Good. Oh, I got to bring up Hang on. Let me bring up the agenda. That's important. Call to order. The New Jersey Open Public Meeting Law was enacted to ensure the rights of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meetings of public bodies at
which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon. In accordance to the provisions of this act, the Robbinsville Board of Education has caused notice of this meeting to be published by having the date, time, and place thereof posted in the Trenton Times on May 30th, 2025 in the Township
of Robinsville Boulevard uh Bolton board no less than 48 hours in advance of the meeting. The notice was also posted at Sharon Elementary School, Pawn Road Middle School, and Robbinsville High School. In accordance with NJSA18A 12241 and policy 0142, the Robinsville
Board of Education shall be bound by the provisions of the School Ethics Act. Roll call, please. Mr. Bandupta, here. Dr. Gold, here. Die Angelo here. Howard, absent.
Leman, absent. Dondan here. Ray here present Mr. McCree present Dr. Wnooki and uh Eric
all present sir. Thank you Mr. McCree. Uh please stand for the pledge of allegiance. Where's the pledge? Pledge of allegiance. To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation
indivisible. Okay. um to approve. Can I have a motion to approve the board minutes from the July 22nd, I'm sorry, from the June meeting? So moved. Second. All in favor? I I.
Any nays or abstensions? All right. And my report. Good evening everyone and welcome to the July meeting of the Robinson Board of Education. I want to start by thanking all of you for taking time to join us tonight, especially during the middle of the summer break. We appreciate your continued engagement
and support our and and the support you show our schools year round. Even though school is out, there is still a lot happening across the district. I want to start by celebrating some outstanding student athletes. Congratulations to the Robinsville 10U softball team on their incredible season culminating with a win
over Elmora and Handover. Your dedication, team, and sports and sportsmanship have made us all proud. Next up for the girls is the Eastern Regional Invitation for the 10U softball championship in Staten Island, New York this upcoming weekend. Good luck ladies. Now, can you if you would like to come
up, we want to celebrate and congratulate you. Of course. So, this is about this. This is one of school. I do tell them that
There are students that have deal. Yeah, definitely. That's awesome. Thanks, Congratulations. Thank you. Bye. All right, I'm gonna finish my report
real quick. Um over the uh yeah over at Pond Road Middle School, our summer recreation camp is in full swing and it's fantastic to see students enjoying a mix of fun, friendship, and enrichment during these summer days. Thank you to the staff and volunteers who make this program possible is truly it truly adds
something to our special community. Next, a quick update regarding the HVAC replacement project at the at Sharon Elementary. This is the reason why Pondro is hosting everything this year. Uh the project is progressing smoothly and we're excited to see this important upgrade through to completion. This work is critical to ensuring a comfortable
and safe learning environment for our youngest students when they return in September. I also want to extend a big thank you to our superintendent for actively connecting with the community this summer. Your presence at recent community town at at a recent community town hall and at the Rotary Club meeting this past month is greatly appreciated.
These conversations play an important role in strengthening our partnerships with residents and keeping our schools aligned with community values. Last but not least, I want to recognize our school business administrator, Mr. McCree. A story about Mr. McCree's service to the district and his service to the nation was published on the tap
into it Hamilton Robinsville under education. I highly recommend everyone take a minute to read the story and learn more about what makes Mr. McCree special for our district. Thank you for uh thank you Mr. Crease for your service. As we heard as we head into the second half of the summer, I hope everyone is finding time to relax,
recharge, and enjoy the season. Thank you again for joining us this evening. Wishing you all a safe and enjoyable rest of the summer. Dr. Piso, superintendent report. Okay, sorry for the technical difficulties. For the 202425
reporting period 2, the Robbinsville Public Public School District completed four HIP investigations. The outcome of the investigations resulted in three Hib cases that were unfounded and one Hib case that was founded uh in meeting the definitions set forth by the
anti-bullying bill of the Rights Act. All that we have to report there. I'd like to read my superintendent's report before we get on to the next course of business which would be our board goals
conversation. First, welcome uh board members and all community stakeholders. I'd like to uh to briefly point out we have uh one of our district-wide leaders is moving on. He has just uh was just promoted to a
superintendent job in another district. So, I'd like to wish uh Dr. Wiznooki well. uh we will have a more uh official sendoff for him at the next meeting, but since it is on the report tonight, I didn't want it to go without mentioning
it. So, more to come. Our loss, I think they uh they made a great choice. We um this is uh a a big loss for us, a big gain for that district, and we wish him much success that we know will be coming his way in his new position. So,
congratulations again, Dr. Wiznooki. Much appreciated. Congratulations. Congratulations. I'd also promised that each month we would do an update on the proposed crematorium. So, here is the um the update for this month. We've not seen any progress on the legislative front.
Uh but our township has been consistently working on an alternative solution to facilitate a mosoleum in place of the proposed plan. I want to thank our township on their continuing work on behalf of our community and open communication with
our school district. I have to say they've um they've been great working with us, keeping us informed along the way and they've put a lot of work into this. So, you know, they're uh they're doing good things for our community and hopefully we'll have more news to share soon. Um I'm looking forward to that.
Now, on to what we're looking uh to discuss here. Um, what is the future of Robinsville public schools? Um, our entire Robbinsville leadership team is working diligently to answer this question by launching a detailed multi-year plan as well as projecting
the educational needs of our next generation of students. All plans must be matched to a sustainable local contribution. Our partnership is linked both programmatically and financially. Our future is arriving quickly. We need
to prepare now to ensure the school district has the focus and relevancy to meet these demands. One way to prepare is by collecting student interest survey data to align classroom learning experiences with forecasted industry trends. These surveys will be launched
in September. So, please keep an eye out for that. We're looking forward to to getting community feedback. For the career aligned pathways our students deserve, we need relevant coursework, partnerships, and realworld opportunities for even the youngest Robbinsville students. Students must be
empowered to explore their passions and build successes in college, their career, and beyond. In in the wider national prek to 12 community, surveys indicate current students will likely enter careers such as computer science, medical science,
engineering, finance, and the arts. To this end, we are already examining the course offerings at Sharon Elementary School, where we will need to continually revise and update our STEAM curricula. At Pondro Middle School, we will need to add electives that fit these future
career pathways and bring more high school level experiences to our pre-teens. There's also a plan to expand social emotional supports at our high school. The focus must be on integrating real world learning so our students can develop the adaptability
and critical thinking needed for future careers that have not yet been imagined. Problem solving is vital for our students to succeed in future careers which are often not yet defined in our rapidly changing world. As
administrators, we must be diligent custodians of the resources provided. Any and all expenditures need to bear the tangible results our community requires. We need your input and support to achieve our to achieve our shared
better tomorrow. And thank you. Next, I would like to open our discussion on board goals. I did uh of course Victoria did I have put out the uh copies of the proposed goals. Uh
these are the same goals that we had sent out uh at the weekly update. We had sent out previously um when uh when we had school boards here. Uh we did put it in a different format and tried to clarify based on some of the feedback we
received and we discussed about uh this when uh when Maryanne Friedman was here. Uh so I think that we captured what the needs are and as part of this process I I'd like to briefly go through the goals and you know see if there's if
there's anything that that really jumps out that we could clarify. Um but there's there's something about the goals which which just from a personal note that I'd like to state in the way that we approach our administrative functions here. Um, sometimes you'll see with these
goals that there were other items that could have been added. Uh, to me this is a baseline. This is you're not going to see when you get the reports from us when we're going to do regular updates. It's not going to be okay, we checked this box. It's going to be well, we checked this box and this led in this
other direction that we further explored which was built beyond that. And as we go through, I'm going to kind of, you know, point out some of some of those areas. and and these goals are you the idea of a goal is it's going to be a process. It could take a period of
time. So, you know, that's the reason why it's going to be so important for us to do these updates and to be continue to be engaged with our with our board in regards to our progress and in regards to uh continuing to to move forward in the uh with the vision the shared vision
that we have. So uh first we have the world language expansion and you can see some of the components with this. Um this is this is going on in real time right now uh that we're looking to uh to implement uh additional Spanish uh
language offerings to our students in Sharon. And uh we're also looking to redesign the uh the middle school. Uh, and this is going to help our our students be able to uh go through more of the sequences as they go into into
the high school. So, we do have that that detailed out. I hope I I captured uh everything there. Um, I'd like to thank all the members of the administrative team who were so critical in regards to putting this together uh this and all the the other areas. I I
should also mention that the format is a little bit a little bit changed to do that and that was with the uh with the collaborative effort of of our entire team here. I want to make sure that all the people who are going to be empowered in this have a you know a say in an
understanding of what it is we're looking to achieve uh to achieve collectively. um student support systems. Uh we have about uh one of the items we're looking at is partnering in regards to uh substance abuse prevention.
Now um you know this is something there there is some funding available. There are some opportunities we can do here but uh when it comes to substance abuse does it end there? Well we look at the whole child. So this when you're talking about substance abuse you're also
getting into mental health issues. you're also getting into social social emotional issues. So that's where I'm saying that when we give updates, you know, we do see that there are other pieces to this that feed into this. It can't be looked at in a vacuum alone of this issue. We need to look at the the
wider issue. uh diversity uh inclusion and collaboration um host forums, community leaders and we list here LGBTQ plus and gender equity which are you are items that that are are very important but also uh we have items across um the
spectrum that we will look at. Um hate has many different different ways that it can appear. So, one of the um one of the things that we're looking to do in regards to fighting hate is is taking an approach where um where we have, you
know, many different marginalized groups who will be represented in regards to uh to putting to to highlighting the positive aspects of our diversity and and the strength and power it gives us moving forward. Uh and not a um and not
really just dealing with the okay, this is wrong. Well, there's so many different things that come out of our our strong diversity here that are positive and that should be that should be highlighted. So, when we talk about diversity, inclusion, collaboration, equity, all of those different items,
that includes all groups, any group. So, diversity has a very wide um application. So, um, I just want to say that this is something that we're going to be building a lot off of and there will be different approaches at each level of schooling. You you may see
something at a middle school that's an age range where where you know there are different different things that we're going to need to approach and we're going to have to give alternatives in regards to a better approach. You know, see when problems are identified, let's make that a teachable moment. Let's find
a better path. Um I think it's great to have you know understanding and appreciation of each other at the at younger ages. So at every at at every age that we have there'll be different approaches and they'll be modeled collaboratively with our team and with
the wider members of our community that I've had the good fortune of meeting with over the last six months and we'll be meeting with beyond. So we're we're looking to really have a comprehensive effort in this area and we do ha have many different areas we're
looking at. Um you know obviously when we're looking at school funding we need to look at at all aspects and part of sort of the act aspects of funding is to be as efficient as we possibly can and to raise revenue every every way we can.
And I I'd have to say our own Mr. McCree has done a phenomenal job at that. Um, but that's not uh that's not the end. That's just another step on the continuum. So, we are looking at different things uh to that could uh that we could do to continue uh to raise
revenue to to cut costs and we're looking at at at establishing a 501c3 that would enable us to do a multitude of items. And and these are things that community members when I reach out will also bring up. So you know people are are aware of this and and we're aware of
that and uh you know so these are things that we can move forward with. We are looking to expand our facilities rentals. We have you know absolutely beautiful facilities here. Many different things that that people uh would like to get access to people in groups. And we're going to look at that.
We're looking at um dedicating uh resources towards being able to meet that need. What I mean is people are looking for us, we need to find them. And um so that takes um us being dedicated to be able to to find people
to let them know that this is a place where they they should have their events. Um, we're also looking at at various partnerships in regards to expanding our sporting uh opportunities for our children. I don't want to get into great detail on this, but if there
is an area where we can expand, we are looking at it and more to come. Uh, but that is uh we do have um we do have needs for not only our school district but also the wider community. So there there are things that can be explored,
have been explored and will be explored uh moving forward. So um hopefully we have some uh exciting things that we'll be able to talk about some months down the line, but it is something that is important. Uh it's always a point that I make is that the community and the
school district, we're serving the same constituents. So um so there's there's plenty of room for collaboration. Okay. uh area four uh rigor innovation student pathways. Okay, some of the items here you know we've talked about about AVID AVID then
being expanded us doing the uh the appropriate trainings. Um so that is uh going on uh we're looking to expand the dual enrollment through TCJ. Uh we have um we we're looking at uh at gathering input on future programs and
analyze results uh of uh any of the surveys for you know potential programs in regards to what we do to uh move forward in reg into possible student pathways. So I I think we have here a a document that really could be a a a
guiding uh document for us moving forward. But as I stress, uh, I see so many things here that we're I want to not only address, but with our talented team here, I think we could address and really move forward. And, um, we're not
going to be, um, you know, resisting any way to to bringing that information back to our board. We'll be doing updates and um we'll be able to you know point out those areas and hopefully um you know when we bring back this information uh we'll be very receptive to uh to your
feedback in regards to guidance and and other options that we can that we can explore to keep moving along you know these generalized goals. So u we do have in the different areas we do have I do have all of our central
our main leadership team that I refer to as cabinet here. Um so we do have we can go into more depth and they can go into depth in their individual areas if we'd like to to do that. Um or if there are any questions I'd like to open the floor
on goal four for 4.2A to a gather input on future programs. We have the success metric as being measured as a minimum of 60% family participation in a survey. Um can you tell me kind of what you
typically get in survey responses? What is the baseline you currently are going from? Hey Christie, I'm going to ask you to uh to jump in on that. You have to hold it or switch. All right, there we go. Hold the button.
Um, as of right now, the last time we pretty much did this survey was strategic plan. Correct me if I'm wrong. Um, I don't know the exact percentage rate of that. I can get that number for you. Um, but moving forward, obviously, we want the vast majority participation to move forward with survey results,
especially when considering programs. Okay. Hello. All right. Great. This looks amazing. Um I had a question on focus area number two 2.2 uh diversity and inclusion collaboration.
Um so I see that it host forum for the action step. It's host forums with community leaders and then and then you had mentioned in summary that obviously there's other things like you know what that etc would cover so disability race religion I wonder if it's being overly
prescriptive to name two and not the others and just by nature of either adding or discluding whether there is some benefit there because there the first one is very specific and prescriptive to substance abuse prevention. The second one I wonder do we just host form with community leaders
based on counseling feedback or the bullying cases coming out of the school so that it's uh needsbased based on obviously what the school may be going through that year. Yeah, absolutely. We could um you know like I said we could we could widen or
narrow the scope or the scope uh like it'll shift. Yeah. you know and and our concern is where we put you know etc on on the second one is um you know an issue happens you know this you know this could be something that we mobilize into an area you know maybe a little bit
different than we're envisioning now so I try to keep it it wide and like we kind of went back and forth on this yeah but yeah know we're definitely open to uh to the feelings of the board I would just add owners into that like student services and counseling so that you that were soliciting feedback from
the counseling team on tailoring accordingly what that collaboration for DNI might look like. And then I know at success metric it has by June 2026 hold at least two community forums. I wonder if there's just opportunity to also think through assembly opportunities for just
the schoolbased community and like how that might shift at all. Um and just associated training for educators and staff so that it's not just community forms but like in addition to that in school what might be happening. We actually, this is something that
we've been discussing and and in preparation today. I spoke with a couple of our leaders who happen to be I'm sure. Yeah. Um when you have great people like that, you make sure you consult with them. So that that's what we uh we do and we were talking about just what what what you're speaking about. Like I said, this
is meant to be a general document. Um some of the things we need to do is we need to do do staff development. we need to do uh community forums and and I'm a big advocate of when you have a community forum if you have a issue with a certain
uh trend of hatred is that is not only look at that area look at the other areas all of so many different groups uh marginalized groups have um you know a shared history of being attacked and and make it a wider issue and understand more inclusive right
it's not one group being you know being marginalized it's it's many different groups groups and make it, you know, make that forum and try to try to see if we can then get, you know, positive student leadership in this this regard and difficult lot a lot lot easier to say than to do, but but I do think that
that's the that would be the proper approach and and that's what we're trying to to weave as we put these programs together. So, it's a lot of work expansive the better. I'm with you. actually wrote the same thing down. Um like how will you prioritize
which um area to focus on specifically to that? And also either include all areas or don't include any because otherwise it looks as though you're specifically focusing on certain areas but not others. Um or list all of the
areas and then prioritize in some way. Um, I think the other piece that I wrote down was how will you include student voice? I think it's a really critical component to include student voice and even though they are community- based uh
forums and include community leaders, I think um it's a key aspect to include student voice. So maybe hosting some student panels might also be really um a powerful piece that could really enhance this opportunity for both staff members
and community um people as well. And then I had a question that maybe could um maybe Christie uh wouldn't mind clarifying just for the community. Um speaking to the first goal around this uh enhancement of world language
expansion, could you just talk a little bit about what the requirements are um for world language uh K through 8 in terms of like the state what are the requirements for students?
So we are supposed to have a world language program as you know in our elementary school. We have not had one in existence for I think since the dawn of time in Robinsville. Um so we are very excited to finally be able to offer that opportunity. Um as well as expand
it. It's not where exactly it has to be at the middle school level. Um but we're getting there. Uh we would like to obviously offer additional options outside of one world language. Um but this is tracking in the right direction. Um, for the upcoming school year, we
have hired a Spanish teacher, which we're very excited for at the elementary school, and we will be able to offer it, again, not meeting the full criteria um of embedding it within our electives, which is what we're supposed to be doing, but we'll have it as um a piece
for each trimester where students will be able to go on a rotation schedule to be exposed to Spanish. So again, it's going to be an exposure at the elementary school. Not perfect, not, you know, but it's a step in the right direction. We're really excited about it. Um, as well as now finally being
able to offer what's mirrored as a Spanish one course for our eighth grade students. Um, again would love to see that fifth, sixth, and seventh, but again offering it in eighth grade, which will then lend ourselves back to the model of what we previously had at the
high school for being able to expand those offerings at the high school level and introduce kids to more honors AP courses as they advance forward. Thank you. And then my last question is uh for goal two 21 2 are there
particular programs or specific programs that we have in mind or that we've considered to meet that goal. Um you you're talking about 21 with the uh prevent substance abuse prevention. Um we are working with there is some some
funds available through the town. So we're going to be working with them on that. So that's that's kind of a work in process at this point. There's um we're more at the idea phase. We don't have a uh we we don't have something uh ready
to go yet that's part of but it is uh it is a a goal that's in process now. Uh I have a question. Okay. um on focus area four number sorry 4.1B um expand dual enrollment through TC&J
which is an awesome awesome initiative um I'm wonder I know that the action step says explore additional higher ed opportunities so for example like um I'm guessing like Mercer County Community College what opportunities might exist there but I is it is it better to state
the objective as expand higher ed partnerships and then in the action step to specify then TCJ MccC and like maybe the OP the other options but maybe the objective could be a little bit more o open at uh I guess
general bearing to allow for more opportunities because it sounds like that's the objective it's just the expansion dual enrollment through PTCJ could we expand that to be higher education exploration and partnerships absolutely Absolutely. We'd love to we
can easily transition that piece of the objective. Um something just to keep in mind, we did sign an MOA with only TC&J right now to move us forward, but we would love to include additional opportunities with other universities or higher education um facilities. Really,
the partnership is where we're looking to expand. Um again, launching a great direction for phase one, but would love that opportunity. Thank you. Just piggybacking off a couple things that Barbara and uh Nadia said, I know
we talked about in a couple meetings ago about the NJ Sky survey, which does have a portion of that um which talked about students sense of belonging. And I think that'd be a good way in addition to the forums to solicit student voice in a way to, you know, get their opinions of how they feel, how they feel they're
represented in the school and that, you know, get a sense of that belonging for them. I'm going to go on to uh goal 2.2 to again for diversity inclusion. I think where I'm kind of stumbling here on your success metric is that by June
2026, you're going to host at least two community forums. What I'm I'm struggling here with is that the special education department as well as the counseling department already have been meeting that goal. So,
this doesn't feel like a reach or a stretch. this feels like a you've already done it and congratulations and I I would hope to see that there is um some kind of language to say in addition to what already exists because we can't
set goals that we've actually already achieved. We could definitely clarify that. I think it's it's important that we sustain what we're doing and build off of it and and you're right, we didn't adequately capture that. Thank you.
I do want to pivot Dr. Pisa to um focus area three because finance is obviously a big part of what we're looking to do within the district and looking at uh 3.1A. Could you clarify this when you're looking to establish this 501c3
um for matching funds, grants, donations, things that nature, is this from are you looking for corporations? Are these individual donors? Could you go a little bit more detail on what? I I would like to answer this, but I'm going to uh defer to to Nick. I No, I know that Nick's put a lot of work in. I think it's it's more fair to who have
it's more appropriate for Nick to answer this directly. So, this is a a joint conversation. Thank you. Um so, we do get a lot of funds from from parents and clubs. I see more and more of it. Um, and I've been asked like, "Do we have a 501c3?" Because we
have matching funds from corporations and there is um a website, I forget the name, um that will show your company and and so there's a match and you can do that. But we literally have people donating thousands of dollars that they could have a match. So that alone, we'll
put that in there. Um, even though we are considered a nonprofit, most corporations do not have it in their bylaws to give to a public entity, just a 501c3. So, this is one way some schools have done it. Um, I know we have other organizations out
there that do have it, but this will come directly to us and we can put those funds. Uh, I'll have to get with uh Mr. Carrick on it because we have to get our attorney involved. Um, I have done something like this before. Uh, it's a lot of paperwork. uh mostly for the
attorney. Um but it is a big lift to do the beginning paperwork because um you know they'll ask you where's your charter, when were you founded, when and so we have to pull old you know um you know board minutes to see the first date
and so forth, right? We don't have all those documentation. So it is a heavy lift, but once we have it, we expect even if we get a$1,000 or 2,000 or $3,000, it's the start. Um and it's something great that people have been asking for already. So, this could take
a year if not longer um to do, but uh we need to move in that direction and and keep our avenues open. Thank you. And and if I could just just add on to that, I know from some of my experience with um Equity for Long Island Youth and the NAACP,
um there were different groups that that we were involved with that would make donations and they were looking for a 501c3 to be established even uh with the organizations they were dealing with. So there were some um larger companies. I don't want to call them out with this
being on live stream, but I know there there are larger companies that were often uh tasked with finding uh with finding districts and and causes and initiatives to support. So, this kind of opens up the door to a really a new
realm of of of potential areas to partner and and ultimately uh raise some revenue. Are there um any limitations as far as what limits are? People can contribute on that front from a business standpoint, corporation and individual.
It depends on the business charter, but I I've heard, you know, one, two, $3,000 matching. Depends what they give. Um I'm on a foundation for for a county vocational school district and we got a $100,000 donation because we're the only
county vote that has a 501c3. So, it could be big. Um, but I've heard, you know, I mean, think about your own companies. Um, you know, we've had I've had a former board member who's given money and like I have a matching, why don't get one. And so, now it's I have
to got to get moving. So, um, but how we collect it and create an entity, you know, we have credit cards, we we have to set all that all those things up, but first we have to get the designation and that could take a year. uh I'll defer to the attorney when we do
some research. This is the first time he's hearing of it. So um you know uh but once you approve it and then we'll proceed and that gives me the authority to go forward. So um so again, thank you for preparing this tonight. As as I read through it, um I think about smart goals, right? And
I see a lot of whole two meetings with, you know, with with leaders or with groups and everything, but there's no real deliverable there, right? There's no report back to the board on what what what those um those meetings um entailed, what what was the outcomes.
You know, I think that would be a good addition is to have a deliverable for for for those type of meetings. Um I look at the one uh you know, was on goal three as an example, 3.2A 2A with the sports complex with the town. We have two meetings with the town, but maybe a report back to the the board either with
where where they are by June or with a draft plan. Um I think some of the ones that that Amanda said for the two additional on top of what we're already doing and you know what did we do on top of what we're already doing so that way you know the community knows and the board knows.
Yeah, I I think what we bring back I think you'll be pleased with. I said a lot of things are in development and we don't want to kind of assume which way the path is going, but you're you're absolutely right. We're going to need to quantify these results, bring it forward, and we're anxious to do it.
Just a point of uh thought or perspective to share on this gathering and put on future programs. I it is falling rather close to possibly also sharing with the community what may not be able to happen for 2026 based on budget. So just striking the right
balance on messaging like we're soliciting feedback but also aware that it may sh you know so I think that's just otherwise I think a few weeks thereafter will be a very different message or it connects together. Yeah and you know I actually my this the
speech I delivered today I actually added the paragraph about the about the local resources need to need to match what it is that we're looking to do. So I will in any of these things that we do and we do have an article coming out uh in superintendent's corner uh in the uh
the next edition that will cover that. We we always try to go back to that and I want to kind of you know only look at at that but ultimately to do great things you need to have the proper resources. So I'm trying to tie that back and get and get that that balance. You know we want to talk about the great
things but you know great things come at a cost. So so yeah we're going to we're going to have to walk that line. question on focus area 3 3.1B expand um facility rental revenue. I know we are actually investing in a role there. So
my question is we are also saying the success metric is to generate at least $50,000 in additional rental revenue. So hopefully it is the right investment for the role that we are actually investing in. So the calculations are done. Yeah. Yeah, we're we're uh one of the
things that that we're we're going to be doing is whatever we do in regards to having someone do this, it would be a part-time position, so it wouldn't be a high paid position. So, it' be far less than than what we're looking uh to raise. But, if we ever get to the point where we're not we're not seeing an
exponential return on our investment, well, then we're going to readjust our sales. This this, you know, it's a goal to do it this way. Um, but if something doesn't work, we're going to we're going to stop and go in a different direction. Thank you. And and one last statement, this is not a question. I think I I read
through everything and it looks good, but there are fundamental aspects around improving communications, which actually we should keep doing. I think that's not mentioned anywhere, but I think we should actually add that in in somewhere to sustain that and you know being transparent with the community members. And the second is the speed at which we
actually do some of these particular stuff. anything that we could do to speed up things because some of it is like way late in June 2026. It's great. I understand there is a lot of work that happens but anything that we could do to speed up and as you said these are just baselines and we will actually kind of you know do a lot more so it'll be
helpful. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you. We we have a lot of what we're we're rolling out you know is based on how the school schedule goes and and um like I said we did originally look at at doing surveys in the spring. uh but you're not going to have that
carryover into the fall. The summer it really doesn't make sense to do now. So, a lot of it is is timing and it's it's frustrating for me as well because I want to do everything right away. But at the same time, if we do it and we pick the wrong time, you know, I think it
could be detrimental to uh to doing it later. So, so we're trying to balance that out. But yeah, I'm as anxious as as you are. I agree. I'll keep I'll keep asking a lot. Thank you. I I'd like to jump in and just remind everybody we also have other demanding
items going on. We have QAC. So our curriculum department will be quite busy as well as the rest of the staff as well. So some of that we had to adjust and see what you want to put on there and you have to make it a smart goal. So obviously why does June 30th always pop up? Uh because it's the end of the year.
So uh we understand and obviously some of these things are going to move faster. Um but other things will adjust as necessary. Thank you. Can you remind us when Q the QAC audit is? Oh, it's right now. It's going on right now. Okay. Just want to make sure.
Yeah. I'd like if you want to. She's having meetings and already the process has really already started for um the curriculum department. Um other areas I was told we'll be exploring in early fall. Okay. Just just to set expectations for
everybody. It is actively going on now. Okay. it it's definitely actively going on now. Yes. So, they have the biggest uh the biggest piece of it. Obviously, they're going to look at board governance as a section, you know, business operations and so
forth. Um, you know, that's a lot quicker, easier, you know, especially if you've been doing things for a while. But curriculum is what really they concentrate on the most. So, I would say that's probably half, if not more than half of the work. And if I could, I really would like to
to commend Mr. DeFazio and her entire team on the work they're doing. They've they've put a lot of work in on this and uh and yet still manage to to keep up with the with the different initiatives that we're doing. But uh so so thank you.
Anything else for Bills? Sorry. Um, just real quick related to 3.2A and B, the one thing I would like to see is community feedback for 32A and for 32B student feedback because I think if we're looking to build a complex that we should make sure it's something that
the community does want to use since it is a shared resource similar for, you know, a second um, athletic space on campus, we want to make sure the students are going to want to use it as well. Thank you. Dr. P. Anything else? No, that's final report. Thank you.
Thank you. Board secretary BA's report. Mr. Mise, good evening. I'll be doing this uh in reverse order. So, uh upcoming board meeting date changes. We had some conflicts for September and October. So, September 23rd's meeting will be going
to September 30th and October 14th is moving to October 28th. We'll be updating the um calendar as well as posting uh and sending out to the community those changes. Um uh budget I'm going to talk about general healthcare update. Uh this is uh we'll
be going back to budgets and so forth. So I'll be sprinkling those in throughout the year. Um so healthc care strategy um so what came out is you know in 2021 we moved to the school's health insurance fund. So
within months of me joining um we we switched over our our u our provider um and we saved about a million dollars uh immediately uh and every and the average teachers saved about $1,000. That program is grown through 121 school
districts. So basically predominantly they pull out of state health benefits. Those who have better um better applicant pools will move into and the leftovers stay behind in the state. I want to talk about this because you know we had almost about an $800,000
healthcare adjustment. Our healthcare went up almost 14%. That was a major increase for us and across for everybody else. you're talking almost 2% of the tax levy just by that alone, just for health care. Um, you know, our family plan went to $47,000
for our highest plan. And I I was shocked at that. Um, and this it's not going to stop. It's going to continue to grow. Um, the state came out with their numbers and they came out with about 30%.
Massive, massive numbers. um they've had losses in the hundreds of millions of dollars year after year. Um you know there was great pressure on me I mean from from union leadership, previous union leadership, other people to go back to the state. Uh I said no I I know
what they're doing. I know what's going on. There's no way they can do that. They were giving holidays for months like you don't have to pay any premiums. Their plans all of a sudden their prices were very good. They barely had any increases. I'm like, there's no way they can sustain this. What is going on?
We've seen this before. Uh those BAS with more experience than myself said, just watch out. There's there's something going on. And here we go. So, when we're on the state school's health insurance fund, I sit on that board and we have professionals who come present
to us um you know, what's going on in the health market, you know, 100 to 200 pages every month of documents and the history of what is going on and proceeding and what you have to do. Um, and so, you know, the alarm bells went off. These are the new rates that came out with the state. Um, they're jumping
to $71,000 for the family health plan compared to R47. Okay. Um, and you can see the prices there. This is all public now. The hyperlink is attached. Um, you know, even the new state uh educator's health
plan, that is also pretty uh pretty high as well. That was supposed to save a fortune. um comparative analysis, if we had stayed with the state or gone back to the state or done something, you're looking at almost $3 million more.
Three million just for our staff. Um and of course the premiums for those employees would have also gone up their percentage as well. Um so how does this impact us? I'm not sure yet. Um, you know, obviously we're not
going to look go back to the state at this present moment. Uh, please don't ask. Um, but there's an inside little secret. Uh, I call it a dirty secret with the state in the health benefits. Um, and I know we're on audio and this is this is out there and and video, but this is I think this is morally wrong.
Um, we get charged a premium for retirees on our plans. It goes straight to our provider. So everybody is paying uh the rate right now is 1.7%. So we pay for retirees.
So part of our premium goes so we have you can be a brand new teacher. You're part of your premium you're paying is paying for the state's retirees on their plan. Um I suspect this is going to increase and they can cost some money back. If that goes up 1%, you're looking
at $100,000 increase and we cover 80 to 90% of that, right? Because employees only pay about 10 to 20%. So that could be an impact in the future. Um, so I just wanted to point out that, you know, where we are,
the millions we're saving, not being on the state health benefit plans, we're monitoring, we're watching it, it could have a future impact for us as well. So I'll be aware of that and we'll check it. uh and just follow it. But uh once again, uh we have an outstanding plan.
Um I was shocked it was at 47,000, but once seeing these numbers, you know, we're good. So, uh could be better, but um uh it it's going to continue going up. I'd like to move on to uh construction. So, uh let's flip
the slides to what's going on at Sharon. Um so, opening picture. Um you know, uh that's a classroom at Sharon being uh ripped apart. uh started day after, you know, after school ended, we started these projects. You're looking at a $ four and a half million dollar project
all in uh 54 units. 54 units. Uh they arrived this week and and and they're coming in. Um the old units in some places were in the ceiling. These are all retrofitted. Uh and if you can see, there's an angled roof. That's the A-wing. That's the original uh building.
We've had six additions here. Um, ideally you want them on the ground vertical on the floor. So the new wings like a A-wing I mean sorry E-wing has them and I'll show you a picture of that. So you have your heating and your air conditioning in one unit as opposed
to separate. Um why don't you know when it's on the floor it's easier to maintain, right? You don't need a ladder. You don't need to pay you don't and you don't have to rip down the ceiling to get to it. Um this is an important thing to point out and you'll see what we had to do. Uh, it's not very pretty, but we had to do it because it
was the lesser of the two evils. Um, this is the bee hallway. Uh, it looks something out of um the show uh Stranger Things, you know. I just needed some lights flickering. Um, and what what happened here was, and this is the
things you find out, um, that the, uh, drop ceiling was bolted into the air conditioning units instead of the ceiling. So, um, whenever it would turn on, the ceiling would shake and your projectors would shake. So, now we know why everything was shaking. Uh, and all the wires were just weren't laid up
properly. And so, we have to pay to put those wires and hang them up correctly in J hooks. Um, we also found pipes going under the ground. We had to fix those. They shouldn't go under, they should go over. Um, so these are the things that happens when you have buildings with six additions going on.
Um, there's round ducting on the left. you'll well I'll point out why that's important later but you can see the angle of a of the A-wing the original right it's a slanted roof there's not much space up there okay um this is E-wing uh and I have dates on
here so this is like every every other week every week I have updated pictures there's a standard unit on the left that's been ripped out so these were in the corner of the classrooms and then they ripped out the box completely and a new unit will go in there we'll have to cut a bigger opening ing and I'll show
you those pictures as well. Um here's July 14th. All of a sudden you see this gray circle pipe up there. Okay. Um because you can't fit that in the ceiling. So if you just had that unit sitting there, you're going to have one very
cold corner or very hot corner. Uh and so they put that pipe, they'll punch some holes in it to spread it out further out. Uh we will most likely paint it, but I don't have time to do it in the summer. So, we're looking at maybe winter break we can paint it as well as paint the classroom. So, we have to take a look at that. Uh, if we have
enough funding for it, I should get 40% back from the state on it. Um, but if we actually tried to paint the whole entire A-wing a couple years ago, but due to funding, we pulled it out. Of course, the paint's gotten worse. Um, so it might be a summer project for next year. Um, this is what the ducting should look
like. This is a a wing that has the space up there. So they put that up there and they redid the ducting to put that in the corner. So that's how it it'll be cleaned and out of the way, but A-wing uh will have the visible circular one. Uh July 14th, once again, the wire has
been pulled up a little but not cleaned up. A picture on the right just shows you what it should look like. That's what it's supposed to look like, not on the left. So uh we'll go through that uh once again. And you can see here um on the left they've where the old hole was
uh the louvers going outside for fresh air uh and the bigger hole they're marking and opening up and they have to put a lintil. So that's why these upgrades were like why is it so expensive is complete redesign and so forth. So in the future hopefully it's just pull the old one out, put a new one
in uh and all the ducting will be good. Here's July 22nd today. units coming in. Uh, and you see the one standing up there on the left and we'll put it in. Uh, of note, a little side side thing is of the 54, they're all in the building except eight because in two wings, the
doors are a little bit smaller than normal. Um, so now they have to go rent a piece of equipment and try to sh put it through the through the window opening they cut. Um, so these are the things that we're we're dealing. We are on target. We don't have major concerns.
Uh, knock on wood. Uh, they will have to come in a couple of weekends to finish up. Um, and we're talking with the school principal. We're coming up with plans in case there is a, uh, an issue. We are starting in awing and working our way down to to eat all the way to the
end. I mean, worse comes to worse. They won't have air conditioning in some of those rooms, which, you know, had some issues before anyway. So, you know, this is why we're doing it. Um, any questions on the project? I have a comment uh and a call out for
Nadia Bandupta. She has been volunteering to paint things um in the last year and I would just like to say if Nadia decides to paint um some ceilings, I will as well. Can I add a clarification? So, in
addition to volunteering time, I think I meant also that there were probably uh professional painters out there that might exchange their services for free advertisement should they support us in painting and guiding community servants like myself, Amanda, and Barb, and
multiple others. I'm sure they'll show up that day. Well, doc Dr. was Nuski and I were talking about maybe painting the ducting and do we make like one classroom like the dinosaur room, another one the spacecraft room and so forth. So if we have any true artists, you know,
I'm sorry, Brian Murphy, Nick never said any of that. My actual question is um the anticipated timeline for completion so that students are back in the classrooms in September. It was it's a week before school. Of
course, that's going to shift to the right, you know. Um but yeah. Yeah. So, we're deliveries are coming and all the things, but it it's quite amazing. There's about what 15 20 workers there. Um you know, please come take a look. We've we've had visits
before. They're cleaning up. Um, but they're not, you know, there's always a concern. There's always a project. We will open up school. There will be, we may have to adjust things, but it's going to open. So, okay. Yeah, Mr.
McCree and Dr. Piso took me around the school on July 3rd right before the holiday and we walked the entire building and it's amazing to see how far they got in 10 days of school being closed and how they how far they've come now. So
yes, and if I I can could mention this, it's um I really think that the way everything has been has been laid out with the contractors and the way they've moved along, it's it's gone very well. But that doesn't happen, you know, just by
itself. So, uh, a lot of, uh, great work was done with the, uh, the planning of, of Mr. McCree and also of Brian Murphy, um, and, uh, you know, obviously all the other, you know, leaders who are involved with with this. So, um, it's
kind of looks daunting, but, um, we'll, uh, we'll we'll get it done. We we always do. That's our plan. We're getting it done, and that's what we're going to do. So Nick, thank you on the update of this. I think I know it's a lot of work, so I appreciate all the work that's going on behind the scenes. I had a
question on the health insurance um subject that you actually shared where it has went up significantly. Are we exploring any other areas like you know say joint insurance funds or high deductible plans? I know they are not they're not very famous but is there
something that we are exploring or we are just bound to that program that we have now currently so we're in a GIF right now a joint insurance fund that's the schools and health insurance fund uh it's the best I've seen um there is discussion about a
health fac health center partnership that some schools have done a center just opened up in Hamilton we took a tour of it uh myself and and and Freya my assistant Um it's something that takes time because the union needs to be involved.
When you start talking about you know changing health care plans that is a negotiated item and so forth. Um and the other thing that happened during COVID was the state took a lot of that bargaining power away. They pretty much took if not all of it
away. Um I'll let you know our attorney respond but I see him shaking his head. They pretty much took it all away. Um and it didn't save us money. It actually cost us money. Cost the money for probably a third of the school districts out there. It saved it for those districts that they wanted to target
uh for their constituents and then punished the rest who didn't um and and and and put our hands tightened up. Um with the health care center um as is explained to me and Dr. Rnooki as well
um he's the one who brought it to me. um you'll break even in the beginning but you save money over long term right and basically it's it's a better center so um if you know if I think the Hamilton township of Hamilton went to it if
school district or somebody else jumps on board the more you jump on there's power in the collective good um so that could be something in the future um a year two three years maybe three u but as of the present moment this we are on the best plan right so
Thank you and thank you for always exploring alternatives. Thank you. Anything else from for Mr. McCree? Okay. Board committee reports, ed policy. Uh Miss Leman is out tonight. Dr. Gold.
On July 15th, the ed policy committee met in the office of the superintendent. Board members uh present were myself, uh Miss Leman, Mr. Howard, and Miss Hill D'Angelo. We were joined by Dr. Piso, Dr. Wasnooki, uh Miss DeFazio, uh Miss
Johnson, and Miss Tenery to discuss several topics related to education and policy. Topics included discussions on the redesign of the mentor teacher program, the upcoming QAC evaluation by the county department of education, and
the summer acupplacer study sessions and summer testing window by Miss DeFazio and Miss Tenery. The committee also discussed the first readings of policies um P9200 cooperation between parent and school
and um P2365 acceptable use of generative AI and acceptable use of generative AI intelligence plan. The committee also reviewed the second reading of policy um and regulations um 8611 involving
subscription busing. Finally, the committee was provided an update to the evaluation rubric development in Genesis for specific categories of staff members. Items to be acted upon at this board meeting include the approval of
the first readings of policies um P2365 and policy um P9200 and the second reading of policy and regulation 8461. All of that is included um and is attached in the links in our board docs. Our full report
is included and in the minutes uh for f further details and discussion. Thank you Dr. Gold. Any questions, comments? Yeah. Um had a question around uh the policy P2365 acceptable use of generative artificial intelligence. I
was reading through that and a few comments and we can also discuss offline. I think the one thing that I noticed is we don't uh have any mention of how the students would get educated on the AI and how um they would be trained and I also felt like there was a
gap around how the educators themselves would be provided ongoing training and I think that's something that we might want to just look at. Yeah. Inside the policy there was discussion of um traffic light system that is going to be something that we're looking to implement in September. Um uh
just as a reminder to the public, the way that the policy was written was developed through three different committees, one at each school and each school had 10 to 15 staff members on the committee. And one of the centralized ideas of the committee was that um on
any given um um assignment, a teacher would have the ability to to institute this stoplight where it would be either a red, yellow, or green light system. A red light system basically says is that we you're not to use AI on this system. A green
light is you could use AI any way you see fit. And a yellow would be a very specific way of how they would be able to utilize it. Um one of the things that came from the committee that I thought was just so organic was that um when the
committee got close to finishing they said they don't want to end this work, right? And uh that was really refreshing because um it was a it was a year-long task and for them not to want to hand it over and be done with it was uh kind of
inspiring. And so the groups now are working over the summertime um where they're going to get together, develop professional development opportunities for the uh the staff members and then work with the curriculum department to be able to provide those professional
development opportunities as as kind of like the central hub throughout the course of the year for the rest of of of their uh peers. Uh and then on top of that we are going to be looking at it for well the district is going to be
looking at it over the next year um and really identifying you know what kind of tools do we want to utilize um there's a number of different tools out there and I know John Lisier has taken a a big
lead in in trying to research those and uh I think at this point it would be uh difficult to say this is the correct tool because I don't think we know enough and I think our hope is that this time next year we'll have a much better feel for this is the tool that that we
champion and um hopefully that will also come kind of organically through a lot of that work. Um I know that we're partnering with Google um now because we are a Google shop and uh there's a lot of advantages we think to going with Google but we think right we we uh just
started getting staff members who volunteer to be trained directly from Google and that's going to be a great advantage as well um because you know it's it's best to hear it directly from them and so those pieces are are built
in as part of uh of the plan and um uh you know and and my favorite part was that come around March it was evident that they wanted to continue this work throughout the next year. Thank you. I want I wanted to add on to um your point Reagu. I think the other
piece that would be critical would be to identify places in the curriculum in which uh we are explicitly uh teaching students um both the safety component of AI use but also you know how to utilize
it for purposes such as researching you know and and how we use it because we want to prepare students for the world um in which they're going to live and so how are we putting that into our curriculum and teaching the use of AI um as a
learning tool. I think that's the other component that you were referencing. Yeah, I think that's a great point. You know, I think our task of year one was to put something on paper, a policy that we could all agree to at the three buildings that we felt very uh
comfortable with. And then in year two is now those like actually putting that plan into action because I would be uh I would not be surprised if there are alterations to the plan throughout the
year because uh as we really start to utilize it um and we have these teams that are continuing to be living the uh the experience that they'll be giving the feedback to try to make those changes. Thank you. Thank you. And just to add on
to both both those um it'd be good to probably report out during committees, you know, especially for business and uh finance for the technology committee so we understand, you know, the choices that John's going to be making and, you know, where he sees the technology going so that way we're we're all, you know,
on board with it there as well as the other committee so that all the board members are aware. I also just think that there's a whole I mean I don't know how much we leverage the existing resources at the SBA and this that and the other. I mean there's so many committees that are probably working on it without us having to
reinvent the wheel. probably well established things that we could sort of pull in and put towards the policy team so that they could collect and coate and see what's at the top of it. I'm sure it's already done actually. Yeah. No, I just wanted to let you know just another shout out for John was he
joined um a New Jersey um coalition that just started this year on this and he's one of the like founding executive members of it and so that they meet now monthly to on this topic and this topic alone. Anything
else for Ed policy? Not see anything. Uh, Miss B, Mrs. Banduta, personnel. Okay. So, on July 15th, personnel committee met in the office of the superintendent with myself, Barbara Ghoul, Tanya Leman, Anthony Ray, um,
with Dr. Pizzo, Dr. Wizneski, and Lisa Tremor to discuss several topics related to personnel. topics included the monthly personnel recommendations by the superintendent and the potential impacts due to the resignation of the assistant superintendent whom we wish well on his next chapter.
Yeah, I added that. Um items to be acted upon at this board meeting include the personnel recommendations by the superintendent outlined in the monthly personnel report. Our full report is included in the minutes for further details. Thank you. Anything for personnel?
Okay. Business, Dr. Piro. All right. Good evening. Uh, the business committee met on July 10th to review key facilities finance and operational updates. Uh, for facility projects, the committee reviewed ongoing summer projects. Um, M. McCree highlighted a few of them, but in addition to that, we have the high
school auditorium lighting repairs, uh, projector uh, replacement. Both are scheduled for August 1st. New stage curtains pending scheduling. At the preschool, we have the sh the uh, canopies with benches going up. Um, $98,000. that's going to be paid by through the grant. Uh the middle school
playground repaving is complete and there's a waiting for to be painted at the elementary school and middle school. Uh Mr. Mccur hit on this. The HVAC upgrades, construction meetings have been held. Substantial completion anticipated by Labor Day. And we're also um it's pending the ROD grant
reimbursement. LED lighting upgrade. The high school received new LED lights under the PSEG state contract with a 15.8% 8% rate at no upfront cost. Additional site work includes pavement patching, repainting, and various playground and security update upgrades.
For technology and security, the new district domain, Robinsville k12.gov, is live. The panic button pilot program is also been um in instituted. Security cameras, upgrades, and system memory enhancements are ongoing. And Prometheium boards, we've installed 16 units at the elementary school and the
middle school. Finance and Transportation. The board approved a $200,000 transfer to address the 2425 food service deficit. A feasibility study for a potential 2028 bond referendum is underway and expect to conclude by the end of August. And the subscription busing uh did not move
forward due to low interest. Um we will be try to begin that process earlier next year. For grants and asset disposal, the district received nearly full IDA grant funding. We were when we were expecting a 25% cut, so that's good news. Rod grants are almost all approved and sever se several vehicles and
equipment items are being listed on for sale on gov deals. Uh the next business committee meeting is scheduled for August 14th at 5:00. Thank you Dr. Piro. Any questions, comments for business, not seeing anything. Uh community
relations, Mr. Ray. Okay. Uh on July 10th, the community relations committee met with uh Dr. the superintendent, Dr. was joined by board members Miss Nania Bandukta, Miss Amanda Hill, D'Angelo, and myself. The topics covered include
the review of the presentation by David Nash on June 24th, and related feedback from board members, updates on club positions and community input were shared by Dr. Piso as was a reminder of the one project to be hosted by our high school, which occurred on July 12th, was
very successful event. Uh, I thoroughly enjoyed it myself. Dr. Pisel shared updates on the scheduled board presentations to be led by and I'm going to apologize in advance in case I butcher any of these names. Arv Janesh Robbinsville High School rising senior
in September and Sha Shahan Shri Raja Rajes Kumar Robinsville High School senior in October and again apologies if I messed the name up. The importance of public input and transparent communication was stressed by all attendees and will continue to be our
focus. Continuing forward, district administration will accommodate any and all groups and will do so at their convenience at the location of their choosing. Full report can be found online. Thank you, Mr. Any question, comments for community relations.
All right. Any VAS on reports? No, I I was not here for the June, but I had gone to an AI summit um and sent my notes to the board as well. Um what I've discovered is that we actually are a little bit ahead of the game with where
we are in creating a policy. When you're comparing yourself and to um the rest of the state, the state hasn't come out with a policy yet is working on creating one. So, good job in coming up with this. Um, but I found in my personal
opinion the majority of what was happening was new programs were being created around AI and they were presenting them to schools. So overall it was not a lot of new information. It was just more of a kind of a sell
advertising. Yeah. Thank you. Any any other reports? All right. Just on that point, I think um we know we know that part of the issue on some of the subscription busing was a bit of that equity that we all
kind of felt and a little paying about. So I think you know in the next time it goes out maybe a bit more effort just to think through how we might solve that so that there's a bit more solutioning and I think more time would offer that. Yeah, I think now that we we know there's interest, we can try to work on
that um you know, probably with a new board in January. Anything else? Okay. Public comment. So, time will be allocated for public comment at this meeting. Members of the public wishing to address the board of education on
agenda items must state their name, municipality, and the group, if any, they represent. A member of the public shall not be permitted to speak until he or she is recognized by the presiding officer. In accordance with district policy 0167, each comment shall be limited to three minutes. No participant
may speak more than once. No dialogue between a speaker and the board or superintendent shall exceed the three minute time limit uh provided herein. Live streaming of the meeting shall be for viewing only. The public will not be will not have the ability to participate in public session comments unless they are physically present at the meeting.
Although the board encourages public comment, the presiding officer can interrupt, warn, and or terminate a participant statement, question or inquiry when it is too lengthy and may have may also interrupt and warn a participant when the statement, question or inquiry is abusive, obscene, or may be defamatory. Moreover, the presiding
officer can request any person to leave the meeting when the person does not observe reasonable decorum. Adherence to protocol established by the New Jersey School Boards Association, the board will use this public comment period as an opportunity to listen to to residents concerned, but not uh but but not to
debate issues or to enter into a question and answer session. Issues raised by members of the public may require review and investigation and may or may not be responded to by the board or superintendent during the meeting. All comments will be considered and a response will be forthcoming if and when
appropriate. Can I have a motion to open public comment on agenda items only? Move. Second. All in favor? Any or abstensions? Okay. Mr. Crease, we open a public comment for 15 minutes.
I'm sorry I'm laughing. I'm doing 15 minutes. Thank you. So, but I can only talk three minutes. Okay. So, I have um nine questions. So, if I don't get into them for the three minutes, I have to wait until the next one or this is the
only one we have. This is for agenda items and we'll have a second one for all. So, you tell me if this one is because I just wrote down throughout what you guys were talking about. Um there is a lot of stuff talk uh and conversations going about the cuts into the education
departments and education. Um and it's been a very big conversation everywhere that we go. I want to know um are we looking into it and are we forecasting what could happen and how do we uh plan
to solve or try to uh um exist while that's happening because it is coming and it is everywhere and it it's a big conversation. So I need to know that you guys have gone talking to each other about it and you are doing something
about it. Congratulation uh to you and Uh, best of luck and I hope that the next school that you're going is in a better shape than moneywise than us. Um, the next one that I was going to ask you is about the old goals. Um, Dr. Bizo, we
had I was involved actually with the old goals that was set up throughout the community and none of the people who are here were involved. I don't think I don't know if Nick was there or not, but we had lot of uh community coming
together. We had set up lot of goals and lot of communication and it was handed to your persecessor but I'm not sure that it was handed to you. I would really really and honestly suggest you look into it because a lot of the stuff that you guys are talking about it was
already a lot of it was discussed. So um the goals the old goals that were set up and the people came and talked about it I think it's something to look into. Um and if I can be any help, please ask me because I was one of the people who participated. Um the next question that
I have is um um a lot of people are having questions and a lot of questions are are coming to the people who already have their children either graduated or they have um they are almost finished that um the grades
and uh the level of the education and the um you know the scores are low for the lot of people and there is a lot of conversation that people are not happy And I told a lot of people that by not coming to the meetings and I hope they all hear me um it's not going to solve
their problem. They should come in here and talk to you guys and ask their specific questions of why there what score and what is bothering them. But it's um but as of right now there's a lot of conversations a lot of people are not happy because it was different. So I
only got into my third question. So I have five more question and I don't know when am I going to be able to ask you. Thank you. I I just want to note that I am taking all your questions down. I'm also open to receiving them via email uh before or
after the meetings either way. and not you know the the last meeting I did answer directly to you and then we did post them to the website. So just so so anyone listening at home uh knows that you know these the all these questions will be answered and they will be posted
on the website if you go to the to my page and I I don't want to promise but if questions are received ahead of the meeting with enough time maybe the district can take those into account for that meeting or or get responses quicker. So if if any parents or anybody
has questions, please always feel free to contact us. We always we always get back to those parents. No. Can I have a motion to close any any other public comment? Can I have a motion to close the public comment on agenda items? So moved.
Second. All in favor? Any or abstensions? Okay. Um, so the superintendent recommends um that the board of education approved the following personnel education policy and
business action items. No personnel uh appointments pending criminal background clearance where applicable. Uh any salary or stipen less than a full term will be prorated to the start date. Um I have a motion to uh approve the uh the
agenda items. So moved. Second. Any discussion? Roll call, please. Yes. Ruled. Yes. Angelo, yes. Howard, absent.
Absent. Nond. Yes. Ray. Yes. Yes. Mr. Yes. Everything passes unanimously. Thank you. any old business to discuss any new business?
I just wanted to take this opportunity and thank Dr. Per for uh attending a town hall with me. Uh there were some good residents who actually had some very critical and difficult questions and thank you for staying late that day because he had to drive to New York but he said hey questions are important
community is important. And so I really appreciate your cander and your staying staying late and answering all those questions and we like to do such town halls with the residents who are really you know um in need or you know have some questions.
So appreciate the community members to contact us but thank you and and thank you very much but it was really really my pleasure. I I absolutely love to communicate with our community and in those small groups we could really get some vibrant
discussion. So I' I'd love to do do one every week. So any group out there, big group, small group, uh that's that's fine. I'd love to meet with it with with any and all groups that are willing to meet with me. But just a on the new business, a thank
you to the one project that used the high school for its seinal years, but Amanda has more information about being a repeat volunteer. So kudos to some board members who also show up at those occasions. And if you have anything else to add about one project and one Sarah's work,
thanks for the shout out though. Um, many of us attended. Um, it's maybe my fifth year doing it. I really enjoy it. What happens is there's a room full of hundreds of people and they break it up into sessions starting at 9 to like 2:00
in our sessions and you are grouped with community members um from Mercer County but a lot of Robinsville residents which is wonderful and we are working on food sustainability and the one project has partnered with so many wonderful companies and com and community and this
one project is their 10th year and they reached over 1 million food bags that they have given out over the last 10 years. So, big congratulations to the their boards, uh, their volunteers, their partnership in this community. Yeah, it's it's it's a wonderful event
for for, you know, for what they put on and it's it's it's great to meet other people within the community because that's always that's the best part, right? You're you're you're doing this great thing and you're you're coming together with other people you've never met before and you're you're you're doing, you know, everything for a good cause. So it was it's a wonderful event.
I recommend anyone joining whenever they can. I was only able to go for the for an hour that if I could my background's in manufacturing and I got when you get into that manufacturing you just want to keep doing it all day. So it was really it was really great. Um anything else on the one project before
we So another new thing. So as we move towards the school year um I've said this a couple times. I just want to remind everybody as we get through the September, I I I am am able and lucky to tour the schools with Dr. Piso, Nick, and any of the other uh building administrators whenever they're willing
to take me through. And it's always a wonderful event to walk through and see what you know the decisions we make and and and everything that we work towards are are coming to bear right at the school level. So, if you are able to join on whatever day, I'm sure I don't mean to speak for Dr. Po, I know he
loves doing it as well, but if you're able to go, please reach out to him and and try to go. If I go I try to go on Fridays. That's my my day to get out there because it's easiest for me. So, you're welcome to join me or go whenever you're able to. But, um go to the HVAC
tour with Nick. You Nick is in his glory. You know, just just watch out because he might see something that you know, rabbit hole. You got to pull him back. But, you know, it's always it's always great. Um, any other new business? Okay.
Uh, let's move on to the second public comment for school items. I'm not going to read the long statement again, but can I have a motion to open public comment on school related matters for 10 minutes? Moved. Second. Second. All in favor?
Nays or obstensions? Okay, the floor is open. Okay, Robinsville, I need to know more about the audit of the QAC. I am not very familiar with it. I'd like to know more about it. Number
five, what are other schools are doing about this insuranceances that they are having a problem? If we are having problem and Nick already explained that we are having in a good one uh that we are not spending as much as we could have spending. So what other schools are
doing because health situation healthcare situation is problem for all the other schools. What are uh all the others doing? We are we have only three schools. There are communities that they have much more schools and much more teachers. And what are they doing? How are they saving money? How are they
surviving? what um we would like to have a comparison. What are we doing? And the next question is um about the AI. The AI um is a situation that um um everybody is going to be dealing with and
everybody is already dealing with it for more or or for less. And I would like to know that before things gets out of hand and then we try to gain it back and how do we uh control it? How do we know that the green light is? And how do we know that what is the red light is? And how
does the teacher know that the when they said it is a red light and they didn't actually use it and then they already also checking it because I'm saying that they go on uh chat GPT I think it is and they say okay write my paper and then they write the nice paper and they said
okay so don't make it at the 10th level and then it writes it for them and it brings it and nobody would know that who did it. So, how do we know? I like to know what is your plan for that. Um, the next one that I was going to ask you is about why do we have deficit of $200,000
for food deficit? I want to know about that. And also the number the last question is um about the community relation. The community relation and that's a subject that uh is very dear to my heart and uh we have been talking
about it. community relation transparency conversation and um I hear that you guys are talking about it. I want to know so what has been better what what steps have we been taking? What is the strategy? What is the deadline? What is the scope? What is uh
you are most of you are um scientists so you know exactly what I'm talking about. So when are we reaching it? What is the deadline? So I like to know that how we are are catching that. And the last thing is uh I still have 29 seconds. Okay. So the last thing that I wanted to
ask you guys is about some of you are the teachers and um and school members of other u communities. How are they doing with this situation of the insuranceances and the deficits and the budget shortage? Is it something that we can be doing because it is something
that we need to know because it's not getting any better. It's just going to get worse. And um I like to I I don't want to be last minute and say we have to raise taxes again. Thank you. Thank you. Any other public comment for
this evening on school related matters? Okay. Can I have a motion to close public comment and end the meeting for this evening? move. Second. All in favor? Thank you everyone. Have a good evening.