##VIDEO ID:GI-wYmeIZ9s## e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e Army Force Jr Roc and we invite everyone to go across the hall in the multi purpose room where principal Chris Baldo my buddy will tell us more so we're going to head next door for e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e we waiting on answer okay now back to the order of business uh first Dr vanelli is going to be saying a few words yeah so uh Steven's been with us for three years filming our our board meetings and uh we could not be more proud of what you we just saw and and the and the dedication that you have to scado high school and just our community in general so I really want to thank you uh for for us knowing you so well and and really seeing you in action here so everybody give a round of applause next we have student presentation and tonight we have Tomi she's by herself Tyler is not here but the senior Representatives got it covered thank you well Happy New Year all it's so good to be back 202 which is crazy to think it's my graduation year so many exciting things coming up so on that note um college applications I know some of you already asked me about them they have been starting to wrap up um I believe most of the senior class has applied by now um some of them already have committed we've had kids commit to Northeastern um NYU there's a lot of exciting news here at the high school so that's something to look forward to the upcoming months um to start off next Monday um science National owner Society is going to have their here Alum day which they have a bunch of Alum um from the science Honor Society and also just the science club come and speak about their experiences in college I know there's 33 students coming back so that's going to be a lot of graduates coming back to the high school so that' be really exciting um and hear about their experiences and their any advice that they could give us um I know next Thursday Chinese um Club is celebrating the lunar celebration which is a free event here at the high school um it's also sponsored by the pway education associ which is a new club here at the high school as well um they've done a lot of kickoff events this year and has been super exciting um the Chinese new lunar celebration is something that's really big here at the high school every year um it's a great way to get students to come and volunteer um and just have a lot of spirit so that's something to look forward to FBLA and HOSA has continued on their sponsorship runs um which have been super successful in getting kids involved I know they get more and more each day every week um it's a nice way to get them out in the community and get some experience to real life business and also just healthare interactions um so that's been very exciting um speaking on FBLA I know last month I mentioned the Regionals competition for SLC which is the state leadership conference conference in March um this year we had 101 students place and in competitions which is the largest it's ever been um super super exciting so many fun things going to happen we're really really excited from wide range of events from single events to doubles to um Team events um so that should be really nice to see all of the P pway Spirit at that conference in March um Ro Capal Honor Society also known as social studies Honor Society and English National Honor Society is taking a field trip next um Wednesday to the New York Public Library oh I'm sorry the meeting for is next Wednesday and then the field trip should be in February March um it's the new New York Public Library and the New York museum National History um which should be really fun as well to see them getting nice and involved it's also the city love New yor City so that should be really nice to see the students go and get that type of interaction and explore um also the theater rehearsal started this week um for the drama club show Charlie and Chocolate Factory I know after school rehearsals have started um I know the students were putting a lot of work so it's been really nice to hear about that um students against destructive decisions sad we actually had a meeting with Mr Bano today um we have some really exciting things coming up um we are partnering with the police department um for a upcoming campaign with for the New Jersey brain alliance which is a new competition that they're doing this year so that should be fun and actually our slogan which hopefully you'll see soon um is pway you know drive safe drive slow um so we're really excited to spread the message of just speeding and you know driving safety especially as teenagers we think it's a really important message to spend at that spread at the high school and a sad is just a new club we're really excited to take off that this year the National Honor Society had their National bud they had 78 pins collected and 99 students register which is a amount amount um which has been really nice to see how much it's grown over the past couple of years um and get so many students involved the day of dialogue to equity team here at the high school we also have some really cool things going on um we're actually participating in the no hey and the garden day um competition this month so I've been working on that proposal which is really exciting we have really cool things planned and ideas to you know improve um equity here at the community and also just reduce stigma and get identities spread identity awareness the national honest Society also had their induction ceremony which I know I saw some of you there which has been really cool um and you know we really really excited to have so many new students a lot of Juniors and seniors and see about all the wellness and academic achievement that Sheed here at the high school um as well touching on what Tyler usually talks about the Freshman boys basketball team also won um at the championship um Hoops he's actually there at a game right now um so it's really nice to see all the winter sports also pick up concludes my report what was the date of the Lunar New Year January 16k you thank you so much Tom B um as always incredible informative always keeping us in the loop of pway high school um we thank you for that we thank you for your time and dedication to us but I know you're still cracking the books and doing all your AP work and decisions you have to make so feel free to go ahead and leave and thanks again for coming out tonight and giving us an update of the high school thank you okay I'm going to change up on the agenda uh next would have been the president's report however I'm going to go directly into public session so public comments from the floor the Board of Education recognizes the value of public comment on the educational issues and school matters of community interest in support of dis position a law establish appear a public comment at every board meeting individuals wishing to speak must State their name and address comments are limited to 3 minutes duration but an individual may speak a second time after all others who wish to speak on the topic have been heard the board may require that individuals registered to speak prior to the beginning of the meeting participants May submit written materials in support of their position all statements in or questions shall be directed to the presiding officer and no participant May address or question board members individually all speakers are required to express them required to express themselves in a civil manner with due respect for the dignity and privacy rights of others who legal rights may be affected please note while it is not the board's intention to stifle comments on matters of legitimate concern to the school district Community the public should be aware that if their statements violate the rights of others under the Lord governing defamation and or invasion of privacy they may face face personal liability to the injured party if speakers are uncertain of legal ramifications of their comments the board urges them to seek guidance beforehand from their own legal advisor public session is now open uh if is there anyone in the public in the audience who wants to come up and speak in public session if you do please come forward state your name your address and so Mr aloa greatest secretary ba over here can record it in his notes hey we might know you how you doing hello and good evening good evening I'm William Gonzalez principal of quibbletown middle school as well as the president of the principal and supervisors Association here at uh Piscataway I want to welcome all the new board members and congratulations okay and I also like to say happy new year to all of the returning board members I want to thank you for your support always um it's a really a pleasure to work with all of you um and and I can I hope we continue all of that success uh just a few comments about Dr relli if I could uh Frank I want to thank him for his leadership and guidance I've been able to we've been able to the ppsa been able to really uh develop a great relationship with the superintendent's office um he's been able to guide us through some really very difficult times um as you well know um and with his help and hard work um you know we were able to get through through that and come out better on the other side um I wish you good luck in your new Endeavors work on your golf game when you get better right I know that slice of yours right we'll have to see each other okay but congratulations on your retirement and your new Endeavors thank you very much well lookie lookie somebody else we know Jo Toma 31 Road Sweet 6 in Piscataway good evening president cherry and members of the board from the very first day Dr relli has led with passion integrity and a wavering commitment to our students teachers and staff under his leadership we've seen Positive Growth Innovation and a Clear Vision for the future and if I may address Dr relli personally Madame President with your permission you have my permission Dr relli your ability to balance the demands of administration while keeping the well-being of the entire community at the Forefront has been nothing short of inspiring you've been a guiding force during times of challenges there have been many and a cheerleader of new ideas and a steady presence through it all your legacy will live on through the improvements you've made the people you've mentored and the countless lives you've touched along the way myself included we will miss your leadership your wisdom and your kindness but more than that we will miss your presence as a mentor the working relationship between a union president and a superintendent well it can be disastrous if there isn't trust and a deep commitment to the students and the staff thankfully since both of us were aligned in those beliefs it became the Cornerstone of a relationship where no discussion was taboo and everything was framed in a way that could become a collaboration during a challenge on behalf of the ptea I want to extend our deepest gratitude for your years of service you've left an indelible Mark we wish you all the best as you move forward in your next adventure know that you will always have a home here and we look forward to hearing about your future successes thank you for everything but you're not off the hook yet we still have a lot to discuss but thank you thank you Mr Toma anyone else wishing to come forward and speak please feel free to do so being I see no one else coming forward can I have a motion to close public session have a second all in favor public session is now closed now we're going to go back to the other side of the agenda and we're going to go to my president's report uh president's report for January 9th 2025 congratulations and the job well done to Tomi Navar who is our senior student representative to the board for continuing her incredible work to raise awareness about overdoses and the dangers of opoid use Tomy teamed up with the partnership for a drug-free New Jersey to develop an informative and engaging webinar for knockout ofo's abuse day also Tom's overdose project has been selected to be showcased at Duke University's distinguished help equity imporium on February the 7th congratulations Tomi on being recognized for your hard work and on behalf of our community congratulations are also in order to our seniors who have been accepted to college on instant decision days at PHS instant decision days are a non-binding way to receive an on this spot College acceptance from an admissions counselor who use a student submitted application the offers are not binding and the students are free to continue exploring other colleges PHS students have gained admissions to Sean Hall Montclair State Kane fairly Dickerson through instant decision days and have been awarded tens of thousands of dollars in scholarship money thanks to our counselors Rodney West sh mik panel and the entire PHS counseling department for arranging the instant decision they visit um I got to see some of the kids as they received their instant decision days The Pride on their face for the hard work they've put in and to be able to breathe to say okay I got my first acceptance and the rest will continue to roll in through the mail but it's just a great feeling to be able to say right there on the spot I'm going home I get to text my parents and tell them guess what I got accepted and pure excitement now I'm back to acknowledging Dr anelli over here on my left uh dear Piscataway Community the board of education has been informed by the superintendent of schools Dr Frank velli that he has accepted a position in another district and will be leaving us at the end of March of 2025 we want to take this opportunity to thank Dr Manelli for his years of dedicated service to our students in our Piscataway Community wish him the best in his future endowments please be assured that all District programs will continue without interruption or change with the ongoing level of commitment to our students that our community deserves and expects Dr vanelli will be assisting in the transition over the course of the next two months during which time the board will appoint an interim superintendent while preparing a robust search for the next educational leader of our district sign chanto M Cherry board president um the initial shock of Dr anelli and his announcement caught me by surprise but on the same token him and I have an open conversation and you take the opportunities when they come your heart will always be where you were but your future has no limits to where you will go you know you have left an impact on this District you know the working relationship you have with the board and with your staff and the teachers in the unions as they've all gotten up here and spoken about but most importantly you can hold your head high and say I'm going into the next chapter and where I'm leaving them the next person doesn't have to worry they can just continue to move forward and take them to the next level we can never thank you enough for your time your time your hours most importantly your Visions a lot of Visions came through you even though they started small they ended up becoming big um you sat through four presidents in this seat um we're all different we were all different unique and we all do things differently but at the end of the day you adapted to all of us and you've seen a reign of change of different board members who are all sitting here now but at the end of the day it was always about inspiring the students of Piscataway and the families in Piscataway to assure them that their students were getting the best education that they could actually receive living in this town with such a diverse Community we' got two more months at year and we're going to work you like a you but we're happy for you and can't wait to see where things go with you in the future um so I appreciate it I I um this has been a very quick kind of Whirlwind um people who know me the best probably calling in saying he's in uh you know it's is comfortable for me uh this has never been about me it's about uh the community and the children and the teachers um I have been blessed working with great board members who uh sit at this table and are committed um we'll talk about board member appreciation month when it's my turn um but I've been blessed to to have great people to work with in the cabinet um great people to work with as the association presidents teachers uh all working for one one cause and that's to to better the community and better the kids um I uh I figured that would be in March but uh very touched with the words that were spoken I I can't I can't thank you enough okay now we've done with that part now we're on to the next part of the agenda Dave Gan Dave wait minut Dave ala and Dave Ganon are now going to take us to the next section of this meeting thank you uh as Dave comes up here uh Dave Ganon is our audit partner from pkf o Conor Davies um every year we're subject to annual audit by an outside firm and uh Dave has been with us for many years and it's his job to present to the board uh the report on our audit and the auditor management report that was delivered to the board members uh last week uh for your reference so Dave take it away good evening everybody happy New Year congratulations uh again you know the one thing that I always appreciate when we do our audit out here is uh you know the excellent cooperation that we receive uh from The District's staff uh obviously that you know starts with the boards tone of the top starts with Administration you know impacting to those to your staff that the audit is important uh it's unfortunate you know our audit lasts probably four weeks when you look at all the time that we spend out here and that's a significant burden for the employees of the district because it really adds their workload there's a lot of additional information that they have to provide to us uh that they would not have to normally do during the day so we always appreciate the professionalism uh and the responsiveness of of your District staff um so the audit has been filed with the Department of Education uh this year the deadline was January 15th seems like a a moving deadline for the last six seven years uh as of today there's only 36% of school districts in the state that have submitted the report uh so again you know the district's way ahead of things uh we actually issued our report uh I think December 12th uh we had our um meeting with the fiscal policy uh committee went through the draft a little more in detail than I'm going to go through tonight um also I want to you know congratulate the district on receiving this of excellence in financial reporing for the seventh straight Year from International asbo uh so you know quite a significant achievement uh it's a toally voluntary program uh all reports your reports go to an independent uh reviewer they look at it and make sure that and and and you provide comments if necessary as to whether the report that the district is submitting and producing uh meets all the requirements of generality accounting principles uh and the spirit of transparency you know there's a lot of information in this report uh you know it tells you exactly how the district spends its funds you know there's really no secret if if a citizen of of the district wants to know you know how is the district spending my money it's in there there there there's there's nothing that's not there they they they they they they wouldn't want to know uh so congratulations for that uh we have issued an UNM modified opinion on the financial statements so that means that again uh the district's financial statements are presented in accordance with J of accounting principles all required you know principles U regulations have been complied with by the district uh and I would tell you that you know every month you receive a monthly report from the business office uh the business Min the board secretary report those are very high quality reports the business office really spends a lot of time making sure those are accurate uh and we find that they're they're high quality and really require you know very little adjustments at at the end of the year the district continues to be very fiscally sound very fiscally healthy the fun balance at the end of the year was $ 67.2 million which was an increase of 6.2 from the prior year uh very important of that amount uh only 2.7 is actually unrestricted of of all that you know all there's many other different restrictions I'll go through uh $ 34.7 million is restricted for capital reserve uh I had the pleasure to sit through the you know the December meeting to understand that there's quite a number of capital needs uh in the district and to have that type of Reserve is is is really significant especially given the fact that the district is debt free bonded debt free there is an East Poli East but for this size District not to have any bonded debt is really a significant achievement really shows you know over over the number of years uh you know the district's taking the approach of pay as you go uh you know save on those interest costs you know for many years were you pretty you know expansive expensive uh the distri also maintains a maintenance reserve of .5 million an emergency Reserve above million uh incumbrance is $4 million so those are open orders from the prior year they become part of the current year budget uh $7.7 million of fund balance is being utilized to fund this year's budget uh eight an unemployment trust fund of $1.9 million and $8.7 million would consider excess Surplus so again that's your total fund balance compared to what it's unrestricted which is again unrestricted you have 2% of your fund balance 2% of your operating budget that's all you can have is unrestricted minus all those other restrictions the $8.7 million goes towards a fiscal year 26 budget capital projects for balance at this point is $1.6 million that's solely relates to the isip project as that wind down and gets finished uh Food Service net position was $1.4 Million uh which was a decrease from the prior year and again the decrease is actually a good thing the last couple years we've talked uh the district there there's a there's a measure where the state feels you have too much fund balance uh to which you need to invest in you know the Food Service program not that you weren't doing before but invest more in some equipment quality of the food uh the district did that this past year and now actually conforms with uh the required uh level of of fund balance obviously you guys know you have a hugely popular adult and Child Care Program School in that position was 3 million $3.1 million an increase of $47,000 in Prior year uh the mention there's no bonded debt uh but you'd be interested to know under statute your legal debt capacity is $437 million so Zero versus 4 $37 million is quite a an accomplishment uh based on the the level of funding from federal state sources we also required to a federal state single audit uh in that we test in controls and compliance to make sure that the district spending those funds in accordance with those Grant programs we've issued un modified opinion on the compliance uh internal control within the district is strong I know policies in place procedures are in place you know the district is very cognant of how they spend their money uh so there's no findings that we we found no material weaknesses no deficiencies and no items that we thought required corrective action by the district so with that there's any questions I'll be more than happy to answer them I I just wanted to uh say uh thank you for doing uh such a thorough job again this year and thank you to the business office uh for um being so diligent um you know we have fiscal planning and operation meetings every month and um to be in this financially s position it's it takes work and paying attention to details and it's one of the reasons why and the criteria that why we're a state recognized by the Department of Education as the um High performing District we get high grades for um for that and so um thank you and and and to be seven times in a row um to be the uh get the um certification of excellence in financial reporting is um is great so um thank you very much y and I just want to say thank you uh we've got a great David is always there uh he knows if I have questions during the year I give him a ring uh which is helpful try to uh address issues before they become an issue so uh we really appreciate your help David and of course I'd like to thank my uh the support of Frank and the entire board the fiscal planning committee and my great staff in the business office so thank you very much everybody next we have the superintendent report thank you very much uh as always please check out our superintendent report online in our superintendent Corner highlights this month include uh Innovative new learning tools uh some Partnerships with the community uh THS as Tom said our rep National Honor Society induction uh our traveling Star Lab planetarium for all the elementary kids which is great and much more so please get a chance and check that out uh January 2025 marks the celebration of board recognition month uh when you pleas when you get a chancee the resolution on page nine of our business agenda it says a lot about dedication uh I would like to say personally as I stated a little bit before um I'm blessed to work with a great group of people who have one vision in mind and that is to better the community and better the situations for the kids uh this is a lot of time a lot of volunteer time a lot of extra meetings getting certified right on page one the board attained uh New Jersey certification of last month um a lot of extra time and a lot of extra dedication reading the material that we sent home asking the right questions um I I am very proud to work with a group like you and you should be proud of yourselves for everything that you do so thank you very much uh the P arts department put together a little gift that was your bag uh so please enjoy that and again I can't thank you enough for for the volunteer work that you do and I want to stress that because this is volunteer time so if I can just say one word is it everyone got this um annual comprehensive financial report and what I highly recommend um is reading the um superintendence uh summary at the beginning uh because if you read that it's really Chronicles it's an important overall history and summary of our school district it it talks about our enrollment it talks about our tax base and it's a great source of information year on year to see how the school district's doing and I really appreciate you guys putting it together every year because it gives you that snapshot in time of how of what we're doing um and uh just just make sure year on year you just read that every year um my last thing and it this is going to be a longer one I apologize but uh about 15 months ago I uh brought up that um I was interested in bringing an orts team and and location here for our high school and down our middle schools as well um and as I said 15 months ago 15 months later uh that morphed into and many of you know because you're on the the Committees um taking a look at investing some of the money that Dave was talking about and making uh an Innovative State ofthe art media center for our high school which would include an eorts arena um and it continued to morph into what great things we can do and we are um at a at a really nice place right now so uh Dave is going to through some pictures and where we are because we're going to ask you to spend some money so by only rights you should know what you're spending money on okay so Dave I turn the floor over to you I can't reach so like Dr relli mentioned we both felt it was important to uh talk about a couple of the Bigg projects we have coming up um one of the numbers that Dave kind of mentioned and he said quite a few but we have what's called capital reserve and we have about $34 million currently in there so that's money that the board has has agreed to save to try and pay for projects that we need to get done because as Dave mentioned we're debt free so um the fiscal planning and operations committee reviews all this stuff each month and we keep them informed of where we are but there's two significant projects coming up that are going out to bid uh we will be asking the board to hopefully award contracts if we get uh positive bids in the next month or two and we expect to award these contracts at the February meeting uh if all goes well so we thought we'd share a few photos of what we're envisioning uh for these projects so the first one we're going to talk about is it started out as Frank said as the Esports room and it has expanded and so now we have to call it the interior alterations um and it's going to Encompass the media Center the nurses room an auxiliary cafeteria space Etc so we want to walk you through what we're we're talking about here so these are all of the proposed projects um this top view here which is which is quite excuse me quite small is an engineering classroom and a new nurse's Suite on the bottom left here is a media center space which will contain an orts room we will have a classroom here here and an expanded cafeteria seating area so what we'll be doing here is and we'll have some better pictures but this is what we commonly call the respect hallway at the high school uh where the mural uh the respect mural is on this wall right here and it's a large oversized hallway and if you've ever been up there around lunchtime you'll know we wheel out cafeteria tables and the kids eat lunch out there and it's like that for a couple hours and then the custodians have to wheel away the the tables and clean up it's not the most efficient use of space and we we felt it would be better utilize with more of a permanent Arrangement that is more welcoming more modern and can be used not just for dining but can be used as a meeting space as well the other two areas here um this space here oh is the upstairs conference room uh that we'll be creating in the media center there's currently a a large set of concrete stairs that go up to the main office we're going to be eliminating those stairs because in my time here they've never been used by any Administration um staff doesn't use them students don't use them so we're going to eliminate them to capture that space on the first floor for the media center and on the second floor to create a conference room uh up in the the principal's area and then lastly this tiny little uh sliver here is near the commons cafeteria in the SBA there's a um a cut in of space where there's currently lockers and students nowadays do not use lockers the way we did back in our day um they're barely used so this is an inefficient use of space and we thought it would be worthwhile to eliminate those lockers and create additional kind of seating area primarily for cafeteria time but also can be used at at other times at the high school administration discretion so we'll get into some photos of what we're envisioning so the media center space you can see here kind of some of the color panels that we are going with the different carpeting options are on the floor here but the space itself you have an entrance off the hallway and we'll have a large kind of Entry area this will be a uh media specialist desk the Esports room will be off to the right here we'll have other photos of that we'll have a um a sweeping walk down into more of your conventional kind of seating area but with more modern seating than you find in a traditional Library um you know libraries these days we call them media centers because they're much more than just a place where you go and take out books again those days have kind of passed we will still be having books but we are going to take this opportunity to fil filter through the uh inventory to really make sure that they're relevant and useful books um we'll have two conference rooms here which will have have um glass walls that are uh soundproof okay um we went and visited another high school and we were really impressed with with how isolated these rooms can be and they can be used for small group sessions for classes maybe a digital literacy class any number of options okay but this room as an example this wall will be retractable so again we're not limiting ourselves with the space that it's all blocked off this wall will be retractable so it will spill out and open into this area we really tried to focus on multifunction multi-us abilities for all the different spaces that we're working on are these Ada compant yes so this this is a view from the entrance here Tom into your point you can see a ramp that goes down but this is a view from like the front doors if you come in uh a mocked up view of what you would see sweeping back towards the back of the media center this is one of the rooms I was talking about this is the other room here the orts room would be off to the side this is the media center specialist desk and these are are indicative drawings um so this is what we're specking out it'll be very similar to this this is kind of that back uh on the original drawing this was the top of the drawing this is that that back stretch with more of your traditional bookcases uh lowrise bookcases we'll have bookcases along some of the walls a lot of different color schemes and more modern lighting that'll be implemented you can see the the glass enclosure for one of the conference rooms here this is a a view of again if you go back to the original drawing this would be kind of the left side of that original drawing the the media center with some you know highrise tables this is a one of the glass enclosed rooms we'll have a couple of Promethean boards in the space again really more modern and you can see different pendant light fixtures um kind of cylinder light fixtures just a more modern feel more open and area as well and this is the other conference room on the other side a prometheum board you can see this is the glass wall that I was talking about that's retractable so you could have if you had an oversized crowd you could have a presentation that is viewable on this board here and this board you could have seating that stretches all the way across again versatility was what we were working towards so the Esports room this is a a mockup at the Esports room this is the main entrance into the media center and now eorts is not my specialty but um we have a seating area here which this wall will be a glass wall and students or or Spectators will be able to sit here and watch into the Esports gaming area when we actually conduct you know events or or gaming competitions in that space so again open Airy visibility we'll have 20 game stations in this room uh two Banks of of five here and two Banks of five we have a teachers desk prometheum board another uh viewing area here uh with the TV that'll Broad what's going on in the gaming and a little um Nintendo switch station area here so we we consulted with folks that know more about Esports certainly than I do and um you know we tried to hit all the marks of what's needed for an Esports gaming room as it grows in popularity so you'll have a a varsity team that plays Esports and to give you an example of a viewing area uh they'll have their championships at the end of the year at a college in an aori a many people to watch do all the marketing and things like that so it's not just about gaming and things like that it's about uh you know multiuse Arena that kids could get involved without putting on pants and going on team and because our college teams and they recruiting for college right yeah so so my son's out a college umbe to right so when he was a sopore we were looking at colleges and I'm you know and they're taking us around like oh here's our orts I'm like I don't even know what this was and then probably about eight months later I see it on ESPN right the winning steam like10 million whatever that's irrelevant but it's just an opportunity for kids to be able to get involved and be on teams and work towards something without being onle so this is again mocked up view of space will look like we altered the the uh the tables a little bit uh and the seating but again we'll have a promethium board we'll have a nice modern wall covering in a corner here we'll have TVs on this wall for viewing by Spectators um adjacent to the Esports room is uh we'll be creating a classroom so part of this remodel of this space there's currently a classroom which way back in in the day used to be a a photography classroom I think there's a a dark room attached to the actual classroom there so we're eliminating that space to do some of the media center and the cafeteria SE seating space but we did the high school administration did say that they did still need a classroom we couldn't just eliminate that one classroom so next to the Esports room we'll be creating a classroom um so that it can be used no longer the need for the um Old school camera photography and and film development that uh was maybe necessary when this building was built the cafeteria space again adjacent to the media center so just for your um you know your your whereabouts this is the respect mural here okay so we've expanded into that hallway this will become a more traditional size hallway okay we're going to eliminate the Lockers in there to free up the space and it'll just be a traditional size hallway and we're creating more of a modern seating space for the cafeteria dining the kitchen for the SBA cafeteria is right here and the commons is over kind of where our this our wooden door is here if you will okay um David how much more um cafeteria seating does that secure in that area approximately 100 more kids yeah it's it was over a 100 I don't have the exact account I do have it in my office but it was over 100 more than the plans as they sit when when the architect draw have to be approved so that this hallway is is enough space for the amount kids we have in our building things like that so we don't have to worry about you know anything being out a compliance or not enough for our kids and you know one of the there's a one or two photos coming up but this here is also a glass wall this right angle here and it's three glass partitions on each side and the first two of which will slide behind the third one again to create an open entrance an Airy field to the space you know better visibility for that you know respect Muro because we did see that it's such a known component of the high school we wanted to make sure that that was still viewable so you can see here this is a view in from that corner this would be your respect mural the first two glass panels slide back behind the third panel here so a nice welcoming entrance and opening into the space again marck up of what the seating will potentially look like it won't be plain white um it's it's just for the sake of the drawing but some more modern seating like you might find in a Panera like a little booth bench here circular Booth benches um we have more your traditional rectangular Booth benches against this wall we'll have some sort of wall covering here okay and you can see we scking with the the blacks and the golds that are the pway colors will the tables be well I guess that'll be Lou on whether it be circular or it'll be a mixture this is what was termed the locker Niche this is the little space next to the uh Commons cafeteria that I talked about that currently has some lockers um we'll remove those Locker Banks and we'll put some carpet tiles uh pain the walls and put some Booth seating some circular tables again some spillover seating for the cafeteria but it'll also be a more warm and and welcoming space that you know should the high school administration find other purposes for can certainly be used for that sample view of of that space there what I like about that view is you can see how it'll look in the administration see there all are bling next So currently the nurse's office is next to the DLC uh near the media center so that is being repurposed and reclaimed for the media center the Esports room and that first classroom that we showed you so we had to relocate the nurses suite and we're moving it to an oversized classroom that is just down the hall from the new cafeteria space you know close proximity um we had a lot of stakeholders involved in this process including uh Mrs immerman and principal Bano so certainly had a high school staff there and we've created this new nursing uh Suite here will be your entrance with a desk for the nurse we'll have some waiting seats we'll have three um tables or not tables um CS benches if you will with um colum tables okay with uh curtains so that they can be exam tables privately sealed okay and if you need true privacy we have this walled off room in the back okay which will have its own door and so we'll have real privacy for the issues that the nurse needs Merit going in there you know I think nurses stations get kids that come down they just don't feel well for they need to rest for a half hour maybe they ate something that didn't agree with them you know and these spaces can be used for that and we have two here inside the nurse's suite two individual bathrooms right now there's only one only one there only one you know we tried to think of you know storage there'll be refrigerator space we asked how much Cabinetry they need for for medicines um underneath this is like an elevated workspace and we can fit two to three wheelchairs in there um we made sure or you know as many of you know we have ambulance calls at the high school we have stretchers that get wheeled in so we talked about that and making sure a stretcher could be maneuvered in this space and this is the engineering class so this is the nurse's Suite here believe it or not this entire rectangle that I'm going around with the the pointer here was one classroom and from that we were able to carve out a nurse's suite and then we'll have a doorway entrance here that'll come down a hallway and we will have our engineering classroom in this space here and that has its own storage uh its own closet space to store a lot of their gadgets and things that the engineering classroom needs okay these will be tables with overhead pull down electrical cords um so that the engineering folks can uh plug in their equipment and do it at each of their their table work stations it's a little uh uh bright there but uh we'll have you know these are the tables a teacher desk this will be a marker board all the way across we'll have a promethium board um probably not desktops I think we'll have 3D printers uh they have a couple specialized printers for this type of class again different lighting uh we have similar lighting to this and if you recall a couple years ago we did our family consumer science room and we did some of this uh flat lighting like this really lights up the room well again modern feel and then the last part is upstairs the office suite so this space here is where the concrete steps come from the media center up to the the main office area and by eliminating those steps we're able to create a conference room and two additional offices up in the principal's main office area in Susan B Anthony building so weedo some of the uh the furniture here the flooring uh some of the paint and we will create this conference room um which will have window film going up six feet high for an element of privacy um we'll have two offices here for counselors um to be able to meet with students okay so that's the interior alterations project that uh we're planning a large project um the number the budget has escalated over over the months that we've been working on this but um again this is what we're going to do we Frank and I both felt it was important to explain to you what we're going to be doing to spend that capital reserve this money we've been saving because we're not going out for abonded debt this is how we intend to spend it I just want to give you a lot ofit a lot this right team not only the to this point it's not wasn't an easy T lot ofs lot ofes app all but also to be fiscal responsible it's linked to the um we discussed in our fiscal plans operations committee we have that investment account in the policy that money that we're making on an investment account that money that we have somewhere that we can actually Jersey asset rebate management system that money can also be put against these capital projects that in theend expensive thank you um the second project I want to touch on which is also going to be released out to bid in the coming weeks is an acoustical panel upgrade something we've talked about if you go back many years when we've considering a referendum uh it started initially with the banged up acoustical panels in the SBA gym at the high school uh replacing those and we expanded it to include the space over here which you know we just usize this evening board members know we have larger presentations we're over there and the Acoustics are terrible so we thought it was important to improve that space um we do s have students in this building so it's not just for board meetings it will have a better Purpose with some better Acoustics in there so this is the existing spaces the uh Susan B Anthony gym okay um and of course the board uh you all purpos right across the hall here so for the Susan B Anthony gym We'll be removing all of the banged up metal panels that are currently up there and replacing them with black perforated metal um and which it's currently perforated metal but the idea is a this perforated metal is newer and stronger okay but also we have better netting uh one of the problems that caused a lot of the damage were baseballs that were hit up in there uh for the team's practicing when they're indoors because it's raining or what have you outside we have better netting in such that we're confident that it won't be a damag the way the existing metal panels are are damaged eventually maybe but you know you know we'll we'll we'll get a good run out of this and in consultation with our architect we feel this is the best product so now the alumni when they come they can't say like that was my Deb okay from 30 years ago they can't say that Tom but what they can say is the reason we went with the solid black perforated medal is uh the athletic department is going to have banners for you know all the different sports programs and to recognize the achievements of the pasca sports teams better so we went with this solid black backing and we're going to hang be able to hang banners there to recognize all the great sports teams we've had over the years are all the same it'll just look like Y and we'll accent that with with a you know a yellow or gold again pway colors um on some of the steel GDs and such just to kind of break up the the color scheme I have another photo um in the next slide here to show you what we're talking about but um this project the other thing about the metal panels is when we actually Endeavor on this project it's not just taking the existing panels down and putting new ones up we actually have to rebuild the framing behind it because of new uh construction codes with framing so again you you pull the thread a little bit and you got a whole ball of yard all right but um again the beautiful thing about the position we're in I think everybody knows I don't just waste money but having that capital reserve gives us the the Comfort level so when we encounter a problem like that we can address it and fix it and do it right so this is kind of a side view um we'll have again panels gold or yellowish gold trim we'll paint the walls kind of like a light gray to just be a background color because we really want the the black and gold pop now concurrent with this one other thing um we recently bought two new scoreboards okay in that gym they need to be installed properly on the walls and we will have the contractor who's doing this install them in brand new locations so we are going to put we're not going to just replace the locations that the old scoreboards are currently in so we're going to put the the new scoreboards basically where they should be so if you have a a basketball court you would have one behind one basket and then opposite corner you'd have it behind the other basket so we'll hang one Scoreboard on that weight room wall okay which that was one of the first projects I did when I got to District was uh we did that weight room and we put the wall up um we'll hang one scoreboard there and then we'll put one on the opposite wall so it'll be like you would see at most uh high school basketball courts and gymnasiums the other thing I'm looking into uh is I am seeking quotes to replace the bleachers in the gy as well okay it's something we've talked about for many years I don't know if the janitors will be happy with that I'm sure they um so it's it's uh on our radar for many years uh it's not a part of this project there are two specialized vendors who do this type of work on either Co-op or state contract so I am seeking quotes from both of them and my goal is to have them also replace the bleachers in the summer okay so I don't have quotes yet um again having the capital reserve we can we can we should be able to manage it fine um soft I'm sorry will they be soft will they be soft they're bleachers they individual seats or would they be individual group or there'll be different options I'm meeting actually the first contractor out there tomorrow to kind of get it for him to see the space and to get a sense of what some of the options are yeah right then my next question is what about the patent that'll be a different project for a different day yeah but it's down the way yeah okay um every day has has enough trouble for itself look I have to ask inquire minds want to know the good news is is the both basketball teams and the main wrestling events are all in the SBA Gym Boys and Girls it's not like you know one group is over in Patton uh there are teams that use Patton and certainly we'll we'll take a look at address on that as well so stay tuned on information on the bleachers we'll run it through the fiscal planning committee um but hopefully we get that done as well and then really between the weight room uh the painted walls AC panels uh we refinish the floor every couple of years if we're able to do the bleachers we should have a sparkling nice new uh SBA gym uh for the students on the Comm well the only thing that would is still always lacking and always being asked about is the locker rooms that are associated with that gym because those are quite old and um that's something that down the road we take a look at look yep yeah something might scare you so once we get through some of these projects we'll reassess our capital reserve and you know the board will have decisions to make of of which way you know we go and then just a markup of uh the room across the hall we picked a uh this this is wrapped uh fabric wrapped foam that'll be mounted on the wall you can kind of see a sample here or an inspiration image went with different tones of blue and gray uh perhaps a little white mixed in and those will be mounted around the walls across there and should drastically improve the Acoustics from when we have musical performances or yeah across the hall or even like the uh demonstration we had tonight for the RC so that's it those are the two we got a lot of projects going on but those are two of the big ones coming up that you'll be seeing on an agenda and again Frank and I thought it was important to kind of give you a sense of the direction we're heading those Capital uh projects based whenever they're approved and stuff are would be trying to do them within this calendar year of 2025 or yeah so the acoustical panels in here should be no problem we anticipate the SBA gym to be able to be done in the summer this summer right okay uh our goal is to award the contract on February 13th which is our next board meeting if we're going to be out to bid shortly and it'll be out on the street for three weeks and then we'll open the bids the other project same thing we hope to word on February 13th we can open bids on February 11th um it's a tight aggressive timeline we'll we'll get the contractor in there as early as possible if paperwork's done and they can start doing some demo uh spring break is very late this week it's uh this year excuse me it's the middle of April if they can get a little work done then great if there's work that can be done while school's in session we've ready talked to Mr Balano about getting access to the space uh properly secured um as late as early excuse me as May at some point in May they'll work through the summer the I mean I'm not going to lie the ambitious architect Target was at October um yeah I'll be surprised if we're done in October I'll be honest okay right if we're done by December that's been around long enough to know how they go um but you know we we do um we do keep a schedule we keep a timeline and we make sure they're not slacking and uh it's certainly going to go into next school year the question is how long so obviously we'll continue to keep everyone informed thank you thank you thank you so much interesting interesting the progress we're making in the district leing the mass unit behind and coming into the Jetson land we're good uh personnel and Labor Relations Mrs Sado be it resolved that the following motions identified as items a through C be approved as presented second Mr secretary can you take the role Dr Connors yes Mr King yes Dr Nelson yes Mr Patel yes M Rivers yes Miss Smith yes Miss Stafford yes Mr Sado Cowen yes M Cherry yes motions Carri uh we have one committee report Dr Connor yeah the fiscal plans and operations committee met last night um Wednesday January 8th and we discussed 2025 2026 budget capital projects and more on the 2025 2026 budget school and Department budget meetings are ongoing the committee discussed the following budget items uh a 2% tax levy increase is about $2 million and we do have Bank cap of 1.6 million available uh our state aid is projected uh unfortunately to decrease this year due to uh state revenue challenges but the amount you know it's still unknown until the end of February uh and there are as everyone knows inconsistencies in the school funding formula uh that make the state aid um unpredictable health benefit expenses are on budget for the first six months of the 2024 2025 school year the preliminary budget estimate for health benefit expenses is expected by late January talk about uh kitchen equipment installation equipment was installed and several pieces of equipment are in use there's an electrical issue with the ovens and the p Pat kitchen which electrician and architect working on Dave just went over all of the Thea all the facility capital projects the highlights you know the talk about the media bid specifications are due released in two weeks and showed up the mo drawings and you saw a lot of that remodeling you saw about the acoustical acoustical upgrades um bid specifications are doing couple of weeks and the district is also pursuing quotes to assess the visibility of replacing the Anthony Lees like you said pcow School wood shop dust collection the contractor is planning to install structural steel supports on President's Day the dust collection unit is expected to be installed by the end of March scway High School this is a big one uh intercom clock system and it's not the clocks you know with the big hand and the little hand that's what I asked last night because sometimes kids can't tell time anymore through those it's they're actually digital clocks uh The District administration is reviewing the PCAT High School building survey to verify the intercom clock system needs and the district plans to award a contract in March 2025 and complete the project in the summer of 2025 solar panels it's a lot of discussion last night about solar panels uh Mr Ola reviewed the talva energy presentation summarizing the findings and options for solar panels at quibbl toown and pasca high school talva energy is also assessing canac and Shore as some of their panels the uh solar regulatory energy credits that's eseg generation will be expiring in June 2025 Mr L also noted the need for roof replacement at kbl toown estimated cost $5.8 million uh you know you got to put new roof on before you put solar r on and a proposal from spel architect for the roof design and construction process will be added to the board meeting agenda for approval the committee supported the district ownership model for new solar panels and replacing ctown roof Food Services um Universal free breakfast is going well Mr Ola noted that overall participation continues to remain strong uh reimbursable meal revenue for breakfast and lunch is up 35% and I want to make a link to that um respect hallway and now that you'll have that extra seating when kids come in in the morning to sit down to have the breakfast they'll also have extra seating to sit and have the breakfast um rather than walk through the hall and the feedback from students um is the youth advisory Council uh meetings it's been positive it's called Yak the uh Yak meeting was held at PCAT High School September and at Shore and Knack this week cob Town's meeting will be Friday January 10th and this is popular a chef day was held at Eisenhower in December with the featured meal being a Mac and Cheese Bar MLK at a chef Day schedule for Thursday January 9th and David always says the measure of how successful these things are it's when you look in the garbage the only thing left is the little cardboard boat there's no food left so they're eating all the food um um New Jersey school business legislative update uh me Dr Connors we discussed the new Department of Education public comment session related to the school funding Reform Act uh uh funding um AE 4563 which would create school funding portal Bill to the public and other bills up for discussion um I know we have our board uh uh uh our president of the patawe teachers Education Association but uh Joe is also member of the raway Board of Education and he attended one of sessions sponsored by uh Senator Vin goal um about school funding he said it was very well funded we are at the end of that period so they they have to look at modifying it and so uh there are sessions happening right now getting feedback from uh from local school boards and you know New Jersey School Board Association and other associations um business office update mentioned that investment account it's been a great it was a great idea committee reviewed the current balance on December 2024 NJ arm that's the uh asset Reb rebate uh management statement in current interest rates which are like a little over five somewhere in 5% so it's money that we would have in the bank anyway but we're actually investing it and making money on it and when Dave showed last night the capital projects how much it was that we've generated what about 1.2 million so far in interest that last fisc year last fiscal year that can be applied this year to these projects so if you just look at it that 5.8 million project because of that investment would really be a 4.6 because of the money we generated to that which was a great idea Dave you super super idea and uh and the and the transfer additional funds approved at the December board meeting has been set up and that's my report M thank you yes um being resolved that the following minutes be approved as submitted business meeting December 12th 2024 and the executive session December 12 2024 all favor I fiscal planning and operations Dr Connor law that the following motions identified as items a through H because there was one that was added um as a walk in be approved as presented second Mr secretary can you take the role just want a note for the board I'll correct it in the minutes but item e references uh the withdrawal being for the paving upgrades it's actually for the roofing upgrades at quible toown uh the project we just mentioned in the uh fiscal planning report so I'll make that change for the minutes but I just wanted to make sure that the board was aware I will take the role uh Mr King yep Dr Nelson yes Mr Patel yes M Rivers yes Miss Smith yes Miss Stafford yes Dr Connors yes Mrs Salado Cowan yes M cherry yes questions car uh we don't have anything for policy this evening so we're going to Madam just real quick um I I just um wanted to pass on to the chairperson of policy and also to the admin person David Rubin that I was going through the policies and um because it often gets contentious at times um School uh and facility names how we recently had renamed the uh football field Etc but when I read it it's not up to date in that um we still are referencing the board shall submit to the community relations committee and I'm just asking that you change it to the CC CCR so this is for you that's for for David rubben at your next policy meeting please just um on policy what number is it relations yeah policy seven whatever it's called just change it please so noted you got it Dave 7 7250 yep I give you one just gave it to me oh yeah okay district and I will give this to David after oh yeah oh you got the other one I'm looking for the other one okay okay fine I know I had two curriculum Mr pel be resolve that following motions identified as a through C be approved as presented second second Mr secretary King the Mr Patel yes Miss Rivers yes Miss Smith yes Miss Stafford yes Dr Connor uh yes Mr King yes Dr Nelson yes Mrs algado Cowen yes Mr Cherry yes motion is Carri PE Services Miss Nelson we have resolved that the following motion identified as item a he approved as presented the secretary can you take the role M Rivers yes Miss Smith yes Miss Stafford yes Dr Connors yes Mr King yes yes Dr Nelson yes Mr Patel yes Mr Salgado Cowen yes M Cherry yes motion carries administrative and auxiliary Miss Stafford be it resolve that the following motions identified as items a through F be approved as presented second just a Comm a comment on that one this one we're appointing um uh you know it's item C and item D and item e and on item D where I'm being uh appointed to serve as The District representative the New Jersey school board's delegated assembly is something we haven't been doing that I'm going to ask that we do is that the delegate assembly is you know represents like 600 school districts across the state and it its whole purpose is to uh come up with belief statements to Advocate our state legislator and uh their these resolutions what we haven't been doing and I haven't been sharing with you is the resolutions that that committee put wants to put forward so what what we're not really getting is it's more of a sense it's been myself determining whether I vote yes or no on it and I what I'd like to do because at the last as delegate assembly um they wanted there was a change in the bylaws to give more time for school boards to do that so what I'll be doing this year is right before delegate assembly a month meeting before uh I will tell you these are the resolutions that are being put forth because they're very pertinent issues and it will change the policy language of New Jersey school board's policy manual that they use to state legislator so I I will make sure that I do that this year thank you Dr Conor we're going to hold you to that yep no problem Mr secretary take Miss Smith yes Miss Stafford yes Dr Connors yes Mr King yes Dr Nelson yes Mr Patel yes M Rivers yes Mrs Salado Cen yes M Cherry yes motions carry old business any old business real quick the uh I will be continuing uh our board certification process uh there is a um next uh award a certif of certification called The Carol um El Larson Master board certification and so a board a board once they've got this award can go take two more years to get 10 credits which is like basically five sessions and so over the next couple years we be having like five special meetings in order to uh keep going with our high performing uh board and you'll be hearing from me about the first one in uh we'll work for our field representative Maryland uh Tre thank you anybody else with old business anybody with new business um I just want to um mention for the new board members that will be attending uh their weekend retreat of learning that we look forward to you guys coming back with oodles and oodles of knowledge all of us who have been through that process on this day as note that um in addition to it being a time of you know educating yourself and um learning what it means to be a dedicated servant um to this community it also is a time for you to um congregate with other um new board members around the seat and get new ideas um um to bring back here to our home SC so good luck on your adventures thank you and I'll see you there as one of the executive state officers so get together like we have all we do and I also wanted to um just personally as the new vice president of ourway school board um mention to um Dr relli um you know how nice it is sit next to you on the St now and um although you will be leaving us um I wanted to thank you for all your years of service away and um thank you now we're just going to sit here and stir each other no we're not motion to motion forment all in favor we leav here are you serious I'm e