Time is now 7 o'clock. I'll call this meeting to order. Mr. Gibbs, please read the statement of compliance and lower the feedback on my mic. >> In compliance with the open public meeting act, public law 1975, chapter 231, notice of this meeting has been properly advertised in the daily record
in suburban trends. Its agenda has been posted at the appropriate locations and a copy has been filed with aquanic tension clerk. >> Thank you. Please call the role. >> Mr. Bloomer >> here. >> Mr. Serissy >> here. >> Mrs. Espazito, Mr. Giten >> here,
>> Miss Ikeo >> here. >> Mr. Mcweeny, >> Mr. Mahalik >> Mr. Senic >> here. >> And Mrs. Shannon >> here. >> We have a quorum. >> Thank you. Everyone, please stand for the flag salute. >> Flag of the United States of America to
the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, liberty, and justice for all. >> Good evening everyone. Welcome to our May 26th regular business meeting. I hope everyone enjoyed and had a restful break and is charged up and ready for
the final push and the end of the school year. As yesterday was Memorial Day, I want to express my appreciation and gratitude for all our veterans who have sacrificed for our freedom. It is said that freedom is not free and I am thankful to live in this great country under the protection of the outstanding
men and women of our armed forces. On behalf of the board, I want to say thank you to all of those who have served or are serving now and especially to those who have made the ultimate ultimate sacrifice. We are extremely grateful. Next tonight on the agenda, the board will vote to approve a resolution
concerning the increase in health care costs that the district has experienced and the very likely increases on the horizon. We have spoken about this in great detail at past meetings and the board wants to add our voice to the other boards of education throughout the state who are urging our government to
resolve this issue. As we have previously stated, yearly double digit doubledigit increases in healthcare costs and now potential multiple increases per year is not sustainable. The evidence has been in the news every day during this budget season where
districts are cutting staff, cutting programs, and closing schools. We are fortunate in Puquanic that we were well prepared for this challenge and have managed well so far. That is in spite of over a $1.7 million increase this year alone, which is 24% before
staff contributions and more than $3 million of increases over the past three years. Additionally, at the last meeting, Mr. Gibbs informed the board that insurers are contemplating a 14% mid-year increase this July. The state needs to
resolve this issue and we hope this resolution along with other boards taking similar action will send a message. Last, on a more upbeat note, this is my favorite part of the year. There are award ceremonies planned, capstone presentations to attend, and of course
our graduation ceremonies in a few weeks. I want to remind our students, especially our seniors, to be present in all these upcoming moments and enjoy these last few weeks because they will go very fast, but you'll remember them for the rest of your lives. And now I'll
pass the mic over to Dr. Pors. >> All right. Thank you, Mr. Senic. And yeah, these these next few weeks will indeed go really quickly. I think it's 17 more days of school. Um, few things to report on my end. Um, since our last meeting, I had the opportunity to attend
the NJASA conference um, down in Atlantic City. Don't particularly care for Atlantic City, but it was a very good conference. I was able to attend sessions that focused on um most effective use as well as fading out of par professional support as well as a few different keynotes including one
from Lily Lux who is our new um commissioner of education but to another one called learning without label special education section 504 and MTSS which was really helpful and also helped to address a lot of current um currently updated laws. Uh, another one was the
power the consortium. This was based on the Northern Valley Consortium and I'm really interested in looking more at shared services. So, this gave some some great ideas for that. And then I was able to exceed my anticipated number of two people for my presentation. I actually got 10 and uh yeah, which in
that time slot was pretty remarkable, but it went really well. Attendees were really involved. I I could Yes, the N was 10 or greater. So that was I can report that they they were highly engaged. Um also uh was able
to film a podcast, it's not yet been pushed out, with Assemblyman Bergen as well as two of my colleagues, um Dr. Kate Walsh who's in Netcom and Dr. Frank Santor in Roxberry. It's great conversation. We talked about some of the things that you already addressed
regarding um the different obstacles for school budgets and ways that we can collaborate with our hopefully partners in the legislature um to really achieve results that benefit schools, that benefit kids, that benefit staff, and
ultimately benefit everybody in New Jersey. And re with this whole legislative committee that we formed, it's really important to note that this isn't meant to be partisan at all. It's meant to be all-incclusive and getting everybody on board because we should all be pulling in the same direction. And uh
hopefully hopefully this is this is a step towards getting some some results. So expect that one to be probably pushed out around Friday. Um and very excited, very appreciative too for the time that um all three guests took to do that. Uh we had some great musical events um in
this building. We had the PV spring band concert on May 12th and then the high school concert was held here on May 20th. Um on May 21st, our high schoolers were able to celebrate their prom which was held at the Grove in Cedar Grove. They actually got a pretty good night for it, especially compared to barbaric
heat of previous days. Our school performance reports were released to the public also on May 21st. um four of our five schools saw increases in their um in their reported scores including three schools increasing in the range of 15 to
29 points. So very happy about that and we're looking to really dig into the data there and get a better understanding for why we saw gains and perhaps why we didn't in some other areas. Um obviously for anybody in the school district today was a snowback giveback day. This was from the staff
vote. And then um Friday of last week, sorry, Friday of last week was a staff vote. Kids voted for today. That's Friday. Um and then we were supposed to walk in the Memorial Day parade yesterday. Unfortunately, uh the conditions did not allow for that, but very much appreciate that we get invited
for that every year. It's a really important event, and I'm so glad to Mr. Senic summarized the importance of Memorial Day, which is something that is incredibly important to keep foreground of our minds. We have the beautiful veterans wall up front to remind us as well of our community's commitment to
supporting veterans and their families. Uh kindergarten placement letters went out earlier than planned. We pushed that up to May 20th. We didn't want to send them out um and then have just have schools be closed the next day. This way if people want to get in touch with us, we can at least engage in conversations.
But I just want to take the opportunity to remind everybody that the entire district is considered one attendance area. This is supported in policy. Also, this is not with our placement not like in West Milford or other communities where they're, you know, 10 12 miles
between elementary schools. All three of our schools are on the same street about a mile and a half apart. But, um, we do try to make sure we keep people closest to their their neighborhood schools. U, but it's just simply not possible in all situations. We only have, um, two
classes available at North Boulevard and we had a pretty high number of siblings there. Um and then we have three available at both both HU and SJG. But um huge appreciation to the principles for their work in helping to set the attendance area for this year. And um
hopefully everybody does great with their new placements. We'll be having the orientation coming up not this week but the week thereafter. Um yeah, and then another nice thing, and I'll talk about a few things coming up, but uh positive reports came out about the um
inclusion of AP testing as well as the ongoing NJLSA testing. One thing we were concerned about has gotten very hot in this building. Um and hopefully it did not impact our students performance. We did push back science testing because the afternoon we found that the
conditions were not conducive to optimal testing outcomes. Um, and then just coming up, we I have a podcast on May 28th. This is a followup to our u our initial AI podcast, which was very wellreceived, and we're going to give the community an update on what's going
on with the committee and what we're looking to do next. Uh, for anybody interested, the STEM aviation capstone taking place in this building on Thursday night at six o'clock. Um, the validictorian saludiatoran dinner is taking place on Tuesday, June 2nd. That's a wonderful event. Um, and then
I've been invited to the William Patterson Powerhouse Celebration. That's something that they do with community partners, of which we are one. So, I'll be at that on June 3rd and hopefully not for too long because our band is playing the national anthem at Yankee Stadium that night. So, Wednesday, June 3rd, our
band will be playing the anthem right there at Yankee Stadium. And then, uh, also in this building, we have the senior rewards and scholarship ceremony that's taking place on Thursday, June 4th. That's also another wonderful event that celebrates not just the accomplishments of our students and
staff, families, but also the remarkable generosity of our community. So, a lot of great things happening. Um, we we've got got an awful lot to pack into not too many days, but we're looking to make it really fun, memorable, and exciting experience for everyone involved.
>> A report. >> All right. Thank you. Mr. Gibbs, do you have a report? >> Yes. Good evening. Uh tonight's board agenda is the approval for the renewal of the contract with Ponian Food Service. To date, the district has a positive financial report with no
complaints so far for the 2025 2026 school year. As Mr. Centig mentioned, at the request of the county office, there is a board resolution on tonight's board agenda requesting short-term relief for the unsustainable increases in health insurance. This request will be going to
the state's legisl legislature due to the large increase in health insurance, not only for the next school year, but also for the 20127 2028 school year. On May 22nd, the district was notified that the grant for the new playground at North Boulevard has been granted in the
amount of $69,200. Once the project is completed, the school district will be seeking reimbursement. We are looking to close on the new board office during the first week of June. Once the closing has taken place, we'll be working with our architect on fitting
up the new office. The RFP or request for proposals for the school attorney has been submitted to the board and once in agreement, it will go out for advertisement. The opening of the proposal is scheduled for July 7th in accordance with state guidelines. The committee will have 12 days to review
the proposal proposals and grade them in order to make a final decision at the July 20th board meeting. The RFP for an architect will be going out to the board for approval and as in advertised on Monday, June 1st and the opening for the
proposal is scheduled for July 10th in accordance with state guidelines. The committee will have 10 days to review the proposals and grade them in the order to make a final decision at the July 20th board meeting. And finally, there were two OPER requests that came in and were responded to in accordance
with state guidelines. The requests were for professional fees. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Gibbs. Next up is the approval of the minutes. Miss Aay, would you please move the minutes? >> I would like to move the minutes from
April 27, 2026 and May 11th, 2026. >> Any question or discussion? Mr. Gibbs, please call the role. Mr. Mr. Bloomer. >> Yes. >> Mr. Sesi. >> Yes. >> Mr. Giten. >> Yes. >> Miss Ao. >> Yes. To April 27th. Abstain from May
11th. >> Mr. Mcweeny. >> From April 27th. And yes to May 11th. >> Mr. Malik. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Shenton. >> From April 27th. Yes to May 11th. Thank you.
>> Mrs. Espazito. Yes. >> And Mr. Senic. >> Yes. >> Motion carries. >> Next up is public comment. Uh there is no one to comment. So we're going to move on to approval of the action items. First up is PMC. Mr. Sesi, would you please move the items under PMC?
>> I would like to move PMC 203-26 through BMC 221-2. >> Second. >> Any question or discussion? Mr. Gibbs, please call the role. >> Mr. Bloomer, >> yes. >> Mr. Sesi,
>> yes. >> Mr. Gon, >> yes. >> Miss Ikeo, >> yes. >> Mr. Mcweeny, >> yes. >> Mr. Mahik, >> yes. >> Mrs. Shenton, >> yes. >> Mrs. Espazito. >> And Mr. Senic, >> yes. >> Motion carries. >> Next up is CIS. Mrs. Espazito, would you
please move the items under CIS? Second. >> Any question or discussion? >> Mr. Gibbs, please call the RO. >> Mr. Bloomer. >> Yeah. >> Mr. Sesi, >> yes. >> Mr. Gen. >> Yes. >> Miss Ao. >> Yes. >> Mr. Mcweeny. >> Yes. >> Mr. Mahalik.
>> Yes. >> Mrs. Shenton. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Espazito. >> Yes. >> And Mr. Senic. >> Yes. >> Motion carries. >> All right. Next up is FFA. Mr. Bloomer, would you please move the items under FFA? >> Like to make a motion to move FFA 191-26
through FFA 208-26. >> Second. >> Question or discussion? Mr. Gibbs, please call the role. Mr. Bloomer, >> yes. >> Mr. Sesi, >> yes. >> Mr. Ginton, >> yes. >> Miss Ao, >> yes.
>> Mr. Mcweeny, >> yes. >> Mr. Mahalik, >> yes. >> Mrs. Shenton, >> yes. >> Mrs. Espazito, >> yes. >> And Mr. Senic, >> yes. >> Motion carries. >> I'd like to take a moment just to thank uh our generous uh donors, the On Company, H Company, I'm think how you
pronounce it. Uh Lindsey Bam, Honor M. Connell, Suburban Women's Club of Compton Plains, and Mr. and Mrs. praise of B&B landscaping. >> Thank you, Mr. Bloomer. Next up is public comment. And there is still nobody here, so we'll move on to unfinished business. Any board member
have any unfinished business? Does any board member have any new business? Would anybody like to make an announcement? All right, we're headed for a record. Uh, we do have a reason to go into executive session tonight. We will discuss the CSA evaluation. No action
will be taken. We will adjourn from there. Our next meeting is June 8th here at the high school. Is there a motion to go into executive session? >> Motion to go into executive session. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> Any opposed? Good night, everyone.