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Video-1: youtube.com/watch?v=1UDUa8ZnaoI

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All right, it's 7:01 p.m. We're going to begin this regular meeting of the Rutherford Board of Education, April 27th, 2026. I ask everyone to please stand, face the flag for the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it

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stands, one nation under God, indivisible, liberty, justice for all. All right, I'll ask Mr. Kelly, welcome back, uh, to please take role. >> Thank you. It's nice to be back.

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Mr. Begoian, >> present. >> Mrs. Kates, Miss Kates, excuse me, >> here. >> Mrs. Cole, >> here. >> Mr. Ki, >> present. >> Mr. Healey, >> here. >> Mrs. Jones, >> present.

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>> Dr. Rine >> here. >> Mr. Spayberry >> present. >> Dr. Aotti >> here. >> Ms. Iorio >> here. >> You have a quorum. >> All right. The New Jersey Open Public Meetings Act was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced

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notice of and to attend the meeting of public bodies at which any business is affecting their interests is discussed or acted upon. In accordance with the provisions of this act, the Rutherford Board of Education has caused notice of this meeting to be published by having the date, time, and place posted on the bulletin board outside the burough

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clerk's office, mailed to the Herald, South Bergenite in the record newspapers, and filed with the burough clerk. Hard copies of the agenda are available in the meeting room, and the agenda is posted electronically on Friday before the meeting date on the district's website at

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www.rotherfordschools.org. Subsequent to the meeting, a video of the meeting will be uploaded to the district's website, www.rotherfordschools.org. The video link can be found by opening the board of education link and clicking on public meetings and then videos. Uh so board members, in your packets, there

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are minutes to approve from the regular meeting and executive session of April 6, 2026. Are there any questions and comments about those sets of minutes? Uh seeing none, I'll ask Mr. Kelly to please enter those into the record. Uh,

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and we are going to start with the report of our student representative, Miss Sorio. >> Good evening. Everyone is feeling really energized today after a nice break. Many students are busy preparing for their AP exams now that we're back in school, which are starting next week. Spring

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sports have been going really well with all the athletes working really hard. Senior nights will be happening in the coming weeks to celebrate all of the senior athletes achievements. Before break, RHS hosted its 42nd annual popert. The student performers had a lot of fun showing off their talents and the

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attendees really enjoyed the show. Washington School had Discovery Day before break, and many RHS students from Heroes and Cool Kids volunteered to help out and had a lot of fun doing different science activities with the elementary students. The regional consumer bowl competition

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happened over spring break. Unfortunately, we weren't able to bring home the trophy, but it was still fun to reflect on everything we've learned over the course of the year. Some more business students will be competing in a brand new competition called AI in Accounting next week, which is being hosted for the first time by a local

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CPA. Students have been um studying different practice questions related to accounting and how AI will be impacting it in the future. The junior class has started selling bagels on Friday mornings as a fun way to raise money for their class. This Friday, May 1st, is

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decision day where the seniors will be announcing their plans for next year by wearing merch from their college or trade school and signing the board outside of the guidance office. The National Honor Society and World Language Honor Societies have their inductions coming up next week. They will be honoring their new members with

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a ceremony. And lastly, the spring choir and band concert is coming up in May where the music students will be able to showcase what they've learned throughout the school year. So that's all for tonight. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you. Uh questions or comments from board members?

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>> As usual, a great report. Thank you. >> Okay. All right. Well, you are welcome to stay for the rest of the meeting, but we understand if you have commitments, so thank you so much. >> Yeah. Thank you. Have a good night. >> Thank you. You too. >> Thank you. All right. Uh so we are going to move

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now to a special presentation uh which is the public hearing for the 2026 2027 uh school year. And just a reminder that uh at the last board meeting actually I think it was at two board meetings uh

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Mr. Whitford as the BA went through with us uh strategy and all the drivers um for uh the budget uh that was in consideration for next year. And I want to just echo thanks to the finance committee for all of your hard work behind the scenes and really looking at

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um not only what are the priorities of the district, but how do we make sure we continue to be fiscally prudent just given, you know, the challenges of the landscape that we've been talking about now for a number of weeks and months. Uh so with that uh Mr. Kelly is going to

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walk us through um the public hearing. I'm sure Mr. Hilly will will weigh in toward the end. Um so turn your attention to the screen and I will move out of the way. >> Thank you Dr. Oli. So this is very similar to the uh the

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last presentation you saw back in the middle of March. So we'll we'll get through this pretty quickly. Uh in preparing the budget, we always start with uh identifying the board goals and the board's objectives in developing the budget, what the board hopes to accomplish in the following year. Uh

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this year uh you see there are four of them. Uh student achieve a achievement and portrait of a graduate. uh maintain and build upon current program offerings, community outreach and climate and culture surveys. And as always, to provide for facilities

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improvements, maintenance, and repairs, some of our challenges this year, uh inflationary pressures, health insurance premiums, as you've read, have gone up. This says over 50%. I I've heard it's closer to 65% over the last several years. Um, and this is impacting every

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district that's in the health benefits, the state health benefits plan. Um, and sadly for them, a lot of those districts have to have layoffs. They have to cut programs. Uh, we're not in that position right now. Um, and I'll

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get into why and and what we've been able to do to uh to save uh our programs. um out of district tuition and services and transportation those are an issue every year. Uh we have an obligation to provide for students who

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uh who need special services. Um so we we have to uh build that into the budget. Um and those costs per students of course are a lot higher than for a regular ed student. Uh utilities and maintenance. Uh utilities as you know have been a bit uh volatile the last few

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months um and they may continue to be. Uh we have a uh not related to the budget but we have a couple motions for the board to consider tonight on energy auctions for gas and for uh electricity. Um so we'll see what's out there on the

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marketplace and that those happen tomorrow. If I if I could, um the health insurance premium we has probably gone up closer to your rate, probably closer to 60% in the last three years. And this year we were uh told by the broker that

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we use that we should plan on a 30% increase. Uh and that would be a a 2.9 million. You see, percentages mean one thing, but when you hear dollars, uh that would be a $2.9 million increase.

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um to the health benefit um which would be triple approximately triple uh the amount of money that we could raise through the uh tax levy uh just to that increase. Um it is a

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statewide problem. Um as Mr. Kelly said um Fairlon tried to get out or did get out of the state health plan uh which we have tried to do but we can't because of um the rating we have with the number of um of that what they're paying out

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versus what they're taking in despite the fact they're taking in so much and Fereralon found out that their private plan went up 39% uh in this year. So it is a uh systemic statewide problem that we have to face. Uh the allowable increase that you're

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going to hear about um which the state would give you the option to to increase the tax levy to in theory pay the health insurance increase. um comes up to be about 80 cents or less on the

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dollar and it still leaves you with about a $450,000 to $475,000 uh deficit. So, it is a problem out of district tuition. We have fewer kids out of district now than we've had probably in

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the last five years because we have created programs in district to try to keep kids here because it's better for them and it's obviously better from the budget. Uh but despite the fact that we have fewer kids out, the uh tuitions being raised by the out of district

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schools has gone up approximately uh $450,000 um this coming projected for next year. Well, not projected, we actually know about the increases. So, um those two items alone

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have brought up over a $3 million increase um to the budget. Just anecdotally on the health benefits, I went into uh this uh state of New Jerseyy's website to look at our history, what our invoice history is for

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uh health premiums over the last 13 months. Uh 13 months ago, we were about $750,000 a month. Now we're up to $950,000 a month. So it's g it's gone up $200,000 a month. That's $2.5 million a year. Obviously, it's it's not

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sustainable. uh you know we're doing the best we can but uh but this is an issue and it will continue to be an issue. And and one last thing I'll say what I said at the end of the meeting at more at the beginning the last meeting uh where we had the preliminary budget

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hearing. Um it's not a pro every district is going through this and every municipality is going through this and there are places West Milford is closing a school. Um districts are are laying off 30 40 staff which means they're cutting programs and academic and

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programs for kids. It is not a a a problem that Rutherford or Bergen County or any district can solve. It is a statewide problem and they keep talking about in Trenton. They keep talking about looking at the school aid formula.

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They keep talking about looking at revising how they fund programs, but all they're doing is talking about. So, it is a problem that we're all dealing with. And quite frankly, um, with the hard work that Dr. Aotti

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mentioned of the board and the BA and the administrators, we are able to make minor um, cuts and tighten our belts and find a way to make it work. But we are running out of loop, you know, holes on

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the belt to tighten. Uh, we're running out of ways of doing that. It's a problem that's not going away until something happens statewide. Sources of funds. We have a uh $60 million general operating revenue as you can see at the top of the page there. 90% of that comes from the local tax

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levy. Um 6% comes from state aid. That number has been relatively consistent over the last 15 20 years at least. Um so you know they're not stepping up to uh to uh help us manage this. Uh

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miscellaneous and reserves about 4% that's consistent yeartoear and federal aid which goes into a separate fund. U we get uh maybe a million dollars so it's uh maybe 2% in total of the budget.

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Uh and that goes for IDA and the No Child Left Behind or the Every Student Succeeds Act. Um, so that that's outside the scope of this budget discussion. >> Um, if I also can just that is not part of the budget. There's some extra funding to pay for programs, but they're

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very important programs. And um, what I just heard last week la normally we would know um the title title one, title two, title three that funding um around this time a little later or the application at least would be open. Last

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year was late in the summer. Uh this year I'm hearing it's going to be uh June 15th with um notifications sometimes in July. And what I'm hearing is title one and IDA money should be fine, but there's no rumors or

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discussion about some of the other uh funds in title 2, three, and four, which doesn't mean they won't be fine, but there's no rumor mill out there about it. Okay. And that does provide a lot a lot of our professional development comes out of those funds. um a lot of funding that goes to uh English language

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learners and things like that comes out of those funds. So although that it's not a major hit uh it still would be a have an impact and again that's all rumor mill right now but uh as you know the uh the law requires

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that we can increase our tax levy no more than 2% every year as part of the budget. There are some allowable adjustments for that. There are five or six of them. There's only one this year that pertains to us. Uh and that is as we've already discussed the the increase

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in the health benefits for next year. Um so we have taken advantage of that. It's the it's the only way to address those costs. Um it just does not fit into a 2% budget cap. Uh what's in the budget is

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27%. So and even that is just kind of just squeaking by. We were advised, as Jack said, to to do 30%. So, um, so the allowable adjustment, which came to about $2.4 million, is something that we have to do to avoid, uh, cuts in

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programs. Um, and it's the the one way we can get past the 2% cap for costs that are exceed 2%. And just to give you some uh some big numbers, uh in 26 and 27, our health

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benefits are budgeted at 11.4 million. Last year, the original budget was 8.2 million. Uh we had to bump that up to 8.7 million. So those were that's when the uh the 2026 premiums came in. So we we took a hit on

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that in this year's budget. And so next year we're looking at another $1.8 million if I got that right. That's the 27% increase. So um these are big numbers we're talking about here. And then these have a significant impact on everything in the district. Um

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state aid uh 3.4 million last year. We did get a 5% increase this year. Uh that equated to $172,000. So we're at three point almost 3.6 6 million this year. So, we we appreciate the uh the increase, of course, but it's uh it's it's not really helping to

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address the health benefit numbers. Uh the state has set guard rails for the past several years uh so that uh as they adjust state aid between a 3% decrease and a 6% increase. So, we're at the top end of that. So, uh you know, we we

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appreciate those things when they come. the history of state aid. Uh this goes back about 10 years. It goes back to 1718. Um the blue box at the bottom is the state aid uh in millions each year. Like I said, it's up to about

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3.5 million 426 27. The orange uh bars are our general operating budget. And you see that debt goes up every year. We know that it does. costs go up, health benefits, salaries go up, um everything goes up just as it does in in your home,

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too. Uh the state aid increases, as I mentioned before, not keeping up with the increases in our general operating budget. Um the blue line running through the middle is the aid as the percent of the budget. So, you see it's pretty much hovering around 6%. Uh it's 5.9 for next

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year. Was 6.1 a couple years ago. Um uh so that's where we stand. That's what we're getting. So um any questions on that? Miscellaneous revenue sources believe excess surplus that was what was left over out of the make sure I got this

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right. 2425 audit that money by law has to go into now the 2627 budget. Um, so that is what we had in excess of our mandated reserves that you the the reserves that the state mandates we have. So that was in excess of that.

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We had saved $800,000 that goes into the 2627 budget. Interest and miscellaneous almost $300,000. Uh tuition from Bulldog Care working at $700,000 there. We're building bringing that into the budget. Uh capital reserve we're using 558,000.

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I'll get into that in a couple minutes. and general fund balance, we have $152,000 that we're bringing in. So, all these things were brought in to to make sure we balance the budget. >> And just a couple of quick comments on that. Uh we took money and went and

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found a place to uh create accounts that gave us higher interest to try to make a little more interest money. uh the uh developing our own uh before and afterare program for to provide a better program at a better tuition rate to the

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parents and the kids but also to bring some revenue in. Um we're putting less money say he's going to get into it a little bit into capital reserve than we have in past years. uh these are things but then that means you know we're keeping classrooms operating but we can't do

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certain uh necessary uh facility improvements or enhancements. So um we're we we are looking everywhere to um in in very limited opportunities that we do have to bring revenue in.

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Looking at the local tax levy for next year. Current year tax levy is just over $50 million. Uh that's what the uh you know the local taxpayers are are kicking in. Uh 2728 uh excuse me 2627 increase is $3.5 million. That includes the uh

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that's 2% as well as the adjustment we're allowed to take for the health benefits. So that brings us up to 53,000 uh 53 million, excuse me. Um and that represents a 6.9% increase. Okay. Okay, on the debt service side, which is not up for debate here, you know, we've already committed to that, so we have to

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pay it. Uh our base this year 2526 is over $3 million. Adjustments for next year, as you know, we we keep paying principal down every year. So that number comes down a little bit every year. So that's coming down $57,000 for next year. In addition, we are giving

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back to the taxpayers $1.165 million. This is uh referendum uh monies that were not used. So they go back to re to the taxpayer in the form of a reduced uh tax levy. Um that gives us uh

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and that's a that's a 40% decrease in our uh debt service tax levy. Overall impact is we're we're talking about a 4.2% increase in taxes for 2627. So last year the um the tax increase was 4.2 uh

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the the what's what was felt what was actually hit and that's staying the same this year despite the higher increase and because we're offsetting um by the by the 1.1 almost 1.2 uh million dollar uh return of funds. Now

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next year there'll be close to a million dollars uh to give back as well. I think it's like 900 something or Yeah. What? >> 600 or 700,000. >> 700,000. Okay. About 700,000 next year because we were just under two million

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and divided up over two years. That money came from actually the um the careful management um of the $48 million referendum. Um, you know, we we started the referendum at the time the project we got it approved right

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before COVID, but the actual work started during CO and u both diligence and luck we got in before prices really started to go uh through the roof. So, um the nearly $2 million that was not

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spent of that 48 million uh goes back to the taxpayers in terms of relief. So 1.1 million this year and whatever somewhere in the 700,000 ballpark uh for next year. So that you know helps us a little

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bit to keep the the real increase uh flat from last year but still take advantage of the um of what we need to just make ends meet. Uh we have cut things from the budget. we have really not added um but we haven't had to make

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tremendous cuts that are going to impact kids or programs and we'll get to some of those in a minute. So those are very good points. Uh so you you're seeing a million 165 come back this year. Next year you'll see $700,000

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but that's it. That's the give back from the referendum funds. So in two years from now you're going to see there's going to be a bit of spike on the tax levby debt service. even a bit of a spike next year because it's much smaller give back than than we have this year. So, just something to keep in mind going forward.

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Um, out of district placements, we touched on this a couple minutes ago. Um, you know, the special needs students, uh, classified students that we have in district. Um, so they're classified through the the IEP process. Um, and then, you know, we

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have to put them in the appropriate programs. In many cases, we have the program in house and so we can put them there. But sometimes we're not able to accommodate them here. So we have to send them out. Um so uh we we look to the South Bergen

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Jointure Commission. That's a public school district that specializes in among other things uh special ed programs. So we look to them. They're less expensive than some of the private programs. Uh we will look to other public school districts and we'll take students into our special ed programs as

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well on a tuition basis. Um so we'll look to other nearby school districts so that we can send our kids to if they have the appropriate program and that would be a less expensive option too as well. The uh the most expensive option is private schools for students with

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disabilities. There are a lot of them out there. um they're not a lot of control on what their tuition costs year after year. So they they go up much higher than than our 2% for sure. Um and in some very rare cases, uh there's some

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out ofstate programs we have to send kids to, but uh and that as you can imagine is is uh more pricey even still. And again to put numbers behind percentages, we have approximately and again approximately 90 students out of

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um 2700 students that are out of district. Um and that with that projected increase, the tuitions u that are budgeted I believe are $6.3 million. Okay, so that's a lot of money. Um but

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and services that students need, parents need that no comprehensive public school can supply, but it's a a lot of money. And as Mr. Kelly said, uh many of the private uh the public school, the South Burger

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Joiner, uh they are a public school as well. They that specializes in special education, they cannot fund some of these higher level uh programs that are needed. So, the private schools come in and there's very little control over their tuition. We briefly uh mentioned uh capital

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reserve before. Uh so what's in the budget for next year are these projects? 28,000 for HVAC and boiler repairs. Uh that's throughout the district. 130,000 for plumbing and gutter repairs. That's uh

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Union and uh the high school have significant issues there. Roofing and gutter repairs, 45,000. That's at Pure Pont. um and playground improvements which I know the board has been discussing over the past few months. In addition, we have the statemandated SDA assessment so that we can help pay the

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SDA's debt service. Um so that all comes to $558,000. You saw that number earlier in the presentation. Capital reserve but fund in total at f at the end of last year 2425 was about

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$700,000. So, we're taking most of it right now, which leaves us about $150,000, which is a little scary. That's uh that's that's very thin. So, uh we can put more money in this year. We're going through the budget now, and man, when we close it

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all out, I I have no doubt that more money will be going into the capital reserve fund. But think of other times we've had two and a half to $3 million. and we've done done some good work with that money, but uh it's getting the budget is tight, so it's getting harder and harder to replenish this account.

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>> Right. Most years we've had over a million dollars, $2 million in capital reserve. Um we probably would plan $800,000, $900,000 or more in projects. Uh this year we're doing half of that in order to keep the

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operation budget um operational. Um, and again, you know, you're looking at in this building, for example, if we had to replace a boiler, it would be an $800,000 job. So, you know, when you have 2 million in capital reserve, if the

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boiler goes, you know, you know, you're going to be able to cover it. When you have 700,000 in capital reserve or 500 and other projects to do, um, you know, you're keeping your fingers crossed a lot. But again, it's a reality of what we're

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dealing with with the inflationary items that we talked about earlier that we can't control. >> Uh we we do take advantage of leasing which I think helps us to accomplish more than we would if we didn't. Um, and every year we we go out for leases for

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uh computer equipment and student and teacher devices, interactive panels, have a new telephone system, fire file server replacement, uh the computer lab. Uh these are all things we we we go out for a lease purchase um financing option

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on that one. So it's it let allows us to do more than just paying cash outright. Um and we get decent rates uh in interest rates. Um, but it does allow us to stretch our money a little bit further. Um,

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so like you said, use leasing to support large expenses and annual budgets. So we'll we'll continue to do that. Uh, keeping in mind that once you have a lease, that's a commitment that's been made. So if the budget goes south, that

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commitment still has to be made, which means programs may suffer because of it. But uh um but I don't think we're that exposed here that it's a major concern. But just just keep in mind this is a commitment that we have to honor going forward.

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Uh the district cost per pupil. This is the Dr. Rine slides here. Um we've talked about this one before. We're looking at uh our cost per pupil compared to other equivalent districts. These are Bergen County K12 districts

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that I'll be showing you in a minute. Um, and to show how our spending is compared to our peers. Um, so these are all the uh these are all the Bergen County K12 districts who are in our district factor

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group, which I'll get into in a second. Um, so it's it's all information is all coming from the Department of Ed, their taxpayers guide to education spending uh from 2025. That's the most recent. You can look at that yourself if you want to. Um,

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so there are 21 separate indicators. We're looking at the budgetary per pupil cost and it looks at comparable costs from district to district. So for example, I don't know if this is true or not, but if uh Leonia does not have busing

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and we do which to a limited extent or we have limited busing whereas other like Paramis probably has extensive busing um transportation is cut out of this comparison because it's not comparable among all the nine districts that are in this group.

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Uh so the district factor groups were developed in 1975. They were last updated in 2000. Are they right? Are they could they stand an update? Yeah, probably. But this is what we've got. Um, it's a an approx. It's defined as an approximate measure of a communities of

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community relatives community's relative socioeconomic status. So, all these nine districts I'm going to show you are considered to be roughly the same uh socio in the socio economic status. uh they're looking at uh percentage of

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adults with high school diploma. They're looking at occupational status, unemployment rate, uh percentage of individuals in poverty, and median family income. Just to give you a sense of what the district factor groups are, uh a tend to

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be the lower socioeconomic groups, Newark, Union City, West New York. J is the higher groups. Ridgewood, Saddle River, Hocus. We are in the what's it? One, two, three, four, five, six. There are eight groups. We're in the third one from the top. That's GH with Fairlorn

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and Pamis. Um, some of our neighbors here, East Rutherford, as you can see, is in the CD group. Uh, Carl Statlin, North Arlington are in DD. So, that gives you a sense of of how the state is looking at Rutherford.

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Um, I think most people in the audience got a paper copy of this presentation, so you can probably read it than you can off this, but I'll I'll talk you through it. So, these are uh these are numbers from the taxpayers's guide to education spending 2025. Like I said, uh the light

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green bar on the left in each pair is the uh 2324 actual. This is the most recent information they have. The darker green is the 2425 budget. Um so as you can see the budget in all all but one

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case is above the prior year actual that one case being us. Uh and I'll read you the towns going from left to right. Uh Midland Park Pamis Teneck Westwood Waldwick Emerson Fairlorn Leonia and

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Rutherford. So we spend less per pupil than our peers in Bergen County. Um, and in some cases like Midland Park, we're significantly less. They're up at $25,000 a student. We're at uh 18. Uh, that's a that's a big

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difference. Um, and I don't think I think over time, you know, our programs have grown, our programs are strong. Um, so we've done a lot with the little amount that we're getting for our students relative to these other districts. I should point out the last two sets of columns, the

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one on the left is the uh the the average of these nine districts. So, of course, Weatherford being the the the lowest cost is is below average. Uh the the two columns on the far right is the state average. So, even considering

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that the northern region, Bergen County, is very expensive, uh and the south, you know, go down to uh Millville and and Atlantic City. be a lot cheaper. Um, but we're still spending less than that state average

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per pupil, which is an interesting statistic here. Um, yeah. Okay. Uh, so this was the timeline for completing the budget. You see, we checked off the last one, which is the public hearing on the budget, which is tonight. Final board of ed approval.

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Hopefully um this week we'll be opening up the system. Assuming the the board approves the budget, we'll be opening up the system. So, we'll start uh purchase orders for next year. Um I do want to point out one thing, one change from the state this year. We've always had to run

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an ad in the paper and this is about half a page in the Bergen record. Uh this year we no longer have to do that. So, we did not do it. Um I I think in terms of bang for a buck that's not the best way to spend anything. Um so what we've done instead and you know

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which is what the state is asking for is that we have a link on our homepage. Uh it says public notices and the advertised budget is located there. Um and uh and that's the way we'll be doing

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it going forward. So uh uh I think that's it. that and that was posted a week ago, last Monday. So, okay. Any questions on all that from the board, please? >> Okay. So, I I do want to take a minute and

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thank uh Mr. Whitford, our uh former BA, Mr. Kelly for picking up right where he left off seamlessly. Uh Mr. Hurley, and the finance committee. I think as a board, we know there's probably nothing more important than being fidiciaries and fiscally responsible taxpayers

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dollars. And uh this is in my 10 years, nine 10 years on the board and four or five years as president, definitely the tightest budget that I've seen. Um you know, each one of us brings a different perspective uh in different industries we work in personally, professionally.

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Um I run a school, I work with a CFO and a board. Uh but I have to say that um all the things that the finance committee has done really to uh leave no stone unturned between um different

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creative cost savings that uh Mr. Hurley and her BA found uh in looking at next year the miscellaneous revenue sources, the out of district placements which are down which you know keeping students in the district saves money, doing half the capital projects. Um if you look at the

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spending per pupil um all of these things are are things that um I think as a finance committee and as a board we're really pleased about because um beyond that you get into cutting people in programs and you know that is really what uh we're trying to avoid and a lot

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of this is like Mr. said driven by the uh health benefits premium increase. Um, one of the things I would just add is the finance committee and also the strategic planning committee uh talked about uh, you know, the strategic planning committee getting together and

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um, just doing some strategic thinking and planning you know that Mr. Hurley and the uh you know would help um to lead with the BA just thinking about certain fixed costs that we know of you know salaries for the three different units or fixed costs um you know uh

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looking at assumptions over the next couple of years so we can really start to project out not just you know where are things now where are things next year but two three four years down the line with the things that we're seeing how do we plan for that in the long term um and I think that uh is going to be

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really really important as So, I just wanted to uh thank Mr. Hurley again, um Mr. Rifford and Mr. Kelly for all their work on this. Uh are there any questions about the uh the budget presentation? I know that uh

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during the uh portion where uh we go into finance, we will be approving that. So, uh make sure Yeah, it may have a little right now. >> Yep. So, just uh and I know we've talked about this. This is the third time

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you're seeing this budget presentation. Um it's up on video in our early March in our later March meeting where we had these discussions. So, um we've kind of discussed this a lot in finance committee and in uh open session as well.

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>> Dr. Echo what you said that like this is the tidy tightest scariest budget I've seen since I've been on the board. And uh like you were saying earlier, this is a this is a a statewide crisis, but like but just the fact that that that like

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even though it's such a tight budget that we are still doing okay for now, right, is something that, you know, it's it it is a really good sign for us. >> But you know, this is something that has to be fixed at a state level because unstainable for anybody. And we're seeing districts that fall left and

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right. I just want to thank you, Mr. Kelly for coming back and and like having fresh eyes on this as well, coming to the same conclusion of this is this is tight and there's not much more we can do here. >> And also obviously thanked you in the

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past uh for this as well, but you know to do a referendum to do every single project and come in $2 million under budget so that that money can go back to the taxpayer over a two-year period is going to be helpful as well. Um so you saw that in the presentation uh for this year going into next year and then next

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year uh going into the following year right uh also just you know was not in the presentation but just for everybody's awareness um first time we've ever and I've been in the district 48 years first time we've ever uh froze um no increase for any building or

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department spending. So uh they had 0% so they're going to operate next year uh with the same budget that they operated this year. Uh we also had a uh three retirements, two in custodial position, uh one in a maintenance position. Uh we didn't we're not going to replace the

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maintenance position. Uh that gentleman who retired was out for a while. Um and u we managed, not great, but we managed. So we took that out of the budget and the two uh custodial positions um that were our custodians um because we have a

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hybrid, right, with our custodians and outsource custodians. uh we're going to outsource those two positions um for next year's budget uh because that provide us with some saving. Um we are reducing at least one teacher aid

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position again through attrition. So um we also you know took a very deep dive into all positions and uh you know to see where there would be any um fat and really couldn't find any. But those are the areas that we were able to make some

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some uh some cuts. And um we also um cut technologies budget. Um we are were foregoing some equipment that we were we were going to get. Um and we also took some money uh to go along with the capital reserve cut. Uh we also took

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some money from the maintenance budget. Uh again hoping that we could just keep things together uh for for a year. So those are where we made some cuts. But the um but see, we're in the business of kids. Um you know, and we're not putting 30 we're not going to go from 23 kids in

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a class to 32 kids in a class. Uh we're not going to go where we're cutting a program the students can't take advantage of. Uh that's going to be something that we're going to, you know, do what we can for as long as we can not to do that step. All right. So, we are going to move to

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the report of the superintendent. Then we'll have the report of the president and then we will >> just one gentleman has hand >> and then uh after the report of the president we'll open the meeting to the public uh for anything related to or not related to the agenda. At that point uh

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that is part of where we open it up as part of the public forum for anyone who wants to give feedback uh on the budget presentation. Uh so I'll turn it over to Mr. Hurley. >> Thank you. Very uh quick report tonight because we had the um budget presentation. Uh I do want to uh welcome

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um and um to uh tonight he's on the agenda for approval. Um we have the uh the once and future BA up here. Okay. Uh but uh Mr. Alexowski who is Kobsky who is going to be our hopefully with the board's approval our

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BA beginning July 1. So Alex, thanks for being here tonight. Um we didn't put you on the hot seat. We didn't make you answer any questions tonight. Okay. But that'll be your job next year. Um so welcome. Um the I also want to make um mention that in the agenda you will see

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numbers that you've seen before those are the uh hib self reflection on training and programs for kids and training and programs for uh faculty by state statute I have to get the board's approval of those numbers to submit them and then once the state accepts them

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which they did I have to then get the board awareness not approval I have to report that the state has accepted them and again those numbers uh of of a uh 75 uh 76 and the like the highest score you

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could get is um a 78. So you know it's not based on 100. So those are excellent scores and um check your calendars if uh if you are a or or the website uh May and April May and June rather uh bring a

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lot of art shows and concerts and plays and athletic events. So, uh, too numerous to mention, but I sent you some dates to the board and, uh, for everybody, they're on the calendar. I advise you all double check the calendar because those dates I take from the master calendar and sometimes things

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change because of of, uh, conflicts. And last thing is, uh, I just found out this afternoon that one of our eighth graders, um, Hawa Rande, I hope I'm saying the name correctly, u, she is a state winner in the PTA reflections

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essay contest. So, she'll go on to the national competition. Uh, just found that out this afternoon. So, congratulations to her. >> Okay. And that's it. All right. Thank you. Questions or comments from board members? All right. Hearing none, we'll move on

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to the report of the president. I will also keep it uh brief. Uh, so first of all, thank you, Mr. arily for in your uh memo to us all the upcoming events so that uh we can all do our best to attend those and be visible in the community. You know which one I'm going to

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highlight. It's the last bullet on there. Uh June 23rd, Rutherford High School graduation, 6:30 p.m. Please put it on your calendars. We've had uh full attendance the last couple of you last few years. So want to get everyone uh to be there for that in celebration of our

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our high school students. Uh also I just wanted to thank uh Mr. Hurley for the portrait of a Rutherford graduate um feedback report. You know um when a district a school creates a portrait of

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a graduate, it's really that end point. Um and so when you think about the end point, you know, a district's job is to think about how do we how do we get to that end point? Um and uh to that uh Mr. early has really um discussed with us

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and spearheaded over time ways in which um the qualities of a portrait of a graduate are infused into programs and curriculum. Um and I think that's been great and the next step just getting feedback about how that's going, where are the bright spots, where are the areas we can continue to focus on. It's

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really helpful um for all of us. So thank you for that. >> Thank you. And a reminder that at the May 11th meeting, excuse me, the advisory board who's put together the projects that are going to be in place next year are going to come and make a brief presentation to the board and let you see what the projects

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are at the various grade levels. So that'll be the May 11th meeting. >> Yep. Okay. That's our next one. May 11th. Yep. Uh for those of you who haven't been, the end of the year uh party for the Rutherford district is always a lot of fun. Uh so uh if you're

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able to come uh please respond by May 15th. It's on June 11th at 5:30m. Uh are we is is this confirming we have in the personnel committee do you think next Monday? >> Uh I don't think I talked to Miss Cole. I don't think we need to. >> Okay. All right. Okay. So we'll just confirm offline. It looks like we won't be having the person

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>> Yeah. I I don't think we will. I I'll re send something out tomorrow to the committee to see but for sure. Okay. >> All right. Uh that is it for my >> Can I add one more reminder to your reminders? Uh Mr. Kelly had put out something about the school board's convention and workshop in um October. I

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know it's early, but it's a huge um event and uh bookings go fast. So if you can by Friday, um keep in mind that if you if you're uncertain and you and you want to go um we could always pull back if someone So uh but we want to try to

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get that settled especially with the transition with VA. I want to make sure nothing, you know, gets lost in the in the shuffle. Okay. So, if you if a yes by Thursday or Friday would be great. If it's a no, no need to say no, but if we don't hear from you, we assume it's a

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no. Okay. All right. Uh, that's it for me. Any questions about my report? All right. Hearing none, at 7:49 p.m. we're going to open up the meeting to the public for anything related to or not related to the agenda. Um, we'll ask you to please uh come up to the

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microphone there and uh if you don't mind just stating your name and your address and uh welcome. >> Yes. Uh excuse me. Uh everybody here the evening. Uh my name is Jeff Kumer. I'm I'm a resident of Vandenberg Avenue and

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uh I'm calling um yeah I'm speaking in reference to the um adult school. Will we have that again? I know you used to have that I think and then after once CO hit I think they stopped it. Will they bring that back? >> No, the the adult school was a um a

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separate organization that the board kind of ran under its umbrella. >> Oh. >> The board did not control it and uh their board of directors um I think I think it was a a a product of the shift to uh online

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opportunities. uh enrollment kept decreasing for them, decreasing for them. Uh they couldn't uh manage it anymore. So they folded up shop about what six years ago or so about five or six years ago. Uh it just and and there are still a few around in the area, but

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not as many as there used to be. So no, they're gone. Okay. >> So you don't feel that you will bring it back at all in the future? >> It's not ours. Uh it was a private group that came in and yeah and ran it. And uh if you right now, you know, we would not

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undertake the board would not nor should the board undertake an adult school. >> Um and uh even if the board could do it or should do it, uh as you just heard, we're trying to keep what we have afloat. >> Right. Okay.

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>> All right. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> A minute. Howdy. Uh, my name's I can't pull this up at all. Uh, sorry. Uh, can you hear me if I talk like this? >> Sure. Yeah. >> Yeah. Uh, my name's Eddie Raymond. Uh, live 95 Orient Way. Uh, senior here at

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RHS. Uh, I'm not here to talk about the budget, although I really do appreciate you guys trying to keep everything in budget and trying not to cut programs. I'm a big um I'm in the marching band. I'm drum major in the marching band, so I really appreciate that personally. Um

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but I I wanted to talk a little bit about the board's current approach towards uh learning language models and generative AI. Um just trying to provide a students perspective on

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how I think the current plan has been effective in classrooms. Uh- which has been it's been unfortunate because I I I have like I've been following what the board has planned. I know um that there

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is a focus on trying to integrate the technology into classrooms in an effective way to encourage student creativity. And I know there was a big big um highlight on not replacing uh student effort and uh students ability

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to learn but rather enhancing it. Unfortunately, I have noticed that that really hasn't been the case in most classrooms. I think in some of the STEM classrooms it can be helpful for code and it's very specific to those

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circumstances but I know that the board has um made like has said that they want to take uh cautionary measures to make sure that they're not implementing anything too quickly. But I guess the best way to explain what I'm trying to say is just painting a picture like I in

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in class most of the times it's it's the I felt over the past year um that as a student the learning has been less unless I'm in my AP classes where I'm learning specifically to a test. Um,

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when it comes to honors or regular classes, it there is no learning for a specific test. And therefore, the incentive to make sure that students are doing better than besides just a grade is diminished. And as someone who

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actually like I know crazy for a student to say this, enjoys doing work, enjoys learning. Um, I feel like a little bit of a cop, but it's okay. Um, I I I do I enjoy coming to school to learn and it feels as though um we're often

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encouraged to cheat. Uh, we're encouraged to take easy ways out of assignments, easy ways out of doing any work. Um, I know in my my my English classes, just an example, and this is

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many of my uh of my peers is their English classes. um they the the incentive to read the book is gone. I mean, Spark Notes has always been a thing. I'm not gonna lie and say that hasn't been the case, but things things like that require actual critical

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thinking have been lessened to the point where it kind of feel it feels a bit numbing in certain classes. it feels a bit numbing and it I think this is going to continue to be a trend with the

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current approach. Um, I'm going to be honest. I am giving completely my own anecdotal experience and I really would encourage uh the board to speak to other students and try and get those experiences, talk to teachers, but it's

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I the where things are going right now. I think that the current approach can be relooked at and I I just wanted to hear what you guys think about that and maybe I I honestly I do not bring any solutions. I'm asking you guys to think about that a bit but thank you.

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>> Thank you. >> Um so first of all I just wanted to say thank you. Um when we have um meeting open to the public it's not usually always a back and forth. Um but if there is something that we feel we can sort of share in the moment we we do like to share that. So I did want to mention one

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quick thing and then I'll I'll turn it over to Mr. if he has any uh followup. Um and just to sort of clarify the role of the board and the role of the district operational leadership in terms of um the important feedback that you have. So um as a board we're a strategic

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board. So part of our goal is to make sure that um resources are allocated appropriately that we are fidiciaries that we're thinking strategically about the future of the district in terms of programmatic things that are unfolding and feedback that students have.

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definitely would encourage, you know, going to um sort of the operational leaders within the district who are making those sort of programmatic decisions and also in real time taking feedback about what your lived experiences are. Um so definitely starting with classroom teachers or with

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the principal like Mr. Morano um and even then to Mr. Hurley as as the superintendent, you know, they make the sort of operational programmatic decisions and we sort of support those on a strategic level by getting updates about those and again um just seeing

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where there are kind of new policies and new things uh being brought up to speed. Just want to make sure that in terms of um you know the operational leadership also has you know your feedback and thoughts and if students have feedback I know that you know I'm sure that the principles will appreciate hearing that

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um as well. So just wanted to share that piece about kind of the the the role of the board which we always love hearing from the community. So definitely appreciate your thoughts and Mr. >> Yeah, I would suggest that and thank you for coming. I would suggest that you um talk to someone in in the building um

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whether it be Mr. Morano or Mr. met who used to be in the building as now he's now he's the supervisor of technology. Uh we have a a district-wide committee that's working on um on integration of AI and other aspects of technology and I

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think um Mr. Met would like to hear your thoughts or thoughts from other students. Um I know we did a student survey earlier in the year. I'm trying to we have another one going out to parents and AI was on that survey. I don't remember off the top of my head if it was on the survey that students had the opportunity to do, but I'll go back

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and check that. But um yeah, I think that would be a good thing to do. I think um you know, we have a we have about 15 teachers across the district who have been working for the past year and going to continue to work next year and Mr. Met chairs that. So if you get a chance to go and talk to him, I think

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that would be a good place to kind of share with him what you shared with the board. Um and also a good opportunity for uh as Dr. said, uh, people are in the building and and on the ground floor, right? Uh, could could also take a look into some of the things you're talking about, uh,

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like you're saying, you're giving anecdotal experience from yourself and they could look to see whether that is anecdotal experience to you or is it more systemic and they can take a look at that. So, I would encourage you to do that. I'm I will let I'm going to let both Mr. Met, you know, Mr. Brown know uh, if you don't want to reach out to

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them, maybe they'll reach out to you to have a conversation with them. >> Okay. So, go reach out to them. I think would be good. >> But yeah, I would also appreciate if you reached out. I mean, absolutely. >> Yep. Okay. >> Y >> Yeah. All right. Thank you. Uh other questions and comments? Uh

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meeting open to the public? Frank Wilson, 171 Montrose. It's been a while since I've been here. Nice to see you back. Um, I was looking at the budget, the the real budget, not the cliffnoted version, and a couple of things stood out at me.

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First, if any of you haven't seen the real budget, you should really look at the real budget. Um, students went up 72 students projected. And I'm curious as to what kind of an algorithm you use to raise it because if you go back till 2019, there's no algorithm that pushes

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it from where it was 2515 to 2587. What? There's no algorithm in the last 6 years that would justify that big an increase. So I'm curious as to how you push that up to say 72 kids are going to be here when there's nothing in the past that shows that big an increase

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because that that equates to like $1.4 million in the budget by increasing it that high. So that's one question. Second question is I look I see health care and we all keep talking about health care but the town contributes 91% according to this to the health care and

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the rank and file contribute 9%. I don't know what the what the contract shows but the next time you start talking to the NJA the way things are right now I think 9% contributing is a little on the low side.

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Okay. I've got to pay. It's right here. I got to pay more than that in social security and and uh Medicare and the supplements and all that stuff. I'm sure some of you will get to that. >> I can you just repeat those number again on >> according to this? This is from your budget. Your budget I got a print out.

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It says total employee share of the budget 1.1,452,366. >> Total district share 11,410,514. >> It's right off your budget. >> Okay. >> Okay. According to that, that means that they're contributing 9%. And we're contributing 91%. There's something wrong with that

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picture. The police pay more than that. I paid more than that. I pay a lot more than that now to social security. 9%. So when everybody talks healthare, healthare, healthare. Yeah, we're the health care according to this. It's 9% to the rank and file.

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It's right off of you. This is your budgets. Okay. And I I look at this and then I see the budget since for the last six years it's gone up $15 million. So it averages a $2.7 million increase over the last six years.

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Um we're all seeing how much we're cutting back cutting back and everything else. But I I didn't get a chance to really dig into this. I only picked a few, you know, choice spots, but seeing the kids when you when the cost per child is $20,000, that's going to raise

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that up. Raise it up 1.4 million. And you keep saying healthcare, and if we have to contribute 91%, that's a big chunk. So, if it's in the contract, there's nothing you could do about it. But with the new contract comes up, you really got to take a look at this because

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things changed. If I could just um just one point of clarification, there is no negotiating under state law on health benefit. So if they're in under chapter 78 or I believe it's if you're in the uh

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what we call direct 10, direct 15, uh the employees are paying about 28% of the premium. if they are in uh the go teachers educator plan which all new hires in the last three years I believe have to be in that plan uh they are

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paying a percentage of their salary not a percentage of the premium that is state law that law sunsets in 2027 and then we're going to be waiting to hear our marching orders from the state again so like I said before we cannot negotiate

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the health benefit contribution it is in state poop. >> Well, then this this shows they're paying 9%. >> Well, whatever they're showing, I don't have that information. >> I'll leave it for you. >> I'm not I'm not disputing what you're saying. >> Telling you. So, something's wrong someplace then because according to this Mr. I'm not disputing what you're

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saying. What I'm trying to explain is we can't negotiate it. It's in state code. Do I agree with the state code? Absolutely not. the teach the this the educator's plan that became part of the code put more burden on the on the

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school district than on the employee. Okay? Because instead of paying a percentage of the premium, you're paying a percentage of your income. So the premium goes up that all that increase is going on the district side. I'm not

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dis disagreeing with you. What I'm telling you is like I said earlier, >> we we cannot solve that problem. That is a state legislative problem. >> Well, the healthcare problems I just left Burough Hall also. They got this meeting on the same day and I says between the two of you, you got to

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change it. So I ran from there to here and I asked them the same question. All right? And they said the same thing about healthcare. I don't know if you have one separate health care plan and your municipal has another separate healthare plan. But between the two of them, if we're both spending over $10

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million on health care and we pull the resources, we got to be able to get a better package from the insurance companies. Don't know if you can do it and don't know if it's church and state, but if they're paying that much to the right end and you're paying that much to the left end, if you put them together,

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just like paying your car insurance and your home insurance, there's got to be a better bundle that we can get between the two of them. Okay? because seeing the numbers that they're both paying, the only ones making money is the insurance companies. So, there's got to be a better way to hook the two of them

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together. That and I guess says if you look at the at the um uh p children coming in the 72, I think it's it's too high because the algorithms prior to that don't show it, which will drop your budget then.

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Okay. So your budget when you're presented budget, it'll actually look a little bit less if you look at just that one thing because that algorithm, it doesn't show anywhere. That's it. Thanks. Nice to see you back. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you. And um we did have

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our uh broker Brown and Brown for health benefits look into self-insuring. Um and uh it did not come back favorable, but we did not look into it partnering with anybody else. So you know, again, we've turned over every rock we can. Look, we'll turn over that rock, too. Have

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them take a look at it. Okay. All right. Any other comments during the open portion of this meeting? All right. Hearing none, then at 8:06 p.m. we're going to close the meeting to the public and we're going to move on to new business where there is action to be

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taken. Uh we will begin with personnel and each of our committees is reported on by the chair of that committee. So, Mrs. Cole, >> good evening. uh personnel did not meet this month. We have 17 motions to be put tonight at the

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recommendation of the superintendent. I want to move motions 1 through 17 under personnel. >> All right. Thank you. Do we have a second? All right. Mr. Spayberry comments and questions about personnel.

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I just want to mention that Diane Rosilia, who's been with us probably 25 or 30 years as a teacher assistant, uh will be uh retiring actually on October 1st. And of course, I already mentioned Alex who's here tonight. Um so want to

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comment on those two positions. >> All right. Thank you. Uh all right. So uh we had uh Miss Cole moved those. Mr. Spayberry seconded. Uh so Mr. Kelly, please take role. >> Mr. McGoian, >> yes.

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>> Mrs. Kates, Miss Kates, excuse me. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Cole, >> yes. >> Mr. Ki, >> yes. >> Mr. Healey, >> yes. >> Mrs. Jones, >> yes. >> Dr. Rine, >> yes. >> Mr. Spayberry, >> yes. >> Dr. Oati, >> yes.

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>> Motion's carried. Thank you. >> Thank you. And just a reminder to the public, um, each of these, uh, committee reports we do by consent agenda. Um and so a lot of the discussion takes place in committees. Um and also we do consent agenda instead of reading through every

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item since the public can read through it so we can focus on any discussion and questions. Uh so moving on to curriculum and instruction. Miss Jones. >> Thank you. We also did not have a CNI meeting and there are three motions that have been put forth by the

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recommendation of the superintendent and I move uh motions one to three. >> All right. Thank you. Thank you. Do we have a second? Mr. Brigoian, questions and comments about curriculum and instruction. All right, hearing none. Mr. Kelly, please take role.

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>> Mr. Bgoian, >> yes. >> Miss Kates, >> I abstain from number one, but yes for two and three. >> Thank you. Mrs. Cole, >> yes. >> Mr. Ki, >> yes. >> Mr. Healey, >> yes.

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>> Mrs. Jones, >> yes. >> Dr. Rine, >> yes. Mr. Spayberry, >> yes. >> Dr. Aotti, >> yes. Motions carried. Thank you. >> Thank you. Move on now to finance. Mr. Bezosian, >> good evening. Uh, we did not have a finance committee meeting since our last full board meeting. Tonight on the

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agenda, we have five motions to consider. Uh, I'd like to move motions one through five under finance. >> All right. Thank you. Do we have a second? Mr. Healey, questions and comments on finance. >> Dr. Number three is just because of the

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change in um personnel right? >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Other questions. >> All right. Hearing none. Mr. Kelly, please take role. >> I'm sorry. Was there a second? >> Uh

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>> yeah, Mr. Hilly seconded on that. >> Okay. Thank you. Mr. Bgoia, >> yes. >> Miss Kates, >> yes. >> Mrs. Cole, >> yes. >> Mr. Ki, >> yes. >> Mr. Mr. Healey, >> yes. >> Mrs. Jones, >> yes. >> Dr. Rine, >> yes.

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>> Mr. Spayberry, >> yes. >> Dr. Aati, >> yes. >> Motions carried. Thank you very much. >> Yeah. Um, we said that. >> All right. Uh, next we have policy. Mr. Healey. >> Yes. Uh we did not have a policy committee since the last board meeting

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and there are no resolutions. >> Okay. Uh then we'll move on to buildings and grounds. Mr. Spayberry, >> good evening. Uh we did not have a buildings ground meeting this past month. Uh we have two motions for gas and electric supply to move forward at the recommendation of the superintendent. I can move those

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forward. >> All right. Thank you. Do we have a second on that? All right. Mr. Cole, questions and comments on buildings and grounds. Mr. Spurberry. >> Uh yes. on the gas supply one. If you look at the 18month one, it's lower than

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the uh the other the 24 month and the 36 month. >> I think those are just the market conditions, but we'll see how they all play out tomorrow. >> Cheaper to go 18 months than it is to go 24 month. >> Could be. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> So, we'll take a look. Tomorrow is are

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these auctions, so we'll see how these all numbers all play out. But these are just kind of a a sense as to where where they were at the time that they were they were set for this motion. So >> I was just Okay. Yeah. >> Thank you, Mr.

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>> Other questions. How can I get these electric rates? Because these are really good. >> Just need a long extension cord. >> That's not that long. >> You could probably do it. All right. Uh, Mr. Kelly, please take role.

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>> Mr. Begoian, >> yes. >> Miss Kates, >> yes. >> Mrs. Cole, >> yes. >> Mr. Ki, >> yes. >> Mr. Healey, >> yes. >> Mrs. Jones, >> yes. >> Dr. Rine, >> yes. >> Mr. Spayberry, >> yes. >> Dr. Aotti, >> yes. >> Motion's carried. Thank you very much.

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>> All right. Thank you. We're going to move on to old business. Is there any old business, Miss Jones? >> I know that uh Sarah reported on the popsert, but I would just like to say that I did attend it and it was wonderful, but was really terrific for

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me was to see David Begoian, uh James's son, play with uh Brian Urseli. They did a wonderful song and

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acted uh coming from when David was a freshman and asked Brian if they could do a duet or a not a duet but a a an act together. And he says, "Well, ask me

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when you're a senior." And Brian Urles, he totally expected him to forget, but he did not. And they were wonderful. They really were. So, I'm hoping, and I'm saying this in public, that Charlotte, who is Brian's daughter, who is also a fantastic actress, she's

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in the plays and so forth, asked her father to do something or do it when she is a senior, so let's hope for that. But it was terrific. It always is. >> Thought you were going to say David Sang for a minute. I was like, whoa, I missed that. >> No.

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>> Um, all right. Uh, any other old business? >> Thank you, Mr. Jones. Uh, then we're going to move on to legislative update. Anything for us? >> This one. Senate Bill 3824 introduced on March 10th by Senator Paul

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Sarof. That's our center of course and Owen Henry requires extraordinary special education aid to schools districts for students with costs over 55,000 to be assessed by the county which the

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student district is located. 55,000 is kind of low for >> Yeah. >> I mean the joint is higher than that. >> Yeah. But I mean, most of them are higher than that, so I don't know where that's going to go. Get some aid would be wonderful.

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>> I could tell you where. >> Thank you, Mr. Jones. Uh, at 8:14 p.m., we're going to open the meeting to the public for a second time for anything related to or not related to the agenda. Uh, seeing no comments, we're going to close the meeting. And we do have a need

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for >> an executive session issues >> for three student issues. >> Five minutes. >> Uh about 5 minutes. No action to be taken. Need a motion to go into executive session. Mr. Spayberry, seconded by Mr. Healey. All in favor? I. >> All right. We are going into executive

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session. Thank you.