May I call the meeting of the Paripony Troy Hills Board of Education to order on March 26, 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 m municipal building in the schools and a copy of the notice filed with the township clerk
and transmitted to other newspapers on March 13th, 2026. The daily record, the star ledger, parcipony focus, tap into parcipony 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 aliance 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. >> Oh, that's mine. It is yours.
>> Okay. May we have the [clears throat] attendance roll call, please? >> Yes. Mrs. Abraham >> here. >> Mr. Barios >> here. >> Mrs. Delip >> here. >> Mr. Devito >> here. >> Mrs. Mayor >> here. >> Mr. Shaw >> here. >> Dr. Wright >> here. >> Mr. Chappelle
>> here. >> Mrs. Kogan >> here. >> All right. Student committee reports. Miss Patel, would you like to go first? >> Tomorrow's Hill Senior Standouts from 7 to 9:00 p.m. Admissions are $5 and all proceeds go to the NJC state charity for
Crisis for Canines. Today we had rehearsals and are finalizing our event. Next week we have spring spirit week. Some in some days include Jersey vers Jersey Shore day and birds of feather twin day. We are planning our spring pep rally by coming up with events and
ideas. As for athletics, the girls softball team had a scrimmage yesterday against West Morris and today the boys baseball team have a scrimmage against Par on March 16th to 19th. We had a spirit week advertising Foot Loose. Uh the play
that's happening uh the play is happening today, tomorrow, and on Saturday at 7 pm. Um Noah's Comeback Sporting Good. Uh we're having a collection for it, and it's a uh it's an event where people can donate sporting
equipment for children so that they can play sports and get equipment. It's for low-income families. Collections happening on March 25th, 28th, and 29th. The class of 2026 hosted their uh Panera fundraiser on March 20 and the girls
varsity softball team is having a game against Mount Olive High School today. >> Thank you for your reports. Do we have any question for our students? Mr. Dito, >> just a quick comment. I think that Noah's comeback collection is at the PIL. Is that correct? >> Yeah. >> Okay. Thank you.
>> Anybody else? Thank you very much students. All right. We are at presentations. Our first presentation is by New Jersey school boards. It's ethics for school board members, Mr. Pierro. >> Good evening.
It's nice to be here today with you. I'm Paul Paniro um with New Jersey School Boards as introduced. Um I thought it might be interesting to share that I was in education for 31 years prior. So I retired from 31 years uh in 2023.
did some interim work then found my way to New Jersey school boards. I was always appreciative when they visited when I was on you know as an assistant soup I attended well few hundred board meetings right it's always appreciated when they came I'm really happy to be representing them and to be here tonight with you all to talk about ethics okay
um I would just say up front that it because you have a long agenda that maybe we hold questions till the end and then Allison can sort of pace how much time we have for that and then we can always come back around you you could always call me I guess is what I'm saying offline so if we can't get to it
today. You can always call me and we can talk through anything. Um Joanie has been a big help. Hi Joanie. And we can actually share the presentation as a PDF if you if you haven't already done that because everything you see tonight has a link. So if you want the full story on
some of the cases I headline that I highlight. Um you can get to them just by clicking on them. Some of them are super interesting. Um but there's a lot and it can be dense. So I will just give you you know sort of like um my favorites and uh share those with you. Uh and then I guess lastly before I jump
in um I might Katherine feel so I said hold questions till later but you can jump in at any time if you want to clarify because as the next as the next slide says uh I am not Whoops. I am not an attorney uh and nor does New Jersey school boards give official uh legal
advice. Although we have legal folks that can answer questions. You could always contact me. I'll put you in touch with them. But when all is said and done, your go-to is Katherine if you don't mind me saying that, right? So feel free clarify at any time. Okay. All right. So that's the disclaimer and I
guess we'll jump right in. How's that? All right. So the school ethics act was passed uh in 1991 and there are two major aspects to it. One is that um to maintain so to encourage board members provide guidelines for them to maintain the respect and confidence of their
community. you're here because people believe in you and it's important to preserve that. Uh second aspect of it is that um the board members and administrators must avoid conduct which is violation uh a violation of that trust. So we want to avoid that and so
along with that comes uh the uh ethics that I'll share with you A throughJ however many numbers that is as well as some cases. Uh and then also a good thing to keep in mind is that it's not always necessarily if you've um violated an ethics act. It's uh also uh the
appearance of it sometimes. So that's an important thing to keep in mind as well. In fact, I'll share a quick uh story from my past. When I was a vice principal many many years ago, we used to play basketball every Thursday. a bunch of administrators. Our athletic director would get um practice jerseys, let's call them t-shirts really for the
boys basketball team, girls basketball team and there'd be extras and he would give them to us sometimes and say, "Here, here's a shirt." The BA would never take one. I was like, "Come on, like take a shirt. They're free." You know, I was the vice principal at the time and I hadn't been through the training and he wouldn't. And they said,
"Well, why not? They're overruns. See, you know, like you run 20 shirts, you run 30 and you only need a 22. There's eight left over. They're overruns." But the BA, in all his wisdom, and I respect him greatly, and I think he's still at it, uh said it might look like those overruns are intentional so that we
continue to give them the business. So that's just one thing I like to share as far as what it might look like. So God bless our BA. I still although I still have my shirt. Uh so who enforces the uh ethics act? It's the school ethics commission. It's
a body of nine. There were five non-school officials, two school administrators, and two school board members, but I believe that they were um shy one. So, if anybody has plenty of extra time on their hands and wants to join the school ethics committee, um feel free to reach out
to them, I suppose. Okay. Uh provisions of the act for accountability. So, the two on the left, those are things that apply specifically to you as board members. So, there's mandatory training. There's a slide on that in a second that I'll show, but uh mandatory training that the state has
New Jersey school boards provide to all board members. And then of course there's the code of ethics that we're talking about this evening. Uh in addition to that, all school officials, not just board members, but also school officials uh are responsible for disclosure statements. There'll be a slide on that in a minute, but those are
those um statements where you talk about where your income comes from. It doesn't ask for uh amounts of income, but it's just uh a way to uh memorialize areas that could be conflicts of interest. So, that's something. And then we'll talk about uh the accountability pieces of
prohibited acts. There are acts that board members are prohibited from participating in. So, what training is mandatory for firstear board members? It's governance one. So, that's the basics. It's like 101 basic knowledge skills. CQAC for those who know what that is. HIB, I
think most people know what that is. CSA evaluation, OPMA, that's open public uh meetings act, code of ethics. So, there's a whole bunch for first year uh school board members to learn about. And then subsequently each year, uh board members in their three-year terms are required to participate in more
governance training. So, for second year, it's finance and student achievement. For third year, it's policy, labor relations, and then if you're reelected, um you you go into governance four, which is legal updates. So annually, uh, our legal folks, uh,
will update will do updates. Um, and then that's what governance for looks like if you're reelected. Okay, there's the disclosure statement. New school officials must disclose you, fill that disclosure uh, out in 30 days of being sworn in and then returning
school officials by April 30th. And that's each year. Okay. Right off the bat. So, this is a case that talks about you'd be surprised. It's a simple form to fill out, but it it can be possible to miss something, and there are a lot of cases
that wind up going to the uh commission based on the disclosure. So, sometimes you might just miss something. Uh there's there's one reference to it in one of these slides. Um and also, you just want to make sure it's it's complete. Um so, yeah, from time to time those those come up.
Uh so what I'm going to do now is A through J, but I'm going to go quickly. These are the tenants from the the code from the act. Um and one thing I can point out on the front side is so the standards below. I won't go over those, but what they are is those are the
standards if you're going to file uh an ethics act. I'm sorry, if you're going to file an ethics violation, th you go to the standards and that's what tells you what evidence you would need for your case. you absolutely have to be very clear. We, you know, there's there's no room, you know, the
commission isn't looking for frivolous ethics, uh, complaints. So, that's where those standards come in. So, we'll jump right in. So, A is to uphold and enforce all laws, rules, and regulations. So, yeah, you're here to make sure that all the laws are enforced. Um, that that schools are following the laws, that the
district is following laws. Um, okay. and B uh that decisions that are made by the board meet the individual needs of all children and that's regardless of their ability, race, creed, sex or social standing. So that's another tenant of the act.
C is that you'll not carry out your responsibility uh that you will carry out your responsibility to administer the schools uh but together with fellow board members to see that they are wellrun. So that's the what and how thing. So the board is responsible for the what involved with policy etc. And
then uh the superintendent and her staff is involved with the how that gets done. So that's um that tenant focuses on that. Okay. And then no personal promises nor uh it can't take any private action. So board members shouldn't make private you know personal
promises to anybody or take action on behalf of themselves. Um and then of course F is just an extension of that whether it's be special interest or partisan political groups. So same kind of thing. Uh again, you're you represent you're you're a body of nine and that's
what makes you powerful as individuals. You don't make individual choices. You make choices as as a whole. Well, I'm sorry. You make choices when you vote, but as a board you act on it as a whole. Uh okay. So, G confidentiality
confidentiality um is so important in so many ways and I would imagine that uh board members are constantly uh mindful of it and it it's something that they have to deal with all the time. So much of what you deal with is is confidential. And just one
example um that I like to share is it it doesn't always have to be malicious if in fact you violate confidentiality. One example I know about is a board member who felt bad about uh a student that was part of a HIP case and was speaking to his wife about it and then of course one of the children overheard and similarly
without malice was saying to a friend, I feel terrible for this student. And of course then it became kind of common knowledge. So in effect that board member was responsible for the breach and confidentiality of a hib and meanwhile they just felt bad. So it's a it's an incredible responsibility and I
admire you all for doing it and keeping confidential. Oops. I think I might have skipped one. Uh okay that's an important one. Um board members vote to appoint the best qualified personnel available for consideration uh of the recommendation of the chief administrative officer. So
the board hires one person. They hire the superintendent, the chief school administrator. They don't directly hire any other staff. Um the the way the board is involved with that is that the superintendent makes the recommendation and then the board considers that when they vote.
Uh supporting and protecting school personnel. I think the important piece of that one is the word proper. So I'll support and protect school personnel and proper performance of their duties. So, you know, when I first read this, I thought, are you supposed to be standing, you know, as a in a security mode to protect teachers, you know, like
literally or staff literally. Uh, but it's more to make sure that um you do everything in your power to allow them to do the work that they need to do as long as, right, it's p it's the proper work that you're expecting of them. Whoops. And Jay is the last tenant uh that you will refer all this is the chain of command one. So, board members
refer all complaints to the chief administrative officer. So, um I like to think think that uh it's almost like a get out of jail free card when you follow chain of command. If you get cornered in a grocery store somewhere and somebody says, "I have uh a complaint and you need to do something
about it as a board member." I'm sure some of you get that from time to time. Um you know that uh the best your get out of jail is have you spoken with the whoever. So wherever the complaint originates from, have you spoken with the teacher, the principal, the supervisor? and eventually it would go up the chain of command to the
superintendent. Um that's that's a way that you can not have to deal with that or um you know maybe make some kind of um you know be put on the spot that you would personally do something about it because that's not really how the board works. Um yeah. Oh and then so there is
that part about public you will only act on complaints at public meetings after the failure of an administrative solution. So, a lot of board policy has it that um there's an appeal uh appeal process. So, if a parent can appeal according to your bylaws uh up to the
board, then of course you would uh you would be involved. [snorts] Okay. So, this is uh this is the um how you file an ethics complaint. So anyone can actually file one and uh
the SEC will consider whether the facts and the circumstances would lead a reasonable person to believe the act has been violated. And that does go back to those standards I referenced, meaning that um you would have to prove it based on those standards um as evidence, etc.
And there can be up to a $500 fine uh for frivolous filing. You have a 180day window from the time that the event act occurred to actually file the complaint. You have to site very specifically those tenants and then provide that evidence.
Okay. Here's what happens if if there is a penalty or sanction that the commission uh you know dishes out. Uh there's a reprimand. So that's a rebuke by the commissioner. It's uh a letter. It's official in the in the sense that it came from them to a board member.
It's the second one that gets a little bit more dicey in that that letter or reprimand becomes read publicly. That's called censure. So if a board member is found to be um uh violating uh ethics,
then the president would have to read a resolution pointing out what that was. So censure can can be tricky. I was actually in a district to present ethics and the president right before had to do a censure. So that was a
little awkward. They had to read the resolution on ethics violation and then I presented on ethics. Anyway, I thought I'd share that. Um suspension. Um so that's of course a third level, a higher level, and that would mean 30 60 days the board's not the board member is not participating.
And then there could even be removal and that's super serious. Of course, that would have to be something uh very serious. Okay. Um there's something if you are um brought up on there is a complaint filed and you're defending yourself, you can uh consider the advice
of council defense. However, four things all have to be uh true for that to help. So anytimes that um when they're say a reprimand or a censure, you could appeal and say uh let's say that my censure
should have been a reprimand because I had advice of counsel. And if you could prove that in a in a way that might knock it down, they typically don't throw it out. But these four things are important and it's sort of common sense, but I'll go through them quickly. First and foremost, uh you have to have the approval advice that it was received
from uh prior to the action. So you it can't be after the fact. what should I have done kind of thing if you've already done it. The individual who offered the advice or approval. So typically that means that the board attorney um that they're authorized to to provide you with that counsel. The
third one is that you gave them all the information. So um if you're going to get advice and you really want to be safe, then you you should make sure and give the person you're asking the advice for all of the information fully disclosed. Um and then lastly, the
individual uh complied with the advice that was received. So um using the advice of counsel means all those four things have to be in place and provable. Uh code of ethics case. Okay. So um here's an example. And as I said, I
won't do all of them. Um here's one to reduce the instructional time by 40 minutes per day. That's sort of like my Q card, the bold thing. So that's the one where uh a superintendent had reminded a board member or all the board members that they were entering negotiations. They were having some con
uh conversation about um how many minutes per day uh you know the instructional time and affecting minutes of the day as maybe being part of that negotiation. So that's the kind of thing where if it's negotiation it really has to be held confidential. But a board member went and started telling folks
about that and it created quite a disrupt disruption. So, um, that board member was, uh, censured for that. Oops. You have an overzealous clicker, I think. Okay. Um, all right. So, this is one
where a 15-year So, 15 plus years board member who had that many years under his or her belt, um, overstepped. The superintendent uh, was looking to reprimand a staff member. Um, the staff
member was very upset, was home. um and asked a board member friend uh if they could come pick up a letter and bring it to the rest of the board and advocate for them not to have to receive this um I guess reprimand or uh consequences.
And so um also asked the board at um sorry the BA the business administrator not to share that letter from the staff member who was being reprimanded with the superintendent but to share it with everyone else. Obviously that's a mess. uh and there was a a suspension for that
one 60 days. That's a big overstep. Recusal versus abstension. So recusal is when you are, you know, formally according to law conflicted and that doesn't make you a bad person. It just means maybe somebody works in the district and your family and you have to take that into consideration. Uh it's
always a and I'll have a little bit more about that later. I even have handouts for you that I'll I'll I'll leave with Joanie and she can give it to you as to what a relative means in the eyes of the act. Uh but recusal, it's important that if you're conflicted to make sure it's on the record um that you know there's a
legal reason you didn't vote. It's important to say recuse when instead of abstain, right? Conversely or similarly, you abstain when you don't have enough information. you you know um you avoid abstension if you just find it an awkward question to you know to be
voting on. So abstension means you don't have enough information but recusal means you have a conflict you know that right? [clears throat] Okay. Uh relationship definitions. I'm going to do a broad brush on this for now but I'm going to tell you that if
you ever have a question about it dive deep in some there's plenty of links here. I'm going to leave the handout as I mentioned. Um, and it's important that you figure all that out. My broad stroke is just that immediate family members are what you would think. Spouse, civil union, domestic partner, uh, dependent
child residing in the same household. And then there's a list of relatives. My broad brush is that if it's a blood relation, then you really want to be careful. It's possible at times that if you if it's an in-law, it might not be a con conflict. And uh, so that's
something to be super careful about. uh advisory opinions. So, I talked about a case, but the the commission doesn't just do cases. They don't just decide cases and publish them. They also do advisory opinions. So, if you have a question before you do something, you
can actually reach out uh to the advisory um to the commission for an advisory opinion and they'll tell you what you um maybe you know how you should approach the question or the act that you are thinking about or the decision you need
to make. Um, and sometimes if up to six members think it was a great question, they'll share that publicly. They'll take out the specifics of it, but they'll share it publicly. So, I think that's great because some people ask wonderful questions that can help others by knowing the answers to them. Uh, this is just our way of reminding there's our
little top guy there. Um, that if the commission does give you an advisory opinion, you should probably follow it. If a police officer pulls you over and gives you a warning and says you shouldn't be speeding, then you don't punch it and speed away uh after he lets you go with your warning. So, it's similar.
Okay. Advisory opinion. So, I'm not going to read all of these. Here's some that were released in 2025. Um, can a board member hire a a district teacher to tutor their child? What do you think? All right. I'll tell you. They can uh
have the tutor but not be able to vote on anything that might impact or have to do with that teacher. Of course, it shouldn't be their teacher immediately. Now, um, let's say the tutor tutored your child over the summer and there was no kind of discussion, negotiations or
committees or stipens for that teacher, it wouldn't be an issue and then you come back in September, no longer hire, you know, the tutor's no longer working for you and then you default back. It's no longer a conflict of interest because they stop being your Yeah, please. Just board members. Um there is a policy. You
guys have a policy relative to which teachers in the district are permitted to uh tutor. >> Thanks. Yeah. Excellent. >> Okay. Can a board member uh who is a member of a collective bargaining unit
participate in matters related to the local union? Again, [snorts] for respect out of your agenda, I'll I'll give you the answer even though I know you all know this. uh the board member cannot participate in the bargaining process, the negotiating process, but the board member in that situation can um vote on
the uh the memorandum of agreement. They can vote on the contract a after, but they can't participate in the bargaining or the negotiation. So, they couldn't be on that committee. Benefits are important. So, the the perception of a benefit is where you can get into
trouble. I mentioned before. Um, so, uh, it's anything where because of your position on the board, something can come your way that maybe someone else wouldn't have that benefit. So, it's a benefit that comes to you exclusively because uh, of your board
membership and uh, sometimes board members get themselves in trouble because they position themselves as a board member in a situation where it normally wouldn't have been perceived as a a special benefit. But if you position yourself as a board member during that situation, you'll see I'll have a case
or two on that. Then that would be um a violation. Uh prohibitive acts. I'm going to ask because there's a lot there and I hate to read screens at people um and I also want to be mindful of time, but I am going to ask that you please, maybe not now because I don't want to lose your attention, but do read those carefully.
uh maybe tomorrow or whatever sometime when you're you know you want to cuddle up with a cup of tea and read some prohibited acts but they're they're very important. So that gives you a sense of all of the things we're talking about here. You know gifts, favors, financial gains, business interests, uh use of
position, that kind of thing. Okay, here's another one. Uh board member has a direct or indirect financial interest with votes on or about the law firm, etc. So, this one's about a board member um was brought up on ethics charges and
that's not funny, but she broke Yeah. So, she was uh the the attorney under contract in the district represented or uh Yeah. represented her, let's say, and when it came time to renew that attorney, you know, the law firm or the
attorney, um that board member voted on that. So, if you did receive those services, which I I don't know, that might be gray to begin with, but um you wouldn't vote on on that firm. Okay, here's another one. Board member was promoting his not forprofit uh to
the parents in the community as well as the staff and teachers. So if he used the board his board position whether it be um you know here at a meeting or somewhere else where he introduces himself as a board member or it's clear that he's a board member um is
introduced. So avoid avoid those kinds of things. Um representing yourself in some way that might benefit you. Okay. Um used to attempt to position divorce. Yeah. So this is the others one. So it doesn't just mean if you get a benefit,
if someone else gets a benefit because of your position, that's not okay either. You know, we talked about relatives, but in this case, it can be others. So it's not a relative, it's not yourself, it's an other. So in this one, I thought it might be more than a reprimand, but um one of the board members thought that they could do better as far as their wrestling coach
is concerned. The problem was the job wasn't posted. Um they had a wrestling coach. So, um, board member thought and started advocating for two other, I guess, local wrestling coaches who we thought would do a much better job. So, we started advocating for the board to
um not renew or Yeah, the the athletic dire Well, no, the athletic director was the one advocating uh but to not renew uh or or to actually bring up and bring up the wrestling coach position and then
vote for two other people and then that coach would be gone. Uh so, that was messy and there was a a reprimand involved there. That kind of goes to what I was saying earlier about only the superintendent can make recommendations that others shouldn't be actively participating in getting anybody hired.
Okay, this one uh respondent introduced herself as a board member and then proceeded to promote her nonprofit. Yeah. So, even if you're on your own as an individual um in a setting that that no one would associate with being a board member, if you introduce yourself
as one, then it gets sticky. So, and I think all these cases um where somebody might have introduced himself as a board member and then got into some trouble, it's probably a very fine line. So, just be careful. Uh in this one also, the respondent didn't list the nonprofit
under financial disclosure. So, that was a double whammy. That was maybe that's why it was a censure. [snorts] Uh personal discussion involved. Uh okay. So, this one a board member was conflicted. Uh who was conflicted? um
family in you know in the in the district something like that was involved in the personnel committee discussion that uh on the superintendent's employment so you know they're not supposed to do that um there was no evidence showing so yeah this person then invoked um the uh advice of
council I guess suggesting that council should have told me that I wasn't supposed to do that um but it was decided by the commission that well all board members receive ethics training on a regular basis and they should know Okay. Uh, hiring personnel. I'm going to start moving a little quickly because
I'm looking at the time. Uh, if the relative already works, so you may not hire the relative of a board member or chief school administrator. Um, but if the relative already works in the district, then the following things are true. An administrator may not exercise
direct or indirect authority over the relative. A board member may not take part in employment matters concerning the school administrator. So the superintendent or supervisors that are in the chain of command between the relative and the superintendent and a board member may not take part in the
search selection or vote to hire a new superintendent and uh evaluate them after the fact. Okay. Um so this one is talking about committees. It's kind of the same thing. So board president's child is an instructional assistant in the district. they shouldn't choose the chair
committee members uh nor be on any committees that remotely touch upon or directly relates to the family member's employment. This one is just reminding you the committees matter too. So if there's a committee that could connect with someone who um would receive some kind of benefit then
then that's something that has to be considered. Oh wow, we're getting there. Okay, so not my favorite graphic ever. Uh so the way you have to look at this is like a syllogism. The last two columns are whether or not so it's about collective bargaining. The last two are
whether or not you can participate in the negotiations for the collective bargaining agreement. Uh and whether you can vote to ratify the contract. So there's participating in negotiations, there's ratifying the contract. So it goes like this. If the relationship to the board member is an immediate member
of the family who works in the district, so you see the green yes there, but isn't a current member of a statewide public teachers union. um they can't participate nor ratify the contract because the the immediate relative works in the district. However, if the
relationship to the board member is self- immediate family and they don't work in the district, but they are in a statewide public teachers union, then they can't participate in negotiations, but they can vote on the contract. So, that's that's uh there was a case that I
mentioned earlier that's a little like that one. And then lastly, goes across the board. If it's not a relative then and not part of a teachers uh union then yes and yes you can participate and you can vote uh campaigns and collective bargaining I think there the simplest
way because again this is one of those gray areas that it might even mention I mean it might even matter about the specific case or not it's it's a little bit tricky but in general uh board members who receive union endorsements may be conflicted from collective bargaining if negotiations begin within
a year of the election and endorse endorsement of candidate by a local and/or national statewide union doesn't create a per se future conflict unless a financial contribution is given with the intent to influence that might be an area if you are involved um in
advocating for uh the association etc um to do a deep dive on and so those those links there are uh they can give you more information on that volunteering you're all volunteers to begin with that's probably how you got yourselves in this situation [laughter] you volunteer a you care about kids and
uh and here you are. So, we wouldn't want board members to then be have to give up some of the things that they really enjoy doing. So, can you go into a classroom and read a book, you know, during uh you know, ReadAcross America week or something? Yes, you can. Where it starts to get a little sticky and
again, there's some more specifics there that you can take a look at. The idea is don't become imshed in the school. So if you wind up being there on a regular basis to the point where um you might well you you could even grow attachments to people because then it might uh get in the way of your ability to be
unbiased when you're making decisions about uh whether it's the contract or something else. So the idea is not to be imshed um not to give orders and direct people, not to actually accept orders because then you're sort of participating as a staff member. So the idea is to to do things that don't make
you feel like you're part of the staff. Uh, one thing that, um, I was told is okay to do is if if you were like the PTO president, that's may be tricky. So now you might be a liaison. Um, what do you think, Katherine? Is that correct? So we've always said that you are
permitted. Um, they're not exclusive to each other. You can be a board member and a um, officer with the exception of the treasurers. We don't [snorts] want the board members immersing themselves in the monetary portion of the PTAs
particularly when we accept funds. >> I'm glad I asked. Excellent. Okay. So, yeah, just be mindful of that imshing kind of thing. I think that makes sense. You become part of like the culture and all that. Uh visiting a school. I think we all know this one that it's a it's a courtesy and and also a very good
practice to let the superintendent know if for some reason you're going to the schools. Uh it's tricky simply because again you are your power comes within being a unit and acting as an individual uh outside of the board but still seeming to be on board business is a
conflict. Um so in that case it's good idea to touch base with the superintendent about visiting a school because you know it can get dramatic. People see this uh board member coming in they didn't know they were coming and everybody starts you know texting people oh my god you know there's a board member here and here simply you're just
people right? But at any rate, that can be an issue. Um, if it's, you know, you you know, your superintendent if it's parents night, I don't know what what your superintendent expects from here, but if if you're going to see teachers because it's, you know, parents night, I don't know if that you would have to tell them, but that's between you and
your superintendent, I suppose. But those are the kinds of things that I think might be okay. Uh, as opposed to um just sort of showing up because that could be disruptive. Uh, yeah. And yeah, you would avoid having So once you're there, you're a parent and you'd avoid discussion about board matters. Oh, and
another good one is sometimes people put you on the spot as board members. So you show up, you sit down with the teacher, you're going to talk about your kid, and they say, they mention the board. Oh, how are things in the board? It's like and big smile. Say, I'm here as a parent today. And you're off the hook. Uh, yeah, stay focused on your visit.
Social media, just a couple of quick ones of these. Um, so social media is the bane of your existence, so you have to be super careful there. Um, always keep in mind that there are official statements that come from the board and you have you have bylaws on how those things get out. So, if you have a social media uh platform or something, then
that's all figured out through your bylaws and how you approach that. So, we just have to be careful as individual board members that we never seem to be speaking on behalf of the board and that well, I'll show you a couple cases. So, oh, and this one. So the the commission
suggests that you use this disclaimer uh if you have social media profile let's say. So it's your own individual one and you use this this disclaimer. However, that doesn't absolve you of your actions, your words, your comments, etc. You're still responsible for that. Um but it's a good idea to have it
anyway. As my um fearless leader at the school boards likes to say, it's not a get out of jail free card. You still have to follow the ethics. So here's a couple staff members uh expressed concerns. Oh yeah, this one. So, um
there was a parent uh who had um a Facebook or social media that was uh critical of books, let's say. So, they were concerned about some of the books that were in the district and you know, there was sort of the idea of of looking through books. I'm I'm just trying to dance around the word ban or censor or
something like that. Um, and so an individual board member commented on that page saying, um, I agree with you 100%. History books first and then we move on to the library. Give me six weeks. So, I
mean, that violates [laughter] like everything you could think of. It's clearly someone who hasn't been through our training. And uh, shame shame. And then there's another one uh, board matters through the post. Yeah. So, that's the Wii one. just avoid um using we when you're involving you just think
I I'm a individual person. I'm not representing the board. Oh, okay. So, when you have this uh if you don't already have it digitally, you will. And then you can click on these again. Cup of tea. You're really just trying to ease into your weekend or something and
you could click on some of those um and any of the others throughout the presentation. And then I would just say thank you. You do really hard work. uh you don't get paid well for it and um we appreciate you at school boards. Don't hesitate to contact me if you ever need anything or just want to chat about
anything. Um you can find me pretty easily. Okay. So, I'm going to leave it up to Allison as to how much time we might have for questions and certainly again you can always track me down. >> Right. Does anybody have anything that they don't think they can wait to ask him?
Anything come up that drag something? All right. But please do feel free if you think of something or when you start clicking on the links and you see something, >> you know, he would he will be glad to answer your questions regarding ethics
because this is like you said, this is not something you really want to mess with. Um, and just the appearance of it is enough, you know, to push it over. So, >> thank you. >> Thank you very much. >> Absolute pleasure. I hope to work with you guys again soon. In fact, I know we will be. So,
>> thank you. >> All right. All right. Before we do our uh budget presentation, I just wanted to acknowledge Mayor Desade came in. Thank you very much for attending. And we are up to our uh the tenative budget
presentation with Dr. McHugh and Dr. Chase. All right. Good evening. All right. Good evening everyone. Um I am here to share the tentative budget for the 2627 school year. I'm going to go through the slides and then I will
have a seat and if you have any questions you could ask uh either me or Dr. McHugh and we'll be able to answer them. I've been up at this microphone several times since I arrived at the district uh often talking about the budget and the
financial situation. You may have recalled that I previously shared information about some of the cost pressures the district is facing specifically with regard to health care and operation. Uh so given those realities, this budget required um an
increase in revenue and also a decrease in expenditures to make it balance. So this evening, I'm going to walk you through um where we landed with the budget and how that reflects in the numbers. So to give you a road map of the presentation, here is an agenda.
First, we're going to dive into revenue context and then I will share some of the cost pressures driving the budget. talk a little bit about how the budget is structured and cover what it maintains and advances particularly for
our students and then the impact and next steps. First, we'll start with the revenue sources supporting the budget. So, the total school budget for the 2627 school year is approximately $198.5
million. A large percentage of that, 86% in fact, is comprised of the tax levy. State aid is about 8%. Everything else like fund balance, special revenue, miscellaneous, debt service, those are relatively a
small share of the revenue coming into the district. So, we are largely dependent on local funding with very limited growth elsewhere. And that limited growth is especially apparent when it comes to state aid.
So, um, this is an interesting slide because what it does is it shows that state aid has not been a consistent or meaningful driver of growth. It talks about the year-over-year percentage change and illustrates that there's been great fluctuation from year to year. And
it does not keep pace with what we're seeing in rising costs. And what this really does is it limits our ability to respond on the revenue side to some of the rising costs. Uh so when you talk about the revenue context in summary what we're saying is we're working
within a very tight box here and at a high level uh the revenue context we have our tax levy which we all know is capped at 2%. The state aid as I showed previously in that graphic is uh variable from year to
year and we have very few other sources from which to draw revenue. And what that means is when costs rise the room to respond is very limited. And this year we saw a massive rise in one specific area as I mentioned which is healthare healthcare.
So this is the largest driver in our budget. This year it increased by 8.1 million or approximately 31%. It's not something we could scale back because it's a fixed obligation to our employees
and it's growing faster than the revenue system. And because this increase is so extreme this year, we had to look at some of the state available tools that allow us to balance the budget, which is
specifically the healthcare adjustment. The state allows a healthcare adjustment to help offset rising costs. And you may have seen in the news, um, many school districts across the state of New Jersey are presenting their school budgets this year. They too are seeing astronomical
rises in healthcare and they too are taking healthcare adjustments. I want to make it clear that this is not additional funding and also too that this adjustment helps but it does not close that full funding gap that we have. And once we applied the
adjustment, we are still left with a significant amount of money um that we have to cover in the budget. And this slide illustrates the remaining gap. And even with the healthcare adjustment, we're still on the hook for $749,000
uncovered. And this money needs to be absorbed in an already tight budget. And this, as I have said multiple times, is a central pressure point. and that the cost of this health care increase is essentially rising at a much faster rate
than the system is designed to sustain. So, knowing our revenue is capped and our costs are very limited, we're going to shift over to the expenses side of the budget. On the expenditure side, uh the most is
the salaries and benefits of our staff and that, you know, really reflects the realities of the district, which is um our greatest expenditure is in the people who show up for our students every day. And beyond that, things like special ed, which in this line item here
does include tuition for special education students, transportation operations, capital outlay, and tuition. Um tuition for general ed and charter schools. Uh these continue to grow as well and these are areas that you cannot
reduce without directly impacting students. So despite this, even with this pressure we're facing and our limited ability to increase revenue and rising costs on the expenditure
side, our priority in making this budget remained the student experience. So let's talk a little bit about that. This budget reflects a balance between maintaining programs and advancing priorities. So in this budget, I want to make this
clear because and I'm very proud of this. I don't think many superintendents are going to have the luxury to be standing where I am right now saying that all core instructional programs have been maintained in this budget. I don't think a lot of superintendents are going to have the luxury of saying that
all clubs and activities are maintained in this budget without any increase in any kind of fees. uh and also simultaneously we're also preserving the intervention and instructional support programs that many students need. While we're doing
that, we also have looked at our efficiencies and what the district needs and the district goals. And I'm happy to report that we have heard about class size at the elementary school level being large in some ca cases. We and the board finance committee and I um have
worked together so that we could add five additional teachers at the elementary classrooms to our largest classes and the principles have been very instrumental in identifying classroom space for these additional sections to uh be in place.
The other uh thing I'm proud about this budget is that when when I stood up here and I presented the district goals, you may recall that previously we had two. This year we added two more which was on fiscal stewardship and making sure our
operations is are improving and stable. Um we were able to do that as well to really add uh and align to our district goals. Again, I'm in a much different place than many superintendents, so I just want to enjoy this moment right now
because this is for the hard work of our entire team. Uh, but with this, I want to just point out an interesting data point. You know, people always point out school districts and and I understand why. There's myriad ways for like how much to spending. um having hands directly in
this budget knowing how tight this budget is. I want to point out a comparison point that when you take the per pupil budgetary costs of all the school districts in Mars County that are comprised of a K to 12, you could see Parcipony Falls in the lower we're in the fourth lowest there. And so what
this illustrates is that we really are operating efficiently while we're maintaining the important programs for our students. So, let's talk a little bit about what this means for the local taxpayers.
So, we were very fortunate to get this evaluation um ratable from the township. So, I want to thank them for their quick response to our request. But for the assessed valuation of a home at approximately $315,000, uh, our taxpayers are going to see an
increase in about $455 annually, which comes out to about $38 a month. And again, I want to just be clear that this budget and this increase reflects a balance of maintaining the programs that we have and rise and it responding to
our rising costs. And while we were able to do this, I also just want to bring us to the reality of the situation that while we were able to do this, we were able to also prevent deep cuts that
would change the character of the schools here. And I I just want to show what some of those may have looked like. And I want to be clear about this. These are not happening, fortunately. But these are the kinds of things that you're going to hear other school districts have to cut across the state
of New Jersey. And those are things that really mean a lot to students like clubs, activities, extracurricular act opportunities, loss of visual and performing arts programs, fewer course offerings, especially in the electives areas, increased class sizes, and sadly
reduced support and intervention services for students who need that the most. Again, we're not in this situation. Um, if the economic climate does not change and costs continue to
rise and state aid remains um, inconsistent and our revenue is already boxed in tightly. We may be facing those. We were able to not this year. And I want to be clear, these are not happening.
But we want to make sure that uh we continue the conversation about the budget because you're just looking at tonight. I'm just preventing presenting the tenative. We're going to be um presenting to the board on April 28th
the final budget adoption. But in the interim, we have some opportunities to involve the community in discussion. So the first is going to be the budget community forum which will be here in this building on April 16th at 6:30 uh where anybody in the community can come
and hear this presentation uh and ask me specific questions about it. Um and also the other thing I want to point to is that right now there is additional information resting on our district budget website. So, if the community member is not able to attend the forum
or are not able to have been here to ask a question, there is a space for the community to submit questions. Just last week, I received a question from a a township resident who asked my question. I responded via email and then what I
did was I took that question with my response and put it on the FAQ section. So, there's real time communication happening. So I would suggest anybody who has questions to visit this website, take a look at those FAQs and if something is still not answered to submit a question and we will get back
to that person. So um in closing, I want to thank the administrative team, the directors, the central office team and and the finance committee especially for uh your help and support and and
dedication for getting this budget where it is at this point in time. So I will have a seat and we can answer any questions. Thank you. And this budget presentation will be posted on that website as well. >> [cough and clears throat] >> All right, board members, do you have
specific questions, Dr. Wright? >> Sure. Uh, thank you so much, Dr. Chase, um, both for your and your team's work and also for kind of continuing and prioritizing transparency and communication to the public. Um I just
want to note so uh oh this year is not the first year we're seeing uh health care increases well above 2% right um and yet we in the past several years have avoided taking the healthcare allowance and so we've done that in
previous recent years by really tight budget stewardship and you know carving in some places um is I just want to say like that's that's the case and we so we're we're kind of at the point where we need to take this healthcare alliance
um for the first time in a little bit um but not at the first you know we haven't gone directly there right >> that's true um and if I may note that this healthc care increase is larger than we've ever seen and like my slide showed even with the healthcare
adjustment we weren't able to offset the full cost we still had to absorb $749,000 I believe um which was done through looking at efficiencies in the programs and the staffing and the way in which we operate here. >> Thank you so much. >> You're welcome,
>> Mr. Sha. >> Thank you, Dr. Chase. Um, going back to slide 11, I was just calculating $198 million by 7,100 students. We get around 27,958 per student versus the 21,000 there. And
same thing go even if I took the $170 million from the taxpayers uh I get about $24,000. So where's the distinction there? >> So first of all this data was from the 2425 school year. Are you talking about the total budgetary per pupil cost? >> Yes.
>> Yeah. Um so the budgetary per pupil cost does not include certain things like transportation, food service, debt service, out of district tuition placement, um food serve I said food service ready or state paid pension. What the budgetary per pupil cost is trying to do is to talk about the actual
spending we are have we are putting forward per student on the core instructional experience. So it's not going to align specifically because you're looking at the fully loaded budget with all of those costs whereas the budgetary is only a portion of those. >> So how do we compare if we have that data with the fully loaded cost across
the other districts? So there is if you go to the New Jersey taxpayers guide to spending which I believe was put in um for the first time under Governor Murphy um when Mr. Demer was the commissioner there's a whole host of data on there and you could get the per pupil expenditure as well as the budgetary
expenditure. >> Okay. So go on the website. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> But thank you for that question. >> Absolutely. >> Yes. Hi. Thank you again for all of your work. Um this year the there was an added cost for student activity fees and sports that we're playing. Is that also
included in the budget again as part of the maintenance? >> Yes. The um cost that was enacted during the 2526 school year is going to carry over into the 2627. >> Okay. Thanks. >> Sure. >> Mr. Ch.
Um, how much increase in tax percentage is it to the taxpayer? >> I know we have the dollar amount, but is it like >> Oh, sorry. How much increase is it in percentage to the taxpayer?
>> I think that was >> it is >> Oh, I I don't have that. Our mathematician says it's about 6.6% increase. But m Miss Kogan said it was also in last >> I believe that number was given in last week's presentation.
>> And I also want to note that the the number that I reported on last week's um we've done further calculations is actually falls in a little bit lower than that. >> Got it. So when taxpayers is 6.6% correct? It's probably lower,
right? Because um we charge let's say 2.2% the tax levy. >> Okay. I am we charged uh the let's say part charges 2.2% uh flat out
of which we get 60%. Um of the fees right so which is like 1.3% or so um to the taxpayer let's say I have a $350,000 home as in this case is it going to
increase by 6.6% 6% or is it going to be increasing by two point like are we at how much percentage point are we adding on to the tax? >> Oh you mean onto the 2%. Yes, >> I believe Mr. >> Yeah, 4.6%.
>> Oh, so it is 6.6%. >> Yes. What happens in that calculation is um when the state releases in the Actually, can you explain this Dr. Mchugh with the home room and how the healthcare allocation amount waivers like less than the state health benefits.
>> So um many districts receive their healthcare insurance through state health benefits. It's the the insurer of last resort. It's where the high-risk school districts go. Um when we are in the process of calculating health care
costs, the state will allow you take an adjustment up to the increase in state health benefits and state health benefits had a very bad year like everyone else. So that capped us at that level. So solely because of the healthc
care adjustment, it added 4.6% to the budget, 2% for everything else. >> Okay? And again, remember that did not cover it's not extra money. It's covering a cost with a shortfall of uh $740,000. So although it was helpful, it
did not completely address the issue. >> Um in the budget, are we anticipating the same number of students or are we seeing a decrease of the students? So what we do for this the enrollment for the students is we take this year's
enrollment and we move it up like so a kindergartener would go into first grade and we use that. However, when we when it comes time to things like out of district placements which are significant costs in the budget, we added I believe there were three placeholders in there for the potential
that we may at any point in time have a current student who requires out of district or we might have a student who has moved in who may require out of district. And I just took the 455 annual increase over last year's taxes and it's 00655.
So >> just under 6% >> on top of the 1.3%. >> No, no, that's the total increase >> all >> the $455 over last year. That's I mean I just did that math. >> That might not be the
>> best way to do it, but the only numbers we have right now. All right. Anybody else have question? >> No, go ahead. >> Well, I got a series of questions, so [laughter] >> I will take you up in the offer and I will take the superintendent's
microphone for a moment. Um so on page 10 you mentioned about uh how we are able to maintain so many important things to our students as well as advance some things uh that are important to the students as well as the
um facilities that we use. Um I want to clarify when you say um add five elementary teaching positions to reduce class size which has also been a very important point that has been raised by many people over the past couple years. These are not net new positions, right?
We are being opportunistic about other changes that are happening. We're not adding teaching positions overall. That's a a a great question and and not clearly simple, but we you may have remembered last time I was up here, we talked about how we were going to be
removing the team teaching model at the middle school and the um without really sacrificing any services for students because since that model was originally originated I believe I might have said the 50s I think it's actually more the se 1970s or 80s um I
could get that stat for anybody who's curious for me I'm curious about that um since that time we've put in school counselors, we have interdisciplinary standards within different curricula. Um we have more intervention and support. So we don't feel like removing that team
model would would would jeopardize any of the support that we would give to our students. But in reducing that model which enables the principles to be more flexible in the scheduling uh because we've seen a lot of cross teaming of students that freed up 11 teaching
positions. And then what we did was from those 11 we to captured five of them and put them down to the elementary school. So that's how we were able to do that because in quite honestly we had larger class sizes in our primary classrooms
than we did at the middle school significantly lower. So when you look at the district as a whole that was something we needed to prioritize for our students especially when they're learning literacy and numeracy and all those other skills. Not to say that the middle school is not important too. I've taught all grade levels. are all equally
as important, but we know that there's a lot more um foundational and a class size of 27 28 is not ideal in grade two. >> Thank you. >> Go one at a time. >> Uh thank you Dr. Chase and thank you for the presentation. I have a couple of
questions. um benefits uh especially the health benefits. Um so we talked about the state benefit which we do not currently participate in. Correct.
So obviously just like any other business um we must go out and actually get competitive bids for for benefits. Horizon Cross Shield Sigma fill in the
blank. So as you walked into this budget, had that process been completed and were this the current proposal at the best that the district could work for the for the employees. So when the
budget was created, um we had met with our health care brokers at that point and they looked at the experience rating which basically is looking at how much our current staff access medical prescriptions and all of that and then the they calculated in healthcare to
determine what your risk factor, how much of you are using the the the money you're collecting versus how much you're spending. We did not have a very good experience rating at that point in time. So this is the the number they gave us at that moment. Um, since that time, two
months has gone by, our experience rating continued to not be uh, profitable for the insurance companies. So, it may have gotten worse. We're not sure, but nonetheless, like you had said, um, we go to market. uh the
brokers go to market, they shop around, they look at a variety of plans, including one of the things we asked them this year is to please take a look at um what it would mean and what it would cost the district to do something called self insurance. Uh some school district, Bridgewater, Raritin, Princeton public schools, they're
self-insured and they've seen increases more in the teens. Uh so that is one of the other options that we're pushing for. Um, and you may you, as you all know because you're part of the board, we have a collective bargaining agreement with our labor unions, which means that we don't have a lot of
flexibility within the kind of coverage that we provide, I believe. Um, and Miss Gil, and you could correct me, but something like equal to, if not better than what they're currently being offered. So, that's the state we're in right now. >> Okay.
um the 2% cap um and that is a that is a state cap correct? >> Yes. >> So we don't really have a conversation in that that's just it's 2% for the district. So if we have
um groups that are negotiating and you know I mean we have to work within that 2% cap and what we can fairly work within you know because you
know a negotiation might be a 3%. You know so you got to figure out where that 2% goes or doesn't go. So I guess the question I have is is that does that 2% cap currently cover all of our associations
that we are currently or have negotiated with and will negotiate with going forward or do we need how to need to source funds elsewhere? to your >> um it doesn't come anywhere close to covering that because remember that's a
two 2% cap on your tax levy which is only 85% of your budget. So it's not even a 2% increase in your budget. >> Correct. So yes uh the to answer your question is other resources cost savings or revenue generation strategies are
required to be able to continue to provide the same benefits for the for our employees. Now you know our union and non-union employees get the same same >> absolutely correct. Yeah. >> Um Mr. Ryers I just want to add because that's even though it's not directly related to this it's something to be
aware of for future budgets. If you go to New Jersey school boards, they actually did a um a comparison on how contracts are settling um which is above 2%. >> And you know, we have a teacher shortage and um right now the market is
competitive. So in order to maintain uh the great staff that we have here, you know, we consider all of that. Um, and also next year, uh, the board is going to be negotiating with all five of our labor unions, um, at the same time. So,
that's definitely something that is going to be a strong pressure in the 2728 school budget. >> My last question is on special ed, especially with out of district
placements. Um, how do you how do you go about budgeting for out of district placements uh for special education? You know, I mean, it's it's not a it's not a large
percent of our of our educational um needs, but still it's there. And how do you budget for that? >> So, that's Dr. Jaganti, who plays a huge role in that. She's a director of pupil per pupil personnel services. Yes. Okay. [laughter]
I'm going to rename him that department. Um it doesn't roll off the tongue. So, uh she identifies the students who are being serviced right now. Um and works with the child study team to see if they're going these students are going to require out of district placement. Um like I said, we put into this budget a
few placeholders in the event that some of our current students require out of district placement or the event that someone moves in. But I could tell you in the 2526 school year budget, the board had the the district had budgeted for a certain number of out of district placements and we went well above what
was budgeted. So that becomes another volatile situation. Um and and and we have to do that. If the child has serve has needs that um are not being met in the district, we have to provide what's best for that child and send them to an out of district placement who's tuition
rates are far exceeding 2%. >> Correct. >> And transportation we are responsible for transport and that's far exceeding transportation. So that too is also a a volatile area that we have to keep close eyes on. So if I if I remember correctly
from school boards a out of district placement um could range anywhere from like right now we're looking at cost per pupil roughly 21 22k you could be looking at 60 70 to 100k depending on the
situation. >> Yes. >> And that's okay. Sorry I was trying to be nice. >> No. Um, >> yes, if they're astronomical. Um, and that doesn't include transportation, which sometimes drives cost north of, you know, n 20,000
>> and that's out of our control. >> Completely out of our control. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Anybody else? Okay. I just have a generic question. A lot of people hear zero balance budgeting and you start and
you go up and can you just can you guys just go through you don't start with last year's number and add a certain percentage or something. Right. I just want to make sure that that that we all understand that there's a lot of detail that goes into this and and
you don't just roll things forward. No, >> no, this is a very extensive process. Um what we do is you know we use our per pupil cost. So for certain areas when it comes um to giving schools certain allocations for for materials and whatnot of the current pupils that we
have right now, but then our supervisors and our directors and our principles identify the needs that they have um at the building. Remember we have 14 schools that requires a lot of maintenance of those schools. They submit their requests. Some of them were able to capture. We have ongoing conversations. We're monitoring health
care costs. We're waiting for state aid. We're looking at all of these variables. were constantly meeting um doc Mr. Ricker and Mr. Dr. Maloney for example led uh the work on looking at the number of sections at the middle school and the high school and spent hours and hours
and hours making sure that um we are operating as efficiently as possible. So it's not just a simple let's roll over what we have this year and and do it again next year. um principles and supervisors went very carefully through their budget and in many cases made
reductions in things that um obviously are less than we had years but we don't believe they're going to affect the children in any significant way. >> Thank you. And I did want to say thank you. We were in a different committee meeting this week and the level of detail that each department
has to go into and then coordinate with each other to make sure that what they are seeing is represented in another committee and then is you know goes back to the finance. I mean, I don't I don't know that we all appreciate exactly how much coordination
and down to the specific detail that each department has to do and coordinate with each other. So, I I just wanted to say thank you again to all of the staff here because I know this has obviously been a multi-month process um and it is not taken lightly by anyone. So, I just
wanted to say thank you. Just can I just ask more? I totally forgot to ask this question. Um how in this in this budget um was there any impact on Littleton phase 2?
And with that being said, you know, we were able to do Littleton phase one based on some excellent work by our our our district people and we were able to do it without going to uh a second tax
question to our taxpayers. Um will we or are we in that position to do something going forward if if all of a sudden we have to retrofit another school because of a lot of the uh redevelopment in town.
>> So Littleton phase 2 was actually a success story. So let me step back. Littleton phase one was completely funded at a capital reserve and operational money. So with no debt taken completely internal and there's not a lot of schools can do that. Um,
Littleton phase 2 was initially um expected to come in around $9 million and it came in around $6 million. So, that was a huge success. Very surprising. It it really tells us that the markets are are starting to even back out. Maybe the COVID money has flowed through. So, prices are coming
back normal. We had well, Robin had and the team had budgeted uh $3.7 million out of the current year's budget for Littleton phase 2. Tonight there's a motion to pull the balance of it out of capital reserve and fund Littleton phase
2 completely before next year's budget begins. So absolutely no effect should be funded out of your capital reserve which currently is at $9 million will drop down to just over $6 million. So there is money there and funded prior to
the start of the budget. >> Thank you >> Mr. Veto. I just want to quick follow up from what you said, Miss M. Kovan. So, in addition to what the what you were saying about how the budget is crafted, this is over also a long period of time. I think this is even started in last
August almost they already start the process like it's almost a continuing thing from all the staff in in the district to work on the budget as well as their day-to-day work to be able to get to this budget place we're in now. So, again, thank you to all them for all their hard work. Okay. So, I think we're done with the
budget presentation. So, we will move on to correspondence. Is there any correspondence to come before? >> No correspondence. >> Right. And uh we're up to unfinished business. Is there any unfinished business we haven't need to discuss? Okay. Committee reports. I believe
there's officially maybe only one, Mrs. Mayor. >> Okay. Hey, human resources met on February 5th. >> Yeah. >> Use the mic. >> Oh, March 25th. Um, present. We're
myself. >> You can't hear me. >> Really? >> There you go. [laughter] >> Okay. How are we doing now? [laughter] >> Okay. Um, we met on March 25th. Um, present were myself, Mr. Dvito, Mrs.
Chappelle, Mrs. Kogan, Mr. Rickert, M Superintendent Chase, Mrs. Benos. Um, we discussed and reviewed the confidential personnel items. Um, the job description was revised for the supervisor of special ed and that is in our bulletin.
Abstracts of the teaching staff being renewed and gaining tenure were reviewed. trans transfer of assignments and change of assignment lists were sent to the PTHA. Um staff will be advised I think April
beginning of April right before the break if what the uh status is. Um and that's to give anybody who is not being renewed time what is there >> oh [laughter] time to you know maybe
look for something else. So that's why that's done. Um the PTH president um has those lists and they'll be replaced on the April 28th bulletin. Kinder kindergarten enrollment as staffing was reviewed.
Um and the 2627 budget and the request for salary rates for non-affiliated employees and miscellaneous salary rates budgeted 3.1% was discussed. And that's the report.
>> Okay. Any questions for Mrs. Mayor? Uh, Dr. Wright, >> how is kindergarten looking? >> Uh, kindergarten enrollment was down. I believe it's down. >> Yeah, for this point in the year when comparing this year to last year, it's
down. But remember, it's a rolling registration. So, we could have an uptick at any point in time. >> Do we know how much it's down by or? >> Um, >> overall >> about 90 right now. >> About 90 students. Okay. Mr. Dvito,
>> I have the same question. >> Oh, sorry. >> Okay, Mrs. Abraham, do you have a committee? >> Um, we had a building. >> Not yet.
>> Thank you. Yes. Uh, building and grounds met um earlier this evening. Uh, present were myself, Mrs. Mayor, Dr. Wright, Miss Kogan, Dr. McHugh, Dr. Chase, Miss Briggs, and Mrs. Benos. Uh we discussed a number of items. Uh the PHS
transformer timeline, the power study was completed on March 23rd, 2026. The PSA is reviewing the data and will provide results and next steps by April 15th, 2026. The 2627 budget for maintenance. The maintenance budget is allocated into school specific accounts
for normal recurring maintenance items like minor repairs and a district budget for larger items such as paving, roofs, doors, windows, and HVAC repair or replacements. In addition to that, we also discussed the student presentation on solar panels. Dr. McHugh reviewed the
student presentation detailing potential cost savings from using solar power. Uh we did discuss the presentation and I'm hoping that we'll be able to share that with the rest of the board soon. Uh we discussed the AC in schools in regards to mold. There were some questions about
whether air conditioning units are being utilized to dehum dehumidify school buildings significantly reducing the risk of mold growth and other moisture related issues. Consequently, these units remain operational during the school day as well as throughout the evenings and weekends. In Littleton
phase one and two, an update was provided on the Littleton expansion comp projects. The March 26 uh BOE agenda has the capital reserve transfer motion listed for approval. The PHA PHS cafe project the following a meeting with the superintendent and the PHS principal.
The cafe serving line project has been placed on hold temporarily. Available food service funds will instead be re redirected to purchase new indoor and outdoor seating for student use. And last but not least, the spring field prep. The saturated field conditions
resulting from excessive winter snow and spring rain have dei delayed preparations for the spring sports season and the maintenance teams are working to ready the grounds as soon as conditions allow. And that's my report. Thank you. >> Any questions for Mrs. Abraham?
>> Thank you. Do we have anybody uh with a liaison report? Mr. Devito? >> Yes. Hi. the um the PAL board the PAL board met on March 19th and they were just basically going through their
budgetary process as well uh which they're going to have they're going to have some issues themselves. I don't have a lot of detail on that but they are and they are also in communication with the township to try and get some funding from them. That's my report on the PAL. >> Thank you. Anybody else have anything?
All right. Um the legislative committee met last Saturday and you will be getting the minutes from that meeting. Uh the one item I would like to point out as the regulation on um pilot sharing revenue is you know still under
consideration. However, they did make a change to say that the if the monies that the town would have to share with the school districts would reduce the 2% tax that comes in. So in
addition to reducing the rateables, [laughter] it would also reduce the 2% tax. So I am not sure it makes such a favorable law for us at this point. So obviously it's something to to watch but um yeah so
that was the only item that I noted from that meeting and then I did get a letter uh from a student regarding the budget um you know talking about the the secondary um study halls and he did make some
suggestions for things that could be cut in the budget. Um so I thanked him you know for his information and you know we are absolutely still discussing all of this um and the you know priorities in
the budget and I believe that was it. If nobody else has anything we will move on to the approval of the regular and executive minutes of March 12th 2026. Can I have a motion please? Mrs. Abraham
and Mrs. Mayor. Roll call. >> Mrs. Abraham. >> Yes. >> Mr. Barios. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Delave? >> Yes. >> Mr. Devidito? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Mayor? >> Yes. >> Mr. Shaw? >> Yes. >> Dr. Wright?
>> Yes. >> Mrs. Chappelle? >> Abstain. >> And Mrs. Kogan. >> Yes. >> Passed. >> All right. Superintendent Bulletins number 14. Dr. Chase, right?
>> Yeah. Okay. [laughter] >> Okay. Sorry, I've got budget on my mind. Um, I just want to say that for one of the things I love the most about this position, and there are many, but is uh talking to our students and this past Tuesday, I had the opportunity to be
interviewed by the students who are in the target teach program, >> which is for our uh aspiring teachers. And the students came with a list of questions. I know Mr. Dr. Ricker was there, Dr. Maloney was there, some of our other admins were there as well. Um, and I think this is a phenomenal program
that we've built here in the district. Well, that the district has built it predates me. Um, and it's creating a pipeline for future educators as when I meet many of our staff members here, they inform me that they grew up here, went to school here, and some of actually one of our admins actually was in the Target Teach program. So, um, I
enjoyed it immensely and I want to just thank the, um, the staff that run run this program. Uh, Miss Christina Hild, Miss Kelly Anderson, and Miss Katie Vesper. They did a phenomenal job, um, at that doing that. Uh, I see Mayor Desai is here. I also want to thank the
mayor uh and just say he sent over some information about a new pilot which is not a a school at it's I believe it's a warehouse but we continue to appreciate the established ongoing communication between the township and the district. It's it's working very well to serve our
students in the community. Um and then tonight for your approval we have bulletin items 1 through 36, addendum items 37 to 46 and readins. Thank you. Are there any questions or comments on the superintendent's bulletin? Mr.
Devito. >> Thank you, Mrs. Kogan. Um, so tonight's bulletin on item number six is our uh bylaws and policies that are about for uh for first read. Um so the the the
modification to bylaw 10166 I believe requires additional discussion after there was information provided to us only on Tuesday from our board attorney to the full board and also some research that Mr. Barios had conducted who is chair of policy about what other
districts have also have or have not implemented. So therefore I believe further discussion is needed where there are certain circumstances circumstances when um access to those meetings is uh warranted. Uh, additionally, uh, the
modifications to for policy 2530, um, multi and multiple points in that, uh, update, if you read your bulletin correctly, the, um, reference a new policy 2535, that is not on the bulletin for read. And additionally for updates which we
know in policy committee which were updates to uh 9130 policy 9130 which is also up for first read which which both all three of them kind of correlated to each other with with with the agendas that we had in in the policy committee.
So therefore I am making a motion to remove uh item number six appendix D and E from the bulletin number 14 so that they can be reviewed again by the policy committee since policy committee will be
meeting again on March 30th. Thank you. >> Want to make sure that I'm I'm clear. You're moving to table these policies to a specific date >> or >> to review for policy committee again at the ne at their next meeting. >> Okay. >> And then if we want to put them again on
the negative bulletin that's fine. If we're fighting there's they'll they'll give the bo the full board opportunity to review them and come with comments and be able to basic besides just the policy committee reviewing it have the rest of the full board have chance to correspond and uh you know come up with
uh other options. >> Okay. So I just want to make sure I'm clear on the on the motion. So the motion is to table it until after the next policy committee meeting. >> Correct. in this and the board meeting after
that. Correct. To for consideration >> for consideration on the April 20 April 28th meeting that we're going to have. That's fine. >> Yes. >> That's not the next >> Does that change the first? Sorry. >> I just want to make sure that we have the correct date. Um I don't want to see
the the policies die, meaning if you table it without a date, >> right? They'll die next after the the next meeting if they don't come back. So, I just if there's if there could be a specific date, I think that avoids that. >> Um, >> just if you just move them to the April
28th meeting. Is that a better way of the motion? >> Table it to the April 28th meeting. >> Meeting. >> Yep. because we received in our March 12th meeting the the agenda the minutes were read out from the policy meeting
and there was um an ask to have those policies disseminated to the full board that was not done till Monday. Okay, when we got our packet and there was only two of the of the ones of the all the other ones that were listed as well and neither of them had modifications from they were when they were reviewed
on March 9th at the policy meeting. So there was no reason why they could have been disseminated to the full board after March 12th. That was not done. >> So the motion right now is to table these um policies number six D and E to
the April 28th meeting. Mr. Devito, you need a second. >> Second discussion. Can somebody just clarify what's I don't have the full bulletin in front of me. Are those all of the policies or just the 2030 2035
>> 16 uh bylaw 166 for executive sessions >> and 2530 >> 2530 which is the resource materials >> correct >> and the associated regulation correct >> correct >> yes >> well there's there was no associated regulation posted with that as well so
there that's missing as well from the from any well from first read either it was just the policy >> okay so for right now. It's >> It wasn't It wasn't brought It wasn't brought to the on the bulletin. Yes. >> Okay. But you're looking to table policy and regulation 2530 until the April
28th. So >> again, 2530 regulation was not in the bulletin. >> Was it? It was there. Okay. I apologize. Yes, there. >> It was there. >> All right. Dr. Ray, his second. So >> I have a second. Do >> you have a question? Are we to
discussion? We are in discussion. >> Uh Can we anticipate that we'll get policy and regulation 2535 prior to that as well or um and or when will those be disseminated
because I do think that it's reference the changes reference that change and so it would be useful to consider those together. May I? >> Absolutely. >> 2535. I just received the draft this evening.
So I think in our last discussion we were going to have that discussion um at our next policy meeting which is end of the month. >> End of >> next week. >> Next week. Right. >> Monday. >> Right. Monday.
>> God. It's already the end of the month. [laughter] plenty of time before the April 28th meeting. >> Yes, correct. >> Any other discussion? Mrs. Abraham, >> thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you. Um, just so I
know, it is policy and regulation 2530 and then bylaw 166 that are in discussion. And then there was another item, correct? Or am I was there any other
>> items D and E? >> D and E >> under number six. >> Those are what they are on the bulletin, right? >> They come up as >> Was there another policy or bylaw or am I thinking? >> It was u part of E, I think is what. So the the regulation is part is policy and
regulation of part E. I think that that was the back and forth here. Correct. >> Okay. But aside from those, there was no other. The one I'm thinking of is the last one that was listed there and I can't remember.
>> Petty cash. Yes, that's stay. I'm not staying on. >> We can we can still >> Okay, that's what I wanted to know. Thank you. >> Petty. >> Oh, can I ask one more question? I'm sorry. Um, in regards to 166, from the,
uh, information that was disseminated to us with the research, which I appreciate, um, I just wanted to know since it almost seems like there was two scenarios presented. So, I wanted to know after the next policy meeting, will there be a a definite recommendation
coming from policy for for the information that was emailed to us? Um, I wasn't sure if it was, you know, there was a number of districts that were doing one thing and then there was a couple of other districts listed that were doing something a little bit
different. So, I wasn't sure if we were planning on when you go meet again to discuss it. Will there be a single recommendation from the policy committee in regards to how to go forward with 166?
Well, I guess and this is maybe is my confusion, but I guess my research and the research by our attorney, the original proposed was what you see
here. >> Okay. So, that was originally proposed at the meeting, >> right? >> The policy meeting. There was a discussion in which we said well there was the initial was we didn't want this there was the need not to have
this in here at all. So and so we wanted an an opinion from the attorney which we got >> and there was also my side research that I wanted to see what other districts were doing um which was no easy task. So, with the
exception of the four, and I'm just off top of my head, uh, that were doing it a little differently, it seemed like the bulk of the policies being maintained by the school districts in New Jersey were following the school board's template. >> Okay.
So when I discussed it uh with Madame Attorney and and Miss Benos and you know it was just kind of like all right well you know the the legal opinion fit what was already
done. So that went out to the board. Now, if we want to pull this, which is fine, but I guess the question is, you know, my thought is is if we don't want this in here, then what do we want?
Because I still don't know what the endgame is. The this is to say either we we do allow it or we do not allow it. There's no middle ground. So, either it's in or it's out. And I think what I heard was the majority of the board
seemed that they didn't have a problem with it, but I could be wrong. So that's why we're having discussion. >> Can I just make a a point of clarification? I think Miss Abrams, you asked um what the the committee that there seem to be two separate. What is
presented to you in the agenda is the recommendation from the committee. So that pertains to any you know any of the the items that are coming out right. So the curriculum and and instruction committee meets the recommendations end up in the agenda the
policy committee meets those recommend what the policy or I'm sorry what the committees are recommending is what comes to the board for voting. >> So I don't know if that clarifies what your question was >> give or take. Um, I guess if I have more
questions, may I email you and >> Absolutely. >> Okay. >> Now, I'm sorry. >> On you go. >> No, no, no. I'm saying is I guess the motion on the table is to table it until after the policy meeting next week and
to be first read on the 28th. Right. 28th. >> I think there's we're still in the discussion phase of that. >> Correct. I would like to propose an amendment to the motion to separate the two
because um so if you I appreciate your question on both of them, but I would like them to be separated for consideration because bylaw 166, it's two sentences. We have the facts. There weren't a lot of facts that were
provided and as Mr. Barry has pointed out, it's a yes or no. So, I feel like we're at a point where we can make that decision, but I totally agree that on 2530 that dependency on another policy that we haven't seen yet makes sense to
hold off on that one. >> Okay. >> So, does she need a second to that amendment? >> She does. >> Second. >> Okay. >> So, now we can discuss the amendment. >> There's a discussion there is a discussion to be had about separating
Mr. Devito's motion to table. So separate tableabling the the items separately. Okay. >> So I'll I'll speak to that. So um fine about the policy 2530. I thank you. But
as far as the bylaw goes um we received extensive information from our board attorney. in that information they decide that if we as a board wanted to have a some sort of exceptions to this
change we could do so. So I think that warrants discussion in the policy committee as well. Okay. Because there I think I believe there are exceptions where this is warranted. Okay. Most notably if there's a lack of quorum. We
have a meeting and we we can't we've rescheduled our meetings this year. We were supposed to have a meeting April 11th in the middle of spring break which a good portion of us could have been uh away on vacation not have not even have a quorum to even have a meeting. So I
remember if you recall I asked to have that meeting moved moved out because I don't think it would really would have done us any good which we did. So if that had happened and we didn't have a quum or we had just barely a quorum. We only have like maybe five members and there was discussion needed to be had in
exact session that in that in that meeting and you don't have a quorum in exact session they can't you can't vote it and have a have a majority vote in open session. So it would be a waste of time. So there's an example. All right. So those kind of examples I think are
where there's wording that can be done to allow for this. Is there any other discussion? I would just like to point out that we've had this in practice um where board
members do not call in or video into executive session. Um that is the current practice and we've never run into an an instance where we needed a quorum. Um, so I would like to separate
the two policies out and I don't think any further discussion is needed. If people would like something else discussed at policy, they can vote no to you know the amendment and leave it al together and pull it back to policy.
Mrs. is Abraham. >> Um, just looking back on what was sent, um, as much as I appreciate all the research and the response from our attorney as
well, um, we also, it was stated on there that there was going to be a bylaw 9322 that was meant to be attached to that and it wasn't attached. So, that was also missing from that. Um, so I don't know if that bylaw needed to be
considered in bylaw 166 because it was in the statement from Mr. Mario, excuse me, bylaw 9322 was from school boards. That is their template. >> Okay.
>> That is not our that's not didn't come from any district. That came from New Jersey school boards. >> Okay. I was just stating that that wasn't attached. But um I guess the other question is when they say that when board members
may attend public meetings remotely provided that the policy allows for it. My other question about those 1 2 3 4 5 seven uh districts that adopted the standard NJSBA policy 9322.
Did they allow any kind of casebycase basis? Um and then when you have the second the other two which was South Orange Maplewood and then the Monontlair one um where they did allow for remote participation requiring privacy
safeguards is that considered to be like a precedence you know and so yes I understand that what was presented to us was the recommendation but these are questions that I think we I think I
would have liked to send to the policy committee if they could discuss it again. And I think one of the other things that we talk about is um >> Miss Abrams, I'm sorry. I just want to make sure our discussion right now
>> should be focused on whether or not the board wants to vote Mr. Devito's motion to table the policies separately. >> No, I wanted to keep them >> together. I apologize motion. So we just whether or not the
the it's not on the the merits of those policies at this point. It's just whether or not there the board wants to vote that the tableing of those policies separately. >> Okay. Got it. >> So there's any more discussion on the
amendment? >> Okay. Mr. Bears. No. >> No. No. No. >> Okay. [laughter] No. So now we >> you're going to vote the motion for Miss Chappelle's motion to >> separate >> separate those two uh policy. >> So that's what we're voting on now.
>> Correct. >> Okay. >> Roll call vote on separate votes on >> tableling >> the policies. Mrs. Abraham. >> Uh no. I wanted to keep them together. >> Mr. Barios.
>> Yes. >> Mrs. Delave. Yes, >> Mr. Devito. >> No, >> Mrs. Mayor. >> Yes, >> Mr. Shaw. >> No,
>> Dr. Wright. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Chappelle, >> yes. >> Mrs. Kogan, >> yes. Okay. So, if there is further discussion on the motions to to table now would be
appropriate if you want to have that or if you want to go ahead and vote. Um the first >> So, I have I have a question. So, then now >> we'll be voting on them to table each one separately, >> not together. >> Correct. >> That's correct. >> So, it would be for one or the other.
One we'll vote for one and then the other. to make sure we're clear of which which one each are when when that's read out. >> So the it would be the motion to table bylaw 166 until the April 28th, 2026 meeting. >> So that would be the first vote and then
the second vote will be on 2530. >> Correct. So we'll discuss and then vote and then discuss and then vote. >> Correct. Okay. So the first discussion is on the tableing of policy 166. Would anybody >> does any other discussion need to be
had? >> Just a point of clarification on the examples >> that were given um of the ones that are using the template or allude to the them using the template is that they do not
uh allow uh electronic access remotely. Um it was the exceptions again this is not all districts 500 school districts in New Jersey so I didn't have that amount of time um but like um I think South Orange Maplewood
uh did theirs they kept what was COVID and they just enhanced it a little bit uh based on their criteria. I can't speak to the other ones. I just don't remember off top of my head, but that's kind of where I left off with. >> All right. Anybody else further
discussion? Okay. So, we're going to vote on whether we're tableabling bylaw 166 to the April 28th meeting. So, a yes would be to table it and a no would be to leave it within the current
agenda. Mrs. Abraham, >> yes to >> Mr. Barios. >> Nope. >> 28th. >> I'm saying yes to the You're right. >> Yeah. >> Mrs. Delave, >> no.
>> Mr. Devito, >> yes. >> Mrs. Mayor, >> no. >> Mr. Shaw, >> yes. >> Dr. Wright, >> no. >> Mrs. Chappelle, >> no. Mrs. Kogan.
>> No. >> So now the motion. >> Okay. So the motion now before the board is to table policy and regulation 2530 to the April 28th, 2026 meeting >> and regulation
>> and regulation. I'm sorry. >> So do we need further discussion on that one? >> It's just just another comment. Like I said, this is this is because these are intertwined with each other. I think this is important to do that properly. So then we have more chance to and again
have the full board be able to review it after the policy committee reviews it. So policies meeting on March 30th. I hope that those are disseminated once we have any kind of any further edits are disseminated to the full board expeditiously. Thank you.
>> Anybody else? Okay. So now we're voting on 2530 and the regulation to table it to the April 28th meeting. So a yes tables it and a no keeps it on
the bulletin. >> Mrs. Abraham. >> Yes. Sorry. >> Mr. Barios. >> No. >> Mrs. Delave. >> Yes. Mr. Devidito,
>> yes. >> Mrs. Mayor, >> no. >> Mr. Shaw, >> yes. >> Dr. Wright, >> yes. >> Mrs. Chappelle, >> yes. >> Mrs. Kogan,
>> yes. So, >> policy and regulation 2530 is tabled until the April 28th, 2026 meeting. 28th >> 28th >> 28 >> too many numbers that's Tuesday. >> All right. Are there any other questions
or comments on the superintendent's bulletin before we move on? >> Okay. Thank you. So we are up to the secretar's report. Dr. McHugh >> thought I had done it already. [laughter] So uh basic we have the basic motions that we normally have for a normal month
bill payment and and board secretary reports. In addition to that, we have the tenative budget approval which will allow us to send our tenative budget to the county office for compliance review. >> Thank you. Do we have any questions for Dr. McQue?
>> Okay. >> Wh Sorry, there's a question. >> I just thought of something for the previous thing. Can I ask about the first read? Is it >> just one more >> procedural question >> kind of um
may I or no I can wait otherwise. >> Can I put it in new business then? >> Okay. So I guess the it was just a very simple question about if you have a first read right now for any policy or bylaw, right? Um does it get
disseminated to the public on the upcoming public notice at all saying that this is up for first read on such and such date. It's up for a second read on the next date. so that the public would be able
to know what policies we are having readings on before they get officially um voted on >> the the bulletin >> I'm asking about the public notice that goes out to the entire public in regards
to like the sunshine law are we supposed to be putting any policies >> on there so how does >> the bulletin is linked >> correct either so if you go to your public your public notice on your on your website, right? >> You click on it, it goes to your
superintendent's bulletin. >> Okay. So then anybody that's concerned about Yeah. any policies we're discussing can go there, find out what's on first read, second read, whatever, and >> correct >> get the information there. Okay. Y >> that was a procedural question, I guess. Thank you.
>> You're welcome. Okay. Uh there was no new business to come before the board, so we are up to hearing. >> Just quick comment. Oh, just quick comment. New business. So, um, this is our last meeting before for before Easter. I would like to wish all those that celebrate Easter happy Easter. And
I believe, uh, April 1st, the start of Passover. So, any of those that celebrate Passover, happy Passover. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you. >> Um, at this time, 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, 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. Please come up now and sign in so you are ready when the first speaker is finished. As a reminder, we are video recording this meeting. If you
are a student who wishes to speak, we ask that you not provide your home address, but rather give only the name of the town in which you live. If you are a parent wishing to discuss a specific matter pertaining to your child during this portion of the meeting, you may request that the board temporarily suspend the video recording.
Alternatively, please consider speaking privately about the matter to the superintendent after the meeting. 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.
>> You're good evening. My name is Rich Suarez. I'm a resident of Paripany. Um have a few questions from Miss Abraham if I may. You can direct your questions. >> I'm sorry. >> To me. Thank you. >> I have a few questions for who it's
directed to. >> I heard several comments about buildings and grounds and doing HVAC renovations, etc. Six years ago was the last time I came here to speak about this. I had personal
matters to attend to. That's why there's a gap. Um, at the time I proposed or I asked if someone would look into installing energy management systems in the heating
and cooling of all of the buildings that are in Paripony. I got no reply. Um, if those systems had been put in six years ago, they would have paid for themselves several times over. and we would be saving money. Now
there was COVID money back in I think was 2020 and Paripony spent that money on buying extra filters rather than upgrading or in installing in any
fashion and energy management systems that would help both in your summer costs and your winter costs. I would think that a prudent thing to be considered would be
to put out an RFP for services to develop and possibly implement energy management systems
throughout all of the school buildings. I worked at a state university. I can tell you, you will save money. You will save a lot of money. Um,
I mean, you know, I I I feel like I'm preaching to the choir here. I hope because if we're out to save money, this is one one way to to do it. If we just want to keep going with the status quo and not address a system where where
utility costs are just going to be going up through the roof every year, put our head in the sand and ring our hands. Well, you know, don't don't do anything then. But if if you want to look into it, I think that would be a worthwhile thing to look into.
One other two other things. Can you give me at some point in time the class sizes for the elementary schools, middle schools, and high high schools? And do the employees
um pay a portion into their health benefits as um state employees do? >> Yes, you do. Okay. >> So, your time is up. >> Okay. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. Is there anyone else who'd like to come?
Tony Feno, Robin Hood Road, Mars Plains. So, a couple questions. Has a town with increasing health care costs with the board of education considered shared services? In other words, if you have thousand people, townhouse of thousand people,
you can actually put a bigger boot on the insurance companies. Uh, >> second question, uh, bad, sorry to be the bear of bad news, but your energy costs are going to go up extremely. >> Okay. And the reason for it is poor
management on the state of New Jersey ordered the Bayway facility closed. So, you're going to truck in additional 40% of your fuel in the state. This is going to have a rippling effect of about 21,000 people.
So, expect your fuel cost to go up. As far as power goes, we are currently buying from out of state 46% of our power. This summer is it's expected to go to 68%. So, watch your costs rise. As to back up Mr. Suarez saying, "I've
walked around a couple of the schools. Uh, instead of just installing normal air conditioning units, why aren't we installing heat pumps? You can do the three set of phases. You can get heat, air conditioning, and dehumidification out of their new units. And you have a 3-in hole in the wall with roof mounted
unit that'll supply same amount of BTUs at one/ird the energy cost, but it doesn't seem like we're upgrading it. and the way our uh state systems as far as they're failing with solar and wind, you're going to fail.
The projected cost, they do not outweigh each other. So, we need to look at alternative energy programs. And like I said, you can ask the mayor about shared services that we should be completely going with the town on. Uh, as far as
your budget looks like, you're only planning on the additional people that are here. You're not looking at what's coming in with the reconstruction of the town. And don't go by the 20% of affordable. You have another 80% on top of that
coming in. And from what I looked at, the 340 pages of what the town has, these units are not one bedroom. They're two and three. So either you start planning now or uh we get caught you know in extreme
conditions. Thanks. Anybody else from the public? >> All right. Dr. Chase, would you like to make any comments? >> Uh Dr. McHugh wants to speak about the energy efficient units. >> Our schools and all our is it coming
out? Our schools and all our buildings do you utilize energy management systems and more than 80% of our units. There are some that are just at end of life and we're in the process of rolling them over and as we buy new units, we tie them into the the management systems
there. The uh facilities personnel can operate them from their phones. They can monitor. There's all sorts of reports that that come down. uh it helps with leaks and unit vents, it helps with moisture, it helps with a lot of different different things. So, we we are extensively using it, but there are
portions of some of the older buildings, the equipment so old that we determined that it would be better to upgrade the unit rather than spend money to put put all the controls into it. >> Dr. Um, with regard to the gentleman who
would like class size information, uh, yes, I'll meet with you after this. Um, I could tell you it's going to be difficult to do it at the secondary level because we have so many different classes, but we could touch base. >> And I did want to officially answer that yes, uh, the employees do pay a portion
of their um, healthcare. And um we the the Littleton project is part of our looking into the future and understanding there will be more kids, but these the regulations on what we can
budget for limit us dramatically. We are not allowed to budget for anticipated increases. So >> as of students so although we may know it's coming it is not something that we can put in our budget.
>> Can can I elaborate on the healthcare contributions? Um so I don't recall the years exactly but there used to be something in effect called chapter [clears throat] 78 which would require employees to um pay a portion of their health care plan. that then transitioned
to chapter 44 which now requires employees to pay a portion of their salaries. So what that did to school districts is it required school district to absorb more of the costs of health care. Chapter 44 is expected to sunset I believe at the end of 2027. So we will
see what kind of program contribution requirement the state puts in at that point. Um either way, you know, if the employees were to start contributing a larger portion, they're going to want to see a larger increase in their salaries, which would then probably reflect in the
um negotiation settlements. So, uh it is something we watch closely, as well as um talking about the enrollment. We have a demographers report. We track enrollment regularly. We're currently in the process of doing a a building capacity study to see how many students
we could fit in each space uh because it's very much front of mind as we continue to move forward. All right, we are up to voting on the superintendent's bulletin number 14 items number 1 through 36 except for
item 6E with >> it's so I just want to be clear. So the policy is 6E. The regulation is indicated as appendix
D for first reading. So but to be clear um it is it should be appendix E which is the resource material regulation and policy is not being voted on tonight. >> Okay. And addendum items 37 through 46
and readings. So can I have A motion. >> Hold on. >> Dr. Wright and a second. This is Delave. [laughter] I will get it. Roll call, please. >> I believe there's a clarification.
>> I just had a clarification. >> So, for the bylaw that is getting the first read today. >> Yes. >> What is the number on the bulletin for that? >> Oh, 66 D is in dog. >> Number six. >> Appendix. Appendix D. Just appendix D.
>> Just appendix. >> She's asking the one that's staying. >> So just bylaw 166 is labeled as appendix D as in >> number six. >> Delta. >> Correct. >> Delta. >> Delta.
>> All right. So that was a motion from Dr. Wright and a second from Mrs. Del. Okay. Mrs. Abraham. >> Yes to everything. No on appendix D. Did I do that? >> Mr. Barios, >> recuse on number seven. Yes to
everything else. >> Mrs. Delave, >> yes. [clears throat] >> Mr. Deido, >> no. On number six, appendix D. Yes to everything else. >> Mrs. Mayor, >> yes. >> Mr. Shaw,
>> no. on appendix D. Yes to everything else. >> Dr. Wright, >> yes. >> Mrs. Chappelle, >> yes. >> And Mrs. Kogan, >> yes. Motion carries. >> All right. There being no further
business, I need a motion to adjourn the meeting. Mr. [laughter] >> All right. Mr. Devito, Mrs. Mayor. All in favor? I >> meeting