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Video-1: youtube.com/watch?v=g04Zk9KXS6s

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Board of Education to order on April 28, 2026. Thank you all for your patience. 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

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the following manner. A meeting notice was published in the newspaper and on the district website on January 7th, 2026. In addition, the notice of the meeting was posted at the municipal building in the schools and a copy of the notice filed with the township clerk

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and transmitted to other newspapers on April 7th and April 24th, 2026. The daily record, the star ledger percipany focus tap to parcipany patch and the district website. This regular public board meeting is being video recorded as

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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

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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. >> May we have the attendance roll call,

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please? >> Mrs. Abraham, >> here. >> Mr. Barios, >> here. >> Mrs. Delip >> here. >> Mr. Devita >> here. >> Mrs. Mayor >> here. >> Mr. Shaw >> here. >> Dr. Wright >> here. >> Mrs. Chappelle >> here. Mrs.

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>> here. Uh, and before we move on, I just want to recognize and say thank you, uh, Mayor Desai for coming attending our meeting again. And now we're up to student committee reports. Sarash, I believe you have both of them maybe tonight, right? >> Yeah, that's correct.

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>> Okay, go ahead. >> Here are the latest hot things at PHS. The Par High Student Council is planning the powderpuff game. The light the night uh walk event is occurring tomorrow. The school our school Indian culture

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club dance occurred on April 17th. Um the basketball 3v3 tournament hosted by student council is happening today at 6:30. Uh the French, Italian, and Spanish honor society had their induction ceremony yesterday

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and student council is also planning for uh the executive board elections. The boys golf team is having a match today against Morristown Beard. The boys tennis team also had a game against Morris Hills High School today. Uh they

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won the game. As for the Hills, the Hill student council has been working on teacher appreciation cards to hand out to their staff. They have also been planning senior letters. Uh these are letters made by the elementary students and are

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to be given out to the seniors of the Hills. The student council, their student council has also been busy with the elections for their executive board. And as for their athletics, they have a girls lacrosse game against Newark

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Academy 4 PM on Wednesday. And their boys baseball team has a game against uh Morris, sorry, Mountain Leagues today. >> Thank you. Do we have any questions for our student presenter? >> Thank you very much for telling us all

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the things that are going on. All right, we are up to presentations and the first one is actually the committee as the whole for buildings and grounds. Um, we do have a presentation by Sunjan Architects on the phase 2

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project at Littleton. Mrs. Abraham, would you like to officially >> um Thank you. I just wanted to open up the building and grounds committee and the whole meeting um obviously with the full board here and administration. I wanted to thank um Brett Sen for coming

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here to do this presentation. So please take it away. >> Great. Thank you everybody for having us here. Uh my name is John Carton. I'm a partner with Parson Architects and with me is associate Rachel Sunquist who is uh the liaison for PSA with Paripany

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school district. Uh we were asked to um provide a presentation of an overview for the phase planning at the Littleton Elementary School. Uh in 2020, the board and administration identified the need for additional classrooms with a focus

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at Littleton. They asked PSA to help them refine their vision and programming into a schematic design um series of additions which we have with us. the the project was initiated

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um for the programming that consisted of originally this is in 2020 prek classrooms uh fourth and fifth grade classrooms, SGI special ed classrooms, a new media center, a gymnasium, and a music room.

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And that was their vision back in 2020. as things rolled through come uh into 20 early 2022 um they felt that I think that was too ambitious and they wanted to refocus and limit the programming just to the prek

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needs in the district and I believe they wanted to use uh Littleton as the uh main prek classrooms for the district. Um so with that I'll let Rachel and I'll go through it.

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>> Okay. As we began the project um the first slide that we have indicates the existing construction as it was um prior to any of the phases. So, um it was it's approximately around 48,000 square foot

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building and it does contain um class ranges from prek to uh fifth grade. So, the first phase that we developed started back in 2022 2023.

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Um and the first phase is approximately 9,600 square ft. It contains six classrooms and one SGI space. Uh the scope of work was uh fire alarm improvements to the main panel as well

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as those classroom additions. That phase was substantially complete in October of 2024 and the school um occupied those rooms in the 2526

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school year. Phase two um has been developed and actually went out to bid and was awarded in early 2026. Um phase 2 is a 9,200

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square ft addition as well as site improvements with a 31 stall parking lot expansion. There are also improvements for the electrical

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upgrades as well as a generator. We are replacing fire alarm devices throughout the existing building. This phase does include seven additional prek classrooms and one SGI room.

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Um the schedule for this project, as I said, we did bid and award the project in um 2026 here, early 26. The groundbreaking will really start after this end of the 26 school year here. So,

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we will start seeing construction in June. The contractor will be fabricating the footings and putting up the seal. We anticipate that to be done by December. Um after that the building

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envelope will be weathertight and that will happen around March with substantial completion in July of 27. Now moving on to phase three and I'm going to just jump to phase four. These

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two are interchangeable depending on which path the district chooses to go. Um phase three was developed to address the needs for um additional um play areas for the multi-purpose room as well

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as serving lunches because right now that's where the lunches are served. Um, the addition is showing a high school size gym and it is approximately 9,000 or 8,900 square feet. The addition also

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includes storage rooms, um, toilet rooms as well as some interior alterations. Now the fourth phase is anticipated to be a second floor to the first and second phase. The original person's

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second phase. This addition would be a 18,400 ft² addition. It would contain 13 classrooms and two SGIs. Um there of course this hasn't been fully developed.

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Um these two phases, those last two, the number three and number four are just anticipated. Anything to add? >> Yeah. Um just to talk about a little bit about the planning for phases uh three and four. These are not written in stone

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by any means. These are planning tools that uh the previous board and administration they discussed. And for example, the gymnasium edition, uh Rachel mentioned that the basketball court is a regulation high school size.

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However, the board could decide and without bleachers. So it's about 6,100 square feetish that the basketball court when the fees facility efficiency standards with the department of education they say a a high school

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gymnasium is 10,000 square feet but that includes bleachers that design didn't include bleachers but it in addition you could go smaller a educa um prek and uh

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elementary gymnasium 4,000 square ft. So, it depends on what the board envisions moving forward. If you wanted to do a gymnasium, in addition to the second floor of the classrooms, the layout you see there is simply just a replication of all the

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prek classrooms on the phases one and two. Again, if the board decided, listen, on that we want to go four or five classroom sizes or some other variation that could be done. >> But but phase one and two are completed

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with the Yeah. as a prek. But you do have the ability to go up a second story because we have the egress in place. Um we have the structure in place, the foundation in place for those additional improvements.

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Right now we just approved phase two, right? So in terms of your experience from a timeline perspective, July 2027, is that realistic? >> Is that realistic? >> Yes, that is realistic. >> Okay.

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>> For substantial completion. Yes, >> substantial. Yeah. So, our classroom should be able to start September 2027. >> Okay. >> Hello. My apologies. Um

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my question is in phase one uh when they were you guys were uh did the build there you hit a I guess it was like bedrock or some type of that really caused the project to get delayed a little bit. Um is there a uh

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has there been any assessment as to phase two? Are are you thinking have the same type of issue or >> so? Um in phase one we did hit large boulders um which we did incur you know

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a timeline change because of that. So we had additional um >> probes taken um to try to mitigate anything moving forward. However, there's a limit on feasibility of how

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many you know soil borings additional soil borings you should be doing. So, we did it in the footprint and in the storm water management areas to try to resolve those issues, but we can't see underneath. We don't really know until we start.

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>> But we took extra precautions. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Yep. Extra. >> I have a part two. Um, I'm not really sure where this is currently standing on phase one, but I know on phase one we had some issues

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with um, um, the antenna for the fire department. So, how are we looking for phase two? So for phase one um what we have in place

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currently are we are waiting for the FCC letter from the town um so we can get authorization from the SEC or FCC. Um we're still waiting on that for phase one. We have everything in place for phase two but we still need that letter.

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>> Okay. So there's nothing there's nothing new that you're anticipating other than time. >> Correct. We're just waiting for the township to issue that letter. I did want to note that um during our

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early meetings with our contractor, Miss Sunquist, um already pointed out that she expects the contractors to move expeditiously with the foundation and was questioning the time when they were starting and stated that this needs to

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be done prior to to start a school because there may be some demolition. So that is a topic that she is completely all over and I I'm sure they'll acquies and get it done. Thank you. >> Um I and I'm not sure this is actually a question for you so maybe I can direct

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this to the chair. Um but I was um I'm concerned about um safety and uh ingress and egress like where the cars are. We have the additional lot on there. Um, but the front end is currently not terribly manageable like where cars

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are coming in and out with drop off. I was wondering if um how if that was included in kind of thinking about this at all or is that someone else like um >> you're talking in the front of the school? >> Uh yes. So like the the added parking is

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in the back and I actually would be interested why there versus towards the road but also yet thinking about like who does the thinking about the it's an engineering question around like moving cars through >> that was not part of this this phase two

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at all. So that would be something else. >> I I want to say there was a traffic study that was done for phase one. >> There was traffic. So that due diligence has been completed >> and Mr. the principal of the school Mr.

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Staple has been involved with it and is satisfied that this flow and the design will meet the the requirements of the additional students given the limitations of the property and and the shape. It's probably not perfect but you

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work within the limitations provided. >> Yes. And the construction vehicles like the principal they'll work with the principal to make sure that the construction vehicles are not in way of regular. >> The principal is in every meeting

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talking to the contractor about phasing, timing, scheduling where things are coming and going. >> Yes. With this being a preschool building, there's more drop off and pickups midday as well. So all that's in the plan and and heavily communicated

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and I believe the the contractor they've done similar projects before. >> We do reinforce it at each meeting that um deliveries and such can't happen during drop off and pick up times. >> So as Mr. Barry has pointed out, we had

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some concerns around the antenna um issues that I created. Um, I am happy to hear about the fire alarm system being part of phase two and being replaced entirely. That's wonderful news. Um, is there anything that we need to do to align with local fire policies to make

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sure we're not going to run into any any issues? Um, not only during the school year when the construction is happening, but also when we actually want to start using the new system. >> Um, well, the fire alarm system was upgraded in phase one, the front end. Um

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right now we're installing additional devices um specifically horns and strobes because everything has to match. Um actually those were done in phase one but the remaining devices are going to be replaced now throughout. So it will

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be like it it was compliant before it's just being improved. >> Thank you. >> And just so everybody knows the phase one and phase two additions also have it's a sprinkler building. Um, thank you so much. Uh, just had a quick question about the parking lot uh

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situation in phase two. Um, I know that we have a a bunch of dumpsters in that area. I'm assuming >> Yeah, that's part of the relocation. >> Okay. And then I'm assuming that based on the flow, they're just going to go

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directly into that lot and then so it won't create because uh when when we go into that school morning off in the morning and pick up in the evening, >> it's it's a big circle. So you know, I just want to know how much

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>> um that will impact the flow of morning and evening. And then also I know it's kind of into the um the the field there. So I know there's a lot of sports that were on the sports club sports. Um would that be significantly

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affected? So we did have the conversation with the district about those fields. I know that they've had um conversations with the athletic teams who do use it. I'm not sure what the status of that is. Um but I it it will

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affect that back field. Um, I know that they were making modifications. >> I believe the back field they were going to reduce it to the smaller younger age size. >> I think that was part of the discussion. >> If I may ask one more thing, just to

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kind of piggy back on the antenna question. Um the question that I get, correct me if I'm wrong, but um one of the questions that came up in the past was about whether the fire department can hear and communicate in that section. And I think I have asked in the

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past about whether the existing frequencies that were already in that building um would still be helpful or if they frequencies because that was one of the major discussions about why the antenna was necessary, right? Um just >> so it's it's the antenna is necessary

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because it is required by CO um for emergencies and for fire. It's really for fire department. So when we were on site they did test it and they put a fire truck out in the back parking lot so they can communicate ground to ground

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and the ground to ground is easily communicated. There are no issues with ground to ground. Um the extra I guess antenna is for certain areas that were lighter >> and different frequencies

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>> and and different frequencies to read back to like the county and the township buildings. Anybody else have any questions? >> Thank you very much. >> Continue our

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discussion of solar panels. my papers all organized. So, a few months ago, the board approved the decommissioning of solar panels at three schools. Um, which sounds like an unfortunate um activity. However, these

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solar panels were at end of life and they were becoming I mean there is material inside solar panels that make them hazardous waste. when you go to remove them, they were on uh buildings that the roofs needed to be worked on and with these items there, it's very

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difficult. So, since they uh were part of a county program uh and the program was expiring, we were given the the opportunity to continue to use them at their diminished capacity and then take responsibility for the removal or have

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the town remove them. and we did a uh costbenefit analysis and having the town remove them was the best solution at the time uh and solved a couple problems with some repairs on the roof. So it was approved by the board and now the town has reached out, excuse me, the county

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has reached out and is dealing with our facilities manager trying to schedule the best best time for that. It will not interrupt the building. There's a small time where they have to turn the power off just to disconnect the panels and they can turn it back on and then they can work independently. We don't envision big cranes coming and removing

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them. They break them down on the roof and somehow probably through like a lift or something take them off and then they remove them and go to hazmat sites and sites. >> Does anybody have any questions about the

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last but not least? I guess this is all our favorite um topic. It's been around for a little bit. If you remember back in December, we had a transformer blow at the Hills High School. Um we were very lucky that

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it was contained with the the safety fencing that was put around. It was determined that the reason that the transformer malfunction is because it was wired using state-of-the-art aluminum wiring when they put that transformer in, which is no longer compliant. We needed to have a study

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done to see how much electric that building really needs. And the concern was that we weren't going to be able to turn our air conditioners on because we were we're at limited power. Of the four cables that go in, two of them were no longer being used. We actually found that the the schools using less power uh

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which is not surprising because we are using more efficient equipment internally. So we we lucked out with that. But the entire system does need to be replaced. So, um, PSA just recently provided the the study. The study was provided to our insurance company. We

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are seeking reimbursement for it because we're we are replacing the existing cables with what is available commonly now. Um, if we could find aluminum, we would do aluminum, but it doesn't be coated any longer. And since we had this deemed as an emergency, we don't have to

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go through the RFP process. Once once everything's put in place, we can determine the window to to change this. The the trick there is they're going to need to turn the power off for the entire building for 5 days. So that that limits during the school year. Um it's

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probably something that could happen right after school, but before, you know, summer programs begin, but that's based on the availability of the contractor. So we're still working that out. Um but we're we're much farther along than we were. And the good news is that we're not we don't have to upgrade

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get a new transformer and put 13 14 15 cables in which would be an upgrade that insurance probably would deem to be you know an upgrade and therefore insurance isn't for upgrades it's for replacements. Thank you. Does anybody have any

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questions on prepar general question because I'm not sure about does each school have its own this might be a silly question transformer or do they share transformers and do we have a listing because this one is end aluminum

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was end of life. Do we have I guess it's like two part question. Do we have um a list of what might have to be replaced repaired end of life for our Each school has at least one transformer. They could they could have two and you wind up with an extension

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rather than replacing the main transformer. Sometimes you just put a little one in there. And the transformer actually was an end of life. Jersey Central Power and Light takes care of the transformer. We unfortunately had corrosion in in the aluminum cables which are underground. We do load tests.

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We do safety tests. We make sure that the wires are transferring the proper amount of electricity. But things underground sometimes are are hidden to us. And this one >> was hidden. >> Just wondering how if you could be more proactive or if there was a listing of

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in general things that we could besides just a safety check. >> We go through an annual certification process making sure that they're safe. Jersey sensor power line comes out monitors all the time. And normally, you know, because of a fluctuation in power that something may be going wrong. This one was just surprising. We had a lot of

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rain that week and we we're guessing that the rain got to it and electric and water sometimes are not a great combination. So >> in answer to in answer to your question, one of the things that we put into goal number

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three or four is to create a working document that has all of the information about our system. So when it comes time to being strategically planned for finances, we're working off of that document. >> So you mentioned that the aluminum wire

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is not up to standard now. Do we have any of those still in our other buildings? >> Yes, we do. And are we do going to need to do anything to replace that proactively or are we >> we we like we do with the other ones, we are constantly testing them to make sure

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they're still functioning properly. There is a lot of aluminum. I mean houses, anything built in the 60s and early '7s, they used aluminum. They thought it was cheaper than copper and it was used. Um it's they are functioning properly.

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There are safety precautions around them with fences and items like that. Um, it's certainly something that could be considered, but you you're it's rather expensive and we have a lot of sources for >> do not get me wrong. I know there's

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plenty of other things that we need to but we are we are entirely focused on safety and we are comfortable that the the balance of the cables are functioning properly and if we were to have a malfunction there every safety precaution is in place. Like this one

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was a serious if anybody had an opportunity to see the video. This was a serious malfunction and the safe the safety fencing and everything worked perfectly. So, we are we are comfortable that we are not putting anybody at risk, but we're certainly monitoring for future issues. >> Thank you.

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>> Did the power study show that the power that's currently going there is going to be able to use the air conditioner until it's fixed or or is that going to be too much? >> Yes. It not only showed that we are able to use the air conditioners, we have

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used the air conditioners because of last week if I we didn't turn them on, we wouldn't have been popular. So, so they got turned on. So, and it was very important because we had that one air conditioner with the rock ramp. We wanted to test it and it worked flawlessly. So, we were very we locked

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out very comfortable. The high efficiency equipment that's been installed since the building was built benefited us in this case. Thank you very much for participating in the building and grounds committee of the whole and um if you have any further

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questions please refer to all right our next presentation is on the budget Dr. face. Good evening. Uh, this is my monthly budget presentation. Feel like I've been on tour. Uh but tonight I'm going to

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actually present for the board the final budget. Uh you may have recalled uh the last presentation I gave was on the tenative budget. Since that period of time we had some undated information which is most notably related to our health insurance increase. Um they were

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finalized and they came in higher than we had anticipated. So the finance committee and the team had to come together and and discuss how we were going to move forward with that recent increase. So tonight I'm going to uh walk you through the financial context of the budget, speak to uh the what

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changed with regard to health insurance, and then also uh some of the decisions that shaped them. So it's a little bit of a different presentation than you've heard, but let's start with uh how the budget is funded. This is our revenue slide. You could see our budget comes in

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at approximately $198 million with about 86% of that coming from the local tax levy. State aid falls at about 8%. And so the remaining revenue comes from other sources like fund balance um or

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some other uh miscellaneous accounts, not a large portion. The key point here is that the district is lo is significantly dependent on local funding and we have very limited growth in other funding sources.

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So when we look at this at a high level uh we could see that revenue is constrained the levy is capped. Uh you may have recalled from the last presentation I gave which is on the website we saw the volatility with the state aid. Um so that therefore is inconsistent and like I said we have

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limited opportunities for revenue generating. So at the same time this is happening our costs are rising faster than we've seen historically and this is the system that we're operating within for the budget.

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Now let's take a shift over to our expenditures. This is going to match the revenue and they fall into about 198 million. Salaries and benefits, which is that large blue chunk up there, um is our

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largest expense at 135 million. Those are the people who show up and do the good work with our students. In terms of the other expenditures such as special ed, transportations, and operations, we are seeing across the state that these areas are growing

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largely and um are not keeping pace with what we're getting from state aid and other revenues. So, there's very few areas where reductions can be made that would not impact our students.

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Now this is specifically where the financial picture changed since the last tentative budget presentation. At that time you may have recall that I spoke about a 30% increase in healthcare

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the when we met with our um brokers uh somebody had asked previously in a meeting if we shop around. When we met with them we were told that uh we were coming in at 45%. I have not seen that in all the news articles I'm watching. So, it's very

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large uh larger than I've heard other districts facing. And that actually resulted in an increase of $13.6 million, which is substantial. The state, you may recall that I spoke last time about the state allowable

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health insurance adjustment. Even with taking that at uh $7.34 million, that does not cover our full cost. So when we got this information of the updated 45% health insurance

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increase, we were looking at a shortfall remaining gap of about $6.2 million, which is very, very difficult to navigate. it would require a loss in programs, a loss in staff, very much what you are seeing across other school

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districts in in the news. So the finance committee uh worked collaboratively and we decided that we are going to transition to something called self-funding health benefits. Um so like I had just said uh we have this change

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of 45% the state adjustment only allows for partial relief and having this is not a sustainable model for us to absorb. So when we move to something called a

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self-funded model that actually brings us back down to the 30% without having any cost to programs. Um, so that means, you know, people ask what does self-funded mean? That does not mean we're going to be seeing the claims of

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our of our employees. It basically means that we transition to funding the cost of health benefits ourselves. Um, instead of paying the fixed premiums that we give to the healthcare provider and we manage the process, there's a

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little bit of risk involved in this, but it's a controlled risk. And you'll see up here we have stop-loss prevention on that plan. The reason that brings it down to 30% is because we recognize a savings of about 2.2 premium tax. We have some savings with the ACA fees and

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also we would be eligible for some rebates. So, we're going to bring that inhouse, which means there's going to be an extra operational process that comes into the business department, but that that prevents us from having to make a loss of any

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programs to our students. The other thing I want to make clear here is that there is no change to our employee benefits. Um, that is because we are contractually negotiated with our labor unions on the insurance. So, you know,

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there's no provider change. The only thing that will uh be sent to our employees is a new insurance card with a new group number, which I will be communicating out to staff to let them be aware that it is going to be coming in the mail. But again, there's no

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change to the provider or any kind of benefits that our employees are feeling at this point in time. So given these constraints that I mentioned uh this budget as I said we worked closely with the finance decision the team in house and the

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principles and and and the admins everybody who who played a role in this. We made very deliberate decisions and because of that all of our core instructional programs were maintained. Clubs activities and athletics were preserved without any increase in

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athletic or activity fees. instructional support for intervention and enrichment were protected. Those are the supports for our students who are struggling and we were also able to continue on the existing student pathways and and the engagement work we're going to be doing

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to help our students feel a sense of belonging. Additionally, we were able to advance the district goals um target improvements. There was in the buildings and grounds meeting we we know there are a lot of things to kind of address facilities wise here. So there's a large

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investment in addressing specifically HVAC units and we also know that at our elementary and some classes we have what what are higher class sizes. So we were able to really look at staffing the staffing model at the middle school and

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then the course selections at the secondary level and we were able to free up about five staff members to go down to the elementarymentaries to help with the class size reduction there. At a previous meeting somebody asked me about space. Do we have the space for them? The principles have worked

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collaboratively to identify space for these new classrooms to go, but ultimately we don't have an abundance of space. Uh we just heard about the Littleton expansion. So we were able to put in what we could right now. We believe that would be a significant help and improvement over to what we have

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now. I shared this slide last time because it provided a little bit of context uh with regard to where parcipony lands with per pupil spending in K to2 districts. We fall at the fourth lowest in per pupil

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spending and this really illustrates that the district is operating efficiently while also delivering a full range of programs to our students in prek through age 21. Remember, we also have a transition program for special needs students at who are with us for a

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little bit longer. Now, this slide reflects the impact on the community. Uh the average assessed value of a home at about $315,000 uh equates to $38 a month to help fund

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this budget. Um and again, it it this budget really works to maintain our programs and then advance some of our goals. Uh, but I do recognize that there is a a tax impact here. But I also want to paint the other side of the picture

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here, which if we weren't moving to self-funding, we weren't taking the health insurance adjustment, and we weren't really as efficient as we were, we'd be looking at a much different picture. And here's what future reductions would mean for students. Uh it's important to note that

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we uh like many school districts would be faced with reducing activities, clubs, and extracurricular activities, cuts to visual performing arts, fewer course offerings, uh probably increased class sizes, and reduced student support

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and intervention services. So all of those things up there on that slide impact students. And in this budget for the 26 27 year, we were able to avoid them. So just in in summary here, uh not only does this budget

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balance and shrink a gap with what we had with health insurance, it it does it it creates a budget where we can protect our programs, which PCIP is known for. We have a lot of choice and a lot of avails available for our students on a continuum of learning. Um

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and it also is putting us on solid footing for moving forward. And with regard to that, I mean there's also an investment in reducing our reliance on fund balance. So in addition to getting through this year, we steered the ship more strategically so that we can

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navigate what were turbulent times. Hopefully something will change. We know the school funding formula has been a topic of conversation, but for right now we have a a solid budget going forward and I just wanted to thank everybody for their help, especially the finance

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committee. Mor. Okay, I have two questions. >> Sure. >> Could you I'm sure most of you know what self-funded health benefits mean. Can you give me like you said it comes to the district. I get that part. And my

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second part question is do we have enough staff to manage because that's going to be a big burden to manage all that. >> Um so basically what it means right now is we pay money to and and Dr. Dr. Mu, you could jump in too if you have any

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specifics to add here. Health insurance, it's it's remember education is my my area. So, we're learning about self-unding. Many school districts are doing this right now. So, I've been in contact with >> uh some other districts in Mars County talking about what that would look like and one very large district in particular in Somerset County that I've

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been collaborating with. Um, basically what it means is instead of paying the premium to Horizon, for example, and having them handle all of the billing and the payment, we manage the money. We keep the money in house and we are responsible for paying the costs that we

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get build on a monthly basis and we have to while we're doing this keep a reserve of money so that when the bills come in, we have we are able to fund that. Um, there's a term for it, IRB, the insurance brokers use that term. If you want more information about it, we can

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definitely bring the brokers to explain it at a future time. Um, but it doesn't mean that we see anybody's claims. It doesn't mean that we're seeing any doctor bills. We're just getting a bill from Horizon per se and we're issuing the payment that we're holding on in house. Did I catch anything to add, Dr.

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McHugh? >> Yes. So, we we do use a broker and the broker will be taking care of a lot of the activity. So we would receive billing and if we go to say I I like to call as an escro account like the escro account for your house. There's a certain amount of funds there that they're constantly billing. Our our role

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becomes much more reconciling making sure that the the bills are coming in are properly being paid and there's something called the stop gap. If you get above a $250,000 claim, we have insurance like an umbrella policy. Us seeking the reimbursement for that. So although there's more work, we're not

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running an insurance company. We're, you know, basically doing an accounts receivable, accounts payable process, which we do now. We're just scaling it for for healthcare. We do this very same thing with our healthcare reimbursement. So, somebody has the healthcare reimbursement, you deduct some money from your account, you pay a bill, it's

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the same thing, but on steroids because it's much bigger. >> So, in terms of being able to absorb the increased workload, we're going to be processing this out. We believe we can absorb it. We believe it's worth it to take it in house because we save our programs. uh it is something we're going to monitor very closely and like I said

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I other school districts are moving towards this some have already done this um and so we'll look at their models to make sure that we're able to systematize it >> okay thank you >> probably to add to that >> probably to add to that is um we do

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start funding a month ahead of time so we have enough balance uh they said it so you know it's lower risks and uh the second thing is our doctors are happier get paid instantly than anything else. So there two benefits as well from as

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well >> Abraham. Thank you. Um thank you so much for this presentation. I just have a question. >> Is that better? >> Thank you. Um would you just be able to

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um explain what does it mean when you say stop loss? >> Dr. Mchugh, do you want to put some language around that? >> Sure. So stop loss like is a a maximum amount per event that the district is

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responsible for and the amount is $250,000. So, God forbid I have insurance to Parcany and I have a major event that is $500,000. The district pays $500,000, but then

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they go to their insurance company, the stop-loss insurance company, to be reimbursed and they whole back down to 250. So, it's protection for these rare but extraordinary circumstances when people need life saving medicine. So, it's it's it's the upper upper side

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protection. >> Thank you. Can I just there's there's an individual stop loss and there's an aggregate stop loss. So even if everybody only went up to 249,000 if enough people went up to that there is still another reimbursement individual

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>> in aggregate >> aggreate. Thank you. >> It's protection and it's >> Thank you. Um on the per pup people spending slide um I know that we as big as our district is um we always tend to

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compare ourselves to them. So I was just wondering if there was any numbers that show um what their number would be for for people just out of curiosity because of the significant size and similar size. >> I'm I'm sorry I didn't hear the

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question. Oh, I was asking since we're cut um compared to Lane school districtwise. So, I was wondering what their per pupil spending would be and if that number is available. If it's not, that's okay. But I was just curious. >> It's available because this actually came from the New Jersey Department of

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Education taxpayer guide to education spending. So, that's a resource there. You could look at every school district. So, we could pull up Wayne. >> Okay. Thank you. And if you don't mind, just one last question on the estimated tax impact. The assessed valuation is 215,00. I was curious um exactly where

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does that number come from in terms of the house >> that was provided to us from the township the tax assessor as far as how they arrive at that I'm I'm not sure >> questions on the budget >> want to thank the administration and the

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business office is a huge undertaking and I I also want to recognize that we started so many months ago um and especially involving the community and trying to make sure that you know we understood

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what the important aspects of this budget were and I just wanted to recognize that the administration really took that to heart and thank you so much and I'm sure I don't speak just for myself but the tax increase is not

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something that anybody is gladly, you know, pro promoting, but it is, you know, necessary to keep these funds. So, thank you very much. >> You're welcome. Actually, Miss Kogan, since you mentioned it, uh, we've been putting a lot of this information on the

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budget website. Tomorrow, a communication will be sent from me to the community with information about this budget and also directing uh, anybody who's interested back to the website. So, where there's a lot of outreach done to make sure that information is clear and understandable.

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So, thank you. Thank you to the finance committee for your full support. All right. At this time, we're going to have a hearing of the public for the budget only. If there's anyone who would like to address the board regarding the budget, please come up, sign your name

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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 to please come up and sign in. You're ready when the first speaker is finished.

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This is not ready here. Excellent presentation car. I have one question like a dollar35 that you added there as a tax that goes to a property tax or how it will be how the

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how the district supports that so-called uh you know the cap the what way it will be supported I didn't get that last part of it the last slide you're talking about there is a dollar 35

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>> 38 right what is the 38 like where it come from. >> Oh, okay. So, that those figures came from the township from the tax assessor that they are saying for every property in Paripany that is valued at $315,000, the taxpayer will have to spend about

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$38 extra a month on their tax bill. >> And yes, that is property taxes. So, the township administers the property taxes. So once our budget is approved by the county and by everybody, then the county pretty much tells the tax

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the township how much of the property taxes are allocated, you know, to the schools. >> I see. >> So yes, that $38 a month will come through your property tax bill, however you pay it now, starting July 1st. Does

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this go in effect July 1st? Well, our budget goes into effect July 1st. They work off of a calendar year, so it doesn't change until the calendar year. >> Yes. Right. Second question, suggestion. A suggestion, right? Pi is known for a

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lot of companies around here this place. Right. And we enjoying a lot of lower taxes compared to paying and all. Why can't we go and get from the companies ask companies to sponsor some uh some funds to school district like we say

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school programs etc. Is there like proactively we can we can >> is this your last question because we usually take all questions before we answer. Is that your last question? >> Yes. >> Okay. Um Miss Gil Fillland can you

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explain what we are allowed to how we are allowed to collect revenue? So the school district is only allowed to collect revenue through the taxing authorities. They can certainly um uh

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solicit grants and that type of um uh support from the community members. However, and I certainly Dr. Mchugh and and Dr. Chase can speak to this. That is not a recurring income stream that the board would be able to rely upon in

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terms of building a budget. So, while it would potentially be a um stop gap, you wouldn't be able to kind of continue it. Additionally, there's some limitations that the board would have in terms of what it would um be

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able to accept and where that those monies to myself uh uh where what monies it could could accept and where that money would be spent. >> Yeah. So, because I'm telling I come from a school uh NJ so there is some

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source that people come and give some chicks uh to improve the schooling and etc the budget etc. So I'm saying the similar philosophy can be used here to to be aligned to some groups and companies where uh some people are ready to give some money to the schools

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because school is the investment that we need to put for the kids right so so uh you can you can take from those people there thank you anybody Hi, I'm Darlene Taylor. I live in Lake Hayawa. I have two children at a San

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Rockway Meadow Elementary. And I'm sorry I did come in a little bit of late, so I might have missed um what my question is regarding. I've been listening to the um video on the go recordings of the meeting since I haven't been able to go. So, thank you for providing those. Um my

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question is um on uh one of those meetings and I'm not sure I think it was one of the ones in March. I heard um some information about having to replace all the driver's license readers on the buildings. I thought I heard about that and I was wondering what that cost equates to and

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if it's factored into the budget or if it's something that's just being discussed. >> I I don't recall any conversation. Um but thank you Darlene for coming. Uh that's actually not something put into this budget. I know that years ago the school district had it and there were some challenges with the operating of

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it. So that they were made to take them out. Um so no that's not in this budget right now. But that we are definitely looking at all safety and security as a whole and that being possibly one thing to reinstate if it makes sense for the district. >> Okay. Thank you very much.

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>> Is there anybody else would like to ask questions on the budget? There will be another open um public session later in the meeting. Okay. So I will close the public hearing for the budget and then we are up to correspondence for

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is there any correspondence to come before the board? >> No correspondence. >> Okay. Is then unfinished business. Is there any any unfinished business to come before the board? All right. We're moving right along. Now we are at committee reports. So, I think

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we'll probably start. Mr. Shaw, you're into the table. Do you have sports report for us? >> Yes. Thank you. Uh, we received the update from our AT athletic directors, Mike and Jim. Uh, thank you. Um, our

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teams are doing really well. Uh, especially the wrestling and swimming teams. They're winning left and right medals. So, keep it up. Um, also received updates from our booster presidents. I would want to really really thank them uh for all the support

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that they do and donations that they collect for the kids. It's amazing work. They're stressed, but they're helpful. They're committed to our kids in improving equipments and uh funds for traveling and um such.

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It just helps our kids grow better. Um there were two outputs I think that the directors will take uh or one output uh that the directors will take back is there was an overlap of drama club activities and the um training the six

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week training required um and practice is required six weeks of practice is required um in order to play a game. So they'll take it back and see how to better schedule for next year uh so that the kids can play uh focus.

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Apart from that should I give the ad hoc um or the planning committee? Okay. For the planning uh the toll brothers was approved um which is 178 townhouse um um houses approved uh right by gateway uh

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hall. um more than likely we'll get the first set of students uh on September of 2028. Still two years down the road, but um likely they'll come in first of 2028. Um after that um I also attended

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uh the as a parent and my daughters the wonderful ICC the Indian cultural uh show in Pari house. Enjoyed it. the advisors, the two adviserss there did such a fabulous job uh as well as the kids with the drama and the dance show.

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So I would like to thank the adviserss as well as the kids for doing a wonderful job. Thank you. >> Do we have any questions on the sports report? >> Um Mrs. Abraham and um also

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uh but I did want to take a moment to just say that um we my family and I attended the chef Jun play last week and it was just fantastic and I just wanted to say that I hope everybody had a chance to catch that very emotional it

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was funny it was just spectacular everyone to take advantage of those plays are just and Um, we also attended the PTA president's meeting two weeks ago. So, Mr.

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Thank you very much for including us and we really enjoyed listening and talking with all the presidents. I just wanted to thank you for allowing us to participate in that and we're a little late to the transportation meeting but it was worth it.

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So, I will have transportation Mr. Mayor, >> human resources met on April 23rd. Present were myself, Mr. Dito, Mr. Chappelle, Mrs. Kogan, Mr. Ricker, Dr. Chase, and Mrs. Benos. The committee

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reviewed and discussed the following confidential personnel items. 2026 to 2027 rehires were presented for board approval in the April 28th bulletin. That's my report.

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>> Any questions? >> Mr. Chappelle, do you have a report as well? >> I do. Um, so on April 23rd, the ad hoc committee met with myself, Mr. Shaw, Dr. Wright, President Kogan, Dr. Chase, OS.

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Uh there were three core topics that we discussed. First being uh Dr. Chase updated us on the shared services discussions that have kicked off with the mayor on a recurring basis. Uh making sure that we seize every opportunity that we can. So there's more discussions to be had, but a very good

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foundation has been set. Uh Mr. Shaw provided the same update he just mentioned regarding the planning board committee and the town houses that have been approved in gate hall. Uh and then we Last topic was around making sure that we have um a collective view of all

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of the developments that are happening. So, uh what has been created uh and maintained by Miss Bayos will be updated and circulated to the board going forward uh and added to as these things are created. So, um that's it for the ad

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hoc. Any questions? Okay. Um on April 8th I attended the educational services commission of Mars County um where we covered um all the renewed transportation contracts. It was great to see them be still so supportive of the needs of the district and the

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surrounding area. Uh and it was also really good to hear. You might remember that they are in the process of winding down their actual education programs. Um and they have a whole building that was available to be used by someone and they have uh they have found somebody and they're on the verge of actually signing

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the contracts and it is um perfect because the group who needs it uh needs all the accommodations that the building actually already has. So there's little adjustments to be made so it works out really really well. >> Are you selling it or leasing? >> Leasing it. Yeah.

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Any questions about that? And I have one more. Uh in the spirit of Mrs. uh Mrs. Abraham mentioned um last week I attended the boys lacrosse game over at PHS uh and uh just like all of the pro all of the programs that we have with our students. It's always amazing

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to go and see them. They work so hard at all of these things. Um and there's calendars full of opportunities for us to go. So it was really nice to be able to go. It was a nice night, too. um they didn't win, but um it was still great to see them out there working really hard

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um and giving giving it their all. So um definitely encourage everybody to take any events that we can go to. >> This is do you have a committee report? >> Yes. So on April 27th, the communications committee met in attendance were myself, Mr. Shaw, Dr.

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Wright, Miss Kogan, Dr. Chase, and Miss Benos. Uh we just reviewed um the second board bite that will be going out hopefully tomorrow. Um we thought it would be great to highlight Littleton phase 2 project. So um you'll receive

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something along those lines when we decide the best way to be shared. And I believe we're also going to link something for Dr. Chase too about the superintendent's um presentation of the budget. Um we want to keep board by simple but we felt

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because of the timing of this one that we should include something um as well budget wise. Um and we also discussed you know future board bites and kind of where we want to go and I'll be reaching out to committees or if any any committee has something that they feel

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um is really important to share out please you forward along to the communications committee and we can we can discuss going forward. Um, I attended the PTA council. Well, not with all the PTA council anymore, but the meeting with um, Miss Abraham, and it was nice to see all the precipany alum

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who were currently involved in all the PTAs around. A lot of us u have roots here, so that was nice. Um, and speaking of sports, the mayor's cup was played this week with softball. So, PH PHS and PHS met at Smithfield. Um, the high one

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this time, so my daughter who attended was very happy to see that. But um that was also a fun thing for the kids to be able to go to go and do and see. Um and I think we had oh the CPAC meeting, right? I'll let Dr. Wright talk about

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that, but um that's it. Any questions finance? >> Yeah. So heads up, I have two finance reports on this one. Um so finance met on April 13th intense answer from myself, Misselle, Mr. Sha, Miss Kogan,

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Dr. Mu, Dr. Chase, Miss Benos, and Miss Briggs. Um we went over the um key points. We're talking about the discussing a little bit of the township budget and how that how that applies to us. Not very much, but just have an understanding of what they're going through. Um we went through the final

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review of the budget process, which which Dr. Chase presented tonight. Um, we talked about the Littleton phase 2 uh, transfer update that was approved. Uh, we were waiting, but we got that approved now um, since April 13th, but yeah, the county approved that. Um, we

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discussed about me and it's custodial and bus driver overtime. Um, a new statute uh, NJS3041 for public works and contracts which is in regard to co-ops. Um, we're going to be reaching out to you if you're feeling about more direction on that. Um and we

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also discussed about HVAC incentives um as well. And then before the f the the next finance meeting, we also Dr. Chase hosted on April 16th a uh a public public meeting of the public with uh uh

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Miss Scogan and myself. Uh we we had about a dozen or so um members of the public and a lot of them had good good questions about the budget and understanding of what what the uh trials and tribulations have been for it. um finance again again then met on April

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21st and tenants were myself Mr. Chappelle Mr. Shaw Miss Goan Dr. Q Dr. Chase Miss Benos and the um representatives from the Doyle Alliance there are insurance brokers um they explained the the um the uh the the idea

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of what we had what we had to go through with that um then Dr. Chase then spoke about in meeting meeting with them and the township to further explore further shared services um ideas and then we also had the county budget that got the appro Dr. Mu wrote that up that the

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county budget got that uh approved for us and on the agenda today I think it's item 91. Um one last thing outside of all that was uh he was able to attend last Thursday the Arbor Day celebration.

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Mogan was there. Um, we had three of our great elementary schools, I believe second graders come to each do a presentation. Uh, my kids did it from Interval. And was back there again, which is great. And, uh, it was a nice nice presentation by the, uh, by the township about that. That's all I have

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to report. Thank you. Any questions? >> Dr. Right. >> Thank you. Uh, the teaching and learning committee met on April 13th. Um, present were myself, uh, Mrs. Stelipe, Mrs. Abraham, Mrs. Kogan, Dr. Maloney, and Dr. Chase. Uh, we had three agenda

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items. Um, first was, uh, we reviewed the federal grants um that the district regularly uses and what we're using them for, including CIS, Title 1, Title 2, Title 3, Title 4, and IDA, ID. Yeah. EA.

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Um and uh in addition to taking us like through the types of funding and u what programs and initiative supplies, we also talked about how some of these have been assessed over the years. Um and of particular note um was the ongoing um what I think is a really great program,

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the implementation of the win, the what I need period and we're at this point um a few year two years in um and so uh it's kind of settling in. we're getting to a different stage of assessment and I think that shows a real um positive use

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of those funds to ensure that our students are individual needs are being met at various points in the classroom. Uh we also discussed the shift to the phone free school uh process. Um in upcoming in May there will be parent

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nights held at each secondary school. Uh and currently the um there's currently Wednesdays are phone free and the schools are going to be piloting uh more days of the week to be phone free to kind of make sure that all students are familiarized with the procedures and

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process uh and that we can move to a phone free school year next year. And then last we also discussed the uh middle school transition. Um this has been discussed as part of the budgeting process. Um uh where the teaming structure which has been in place for a

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very long time. We're moving away from that. Uh and in order to make sure that uh that process is smooth for both staff and students that that piloting what that's going to look like is um uh in undergoing. Uh any questions on teaching and

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learning? Is there any feedback from the students on the phone free pilot? >> Uh I can defer to Dr. Marie. >> Initially the schools um did a good job of selling it is a big deal to do it. So I say the beginning was great. I think

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as years I think true colors are like their phones right novel anymore. So, um, it's it's getting a little, for lack of a better term, crusty, you know, you know what I mean?

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So, um, but this is this is what we what was coming districts that we spoke to and we anticipated that we're going to expand the pilot. We don't uh anticipate all this being pleasant, but we do anticipate being worthwhile and good for kids and that's

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what's more important. >> Absolutely. Thank you. Any other questions for TLC? Mr. Jito. >> Yeah. So, back to the phone phone free days. Um, I kind of remember. So, we have a new statute for cell phone banned

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schools. I think policies going to have policies going have to address it at some point later on um or soon rather. And so if we're going to do these meeting with parent nights now to help them understand what we're going to do when we don't have a policy yet in place

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to do it. Uh I I know we already kind of already did our own cell phone policy prior to prior to all this. So I want to make sure we're on the right track. That's all. I just want to make sure we you know that's the right direction. and and that is one of the concerns we are

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there's some conversation um in the state about whether or not what this is actually going to look like. So timing is everything, right? Uh Melan, do you want to elaborate on that? Is that your wheelhouse? >> So um when the state passed the the

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legislation, um the term really build the bell was not clearly defined. um and the department of ed had in its guidance came out and said it's going to be bell to bell. So meaning that the kids were not getting it um during their lunch

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hours during their you know um anytime that they had a study hall or something along that the line that line um there's been some discussion about whether or not that was the true intent and whether or not they were supposed to just not have it during instructional time. I

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anticipate um that we will uh continue to hear a bell-to- bell um because the concerns really were not just instructional, they were social and emotional and making sure that students were able to um uh develop uh

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interpersonal skills. Um so I anticipate the DOE will be coming out with something shortly. Um but that does not mean that the board can't act or or imp implement its policy. Um even if it's you know more severe. Um quite frankly,

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I think the state sometimes steps in when school districts um know that there is an unpopular policy um or an unpopular initiative that uh that boards want to take or

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school districts want to take for the good of students and they need some some cover for one of a better word. So I anticipate that that should be coming out probably in the next two to three months >> and anything that we're doing is within

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the flexibility of the legislation. So decisions we're making as a result of this pilot are all within the levy that we're allowed as a district. >> And to that point we had technically a deadline we needed to enable it for September, right?

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Is that accurate? the the legislation's in effect for the 26th 27th school year, >> right? So, if the DOE is going to wait two to three months, >> it's a rhetorical question. Sorry.

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>> Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Dito. Any other questions? >> Um, I'm curing the policy right now. Um, >> it's a staged response, but Dr. where we can give specifics. Perhaps it's

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different at the middle school and high school, right? >> Sure. I mean, as far as um well, cell phones are we're doing a teach approach uh where students don't have cards in their lockers all day. They on their

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purse in their backpack, but they all teachers have already systems systems in place where they're coming in sleeves or boxes. So, in that case, it's not new news. The biggest fantastic time in lunch and study home things like that.

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So, um talking to multiple districts we like most is this one where kids learn the responsibility of having it but not using it. You know what I mean? Um just taking it away um is less instructive and more restrictive. So we're that way. There

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are different uh protocols in place for students who violate that from a from a progressive attention to a Saturday to the suspension which is very traditional what we do there are instances where parents

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aren't getting a message so it's will all be outlined to students >> for the pilot program have you enforced any of that or right now it's just getting the students >> it's a spoken to that I think with this

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pilot program this year particularly in passing time in been more rewarding approach. This is I mean a documented addiction for teenagers, adults alike in class. However, though that's been

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a guideline for a long time and there's other more but they're going to know very very clearly what the expectations are for September. >> I just speak as a high school parent that I know my kids hopefully they don't

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see the video. That's >> well just piggybacking on what Dr. Rudy said, this is also a two-pronged approach. Not only do we have to put the policy in effect and hold students accountable for that, but we also have to do education for our students to help

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them understand that these social media apps are designed to grab their attention to push information to them that has significant effects on their mental health. And so I spoke to Dr. Mooney about this the other day. We have lessons in our health and PE curriculum.

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We have a middle school course where we're going to be explaining this to students and hopefully our teachers can um help reinforce this too because there's plenty of things that we take away from students, but we want them to understand that we are doing this because we care about their mental

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health. We care about their ability to focus and also we want to make sure that they're ready to learn and they can't be if they're distracted. And that's really what the message and I think the whole legislation is coming from. Great. Thank you. Anything else for TLC?

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>> Yep. And I also have a uh CPAC leazison report. The CPAC, which is the special education parents advisory committee uh met on Wednesday, April 1st in a virtual meeting in the evening on the topic of transitioning out of high school. Um and

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the um uh special education uh team gave a uh really informative presentation on the process of transitioning out um for uh particularly for those special education students who um are eligible to stay in the district beyond their

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18th birthday. Um uh and this is something that's determined through an IEP, but um some special education students have the right to be educated in the district until the age of 21. Um and uh that shift um whether it's happening at 21, whether it's happening

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at 18, um can be a very very it's always a big deal, but it can even be a very scary time for families as uh the institutions that have been supporting disabled students um further, you know, from since they were three years old are now moving into an entire

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new new system. And so the um this presentation focused on what does that look like? what are some of the adult organizations that provide support through that transition? What are some of the outcomes that our students are seeing later on? Um, and also talked about the timeline. And that was what I

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was most um kind of impressed by and um appreciated hearing is that these uh transitioning program even though you know it's we're talking about 18th birthday um is really happening in freshman and sophomore years in high school uh when students are you know 14,

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15, 16. So the families are able to make their plans have support in them um and you know help students to build healthy and fulfilling lives and that's my seat for any questions for >> um I was just curious if there was a

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discussion about having like it used to be I know last year when I was there was a number of meetings that were able to be in person and I was just wondering if the hybrid situation might be for those that can't

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make it to the building but also that um that camaraderie and the connection that we get in person can be unfortunately replicated as well online. Um and we're lucky to have both those options but I

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just wanted to know if in the future maybe a hybrid option like we do our um our monthly uh NGSA county meetings. Uh they're usually hybrid and it's really helpful for those who can't make it uh in person

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and um having a tendency to kind of know the value of it and um I just really appreciate being there and there's just some connections that you know just really benefit from being there versus really wonderful people that you meet in

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that regard. So just curious >> um Mrs. Z and I entirely agree. Um, Mrs. Delof and I had talked about that as possibly something and um, Mrs. Defe I believe contacted in contact with Dr. Chase kind of thinking about how the

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CPAC can best serve parents. I 100% agree having attended them and you know the opportunity to speak with other parents who are not uh who are simil similarly situated to you and were not situated with the minority can I mean with the majority of other parents is I

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I think the value of that cannot be overstated Mr. Mario. >> Thank you, Madam President. Uh, policy met on April 21st in attendance were myself, Miss Delave, Mr. Devito,

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President Kogan, Dr. Chase, Miss Benos. Uh so we did a comprehensive review on board members questions regarding policies uh policies and regulations 2530 2535

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9130. Um thank you to everyone who was able to provide qu some really good questions. Thank you to the administration and to madam attorney for running around and getting answers. Um and so we hopefully were able to get

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back to everybody with their answers. We went through that pol these policies. Um I would say in a real detailed uh thoughtful manner. Um so anyways uh we are putting them up first read.

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Um and also we are putting up uh 0166 and executive session policy 6220 petty cashache um is on for second read any questions thank you Mr. areas. Um, so as a as a

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nonp policy, we reviewed this at at length. You were correct. Um, for a question for for rest of the board. Um, we've received a number of questions from a number of board members, but I'm curious if there's any further questions by those that did submit uh questions up

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until this point if they had any questions about regarding the regarding it at all. Okay. Thank you. Um just this uh one of a fellow um those questions were were just you know submitted to the committee. I was wonder

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curious if they were ever going to get submitted to the full board. So we have a number of on our in our board packet a number of questions for other topics relating to the budget actually somewhere for CPAC that were presented to the board in the board in our board packet but I was curious if those other questions could have been submitted to

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the full board in their packets as well. Is is that is that acceptable? >> I mean, unless the administration has a objection, I don't see why not. >> Okay. >> Yeah, that's fine. >> Okay. Thank you. So, I guess if there

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was any further deliberation if we go to complete this first read, you know, from seeing that those those questions and answers, you know, it be good to have it at that time, right? And then second read for this would be on May 7th if we if we approve first read tonight.

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Correct. >> Yes. So tonight's the first read. So that's a good point. So as these policies are up for first read. Um you know assuming there's no changes they'll our next meeting will go for a second read. Um, and you know, if

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someone has a reasonable objection, then you know, we can always work on either pulling it back or you know, right now the amount of questions that we did receive and I'll make sure that gets out. Um, you know, it looks I I would

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believe that we've covered the vast majority of all the topics. I mean, some of them were repetitive, not in a mean way, just just I think people were all in the same way like on some of these questions. So, >> um, thank you to the policy for all the

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hard work that they've, um, committed to these policies. Um, I also want to thank M, attorney for I know I gave her quite a lot of questions. Um, and I'm sure that wasn't, so I really appreciate the

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time effort that it took to get back to me. Um, With that said, I wanted to make a motion actually tonight because I really felt that the first read um of the policies regulations 2530, 2535 and

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9130 um should have been tabled and moved to a future meeting and I will if you were indulging it to take a few minutes to explain my reasoning for that. Um but just to be clear up front, this is not about opposing the work that has been

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done. I actually want to acknowledge the amount of work that has gone into this. I appreciate it. Um my concern is more whether we as a whole board are truly in a position tonight to vote on it. Um something which I consider to be complex with full context and shared understanding kind of goes back to what

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um Mr. was saying about the questions being distributed. Um some of the reasons that I wanted to make that motion was because uh the timing uh we were in the middle of the budget season which is the most demanding periods of the year. And these policies were not

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small updates. They were heavy lifts. They were a full framework that touches instructional materials, library materials, complaint procedures. And um I have also included another resolution for visitor access. Um as there is no statuto deadline that requires them to

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move forward tonight or in this cycle. So the question for me whether we're moving at a pace that allows us to fully understand how all of it works together in practice. And one of the things that stood out to me was that these are not actually separate policies and regulations. They work together as one

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system on how materials enter the district, how they're reviewed and selected, how the students access them, how parents concerns um are raised and how they're handled. So if one policy or regulation gets changed, it automatically impacts others. And that

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was one of the other reasons that I felt we need to be reviewed and understood as one connected system, not just individually. Um the other thing I wanted to mention was that like I said earlier, I did submit a rather um robust set of questions asking for

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clarification of the policies and how they function in practice. And while I'm very grateful that those questions were answered through committees and from our council, um I was concerned that those questions and responses were not shared with the full board. So tonight, I

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wanted to make sure that when we're being asked to vote on these policies, we got access to that same context that came out of that review process. Um, and this is not about agreeing at all. It's just about transparency and making sure that we're all on the same page. Um, the

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other thing I wanted to note was that the level and depth of questions that were submitted, um, even though I'm not in policy and I'm not sure who who else was there, but the assumption was that um attorney is not present in those meetings when a number of these issues are being worked through and I do think

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that matters because when we have points that are being discussed occasionally when we have our council meeting um I think that that might allow for clarification in real time rather than after the fact and I'm not saying that as a criticism of anyone's work

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it's just a process concern about whether the full discussion could have been had um with the council as well uh before we reached the first street Um, and I did want to thank my own attorney again for the clarifications and the uh feedback that I did receive and I wanted

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to make sure um that that was distributed to uh the rest of the board. I I don't believe that those details are vital. Um they do directly affect how our policies operate from day to day, not just how they read on paper. Um and I think it's important that the court

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has the opportunity to review that. I also wanted to briefly acknowledge the broader legal context. The Supreme Court has consistently affirmed that parents have fundamental constitutional right under the 14th amendment to direct the upbringing and education of their children. And there are cases such as

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Meer Pier Centro to make that clear. And there's also ongoing legal emphasis around transparency and access to information in schools particularly when policies impact how families are able to engage with what their children are exposed to. I'm not raising that as something for debate tonight. I'm just

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saying that as part of the broader broader framework we're operating within when we adopt policies like these. Um in regards to policy 9130 that partic that one in particular raises some structural questions about how complaints are handled and how oversight is maintained

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and how much of the process is administrated before it reaches the board. And like I said these may be all appropriate changes but I just think that a full understanding of how the system works in practice before we move forward would been beneficial. Um and I just wanted to come back to just about

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pacing and priority. Uh there's significant changes across multiple policies that are deeply interpreted and at the same time we're in the middle of budget season where our board focus is already divided across major financial decisions. And I do think it's fair to ask whether moving it forward at this

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speed allows us to fully absorb how everything fits together operationally. And I also wanted to say this um as respectfully as possible. Carney is the largest district in Morris County. other districts do look at us to see how we handle a variety of things including

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policy as a reference point. Um so for me this is not about making this it's also about making sure that we're modeling strong boardsmanship as well not just moving it forward but taking the time to get it right. And I'll be honest I'm just despite the very very

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hard work of the committee I was just a little disappointed because um it just feels like and it's just my opinion that I felt like the priority was speed over ensuring that the full board and the public had an opportunity to fully full fully understand how the policies will actually function when it's applied to

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the students and their families. So on top of the motion that I was planning to um mention, I also had a resolution that I wanted to include for future consideration and it the intent of that is not to extend bureaucracy but just to

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bring consistent consistency to it. Um, and I just wanted to make sure that we are focusing on not just being um, you know, compliant with the law, but also that we are focusing on transparency, the clarity of the process, age appropriate standards, and making sure

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that families have clear visibility into how materials and procedures work. So, all in all, I just wanted to make a motion based on the timing within the budget season and overall complexity of the policy package, the fact that the full board did not have access to

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committee level questions, responses and and the legal context and the need to ensure we fully understand how these policies operate before we take action. And so that was the reason that I wanted to make a motion to take the first meeting and for the policies and regulations to review. Thank you.

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>> What is your official motion? >> Hold on. Can I ask >> I believe >> no I believe her motion was to table 2530 2535 and 9130 for first read and it wouldn't wouldn't be indefinitely

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I assume this would be for next next meeting May 7th >> not indefinite >> okay so could we say can we say May 7th that I agree okay I will second her motion >> 25 as well

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>> all three yes Okay. I need I didn't know. Was that the motion made? >> That was my statement asking why I was making the motion. >> Okay. So, you haven't made the motion yet. >> I do I need to

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>> Well, yeah. For the record, you got >> For the record, you should make the motion. >> So, Mrs. Mrs. Abraham has made a motion to table policies the first read of policies 2530 2535 and 9130

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until May the May 7th 2026 meeting Mr. Dvito may >> second. >> So now you may discuss Mrs. Abraham's motion. >> So, >> I have ladies.

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>> Um, >> so there was a lot there, so I'm going to try to ask my questions logically. Um, what information will you or do you

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feel the board will gain by extending this out to May 7th? I sent two sets of questions um, which I really appreciate the policy committee and our um, madam attorney looking into.

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Um, I know that that took a considerable amount of time. I sent the first set of questions prior to the March 30th meeting. Uh that was longer. The second set of questions was based on the revisions that were

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supplied to us on April 2nd. So that was given just a little bit over the deadline of April 15th. It was submitted the very next day. Um and those questions and the responses that we were

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able to get back, I felt that that shared with the full board for full transparency. I I wasn't talking about agreement. I was talking about transparency, making sure that um the questions that especially since they were, you know, rather significant

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amount. I just felt that it wouldn't hurt to have them when we were coming to the April meeting. >> Okay. Second question is

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on 9130. What is your general concerns about 9130 and the revisions? >> D some of the questions that I'm trying to remember all the answers that Mr. gave us but uh some of the concerns in there were about how much the process is

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changing compared to the previous process of public complaints. Um how if a book or anything in question is needing to be discussed from a parent level? What is the new process? Are

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there any hindrances that would delay the process? And then on top of that um concerned that if a um a decision or an opinion is given before it reaches the superintendent's office, would that be

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considered to be a bias or would it be considered to be a uh opinion that would potentially cause bias? I wanted to make sure that objectivity was um involved in that explaining it to the best of my ability, but

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>> so I believe And please members of the committee, correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe in 9130 that what you are doing is you're basically formal formalizing, if nothing else, we're probably even formalizing it to the good of a process

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that currently exists. So now the other question would be is a parent concern you need to define that because this really addresses one specific concern. So it's not all concerns. So if we're talking about reading material

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>> as opposed to something else, >> I would say it's only in the context of these policies and regulations. And uh the other thing I wanted to ask also was if 9130 is working as it should right now, was

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there a significant need for it to be revised as much as it was? >> So I can shed some light on that. 9130 has existed for a very long time. Um there are provisions and when the freedom to read act policy came out

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there's a big there's a section in 9130 that was cover that covered exactly what the freedom to read policy was. So you actually are still protected meaning there's still a process currently in place even though you haven't passed the

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policy um to to challenge a book. you members of the public, this board, staff members, everyone is still constrained by the Supreme Court's discussion about the fact that you cannot remove books simply because of

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their content, their authorship, all of that. There were other parts of 9130 that significantly impeded upon the administration's area of expertise and really gave the

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board a role that it does not have under the the school ethics act. So that when when it the decision was made to adopt the separate standalone policy for the challenges to library books and that

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policy was going to change the remainder of that policy the the provisions that impede upon the administration's area were removed on on re on my recommendation. Okay. Sorry,

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I'm apologize for not asking this ahead of the meeting. Um, but in so like review during this meeting, I quote, I'd like to put regulation 9130 page 707. Um, we end on a comma.

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>> Oh, the type of is it should it be? But I think there's a clause missing subsequent to the comm. >> Yeah. So >> there should be a >> an eight of eight. >> There should be probably an eight of eight.

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>> Is this the right >> connection? No. >> Okay. >> The one that's in the bulletin is not >> Yeah, the one that's in the bulletin, which is what we're voting on, right? In the bulletin, not the thing.

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So, it exists, but it's not in this. Um, it's not related to I when this motion has been voted on, can I make a motion to add that language to 9130? >> So, we would first vote. Are you asking

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me to amend? >> She wants to make sure the the last page is included in >> Yeah, but I recognize that this is not time for that. >> Correct. We would you would need to vote I I would recommend that you vote the motion to table prior to making any

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other motion to amend that that policy, but that certainly seems to be incomplete at this point. I think what she's trying to say is that you have to have an action on the motion that's current before you can make any

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future motions about the content of the policies. >> This one has to go first, right? This is the first. >> Okay. Yeah. I'll wait for my turn. Yes. Just to kind of piggy back on that, I

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think what's occurred is that we had a clean copy of all of these items, but when it got into the billet, it was the cross out. So, it wasn't a clean copy. Um, and that's why there's >> at this point the discussion is really

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on the motion to to take. Okay. We had we spent some time on this in policy speaking about the dates and and what to do. Um we've had this policy in front of us for I think a very long time in my opinion. Um and I'm on policy so I am

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privy to the questions and I appreciate the sentiment. Um I I really think we just have to move this forward. I don't know why we would stall it again. Um, we we tabled it the last time so that we made sure that we could discuss it and have enough time, which I agreed with.

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Um, I think that tableabling it now would be eating a dead horse for lack of a better word, honestly. Um, but then I was assured also because my question of policy was if there are more questions that arise, we could table it or

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something else could happen at the second reading. We don't have to adopt it. So that was why I was okay with putting this on for a first read. Now and then disseminating any other questions or concerns that uh the board would have had. I think in in my brain

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that's a little more logical than tableabling it again and again because we will also have hopefully from the state other policies to discuss and it is bogging us down. Um quite frankly there there's there is a lot here and it it warranted the discussion that we've had but it's been a couple months from

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my kind of >> um I know that I think it correct me if I'm wrong but the first time that this was brought up to committee was probably um in December. uh at that time I think

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it was in coincidences with the um freedom to read going live on December 9th. Um since then we I know that there are less significant times a couple of times where the policy meetings had to be cancelled. uh on I do remember on March 12th

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uh when the pol when only 2530 was being brought up alongside 166 by law 166 at that time we opted to table 2530 because of the connection with all of these other policies and regulations but it was also

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noted that a lot of those uh a lot of the information was not able to be brought forth to the full board because was still being worked on with the attorney. Um, and that was provided to the policy committee on March 12th, which was the day of our meeting. So, I

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don't know that. I mean, I'm not in policy. I wish I was, but I don't know if all of those were discussed prior to the uh March 12th meeting because of the fact that um our madam attorney was working on some of them prior to the

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March 12th meeting and I think it was it was provided to the chairperson on March 12th. So, um, for that reason, we couldn't bring it up any sooner than now. And the next meeting for policy was March 30th. And then the secondary

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meeting after that was April 21st. So, we also had spring break in between and and uh various other things. And so I just wanted to note that yes, I understand why you want to bring it forward. But you have to keep in mind if you're going to be sending significant

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number of questions to the policy committee, I still firmly believe that those questions, if I don't have a problem with sending those questions um and sending it to the full board, again, it's not about agreement, but just about I just wish that all of that could have

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been sent before today. So I appreciate the policy uh committee uh circulating the information to us in the different versions. It's very nice to have both uh to be able to understand what was changing and what it looked like after

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all the changes. Uh I do uh feel like I had ample time to review them uh and understand what they were and what the changes are and the impacts of them. Um I do agree however it will be helpful to circulate the answers and responses because I think it is important for us

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to understand what was asked and what the responses were. Uh we do have confirmation from earlier tonight that they will be circulated after the meeting. So everyone will have the opportunity to see them before the next meeting. Um, and because of that, I feel like, um, as a couple people have

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already mentioned, uh, we will have the opportunity to consider that even if we do a first read tonight and if there's any real challenges that they can be made and we can pause or table the second read in order to close out any questions. I I don't see any further

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need to delay this. Okay. Um, I did read all of the policies and I didn't have any questions and I I know that this policy committee did their due diligence because I've seen that in the past as well and I really

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respect that they did their best job. My thinking agrees with you that yeah, put it through in the first reading. We have from now to the next meeting to view the questions that might have come in to even ask questions if we have any.

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Personally, I have no questions. I'm happy the way it is, but if I wouldn't mind seeing the questions that she had, but that shouldn't stop us from putting it through for the first reading in my in my opinion. >> At this point, I'd like to call the

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vote. I >> I'd like to discuss still Is that okay? >> Okay, Mr. Paris. Okay. So, so based on what Dr. Wright just pointed out, there

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are two whole bullet items in regulation 9130, the updated version that should be in our board packet. The board packet is the bulletin itself. The bulletin itself does not have 9130 regulation with four pages that it was edit edited down to.

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So, it's missing two whole bullet items in regulation 9130. So, I don't think it's a good idea to be voting on 9130 tonight as a result. Okay. So, that's just my thought here since we already have a motion up there to do to table

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them. And as I've mentioned before, if we're going to vote on one, we should vote on all at the same time. >> I believe Miss Gilfellin has explained that there is a method to resolve the missing items. The board members did see the entire policies and regulations. So

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they do know what they are voting on with the in entirety. So that is a matter that can come before the board after this current motion is on the table. >> Is there any further discussion? >> Can I just ask one question? >> Um

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I know that I created a lot of work for the policy committee and our attorney. Um I just wanted to note that when My questions were sent prior to the March 30th meeting. I actually didn't receive it back until April 20th and

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it's not a reflection of anything. I know that they were we had you know we didn't have a meeting for four weeks. We had spring break. We had various things going on. Um and I fully acknowledge that and respect that. I just wanted to note that if we are going to go forward

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with the first read and you look at the questions and then you send back more questions even one question and if it it requires um Miss to look at them and respond on

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her time um that is and we only have until May 7th. Uh May 7th is coming very quickly and you know I just want to make sure that every body is getting those questions answered in I'm not saying that can't but I want to make sure that

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in case there is a heavier lift or more detailed questions that Miss has also given the time to look at them and answer them to the best of her ability and with that being said like I said I sent one one set it took three weeks but

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it's not a reflection of that it's just that's just a fact and then I received the second set about 5 days after So that's just a idea of how how much time it could take. Um and I just want to make sure that you're aware of that when

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when you look at the questions. If it triggers other questions, then just be aware of the time. >> Thank you. But it has been mentioned several times that if there are questions before the second read, we can pause and answer them and pause the second read in order to make sure that

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everything is answered satisfactory. So, >> I guess the question is >> that's not the question. >> No, right now we are speaking about your motion to table all three until May 7th.

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>> So, can we take a vote on that motion? >> I just confirm what's the what's the motion again? >> The motion is to table all three policies that are up for it. The first read to the May 7th meeting. >> Mrs. Abraham,

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>> yes. >> Mr. Barios, >> no. >> Mrs. Dele, >> no. >> Mr. Devidito, >> yes. >> Mrs. Mayor, >> no. >> Mr. Shaw,

390
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>> yes. >> Dr. Right. >> No. >> Mrs. Chappelle. >> No. >> Mrs. Kobe. >> No. >> Motion fails. >> Dr. Right. Uh, I'd like to make a motion

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to amend uh regulation 9130 to include the language um uh that was which is under uh 2C on the bulletin to include the language that was circulated on April 2nd to the entirety of the board

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and I will read that out for the record. Uh so it currently ends at 7B. The motion is to include the language 8. A copy of the review committee's findings and recommendations will be given to the complainant within five school days of the board's determination to maintain

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the material at issue. And nine, the complainant will be informed in writing that a decision of the board made the appeal to the commissioner of education as permitted by law. >> Can I just confirm it looked like the the page before that ended on six and so is there a seven? Uh

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>> the numbers jump one. >> It's an order numbering. So eight really will become seven >> right? >> Yes. Okay. >> Or no this eight is eight uh six was added I believe is my understanding.

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>> Was there a specific date on which the board received the entirety of the regulation? >> You received it on April 2nd at 3:20 p.m. uh circulated to the entirety of the board from Mrs. John Benos.

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So, uh, Dr. Wright, may I suggest that your motion, uh, be to amend the current 90 regulation 9130 to comport with what was circulated to the board on April 2nd, 2026 by Miss Benos?

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>> Yes, please. You can adopt that motion. I would like to adopt that motion. You need a second. >> Mrs. Del will second. So, is there discussion on Dr. Wright's motion? >> Okay. So, if there's no discussion, can

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we take a vote on Dr. Wright's motion? >> Mrs. Abraham, >> what are we voting on? >> Adding in the language. >> Okay. >> Already there. >> Mrs. Abraham. >> Yes. >> Mr. Barios.

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>> Yes. >> Mrs. Defe. >> Yes. Mr. Devito, >> no. >> Mrs. Mayor, >> yes. >> Mr. Deval, excuse me, Mr. Shaw, >> yes.

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>> Sorry about that. >> Dr. Ray, >> yes. >> Mrs. Chappelle, >> yes. >> And Mrs. Kobe, >> yes. >> Passes. So just for clarification, when the

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entirety of the superintendent attendants bulletin is voted upon, it will be with this revised language. Thank you. All right, we are still on committee reports. Mrs. Mayor, I think you wanted

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to give an update. >> Well, I could hold I could hold this to the next meeting. It is getting late and we've kind of, you know, I don't mind holding. >> Okay, >> I'll hold it. I don't think there's anything that has to be told today, but I will hold it till the next meeting. Thank you.

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>> In the interest of time, >> I am going to give just a two second update. I attended uh a Montlair State journalism class that was learning about Paripany and I attended the Paripony

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uh east and west opening day. Mr. Shaw also attended the West opening day for baseball which was really good. They each have over 200 kids, 250 300 kids using their programs and it, you know, it was really nice to see them and they're all very excited. I also

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attended the New Jersey school board's resolution subcommittee which goes through the resolutions that are presented to the delegates which we um Mrs. mayor will bring up to us ne the next meeting and then my last one was

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the ARPA day celebration that Mr. Dvito already talked about which is really great seeing all the kids you know perform are there any other liaison reports Mrs. Abraham, did you have your hands up? >> We are moving on.

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>> Um, all right. So, now we are at the approval of the regular and executive minutes of March 26, 2026. May I have a motion for the approval? >> Mr. Sean, second right. Roll call,

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please. for the minutes. >> We're voting on the minutes now. >> Mrs. Abraham, >> yes. >> Mr. Barios, >> yes. >> Mrs. Delave, >> yes. >> Mr. Devito,

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>> yes. >> Mrs. Mayor, >> yes. >> Mr. Shaw, >> yes. >> Dr. Wright, >> yes. >> Mrs. Chappelle, >> yes. >> Mrs. Kogan, >> yes. Motion passes. Now we're up to the superintendent

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bulletin number 15. Dr. Chase. >> Okay. Just uh really quickly as as many of you have mentioned this evening, there's a lot happening throughout the district at this time of year. Uh performances, sporting events, classroom events, field trips, and other activities. And um there are many staff

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that play a role in making these events happen. I want to say thank you to the staff that are managing all of this and participating and also to the many students who take advantage of these opportunities. Secondly, uh for the approval, I have superintendent bulletin items 1 through 97, addendum items 98

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through 108 and readings. Thank you. >> Any questions on superend the secretar's report, Dr. McHugh? Uh this month's secretary report has uh ba basic secretary report items and the rest of the business items are 88

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through 97 including the public budget. >> All right. Any questions on the secretary's report. We are up to our second hearing of the public. If there is anyone who would like to address the board, please come up, sign your name and address in the

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book of 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 to please come up and sign in so that you are ready when the first speaker is finished. As a reminder, we are video recording this meeting. If you

415
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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.

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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 by law 168 for further information regarding the videotaping of our meetings.

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Is there anybody who would like to come before the board? Want to cut it too quickly, but it doesn't look like anybody's coming. So, we will move on to the roll call for superintendent Bolton number 15, items number 1 through 97 with addendum items

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98 through 108 readings and the revised language as discussed. May I have a motion, please? Mr. Steo and a second. Mrs. Mayor, roll call, please. >> Mrs. Abraham.

419
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>> Uh, no. on number two. Uh, A, B, C, and D. Everything else, >> Mr. Barios recusees on 44 15

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on the bill list number 10290 and appendix K. And yes on the rest >> yes to everything else. >> Oh, I'm sorry. Yes to everything else. >> I'm sorry. >> That was a change for abstain for Mrs.

421
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Abraham on number two. A B C and D. Right. >> I'm sorry. ABC. >> She's abaining two ABC and D. >> No. Abstaining and two ABC. No on D and no D. >> No D

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>> and the rest. Yes. >> Yes. Thank you. >> Okay. Um Mrs. Delip. >> Uh yes on all. >> Thank you. >> Mr. Devito. Number two, A, B, and C abstain. No to

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D. Yes to everything else. >> Mrs. Mayor, >> yes to everything, >> Mr. >> So to confirm the two is 2530 2535. Okay. I'll abstain from ABC as well. And Everything else

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I'm standing for number two ABC. Yes to everything else. >> Mr. Chappelle. >> Okay, let's go with Dr. Ray first. >> Uh, I'm standing on 96. No on 32. Yes to everything else.

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>> Put it in the wrong box. Sorry, >> Mrs. Chappelle. >> Yes. And this is Kogan. >> Yes. >> Sorry. >> All motions carried. >> All right. There being no further business, I need a motion to adjourn the

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meeting. Dr. Wright and a second, Mr. Devito. All in favor? >> I. Meetings adjourned.