All right. So, we'll start the meeting. Um, may I have a roll call, please? >> Here. Please join me in a flag salute and pledge of allegiance. >> I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America to the
republicy. Pursuant to the requirements of the open public meetings act, advanced notice has been given to the star ledger. the record and the clerk of the village of Ridgewood. In addition, notices were posted in the office of the board
secretary in an all school buildings. Uh this meeting uh is really um a public meeting and then after our public comment, we'll go into executive session. So, but we wanted to have an opportunity to have public comment. And
before we start, um, you know, we've heard from many parents in the Glenn school area and, um, and community members. And so before we start, I thought it would be helpful if Dr.
Schwarz would uh give an update on some of the work. We have been very working, the staff here has been working very hard to look at our alternatives, to look at um, what we can do. So, um, Dr. Schwarz, if you would, please.
>> Sure. Thank you. Thanks everyone for coming and being out here tonight. Um, and thanks for everybody who's listening and taking the time to be a part of of our process here. So, as everyone knows, we're in a difficult budget season. Um, we've had really extremely extreme rises in our healthcare costs. And so, at our
meeting on Monday, we provided some context for some cost-saving measures. One of those costsaving measures uh that I know that we received a lot of communication about. I'm sure some folks are here tonight about is a proposal to reduce the amount of courtesy busing that we offer. So, interestingly um uh
you know this is a we've been trying to really understand how courtesy busing is delivered in the district historically. Um we have a policy and a regulation related to busing and there's some there's some neighborhoods that are indicated as being included in it but not all of the not all the language is
clear. So, we wanted to make sure that we gave a good faith signal that this is now something that's on the table that we're looking at as a potential uh one of the many potential options for closing the budget. So, I want to be clear, we're also looking at reducing positions. We're looking at um engaging in various revenue generating
strategies. We've already brought our budget down as tight as we possibly can. Uh for those who are paying very close attention, you'll notice that between the meeting on Monday and the meeting we're going to have on on the coming Monday, uh the numbers will shift yet again because we're basing all of our projections and all of our calculations
on actual figures. Uh this there's really not there's really no um intentional um cushion in this budget. It's all based on actual numbers. We're going to a very very tight budget season. Uh we're also uh trying to be responsible to our taxpayer uh and the
extent to which uh we are given certain abilities as a board of education to increase the tax levy by a board vote without a public vote uh based on the the the rising costs that we've experienced. So the so there's while we're the board is the board and I
certainly recognize that um it's really impossible for us to stay in that 2% increase environment that we've been in. Uh we're also very concerned about passing all of these costs back on to the taxpayer. That said, we have I've I've known from the start if we were going to look at ever uh reducing the
courtesy busing, there are many families who are receiving services and and kids who ride these buses uh that are for whom that will be a very real loss if there is such if there is such a reduction. So at this time um we have budgeted from the budget uh we have
based our budget around the idea that we are not that we're going to reduce that significantly. But I know a lot of the concern that we've had are particularly I've got a lot of communication from folks in areas of the community where it's certainly even more understandable why there'd be concern about a loss of
courtesy busing. And being that we're a district where there is not there is we we do not have a we we have many folks who are not eligible for courtesy busing because the village is relatively small. It's I don't think it's entirely clear to everyone who is entitled to busing and who isn't entitled to busing. So, I
just thought I'd provide a little update here just to be clear. So, I did confirm today that based on our figures, our reduced cost figures that anyone who resides in the Glenn school area on the other on the um on the east side of
Route 17 at all levels, I know we said this already, I believe we said this on Monday, that at elementary we'd still be providing service, but I can confirm that we are going to be able to provide to continue continue to provide service for all residents at all schools and all kids on that in that side of town on
that side of Route So, I'm sorry if anybody got felt felt the need to come here tonight to prove that point. We've already made some progress and I can give assurances for that that area. Busing will continue. The district will continue to pay for that. With respect to a few other sides,
there are a couple other areas in town that I know they're of concern. I know Gothal Road, we've had some concerns. There are some other areas where there's some very tricky intersections. There's some very unique ways to school that are technically within two miles or two and a half miles, but are nevertheless not really viable for a for a child to walk.
So, for those places, we're going to continue to evaluate. Um, and I would say that anybody who might be here for this specific topic, and there may there's probably folks for other topics because we're talking about a lot of different things, but um, if you're in a specific situation where you have like a particularly challenging or dangerous
route, uh, again, there are official definitions for what makes a hazardous route, but if you're in a situation where where maybe it's not maybe you don't meet the legal definition of a hazardous route, but the route is nevertheless not really particularly viable for walking to school, we're open to reviewing all of those roots. and
we'll do that. We have we have enough money still in our transportation budget that we can we can we believe we can account for those routes for anybody who is in a in a situation where maybe the the the walking route isn't necessarily as as as problematic as trying to walk
from, you know, the other side of Route 17 or and some of these other really complicated routes that I spoke about. We've been researching um and I I I feel at this point comfortable saying that we are going to be offering a subscription option. Um we're going to give priority
uh initially with the subscription option. I we still have to work out the details and I'm sorry I don't have them for you right now, but we've gotten we've gotten to a sufficient point where I'm comfortable making this public announcement now. So, anyone who may might be deemed not in a place where there is where we would we would agree that it would be considered hazardous
where we would want to just provide that busing directly on the district's cost. Um, for the for anyone for whom there's not necessarily a dangerous route, but it's it's still rather far, we would like to offer prescription busing and we'd like to start by offering it to any families that are in a circumstance
where you would had busing previously and then you have lost and and and now in this proposal you'd be losing busing. So, at least there's an option for their bus busing to continue. Um, that said, uh, we would and we would give priorities to families who have lost busing before we would make that
available for folks who would want it. In a perfect world, we'd be able to offer that for everybody in the district. We've also described, and I mentioned this at the Monday meeting, that we're open to having a conversation around uh, putting up a second question to reinstate courtesy busing. I will say
we're coming up with some coming up with some challenges on this option of putting it up for a public vote because historically the district the assignment of courtesy busing has not really had a very clear criteria. Um we've been grandfathering certain neighbor neighborhoods in and certain places in
even though it's not entirely clear how the policy is delineated. We've done our best to maintain the status quo, but we're not I I'm not opposed and I and I've talked talked with with our my with with our board members here about this topic and there's there's definite
openness across the board to crafting a question that would re re open this up again as something as a second question that we could ask where the tax levy could be increased specifically for this reason. What the reason why that's important that would be helpful to us is
that that would be a separate process of raising the tax levy. That would be outside of what the district uh that would be outside of the current the district's mechanisms for raising the tax levy. Right now, we have some means with with a health insurance waiver to increase the levy with a board vote. We
also have uh some some money that that the state would allow us to pass on to the taxpayer in the form of something called bank cap which is allowable overages that the board hasn't used in the past. Board is trying to avoid using those and is trying to come up with solutions that give us as many options
as possible so we have flexibility but not just automatically with a knee-jerk reaction passing passing those measures on. So we're working on this topic in a couple of different ways. Um we're hopeful that uh that that helps some of you. I know that that will not satisfy all of you and some of you are going to
be in a circumstance where you'll be lo you be you'll be losing the ability to have it and even if you're given the opportunity to purchase it yourself, it's still a net loss for your particular family. So, I want to acknowledge that. Um and uh but I want to at least provide you with an update for some of those piece for for for what
we're trying to do here. Um that said, I'm sorry I'm not talking about all the other topics. Um, but I just know that that given the volume of emails I've received on this topic and the amount of people that are here, I'm correlating the two things together. But if anybody's here for another topic, we're happy to hear that as well and
happy to happy to get back to you on it as well. >> Thank you, Dr. Shores. So, I'll open public comment and ask um if you have a comment um please come to the microphone, tell us your name and just the municipality you live in. we no
longer need the street address or anything like that. And um and if you could please keep your comments to um four minutes or less. There'll be a there's a little timer up here um that
could just help you gauge that so that we have enough time to um hear from anybody who does want to speak. So I'll open the um the microphone now um and just come up. I I know there's a signin
sheet and we keep that in case we um need just to get back to anybody. So, with comments, we usually let the comments go. We don't have a dialogue. If this is the first time you're here, we'll listen to your comments after we
close public comment. If we can respond, answer a question, we'll do that then. Okay. Welcome. Did you sign in? >> Oh. Oh, that's this is a different sign in, but go ahead and make your comment
and then maybe you could sign in later. Thank you. >> Thank my name is Evan Faulk in Ridgewood Glen School neighborhood. >> Is it on? Should I speak closer? >> Evan Faulk uh from Rididgewood. I live
in the Glen School neighborhood. Um, I have uh one child who's currently in college who's gone through the Ridgewood school system and I have two uh in elementary and one that actually goes to the Glen School. Uh, first I just want to thank you guys for the thankless job
you do as a board of education as a board in general. Uh, I also serve on another board and when things go smoothly, there is no issue, there's no public outcry. It is only when things go ary or that there's a perspective that
things are going ary that undue attention is brought on. So it is uh there was no glory and there was only attention when uh when when people are upset when things so uh thank you for your time and I know it it is uh strenuous and the amount of hours that
go into it budgeting and and keeping things done while you know trying to maintain that status quo that you were talking about. So uh uh it does not go unnoticed. Um so you made those uh uh Dr. Schwarz you made those comments
before opening for public hearing. I think some of that was obviously some was new information for all of us and you said this is not a dialogue. Um so I just wanted to clarify one of the issues. Obviously this pertains to my neighborhood. Did you say is this okay
to ask a question? Sure. And we we'll try to get all the comments and then we will we'll answer that. Okay, that's good. >> Uh so, uh I believe you said that the my neighborhood, the Noray neighborhood, uh
the Glen School of Vanburg, K through 5, 6 through 8, and senior and freshman through senior will not be affected by the coming busing situation that's being on the table. I'm not sure if that's what you
said. It was early in your comments. M >> Mrs. Broen is granting me an exception to to respond to you here. So, I I'm I have to apologize. I don't know all the I don't know by name all the neighborhoods that you mentioned, but I can say that all of the properties, all
of the residencies that that that are on the other side of Route 17. So, if that's all the properties that you mentioned, we did confirm as of today that we will continue to provide busing and and just to be clear, most folks on that in that area are not even courtesy
busing. You just get regular busing. You're outside of the mileage, especially for haws. There was some question that I couldn't answer about BF in the high school, but today we clarified that that that the neighborhood has been getting as I understand it had as an entire that
everyone on on that side of 17 has been getting busing >> even though the majority just should have. There's a few who who would who by definition are courtesy, but we're going to continue servicing that entire section of the community
>> through high school. >> Through high school. K through K to 12. Yes. >> One more followup if I can. One more minute left. Is that codified >> or is that >> I'm I'm announcing that to you now >> that that's codified. >> Well, it's Well, it's not. Well, we're going to we're going to be reviewing
it's codified in the regulation for student transportation. Right. So, technically everything that's in that is still there. We haven't changed that regulation. But for budgeting purposes, the reason why I'm sharing with you is that we are not budgeting to fulfill the entirety of that regulation. You one
could argue that we're not filling that we're the regulation is not clear anyway. We're going to revise that regulation so that it is more clear uh in the coming months. So you're certainly welcome to be a part of that. But what I'm committing to you publicly on the record is that we have budgeted
sufficiently so that way that that service will continue to that area. >> All right. Um so you can you you're going to I'm sure you're going to want to hold me to that. >> Uh they all now on them. So I appreciate that which is why I was asking if that's So I only have eight singles, but uh I
had some great maps to print out and hand to you guys. I guess I'm not going to use those anymore. >> Well, I listen. >> We've been we've been printing a lot of maps. So if you have maps you want us to look at, I'd be happy to do that. >> No, it's nothing. No, it's probably not information that you had. It was simply visual aids. Um but that was my time.
But, uh, selfishly for our neighborhood, uh, thank you for the new information and, uh, you know, hopefully, uh, have to >> and and I and I also want to I get, again, I said it before, but, I'm going to apologize again. I'm still, this is my third year in the district and I'm
still getting to understand the culture of the district. And it didn't occur to me that when I announced courtesy busing, one of the things I didn't that I didn't think of is that we don't have a ton of busing in the district. And I don't know that there's people clearly know whether they're getting courtesy busing or not. And that was something I
that didn't occur to me. So I apologize. I imagine a lot of people just in general got concerned they were losing their busing. So I apologize if some folks were coming out tonight out of concern um when when when it turns out that that a lot of a lot of this busing I think people were worried they were
losing. They're not. But I do want to be clear that there are some folks who will and and I I just want to treat that with gravity. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. F. >> Okay, so we broke that rule about that >> and just may I make comment on this too?
Okay. >> I I do I do like to ask Miss I I like Miss Bro and I do speak about how to handle public comment. What we've generally found is that it's most helpful to just let people all make their comments and then I we take a lot of notes and then I do at the end try to speak to all of them. given the fact the
the unique nature of this issue, I did ask for an exception because I did I do want to make sure that we're clear about what I did say before. So, thank you for that clarification, Mr. Bach. If it's necessary, if I feel it's necessary, I might ask that again, but please don't be offended if we're just taking notes and then we answer it all together. It's
just much more efficient that way. If you'd like to talk in a more extended way, remember the superintendent coffee is tomorrow night and that's virtual and that that that's a less formal meeting and there we just we'll just have discussions and be there for as long as we need to. >> That's at 7 o'clock tomorrow. Um and the
link will be posted on the um uh web our district web page. I is there anyone else for public comment? Um, I'm gonna just if there's no one here. Oh, I'm sorry. >> Sorry. >> That's all right. >> Okay. I I guess I'll sign in after.
Parkle, I live in Rididgewood. I'm by too. So, u my question is pretty similar. I think I probably also >> um I guess got confused and thought that um more people would be losing busing than they were. So, I'm really just uh
clarifying. So, we live on Henrietta Court and every time I mention that, nobody really knows where it is because there's like five houses on it. Um, but it's right off Lynwood Avenue. It is on the other side of 17. But I guess I just want clarification just again that we
will continue to get busing kindergarten through 12th grade because that is important. I I you might call me crazy, but I did the drive because I didn't want to do the walk. So, I did the drive over uh Lynwood AB over Route 17 to see what my kids would in essence have to
do. And they'd pretty much have to go over at least two on or off ramps either from Van Ember or Route 17. And I was like, there's no stop signs, there's no lights, there's there's no crosswalks. And it just made me nervous that my
kids, although it's not for a while, my kids are really young. So, I was like, "Okay, I've got like six years to not worry about this, but I don't want to worry about it down the road." Um, so I can rest assured that our busing will continue K to 12. >> Yeah. Again, you're you're saying that
you're on the east side of Route 17. You have to cross 17 to come here, right? I'm hearing that correctly. >> Yeah. If you go across this, if you go in our backyard, you'd be in Washington Township. So, we're like as far >> So, you will you will you will have busing in perpetuity according to what I'm what I'm committing to you.
>> Okay. Thank you. And we'll be memorializing this in the regulation. We'll fix the regulation uh in the coming months. And so if you want to follow the board news and the board agenda, you'll see that also. >> I appreciate it. And thank you to all of you. It's a lot of work doing what you do. I know that. And a bunch of you
responded to my emails because I emailed pretty much all of you. So, thank you very much for your attention to my concerns. I appreciate it. >> Yeah. I'm sorry. I'm sorry for the false alarm in your case. >> Thank you. Anyone else for um public comment I I was just trying to finish this. Um
if there's no one Oh yes, >> absolutely. >> Um my name is Beth Jennings. I'm also in the Haw area. I don't live on the other side of 17, but just came to support. Um I appreciate your update on the busing. It was a big thing for the past 24
hours. So, um I'm sure everyone will be very pleased to hear that. And I know that you did say subscription services are a consideration and you're still working out details, which I appreciate and understand. Uh my only question with that is would you be filling empty seats or is
there a possibility to be adding buses or something that you might not be able to answer right now? Um the reason I'm asking is I have one in elementary at then I have one in Ben Franklin. Um, we live 1.9 miles away from Ben Franklin, so
unfortunately are one of the few on Stevens AB that do not get the bus. Um, drop off that at Ben Franklin in the morning is a nightmare. Um, which I'm sure people are aware of. Um, to the point where it's a safety concern for
drivers, for students, for families just living in the area, people trying to navigate the roads to get out of town, in town, to work, whatever it may be. the congestion that it creates is is pretty pretty large. Um, more buses to there would alleviate so
many issues. So, this is just why I'm bringing it up. Um, something to consider, I guess, but that that was my main question and point. I would say it's it's early for us to to do detailing, but uh we certainly can
certainly consider that and it wouldn't be a a you know this wouldn't be just a one thing if you did subscription. So it might start a little bit smaller and it could grow you know so but it's it's too early for us really to give a lot of details questions on the table and maybe
plant some seeds but I appreciate you listening. Thank you very much. Is there anyone else here who'd like to speak? Otherwise, I'll go to the remote. I'll go to remote then. Thank Oh. Oh, yeah. >> Hi, good evening.
>> My name is Patricia Gasso, a rigid resident. I actually lived here as a child and came back because of the school system. So, my concern, and tell me if I'm wrong because it may be just hearsay because I did not watch I will admit I did not watch the meeting on
Monday night. Was it Monday? Yeah, Monday. Um, from what I understand, it was there was talk about possibly cutting teachers or staff at the the school levels. Um, and the argument was, if I'm not mistaken, because class sizes
are already not very large, but I am actually a former teacher in the district and I would say that class sizes can be very large. I was teaching classes with 28 students. So, there may be an average that doesn't really calculate for the most common classes.
So I would like to perhaps put a word out and understand better if there is going to be teacher cuts and classroom sizes in large because that is something I did not come back for. Thank you.
Any anyone anyone else? I'll go to the remote then and Um, hello. Can you hear me? >> Yes. >> Oh, hi. This is Susan. I'm a Ridgewood
resident. Um, I want to thank you guys for your work on the board of ed because I know it's a very daunting task. Um, and my kids thankfully are no longer in the school system. And I was just wondering, have you guys
also been considering alternative green? um buses. I don't know if they exist. Um that could not be I know it's contracted out, but maybe a a system that has um you know, electric buses. I don't
know if that is even a thing yet. um just because I expect the gas prices to be going up and this situation I don't think is going to resolve itself um anytime soon with the current situation of the world. So I didn't know
if um you guys have been looking at alternatives in hopes that it doesn't impact the budget in other areas to keep these buses going. Um that was just pretty much it. Thank you. Okay. Um, I think I will close public
comment. Um, Dr. Shores, >> thanks so much. Thanks everybody again for being here and for your comments. So, just a couple responses. Um, uh, I'm so I'm sorry. Sorry, we had we had a speaker who was asking about expanding subscription services. I'm sorry, I didn't catch that speaker's name. Any
>> So, thank you so much for coming. That I mean that's I'm very interested in that. Since I've gotten here, I've had people suggest like that could be something that would be really beneficial for the community and costneutral or possibly even a cost benefit to the school district. And lots of folks expressed a willingness to be able to subscribe in
even though they know that they're not eligible. So I I I'm hopeful that this is the beginning of that. That's why I said I want to prioritize the people the folks who who are who are we're going to end up without the service. I want to make sure that we take care of them first. And and basically this is a
really difficult this is a bad time for us to go out to bid for buses. We really want to try to lock in those services because we're still in a it's still a very hard to find bus drivers. Hard to find buses. So this isn't a great time for us to to to start to add buses. But our our goal right now with this strategy is to maintain the uh the
routes that we have and then just shift some of them to subscription. So but I but but going into the future here once we get this figured out we have the systems for for billing and for registration and all that then it seem adding routes seems like it would be a logical and and straightforward thing to
do and if it's a service the community I know we're all interested in that. So thank you to that. >> Yeah thank you. Um and then uh there's a question about cutting positions at the school level. Uh we are proposing a variety of cuts um for the most and and there may be some there will be there
will be some impact on class sizes. Um I want to be very clear that the the positions that we're looking at and I'm not really think I know we're saying cuts, but it's really more like consolidation. So uh we we certainly do not want to see class sizes that that push or exceed 30 for the most part. We
want to stay well in the 20s and ideally stay in the low 20s um and or the high teens. Much lower than that, we're not really being efficient. We've been working with the principles, especially at the secondary level, to just figure out if there are some positions, especially if we have vacancies where if we don't fill someone, can we be more
thoughtful with more more planned with our our scheduling so that way we can redistribute the populations of students? You know, for anybody who's been a teacher, I was I've been a teacher. you know, some, you know, it's some you're always gonna have some degree of variability based on kids choices of sections. They all have
different sizes, but when you but but the more the more more front-end work you put into building a master schedule, the more even the class size distribution can be. So, we're looking to really just be as thoughtful as we can to keep that class size distribution. There will be occasionally classes, especially if it's a very high
demand class, but we will allow it to get rather a little larger because we don't want we don't want to turn kids away. So, there will still be some classes that reach into the upper 20s. Um, because of the demand. Um, and then there will still be some classes that run at a smaller number because there are a few pro few classes where we don't
want to not offer something that's a really great enrichment to the things that we offer. So, there's not a hard and fast rule about this. We're just seeing generally in our numbers that across the board based on our declining enrollment that we can maintain
reasonable levels of of uh of of um reasonable class sizes um with with with a few fewer positions. That said, we're also considering that the reason for the meeting tonight is to talk about a variety of proposed positions to be
consolidated. And again, we're really trying to focus in spaces where we're not going to see someone lose their position, lose their job. We're really trying to focus on keeping people in district. It might mean that people have to be transferred from a place to a place. So, there's an executive session tonight so the board can talk about how
this will have some potential implications um and and before before we before we finalize uh what that list will be, we've been working with the principles. We've been working with with with with um with with staff we're appropriate to be work to having these conversations with so that way we know
what these implications are and we're keeping a minimal impact to the student. So thank but thank thank you for your comment. I share those concerns. And then lastly we had Mr. Ruin uh uh talk to us about electric buses. We have looked at we have talked about electric buses. We've looked at them before that. There are definitely there are
definitely some added complications to electric buses. I think and internal routes are probably the most viable possibility. Um, but there's there's there are challenges, but it's definitely something on our radar and we'll we'll continue to evaluate and and as that technology keeps getting better and better, I know I just was reading an article this morning about um technology
improvements for uh for uh car batteries to be charged much much quicker um due with with some cool technology. So charging time was an issue before, but that's very much on our radar. And if having a fleet of electric buses is something that could very well be something in our near future. So thank
you, Mr. R. I know that we looked at that in our sustainability committee and the um the bus companies that service our district are not investing in in electric buses right now. So pro probably in the future
if things if the technology um improves. Okay, that said, um I am going to read um our motion to go into executive session pursuant to NJSA 10 colon 4-12 to discuss matters pertaining to
personnel. The minutes of this closed session will be released when the need for confidentiality no longer exists. May I have a second? >> All in favor? >> I >> thank you. Um and uh the full budget
will be um discussed in detailed on Monday uh March 23rd