. Um, just updates basically on what's going on. But now that the budget has come out, I'm assuming there will be some actual discussion on the budget and how they think the state budget and how they think it will affect school
districts. Okay. Unless we have anything else, we're going to move on to the next topic, which is the approval of the regular and executive minutes of February 26, 2026. Can I have a motion
for the approvals? Dr. Wright and a second. Mrs. Abraham. Roll call. >> Mrs. Abraham. >> Yes. >> Mr. Barios. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Delip. >> Abstain. >> Wait, wasn't here. >> Mr. Devito? Yes,
>> Mrs. Mayor. >> Abstain from the executive and yes to the g uh meeting. >> Mr. Shaw, >> yes. >> Dr. Wright, >> yes. >> Pal's not here. Mrs. Kobe,
>> yes. >> You did have enough, right? >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Yes, sir. >> Uh, now we're up to superintendent bulletin number 13. Dr. Chase. >> Okay, just quick update. Um, I had the opportunity of meeting with Mayor Desai last week. We had a great conversation
about the uh structures we can employ moving forward so that we can remain communicative between the board and the township. We're looking to establish a monthly meeting schedule. Uh, one month we'll go there, one month he'll come here. Um, so I'm really uh pleased with
how that's moving forward and I want to thank Mayor Desai for his time. I know he's got a very busy schedule. And then uh my other item is just that tonight for your approval on the superintendent bullet items are 1 through 27. Addendum items 28 through 45 and readings.
>> Was also here shortly was here for about half an hour. >> Yes. I believe this is a second meeting he's attended. So >> are there any questions on the superintendent bulletin? Okay. Uh secretar's report. active queue.
>> Can is it 28 through 45 or 44? I just want to make >> 45. >> 45. Okay. >> Okay. Good. >> Uh for the secretar's report, we have night item number 27 which is payment of bills. And then the the big one that has
been referenced two or three times number 43 is Littleton phase 2. As President Kogan mentioned earlier, the estimate in that project was $9 million and the low bidder came in for total cost for the alternatives as well as the
base bid at $5.9 million, which is a lot of money. So, that's number 43. I was going to come up with some fancy, but it's a ton of money. So, >> and that will that is all on the current budget, right? that is none of that is
what we're approving next time or will be on this current budget. >> There is an open purchase order for $3.7 million in the current year and the balance will be recommended to withdraw from um capital reserve but we have to receive approval from the county to do
that. >> Okay. Thank you. Are there any questions on the secretary's report? >> Any other questions? Sorry, I already asked one. Um new business. I didn't have anything before. Did anybody Does anybody have anything now? No. Good. Uh,
at this time, so we're up to the hearing of the public. If there's anyone who would like to address the board, please come up, sign your name and address in the book at the lectern, 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, 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 not provide your home address, but rather give only the name of the town in
which you live. If you're 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. We have anybody go ahead
is already there >> Jack Rya. Um thank you for the budget presentation. Um just a couple of issues or points uh on the 2% healthcare co on the health care costs increased by 7.7
million. What would be helpful to see is we have a 2% revenue cap and so say last year there were $20 million of health care costs. So a 2% increase on that would be 400,000. That would mean that the health care
costs of 7.7 million exceeded the cap by 7.3 million. That would be helpful to show. This way people understand what kind of numbers that we're talking about in in town. Um and I think it's a great idea on the reallocation of teachers
from the middle schools, I mean to the uh elementary schools. And on that that uh on that point, I'm kind of spitballing here, but when I attended junior high at Brooklyn, it was probably longer ago than I care to admit, but um
um Brookon, the junior high school was for the second floor only, and the the first floor was strictly an elementary school. and they had kids that would normally go to East Lake or Lake Barcipany. They were attending uh
Brookon because that's where there was space. And I'm just wondering and I'm sure it's been brought up before, but if there and one of the reasons is it creates a whole sort of additional problems as far as for the kids and for the families,
but if there might be, you know, consideration given to um using the first floor of Brook Lawn or some area of Brook Lawn just for elementary students from you know,
excess as as the amount of excess occurs from, I guess, primarily East Lake and Littleton, maybe divert some of those kids to to uh to uh Brook. That's I'm just throwing that out there. Um, also
just a followup on on the certificate of excellence award. Um, I was just following up uh we we go Mr. Barios and I attend uh the town council meetings and the subject of the audit has come up on several occasions and I would like to
know if there are any towns uh that got that award that exceeded the size of Paripony. Um and and also uh we usually when we talk about the size of the budget in Paripony we often
compare it to Wayne but I think it's also helpful to look at West Orange. West Orange has a budget about the same size as Paripony in dollar amounts, but there's only one high school and they're g the geographic area is only two/ird
the size of Paripony. So, uh, but yet they they spend about the same amount of money. So, I think that's something to consider as well. And you know, it's again with >> your time is up. >> Oh, okay. Well, >> finish you can finish your sentence if you'd like to finish your sentence.
>> Yeah, that was about it. I got to that covered all the points. But anyway, thank you. >> Is there anyone else who would like to come before the board? And if not, Mr. Ray can have another minute if there was anything else you wanted to say. >> No, I got all
the joke. The joke sent him over, right? >> Um Dr. Chase, is there anything you'd like to address in what he said? I actually uh Mr. Rehea, I have a list of those schools that I also received the certificate of excellence. I think the
closest comparison of those school districts were Wayne, as you mentioned, Piscatoaway, East Brunswick, and Middletown Township. There were three districts that are actually larger than us, which is Tom's River, Trenton, and Newark. So, uh we're we're up in the
topper. I haven't done the percentages. I could do that mathematics. So, in the top four out of 600. So, we're in the top 1% basically. >> I'd have to I have to I'd have Sure. >> My dad. >> Okay. Okay. So, I'm going to close the
public session, which means we're up to the roll call vote of superintendent bulletin number 13, items number 1 through 27 with addendum items 28 through 45. Can I have a motion for the roll call vote, please?
Mrs. Mayor, second, Mr. Shaw. Roll call, please. >> Mrs. Abraham, >> yes. >> Mr. Barios, >> yes. >> Mrs. Delave, >> yes. >> Mr. Dvito, >> yes. >> Mrs. Mayor, >> yes. >> Mr. Shaw,
>> yes. >> Dr. Wright, >> yes. >> And Mrs. Kogan, >> yes. >> Okay. There being no further business, I need a motion to adjourn the meeting. Mr. Devito and a second by Mrs. Delave. All in favor? I.
>> Meeting adjourned.