required by law. The board would meet in close session at 6:30 p.m. in the Pitman High School Media Center. President shall entertain any objections to supporting reasons to the Congress of this meeting on the grounds that it violates the Open Public Meeting Act. Seeing none, good evening and welcome to tonight's board of education meeting.
Please join me in a moment of silence. Thank you. Please join me in a salute for the flag. >> I pledge allegiance 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. Okay, Mr. D, please call RO. >> Mrs. Bolton, Mrs. Pharaoh, >> here. >> Mr. Gman, >> present. >> Mrs. Higgbyono >> here. >> Mrs. Miller >> here. >> Mrs. Pepardo >> here. >> Mrs. Pope >> here.
>> Corum is 61. >> Perfect. >> Okay. So, this is going to bring us to our first public comment. Public comment um in the first session is only on agenda items. The Pitman Public School Board recognizes the value of public comment on educational issues and the importance of allowing members of the
public to express themselves on school matters. This is the first of two public comments we will have tonight. The first public hearing is hearing is on agenda items only. This is a public comment, not a dialogue between the board and the public. You will have three minutes to speak and to be recognized to speak, please come stand to the podium located
on my right. State your name, group, um affiliation of applicable and uh municipality of residents. Okay, seeing none, Mr. Status, do we have any correspondence? >> No correspondence. >> Okay. Um, I'm going to approve the minutes
outside of the presentations. I think that's Does that sound good? >> Okay. I will now move to accept a motion for the minutes of the Fitment Board of Education as held on the dates listed below are approved as printed and read dispensed. May I have a second? >> Second. Appala. >> Okay. All in favor?
>> Any objections? Any abstensions? Okay, seeing none, it says bring us to our first presentation and I will turn it over to Mr. Costa. >> All right, thank you very much. >> So on the agenda tonight is approval of a new ELA program in grades K to 3
called Amplify CKLA. Um uh tonight I'm just going to give you a presentation. I presented this to both HSAs at PES and Memorial last week. Uh went really well. Good turnout from parents, a lot of great questions. Um
and uh I think we got a lot of support after those two meetings. Would you say so, Dr. Preston? >> All right. Good. Good. All right. So, we'll go through this quickly. I already supplied this uh presentation to the board about a week ago. >> Uh timeline. So, the timeline just kind of goes over um from when Dr. Preston
and I first recognized the need for the new program or new high quality instructional materials all the way out till uh the ELA committee met and made the decision. Um we went through a process. That process included teachers, other staff, principles. Um, we wanted
to make sure that we had buyin for this before we move forward. Uh, simultaneously in July of 2025, New Jersey released a framework called called a guide to highquality instructional materials. Uh, this was important because it it it kind of linked in well with what we were doing
already. Uh, we had already taken these steps and this came out and kind of supported our work. Um, it also kind of gave us a pathway to to what we were looking to add. Uh, in other words, there was a rubric in there and and that rubric kind of uh pointed out some of the things that the high quality instructional materials would have or
need. And that's what that document looks like there. Um, from the ELA committee, we decided on two pilots. Amplify CKLA, which is the one we're adopting, and the other one's called Arts and Letters. Um the pilot teachers uh started in
January of this year and piloted for about three months. They did a unit each. Um we piloted in four grades, I'm sorry, with four different teachers uh through five six grades K to five. Um so four teachers did Amplify and four teachers did arts and letters. Um and
afterwards we surveyed them. So I sent a survey out to all eight teachers. Actually it was more than eight because we included uh special ed teachers too that were in the inclusion setting. And we asked them different questions um everything from teacher usability to supplemental and enrichment support um
whether the the program supplied uh in assessments and instructional resources. Um and you can see here in orange um we have the Amplify CKLA and in black we have um arts and letters and in every case uh amplify CKLA just just really
outshined through the teachers eyes the arts and letters. So um that was encouraging because it was wasn't like a ambiguous decision. It was really clear at least through their lens. Um some additional the items we surveyed them on professional support and training and
course content. Um we asked them about the strengths and weaknesses of the program to which I could go into detail but I sent this in advance. Um, and then I sat down with each teacher because I wanted to actually have a one-on-one conversation with everyone to see what their true
feelings were and to kind of vet it out just to make sure. And those conversations yielded some some really good things. Um, for Amplify CPL, we can see just just looking at this, there's a lot more pros than cons. And then for arts and letters, you have the inverse happening where there's a lot more cons
and pros. Um, this this presentation is also on our website right now under uh under the curriculum section on the district website um because I wanted everyone to have access to it. Um, a little bit about amplified CKLA
and I won't bore you with it. Um, but it's supported. Um, there's there's outside curriculum evaluators that have given it five stars in every way, shape or form. The Reading League was one of them. Ed Reports, which is another popular uh outside curriculum evaluator.
It meets expectations in every category that they have. Um it's built on the science of reading and there's been a lot of research done on this. Now, I cited a couple states actually in the um at the HSA meetings,
states that really weren't doing very well that are now really because that those states actually implemented regulation to support science of reading. um strategies or or research or best practices. Those states have gone through the roof. One example is
Louisiana. They went from 50th to 16 to 16th based on the NAPE assessment in fourth grade, which is really impressive. Also something called the Mississippi miracle out there right now, too. So, some really good stuff coming from the science of reading. Um this is a little bit more about the
science of reading and how it works. And that pretty much concludes the presentation. just wanted to keep it short because I know we have to get to the budget presentation. >> So that's it. Any questions? >> No, I we really appreciate all the
thought that's gone into this. This has obviously been a big undertaking, particularly on the heels of the math curriculum to have both of those core subjects just turned around so quickly after you guys have arrived. have been great and we feel like you've been incredibly transparent with us, the members of the public and sharing out
the programs and why they were chosen and working with staff to do so. So, >> and I have to credit the teachers too a lot for that. I mean, the the teachers that piloted, they got nothing extra. I mean, they did it because they cared. >> Um, even after that, we had some teachers with questions and we answered those questions and they were all on
board. I mean, um, it really was kind of a nice experience to go through it with that group of teachers, um, really in all in all the grades, but we ended up K to three and we'll continue to evaluate grades four and five and beyond that in the future and see where we end up. But for right now, I'm excited to bring this
on. I think it's an outstanding program. It's I've talked to districts in the area that are seeing great results and um, I'm excited for our Pitman kids to get it as well. So, thank you. >> Thank you. All right. So, sorry,
>> superend. >> Oh, super. So, >> first or >> um Yeah, and then I'll go. Sure. >> Then I'll cut some stuff out probably. >> Yeah, I want to just echo what Mer said. Thanks, Mr. Capiano, for your work on this. Um,
I I I did my best to try not to ram ram my my version through, too. I got I I I did ask Mr. C. I used to be an ELA supervisor back in the day. And so I was this is kind of near and dear to me, but way back in like their early teens. I started working on this this research before it was in vogue really, the whole
science of reading thing. Um, and uh, you know, it's it's a the arts and letters program is a is a program that I knew that I knew worked, but uh, you know, I really really wanted Mr. Calabiana to take this and run with it and the teachers to really get to see which program worked. And, you know, I
I've taken a look at Amplify as well. And I think it's just just as good if not better than um, what I've been accustomed to seeing. And just a testament to the process that you used, which is really good. You know, anecdotal, statistical, you know, here's where we are. I think one of the teachers said at at our final meeting,
let's rip the band-aid off. Let's do this now. Like, and I think I think that was great because they felt, you know, they were being led in the right direction. >> We you bring up a good point I didn't mention, which is both programs were were highly rated. I mean, we we didn't put poor programs or programs that didn't have, you know, best practices
behind them. They were really great programs. So, I think I was comfortable with whichever way it landed. And I think most importantly, we wanted our teachers to decide because they're the ones that are going to use it every day and it'll make a big difference in terms of the output we'll get from them. So, >> they're excited and um I'm excited too
as a result. >> Yep. >> Sounds great. They're the experts. So, >> they are. >> That's right. >> Um as far as the my report goes, uh security drills are were all conducted and um in a timely manner. There were uh pleased to report there were no HIVs. Um at our next meeting, I'll report the HIG
grades. We do have them in. They are posted online. We'll have a motion uh next uh month to actually adopt those grades. Um, one thing I want to bring to your attention that's not on the agenda that I thought might be on the agenda is
uh I' I've been in touch with uh Miss uh I guess it's Professor Mundrich of the uh sustainable pitman who's working with one of our teachers, Miss Pelaganis. Um they're they're working on a sustainable tree campaign for the town. Um, and I I did just want to run that by you because
it's uh it's exciting work that they're doing there. They had she had Miss Palaganis had kids from the environmental club draw uh uh logos for the club. Um to which I said I don't think this requires board approval, but I I will get the passive approval of the board that um you know I I I think this
is a this is a good effort in the town. Um, I think there there's been talk that at one point Pitman was like designated as a tree city that these efforts could make it redesated as a tree city. That's that that happens that happens often. You can kind of just tell when you get into the town. It's there's a lot of
trees and so I think that's a neat effort and certainly want to applaud the the students in the environmental club, Miss Pelaganis and Miss Mundrick for her support on that. So I'll get back to her, let her know that uh you know we can we can kind of move full steam ahead on that um referendum. Uh just a quick update on
the referendum. The track is now open. We have one thing left to do, which is to get a logo on there. Um and uh I got the approval of uh some track coaches, too, on the on the look of it. So, we're excited about that. We're just looking for one more rendering. I forgot to
update you guys on that. Uh Jason, I don't the architect is working on the rendering. I'll I'll I'll run it by you one last time just to make sure it's all good. Um but we're excited about that. But otherwise, it's it's it's uh fully functional. Now, um one other thing I
want to mention, we are starting demo on the boiler on Monday, May 4th, uh at PEES. And I'll get this in my my board brief that I send out to the community. Um it looks like the weather's actually turning next week for to the warmer. So, we shouldn't have to deal with we won't be contending with colder than usual
temperatures inside the building at PES, but we will be shutting off those boilers uh May 4th. And so, I'll I'll put a I'll put a little public service announcement out. I I believe Miss Mason already put that out. Um I don't anticipate it going much below 65 inside the building in the morning. I think it'll still be very comfortable. Um
lastly, the balorate. Um I know I've much anticipated. I did just hear from uh uh Pastor Mike Chapman of the United Methodist Church who uh you know we've been working the council of churches is planning this. They have a whole program developed. We are going to support that
in in the sense that uh we'll promote it for them as an optional as an optional service uh as something we're reviving in Pitman. The last time there was a back lawyer here I'm told was 2019. Um so we're excited about that. Uh likely will be at the Grove on May 28th in the
evening. I'll put that information out once I firm that up with him tomorrow. I did tell him that I would I would get that pass it okay from the board as well uh this evening. Um that concludes my report. >> Okay. Great. Right. >> Actually, yes. >> Do you want me to hop into the student
perhaps? >> Do we want to read it? >> You want to? >> It's It's on there. I mean, right. It's posted there publicly, right? >> Yeah. I mean, you can read it. So, yeah, that's fine. You want to read it? Okay. >> Yeah. I I told them I would. So, I >> Oh, yeah. That's what I Yeah. >> They're down in Florida, so I told them.
They said, "Are you you sure you're going to read it?" I said, "I'll read it." So, here's what they wrote. They said, "At Memorial, the students ended March with a visit from Tori and her critters. The fan favorite was a fret named Flea. All of her wild animals are rescues. Students learned so much about how they live and behave. The students
celebrated the week of the young child in preschool. As well, high school band members visited an instrument petting zoo for music Monday. The kitchen staff gave a special nutrition presentation for Tasty Tuesday. And they ended the week with a family picnic for family Friday. Service project this month. This
month included collecting cereal schoolwide for United Way and local food banks. Memorial collected over 150 boxes. Miss Patitos, our teacher of the year at Memorial, collected books for book smiles and Mrs. Rambo's class made planters for United Methodist Communities in Pitman. Memorial hosted
the first grade kind first grade and kindergarten parents for our annual VIP breakfast in April. Uh HSA hosted two great new events, kindergarten karaoke night and the first grade tall and small ball. Uh at PES, the students are kicking off the season with new clubs, garden club,
Lego club, pickle ball club, and coming soon field hockey club. Um, state testing starts the week of April 27th, which uh is is commenced already this year. NJSLA is adaptive, so the uh that will be new for teachers and students. The school continues to implement the new district character
education program. This month, students are focusing on the virtue of respect. Um May will be the ultimate I think it's it's called a cardinal virtue, love as the as the character trait. So students are earning tickets for exhibiting this trait and bringing role model students
and being role model students. Students also applied for the promising practice recognition through character.org. Uh spring brings lots of field trips. The sixth graders will head to Citizens Bank Park for a Phillies game as their final trip before entering the junior high. At PHS, the students had an exciting few events and days to enjoy before they get
ready for prom and youth week. Take your child to work day took place on Thursday, April 24th, where students had the opportunity to go to work with their parents or meet their children, their teachers children. The seniors enjoyed the movie day as a result of winning academic spirit week in early March. Students in art and choir took a trip to Apple Farms to perform at their theater
and enjoy the day at the farm. Student council painted the senior high bathrooms and plan to put up decals and order shelves and other necessities. Students are looking forward to the potential uh to the for the speedball tournament and youth council opportunities during youth week, which is next week, the same week as teacher
appreciation week, as well as prom taking place on May 14th at Scotland Run. Um, so thank you to Abby and Emily for uh uh taking care of that. >> That's great. This reminds me. Okay. All right. So, I
have a kind of laundry list of things mostly legislative advocacy kind of stuff. Um, I want to thank Dr. Preston. He and I were able to present to the New Jersey um assembly budget committee and then Mr. Mr. Stratus and I were able to
com to sorry provide testimony to the New Jersey Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee. Um, and I want to thank Mrs. Higgbyono and Mr. Pulpiano for joining us in our kind of trek up to Trenton for the Assembly and Newark for
the uh the Senate. So, we appreciate everybody kind of continuing to share out some of the challenges that the funding formula has has made for Pitman. Um just taking a I tried to oh so one of the things I do just want to reiterate to members of the public I know as a board we've collectively talked a lot
about it but Pitman is only being funded to 75% of our what the state has allocated for funding this year. So because of those three and six% caps that they started last year which is again not something that's been legislatively dictated. It's just something that the department of ed is
doing at at their level. um it means that Pitman lost out on nearly $1.7 million of funding that the formula for the first time, you know, allocated to us and that we didn't receive. So, that's one of the challenges that we want community members to be made aware of as we continue to move through the
season and um as the Senate and assembly dial down and look at. >> I did just do a rough analysis of that too when you get asked about all the state aid summaries. It's the lowest in the county by a margin too. Um I think the next lowest would be like at 86% I think I saw. And what's interesting is
it really reflects it's frustrating and it also reflects on some of those stability factors that are levers within the funding formula that are designed to create less volatile um es and flows, but we just happen to not >> be on the wrong side. >> Yes. Consistently, no matter how it
shakes out. So, that's going to be kind of one of the ongoing conversations as the Senate and Assembly begin to work with the new governor and identify if there's any relief to be had through funding formula revisions. Um that's something we'll kind of keep our ear to the ground. I didn't really know that that was something that maybe had some
steam, but I the rumor is that there may be some relief um coming. So, we hope that it makes its way down to South Jersey and is not just in central Jersey. April 8th was the NJSBA school finance committee meeting and we're hoping that'll be more active as we go.
Um April 16th I had the opportunity to attend the Glouester County Teacher of the Year lunchon. Mrs. Papedo and Mrs. Chapman were able to come so that was really great. Mrs. Wilden was chaperoning um at >> te clock. >> We still pick up 9:00. Oh, >> I'll get it if you're listening.
>> So, yeah. So, instead of the lunch and she was, but I hear lots of uh groups are moving on in teen arts to the state level. So, congratulations to them. But it was a really nice event. We loved having the opportunity to sit and hear from our teachers of the year. >> Um I was bummed. I had I missed the jazz
festival on the 24th. I didn't get home until too late in the day. I don't know if any members of the board were able to attend. I know it's tough. Yeah. >> Um, this se on the 7th we have the Glouester County Schoolboard Association countywide meeting. So, I was trying to
get a head count to see who's going. I know you're going. Okay. Melissa and >> I'm not sure what is May 7th. >> Yes. Mrs. Pot and Mrs. Frell are being recognized for their certified board member status. And >> to let you know, Mr. Gman, I sent an email as well today to follow up on your
ongoing transcript. >> I got the answer. >> Oh, you did? The class I took, I needed to complete all three of the webinars to get full credit for it. So, I got partial credit. >> Can you go back and complete them? >> Thursday the
>> Oh, if you want it was absolutely elementary and rudimentary training and it it was >> Yes. Okay. Well, let me know if you want me to continue to follow up. That's my very favorite thing is making follow-up phone calls. So, not my favorite. School finance is my favorite, but um you >> know what time that is? Is it 600? It's
at 6 at Adelfias. >> When is it? >> Pardon? >> When is it? >> Um the 7th. Thursday night 6 p.m. at Adelfi next week. >> So if you have an opportunity, please register. Administrators are always welcome to join us if you'd like. It's a
really wild party. This meeting also um has teachers of the year. >> Yes, >> the Glster County teachers of the year will be there as well. Um the next thing on the calendar is going to be on May 12th. I'll be attending the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee hearing with the Department of Education. Um we have a new
commissioner, so it's an opportunity to hear her speak. It will likely mirror some of the conversations that they have at the Assembly, but the questions I find from the Senate um budget commission budget committee to be very helpful in kind of understanding where we think that the process may go. Um we had some Dr. president and I had an
opportunity to meet with Senator Burch Kelly today regarding the fund of regarding funding and so I feel like he gave us some insight as to how the process is shaking out this year and hopefully we can continue to advocate for some additional relief. Delegate assembly is scheduled for May 16th.
Dave, are you able to attend? Perfect. And then May 18th is just a New Jersey school board finance committee. I also have a meeting this Friday just to advise the board since I usually speak on behalf of the entire district with Assembly Majority Leader Greenwald as part of a a u funding formula group that
Mrs. Tinkle up in um Haden Township. That's right. >> I always want to say Haden Heights. >> There's a couple there's a couple other people but >> involved but you two are leading. >> Yeah. So there's a group of us meeting with his staff to discuss some of the funding formula revisions that we think would be advantageous for the
legislature to consider. Um, and then the other item I want to put on the board's um, radar is I know that we assigned a small group. It was Mrs. Papalardo, Mrs. Bolton and Mrs. Higgiono for the the shared board goals. Okay. If you
guys have an opportunity in the next I went back to the meeting that >> you don't remember volunteering for that. >> Did you make eye contact when I was looking around the room? >> I volunteered it after Sarah had already. >> You volunteer. >> I was I would never. That would sound
very accusatory. I would never. Okay. So, I think that we need to finalize those details and then we will need to start our CSA evaluation so that we can have that board approved before June. So, we'll have to have I already talked to Dan as part of my followup today. Um, have Mr. Long a race notice in advance
of whatever meeting we have. So, if you guys could kind of finalize that work product and share it out maybe a week before maybe before committee meetings and then we can start our individual evaluations because I would really like to be ahead of >> the ball game this year um because
sometimes we have board members that have other commitments as we get into June and we need to have a board approved. >> Say that again. >> Eight points. >> Eight points and you know I'm not losing a few sack point not having it. I'll look through the file myself like what we're not not on the board side. So say that again. So you would like it
>> I'd like it the week before the the committee meetings. Yes. So that everyone has that in hand >> next week. >> Next week >> already. Yeah. Because so late. >> So yeah, we moved our committee meetings to the 12th. >> Yeah. >> Because of the there's a couple night
events here. There's the ASA thing conference. >> Wait, so when are the committee meetings? >> May I tend to set them for May 12th. >> Okay. including >> for that Tuesday because we can't do it Wednesday. >> I think everybody had a conflict for that 13th.
>> Okay. So, okay. So, >> we'll get on it. >> So, I'll be in Trenton. >> Okay. We don't have to do it that that day. >> No, we can do it that day. I just will have to call in from the road probably. I I imagine it'll wrap up at some point, >> right?
>> I mean, if I'm still there. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Where is it? >> The hearing Trenton State House. So our meeting is the committee meeting is 12th and >> the 20th is our board meeting. >> Right. That's right. >> So if we could have it by the 12th.
>> Okay. >> So that we're going into the eval with that document in front of us because I think that >> we talked about like those goals and that'll help us focus. Okay. And then >> um that's it. That was my last item. I apologize. Okay. So that's going to take us to the first item on the agenda for
the presentation for the budget. Yes. >> That sounds good. I'll stand out. >> I'll make it work. Um, most people try to avoid long conversations about money and uh, tonight we've scheduled one on purpose.
Um, so we talk about this all the time. Budgets aren't glamorous, but they are meaningful. They signify where where we want to go, what we want to do. Um, so these these these next couple slides you'll see are are not just bullets. Uh, you know, not I didn't want canned
bullets. I wanted to talk about the things we're actually doing. Really think about what the teachers are doing, what the administration and in in concert with building leadership is is uh striving towards. And so that's what these bullets are all about. Um, on this slide you'll see that
um, you know, you used to see we used to have something up there very general. used to say, "Continue to offer the highest quality services and programs to our students." That's still very much absolutely true, but I didn't want this section to turn into a list of canned statements. I wanted each bullet to
actually reflect where we are and where we're trying to go as a district. So, the first piece is expanding high impact pathways and partnerships to ensure a premier competitive K12 experience. Um, that's happened in blistering speed and that really is just outreach. Uh, you
know, obviously Mr. you've you've done some tremendous work with Salem County, uh RCSJ, um all kinds of partnerships that exist that that hadn't existed just 12 months ago. And so the and we're getting that word out. Students are excited about it and so we're we're also
excited about it. Uh I'd be remiss the second bullet, I'd be remiss not to name the context we're doing this in. Uh the health care uh increases and tuition costs are rising very very sharply. That's a a conversation point we we we spent some time talking with uh Senator
Berselli with as well today. Um costs are up significantly including about an 18% increase in healthcare alone. Uh highest I've seen in my career doing this uh by about 10%. Um and so it was it was really quite unprecedented. So
really these two things healthcare and tuition were were tremendous. And this was shared. I know this is a national narrative you'll see. Uh but certainly it it hits home and causes us to make uh difficult decisions with our budget. Um I I know Mr. Datus shopped it
aggressively, went all around. Uh in that discovery, you found that we were actually fortunate to only be hit at 18. >> Um I I heard somewhere today or yesterday that some somebody in North Jersey or South Jersey, southern New Jersey was 45% healthcare hit. So pretty
pretty tremendous stuff we're talking about here. Um several millions of dollars in these big districts. Um uh so we have to be thoughtful about and a little creative about how everything moving forward. Um at the end of the day, what this is really coming comes down to is pretty simple and really our
goal that I reiterate now. We need to retain students by expanding what we offer and build innovative programs that not only serve the students that we have, but bring students back into the district. That's how we get out ahead of these this
constant cross your fingers for budget season. And so I I just want to reiterate that again. That's really our priority is here. And you'll see in the next slide is how do we not only preserve programs but keep keep them in homeostasis such that students will want to come back student
not want to but they'll they'll they'll be able to because we'll be able to offer the programs necessary for them to come back. Um how do we do this? Uh we we work around college and career pathways. We reduce the the the amount of students leaving for GCIT which is happening in real time. The numbers are
precipitously dropping of students leaving. testament of course to our collective effort efforts of our teaching staff. We talk all the time together in in meetings about how we how we redesign instruction, how we we make things more engaging for students, make it an experience they don't want to
leave. And that that just translates right on up. And I know it's I I look at Mr. Datizio in the audience. Sorry to point you out, but um they're they're really our our heavy sales people um you know, seventh and eighth grade teachers because they they're right there. those kids are deciding with them every day right on the front lines and they do a
great job um you know telling the truth that this is a a great place to be. Um I brought my kids on last Thursday. Um and the whole car ride home there was it was a big well maybe we should go to Pitman next year which we've cleared. That's that's a possibility. And they just said it was really a neat place. It feels
like a private school and uh that that feeling is something I think we need to really engender and and really get get the word out. And that's that's what we're attempting to do. But other ways to actually do this, ways that we actually keep the local tax levy as low as possible while continuing to investigate ways to efficiently operate
the district. That's a mouthful. Um, thinking about uh we're adding a BCBA in the budget. Uh, BCBA is a board certified behavior analyst. They are valuable to districts because they offer uh really intensive support for special ed services. They act, they can perform
functional behavior assessments. They can train um instru our existing instructional aid staff to become RBTs which are reg registered behavior technicians. They can prov which then in turn can provide ABA services to our students. Uh which would prevent and I
saw it in real time in my previous district when we hired a BCBA. Actually, she's a Pitman resident. Um uh students just kind of funneled back in because those services were provided. We could we could we could advertise that we offer them because we do offer them. So that is built into this budget. Um and
that's one of the one of the things where I say expand special education support services. Um again just starting off with preserving all programs fairly straightforward and self-evident. We built the budget to preserve all our programs. We're also able to restructure some lease agreements in our buildings
which added revenue back into the budget. That is on the agenda tonight as well. Um those revenues will be up uh significantly. that helped really helped offset the cost of that 18% healthcare uh adjustment. So, we're really fortunate in that sense. Uh fortunate to
partner with Washington Township. I'll get word out to the residents around walls that that school will be operational starting in September as well. I've already talked to a couple of the uh residents just on the street because they don't have kids in the district. So, they just kind of want to know what's going on. And I know to your to your Mr. Catabiana reminded me that
we really should kind of physically mail it or or walk around and just let them know um that that that will be coming and there'll be a painful maybe 20 minutes in the morning during drop off. Um a big part um of our momentum is is in instruction and I think it's often when
we talk about budgets we lose sight of what what our core mission is and our core product is is designing really good instruction. What Mr. Calabiano talked about with our ELA, with our with our not just our programs, with our people, what they're delivering, what they're giving to kids, the getting kids up and
around. Our our most recent our most recent professional development day, we talked about uh what's called total participation techniques, getting kids out of their seats and knowing mapping the brain science on, you know, how much I mean, I'm talking to you now. I'm doing the opposite of what we want to do, right? getting you up talking um
getting your, you know, your neurons firing more so than when you're just passively receiving something like a budget presentation. So, you know, one of the things we we we we focus on is those high quality instructional materials, ELA, K to3 envisions math, continue to support those. Um and so
we're really excited to to to again build on that momentum. Um another major major focus uh is building systems that support our earliest learners so they can start in district and stay in district. We're working toward that through the the creation of a PSD classroom, which is a preschool disabled
classroom, along with strengthening special education supports. Um, and so it's really this theory of if you build it, they will come. Um, we we we have to kind of take that step, and that's that's what you'll see in the increase in the budget, as Mr. Draatus will talk in a second. Um it's a little bit it's
slightly higher than what we presented in March uh because we took a little bite out of the >> enrollment adjustment which is just a fancy way that says you can increase taxes a little bit more based on the fact that your enrollment has ticked up. That will allow us to support in in part
what we want to do with the PSD preschool disabled classroom and with our BCBA which will support that particular program. Um, and so, uh, you know, we're excited about these things. We we think that, uh, you know, eventually they'll help us
to self- sustain. Um, and, uh, I'm going to turn it over to Mr. Stratus now to talk about the the ins and outs of the actual budget, the numbers, the revenues, um, and all the things that are necessary in a budget presentation. >> Okay. >> All right. It's been a it's been an
exciting and difficult month working through these uh these adjustments since the tenative budget in March. Uh I do want to say working with Dr. Preston and Mr. Calibiano, uh the time that's been taken to really look at every single thing together has been something that I
haven't been able to experience before. So, thank you for, you know, giving me that time and and working through that with me, giving guidance. Uh it's really helpful to uh to work together on that. So, I just wanted to jump to uh we already talked about the programs um
and building capacity for these specialized programs, optimizing the use of district facilities, increase revenue. That's directly related to the lease that's on the agenda tonight. And then moving into maintenance. So, maintenance is this allocation is going to increase the next year. Uh we are supporting the safe operation of all
five buildings. It's not just our three, but we still need to protect and and preserve the other two while we have tenants. So, we want to invest in that and continue to make those safe places. Uh, food service and panther clubs serve as enterprise funds in the district and they're meant to break even and when
they do have profits, we're able to reinvest in those programs. The dollars are a little bit smaller than our overall budget, but they still contribute to positive environment, positive uh operations. So, uh those are going well. And then looking at the reserves, we want to keep an eye on these reserves.
These levels are really important to the foundation of our budget in our district going forward. Uh the goal for me is to just be responsible and repeatable. Not that we would use the same amounts every year, but that we would try to maintain them in that responsible zone where we feel that uh that we're funded
appropriately. So that's important to go forward with. Okay. So, here's a little history of the revenue imbalance between the two major funding sources for uh school aid, the state aid. We know as we mentioned
increased 6% for next year, but that does leave a 1.7 million short of what the formula says that we should be at. So, uh this just shows the history. So, you can see local has increased over the overall part of the pie. We just want
that to slow down as much as we can. Not much of that is under our control, but that is our goal. We want to be able to slow down that local piece as soon as possible, as soon as uh it makes sense for our overall operation. All right, managing spending. We want you to be able to see the last few years
and where things have gone. Uh general is general fund. That's our operating fund where most of our items live. Special is a special fund, which is for grants. And then debt is for debt service. and for paying the debt on the referendums. So, pointing out a couple
things there, especially across the debt line, you'll see in the 2526 year, the current year, there's a slight dip. That was the final payment on an old referendum. And now going into 2627, we'll have our first payment on the new referendum. So, that is a tick up. And
to, you know, kind of give away the the story here, that's going to go up to about 1.6 6 million in the 2728 year and it will live there for the entirety through 24 or sorry 204546.
So about 1.6 million from there forward. All right. Special revenue as far as grants. Uh that one's slightly lower in the future year. We would expect that to normalize. Uh we hope to have a little bit of an adjustment upward once we get final numbers on that.
Okay. tax impact. Again, these are estimated tax impacts based on what we've discussed and what we have in the in the budget. We wanted to be able to show you the difference between the overall tax impact and what the referendum portion
would be. So, you see in parentheses how much of that is attributable to those uh payments that are due on the new referendum. So average home of $240,000 is expected to be around $20 a month and just over half of that is due to the
referendum portion. Uh what's different from March, I just want to call it out because we added the piece from the enrollment adjustment. It ended up being a dollar more per month than what we had presented in March. Okay. Now, this slide again, this is
repeating what we showed in March, but an update to show that the the $75,000 is included from the enrollment adjustment, making a total percentage increase of 3.98%. And our total amount applied of 17.1 million in the local levy. The allowable
amount are all of the adjustments that were available to the board to use in this future budget year, almost $17.5 million. So, there are some components that were not utilized. If all were to be utilized, the percent increase was
6.1%. So there's about 2% left off the table there. was utili is utilizing in the tax levy is that uh there was prior banked cap that is not expiring. Um it does expire after 3 years and then we have a new bank cap being created here because of
the difference between the maximum authority and the levy being struck. So that total amount will be available in a future budget if the board would choose to use it. Um, also need to let everyone know that the board received a report tonight that identifies the revenue and
appropriation accounts that have changed since the advertised budget was published, which was last week. And so, the county office received our budget in March and now we have some changes as we mentioned. The board has those details and uh and will be part of what you know the information that we provide for you.
So, that is what I have. Thank you very much. And I know, you know, especially after this difficult month, that we are doing this for the purpose, no other purpose than serving the community and these students as best we possibly can. It's tough, but I'm glad to be fighting
with you guys for the best thing we can get. >> Um, no, I just want to say thank you. I know that every budget season is difficult, but I think that as we continue to try to grow programs, it's um always a balancing act. And I know
that we as a board have shared a common goal of creating additional supportive services particularly for our elementary school students um in terms of what we're able to offer and in turn supporting our staff so that they're able to best meet the needs of all kids. So we appreciate you guys kind of
budgeting that priority and um we hope it's able to kind of serve everyone in the community. And the only other thing I'd like to add is I would just like to remind homeowners that assessed value is different than your market value. So, you can find those on your tax statements. But if you're looking at that number and saying, "But my house
could sell for $400,000. What does this mean?" Um, it may not be what you're thinking. So, we would just ask you to check the county website or your most recent tax bill for that information. >> Thanks. It's good.
>> Any questions for other members? All right. Thank you. Right. This is going to bring us to a public comment. And this is the public comment that is only on the budget presentation. So if you would like to participate in public comment regarding the budget that was just presented, you have three minutes
to speak. Please state your municipality of residents, your group affiliation if applicable and go to the podium located to my right. Okay. Seeing none, I will recommend a motion to approve the
following resolution as written. May I have a second? >> Second. >> Okay. Any discussion? Okay. Seeing none, Mr. Draz, please call the vote. >> Mrs. Frell, >> yes. >> Mr. Gman,
>> yes. >> Mrs. Siono, >> yes. >> Mrs. Papalardo. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Pope. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Miller. >> Yes. >> Motion carries. >> Okay. Thank you. I'm sorry. I do want to make one more additional comment. I really You should take like the
microphone away and I should go find a different seat. I do just also want to remind taxpayers um and members of the public that we did have the option to increase our taxing authority by the number that was shared this evening. Um the board really struggled with making
sure that we were minimizing the impact on our local taxpayers. were taxpayers, all of us, we recognize um it's incredibly challenging, not just from your school taxes, but from the municipality and costs kind of going up across the board. So, um for example, taking advantage of the healthcare
adjustment will actually only cover 42% of one year's increase in the health care cost. So, even with that increased taxing authority, it doesn't allow us the opportunity to continue to support the existing staff that we actually have today. Um, so it's very difficult and
challenging to kind of balance all of those things. So we just wanted to make people aware that those were some of the conversations happening um in the various committees. But that will take us to our finance and facilities committee. So I'm going to turn it over to Mrs. Pope. Okay. Uh finance and
facilities committee met on Wednesday, April 22nd, 2026 at 3:30 and the meeting lasted an hour. In attendance, Dr. Preston, Mr. Dstratus, Mrs. Miller, Mrs. Bolton and myself uh were in attendance. We talked about some of the items on the
agenda tonight. Numbers 1 through six are the regular paying of bills and closing out the month of March. Number seven is a transportation agreement. Number eight is the lease agreement for Kindle and Wall School. Number nine is the neutrerve agreement and number 10 is
a disposal request for an old print press. We also discussed the logo for our new track which has recently opened and the referendum projects which are moving forward. With that, I'll make a motion to approve items 1 through 10 as written.
>> I have a second. >> Second. Hy. >> Any further discussion? >> Okay. Seeing none, Mr. Stratus, please call the vote. >> Mrs. Frell, >> yes. >> Mr. Gman, >> yes. >> Mrs. Higgono, >> yes. >> Mrs. Papalardo, >> yes. >> Mrs. Pope,
>> yes. >> Mrs. Miller, >> yes. carries. >> Thank you. Curriculum and instruction. I will turn it over to our committee chairwoman. Uh the curriculum and instruction committee met on April 22nd, 4:30 in attendance were Mrs. Miller, Mr.
Gman, Dr. Preston, Mr. Cultiano, and myself. Um the committee discussed some issues related to the continued development of schedule for next year and then we spent the remainder of our
time discussing Mr. Cultivano's appearances at PS and Memorial HSA meetings to discuss and take questions on the from parents about the new language arts curriculum that
was presented earlier tonight. Um, and that will be introduced in kindergarten through third grade, I think, next school year. Both meetings went well and parents are excited about the new program. Um, we also discussed briefly the Envisions math curriculum
that's being used, if I have this right, it's going to be used in sixth through 8th grades next year. So we use a K to five >> that's already used >> in algebra one two in geometry and we close the the gap in the middle six to eight next year.
>> Okay. >> And that's about it. So with that I move to adopt items 1 through 36 as written. A second it always >> second. >> Any discussion?
Okay. I'd just like to wish all of our retirees a happy and healthy and very lengthy retirement. We appreciate all of their years of service to this year. Um, okay. Seeing no further discussion, Mr. Stra, please call the vote. >> Mrs. Frell, >> yes. >> Mr. Gman, >> yes. >> Mrs. Higono,
>> yes. >> Mrs. Papalardo, >> yes. >> Mrs. Pope, >> yes. >> Mrs. Miller, >> yes. >> Motion carries. >> Communication and policy alternative over committee chairwoman, Mr. Ferrell. Uh, the communication policy committee met on April 22nd, 2026 at 5:30 p.m. In
attendance were Mrs. Papalardo, Mrs. Higgy Iono, Dr. Preston, Mr. Kabiano, and myself. On tonight's agenda is the second reading of policy 5112, which is a revision of the entrance age policy with clearer language. The policy states
that a child entering preschool must be at least three years old, but younger than 5 years old as of October 1st of the school year. Um, also in our meeting we discussed the use of AI and the possibility of allotting specific time for technology use in the classroom
throughout the day. So with that I move to adopt items one as written. >> Okay. May I have a second? >> Second. >> Any further discussion? >> Okay. Seeing none, Mr. Data, please call the vote. >> Mrs. Frell,
>> yes. >> Mr. Gman, >> yes. >> Mrs. Higono, >> yes. >> Mrs. Yes. >> Mrs. Pope, >> yes. >> Mrs. Miller, >> yes. >> Carries. >> Okay, this is going to bring us to our third public comment. Um, if you'd like
to be recognized to speak, please stand at the podium located to my right. You need to state your name, municipality, or residence, and group affiliation if applicable, and limit your comments to three minutes. Hello everyone. Sorry if this doesn't go the way I practice. I'm on the young side on public speak like you guys a
lot. Um but for those of you who do not know me, my name is Brian Tortella. I'm I live in PSboro. I'm from PSboro. Um, I was a tuition student at Pitman High School throughout last school year, which was my junior year, until my tuition contract was terminated, and I was given the ultimatum to withdraw for
what was called gross disrespect by the administration for having an alleged tone in my voice when I was asking questions to the high school secretary. Anyone who knows me knows my character and knows that this is not the type of person I am, and I still stand by the fact that I never carried myself in a disrespectful way. However, I had to
pull myself together and start fresh at Woodstown High School. In my year and a half at Woodstown since my dismissal from Pitman, I have zero discipline and I'm a straight A student. The reason why I'm speaking amongst you today is because I still actively spend time with the friends I made at Pitman. I'm active
in this community. I drive 25 minutes three to four times a week to play pickle ball at Akinson with all my friends um from PHS. We often go out to eat. We hang out almost every weekend. With that all said, most recently I plan on attending Pitman High School's prom. The girl that was taking me submitted
the out of town permission slip form two weeks ago and which was approved. It was approved by the high school counselors and the class adviserss that manage prom. She was able to purchase my ticket which she still has in her possession. I was all good to go until the high school principal called her down 3 days later
and said that they can't have me here offering no explanation. Since then, my principal at Woodstown, his name is Richard Senior, personally called the principal of Pitman to advocate for me to attend the event, saying that I've been a great student there with zero record. He informed me that all she said that she was firm was
her that she was firm with her decision and that that she did not elaborate. With that all said, I have a letter here from Mr. Calabiano from the time of my dismissal last year that says I am allowed to attend all school sanctioned athletic events. I have a few copies if anyone wants one.
Um, I cover high school sports all across across South Jersey. It's I'm the youngest reporter in South Jersey. I love doing it. Uh, with that being said, I know several administrators that I have a great relationship with. I have talked to a few about how the situations like this are handled and every single one has told me that they have never
seen an instance where a person is prohibited from one singular event and allowed at everything else. Let me be clear. I have attended numerous Pitman High School sanctioned events along with other school athletic events along with other school sanctioned events such as Mr. Pitman since my submiss dismissal 15
months ago. Not once have I ever violated event guidelines or caused a problem. Um, you know, I love this community. I love this town. Like I said before, these kids are all my friends. Um, in fact, one of the student representatives here, Abby, um, I'm going we rent a prom house for prom
weekend. Everyone goes down to shore after prom. I'm I'm going with her to her house, you know. Um, one of the board members who's not here today cuts my hair still every 3 weeks. I just want to go to prom with my friends. I have no ill intent. I love this community. And, you know, I know it's going to be tough
task for you to go against your principle, to convince all of you to go against this principle over of dance, but you know, I've improved over the last 15 months. And I think you guys should do the right thing and allow me to go. And that's all I ask is that you consider it. Thank you.
Thank you. >> Thank you, >> Mr. Tortella. You're welcome to share anything that you'd like to share with the board via email or you can send it directly to Dr. Preston and he can share it out. I know you had indicated you have other information. >> Okay. Thank you. Do we have any Oh, sorry.
Hello. My name is Eileen Tortellas. For those of you who don't know me, I am Brian's mother. We reside at 443 Billingsport Road in Psboro, New Jersey. I'd like to thank you all for taking the time to hear us out today. I know you have a lot more urgent issues, but I felt compelled to be here tonight
because uh I know what I I need to know what the reasoning is for Brian not being granted permission to go to the prom um and why it was revoked by your principal. I know that there's a lesson here somewhere. I'm just not sure what it is. When we were asked to withdraw this year last year, it devastated Brian
and caused him and my family much mental distress, which I do not care to share more at this meeting. Um, I but I explained to him that life was not always fair, that we had to go on and live and learn from the situation. He made many friends while he was here, both students and family as he mentioned, and has maintained close
contact with them. As Brian previously stated, he has done well at Woodstown, maintains a straight A average. He holds down a job and tort reports, which affords him all his own spending money for gas, phone, and he's becoming what I'd like to think is the responsible young adult. He poses no threat to
anyone in this town or anywhere else. So again, I pose the question, why this? What is the reason behind this situation? We were given no elaboration on it and told we were not entitled to one. Um, I'm thinking that he's apologized more than once for the tone
in which he carried. And I appeal to all of you. I'm sure you all have experience with teenagers that have a tone from time to time. Um, I would like to think that the people in this town are Christian enough to afford him forgiveness for an infraction that contain no found language, no violence. And I would like to believe that the
signs that I see throughout your school speak to the students that speak to the students about bullying also apply to the teachers as well. that a student should not should be denied a privilege just because someone does not like them personally. I would hope that the decorum within these walls
and is professional enough to recognize that and to concern themselves with the psychological damage that it can inflict on a person when practices like this are permitted to exist. I understand that someone can give me like and unless someone can give me another reason as to
why he was denied, I see no lesson in this judgment. I only see the cruelty behind the bully behind this decision. So, I hope that uh you respect my time as much as I respect yours and someone will get back to us about this.
>> Thank you, Mr. >> Okay, seeing no further public comment, is there any old business? Any new business? Okay, I'll entertain a motion to adjurnn. >> So moved to pass Florida. >> Have a second.
>> All in favor? >> I noted. Our next regular board of education meeting will be held on May 20th at 6:30 p.m.