All right, it's 7 PM on March 16, 2026. We're going to begin this regular meeting of the Rutherford Board of Education. We'll ask everyone to please stand, face the flag for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the
republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> I'll ask Mr. Woodford to please take role. Mr. Begoian, >> present. Miss Kates >> here. >> Miss Cole >> here.
>> Mr. Ki >> present. >> Mr. Healey >> here. >> Mrs. Jones >> present. >> Dr. here. >> Mr. Spayberry >> present. >> Dr. Lahi >> here. >> Miss Ayura >> here. >> You have a quorum. >> The New Jersey Open Public Meetings Act
was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meeting of public bodies at which any business 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 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 www.retherfordschools.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 were minutes to approve from the regular meeting and executive session for February 23rd, 2026. Any questions or comments about those sets of minutes? Hearing none, I'll ask Mr. Whitford,
please enter those. Uh, and we are going to begin with the report of the student representative, Miss Ario. >> Good evening. Winter sports ended on a high note with lots of accomplishments and spring sports are starting up this
week. All of the spring athletes are busy preparing for their seasons and getting ready for their first games. The consumer team won the county competition and up next is the Northern Regional competition at the end of April. Read across Rutherford day was very successful. The high school students had
a great time reading and interacting with the elementary students and the little kids seemed to really enjoy the activities. U many of the elementary students also had the chance to ask the high schoolers some questions about high school life. Many RHS students also participated in the Battle of the
Bulldogs volleyball tournament earlier in the month. This is always a fun event and a chance for some friendly competition between students and staff. The spring musical Foot Loose was this past weekend. All of the cast and crew did an amazing job putting it together and had a great time performing the show
all weekend. Last week, RHS hosted a career fair for students to gain some insight into some of the vocational career paths that are available after high school. Students had the chance to talk with representatives from all different organizations and learn a little bit
about what they do. Coming up next week is our biggest spirit week at the high school. Each day is a different theme and each grade has their own category to dress up as. Some of our themes this year are holidays, careers, and states. Each grade earns points based on how
many students dress up and as well as how many students participate in the links for life fundraiser, which raises money for charity. Spirit week is concluded with our spring pep rally, which is also which also has events where students can earn points for their class, making it a really fun
way to kick off the spring sports season. Also, next week is the distinguished graduate presentation at the high school. The upper classmen are looking forward to hearing from this year's speaker. There's a keynote speech to the entire group and a smaller, more interactive group presentation for
students who are specifically interested in healthcare careers. Students from the music department are hosting an instrument drive this month, which will help provide instruments to music to music students who are in need. Specifically, the materials collected will be given to Jazz House Kids. And
lastly, the Glamour Gals Club is also hosting a makeup drive this week where they will be collecting any unused makeup products and these items will be donated to a domestic violence shelter. So, that's all I have for tonight. Thank you. >> Excellent. Thanks for sharing all the
going on. Uh questions, comments from board members? Miss Jones? >> Testing are the upper classman having this week? >> Sorry. >> What testing are they? Oh. Um I think it's the NJ GPA for the juniors. >> The graduation the graduation test. >> Yeah. >> Um you know, one of the things I I'm
always um amazed at the amount of community service and things that are happening. Um I don't know if you mentioned, but I think this one in particular, uh the honors accounting class, there's I think eight or nine students. I don't know if you mentioned or not. I don't want to be redundant,
but they volunteered their time with a um local want to make sure I get it right. Uh it's called the Lighthouse Leaders of the Future Foundation working with Liza and Kurillo CPAs and Adviserss. And what they're doing, they're volunteering their time to help
uh senior citizens and disabled uh folks and and lower income folks get their income tax done. And they're so not only they helping, but they're also learning more about, you know, a field they want to go into. So, and they're giving up, you know, afternoons and Saturdays for
that. And also, I believe, um, I just saw this today. I don't have all the information, but I should have seen it sooner, but we have our members of our choir, right, are going to be singing in Carnegie Hall, uh, on Monday. So, uh, that's quite a high school choir. So,
that's quite an accomplishment. So, again, uh, you know, there's there's almost too much going on to even keep track of it all and to stay on top of it all. But um you know kudos to the uh the students and the adviserss and folks who get all this going because it's really good opportunity for kids and thank you
for you know reminding me of things I forget. >> So you said there's a the competition grade level competition was the spring pep rally. >> Yeah. So we have like spirit week next week. That's all the like different categories they dress up. And then also the pep rally has like events like
different like like relay races and stuff and they can like earn points that way too. So >> So my question is who's favorite to win? >> Um I mean probably the seniors but you never know. >> I I would like to say you know not that it's not ever done fairly but in my 35
years in the high school I think the seniors won like 34 times. Just always seems it just always seems to work that way. Yeah. >> Um and the one year they didn't win, you know, of course whole different group of people won the ran spirit week the next kid. >> Yeah. Seniors are always uh favored even
when they're the underdog. So >> any other questions or comments? >> Have you chosen your college yet? >> No, I haven't decided yet. >> Haven't decided. Let us know. >> I will. >> All right. Well, thank you so much for being here and sharing all the
happenings in our schools. uh you can feel free to stay for the rest of the meeting and if you have other commitments we understand. >> Okay. Thank you. >> All right. Have a good evening. >> Have a good night. >> All right. So, next we're going to have the preliminary budget presentation that
Mr. Whitford's going to take us through. So, tonight is the evening where um after this budget presentation, we'll be asked to approve the preliminary budget. Um and then that uh will be sent down uh to the state to the
county. Um and then uh it comes back to us and uh assuming that's approved by the county, there's a public hearing for the budget and final approval at our next April 26th board of ed meeting. Uh so with that, I'll hand it over to Mr.
Whitford and move out of the way. I'll share the I'll share the document with the uh board members after. But can you see it decently well from over there? Okay. So, as Dr. Lai said, this is our 2627
preliminary budget presentation. Um, root in all budget development is the the board's annual goals. If it's a strategic plan for multiple years or if it's a year-by-year goals, if any BA says it's their budget, they're just selfishly speaking the we're just
facilitators of the board's uh goals and objectives. So the board goals that um or a few of the board goals that this board approved earlier this year was uh anchored on student achievement um putting forth the portrait of a graduate and the uh other activities that K
through2 will will do according to that uh building upon and uh maintaining our current programs uh community outreach and the climate and culture surveys that uh Mr. Hurley was doing this year. uh and obviously providing u facilities and
improvements and maintenance throughout the district. There's a number of uh challenges that Rutherford um is dealing with in addition to every other school district in the state. Um health insurance premiums have gone up just over 50% in
the past three years. Um which is a a big driver of the budget. um out of district uh tuition for special education students and the transportation to get those students to those uh facilities and services um is also a high cost. Utilities and
maintaining our buildings and obviously just general cost increases that you know every member is uh is also feeling with their own budgets. So a number of these aspects you'll see within uh within our budget and how we been able to handle it. >> Mr. if you could. Um, I know the finance
committee is very aware and I think the number was 1.2 million, but what's the actual the percentage of health the the dollar amount for the health increase just so the public and the board hears it? >> We're about 2.3 $2.4 million in total
health benefits increase cost. >> So, I was 2.3 >> and our our entire budget is about $60 million. >> That's just the increase >> increase. Yep. >> Right. So our total health costs for the district. This discounts what the employes are contributing is over 11
million. Does that sound right? Yep. >> Yeah. Over 11. So $11 million of a $60 million rounding numbers off >> uh budget uh is just to the board's contribution to health benefits. >> Correct. So as we said, we're just over a $60
million general operating budget. Uh so the revenue comes from uh basically three main areas. The local tax levy is the most significant aspect of our budget or where our revenue comes from. 89% of our general operating budget comes from uh our local tax levy which
is uh a nice aspect as a business administrator because it's a it's a steady stream of revenue. We're not relying on outside grants that may or may not be happening year-over-year. Um so having that local tax base be a significant aspect um creates some some
stability for the district. Uh state aid is about 7% of the uh annual operating budget and then miscellaneous um revenues and and other um reserves that the board already has supplements it with 4%. Uh there's been some questions
on federal aid over the past couple years. Federal aid is outside of our general operating budget. So federal aid is um more of a a supplemental support to our budget for specific activities. It's not something that we use as our
general operating and day-to-day things. >> I think that's very important to for everyone to remember that title one, title two, title three, those funds, they're important. I mean, we we use them for professional development. Uh we use them for academic interventions for students who may be at risk. Uh but our
day-to-day operations uh don't do not rely on federal funding at all. And uh as this year uh we pretty much were whole. Uh there was a little bit of a decrease in um our title money. Um there hasn't been talk yet about next
year. There's a lot of you know real concerns. There's some I think hyperbolized concerns but um again we we would not impact our day-to-day operations with a reduction there. we would impact some of the things we do that are important and help faculty and
staff and kids. Uh but uh it's separate from the budget. >> Was it always that way? >> Yes. >> Always. >> Yes. And keep in mind that these title funds that we talk about existed prior to the the creation of the Department of Education back during the Carter
administration. They came through other you know arms of the federal government. So again, even you know, there was some talk about DOE on the federal level u maybe being disbanded. Um there was also talk that most of these most of these monies would then channel back to the
agencies they first came from. In uh 2008, there was a school funding reform act for the state of New Jersey uh that mandate a 2% cap on annual tax levy increases. Um so every school district in the state can increase their tax levy 2% higher than the prior year
for their budgets. Um within that law there is a a number of a few number of um aspects that allow to go outside of that 2% or above that 2%. Um, the two bigger ones, the two ones that would be more applicable to Rutherford are, uh,
if health benefits increases happen to be more than 2%, which they definitely have been over the past few years, uh, or if enrollment increases um, went up beyond what the state sees our region as a normal increase. So, if we were to
have a 10% increase in enrollment, the state would allow us to increase our budget accordingly to serve those number of students. So, we did not have an extreme enrollment increase from uh last year to this year, but we did have um a big
increase for health benefits. Uh we are in the state health benefits plan. So, the the way this adjustment works is if the state health benefits plan goes up above 2%. the 2% is eaten up in your normal increase, but anything above
that, you can uh increase that specific health benefits line in your budget uh the same percentage that the plan goes up. State aid, uh state aid last year was 3.4 million in total. There's a couple categories within that for security,
transportation, special education, and things like that. Uh but in total it was 3.4 million. Uh this year we saw a $172,000 uh increase which was 5% of last year's state aid uh for $3.57
million. Uh the state set guard rails. Um they have not adjusted how they're calculating state aid for every school district, but they uh set guard rails that a school district could not get cut further below 3% from their prior year
or above 6% than their prior year. So you know in maybe three, four or five years ago, school districts were getting cut 10% of their state aid than they previously had. and if they were very reliant on state aid, it was a significant impact to their budgets. Uh but again, Rutherford has a more of a
tax levy uh base. So, the volatility in state aid isn't as impactful. Obviously, we'd love to have more than what we're getting. Um and we definitely on the high high side of that this year. So, I was glad to see that we were able to get that uh $172,000 in addition to last
year. Last year we had I think about 1%. >> 1% last year. >> 1% increase. Um >> yes. >> Uh no it should be. Yes. Should be. You're right. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Um
>> well that may not uh the um the fact about state aid is you know getting the 172,000 especially this year getting the bigger increase is very welcomed. um very helpful in in balancing the budget. Uh to go back to Mr. Whitford's earlier
comment, uh we don't have some districts have a much larger percentage of their budget uh coming from state aid. Ours is not that big. Um you know, it also doesn't impact us greatly, you know, if
we don't get a big increase. It's very helpful if we do. So, this helped us a lot this year. uh but it's not a major amount. And this slide, as Mr. Mifflo explained, shows you uh the percentage of state aid in in terms of in in terms of our budget.
>> So, I was told this slide was in the budget presentation for decades before I got here. So, I made sure I had to keep it in it the past two years that I've been here. Uh I did cut it down to the past 10 years rather than keeping it for 20 or 25 past that. Uh but you see the
the orange higher uh aspects of the bar the bar graph are a general operating budget for the past 10 years. Um it has slowly increased more so in the past three years very specifically because of health benefits. Uh the blue all the way toward the bottom is the state aid
portion of that budget. You can see it's a very minimal portion um of our budget. And then the line is aid as a percent of uh the budget which I'm not sure why this is a little bit of an nully out here. Um but very steadily increase
nothing dramatic has happened that um our budgets have skyrocketed um and definitely state aid has not uh had too much volatility as well. uh the miscellaneous resources or surpluses and revenue streams that we
saw on one of the other slides comes from excess surplus which is surplus from last year that the state mandates you have to use in the the next year. So if you get audited for year one during
year 2's operating year they're auditing year one so they make you use that surplus once the audit is complete in year three. So, this uh $812,000 is actually from the 2425 school year's surplus that they audited
a few months ago and then they will carry that over to next year. Um, we've done a little bit of new things with interest, uh, being able to invest certain aspects in almost like a high yield savings account rather than the checking account that we use every day.
Our our finance committee has gone through that process in the past year. Uh so we're able to have a little bit more interest than we have in the past. Uh we do have a pretty uh successful bulldog care um operation for our afterchool programs and that helps
supplement the expenses for that program as well. Right. We keep the lights on extra late because of the uh bulldog care program. We have uh custodians do overtime so they stay on on site for the bulldog care program. So, a lot of these
extra um revenue streams go toward using money for that program. Uh we have pulling $558,000 for our capital reserve from our capital reserve fund. Um primarily for a number of what I'm going to call behind the
walls type of projects. Um they're not like the flashy projects that you might see walking through the building, but there are significant aspects of making sure our buildings run uh well. And I think one of our future slides you'll see what the quick little breakdown is. Uh and then we have a general fund
balance kind of like our rainy day fund um that we're pulling down 152,000 from that's probably only maybe 5% of that rainy day fund. So that can easily be built back up again in next year. So the bigger slide is your local tax
levy. Uh from last year to this year, uh for our general operating budget, we increased it $3.4 million for a total tax levy of 53.5 million. Um and the tax levy is generated to support our regular
operating budget, but also the debt service that was paid uh or has to be paid for your previously issued bonds. uh the 2005 I believe referendum and then most recently uh 2019 referendum.
So those bond payments uh for those facilities improvements are paid over 20 or 30 years. Um and that payment schedule is laid out very clearly for the district. The 50 so roughly $50 million bond that
was approved in 2019. A number of projects have been completed. every project that was listed on that referendum question has been completed. Um, and some just to make sure that every uh aspect of the the question that
you asked the public to approve um was indeed uh complete. And I'm going to say because the timing of uh pandemic and certain lower costs at the time when the the district went out to bid um they got pretty good prices at the time uh
especially compared to now. So there was a number of cost savings that happened during the past five or six years uh that if a project was budgeted for a million dollars, maybe it came in at $800,000. So that $200,000 surplus sat there and
you multiply that over a number of projects. Uh the board has just over $2 million in unused referendum funds that we've used for a number of the projects that were outlined. But now that we've completed all those tasks, you checked
off the whole list of projects that you had, um the board is able to give back uh that $2 million over the next two years to the taxpayers. So, you asked to raise taxes for a certain dollar amount. Um you raised taxes for that amount, but
completed all the projects with some wiggle room. Now, that wiggle room the district can't just take and put it in like a little slush fund for themselves. we have to be able to give it back to the taxpayers. Um, which is a great thing to to be able to ask for a certain
dollar amount almost. You're gonna uh underpromise and and overd deliver on that type of thing. Um, so our general operating fund went up $3.4 million, but our debt service aspect of our tax levy uh is getting pulled back about 1.2 2
million because of the uh payment schedule and the 1.165 million that we're going to able to give back to the taxpayers. So the net tax increase for rather for this year is 4.2%. Uh which I believe is the exact number that we had last year as well.
I just want to make sure everybody is clear because a lot of times numbers, you know, get thrown around with the the allowable increase was 6 point what was it? 6 >> 6.9 >> 6.9. Okay. Um
that amount of money, that increase uh doesn't even cover the entire two plus million dollars of health benefit. So it was essential to take that. But but in terms of the of the actual impact on the taxpayer, the 1.2 million
approximately brings it down to 4.2. So the impact will be the same as last year. Um just so you're aware um we so far we you know superintendents we keep a running
tally of what's going on in everybody's district and um a lot of folks you know the governor's address was only last week so a lot of folks are not ready yet to share uh but 34 districts have shared um and 33 of the 34 are using their full
well I shouldn't say full because I don't know exactly but using their allowable increase some as high as 8.9%. Um because it is absolutely impossible, we would not have been able to maintain many many many many
programs. Uh if you've read um the Bergen record, I think it was over the weekend, uh an article, I'll mention the district because it was in the paper, but I won't go into details. Westwood uh talking about some massive layoffs. Uh Matt and I spoke today someone from
another district who was talking about uh 30 to 40 uh layoffs in their district. Um we have managed to avoid that. Uh again um I don't want to get ahead of what may come up later, but we did um with
two maintenance positions that have retired and we've had a hard time filling. Uh we're rem we've removed one of them from the budget. uh with two custodial retirees in the evening. We're going to move to add some Aramark. Uh so through attrition, we managed to remove
a couple of of of positions that do not impact programs and not impact students and really don't impact the individuals because they have retired. Um, so and will not really impact our services because we'll be getting the two custodians at a better price for the
board and we've been functioning for the better part of this year down two maintenance positions and we now been able to fill one. >> So we'll be ahead of where we were this past year. But these are the things that we've been working with the finance committee um with the administrators uh
with the director of building grounds director of special services uh very diligently since probably October November to um how are we going to make this thing work without damaging the quality of programs and education that
we have and um obviously the referendum and as Mr. Gifford described uh the the hard work and the good luck that we had to come in over, you know, with over $2 million left is coming in handy right now when we're
at this u statewide crisis. And that's really what it is. That's not I mentioned the word hyperbole, but that's not hyperbole. It is a statewide crisis. I have not been to a meeting on the county or state level in the past or the or the South Bergen level uh in the past
6 months that this has not been the major and in some cases the only topic of conversation. So um I'm happy that we do not have to do anything drastic to get this budget balance.
Once I share it with the board, you'll be able to see this slide a little bit better or clearer. But I'll at least describe the colors so you can see just in a in a pie chart. >> I will say that on the printout it looks like a pie. Here looks more like an Easter egg, >> right?
>> Uh so this is just the where the $60 million goes um in broad categories. Um what you don't see here is that health benefits and salaries for the district is just over 75% of the district's budget. So the staff member salaries and
the benefits for staff members takes up just over twothirds of the district's budget. The more I'm going to say yellowy one on the top left, that's your health benefits. 22% of our budget goes strictly to health benefits for staff
members. So that's a significant aspect. Buildings and grounds is this brown section to the uh uh the left. uh buildings, grounds, and transportation um is about 12%. The pink area on the bottom right, that's out of district tuition and related services. That's a
big 14% chunk. Um and then regular programs and instruction is is at 29% which is the larger top right um green or dark yellow section of the top. Uh so there's a it just shows a breakdown of
it but it I want to show the the more visuals of where the money a large large chunks are going um out of district services obviously our buildings and grounds uh employee benefits and then as much as possible uh to the instructional
aspect of the district to the students >> and the salaries are infused in those areas right u you know the two things again I'd like to point out not you know not for any reason other than to say these are two things that um the state
uh has significant involvement in in control of the health benefits and special education uh costs. And when you put those two together, uh 36% of our 60 million plus budget goes to those two
areas. Um and you know the state you know underfunds doesn't match what they say they're going to give you for special education. Um there are districts I've already spoken with uh about districts uh out of district
schools where tuitions are going up uh much higher than anything that even comes close to 2%. And even some of the public ones are talking about going up higher. Um, so it is a problem that I think needs
more discussion in Trenton um about what's going to happen with schools and municipalities uh that are getting squeezed very hard by these astronomically rising costs. I mean 30% we we're budgeting what 27% for our
health benefits and hoping that we didn't underbudget because at 30% even with the the allowable increase we would not be able to balance the budget. So the brokers are saying well 25 to 30 get as close to
30 as you can so we're going to split the middle and hope that we we're okay. So, you know, I mean, we can't control this, you know, um I I know my my association, I saw a draft today of a of a letter
that's going to go and talk about the need for dialogue, a dialogue, right? I mean, let's have conversations about it. uh let's come up and let's put a lot of smart people uh in a room that could talk about this and see if there's a way to help because it really is uh
impacting um what we can do locally statewide and there is this is not a oneoff you know it's not a bad year this has been rapidly increasing um and the good news may be that the
current health uh benefit law for the state plan is going to sunset in two years. >> Maybe it'll be better, but the bad news could be maybe it won't be better. So, I mean, I think the time is right for some serious conversations. I know
New Jersey School Board Association has been talking about it. Uh the BA's association, the superintendent. Uh I think we I you know, I I've been talking to our uh REA presidents about it because I think, you know, let's be politically savvy. NJA is the uh a much
larger and more powerful political lobby than any of these other groups I'm talking about. But we have to really push for a solution because I don't know how many years you could keep patching, you know, patching to get by before the
patches don't hold anymore. So again, kudos to um again finance, Matt, his staff, all the principles, the administrators who work on this budget, uh you know, and the community that supports what we're doing. But it is coming to a point where we, you know,
something's got to happen, you know, outside of our little world. Something's got to happen. And just to put some definitions to when we say out of district placements is a significant portion. Um these are for students classified as special needs
through uh their IEPs. Um their specialized programs might not be always available within our district. So then obviously we have to still educate those students according to their uh IEPs. Um other providers like South Bergen Joint Commission, other public schools and
private schools for students with disabilities um are other facilities that we can send these students to get the proper services that they need. Um, South Bergen really it's in order of where um we try to send other students.
Uh, South Bergen Joint Commission is usually a little bit of a lower cost because it's uh more localized. It is a public school. Um, other public schools might have uh a different service or a different specialization that we don't have just because of the number of
students that they can serve. uh maybe we only have two or three that have need a certain service but they have 25 so that we can kind of have a shared service and send them to the uh other public schools and then others need a much more specialized service and they'll go to uh uh private schools for
students with disabilities. So just a quick definition of uh for that aspect uh facilities needs we said we were taking just over $500,000 out of our capital reserve. Um, again, these I'm saying go the the hidden improvements or
hidden repairs behind the walls, uh, for HVAC and boiler repairs, uh, plumbing and gutter repairs, uh, roofing and gutter repairs. Uh, we have $100,000 slaughtered for playground improvements, um, and then a state mandates that we provide them with a $75,000 basically
fee for uh, some of the other services they provide. Uh lastly, one of the things that we do as many other districts is trying to use uh lease purchase uh agreements. Uh the Chromebooks that students use, the the
MacBooks that teachers use and other um facilities updates and other equipment that we that we use can be you um financed basically at a lower cost. we have to bid out for a financing rate, which is usually much more advantageous than going to like a local bank or
something like that. Um, but to be able to spread that cost over multiple years, most of our Chromebooks are are two, three, fouryear lease deals that once it comes due, that technology is almost out of date. So that money is embedded into
the budget at a lower cost, but you're just refreshing them over and over as the product becomes a little bit more obsolete. Uh so it's just another mechanism that districts use to be more creative to be able to take on some of the costs that are needed. And then lastly, our budget calendar. Uh
the budget doesn't isn't created, you know, last week. Me and Mr. Hurley didn't get together and just throw some numbers on a board and saw what stuck. um back from September, October, November, uh we start talking about uh today and and next year's budget with our uh administrative staff um other BAS
and other superintendents, other boards that what they see or what they they see trends are happening. Um December the buildings and departments are actually get an allocation and then they submit their budgets or requests of what they need. uh January and February come uh we
meet with uh the committees uh meaning buildings and grounds committee and our finance committee uh to review those and and kind of at least on a preliminary basis see where we are. Um and how sharp we have to make our pencils for the next uh coming weeks. Um and then tonight,
March 16th, uh the board is asked to approve a preliminary budget that gets sent to the county department of education. They're really reviewing it for compliance purposes um to make sure that uh we're still meeting statute and code for the Department of Ed. Um they'll call me and ask questions on
certain things and make sure things are are clarified uh to their liking. Once it is, that dollar amount shouldn't change for what we're going to approve tonight. And then a very similar uh budget hearing comes uh in late April and the board adopts that final budget.
That's all I have. It's just uh one other two other quick comments. Um you know the what Mr. Whiffford's done and working with all of us has tried to look at you know ways to raise some revenue that interest that he talked about. Uh that's money we didn't
bring in in other years. Uh looking at you know tightening up some areas where we could get more revenue but our ability to get more revenue in uh is difficult. Um, I met on uh last week with about five of my colleagues in the South Bergen area to talk about um the
potential for shared services. Um, you know, could is there a way that one district might be able to have a electrician work in a couple of districts where maybe somebody else has a bus that somebody can use, you know, try to help each other out. Um it was
interesting that when the governor gave her address uh three or four days after we met, she talked about some of that, you know, in terms of um so I mean when I said, you know, there's things that we can't control, um we're doing what we
can to control what we can control, but big picture items, you know, I'm still talking about, you know, nickels and dimes in $60 million, but all those nickels and dimes, you know, do help. Um, I don't know if anybody, you know, has questions of Matt or me or anybody
from the finance committee. >> Mr. Sprayberry, >> how are we planning on communicating the give back to the community referendum? I think that's important. >> Well, I mean, in in theory, uh, this is part of it. You know, um, the budget
hearing will be part of it. Uh, I think we could, um, I don't want to do it ahead of the budget hearing, uh, or ahead of what I'm about to say, uh, or ahead of the budget actually being approved both locally and
on the county level. Uh, but I think in our final newsletter in June, uh, we could put that out. Um, you know, if people people are paying attention to the this board meeting and the next board meeting, they should be hearing
about it. Um, but I think, you know, once everything's approved and we're off and running, getting close to the next fiscal year, that last uh newsletter that goes out, and remember, two go out um in June. One's the mailer that goes to everybody in the burrow, and one's
the digital that goes just to the school community. We could put something in both just a statement because I think that is, you know, something that offsets um look, we'd be having a different conversation, but we still have be having the conversation about needing
that full allowable uh increase. This makes it more meaningful uh maybe less impactful, but it also makes what we say about our commitment uh to try to do the best we can to get the most out of every dollar we have that we you know through
this referendum process we did that as well and we're able to come back with two over $2 million of relief. >> Yeah, I think it's important like you didn't communicate to put out that 6 point whatever the 6 point was the allowable. We only used 4.2 of I think that's know show the community because
we talked about one of our goals being community involvement communication. >> Yeah. Well, you know, this the slide presentation I think didn't mention 6.9. I I just did that with my you know my comment because it is 4.2. But I want people to see that what you know what
our diligence for the from the 2019 to a year ago when we finished has you know has paid dividends for for us in terms of real dollars now. >> Yeah. But yeah, we'll get we're and you know like you know I've always said to
all of you that um you know that when people come up and they ask you a question as a board member you know you direct them to me or you direct them to the appropriate person but certainly in conversations I mean that's a fact you could give them as well. I mean I think
that's a important fact to understand. um the the the tr the largest increase that we have faced I think percentage-wise and dollar-wise uh we're we're having the same tax impact as we had last year. Is it is it worth uh well first of all I
think also signaling to people who ask questions to tell them to watch the video from this meeting is important because there's a lot of detail that you put into both the presentation and also your comments. I don't know if it's worth, you know, on social media saying
that we at our last board meeting we had our preliminary budget meeting or it's really important, you know, people check that out. April uh is when we have our budget hearing. So, just for people to be aware of those things that are
happening because otherwise I don't know how many people are watching right the video pushing to the side. Well, you know, prior to the April um hearing, we could put some message out about, you know, budget hearing for uh detailed information about the budget. Look at the video from >> Yeah.
>> You know, >> will this presentation be online with this video? >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Now, are you going to try to send it electronically to >> Every board member has it right now. >> No, no. To to Jenny. >> I can. >> Yeah. Jay, we know what we're going to
do. Um what's this called? I'm I'm not a television director. We're breaking the uh which wall now because we're the fourth wall. Okay. Right. Uh Jenny, if if if we send you this presentation uh in the past, we've been able to embed it into the >> video. Yes.
>> So that they don't just see it on that screen, they actually see it, you know. So >> I can do like a split. >> Yeah. So M. >> Yeah. He'll send it to you. But it was But we were able in the past to actually show it and have the voice over it. And you know, looking at the presentation instead of looking at me is always a
benefit. Yeah, >> great. >> Any other questions or comments? >> And just to be clear, th this uh referendum give back that's in the budget that's, you know, counter setting the or countering the total increase that that's half of it, right?
>> Half. So the other half would be next year going into the following year. >> Approximately half >> the health benefits increase. >> No, no, the give back the referend >> the referendum. >> The Sorry. So, the referendum was just over $2 million of give back money.
You're able to supplement the principal portion of the bond payment for that uh bond. So, it's about it's 1.165 million. So, this year we'll have 1.65. Next year, you're going to have about
900,000 of the 1.65. So, a significant portion of that payment um but only about 900,000 of that payment. >> So, a little less actually. >> Yep. >> Okay. >> But still a significant amount. Y um another thing I want to mention while
we're on budget topic is um you know in in meeting with um strategic planning uh last week uh whenever you last week right we had the meeting and uh we talked about you know maybe um at some point rather than a Zoom meeting or a
Google Meet meeting a face toface meeting talk a little bit about some long-term um financial discussions planning and then you know take that discussion to the finance committee Um it's very hard to say uh you know you're going to project exactly what may happen
in 3 to 5 years. Um but there are things that you do know in terms of you know you have a projection of enrollment. Uh we talked about maybe looking for a new demographic study just to see if our projections from the past are still accurate. uh we have a projection of you
know there there's hasn't been any serious talk about the cap changing so we could work on the premise as not um you know we we could look at state aid over the years and say well here's kind of a range you know of where it goes um
so you know we can have some sense of money and then start having some ideas about you know how we going to handle all that you know what are we going to do about it >> um and um because you What we don't want to have happen one year is get into a
situation I think some folks find themselves in where they're not really paying attention uh or reading the tea leaves and now you get into January or February you're like whoa >> do we need >> you know we need >> so I mean I I I know we talked about this at finance committee I think it's a
great idea to do like a three or five year assump you know uh look out build in some assumptions I mean benefits and salaries salaries are are are known up through the life of the you know three-year contracts for the different units, right? >> Um I mean that's 70% of your expenses
right there, >> right? So yeah, I mean we could do a fair projection, you know, and and you know, and then you're a little more prepared for the variables that you can't project, right? Um so yeah, I think I think there's um and
we've done that, but I think we have to do it with a little more um oomph, you know. Mr. the the prior demographic studies, have we actually looked at like where we are now versus what those studies said at how far off we are? >> The last time I looked and be honest
probably was over a year ago. It was pretty close. It was pretty >> in the presentation. Would it make sense to put down there it says total school tax increase and versus the total allowable tax increase? I'm just for me it's public perception of
>> I'm okay with it very cautious there because they are taking the total it's just that that number would have been a lot but the 42 would have been higher had we not had that >> right I I >> we're taking the total but it's being offset by the referendum give back
>> yeah I mean I again I I don't have a problem either way I think you know this is what we're taking but this is what's going to hit you for >> Yeah in practice people are going to other districts are taking are going up a six seven 8% to the end and they're
going to see that we're at 4.2 like we're going to be very unique in here. >> Agreed. >> And and I think it still speaks to fiscal responsibilities. We're looking at the overall number, you know, and and all the variables. So, if we didn't have the referendum give back, would we have made the exact same decision in all
these areas? Maybe, maybe not. >> Right. It would have been uh you're right. It would have been very challenging not to. But the fact is um you know I've said this before uh we don't we don't have we don't we don't
have any fat. We really don't. I mean I I can't point to a program um where I can say you know we could eliminate that and we really don't. Um, so I mean you you're looking at um really hard decisions if you if you don't have the
wherewithal to say we're going to take what the they're allowing us to take because of exorbitantly high in I mean when you look at whatever 2% is what's 2% of our >> just over a million >> what >> just over a million >> about a little over a million and you're doubling that just in one area
>> you know before you get to tuition and salaries and um supplies and books and heating and utilities doubling your your allow your increase in one area. So, you know, I that's why I'm saying, you know,
there's got to be a push outside of here, outside of these burrows in Bergen County, like what are we going to do about this? If we expect the education that we're giving our children to be what it has been, there's got to be a statewide discussion about what we're
going to do about this. So, we'll see. >> Because it's interesting because when they we went to the state plan for educators benefits that was supposed to drive down costs, correct? >> Yeah, that was that's what they said. Yeah. >> Right. And now it's going to sunset in two years and we might be in a worse
predicament, >> right? >> Across the state. It's not only us. It's across the whole entire state of New Jersey. Right. >> So, how are we going to >> We can't absorb any of these costs. So, what is the solution or the chatter among superintendent?
>> Yeah. Well, nobody seems to have one, you know. I mean, the solution I think the solution is I think I think what people are looking to do is circle the wagons the best they can, shared services. But I but I think there's been a bigger push now to lobby and reach out, you know, and put pressure on folks
who, you know, to your point, legislation comes in in two years, we don't know what that legislation is going to say about health benefits, >> right? >> I mean, there are some districts like my district that we had the option to either take the state plan or still take Horizon Blue Post Blue Shield, we're still paying a percentage of that, right?
>> So, I don't know if they're going to phase every employee out of that, >> right, >> to take the state plan? I I'm not sure. >> Yeah. No, it's >> and even if that happens, like what is the savings across the state for benefits? >> Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. Matt, you have any
Dr. >> So, we are in the state in the state plan. I mean, the state runs the health insurance program that we're in. Uh, even if you're in like that direct 10, direct 15, that's still the state health benefits plan. Um the past two years that I've been here, we've tried to
we've attempted to go out to bid to directly to Horizon and Etna and Amera Health and other um school health insurance funds like a shift um that might have 80 school districts together to pull to drive costs down. Uh because usually if you're in a large pool like
the state health benefits plan um costs can be lowered because if you're a little high and your neighbors a little bit lower, you both will kind of get the average. Uh a number of districts over the past 10 years have done that. They've see alternatives to the state
plan because of costs even 5 10 years ago and they've gotten it because their pool their population's claims were not very high. Uh our claims are not getting are not getting picked up by outside providers directly from Horizon or
directly from health or Etna or things like that. So those insurance companies are saying if we take you on they're the insurance company is not going to make enough money off of us. So as crazy as it sounds right now the best place for us to be is in the state health benefits
plan. >> And again we're not unique there either. We've talked to a lot of districts who try to get out. It's not that we're trying to get out. We're trying to see where we get the best deal. But then we do that we get this what they call it the rate of um >> the rating. What's the term for it? our
our claims numbers. >> Yeah. Claiming and if and because our numbers aren't good enough, they're not going to take us on or they're going to take us on, but we're not going to do any better financially. >> So, yeah, it's it's it's it's a problem. I mean, it's a
problem that um we don't have a we I can't offer you a solution. I don't know what the solution is. I think the process though is there's got to be more serious discussion about it um with people who can maybe come up with a solution. I I mean I'll give you one solution.
They're not going to you know this 2% cap since 2011. I don't know you know 3% 4% would be nice. That $1 million increase becomes a $2 million increase and in a lot of years you're not having a problem. I
mean, I don't know too many other things that have stayed the same. You know, no, you know, salaries have not stayed the same and bills have not stayed the same since 2011. Taxes haven't stayed the same since 2011, but the cap on the schools have stayed the same. So, um,
you know, and we we incur uh the same costs everybody does when we go out to buy something and pay a salary. So, I mean, there's been no discussion about that. There was a little bit of it, right? Last year we heard rumors that they were going to and um
>> it died out pretty quickly. >> But I mean to me there's got to be at least some movement to help districts that could be that could be a little bit of movement increase the gap >> Dr. and then Mie. So on a positive note, like like I know this is not
sustainable, right? And there are there are other districts that are that are actually talking right now about cuts or they're failing, right? the fact that we're not I just want to say is like is a testimony to what you guys have been doing and the strengths of our faculty
and staff and even when you have negotiations every day you know everybody's on the same page and moving forward and that strength in the past is showing now that we're not sitting here talking about what to cut and that we're in a hole for you know 10% of our budget. >> Yeah. Well, I appreciate that. Yeah. I
mean that's something I mean I'm never going to say I used to say I never want to do it. can't say that anymore. Who knows, right? But I, you know, it's to me, like I said, when you don't have programs that you say are undersubscribed, right? Kids aren't taking the class, kids aren't going out
for the the team, you know, you know, whatever the case may be, right? People are not moving into town. Yeah, you could make those cuts, you know, but when you're taking kids and displacing them and not giving them an opportunity, that's not what we're here for. Um you might have said this when will we
know about the health insurance increment or budgeting fair number but when does that really firm up? Did you say August? >> Uh officially it comes out in either October or November each year. >> Yeah. January kicks in. >> Yeah. January is effective but by
October, November you'll know the actual impact. So I mean if it comes in lower then we have some money that we could either you know reallocate where needed or or it builds that surplus and capital reserve for the next year. >> If it comes in higher uh you may have to you know we there's comes a point in
every year where we say encumber money that you know you need no more spending. Uh that may have to come a little sooner right. Yep. Um so um you know we had the discussion about you know where to go right and we we were going to hold our
breath and go at 25% but the the increase in the state of aid allowed us to go 27% which is a little more comfort. Other questions, comments,
>> Miss Jones. >> Thank you, Matt. It's been a good budget presentation and your last one for us. >> Thank you. >> But thank you for all that you've done. >> Yeah, I want to echo that. Uh the finance committee meetings were not necessarily the typical meetings and
really a lot of creative work done. Um, and you know, avoiding as much as possible the two Ps, personnel and programs is, you know, a real testament to the commitment of, you know, trying to figure out how to be creative and do the right thing. So,
appreciate you bringing that up. All right. Uh, so hearing no more questions, we're going to move on to the report of the superintendent. >> Uh, not much. Uh, you know, tonight we only focused on the budget. I mentioned a few things earlier in the student
report. I do want to mention a couple of quick things. A newsletter for um burrowwide should be going out before pager that gets mailed hopefully the end of March and the digital one for this time of year going out hopefully before break you know mid mid April. Um March
25th at the high school distinguished graduate award uh something we do every two to three years. I did send to you uh in the packet the list of past winners. Uh if you're not familiar with that list, take a look at it. I mean, there are some really unbelievably um
outstanding people. Um you know, we don't the list doesn't do it justice when it says, you know, Peggy Nan is a writer. Um she was a writer for President Reagan, President Bush. Um you know, uh we have people that were involved in the creation of the Hubble. Uh we have people that have been
involved in, you know, winning Golden Globe awards. uh we have a whole slew of very great people that have come through this building and this town and the the real purpose of the program is they meet with kids they'll they'll do a seminar in a in a class withever their their
level of expertise is um and then they'll do an assembly for the larger group uh and the kids get to see potential and things they could go for. Uh this year is Dr. Elizabeth Robinson Henry from the class of 1984. Uh a former student of mine and despite that
she did uh great things in her uh in in her future in her future and her present. A pediatrician, a speaker, an author, a lecturer, uh several books. So uh she'll be someone again she'll be working with some of our science classes, biology classes, health
students, things like that. Um and uh our case center enrollment, we're at about 96 right now for next year, which is about where we normally are this this time of year in terms of registration. And I mentioned that state testing, it's beginning just for the
graduation test this week in the high school. The tests grades 3 through 10 uh will be late April into early May. Okay. And that's it for tonight. >> All right. Thank you. Any questions for Mr. Early?
Uh hearing none, we'll go on to the report of the president. Uh don't really have anything to report this evening. Just wanted to thank board members for all your work on the different committees. Um takes a lot of strategic time and and planning. So uh and
especially when we have uh board members who are so committed that they're willing to take a call from their car and set aside coaching for 30 minutes. So uh super super commitment. So, um, but that's it for my report.
Uh, so at 8:00 p.m., we're going to open the meeting to the public for anything related to the agenda this evening. Uh, seeing no comments, we're going to close the meeting at 8:00 PM and we're going to move on to new business where
there is action to be taken. We'll start with personnel. Mrs. Co. >> Uh, good evening. Uh, personnel, we did meet on March 9th via Google Meet. The following 14 motions are to be put forward tonight. The recommendation of the superintendent.
>> All right. Thank you. And we have a second on those, Mr. Ki. Uh, discussion, questions. >> Just for clarification, Mr. Garcia was approved, his retirement was approved last meeting for July 1, June 30th. He's
moving it up to now April 30th, May 1st um effective date. And um Mr. Marin, who is going to be the um new head custodian at Washington, uh we'll start him on May one instead of on July 1. So that's just
changing from what was on the last agenda due to Mr. Garcia's request to retire a month earlier. >> And I'll just state the obvious. Uh obviously we're sad to see Mr. Whitford go and and of course wish you the best. Um at the same time really pleased to
see Mr. Joe Kelly will be uh coming aboard as a business consultant effective on March 30th. I think it's a real testament to the strength of relationships over time and some good work done that he's willing to come back and step in in this time. >> And and to that point, I'm waiting to
hear back from the county. Uh they have to approve superintendent or BA's contracts even for an interim. uh hopefully that will get back so that at the April 5th, 6th, whatever the date is, uh next meeting uh we could have him approved as the interim, but for the uh
transitional period, um I thank Joe's willingness and the board's willingness uh to have him come on board to um you know, get back get back up on the horse again. >> You know, there there's a lot of talk that I had big shoes to fill when Joe was leaving and I was coming in. So, I'm
glad those shoes are still right there that he can just slide right back into them and uh we can have a transitional period together for a few days uh to pass off. So, >> excellent. Uh all right, any questions or comments from board members? Uh hearing none. Mr.
Whitford, please take a role. >> Mr. Begoian, >> yes. >> Miss Kates, >> yes. >> Miss Cole, >> yes. >> Mr. Ki, >> yes. >> Mr. Healey, >> yes. >> Mr. Jones, >> yes. >> Dr. Renee, >> yes. >> Mr. Spayberry, >> yes. >> Dr. Yes. >> Motions carry.
>> Thank you. We'll go on now to curriculum and instruction. Miss Jones. >> Thank you. Uh we did not have a CNI meeting and tonight there are six motions which are put forward for forward at the recommendation of the superintendent. >> All right. Thank you. Uh so M. Jones put
those forward. Do we have a second? Mr. Bezosian. Questions or comments about curriculum instruction? Hearing none. Mr. Mr. Witford, please take role. >> Mr. Begoian, >> yes. >> Miss Kates, >> yes. >> Miss Cole, >> yes.
>> Mr. Ki, >> yes. >> Mr. Healey, >> yes. >> Mrs. Jones, >> yes. >> Dr. Rine, >> yes. >> Mr. Spayberry, >> yes. >> Dr. Lah, >> yes. >> Motions carry. >> All right. Thank you. We'll go on now to finance. Mr. Bezosian. >> Uh, good evening. We did not have a
finance committee meeting since our last full board meeting. Tonight on the agenda, we have seven motions to consider under finance. I'd like to move motions 1 through 7 under finance. >> All right. Thank you. Do we have a second on that? Mr. Sprayberry, questions or comments from board
members? C >> can you just describe semi-corrective action plan number seven? >> Yeah. Matt, do you want to do want me to do that or do you want >> So SEI is special education Medicare initiative. Um to be very honest, this
is uh something that the majority of school districts in the state of New Jersey have a corrective action plan for every single year. Um Rutherford has also had it for the past at least five plus years. Um they historically put um what I'm going to
call an unattainable amount that we should be getting reimbured for. Uh maybe say $50,000 and we usually hit about half of that. Um this year they've reduced that goal about 90% for the
districts of the state. So instead of 50,000 it's now $5,000 and that's something that a lot of districts can attain through their uh reimbursement process for certain medical um special education reimbursements. Um, so I'm thinking this time next year, you're not
going to have that corrective action plan because basically the target has gotten lowered for a number of districts to be able to attain it because a lot of districts were in this boat that they weren't able to get the certain qualifications or requirements to meet the the goal that the state set for
special education Medicare initiative. Certain services that we provide to special ed students qualify for Medicare. Um, the district can't seek that out and the student can't seek it out, but we can get it from the state if we ask for a reimbursement.
>> Other questions or comments from board members? >> Hearing none. Mr. Whitford, please take a role. >> Mr. Bgoan, >> yes. >> Miss Kates, >> yes. >> Mrs. Cole, >> yes. >> Mr. Ki, >> yes. >> Mr. Healey, >> yes. >> Mrs. Jones, >> yes. >> Dr. Mr. Rsine.
>> Yes. >> Mr. Spayberry. >> Yes. >> Dr. Elotti. >> Yes. >> Motions carry. >> Thank you. We'll go on now to policy. Mr. Healey. >> Yes. Uh we did not have a policy committee meeting since our last board meeting. Uh but we did correspond with the administration regarding questions
and receives responses. Um there's one resolution as listed being put forth tonight as a first reading. >> All right. Thank you, Mr. Hilly. We have a second on that one. Mr. Cole, questions or comments?
All right, hearing none. Mr. Whitford, please take role. >> Mr. Begoian, >> yes. >> Miss Kates, >> yes. >> Miss Cole, >> yes. >> Mr. Ki, >> yes. >> Mr. Healey, >> yes. >> Mrs. Jones, >> yes. >> Dr. Rsine, >> yes. >> Mr. Spayberry, >> yes. >> Dr. Lah, >> yes.
>> Motions carry. >> All right. Thank you. We'll go on now to buildings and grounds. Mr. Spayberry, >> good evening. We did not have a uh put on the ground committee. Um but uh I do want to say before I put this forward motion, the next person that comes in, Mr. Woodford, will have shoes to go as well.
>> Thanks. >> Um the uh we have one motion put forth at the recommendation of the superintendent. >> All right. Thank you. Do we have a second on that, Mr. Bezosian? Uh questions or comments? >> This project is actually the last of the
referendum projects. So, this resolution fully completes the the referendum and officially gives back that that $2 million or so to be able to give back. Uh, this was unused in allowance. So, that pool of money actually went up $62,000 because of this last resolution.
>> All right. Thank you. Questions from board members. >> All right. Hearing none. Mr. Ritford, please take roll. >> Mr. McGoan, >> yes. >> Miss Kates, >> yes. Miss Cole, >> yes. >> Mr. Kiy, >> yes. >> Mr. Healey, >> yes. >> Mrs. Jones,
>> yes. >> Dr. Rsine, >> yes. >> Mr. Spayberry, >> yes. >> Dr. Lahi, >> yes. >> Motions carry. >> Thank you. Move on now to old business. Any old business to share? >> I just I want to ask Mr. Harley because I saw in the presentation there was the
$100,000 for the playground construction and I wanted to know if you ever corresponded with that woman that was here. >> Yeah, I did. And I also talked to the um the vendor and um we are um I will give
a report of what we have in it and what the impact of some of the things that she asked for would have on the project. Uh right now, you know, we're not we're we're not in the development stage. We'll we'll be probably in the next couple of weeks, but I'll share that with you. Okay. I did I did hear from
the woman that was here and I did take her information and met with the um you know the guy who designs the playground. >> Thank you. >> Okay. >> Others uh Mr. Jones. >> Well, we talked about the play, but let me just say it was unbelievably great. I
I was so proud of those students. Their singing, their dancing, the whole thing was just great. Um, I did go to the Washington School PTA meeting and while we're talking about playgrounds, um, the Washington School PTA raised
$39,000 towards building a new playground. We have budgeted to raise an additional $15,000 to the Apex fund run, which will be held later this month. So, that's their contribution. >> About 55,000. Yeah. >> I'm sorry. >> About 55,000,
>> right? >> Which is a help. Yeah, absolutely. >> They they their playground is what they had in 2005. >> Lincoln school had the fire, so they had
gotten another one, but that's the original. >> Yeah, that's Yeah, that's over 20 years old. >> Um, what else? No, I guess that's it for all business. >> All right, Mr. Haley. Um, Uh my wife and I had the opportunity to
do Read Across America at Lincoln School this year. We did the prek3 class. I can't believe how small but uh it was wonderful and we really it's very rewarding to do. So thank you.
Um, also I attended the uh PTA uh pupont PTA meeting on March 11th and uh they went over their uh past activities. Um, and there was one question in from a parent or a couple parents about on the
grounds putting basketball courts on the PE on the PE but you know that's >> Yeah. Well, they have baskets that they bring out, portable baskets. Um, you know, there's a lot of like I said, we'll look into things.
>> Well, it it was that that was the answer. >> Yeah. Um, Mrs. Carry was there and Mr. H. So, they heard it. Um, but they talked about the spring activities and everybody was very
happy to hear that. So, it was a good meeting. I I'm super impressed that you read to three-year-olds, prek3s. I mean, that could be like the wild wild west. I mean, that's >> No, it wasn't. >> It's there. Miss D, who's now Mrs. B,
>> she's well in hand, you know. She's Everything is in order. >> Awesome. Yeah, I had a chance to read at Washington School of First grade. >> Uh, it was super fun. >> So did I. >> First grade. Yeah. >> Nice. Last week. >> Uh, two weeks ago. Yeah, >> I did too. First grade. Yeah, they were
they had very interesting questions afterwards. I was very impressed. >> My my class my favorite part was the student that walked me to the class. >> She gave me she gave me a tour though. She said >> that's a classroom. >> You know, she told me this is a bathroom for the adults. Uh she was giving me a
tour of the building, which is great. >> That's great. >> Yeah. My my tour guide, I thought we were going upstairs and she's like, "No, no, we're downstairs. We're we're we're all downstairs over here." And telling me around, they gave me a certificate. They gave me a goodie bag. It was >> Yeah, it was well taken care of.
>> Washington school gave out Swedish fish. >> Swedish fish. >> Yes, that's that's what I got. >> Yeah. >> One more thing I just because it was funny. I usually read to the second or third grade because I like to do an
Irish story and I put on my my green cape and you know bring my original challe which is about 160 years old. And the kids called it my cool pain. They wrote me a a little note for the
second grade class which was really and maybe seven and eight of them referred to as my cool tank. >> I I will give one piece of advice because I got an envelope that had all these thank you uh notes that were written. Do not take out one or two
thank you notes to recognize them unless you're okay with the other 20 saying, "Hey, can you find mine? something. There's like an extra two minutes. >> Uh any other old business, >> Mr. Ki?
>> Uh I've recently had the great pleasure uh as a coach. I've been uh signing players who've come and volunteered for honorroll hours for service hours. So, we've had a number of players come through uh who volunteer to help coach
uh K kindergarten through third grade. Uh, and so, uh, >> it's just been great having these having these guys come and it's specifically, uh, the the boys lacrosse team. A bunch of players from that, juniors came over and, uh, it was great to talk to them about,
>> uh, services that they've done. >> Nice. >> Awesome. Uh, any other old business. All right, hearing none. Legislative update, Miss Jones. >> Um, one only because it was timely after
what we had. This is S3920 which was just introduced on March 12th requires a school calendar to provide certain day. They want three days actually for inclement weather.
Obviously some schools don't plan that in their calendar and so then they won't do that. You don't >> no gets added on. >> So I I thought all schools did that. So that's interesting. >> Lauren something.
>> All right. Thank you. Uh at 8:14 p.m. we're going to open the meeting to the public for anything related to or not related to the agenda. You sure? All right. Uh seeing no comments at 8:14 p.m. we're going to close the meeting to the public. We do
have a need to go into executive session. Uh we have three student matters. There's no action to be taken about 5 minutes out. Uh I need a motion. James Spayberry's motion has to go into executive session. Uh seconded by Mr.
Ki. All in favor? I >> All right. Thank you.